Chow 108 :: VOTING :: Hot Male Vampire Pinup

[daestwen]

FINALS ONLY
-=ROUND 108=-
-=HOT MALE VAMPIRE PINUP=-

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http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii293/chowarchive/CHOW-LINES/CHOW-LINES-MEDUSA.jpg
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IF WE HAVE MORE THAN 45 ENTRIES - NOT ALL ENTRIES WILL MAKE IT TO POLL
A MAXIMUM OF 45 ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED IN THREE CATEGORIES:
CATEGORY 1 - Beginner's category
CATEGORY 2 - Intermediate's category
CATEGORY 3 - Advanced's category

ACCEPTANCE TO POLL WILL BE BASED ON THREE CRITERIA:
1: DID THE ARTIST FOLLOW THE BRIEF? (allowance for creative takes will be made).
2: IS THE PIECE ARTISTICALLY SOUND? (Is the illustration "finished?" - did the artist pay attention to anatomy, perspective, other fundamentals?).
3: IS THIS ILLUSTRATION THE BEST ONE? (reserved for rounds with a large amount of entries).

Depending on round turn out, the number of accepted entries in a given Category may vary from round to round. For example, if only 5 Advanced entries are made, that leaves EXTRA 10 slots open for Intermediate and Beginner.

Only Advanced Entries will be accepted for the the thumbs on the Queens Roster. If no Advanced entries are available for a round, then it will fall to the Intermediates. If no Intermediate are available, then it shall fall to the Beginners.

For further information on how this works, please see this post (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1630823#post1630823). (Still being updated at this time).
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SUBMITTING YOUR ENTRY:
1: You must submit ONE full sized image.
2: Make sure your name and CHOW # are EASILY READABLE on your entry.
3: Use the Standard format (Below);


http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/frame.jpg
[B]:right: PLACE THE IMAGE IN A FRAME WITH YOUR NAME/TOPIC
:right: SAVE YOUR FILE IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT:
Chow##_Nickname
[I]example: "CHOW#100_Oregano.jpg"

THE REST IS EASY:
1: No comments before poll is set.
2: Sit back and enjoy the show.
3: Good luck to all.

[Lewis]

:O First!

[Lalilulelo]

I've been waitin' for this.

[ArtbyWard]

Love this chow! :yayca: Here's mine:

[Martheart]

:batgirl: One hot male vampire pinup:

[carguin]

Hello, this is my first post on conceptart.org. Vampire is my favorite thing to paint, so here is mine. Hope you like it.

http://www.ocubeteam.com/CHOW108_carguin.jpg

[GodOfWar]

~_~
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v133/godofwar/chow108_godofwar.jpg

[rvdtor]

my first :yayca:

[tsujni]

final

[skorpi]

My entry :batgirl:

[madhatter106]

Had fun on this one - and black and white seemed okay for this subject matter...

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/madhatter106/CHOW108_madhatter106.jpg

[Kroevyn]

Done :)

[bluemonika]

here's mine

[meltface]

bleh

http://mikeliuzzi.com/sktchbook/meltface_chow_108.jpg

[Aly Fell]

Mine... Not finished, but finished enough!

[Xaya]

Enough!!!

315820

[Mister Robot]

Och well,....

[FunkdaFide]

Dissapointingly, this is all I've got. Not really going to stand up to the rest of this beautiful work. Great stuff, everybody!

[aoleon]

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/8894/chow108hotmalevampireuv6.jpg

[Bell]

First CHOW and post in ages!

[Tom Garden]

Here is mine, not to happy about it

http://tomgarden.co.uk/Webpics/tomgarden_chow108.jpg

[-AP-]

Hi everyone,

Very first image and post here. Hope you like it =)

[ikuru]

Sorry no time for this... Still heres my quick sketch though...
http://www.ikuru.se/2/vampire2.jpg

[deadred]

teh undead cheesecake

[Chicken_Bone]

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g304/nillea/Chow108_Chicken_Bone.jpg

[Yin]

So here it is... I didn't have enough time this week and I'm generally displeased with it. Oh well, I'll try harder next time :S

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/Yin22/CHOW108_Yin.jpg

[cowboy surfer]

Been in a kind of graphic zone lately, experimenting and such... here's my vamp!

316190

[Lucky Munky]

Here's my take on the sexy pin-up Vampire boy.

No insult intended to anyone but a lot of these pics don't say 'pin-up' to me
... So, I wanted to really stay true to the more traditional beef-cake pin-up formula. I hope you like.

[agnostes]

Just finished - a bit rushed at the end. Could be better.
http://www.agnostes.myzen.co.uk/CHOW%23108_agnostes.jpg

[lewisaurus]

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with crits.
And good luck!

[Ebony-chan]

I'd like to thank everyone who took the time out to help me with this and to wish everyone good luck with this. =) All these sexy male vamps make a woman feel like she's in heaven. =)

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k119/Ebonychocolate/VampNicodemuscolor2.jpg

[MarkDN]

Lock up your daughters. Or arm them. I don't like this chap's attitude.

[Nike]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v684/artofnike/chow108_Nike.jpg

[timothee]

Finale
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r146/timdeplace/CHOW108_Timothee-1.jpg

[Tommoy]

Hope i am in time

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t19/Tommoy/Kl9Dk.jpg

[quickreaver]

Pinned up, baby! A little whine with your stake, sir?

[Niva.]

w00t, first CHOW for me, ran out of time to make more updates :(

316474

[Sorknes]

Ran out of time. But here it is. :bashful:

[prepsage]

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/6492/prepsagechow108sp9.jpg

[Eugenesz]

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj316/Eugenesz/UKvamp.jpg

[Jack Frost]

this be mine

[PuppyKitten]

Not as polished as I wanted but I ran outta time. Crits/comments tomorrow!

[nonie]

Woo made it! (kinda)

316610

[metalshit]

Dunno if i am qualify and because i've never post any picture before ><
http://www.eciad.ca/~ttang/vampire6.jpg

[alice_]

meh, rushed background

316663

[Felicia]

Here is my vamp to join the messy eaters club. :)

[zephyri]

Aaaargh, did I make it? OMG I'm so running on empty right now 3 hours sleep to finish this bad boy! Just.. *ahem* pretend not to notice the sloppy brush work in places, mmkay?

316739

[ryuloulou]

here's mine
http://hansstephanie.free.fr/sexyvampire4.jpg

[Shard]

my first chow!! :D it was fun thanks a lot everyone for all the input and critics!!


http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/7317/chow108shardanadh3.jpg

[Gwenevere]

This has GOT to be the most last-minute entry I've ever done... But here he is! Oil and acrylic on board, 15x20 in

[Tin Can]

First time I had internet acces in two days. hope you allow my entry. doesn't look like the thred is closed. hurray maybe :)

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh103/TinInACan/Chow106final.jpg

[Giordan]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v738/casanovahenry/sketchbook/chowfinal.jpg

[Mirana]

Bah, I never finish these things...

317229

[Wollstonecraft]

I super suck at coloring :( hopefully i'll improve with these exercises.

http://www.leisu.net/paintings/nextvictem.jpg

[S.C. Watson]

No Entires Past This Mark

[PuppyKitten]

Lewis: Neat colors for sure. That castle in the bg is creepy too.

Lalilulelo: My vamp looked like yours until I redrew the face. Mine was gonna be black at first (but I can't ever shade dark skin properly, bah). You did great on it though!

IceMoon: Cute hairrrrrr! Oh I just wanna pet him! My only crit would be I think his happy-trail starts a little bit high up.

Artemis: Nice sharp style you've got. I like the clothes too.

carguin: Welcome to CA! That bat looks great and I like how you drew the vampire as well. Stick around, CHOW could use more artists like you. :)

GodOfWar: Really love his face and colors (and the tub of blood, hehe). But that hand is definitely my favorite thing about this. :p

rvdtor: Very meloncholy. I like the mood in this piece.

tsujni: Definitely a big fan of the concept and idea. I like the character, but I am not feeling the strong red. Maybe it's just my monitor.

skorpi: The background looks great. My favorite part actually, hehe.

MadHatter: Whoa. Well hello there. o.o I could totally see this in a naughty calendar XD I even think the b&w adds to it. Good job!

Kroevyn: Great jacket and I like the fade to black on his lower legs.

Bluemonika: Adorable. Your anime is great (none of the pitfalls of typical anime styles) and I think you'll do really well in the poll. ^^

meltface: Ha! Love the mohawk. And oddly enough you did a great job on his belly. Good call removing the girl. I like girly-bits but it was a little distracting. :P

Poshspice: I can see where this was going and it looks great. Too bad you couldn't finish. :(

Xaya: What a crazy coat! I love the way you colored him. So eccentric looking.

Mister Robot: Hahahaha, yours is hilarious (hopefully that was on purpose). Love the mugshot idea, it's priceless.

FunkdaFide: I like the blue tones. Would been nice to see it more finished, but it's still a good drawing I think.

Shera 3000: Seems unfinished to me. The concept seems neat but I wish it was pushed a bit further.

Bell: Very intense eyes, I really like that.

rmygona: The wall/post thing seems very digital and you can see where you used the smudge tool a lot on the vampire. I think this would be really great if it was a little less obviously digital (personaly opinion). I like the hand holding the cup a lot and the face though.

Tom Garden: Great colors and use of brushes. Also a very cute face. How'd you get the fabric to looks so realistic? I can never do that. ;_;

AP: Like everything 'cept the girls boobs. They just aren't looking "right" to me right now.

Ikuru: Adorable. Love him.

Deadred: That cross carved into him looks perfect. Sexy elbows and an interesting mood in this one. Very nice!

Chicken_Bone: I like that you attempted a bg. I think you might have more success with using a different colors for shading the skin. He looks a little "dirty" right now. (maybe on purpose though?)

Yin: Very creepy! Not exactly "sexy pin-up" by traditional standards, but creepy can be hot too, right? :)

Cowboy surfer: I like the graphic-ness. It suits you. Seems like you had fun with this one.

Lucky Munky: I like the "gritty" look it has. And as you said, the drawing fits the "pin up" brief very well.

agnostes: I really like it. Can't help but notice the girls are drawing my eyes more than the vampire. Maybe that's just me though :P

Lewisaurus: I like the pose and facial expression a lot. The detail on the abs is great too. They look perfect. I wish the pecs were as "perfect" as the abs. They seem a little less finished than the rest.

Ebony-chan: I like the fact that you went with a stylization and I like the red eyes. The lips seems very girly (maybe it's cuz they are outlined so it looks like lipstick). That could be because they have blood or because vampires are sometimes girly, but I keep getting distracted by that. Still like the piece a lot though.

MarDN: Oh he's bad ass. I feel like I've been raped just looking at him. D: I like the skin tones too! I agree about the wing being better in front of the arm. It would look less awkwardly posed.

Nike: I like that you were brave with the color choices and went with a pin-up color palette instead of a vampire dreary palette!

Timothee: Looks good! Much better now that the wall is fixed. I really like the angle and mood in this!

Tommoy: Yours is hilarious to me for some reason (which is good, because all the REAL male pin ups make me giggle so you did something right). That hand looks way neat-o!

Dream_sear: Loooove it. The colors, pose everything. His arms seem tiny but I really had to look to notice. You really did a great job!

N1va: I like the concept, but I feel I can't see enough of the vamp. The girl looks great though and I like the veins on the vampire.

Sorknes: I like where you went with this. The concept is great. The tattoos seems a little to "strong", but I love the pose on him.

Prepsage: I like how loose you kept it. I wish I could draw like that. I wish the face was a little bit more defined but I love the loose strokes everywhere else.

Eugenez: I like the idea and that you actually drew a background (most didn't). I also like the way you handled the nighttime colors. The anatomy is a little "bulbous" and roundish so that would be my crit for this one.

Jack Frost: Love his body. His face doesn't scream "hot pin-up" to me though. The colors are really nice so I still think this is a really good one.

PuppyKitten: Why don't you FINISH a drawing before posting you dumbass. You can't just slap up any piece of crap you poop out you know. This forum is pro.

Nonie: you already know what I think but I'll repeat- Sooo wonderful. My favorite entry without exception. My only crit would be the tiles on the wall. They seem a little more "digital" than the reast of the piece. That's not really a bad thing though I guess.

Metalshit: I wish more of the vampire were showing. I really love your style and this would be one of my favorites if it met the 3/4 rule.

Alice: My other favorite after Nonie's. I am totally in love with that boy you drew. His clothes, face, hands... He is just my type and I can't stop looking at him. <3

Felicia: Like the tattoos and sickly skin color. The material on the pants isn't working for me that well but I'm not really looking at his legs anyway. :p

Zephyri: Definitely a good job on this. Maybe it's my computer but his eyebrows and hair seem to be really "digital" look compared to the reast and stand out to me. That nipple ring is great and the subtle blood trickle is perfect (sexy, not gory). This is the most "pin-up" out of them all i think.

Ryuloulou: Still love it. Great concept and execution.

Shardana: Welcome to CHOW! I love his armor and it's a good stance for pin-up work. He seems to get a little lost in the canvas though.

Gwenevere: Nice face, haha. And I am totally impressed you did this with oil/acrylic. Traditional is scary ;_;

Tin Can: Great pose! I think the face looks a little flat around the mouth, but I really like the rest.

Giordan: Oh I like him. He looks eeevil. Style seems comic-booky, which I totally dig.

Mirana: Very exotic. Love the japanse influence and the nose (weird thing to comment on, I know, but I really like it).

Wollstonecraft: Great pose. Totally hot. The girl looks good but the guy's chest just isn't sitting right. If you have time, I'd take another look at it because fixing that one little bit will really bring this up a notch!

[tsujni]

So, did I stray too far from pinup? hot? maybe male? not vampire? :)

[madhatter106]

I haven't voted yet, but I figured I'd come in and make a few notes that might help me figure out who I want to vote for. Mind you, these are my own opinions, based on personal observations and (dare I say it on a vampire challenge) "tastes." Heheheheheh...

The following just didn't fit the pin-up mold for me at all...

cowboy surfer - maybe it's too graphical? lacking in eye contact?
By Lewis - I think his body language doesn't give us "sexy" - too much action; his coloring bugs me, too; maybe it's the value when compared to the rest of it, I wonder what it would look like in grayscale...
Puppy Kitten - though I love the pose, love the painting, it's far too subtle - looks like an entry for a different challenge; he's a vampire? how is it conveyed visually?
Xaya - still looks too girlish to me - like I joked in the earlier thread, too much Tilda Swinton - I think the pose could be much vampier and much more sensual
Shardana - maybe it's the gaping maw of teeth? he looks too cocky without the underlying sexuality and sensuality - it's more a portrait of an armoured vampire chief than a pin-up
Alice - love the idea, love the painting, hate the pose - the body language just doesn't grab me
Jack Frost - the neck is way to thick, and the skull is perched between two fingers and his abductor policis, and not resting in his palm? very awkward - plus you inverted the image and it also inverted all your text with it
Poshspice - so bummed that you couldn't tackle this one - would have loved to see the open coat version, which I felt was much sexier; as a great vampire image it works, but I think it falls short of pin-up territory - there are ways to do it without showing a lot of skin, but he looks more elegant and aristocratic than sexy
Giordan - he looks way too happy to me, maybe it's his mouth/smile
Prepsage - beautiful painting, but he's not selling me on sexy with his pose; perhaps if his eyes were open, I'd be getting more out of him?
Tom Garden - the costume says Greco Roman to me, rather than vampire; I like the lighting scheme, but when I look at him I see Perseus and not Lestat
Bell - you're on the way to sexy, but the pose could be more sensual; maybe it's because he has the can and the tophat, but there are ways of making him carry those that would be better suited and more to your (and the brief's) advantage
Yin - your figure is almost childlike or adolescent - he looks maye fourteen years old - and I don't want Chris Hanson and Dateline NBC cracking down anyone's doors - I think you may have skewed him too young; perhaps it's a proportion or perspective thing for me, but he seems downright small
Tin Can - something in the pose just doesn't do it - maybe it's the angle? He looks to matter-of-fact.


I'm on the fence on the following - can't quite seem to figure out if the sex sells or not...


Ice Moon - the costume bugs me the most - I like the flowing shirt, but it's awkward that the sleeve is rolled up and cuffed with a cufflink and all at that point of the forearm, especially since there's not indication of gathers or folds. Also, I think his belt buckle should be something different; why a bull/cow skull? It's too Georgia O'Keefe, when I look at him and think he's from Translvania.
Arthemis IX - I love the painting, and I love the details of the costume; he's teetering on a knife edge for me to decide whether or not he's pin-up; though yours does have the most playful and whimsical approach to the brief, you should be applauded for it. golf clapping
Kroevyn - he has more of a "woe is me, I'm Hamlet and my father is dead" pose, rather than "I vant to zuck your blaaaaahd." Is it possible to be too emo as a vampire? Heheheheheh. His face and the angle and foreshortening bother me just a little; it's a tricky angle, and something seems flat or off just in the slightest. Your painting, however, is extraordinary.
Lalulelo - great painting - just wish he were just a tad sexier; he's getting there, but I'm not quite ready to tear him out of the magazine yet...
rvdtor - on your way toward sexy, like some of the others - but I think the drawing has too much foreshortening (perhaps it's the style it is done in)...also I think it would have bridged the "sexy gap" if he had been making eye contact? Yeah, looking at it again, I think it would have been much more sexed up if he had been looking at the viewer with a "come hither" glance
skorpi - I love him and the painting, but his costume still says "Vampire Stripper Gram" to me. LOL Perhaps it's how you meant it? I dunno...
Mr. Robot - on the right track in doing a more slimmer and younger vampire, and the costume is great; however, I just can't stop staring at how thick his neck is - it throws the whole thing out of proportion and bugs me. But kudoes for not doing a muscle-bound Chippendale! LOL
Mirana - I like your style and use of line; his hairstyle, though, makes him look like a fashion model from the 1960's; either that or gorilla with the high back cranium. I think it spoils an otherwise great figure.
Blue Monika - the anime-style thing works against this piece, in my opinion; I like that he's youthful and of a more slender and slimmer body type, unlike a lot of others here, but the whole anime thing makes me think he's an elf with sharp teeth. The blood vial on the necklace is a great touch, though!
Meltface - I really liked him earlier with the victim. He's definitely different, I just am on the fence as to "pin-up" and I think it's mostly because of his body language and his pose. Yours is another example of Hamlet vampire - replace the heart with a dirty skull, and he can do "alas poor Yorrick." Maybe that's sexy? I dunno, on the fence on this...
EugeneSZ - I think the fuzzy background detracts from the figure. I think if you had spent another hour on the figure and not done a background, it would have been much more effective.
n1va - damn you almost made my sexy list - but when I looked at this again, I think the girl/victim is in a more languid and sexy pose than the vampire guy! But again, I'd give my eyeteeth to paint half as good as you, sir; that painting is beautiful!


The following nailed it, or got it close enough for me to believe they're pin-ups of any variety/sort. From 1950's provocative beefcake to modern day Playgirl, or advertisements from any one of the free gay weeklies that any major city publishes...


Felicia - great pose, great face; I'm so glad you fixed that hand! The whole "rubbing blood down my chest while I stare into your eyes and consider you for dessert" is a great conveyance you have captured. The only thing I don't like is the tattooing - not that I hate them, but I think it's too much - it pulls focus because it's at the same level as the blood/hand; I think if it had been scaled down, it would have worked better. It also begins to flatten out his whole arm. Plus, why roses? Just curious...but kudoes, I think this may get one of my votes...
-AP- - just the right combination of menace and seduction; a decent balance. He may be just a tad too callous that way he's letting his meal fall by the wayside, but I guess it's because he's fixed eyes on the viewer?
Gwenevere - great pose, great diabolical look he is giving the viewer, and I like the painting style. The background may be just a hair too saturated, as I am fighting to focus on the character, but a great attempt!
Lewisaurus - great pose - definitely a vampire, definitely male, definitely pin-up material. The painting on the background, however, is much better than the actual figure - the figure has a soft gray pencil look, where as the background is fully painted and textured; I find myself drawn to the backing more than the abs and pecs - A for attempt, B- for execution.
Lucky Munky - I see you're taking a more 1950's beefcake approach, and the painting is very evocative. Why the square cut briefs/pants? I like the side detail, I'm just wondering why...
Carguin - great pose, great painting; when I glance at it, I wonder if the bat is a little too prominent. The face is also too feminine, almost like it's a woman's head on a man's body, or at least that's how I am reading it. Great hands!
Dream Sear - f@cking hot. Gorgeous painting, and a different and unique take on the subject; like I said, I haven't made up my mind about voting, but you definitely are on my list.
MarkDN - love the painting style, and the pelvis thrust forward is great. Though I hate how the wings are brough forward in front of his crotch - I understand why you did it, but it just looks so damn awkward. However, again, it's beautifully painted...
sorknes - great pose, and the idea of doing it as a magazine cover is really ingenious. Kudoes!
timothee - one of the few that got the sexy without eye contact - that whole "leaning up against a wall rebel" thing works great in this case. The inverted cross for the necklace is a great touch; and the red suspenders add a nice bit of color to the costume.
Zephyri - I think you guilded the lily on this - as I said in my other post, there's way too much costume and armour and tattoo and decorative foreground going on. I think if you had reigned some of it in, it would have been more effective. The hand on the stomach is great, and the other hand slowly and slightly opening the trousers works really well. The thing that bugged me about him from the neck up is the 80's look - I know that's what you were going for, but every time I look at that face, I think back to the framed posters hanging in every hair salon I went to in high school. He's just so damn 1980's it un-nerves me. LOL, but he's definitely vampire pin-up material.
Tommoy - probably one of the more bulky stocky buffer vampires we've seen. Great pose, and the coffin full of blood is a funny pin-up touch.
Ryuloulou - great pose, and I love the graphical quality of this. The light looks just a bit too much like sunlight, though - but a great illustration. You may have my vote on this...
Nonie - i absolutely love this idea - what a great approach to the brief - he's sexy, and just been made into a vampire, and you capture that moment of realization as to what he's become. The more I think about it, the more I love this idea, and think it's a brilliant choice and brilliantly painted. I'm sure to put a nice check in the box next to your entry!


One person who did a very sexy piece, and I probably would have voted for it, was Chicken Bone. I'm a bit saddened that his didn't make it to the poll - I think the pose and body language are great and the costume is provocative. I wonder if there's a rationale as to this?

There are three others that are in the poll, who I will probably address in a separate post. Those are deadred, GodofWar, and Nike. However, I need to sit down and organize my thoughts/opinions as to these three...

Again, like I said, all of the above is critique/opinion. Glad we had such a great topic for this round! I still haven't made up my mind on the voting for this, there are quite a few good entries...

[Gwenevere]

Gwenevere - great pose, great diabolical look he is giving the viewer, and I like the painting style. The background may be just a hair too saturated, as I am fighting to focus on the character, but a great attempt!

Thanks! And nice in-depth set of crits, kudos for taking the time! Yeah, the background is me fighting the damn acrylic every inch of the way, I'm afraid it shows, doesn't it... The figure is oil, and went a lot better in my opinion. I'll probably go back in and paint over most of the background with oil later... What can I say, I had a day-and-a-half to crank this sucker out... >.<

And Puppykitten, thanks for the comment! Yeah, I'm not sure why I torture myself trying to do this stuff in traditional media on such short notice - other than the fact that it's amazingly great practice! Hair-raising, nerve-wracking and stressful, yes, but that's kind of the point...

By the way, Nike, I have to ask: You ARE riffing on the Barberini faun with that pose, aren't you? (Not that this is necessarily a bad thing... If I'm not mistaken lots of respectable artists have "borrowed" that pose!) Just curious...

Will do proper crits later, I'm supposed to be getting work done... :P

[madhatter106]

By the way, Nike, I have to ask: You ARE riffing on the Barberini faun with that pose, aren't you? (Not that this is necessarily a bad thing... If I'm not mistaken lots of respectable artists have "borrowed" that pose!) Just curious...

This is part of the thing I was mulling over when I sat down to write my crits. It mainly deals with Nike's post as well as dreadred's, and to a much lesser extent (sorry I've misplaced the name) the piece that looks like Brad Pitt in the bloody bathtub.

I think you guys have to be very careful - your instincts are superb, as they are both admirable choices on which to model this brief. However, I think there's a fine line that's being toed, in terms of rote draugtsmanship and painting, and your own interpretations. Perhaps because those pieces in particular are nearly identical to their original sources? Apart from some sharp teeth and the red cloth over his loins, Nike's post is essentially the Barberini faun. And apart from sharp teeth and the cross seared into his flesh, dreadred has given us Peter Steele, in particular the referenced photo which was linked to earlier.

My great wish is that the two of you had used those more as a foundation, and spun off in your own creatively fantastic directions in terms of design - in costume, in detail, in ornamentation, in character - after all, the challenge is Character of the Week! If Barberini vampire had a different costume, or were tattooed or marked in some way, or if Peter Steele vampire had been rendered fully from head to toe, perhaps with leather bondage-style cuffs on his wrists and hot laced-up leather pants or whatnot, it would begin to take them both away from their being almost dopplegangers of the reference photos. Heck, even a totally different shift of lighting would begin to augment and deviate from the refs - film noir streaked lighting, or from an open candle flame or a foggy streetlamp...

I am in no way calling shenanigans, as both of you freely admonish the sources in your posts in the early thread. I know it's not your intent, too, as we are all entered into the good natured spirit of this little competition, as shown by all of our posts here on this forum. Both pieces are well done, and dreadred's in particular is so well painted. Again, my great desire was to see you guys use those sources and really take the design to the next level...we all know you're fully capable of it! :)

Don't get me wrong, photo ref is a fantastic thing, and should be used as much as possible when you need it. But I think we should all be careful about it - we should consider using it as a springboard from which to jump to new heights, and not let it define our work or what we put on the page (or monitor, as it were).

Hope this post was as diplomatic as possible - again, in no way do I think there's shenanigans going on - it's just that those two entries are so close to the original source material, I felt that a cautionary word must be said...

I'm thirsty, who's still up this late for a type O cocktail? :)

[DeKal]

deadred - great color and style.
mark - very nice..would have liked to see it a little more finished and sculpted in areas, but great presence.
dream - beautiful
nonie - very very ill idea...great execution as well
ryuolou - phenominal. best post ive seen from you.

[nonie]

I'm still new to this thing... I only voted for one, such a noob, sorry! Ryuloulou, you got my vote. Love the Klimt reference in the bg and it's not a direct copy - like a sort of goth parody. Nice :)

Puppykitten, thanks! Yeah, the tiles were super quick, you caught me ^_^ had to cheat somehow since I only managed to free one evening to knock this out.

Madhatter - thanks, man, I appreciate your comment and vote :) I wasn't sure if this was pinup enough but I wanted to have some narrative to it.

DeKal, thanks :)


My other favorites were Alice (though I agree the pose could have been better), Dream Sear (more for the painting than the narrative, I really don't dig the death-scene as being sexy? nice pun though, somehow i didn't get it til now :P), and Mark (the wing though, I mentioned already). Zephyri, as I mentioned before, like the sketch better... the colors don't work for me and I have to agree that there's too much going on and it's really 80s. But it IS really *really* pinup.

Edit: Oh and yeah - deadred I love the way yours is painted but even being unfamiliar with your reference it looked overly-reffed. In every other way it would have been perfect but it looked basically like a photo study in a really nice style.

[Mirana]

Seems that all my fav illustrations are not my fav designs. Hmm.

I'm gonna have to skip next week due to a business trip, but I will try to make up for it with crits in this one. If I've critted you in the WIP thread, I'll try not to repeat. Forgive the wall of text and any typos.

Lewis - I like the color (something other than black, yay!), composition, and beasty look of your vamp! His left arm looks like it's coming out of his chest, and subsequently that he's stabbing himself so I'd either make it smaller to suggest it's pushed away from him, or lower it to look like it's bent at the elbow and next to his body.
Laliluleo - He says more "fantasy knight" than "vamp" to me, but I like the patterning and the accessories. The Spawn-like bat cape is a nice touch.
IceMoon - I dig how the shirt rounded out and also the tight pants. Careful on the dribble, 'cause it looks like his head has been severed.
ArthemisIX - Changing the nail to the girlie hairpin is a cute touch!
Carguin - Great illustration! However, it's not much of a design for me. I love the bat and the face on your vamp.
GodofWar - No character design, but definate pin-up--he looks like Brad Pitt. ;) I'd move his left leg down a little (the placement of the thigh it making his torso look short), and the right to the right to line up with the hip. The neck seems a little long too.
rvdtor - Oh man, do I giggle at his skull cod-piece! I like the cocky expression, and though I don't know how his pants work, I like the details. He has abs and nipples of STEEL, but maybe the nips are a little too small, and the right one a bit too low. ;D
tsujini - This isn't my personal taste for "sexy," but I love the color and painterly quality. His torso seems rather long, but who knows how long he's been in that corset. ;)
skorpi - I think the muscles got fuzzier between this and your last WIP. I liked 'em a little more solid! I didn't mention the background last time, but I do like the gesture of it.
madhatter106 - OMG your vamp would scare the crap outta me if I walked in on him (which probably suits him fine)! I think there's more erotica in your vamp doing dirty things to that coffin (and candlestick...), than in any other piece! XD I like the upper torso and butt--very nice! The feet are a bit small, though.
Kroevyn - I really like your vamp's coat design. Also, nice use of color. I am also digging the pose...up to the gesture he's doing with his left hand. I get that he's drinking blood (from himself?) from the rose thorns, but b/c his hand is near his eyes, it takes me a while to figure it out.
bluemonkia - Underaged and skinny isn't my thing, but it's a good character design. I like the hair, vial and belt. I wish you'd had time to finish up his arms and hands.
meltface - Ah! Love the tats and piercings--that pushes the pin-up into the "design" category for me. The spikey talons are nice too.
Poshspice - A lovely sketch as usual. Even though I like the "open coat" sketch, I have to say that I preferred this one in the "hotness" category. Sometimes mystery is much better. The eyebrows are fab and the coat/ruffles combo is solid.
Xaya - Your idea was one of my favs in the early WIP thread. For some reason it has a different feel for me. I like the coat a lot. The torso is long, which makes the arms long, and the hands are big.
Mister Robot - LOL! Your vamp is not the subtle type. I like the punkish take and he's got a nice lower torso! Fingers are a bit skinny and head a bit large.
FunkdaFide - I swear I saw a WIP from you that was a bit better defined! Hm. Despite the corpse, I really liked where you were going with your atmosphere. The moonlight coming in and the vamp looking at us--like we were intruding. There isn't much of a design to him yet, but I'm sure there would have been.
Shaera_3000 - With such a slaughter behind those doors it would have been a nice touch to see some blood on your vamp! He's also a little hunched in the shoulders (though that may be intentional?). I like the compostion and his hands.
Bell - He looks more like a magician than a vamp, but I still like his pin-striped pants. He's got a great face and lovely hair, though!
rmygona - The background/foreground seems over filtered to me--best to skip the extra details if you don't have time to paint them. Are you using the smudge tool for the skin? Take a look at the Photoshop forum and try some of the blending techniques they outline there (much less frustrating!) Nice attempt on the upper torso, and I like the chalise.
Tom Garden - He's on fire! XD He looks like a Roman warrior to me, but he is definately sexy. I love the arm brace and the cloth with light effects.
-AP- - I like the composition with the ominous doors, and your vamp has got a very nice bod. The corpse should be busting out of her bustier (they aren't nearly as good as gravity) and her arm is a little long.
ikuru - This is one goofy vamp. XD I like your frenzied sketch approach (great legs!). I would smooth out his torso a bit--it's a little vivisected looking.
deadred - I really love your painting (lovely hands and torso) and the way you use color, but I wish you'd gone further away from your reference to create a new character.
Chicken_Bone - Pet vampire! :D The yellow in his skin tone gives him a nice velvety look. Cute expression. His left leg is a little short.
Yin - Nice atmosphere! Somebody is definately going to need that guy's leash, cause he looks RABID. Neck's long and foot is small.
cowboy_surfer - I REALLY like this as an image. Nice composition, good color, fun use of line and great interaction. As a design...there isn't much, or much of the vamp himself. I demand more of what is obviously a hot vamp! :P
Lucky Munky - Niiiiiice man shorts. And torso. Definately the pin-up effect you were going for. ;) He seems a little static to me...like you might have kept too close to photo ref, but I like the choppy painting style.
agnostes - Oh my. He definately says "Warrior With Much Hair Product" to me. XD The pants are going in a good design direction...you just need to keep pushing that way with the rest.
lewisaurus - Great pose and sexy expression. Push your contrasts in your torso render, and lower the elbow on your vamp's right arm (you put it at the same spot as the other arm, but the right is lower...). Try to push more in the way of design, and less in the way of sticking to reference.
Ebony-chan - I like the ripped shirt&bandages-fighter look and I'm always a sucker for long haired boys. Try to vary your line weight to add interest and keep the piece from looking flat.
MarkDN - Your vamp looks like a demon from a nudist underworld! XD I love the hair and the face. Gotta respect a guy that can just walk around with 'em hangin' free without a care. Upper arm should probably be a little straighter (or more of an elbow? The bone looks curved atm).
Nike - Nice expression, great foot, and I like the cat (though random ;) ). His left arm looks like it's in two pieces...maybe have it straight out like the right one? I'd also like to see the fabric at his groin have a little plump to it instead of being so flat.
timothee - One of my favs...I love this dude's pants! Also props for the piercings, the shoes and the hair. The left hand looks like it's too low to be in his pocket.
Tommoy - I really like this one. It's a whole lotta silly, but I can't help but enjoy a piece that has a vamp bathing in blood in his coffin. I'm also a big fan of his feet. ;D Face could be a bit more sexay for me, but everybody's different.
dream_sear - What a lovely torso painting! Also love the hands and the play on "pin-up." Personally, I preferred the head on the original thumbnail--more sexy to me 'cause he seemed more defiant and less "victimized"--but this is still a great render.
n1va - He looks like an archangel to me...maybe it's the robe. The lightsourcing is a little all over the place for me. Nice "reaction after blood letting" moment you've caught and props for doing some dreaded foreshortening on his head.
Sorknes - Skirts on guys are very much underrated, and I like the design on yours! Very sexy idea. I didn't realize the bit around his arm was his top until just now...maybe add a little more fabric?
prepsage - This dude looks like a vampire killer, not the vamp itself! Nonetheless, I like your painterly sketch style and his subly good looks.
Eugenesz - Oh my, what a package. I like the background idea and the composition, but I'd like to see your vamp more defined so he doesn't get lost.
Jack_Frost - Great solem beasty design, but nooooot so much hot male. ;D Nice skin texture (looks all wrinkly yet taught in places). Need to vary the length on the fingers on his left hand.
Puppy_Kitten - He's fantastically sexy and has your trademark velvet skin and features, but not a thing in his design says vampire to me. I very much appreciate his thick arms, washboard abs and skinny hip jeans. :D
nonie - So is this...a vampire in the turning? Fantastic concept for an illustration (a favorite) and lovely render! Not enough of him showing to give me any sense of a design, though.
metalshit - Fun illustration, but a headshot gives not much in the way of a design to crit. I assume we could expect piercings to be the theme of such a full-scale design? ;)
alice_ - I considered doing a Cowboy-Vamp, but scrapped it before you posted yours so I'm glad to see somebody went there! I really enjoy this and the previous render. Definately sexy, but in a subtle and much more potent way. His pose and expression scream dangerous to me.
Felicia - Hello, package! He has the sexy expression, I like his torso, and the rose tats are a great touch. The blood is quite finger-paint like and the tats could be better integrated to look like they're in his flesh, instead of drawn on.
zephyri - This guy is definately and completely 80s. Also, a definate look-but-do-not-touch...because there is no safe way to do so! So many points! XD The skin tone is velvet and the details are nice. I think there may be too many bright color spots going on, because I can't seem to focus on any point before my eyes are darting to the next.
ryuloulou - Lovely use of color and the background was a nice surprise! I love your vamp's sneer. Though I wish there was more to see in his clothing design, I love the inverted color as part of the illustration.
shardana - Not sexy, but a fun design. He looks like he's having a good harty laugh at being a vampire. :D
Gwenevere - Fun composition and great expression on your vamp. The blood pattern and dripping is a great addition. If it's not due to the camera, the hair being darker (at least as much as the architecture) would really make him pop.
Tin_Can - His bellybutton area is way high on his torso--bring his legs up to work with that foreshortening. Nice blood texture on the wine glass.
Giordan - He does not say vamp to me, so much as "King of Galaxy." Great vest design. That background must have driven you nutty with the detail!
Wollstonecraft - Push the vampiness! The anatomy on your girl is decent, but your vamp is a bit thick in the chest. Great idea with doing "the moment of seduction."

[Mirana]

I'm going to make a small appeal here for some crits, because though I'm trying a whole bunch of different things I still need to know where I'm screwing up so I can work on that specifically. Without crits, I'm just guessing. So PLEASE tell me what kept me from getting your vote (you can PM if you like!). Anatomy, concept, color, composition, finish, whatever.
Do a gal a favor. :D



Mirana - I like your style and use of line; his hairstyle, though, makes him look like a fashion model from the 1960's; either that or gorilla with the high back cranium. I think it spoils an otherwise great figure.

He's got some thick hair and a ponytail...is it the thickness on the head, or the ponytail behind? I can't imagine hair's the only reason to send your vote elsewhere, so if ya got more I'll take 'em. :) Since I won't be doing next week's, I'll probably pick at this one before my trip.

[bluemonika]

hi. arthemis's drawing is kinda cute :P i like the idea :) and i really like the background in gwenevere's drawing. allilulelo's vampire is also very nice because you don't get to see black ones very often and i like his face :) and puppykittens is really a cute guy as well :) nice colouring as well. and then finally skorpi's vampire is very classic but there is something about him that i like nonetheless :) but the rest look al very nice as well. i think this topic was pretty populair :) and the nonie's vampire looks cute as well and i really like the idea. well done!

@mirana: mine actually isn't supposed to be underaged ^^; but i am not good at drawing muscles so i was afraid i would ruin it by drawing them ( and i am not into muscles that much either) so i guess his slenderness makes him look pretty young eh? ^^; tough i must admit..seeing mine here between all the rest makes the drawing look....a bit out of place. but i am satisfied on how it is doing in the pol so far...i honestly expected it wouldn't get any votes at all.

[nonie]

Mirana... Since you asked... I like the color scheme and design all right but it's just not "drawn" very well - the face and anatomy need quite a bit of work. It does look like you spent some time painting this which is great - but it's more important to spend time getting the drawing done well than the painting. Some ref could have helped a lot. Also, the blood on the fabric looks like paint or red chalk - on dark fabric it would just show up as darker, you wouldn't see the red. And I dunno why so many people did the guys holding bits of guts or a heart... Gore's a bit more more gross than attractive. So, sorry, I guess there were a few reasons you didn't get a vote from me.

[mythril_golem]

i voted felicia, deadred, markdn, zephyri, ryoulou
@puppykitten: the guy seemed too pink and squidgy for a vampire (if that makes sense). though i did like the angle and the shadow.
@mirana: I think the guy and his victims look pasted on here, i mean i can see that there was some integration but it still looked/felt wrong. the other reason was that while the blood on his skin was done well, blood on the cloth looked odd. in some places the blood has an almost solid consistency and it's colour seems unaffected by the cloth, which i think it would be.
@bluemonika: i think someone can be slender and still not be childlike, maybe it was the proportions. reminds me of a younger hiruma.

[Mirana]

bluemonika - He looks about 14 and right out of a shounen-ai story. It's not just the slender build, but the large eyes and round, child-like face. A longer face probably would have aged him quite a bit.

nonie - Wow, it's been a really long time since I've had a crit on my anatomy, so if you feel inclined to give specifics, please PM me. Apparently, it must be really bad if ref would have "helped a lot." Especially since there was ref as my fiancee was so kind as to strip down and get into the pose for me. Also, I much prefer the drawing process and do much more of it than color, so I don't want you to think that I'm substituting "painting" for drawing. I spent a day on the drawing (with much reversing and perspective thumbnailing), and quite a few hrs on the face alone doing different face types, before I moved on to color. If anything, I'm always rushed on the color bit and thought that was my weak point (good thing I'm asking!).

The bright blood was a stylistic choice (like the bright tats), since as dark as it would need to be it would have never shown up (also a time issue). He's holding a drinking bowl with blood in it (no more gross than the wine glasses, I would imagine).

mythril_golem - A casuality of trying a reverse approach this time--I did the background first and had time to do with it as I pleased, and then left scrambling to put color to character. I tried a compromise with some line on the foreground vamp, but perhaps that seperates him too much? If you have any more insight on what I might try on intergrating, send me a PM.

[ryuloulou]

wow, thanks for the huge compliments,

madhatter106 I first thought about adding some smoke coming from his belly due to the "suntan" but finally thought it would be a bit too heavy graphically, so I finally decided to let it rest againts the wall in his "my skin is gonna burn so what?" attitude. :)
DeKal I am really trying to find something new and improve my artworks in general. chow is a fantastic place to do it.

tsujini I think that you have misplaced the barrier existing between sexy and pornographic. try to imagine the equivalent If your vamp had been a girl . "Sexy" is in the suggestion I think. If you show too much, there's no mystery left.
I voted for
puppykitten I like the "non obviously vampire" look .
Garguin great entry, I love the colors
Nonie most inventive piece for me. An excellent concept very well done. It's best quality is to be subtle.

[skorpi]

@PuppyKitten: Thank you for the comment :)

@madhatter106: Thank you, I had fun using some clichées

@mirana: Thanks, your right, his muscels went fuzzy with the shading

Really difficult to descide, there are so much good entrys

Felicia He's sexy, I like how his bloody hand

Artemis IX I really like his pose

Gwenevere I really like the pic and his grin

Laliluleo I like the design and your painting especially the blue light

Carguin I love his pose and your painting

Mirana I like the desing and the coloring

Zephyri I like the sketch better but your finel looks good too.

Ryuloulou My favorite, I love his facial expression and your painting style

Nonie I like the Idea and your vampire is very sexy

[tsujni]

*** snip ***

tsujini I think that you have misplaced the barrier existing between sexy and pornographic. try to imagine the equivalent If your vamp had been a girl . "Sexy" is in the suggestion I think. If you show too much, there's no mystery left.
*** snip ***


I think your right, I may just be too porn saturated. That being said, I think there is a place for both the implied and the explicit. I decided explicit. As for imagining my vamp as a girl, I was hoping the next chow was going to be the female equivalent. * sigh * I may just create his "sister" as a personal project. It is odd that you choose Klimt, I would've pick Schiele. :)

desensitized - that was the word i was looking for. I think my first post in the 'non-final burning' thread says it all. My cognitive trail was to think about the word pinup, an image to be pinned up usually connoting sex. Pinup many connote a time period, 50's. However, imagine if the pinup developed during the 1990's. In my mind, the pinup is the centerfold is the hardcore internet porn. So that was the process by which I decided to stray as I did.

[deadred]

madhatter106, nonie, Mirana: thanks muchly for the critique! yeah i'm still working on my confidence in drawing guys, male anatomy still confuses the hell out of me, nothing can fix that but more practice, no excuses >.<
thanks PuppyKitten, DeKal, mythril_golem, for the feedback, i'm surprised that i got any votes lol

tsujni: i was disappointed your entry didn't make it to the poll, it may not be technically perfect (the background colors were abit too harsh and drowned out the character abit, and the lighting could use more work to give the character better form) but i was fond of the concept and would've had a vote from twisted lil me :)

[Kroevyn]

Some crits:

Lewis: The composition here is great, there's a nice sense of movement & flow to the image. Some areas (such as the arm & the drapery) are a little hard to read though, because of the lack of contrast. Also, the tower in the background is blending into the drapery a little, making it a little lighter & blending it into the background more will help bring out the figure.

Lalilulelo: I really like the colours here, the create a nice atmosphere. The costume also looks great. I'm a little confused about the wing/left side of his cape; the texture and colour seem to suggest that it is part of the cape, but I don't understand how/why it is in that shape.

IceMoon: Great work, I like the traditional vampire approach here. The folds on his left sleeve look a bit odd, I think some areas might be a little too dark, and it's a little difficult to tell where the light source is. But great design overall.

Arthemis IX: Hehe nice, I like the 'pinup' idea. His costume is also amazing, I love all the details. Hmm there's not much to critique here, except maybe his legs are a little too skinny in comparison to his upper body, but.. yeah, great work :D

carguin: Welcome to CA :) Nice work, I quite like the way you've rendered the hands. I think the piece looks a little unfinished though, because everything sort of blends into each other. Some more refinement would be good.

GodOfWar: I think you've absolutely nailed the pinup thing, everything looks great. There are only a few minor issues.. the fingers all look like they're the same length, and the blood could do with a few highlights, because right now the texture doesn't really look like it's liquid. But overall it's a great piece.

rvdtor: The pose is good, but there are a few issues with the lower body; his legs look a little big (especially his left leg), and his lower torso is too wide. I think it might help if you looked at some reference images of foreshortening & such. The image has potential though. the costume is also interesting.

tsujni: I love the vivid colours & the textures. Hmm something about the anatomy seems odd, but I can't quite figure out what. Perhaps the torso is a little elongated.. not too sure :/ Great work overall.

skorpi: The costume & overall design looks great. I love the background as well. His cape looks really stiff though - I think it's because of how the edge of the cape is so straight on the left... bringing it down a little might also help.

madhatter106: You've achieved a great mood & atmosphere in this image. Black & white does work very well. Perhaps some areas could be a little lighter though.. especially the candle. There are also some issues with anatomy; his right foot looks a little small.. I think tilting the foot back a little might help as well.

bluemonika: Great work, I like the colours in this image. Love the pose & his expression as well. I think the torso looks a little flat in some areas, adding some darker shadows might help.

meltface: Nice design overall, I love the super long nails & of course the mohawk :D The rendering on the figure is great as well. It might be interesting to have the figure actually look out at the viewer though. The top left corner is a little hard to read, I wasn't sure if it was part of the background, or a wing or something?

Poshspice: Look great, even though it's not finished I love his expression & costume. Only a minor critique.. his right hand looks a little odd, it's hard to tell exactly how he is holding onto his cane.. apart from that this is great. I hope you finish it some time.

Xaya: I love the colors... the orang-brown works well with the green. His legs need a big of work..the left leg looks a bit too long in comparison to his right. And perhaps the right foot would look better pointing out towards the viewer or slightly to the left of the image. Apart from that it looks great

Mister Robot: The pose looks good, and the overall design is nice, however I think the image could be a little more contrasted... there doesn't seem to be any clear shadows & highlights, and that is making the image look flat. Also, his right hand seems a little strange, the fingers are a little too straight and thin. Anyways, as I said, great design & idea, certainly looks like a pin-up :)

FunkdaFide: Nice work, the composition is great, and the blue-ish tone suits the subject. I hope you find the time to finish it :)

Shera 3000: I like the composition of this image... it's very pin-up-like. Some areas need to be a little more refined, as it is hard to make out some of the details .. especially in the face & torso. Also, you could try to experiment with a larger variety of colours - for example using blues & purples for shadows & etc. In terms of presentation, perhaps it would be better to put the CHOW number and your name on the border rather than in the actual image, or if you really want to put it in the image, write it somewhere that is more discreet (small letters at the bottom of the image). Overall I think you've made a good start, but it just needs a few more finishing touches :)

Bell: Great work on the rendering & colours. The hat is a little hard to see, so perhaps a few highlights on that might help bring it out a bit more, but other than that, nice work

rmygona: I think you're on the right track, but the image looks a little unfinished. The colours seem a little washed out, & the figure could do with a little more contrast. Hmm not really sure what's happening with the eyes, but I think for the pose that you have, it might make a more striking image if his eyes are ..normal & staring straight at the viewer :)

Tom Garden: Wow.. the textures & colours are amazing. Hmm.. I'm not sure I'm seeing a lot of Vampire-ness in it, but still a great image...not a lot to critique really.

-AP-: I like how the figures stand out against the dark background, & the composition in general is quite nice. However... I don't think having the victim there is very 'pinup' or hot... actually a bit scary O_o But anyways, the image itself is quite nice.

ikuru: Good work so far, looks like it has potential. The pose is interesting, but, right now I'm having trouble figuring out the position of the legs. Hope you find time to refine it a little

deadred: This is pretty much perfect. Love the colours & painterly texture, the pose works well. HOT. lol no critique here.

Chicken_Bone: Great pose, I think it's perfect as a pinup. The colours on the figure seem a little muddy though & I think a wider variety of colours could be used - eg shadows could be a cooler colour. Everything seems a little blurry.. some areas just need to be tightened up a little to create focus and make the image appear more finished.

... aaand I'll do the rest tomorrow :)

[GodOfWar]

PuppyKitten: Thanks! The original pose was a little bit different, and that hand was actually added as a mid-thought.
Miranda: I appreciate the crits. Your obviously right, but that's what happens when you don't bother to use reference :/
Kroevyn: I do think the pin-up thing was the key word in this chow. You're right about the pool, it was so rushed. Thank you.

A lot of great works here. Here are a few pieces that caught my eye:
Arthemis: I love the whimsical approach. Wonderful character design.
PuppyKitten: The excecution is nice, but the vampire motif is almost non-existing.
Carguin: I really like the graphical quality in your piece. That bat and the pose of the vampire are great.
Dream Seat: The anatomy and rendering are spot-on! I would have like it to have a more ominous atmosphere to it, as it feels a little too 'cute' to me.
Alice: The colours are beatiful and I liked the not-so-obvious approach.
Nonie: It has the most interesting concept of all the works.

[Nerahla]

I voted for quite a few this time around, because this topic is pet to me - I've roleplayed Vampires for years - and actually, it's how I met my husband. We were roleplaying in an ancient AOL chatroom nine thousand years ago. Vampire: The Masquerade, anyone?

Anyway, I've quite solid ideas of what kind of Vampire I think is sexy. I'm sorry to say that so many of you missed the mark of what the brief was looking for - but I think that's been covered already.

My favorites were Deadred and Zephyri's, for the pure fact that those were the only guys who were ACTUALLY ATTRACTIVE.

I think this was key, and yet soooooo many people just ignored it. I did quite dig MarkDN's and Ryuolou's (sp?) for pure design and concept, they were well done even if they weren't sexy at all. Love the Klimt reference ;)

Anyway, I wish I could have participated, but I had the fortune of being on holiday in the UK :P Maybe next time!

[aoleon]

Interesting that I didn't make it to poll...would love an explanation...

anyway, my votes went to alice and mirana, mainly for good composition and design.

Mirana>>You're right, as he is the act of trying to leave the scene discreetly, he is intentionally sort of hunched and stiff...

[S.C. Watson]

Interesting that I didn't make it to poll...would love an explanation...

When Daestwen and I were going through the entries last night, we couldn't find the vampire in your piece. There's a lot of blood, to be sure. But blood does not a vampire make.

There were a couple of entires that ran into this problem. We felt that they simply missed the brief.

Ciao,
~Oreg.

[Bell]

Hi, just a thanks for the comments and crits :)

I've missed the mark and can now think of how he'd look more of a pin-up, just saw this CHOW on Saturday and was inspired to quickly get going. Would have been good to have had time to post wips for some feedback! Next time....

Lots of great entries, but think I really liked the style of Ryuloulou's best and also loved the ref to Klimt.

Cheers

[quickreaver]

Man, this was tough! So many killer entries. *rimshot* I guess I can comment on a few pieces; wish I had time to note each and every one.

Cowboy Surfer: Cool illustrative style, but this doesn't come off as a portrait of him, more a portrait of the couple. He needed to be more of the focus.
Felicia: You rocked it. I think the blood could've been just a little desaturated, though...in moonlight, red loses its brightness. I dig his wicked, wicked face!
Arthemis: Very thorough, cute concept!
Gwenevere: Great design, adorable smile. The moon is the wrong color for me, but shoot, that's hardly anything! He's hawt.
Lewisaurus: Good attempt, but his face is not in proper perspective (that's a tough angle!), and overall, it looks a little too referenced.
Lucky Munky: Here again, looks a little too referenced from a photo. And his right hand is a tad squished, to fit in the page. I like your painterly style, though.
PuppyKitten: Cute guy! Not the least bit a vampire, though. The creepy shadow is a nice touch. I'll bet without it, your piece wouldn't have gotten in, due to lack of supernatural elements. Maybe. Dunno! Still, he's a cutie patootie.
Carguin: Gorgeous brushwork! His head looks a little small for me, but the overall design is killer.
deadred: You're a wonderful painter; I've perused your site. But this is FAR too referenced from the photo. I recognized it, straight away.
God of War: Nice blood bath! I wouldn't have used Pitt for the face, though. That immediately pegs the image as 'Louis', who wasn't exactly the 'pin-up' of the series. The face might be a tiny bit big, too. But hey, great try.
MarkDN: Fantastic brushwork. Hot bod. Drool.
Alice: Oooh, lovely design and non-goth colors. I wants me a Wild West vampire!
PoshSpice: Charming, effete, and a spiffy dresser! The Count is dead, long live the Count...
Gordan: Just a little too dark, overall. Could use a wider range of values, but I so dig the design and his toothy grin.
Mr.Robot: Sid Vicious meets The Lost Boys. Yummers!
Mirana: Awesome setting. The only thing that just doesn't work for me is the mouth/chin area. It's small and a tad conceptualized, and the mouth is such a huge focus when you're creating a vampire, it really impacts the piece. Great hands, though.
Timothee: I love your palette and the heightened perspective. Nice buttery paintwork, too.
Zeph: Yup. Scrumptuous. But I think serveral other folks have addressed the 'gilding the lily' aspect. There's just a little too much frou-frou on the poor guy. Might be the flowery colors, too. If he'd been a little more goth-colored, it might not have mattered. Just a thought!
Bluemonika: Great pose. I'm not much into anime/boychick stuff, but he's cute.
Ryuloulou: MY FAVE! The sneer, the design, the reference to Klimt. Killer.
Nonie: I adore your concept! It really tells the tale. And his expression is priceless.

*phew!* Great job, everyone. :batgirl:

[nonie]

Thanks ryuloulou, skorpi, and godofwar for your comments :) Edit: and dream sear, you posted at the same time as me :)

@mirana - Geez, you asked what you could improve and I just was trying to help! Don't be upset. The general proportions are okay but the muscles don't work very well, you could benefit from learning the origins and insertions of each muscle and applying that to your ref to help you understand what's happening in the body. Sorry I didn't think it was from ref... His chest looks puffy, his neck is extremely short, the armpit area doesn't work (the pec should overlap to insert onto the humerus), the latissimus dorsi seems to be missing, and the chin and lower jaw is super sharp and small and the teeth are tiny. Also, there's a line between drawing something as a style choice and something just looking wrong - the blood showing up on dark cloth is just not something it could possibly actually do, so it makes it look like it's not blood. As I said, the color and design work for me, the structure just doesn't. I'm not by any means saying it's a bad piece, please don't take it that way! I was just trying to be honest with you, you asked what you could improve... Your tone is really aggressive and I didn't mean to make you angry. I'm sorry if my tone seemed harsh, sometimes having something typed out alters the connotation a bit... Anatomy is something that no one ever really "finishes" learning, you shouldn't be offended to hear that you could improve something that you should know you can always improve :/ And that's awesome that you hubby will pose for you! I go to life drawing sessions 1-3 times a week to keep in shape and continue to learn.

[Gwenevere]

My favorites were Deadred and Zephyri's, for the pure fact that those were the only guys who were ACTUALLY ATTRACTIVE.

I think this was key, and yet soooooo many people just ignored it. I did quite dig MarkDN's and Ryuolou's (sp?) for pure design and concept, they were well done even if they weren't sexy at all.

*Ahem* I think perhaps you should modify this statement to say that you're considering what YOU PERSONALLY find attractive and sexy. Judging by the range of tastes exhibited in the comments so far, it's obvious that everyone has their own idea of what's attractive.

Let's face it, there's NOTHING quite as subjective as sexiness. You really can't apply a blanket statement to the subject of personal attractiveness. Just sayin'. ;)

[Mirana]

I'm....not upset. o_o I....was genuinely asking for specifics because I don't get crits in that area and was trying to illustrate that after using reference, flipping the canvas, etc that I couldn't see the problem. Uh, in other words--that YOU could see it, so I needed a little more help. Not angry. Not even a little bit and I thank(ed) you for both crits! :)

[nonie]

I'm....not upset. o_o I....was genuinely asking for specifics because I don't get crits in that area and was trying to illustrate that after using reference, flipping the canvas, etc that I couldn't see the problem. Uh, in other words--that YOU could see it, so I needed a little more help. Not angry. Not even a little bit and I thank(ed) you for both crits! :)

Ah okay, with the italics and such it seemed angry. Dang typed words having no intonation!

I know it can be hard to see something when you're too close to it. Sometimes I ask friends for paintovers to spot things I didn't see or think of. Sometimes I will leave something untouched for a couple days and come back to it. Sometimes, which is the case with my entry, I do it so quickly that if something is wrong I didn't put that much time in so it's no big loss, heh :P Not forming attachments to your work helps a lit ^_^

[mythril_golem]

I'm....not upset. o_o I....was genuinely asking for specifics because I don't get crits in that area and was trying to illustrate that after using reference, flipping the canvas, etc that I couldn't see the problem. Uh, in other words--that YOU could see it, so I needed a little more help. Not angry. Not even a little bit and I thank(ed) you for both crits! :)

all posts need to be evenly punctuated with smilies (actual smiling ones are preferable) on the net, it's just one of those things that don't translate well online, like sarcasm.
as for the bg character blend problem, i think it has to do with the huge gap in rendering quality. the bg almost seems photorealistic (esp in the thumbnail). That's all i can think of, after all i'm no genius at this art thing.

[Aly Fell]

As this wasn’t a ‘concept’ heavy brief, I’ve gone for prity picshers, and just what I like visually.

Voted for:

Lalilulelo – (What a lot of ‘L’s) Love the character and the colours. Would like to have seen more of him (fnar), I mean his legs, but that’s a choice thing.

Carguin – Love it! Smashing mark making and subdued colours, and the bat’s groovy too.

Alice – Really fab image. Like the approach and the cowboy chic. He doesn’t jump out to me as vampire, but I’m an aesthetic creature at heart! :)

Giordan – Love his expression. My only beef with it is the darkness; need to see more detail!

Zephyri – The face is great, and the looseness of the leather jeans is really refreshing. What a chest! Yeah eighties… maybe. But the eighties gave us The Fields of the Nephilim so I’m not complaining. The only thing I’m not sure of is the gradient background.

Ryuloulou – My fave! Homage to Klimt sells it big style, but there’s a bit of Robert McGinnis in there too. Fab!

I’ve got to say that attractiveness is totally subjective. There are more than two characters here that are good looking in my opinion. It’s what floats your boat in the end. :)

Can we have a hot female vampire pin-up some time too… pretty please…?

[Wollstonecraft]

Mirana: since you specifically asked, I'll give you my reasons!
this is NOT meant to be cruel but my first thought when i saw your image was transvestite. I just think the face looks too feminine, and it's more than the long flowing hair, but just a lack of masculinity in the facial features.
second thing that stood way out is the head is sitting way too low on the body/no neck (i actually had that problem with mine along with this one:) upper arm does look a bit short, if when you drive your elbow into your side it is suppose to line up with top of hip bone looks a little short on the mark. i saw it in mine after i colored it too.
other than that: steps rock! the fabric works great, love the tattoos, can't tell you how much i love the steps though!

[Lewis]

Thanks for the many crits, they definately help!
It was a fun round

High percentage of "corny" entries, in my opinion though.. Yes they stick good to the topic, but just a sexy male with one drop of blood and no background is in my opinion not that interesting to look at ;)

Thats why i voted for Carguin

[Mirana]

mythril_golem - I've been trying to do something different with the render/color approach in every piece, and this time it was "Do the dreaded background first." Thus, more time for it and stupid-crazy rush to do the character. It's good to know that I am capable of photo-like rendering if given the time (thank you!), especially on something as hated as backgrounds. ;) FYI, the background is not from a photo (http://www.hikarikat.com/mirana/temp/bkgd.jpg), excepting a teeny granite swatch that I used to snag a pathetically bad brush (I'm sorta blundering through this whole brush/texture thing).

Wollstonecraft - Is it the eyelashes or the lips (or both!)? Lips are #1 on my "Casuality of Time" list and top to be edited (lip lines tend to make males look more femme, so that needs to go). The eyelashes I gotta keep, 'cause I tried a number of simplistic eye styles and didn't get the look I wanted...guess I like those boys with eyeliner. XD

He's reclining, with one shoulder higher than the other, so that makes the stretch longer than it would be for the hip measurement. Less of the neck is showing cause the pec is in the way (though I agree the pec needs to be shaved). I'm thinking the hair covering those areas my be to blame on the shoulder/neck area...it's easier to see in the line form. (http://hikarikat.com/mirana/temp/vamp_m.jpg)

Thanks on the steps (for reasons above) and such! The tats are vampy modifications of the Thunder and Wind God (http://www.kyotointernational.com/gallery.html) panels by Ogata Korin that I fell in love with in Tokyo.

MUCHO THANKS to everyone who's been so kind as to give me a crit thus far (and in future?) I was not expecting much. If you feel so inclined, please abuse the PM feature so I don't torture everybody else with more of my crap. :D

[Sorknes]

Great entries :D

Alright, first the ones I gave my votes to, I decided to do ten votes for this delicious topic, and tried to spread them over different skill levels as I see them in here. :)

Felicia I like. Clean, vampire, sexy stare. I wish the tattoos was a lil different, but that's all down to taste. :)

Arthemis IX Funny. :D I like the stylized version here, and the lipstick mark and all. The legs comes out a bit weird to me, but that might just be me. ^^

Gwenevere Simply because it's a true pinup, just laying there with his slightly psycopathic grin, for the womens pleasure, hehe. The background steals a bit of the attention, but I read the explanation for that. :)

Laliluleo I liked this from the moment I saw it. It varies from the others being an african vampire. And I like the cold colours on the char itself and the warmer background making it clearer. Less people than I thought based anything on vampires like Blade as well, so it's a refreshing image among the others. :) Prettiful ^^

Skorpi Hard to miss this one is a vampire, hehe. The shadows and highlights looks a bit off to me, but it I like it being so blatantly vamipiric. :)

Carguin Just because it's beautiful. Women tend to hang posters like that on the wall instead of just the basic "bare chest, sexy stare and half open jeans", at least I did and most of my friends back in our teenage days. That's one I'd still have on my bedroom wall. ^^

MarkDN Ooh... nasty boy. I like nasty boys on my wall. Wing a bit weird, but you've already gotten feedback on that. :)

Mirana It's a bit gorey for me, but I guess vampire chicks would easily buy that, hehe. Else than that I like the idea itself, and the tattoos are different. I see you've already gotten some feedback on it. :)

Zephyri Oooh, 80's. And 90's... *lol* I voted for this one because of the simple fact that it has a lot of similarities with what was on some walls back in the beginning of the 90's when I was young and stupid. ;) Now I'm just stupid. :P It has a nice border thing so it's not just a "photo" of a man. Me like. :)

Tom Garden It is bewtiful. I'd really like to see more refinement in it, but it does a lot as it is for the viewer.

I'll come back to the rest of you guys later, it takes time to go through them all, heh. :)

[zephyri]

Okaaay, some feedback. Red were the guys I voted for.

Cowboy Surfer: the pose is really quite nice, and I dig the colours you've used, but the linework is often distracting from the form, for example, the lines of the rib cage are definitely taking away from any normal anatomy and reducing his sex appeal. I do like his facial expression though!

Felicia: Voted for this one! Great take on the subject and I love the way he's dragging the blood across himself, very sexy! I think maybe the creases on the pants seem overdone, but heck, who's looking at his pants!

Icemoon: I love the kind of modern classical look he has in his clothing and the echo of red in the flower. Would have liked to have seen just a hint of texture in the hair, but other than that, it all looks good to me.

AP: the vamp himself looks interesting, but there's way too much background to really be able to see him up close, and my eye is drawn to the big blank space above the figures. The rendering on her skin looks really nice though, especially the sheen on her chest.

Arthemis: Very kooky style, I love his cheeky expression, he seems to have that classic dracula look to him I find appealing. The clothing is well designed too, especially like the feathery tassles! The knees look just a touch skinny up to the rest of his body, but it's a nit picky detail that I'm digging to find, to be honest!

Bell: Nice start, definitley, I'd have loved to have seen this pushed to another level with some more rendering, especially around his face. His expression doesn't really say much to me, not sure what he's thinking, and the fact he appears to be looking away from the viewer means I don't feel as engaged with him as I should. But I'm digging the cane and top hat, always a good combo.

Gwenevere: I can honestly say I'm impressed with how quickly you got that done for acrylic and oils! Great seeing the progress shots of him too, always interesting. I love the diagonals in the background and his body, and the pose id definitely sexy. Another piece I'd have loved to have seen a little lustre to his hair in, but it's not essential. Love the backlight on his leg too.

Kroevyn: The brilliant blue in this piece really caught my eye, I love how you've used it in the skin tones, and then made it jump with those subtle hints of brassy orange. Very nice. Something in the planes of his face feels off for me, perhaps the line of his mouth, drawing from corner to corner it looks like it's slanting on a different angle to his eyes and nose, but that might just be me.

Lali: Nicely rendered, aside from the winged cloak, which spoils it ever so slightly for me. Love the blue tones used on the skin though. He doesn't necessarily scream vampire to me, but thats not a bad thing, per se.

Lewis: Unusual colour palette and I thought your sketch was really strong. His hand and wrist look very small upto say his shoulder and rib cage, and the red tattoo design is detracting from the forms you'd rendered with the greener skin tones. White hair is always hot though, so kudos for that eheheh.

Lewisaurus: The body looks great, though the six pack seems a little uneven... the hip muscle is nicely done though, as is the blood texture on his arms and neck. The jaw line is probably a little too raised given you can see so much of his face, I would have made it point down a little more, and maybe made his whole head just a little bigger. But definitely got the pinup vibe.

Lucky Munky: Ehehe I love those leatehr hotpants, they're awesome *grin*. The teeth feel a little forced to me, and it strikes me that you've maybe open his mouth from the original ref pic, without adjusting the jaw to account for it, as his lip looks very close to the bottom of his jaw.

PuppyKitten: Gods I love your rendering style and colour pallette, it's gorgeous, especially the skin tones. Mmm. He's definitely more subtley vampire, but you got the sexy pose and quiet confidence very nicely.

Rvdtor: Oi vey, that is one heck of a codpiece! Yikes, I bet that's kinda scary to do sit ups with.. O.o The pose is nice, though the clothing design does baffle me a little (like how will he walk?) But another white haired guy, which is definitely thumbs up.

Skorpi: Nothing like a dapper gentleman vampire doffing his hat to you. Really like the cooler colour palette here and the background is nicely done. I think the left edges of his torso could maybe have done with being a little harder, just to offset the softer shading of the muscles, but other than that, it looks really good.

Xaya: I love the turquoisey overtones in his skin and the way you've used that to offset the orangey bloodtones, very nice. His left leg as we see it is very short up to the other one, considering it's bent, when he straightens it, it'll be longer than the left one!

TinCan: He's got a very nice come hither look to him, and the head tattoos are a nice touch. His teeth feel a little to far forward in his mouth, but this would be easily solved by adding a shadow under his lip to push them back. I'd have probably left the lines off the background or filled them out a little more. The glass is well rendered!

Carguin: Love the style of this piece and the inclusion of the bat is fantastically done. Love his pose too, the arms and hands are very sexy and I can't tell you how I envy your ability to paint knees at that angle.

Cris: Muahahah he came out lovely, veery sexy bod and I really like the paler colour choice. I'm wondering whether that stake is actually in his heart or not, but thats being way picky. And mm vampire bondage is just yum.

Deadred: I LOVE this piece, my fave of the bunch. I always forget the impact of a choppier style in my pursuit of rendered perfection, and this is a timely slap in the face reminder of that. Beautiful colour choices too, and drop dead sexy to boot. His face is by far the sexiest of the bunch. Nothing to crit, just a heap-o-drool and a vote.

Godofwar: Another sexy bod! The bath idea is a nice take on the pin up theme. His face reminds me of brad pitt a little, just something in the curve of the lips and the hair for some odd reason. I'd have liked to have seen his jaw defined with a touch more shadow, but other than that, it looks good!

Shardana: I love his outfit! And I think you did well on the lighting on the cape. His face is the weaker point in the pic for me, his nose seems very small, but that angle is such a hard one to pull off well.

Mark DN: Another one that got my vote... he's definitely my idea of sexy. Love the submissive viewpoint you've given the viewer and the subtle position of the wings is great, not to mention their patterning, very unusual. The curly long hair is another plus point for me too. All in all there's a nice sense of movement about him.

Alice: Kudos for having a different take on what a pin up could be, I actually like the background, despite it's quickness, it gives the guy more personality. I really like hs legs, for some odd reason too.

Jack Frost: Really like the colours on this one too, though I'm not entirely sure he'd be classified as "hot" per se! Not sure whether it's just the smaller preview, but he seems to be missing his nose tip, but that could just be the strong lines around that part of the face.

Aly: Damn man, for a sketch it came out great! He's definitely my idea of sexy.. though I prefered the one with the manflesh on view. His hands are my fave bit of the image.

Giordan: Nice to see another black vamp, and again, his pose is looking very sexy, kind of casually regal. Would have liked to have seen you push the render just a little more, especially around the hands and legs, but it's a nice piece as is.

Mister Robot: unusual style again, and I am digging the suggested criminal element to it with the background. His right arm as we see it looks a tad short at the elbow, given that when held straight the hand should reach down to his thigh.

Madhatter: I actually kinda like the greyscale version... would have been cool to have maybe seen just one or two elements rendered in colour, a la Sin City style, but the pose is definitely pin up. His feet seem a little on the small side, as far as crits go.

Mirana: Love the fact he's an asian vampire, you just don't see enough of those. The tattoos are brilliantly done, though his mouth seems very low in his jaw. Love his clothing (the name of those asian pant completely escapes me) the folds are very niftily done.

Nike: I don't know why but this guy strikes me as being older... which for me is a great thing. The colour palette is a touch too pinky , would have been nice to have seen a touch of complimentary colour in the shadows.

Sorknes: Love the idea of him being a coverboy! His clothing design is really nice, and the cute yet sexy pose is appealing. His skin tones are very monotonous, would have loved to have seen a touch of some other colours than just the browny peaches in there.. maybe some of the red from his skirt in the shadows.

Timothee: glad to see you went back to this guy, he was definitely sexy. The piercings are a plus point, especially in the collar bone, neat idea. I think you could maybe have pushed the contrast between the blue and the orange more, but it works well.

Yin: I think your guy scares me most. Can't decide whether that's a good thing! The yellow eye is really freaky... Leashes are always sexy, though his arm on the right looks very short, especially in the lower half.

Note to Self: too many pointy things. Stop being a detail .

Bluemonika: Eee, I love the more anime feel to this, the japanese do vampires so well, and he's no exception, I love how he fades into the background. I must have missed him when I voted... I would definitely have given him one. Teach me to write this before I vote.

Tommoy: He's most definitely buff and there's no mistaking him as a vampire. Would have liked to have seen less outlining of the forms in black, as this has deadened the colour palette a bit, even for the undead! But the blood around him is very well done.

Meltface: The background on your piece really intrigues me, I have no idea why. And nice to see a mohwak on a vampire too. I think you could have pushed the red more, made it pop, but it's a small detail. Nice render on the softer forms of the torso too.

Prepsage: He is looking decidedly dodgy... like he's just done something terrible and is sneaking off! Makes him very attractive.. ehehehe. I love the face fluff too. Given the position of the crook of the neck under his jaw, the shoulders on the jacket seem very high... not helped by the fact the line of the pecs is more horizontal too, which would suggest the shoulders are the same.

Ryuloulou: Damn, this piece came out awesomely. Second fave for me and another vote. The Klimt reference in the background was a touch of sheer freakin' genius. nothing to crit. Just lots of wide eyed adoration.

Tomgarden: Its a shame you couldn't have rendered this a little more, it has great potential, though I think the compostion would have been stronger without the white circular border on the left.

Eugenesz: You've a nice start on the vamp, and the darker background suits him nicely. The tower is a tad distracting from the character, and the perspective on the wires is different to that of the tower itself. But I like his faintly glowy blue eyes and the way his far hand goes off into shadow.

Nonie: Great idea with the reflection and a different way of looking at the idea of being a vampire. Is there a reason other than it interfering with the character that you faded off the tile lines? It kinda makes him look like he's emerging from the reflection, which is another unusual effect.

n1va: I looove the lighting on his wings, subtle as it is, makes them look really foreboding. The vamp himself comes across as very strong, though again, like one of the piece above, the jawline strikes me as being just a bit too raised, though you got the nose just right, which is such a tough thing with that perspective on the skull.

Ikuru: He has a really quirky charm about him... just in the suggestion of his face. The legs make me think of the position kids stand in when they need the loo badly though, which is slightly less attractive.

[nonie]

Zephyri - the image is the mirror, and he's standing in front of the tiles... So the tiles are showing through him where he's disappearing. Sort of like it's from his POV - he's not emerging from a reflection in tiles, the tiles are showing through his reflection where it's becoming transparent. I think my rushed sink and faucet probably could have made the framing fo the piece a little more obvious or maybe some of the wall the mirror is hanging on showing... Oh well. Thanks for the comment :)

[daestwen]

Can we have a hot female vampire pin-up some time too… pretty please…?

Heheh, yeah, I can see a lot of hot coming out of that one.

In the meantime, I've got a topic right up your alley. Look for it next week. >)

[MarkDN]

Wow, right, lots of very helpful feedback - I suppose I was really winging it on the 'hotness' aspect, which several people picked up on, so I'm really grateful for the comments and will try to incorporate them into a revised version of the piece (particularly the wings and limb crits).

I haven't actually voted yet... let's see.

Zephri's strikes me the most - aside from the excellent execution, there's a believably detailed character there. The hair eyes are pleasingly androgynous. Nonie's is amusing - I wish I'd been able to fit some of that humour in. Alice - that's really interesting, there's a story there and it's nothing like I'd have imagined. I want to know more. Ryuloulou - great graphic design sense.

It seems like the pattern of my voting is in preference for pieces that show me something I hadn't already thought of and, in that respect, are as different from mine as I can imagine. For any piece I haven't mentioned, it's probably because we're already thinking along similar lines ;)

[Edit] Lewis - there are things to recomend your image, but there's something about it that makes it a real eye-sore for me; your shadows are desaturated while the brights are strong colour. This takes it through muddiness and out the otherside into raw chromatic eye pain. Shadows are not areas where a grey-black stubstance springs into existance; they're just areas of less lightness, and that light will be percieved as having a colour. If you study a bunch of photographs you may be suprised how saturated shadows tend to be relative to other parts of the image.

[Gwenevere]

OK, I voted for a whole bunch, for highly divergent and subjective reasons...

Voted For:

Carguin: That's beautiful, that is. Love the composition and the dashing, painterly treatment, and the dude is a beautiful dude, too... ;) And of course it's just so utterly goth! If I could only vote for one, this would be it...

Dream Sear: With the arm augmentation, that came out quite lovely indeed. =D I love the subtle handling of light and color, and I adore his expression. Got no problem with him being tied and staked, myself... XD

Zephyri: Yeah, that is... definitely the pin-up to end all pin-ups. XD Granted he looks like the sort of smug guy I'd want to bitch-slap, personally, but man does he fit the brief. Yes, there's a bit too much going on, as has been said... I think the bit that really says overkill to me is the do-dad cutting off his legs at the bottom. It really starts to take over the picture...

Ryuloulou: Very classy indeed, I love the colors and composition, and the design as a whole - stylish as hell! Klimt references are always cool, and I like how you ran with it and made it your own thing - nice touch with the girl's hair running into the vamp's jacket patterns, too. I think the one tiny thing that bugs me a little is the radiating lines/wrinkles on his forehead, but that's just me...

Arthemis: Very cute concept! I love his rakish expression and the lipstick mark, I imagine he has his little coterie of ladies who ask him to stop by anytime... =D Nifty old-school costume as well...

Nonie: Great concept! Admittedly it took me several takes to get it, at first I thought he was coming through the wall - which would be pretty cool, but when I (eventually) realized he was looking at his fading reflection it became much cooler. It may have been said before, but I think maybe the mirror and sink need to be more obviously a mirror and sink, otherwise it's easy to miss the concept. Maybe show more of them, perhaps add some chips and maybe a joining seam in the mirror, perhaps some screws holding it in place. Aside from that, the only two tiny things that bug me are that he seems ever-so-slightly cross-eyed (otherwise, great expression!) and his hands seem oddly boneless somehow...

Poshspice: Very stylish and elegant as usual, and an interesting character - doesn't *quite* say pin-up to me (though I do love his coat!)

Alice: Classy, and unusual, and I love the subtlety - Though I admit it feels a bit more like an illustration to a story (and one I'd want to read) than a "pin-up"...

Tom Garden: There's something so very 1950's about him, I'm not sure why. It's the face and hair I think. Very classic looking. I really love the light on this one, and the dreamy feel... Personally I might have preferred a tad more energy in his pose, but not bad at all...

Comments on Everybody Else:

Cowboy Surfer: I quite like this as an illustration, it's got a nice graphic look, and interesting composition. As a "pin-up" though it ain't working for me, the chick completely steals the show, especially since she's obscuring much of the dude...

Felicia: Definitely vamp, definitely pin-up, and I love the goth thing you have going on (yay for lank hair and rose tattoos!), and the gesture of trailing blood across his chest... =D I kind of wish the handling of the light wasn't quite so harsh, though - could stand more subtlety of color in the shadows, there's a bit too much black/grey in them (admittedly it IS fiendishly difficult to shade really pale skin.) And two minor points that bug me: first, his dangling right hand is looking excessively knobby; and second, that hair on his abdomen, um, is a bit much. It just looks odd to me that he has so much hair under his navel but not on his chest...

Ice Moon: ooh, classic romantic look, you get points for that from me... =D And I like his face, and the tousled vamp-hippie hair... As with Felicia's, though, I have to gripe a bit about the shading, there's too much use of harsh black in the shadows, especially in the folds of his shirt and his chest. A more subtle range of tone and color would help. Also I'm not entirely sure about the anatomy of his chest... the muscles seem too evenly sized, as in, they're all the same size and I *think* they normally get smaller as they go down. Male anatomy is not my strongest point though, so I can't be certain about that...

-A7- (?): I have to say my first impression with this is "my god, what's with that huge empty space?" That huge black background is drowning the figures, it could stand to be cropped... The dude has potential hotness, and the pose is not bad, but two things that kill it for me are his gaping expression, and the stiff corpse in his lap. Mind you, dying victims CAN be attractive, but they kind of need to be more languid and sensual for that to happen, and this one just looks - well, stiff. That, and her anatomy is a bit weird: her arm is too long, and her boobs are oddly elongated and wooden - it's pretty distracting.

Bell: Goth dude, yes, but doesn't have much that really says vampire to me... Has potential, but overall the woolly painting technique detracts from it, I think. A certain amount of softness would be good, here, but it's all gone a little TOO soft and fuzzy, it could benefit from more sharpness in the details. Also, it may just be me, but his nose seems a tad too small...

Kroevyn: Tres goth, and that works for me! I quite like his languorous "oh-the-angst" pose, and I LOVE the jacket, especially the unusual blue lining! Also, this is completely silly, but the first thought that flashed in my head when I saw the black-to-red streak down his chest was "oh no, his hair dye is starting to run!" ;) Minor crit, the rendering of his torso seems just a bit murky/muddy compared with the jacket. I think it may be the streaky black shading...

Laliuelo: I must say he feels a bit more like some kind of superhero to me than really vampy or really pin-up... Nice color scheme and lighting, but perhaps he could have stood to have a bit less paraphernalia, there's an awful lot going on...

Lewis: Okay, I can't get over the fact that he's bright yellow. That just feels weird to me, frankly. Also, the way he's positioned in relation to the tower somehow makes him feel like a giant - perhaps it's the way the tower is free-floating, without much foreground context? I'm not entirely sure what's causing it, but there it is...

Lewisaurus: Well, he IS very pin-up! And I love the blood! I'm not a huge fan of the textured, nubbly treatment of his skin, though. Either smoother or more broad-brushed-painterly would have been better, as it is it's got kind of a scaly texture. Also, I'm not entirely sure, but his chest muscles seem asymmetrical, or something? (I could be wrong about this...)

LunkyMunky: I don't know, to me he comes across as a rather generic boxer with teeth added - I'm not getting a whole lot of personality from him, I'm afraid. Also, I feel the treatment could be tightened up, and the shading has gotten awfully patchy-looking, with too many chunks of black and white floating around...

PuppyKitten: Cute in a podgy sort of way, and I rather like the casual pose and composition as a whole... There ain't much there that says "vampire" aside from the shadow, though...

Mirana: I like the Japanese take on this, it's unusual, and the overall composition and lighting work for me, it has a nice moonlit feel. And I love the implication of a huge but futile fight having just taken place, I can just imagine the scene. And he is rather pretty (although, somehow I think he could stand a teensy bit more chin, and his eyes could be a teensy bit further apart.) Yes, there is a huge mismatch between the figure and the background. I think what does it is the fact that the background is rendered in a painterly way but the figure is outlined - it looks very much like a cel-painted animation, where the flat, outlined moving parts on the cels are completely detached from the painted backgrounds behind them. As for the anatomy comments, he's not bad for the most part (given some minor tweaks already mentioned) - though yes, his neck looks too short. Mind you, given the pose, it might have actually *been* scrunched down like that, but in the end it just *feels* short... this may be one of those occasions where you actually have to exaggerate a bit to make it feel "right".

Raptor: Erg, that skull-codpiece really just bugs me. It's got an "ew" factor, methinks it's a bit overkill... (Though that may just be me.) His pose and attitude could work, but he looks a tad too grumpy and I can't help thinking there's something odd about his legs - they seem to start too high on his hips (could just be the angle.) Nice drapery, though.

Skorpi: His face is really rather cute, but I wish he had more attitude in his pose. He looks a bit dressed-up-for-halloween, as though he wasn't quite comfortable with the costume (and it IS a slightly silly costume, but with the right attitude he could pull it off.) Also, minor anatomical crit, but I think his hands are too big...

Xaya: I love his face, and that's a rather nifty outfit, though there is some anatomical weirdness happening. I think in particular his arms, legs, and hands are too big for his torso and head. Also, the colors are too separated, the shading/highlights could stand a little more variety of hue, at least in the outfit - it would be better if, for instance, the green areas picked up a little violet and vice versa...

TinCan: Interesting angle; can't say he's my idea of sexy, really, he looks like he takes himself way too seriously... As with many other entries, the harshness of the shading bothers me, it's too much like black lines laid over the figure, especially in the chest and drapery. A greater range of color and values in the shadows wouldn't hurt, and some more softness in the blending generally... Also, the background looks like a compromise. He should be sitting on something, even if it's indicated by a simple block - and you could lose the scratchy lines on the wall, they just make it look rushed. It would have been better with a plain gradient.

Deadred: Very pinup, though only tangentially vamp, and nice painterly technique - though I'm afraid since someone brought up the original photo, that's all I can see now. I'm in agreement, it would have been better if you'd given it a more original twist...

GodOfWar: I don't know why, but he keeps reminding me of Leonardo Di Caprio, and Leonardo Di Caprio kind of annoys me (totally subjective, I know, sorry! I think it's the hair.) The tub of blood is a neat idea, though; and his attitude is pretty pin-up-esque. The lighting is a bit flat and harsh, though, it could have a richer range of values/color to make it more sensual - and the blood really needs a few highlights!

Shardana: Not very pin-up to me, and not my idea of hot really... He looks more like the Evil Dark Lord in his lair. A lot of it is the pose and attitude, and his huge gaping mouth - it all says "Evil Maniacal Laugh of Doom" to me, rather than "sexy". (That, and I'm afraid his armour keeps making him look vaguely like a beetle or a robot to me, I'm not exactly sure why, he needs something around the pelvis, or something...) But, putting the brief aside, he'd make a pretty cool evil dark lord... ;)

MarkDN: Personally, I find the full-frontal-splayed pose kind of off-putting, but that's just me. His head looks nicely evil, the loose treatment is pretty cool but could stand to be just a *touch* more refined in spots. The oddness of the wings has been mentioned so I won't repeat it... The only other bit of oddness I might mention is that he seems to have a slightly reduced hip/pelvis area - I'm not sure, but the pelvis seems ever-so-slightly too short to me. Granted, it's a bit hard to tell with the wings and all...

Jack Frost: Um, why in the world is it backwards...? I have to say he looks much too corpse-like and zombified to register as sexy to me, especially since he's green and has no nose... The lack of neck and stubby fingers look rather odd, too. Also his legs are off-kilter, looks like his crotch doesn't line up with the center of his torso...

Giordan: I like his "lord-of-my-domain" attitude and expression (then again I'm rather fond of slightly psychotic grins,) and I love the decorative art nouveau bits in the background. The whole image is way too dark, though, it's awfully hard to make out the figure... And I'm not entirely sure what the white spots are behind the figure, but they're kind of distracting, especially with the darkness of everything else...

Mister Robot: Unusual style, I'll say that - I quite like the treatment of the hand holding the sign, especially. Is he supposed to be in a criminal lineup? I've only just started to register that after several looks - if he is, perhaps it would be clearer if the height-lines behind him were more obviously a conventional line-up backdrop (with measurements on them, and going all the way across instead of looking like a column...)

Madhatter106: Black and white *could* work, but maybe with more contrast, and some lighter/whiter highlights - this starts to feel overwhelmingly gray to me. The pose has sexiness potential, but his expression could be a lot more flirtatious... also, frankly, the prominent veins all over his body are kind of a turn-off to me. (Veins = ick!) Couple of minor anatomical crits, his wrist joint looks like a mannequin-hand (it's the groove going all the way around) and his feet are tiny. Also, the candle flame should still be vertical even though the candle is tilted.

Nike: I'm sorry, every time I look at this I just think "Barberini Faun in Pink!" and then I can't get beyond that... As has been said elsewhere, you probably should have taken this further in a new direction instead of just adding drapery and teeth and stopping there. And the floating heart doodle could go, frankly... it looks like it was added at the last minute because somebody stopped taking the piece seriously...

Sorknes: Heh, I love the magazine cover idea, and that pose is perfect for the context... The colors and contrast could stand to be pumped up more (especially if you want that glossy magazine-cover look) and I wish there had been more time to really play with the design of the cover - but cool nevertheless!

Timothee: Love the James-Dean-esque pose and outfit! The setting and composition are evocative, too... I just kind of wish the color and lighting had more depth and richness, a greater range of values perhaps - it seems kind of desaturated and flat as it stands, which spoils the mood a bit...

Yin: Very hard to make this one out, it's so dark... From what I can tell, though, it looks to me like his body is too small and too far over to the right to go with his head. Also, it reads as a little too macabre to be "sexy pin-up", to me. Nice effect with the moon and hair, though...

Bluemonika: He IS pretty, but, er, he DOES look underage to me. I think it's the combination of boyish torso AND very young-looking face. Perhaps one of the more long-faced bishie looks would have brought him up to legal age? ;) Nice touch with the vial of blood, though...

Tommoy: The coffin full of blood is a cute idea, reminds me of Carmilla. I have to confess that hulking gorilla-type of dude is not to my taste, though... Also, the shading could stand to be a lot more subtle, it resembles heavy black outlines the way it is. More range of color and values in the shading would be good (I know I say that a lot, but it's a common problem...)

Meltface: Better without the corpse, and nice to see a punk in the mix... Though his snarling expression is maybe not as sexy as it could be, at least not to me (he's sort of too cranky to be approachable,) and the grey color scheme just makes it all look so terribly sombre, I kind of wish there was more color or more contrast...

Prepsage: The skulking, sulky attitude and expression amuses me... I wish the execution was clearer and more defined, though. It seems to have gotten pretty murky and streaky, it seems kind of lost in a slurry of brown...

Eugenesz: This one's kind of hard to see, with the murky, blurry execution - could stand a lot more sharpness and clarity. Sure, there could be some blurriness, especially in the background, but as it stands the whole thing looks out of focus... Also, if he's supposed to be standing on that cable, he needs to be further over to the right.

N1va: I don't know, this feels more like a barbarian warlord poster than a pin-up, really... I think it's partly the raging expression and partly the stiff poses. Both figures are considerably too stiff to be sensual, to my mind, and the girl almost feels like a mannequin somehow, especially the way her arm is hanging straight down like that. (Mind you, with a shade less stiffness, it could make a pretty dramatic barbarian-warlord type of poster - the light in particular works pretty well.)

Ikuru: Truth be told, this just looks dashed off - but I expect you know that. Also, his knock-kneed, gangly, goofy pose just don't cut it for me - he looks very cartoony. Worked up more, he could be an amusing character (screwball vamp geek, maybe?)... but hot vamp dude he ain't, not to my mind, anyway.

[daestwen]

As per her request, deadred's entry has been removed from the poll.

[deadred]

As per her request, deadred's entry has been removed from the poll.thanks, daestwen, and thanks so much to everyone who voted for my entry too :) it was unexpected, and i'm really flattered that i had so many votes! i agree with all the crits in this thread and i figured my vamp didn't quite deserve to be in the poll since it's more an anatomy study or something, rather than an actual character design.
may the best vamp win! :D

[Nerahla]

*Ahem* I think perhaps you should modify this statement to say that you're considering what YOU PERSONALLY find attractive and sexy. Judging by the range of tastes exhibited in the comments so far, it's obvious that everyone has their own idea of what's attractive.

Let's face it, there's NOTHING quite as subjective as sexiness. You really can't apply a blanket statement to the subject of personal attractiveness. Just sayin'.

Yeah, I think it's kind of obvious - as anyone who looks at any art, anywhere for any reason looks at it through subjective eyes. We kinda like, know that already? Guess I was assuming people realize this already on a site like this ;)

[ArtbyWard]

Ah crap I voted in a window that I didn't refresh after Deadred's entry was removed, so now my votes are somehow casted on to the person below the ones I really voted for.. Sorry guys!

[MarkDN]

MarkDN: Personally, I find the full-frontal-splayed pose kind of off-putting, but that's just me. His head looks nicely evil, the loose treatment is pretty cool but could stand to be just a *touch* more refined in spots. The oddness of the wings has been mentioned so I won't repeat it... The only other bit of oddness I might mention is that he seems to have a slightly reduced hip/pelvis area - I'm not sure, but the pelvis seems ever-so-slightly too short to me. Granted, it's a bit hard to tell with the wings and all...


Cheers for the crit - I'm going respond to the crits by carrying on with the piece. I'll post updates in the WIP thread and would really appreciate any further comments on how it's going.

[Wollstonecraft]

I must say as a noob to this forum I am REALLY confused. From my perspective: I first started looking at a thread here at CHOW about a young girl, cannot remember the topic, not very long ago, and someone did a perfect face etc., and was chastised for doing a possible paint over.
(so i thought OH that makes sense, paint overs are not using your own artistic ability really, and are bad)
THEN (and I am SORRY if this hurts your feelings deadred, but i am making this most perfect example here) Deadred did an obvious paint over, never denied it etc., but GOT MANY MANY VOTES, and never was admonished like the first person i spoke of either.

What I am saying here is: let's have some consistency here, paint overs are bad, and while they do happen... we should be quick to point them out so the person learns that it isn't okay, and tries in the future to go off their own ability....
by voting for paint overs, we are condoning them. flame me if you must for speaking my mind, but i really just feel a bit ticked i guess at the whole thing.

[Martheart]

And while we're at it, people, don't vote for your own drawings, it's lame ^^. I think this Chow had a lot more anatomy-studies instead of character designs, but to be honest it made most vampires look pretty hot :p.

I'd like to thank everyone for their comments and votes! I voted for Ryuloulou because I really like the style. The drawing is very original, also in colours, and it really stands out between the anatomydrawings. Zephyri got my vote too, although I find his clothing a bit too much going on, it is so beautifully drawn and coloured! Poshspice, although yours is actually a sketch, it is such an amazing drawing and full of character. I like the bloodspatters ^^. Nonie, your concept is really original! It's really attracts attention. I love it!

[daestwen]

Wollstonecraft: We let it slide since it was obviously *not* a paintover (the anatomy in a lot of areas was different) and because she did link her reference early on, but deadred contacted Oregano and I, and it has been removed from the poll, so I hope this should satisfy everyone.


And while we're at it, people, don't vote for your own drawings, it's lame ^^.

Not only is it lame, but it is against the rules. I'll go through the results and take a look who's been breaking them.

[Mirana]

I agree ArthemisIX, but I've just gotta laugh and shake my head at the couple of people who voted for themselves. I gotta hope they didn't notice that rule, otherwise that's way lame...especially when we can all see it. ;)

I'll say thanks to deadred for the voluntary removal. It was a lovely paint, but it was surprising to see so many votes for something that was a study with one added accessory. But then...voters always tend to vote for the pretty pictures and less on the designs. ;)

[Martheart]

^^ I know Mirana, it was just something I noticed. Don't want anyone to get in trouble though!

[ArtbyWard]

Because my votes went bad, id like to name the ones that I liked the most :medusachow:

Arthemis: I liked yours because of the style and the actual pin up idea.
Lewis: I liked your expression and the white hair. The colours are a bit muddy though.
Carguin: I love the more traditional vampire and bat approach. The figure is also painted really well
Poshspice: What I admire about you is that you can take a sketch, and make it look very finished, as always a very well integrated background. The figure too looks awesome.
Gordan: The background, the pose and the face, I like em all :).
Ryuloulou: Stunning composition and style, really good.
Nonie: I like the story telling of this picture, as well as the lighting. It makes me look at it longer than the other ones!

Al in all a lot of the same character designs in this one, but that must be the topic. Which was a lot of fun though :yum:

[quickreaver]

Firstly, I must commend deadred for doing a really honorable thing. I don't think anyone can deny her mad skills! Take a peek at her personal gallery...it's impressive. We live, we learn, right? Acknowledge, move on.

Secondly, classic pin-ups ARE typically scantily clad women, in coy or sexually nuanced poses. In that respect, there IS a lot of anatomy showing! ;) The pin-up, in the comic industry though, is different. So maybe there was a little discrepency in the translation of the word.

What was, perhaps, forgotten by some , is the point of the exercise: to create a CHARACTER. Give the poor feller some personality. A background. Tell his tale. There again, live and learn. It was still quite entertaining and educating to see how everyone else defined the project. I noted a few people making the distinction between a character concept, and an illustration of a character. Anyone have thoughts on that? It befuddles me a little...

Nerahla, never assume folks can read your mind. We only have your words to go on, and they were a bit insulting. It doesn't matter which site you post upon, courtesy and good taste are rewarded...insensitive phrasing isn't. How are we to know you didn't mean exactly what you said? It's not a level of sophistication...it's a level of familiarity and genuine humor. :assspank:

[Nike]

Thanks for the crits!

Yes, I used the fauno barberini as a reference, because that pose came to my mind when I've read about the topic, I should have repeated that in the final burning thread (or- better shouldn't have posted it here).
My original intention has been to study that pose before creating something new that is based on the pose, but different. However, I got carried away with the pose and ran out of time due to some problems with my computer.

If you want to remove my entry from the poll, I'm perfectly fine with it, as in retrospect it's too much of a study and too little of a character :)


I was voting for Ice_Moon, ArthemisIX, Skorpi, Gwenevere, and dream-sear- I intended to vote for zephyri, too, but I pressed the vote button by chance when scrolling down - sorry :/)
In my opinion, these had the best character concepts that included both the pin-up aspect (Arthemis took it literally, but I think that's a nice idea, too), and the vampire aspect.

[Lucky Munky]

I give my votes to:
-Gwenevere> I love the sassy/sausy come-hither look - Campy Beefcake. Yours is my favourite traditional media entry.
-Carguin> I'm not sure it's pin-up but I love it. Very evocative.
-Alice> Doesn't say pin-up to me, but I can't deny its effectiveness and skill.
-Mirana> Nice Nipponese Vamp. Historical, narative, creepy pin-up.
-BlueMonika> Best of the cartoon/anime pieces, and my gf's fav. Well done.
-RyuLouLou> Strongest graphic design of any entry. Klimptish calendar pinup.

[Niva.]

I don't think deadred's character was a paint over, rather a study as deadred said. Saying it was a paintover... I didn't hear deadred say this and it looked like a painting to me.

I like this discussion, when I made my piece I knew I was probably violating the rules by putting the woman in there. Also I looked at it after the first hack and thought it's not very "pinup." I decided to stick with it because I liked the way the image was working out.

Also my piece was heavily influenced by Boris Vallejo's work called "Vampire's Kiss" and I took both the wings and the lighting from there.

It was my first Chow and I really enjoyed it, thanks for all the comments guys, I'll be back for the future rounds for sure :)

[Sirielle]

Great works people :)

Why am I missing all the fun? :( Rhetorical question, of course.

[Nerahla]

Nerahla, never assume folks can read your mind. We only have your words to go on, and they were a bit insulting. It doesn't matter which site you post upon, courtesy and good taste are rewarded...insensitive phrasing isn't. How are we to know you didn't mean exactly what you said? It's not a level of sophistication...it's a level of familiarity and genuine humor.


Oh, but I did mean what I said. I didn't find any but two of the vampires attractive at all. The people who participated should know that they missed the brief, it's important. If someone was insulted because I didn't find their vampire attractive there is really nothing I can do about that, since every single thing about art is subjective, and we all sort of know that already.

[Aly Fell]

Oh, but I did mean what I said. I didn't find any but two of the vampires attractive at all. The people who participated should know that they missed the brief, it's important. If someone was insulted because I didn't find their vampire attractive there is really nothing I can do about that, since every single thing about art is subjective, and we all sort of know that already.

Ah, (sticks oar in) but did they miss the brief? As you said, and others have, art is subjective. That was their individual subjective take on the brief. You, subjectively did not find their illustrations attractive. That does not mean they aren't attractive; purely that you did not find them attractive. Ergo: one persons meat is anothers poison, and they did not miss the brief just because you didn't like their 'take'! :) Ta da! Bunnies, kittens and cute lil' furry things...

By the way, thanks for the crits on my piece folks. I'm amazed I've actually got some votes with this.

[Giordan]

This is the part that i really love about chow , all the feedback and comments otherwise i would never got and are so helpfull, i Really wanna thank the people who take the time to make al those massive crits and comments , such as Zephyri , Mad Hatter , Puppy Kitten , Gwenevere and Mirana
thanks on everybody who voted , now to good stuff some comments and crits

Cowboy Surfer : i like the grafica style almost vectorized , but i think the colors could be a lil less bright and a eye conctact with the viewer would really make this piece more interesting

Felicia:He's one of the few that really capture the concept of pin up in a really vamp way really cool , my only crit is that his right hand (the one thats no on his chest ) is a bit too big if you notice is almost the size of his face and his fingers are folded

Icemoon:Thanks for voting for me dude , im glad you liked my piece. I like his kind of romancing look , like a vamp romeo my only problem is his expression i think he would have look a lot better with a smile to go with the rest of his boddy expression

ApI like his pose and the completely dark background , i think the girl is unecessary it takes attention away from him and because they have the same skin tone its kinda confusing

Arthemis:I like the piece is really light and easy to look at , not sure if pin up though he looks more like a Queer Eye for the Straight Vamp kinda guy , any how i think is a really cool piece

Bell:i like the background and his pose , but his expression is kind of dry and i wish you could intensify his expression a lil bit

Gwenevere: thanks for the comments , yeah i know my image came way too dark , when i was doing it i wanted to give him like a mistery aura and fit with the illumination of the moon in the background but i guess i could executed it better anyhow , nothing to crit on your piece love his sassy look and his pose and the background is lovely also ,one question though how do you work with oils so freaking fast!!??

Kroevyn:I like the color scheme of this piece and his kind of dramatic pose , my only crit is that his legs are too long compared to his torso

Lalilulelo:Great piece , like how you played with the orange and blue lights , my only crit is that i think his arms is a bit long ,

Lewis:Love the colors and composition , i think with a some traces in pure black this piece could really pop , still i think is a really good piece as is

Lewisaurus:Really like the kind of gritty background and estethic of the piece and i think one of the few that really captured the pin up part , my only crit is that i think the torso is very long

Luckymunky:Very cool esthetic to the image and creepy feeling , his shorts are insanely cool

PuppyKitten: I like your style , always use kind of pastel colors hes not an obvious vamp but hes really laid back and cool , really cool . and thanks for your comments

Raptor:i dig how you tried that kind of perspective , its a really hard thing to do , but you pulled it off really good , he seems kind of tight in that chair though , any how i like his relaxed atittude and pose

Skorpi: You got one of my votes , i like his kind of sexy and flirty expression , is a great piece even though i could be really awesome if you had time to render his muscles a lil bit more

Xaya: You made a really good job with the face , his colors are really interesting , i don know if him holding a human heart is sexy but hey his a vampire he can do whatever the hell he wants , good job

TincanI wish you had render it a bit further and i think what other have commented are true the scratches in the back are unneccesary and maybe you should made him a chair to sit on

CarguinGot one of my votes hes not exactly pin up but its a really awesome and epic piece nothing to crit here

Dream SearAlso got my vote , his sexy in a kind of biblical way , i dont know if its the colors or his expression but he looks really religious to me but its a really good piece

PoshWhat can i say you are an amazing artist, you always leave me wanting more man too bad you didnt have time to finis this fella , and thanks for your vote really aprecciate it from someone as talented as you , by the way im still waiting for some brushes you said you were gonna passme jajaja

Giordanwhat a piece of crap man arent you ashamed of posting such things here !oh wait thats mine

Miranathanks for the comments and taking the time , You were the only one who did a asian/yakuza vamp kudos to that i really love your comic booky style since im trying to pursue a similar style ,i love the color scheme and his pose my only crit is that think his face expression is not sexy it looks more like his discusted(sorry for my bad english) about something .

TimotheeGot one of my votes too , love the composition and angle of the drawing he sort of looks like a rebel with no cause , great job

ZephyriMan you are an amazing artist , and is obvious you got incredible talent , but i dont know man this is not one of your best pieces , i mean anatomy wise is impecable but i think you overdid it with the armor tatoos nipple piercings etc. i don't really like the hair is too 80/s i think he would look much better with black hair , and the colors are really really bright almost kind of anoying especially the eyes they look very saturated

RyoulouGreat design , as a graphic designer myself i can really aprecciate what you did here you always do great stuff man keep at it .



Sorry for not comenting on everibody else wish i had the time ill surely do it next time

[Giordan]

This is the part that i really love about chow , all the feedback and comments otherwise i would never got and are so helpfull, i Really wanna thank the people who take the time to make al those massive crits and comments , such as Zephyri , Mad Hatter , Puppy Kitten , Gwenevere and Mirana
thanks on everybody who voted , now to good stuff some comments and crits

Cowboy Surfer : i like the grafica style almost vectorized , but i think the colors could be a lil less bright and a eye conctact with the viewer would really make this piece more interesting

Felicia:He's one of the few that really capture the concept of pin up in a really vamp way really cool , my only crit is that his right hand (the one thats no on his chest ) is a bit too big if you notice is almost the size of his face and his fingers are folded

Icemoon:Thanks for voting for me dude , im glad you liked my piece. I like his kind of romancing look , like a vamp romeo my only problem is his expression i think he would have look a lot better with a smile to go with the rest of his boddy expression

ApI like his pose and the completely dark background , i think the girl is unecessary it takes attention away from him and because they have the same skin tone its kinda confusing

Arthemis:I like the piece is really light and easy to look at , not sure if pin up though he looks more like a Queer Eye for the Straight Vamp kinda guy , any how i think is a really cool piece

Bell:i like the background and his pose , but his expression is kind of dry and i wish you could intensify his expression a lil bit

Gwenevere: thanks for the comments , yeah i know my image came way too dark , when i was doing it i wanted to give him like a mistery aura and fit with the illumination of the moon in the background but i guess i could executed it better anyhow , nothing to crit on your piece love his sassy look and his pose and the background is lovely also ,one question though how do you work with oils so freaking fast!!??

Kroevyn:I like the color scheme of this piece and his kind of dramatic pose , my only crit is that his legs are too long compared to his torso

Lalilulelo:Great piece , like how you played with the orange and blue lights , my only crit is that i think his arms is a bit long ,

Lewis:Love the colors and composition , i think with a some traces in pure black this piece could really pop , still i think is a really good piece as is

Lewisaurus:Really like the kind of gritty background and estethic of the piece and i think one of the few that really captured the pin up part , my only crit is that i think the torso is very long

Luckymunky:Very cool esthetic to the image and creepy feeling , his shorts are insanely cool

PuppyKitten: I like your style , always use kind of pastel colors hes not an obvious vamp but hes really laid back and cool , really cool . and thanks for your comments

Raptor:i dig how you tried that kind of perspective , its a really hard thing to do , but you pulled it off really good , he seems kind of tight in that chair though , any how i like his relaxed atittude and pose

Skorpi: You got one of my votes , i like his kind of sexy and flirty expression , is a great piece even though i could be really awesome if you had time to render his muscles a lil bit more

Xaya: You made a really good job with the face , his colors are really interesting , i don know if him holding a human heart is sexy but hey his a vampire he can do whatever the hell he wants , good job

TincanI wish you had render it a bit further and i think what other have commented are true the scratches in the back are unneccesary and maybe you should made him a chair to sit on

CarguinGot one of my votes hes not exactly pin up but its a really awesome and epic piece nothing to crit here

Dream SearAlso got my vote , his sexy in a kind of biblical way , i dont know if its the colors or his expression but he looks really religious to me but its a really good piece

PoshWhat can i say you are an amazing artist, you always leave me wanting more man too bad you didnt have time to finis this fella , and thanks for your vote really aprecciate it from someone as talented as you , by the way im still waiting for some brushes you said you were gonna passme jajaja

Giordanwhat a piece of crap man arent you ashamed of posting such things here !oh wait thats mine

Miranathanks for the comments and taking the time , You were the only one who did a asian/yakuza vamp kudos to that i really love your comic booky style since im trying to pursue a similar style ,i love the color scheme and his pose my only crit is that think his face expression is not sexy it looks more like his discusted(sorry for my bad english) about something .

TimotheeGot one of my votes too , love the composition and angle of the drawing he sort of looks like a rebel with no cause , great job

ZephyriMan you are an amazing artist , and is obvious you got incredible talent , but i dont know man this is not one of your best pieces , i mean anatomy wise is impecable but i think you overdid it with the armor tatoos nipple piercings etc. i don't really like the hair is too 80/s i think he would look much better with black hair , and the colors are really really bright almost kind of anoying especially the eyes they look very saturated

RyoulouGreat design , as a graphic designer myself i can really aprecciate what you did here you always do great stuff man keep at it .



Sorry for not comenting on everibody else wish i had the time ill surely do it next time

[zephyri]

You people are awesome. Seriously. Thanks for all the feedback guys, you've inspired me to go back to this fella and take a look at him, since I think you have some pretty valid points. The author I was doing him for in conjunction with the challenge liked him with all his dinglies and danglies, but if only for myself I want to try out taking the level of detail down and tweaking the colours to be less.. 80s?

And nonie, now I see where you were coming from, I get it.. I'd got the fact he was looking at his reflection, but with it all being in bluish tones I'd presumed that he was looking at a reflection in the shiny tile surface, which is why I couldn't grasp why the lines were disappearing, but knowing it's a mirror and he's watching just his reflection disappear is much clearer!

[Gwenevere]

You, subjectively did not find their illustrations attractive. That does not mean they aren't attractive; purely that you did not find them attractive. Ergo: one persons meat is anothers poison, and they did not miss the brief just because you didn't like their 'take'!

YES, thank you for clarifying what I was trying to say in the first place!

Nerahla, it's perfectly valid for you to say "I only found two vampires to be attractive", with the emphasis on "I", and it's perfectly valid for you to vote on that criteria. It is NOT valid to say "everybody missed the brief because I personally didn't think their vampires were attractive." In fact, that's a trifle harsh.

I did notice that the two you were attracted to were of a very similar type... Fine and dandy, that's the type of guy you like. But different people like very different types of guys, you should consider that before dissing everybody as "missing the brief". I for one found some of the other types more personally attractive to me... No offense meant. You can have your favorites, I'll take mine. Everybody will go home happy. ;)

[Phuzion]

Aw man. Really people? Really? Hipsters and metros? Doesn't anyone find us real men attractive anymore? Do you really like men to be the girly one in the relationship? Well damn if I'm screwed! Or not, as the case may be.

Well, there were some nicely done images, though people either draw women too often and can't draw men, or with all the girly male models flouncing about, people are just downright confused these days. But that's cool.

I actually liked Cowboy Surfer's the most. I'm diggin' the style because it's something you don't see as often, and there's a real sexiness to the interaction between the characters. There's the feeling of Erotica, not Porn. What's the difference? One is artfully done, the other is tactless and crass. I could say there are anatomy issues, but they don't bother me as they don't really take away from the piece, in my opinion.

In general: Men don't pluck their eyebrows unless Vogue is paying them to do it; men don't wear lipstick unless they're more girl than man, and if you like that, fine, but most girls I know want their men to be men and NOT take longer to get ready for a night out than they do. I'm in my late twenties and I already feel old... what is society coming to. In 3 years it'll be a complete role reversal and I'll never be able to find a feminine girl cause all the makeup will belong to the "men"!!! :nohope:

Well, at least they're not wearing summer-dresses. If you take those away from the girls, there is no measure to how fast I will bring this fight to your doorstep. To quote Jason Bourne.

Nah, but overall, good work everyone! It was a challenging topic to be sure, and I have to applaud you all for stepping up to the plate. Well done!

Cheers,
~d

[madhatter106]

This is the part that i really love about chow , all the feedback and comments otherwise i would never got and are so helpfull, i Really wanna thank the people who take the time to make al those massive crits and comments , such as Zephyri , Mad Hatter , Puppy Kitten , Gwenevere and Mirana...

Just wanted to take a moment and say that, though I always have an opinion/reaction to nearly everything I see here, I do find it a trifle annoying to go to such length to form opinions/crits/comments only to have others not respond in kind. Or to merely get a "thanks for the comments," and then have them go on to enumerate and comment on others' work to the exclusion of commenting on mine.

Not singling you out here, Giordan, as a number of people have done it in this thread as well as in the past - I just wish that comments/crits were more reciprocal, since we're all here to learn and grow together. I know where I went wrong in this piece specifically, but it does grate on one's nerves to see this oversight again and again...

[madhatter106]

There's the feeling of Erotica, not Porn. What's the difference? One is artfully done, the other is tactless and crass.

Isn't the old joke that "art is in soft focus, and porn is not?" ;)

[Gwenevere]

Gwenevere: thanks for the comments , yeah i know my image came way too dark , when i was doing it i wanted to give him like a mistery aura and fit with the illumination of the moon in the background but i guess i could executed it better anyhow , nothing to crit on your piece love his sassy look and his pose and the background is lovely also ,one question though how do you work with oils so freaking fast!!??

Well, I've been working on painting faster, that's why I've been torturing myself by doing these things in oils... ;) I'm already faster than I was when I started, so maybe it's working. The key so far seems to be nailing the basic colors and values in the first pass, which just takes practice (and I STILL need lots of practice in that area - it's sooooo hit-or-miss right now.) Get those right, and the details are practically optional. Also I usually do a rough acrylic underpainting just to lay down some tone and build up the surface a little (though I'm not thrilled with acrylic for finished work.) Also, I've gotten into the habit of subconsciously planning the order in which I paint various areas of the picture so that I'll avoid sticking my hand in the wet areas - this can get tricky, but after a while you learn what works. The main thing is to plan your time so you can leave a few hours to dry when you're all done - more if the paint is heavy or the ambient temperature is cool. I *barely* left enough time with this one...

Radiators and space heaters are a life-saver, too. ;)

I've also been absorbing the work of some of the masters of slapdash oil painting in hope of improvement: Pyle, N. C. Wyeth, Sargent, Leighton to some extent, Frazetta, Brom, all that good stuff...

Re: the back-lighting of the moon, yeah, I was faced with the same issue at first, especially when I lit my model and realized the whole figure would be totally dark with only back-lighting. So I said, "the hell with it, it's a pin-up! Artistic license!" and threw in a secondary light-source on the left so we could see the figure (maybe there's a lighted window over there, or something.) You could probably still go for a mostly back-lit effect in yours, but pick up the figure a little with some subtle bit of side-light (doesn't have to be much...) That, plus toning down or removing the white speckles behind him would help...

[PuppyKitten]

I really appreciate the crits I got! A few points I picked up:

He's not vampire enough, right? This is always my problem! My characters are generic and don't fit the brief. I guess I am so chicken of pigeon-holing them. (never done chara design before I started CHOW and I can't get out of that mindset) any advice?

My guy is both "Squidgy" and "Podgy" according to different people. XD That must be really bad if there wasn't a word in existence to describe it and they had to invent new ones XD Hahahaha. Does this mean he's fat? Colors are muddy? Lines are too soft? No real anatomy? All of the above? Would someone push me in the right direction here?

[quickreaver]

Yeah, don't be afraid to push it, PuppyKitten! (I'm a fine one to talk, but hey...) Don't worry about making them ugly or atypical. Worry about giving the client EXACTLY what they want! Your style will shine through regardless. I don't know what squidgy and podgy are either, so you'll have to get our resident Brits to untangle THAT one!

And MadHatter...fair enough! I think I did forget to comment on yours. The thing that struck me most was the conceptualization of the muscles. They looked too pillowy, not tough and angular, like a dude. But you went for the 'cheese' factor, straddling the coffin, and that was very brave! I might've pushed the humor element there a little more, taking a cue from Gwenevere and Posh and giving him a real lascivious expression to go along with the pose. I love B&W work, but don't forget the texture. When you work monochromatically, values and textures are hugely important tools. *thumbs up!*

PS...Phuzion, I blame it all on Anne Rice!

[Sorknes]

Alright, here's the rest of you guys. :) Sorry I couldn't take you all when I did the ones I voted for, time's been scarce lately ^^



Great entries :D

Alright, first the ones I gave my votes to, I decided to do ten votes for this delicious topic, and tried to spread them over different skill levels as I see them in here. :)

Felicia I like. Clean, vampire, sexy stare. I wish the tattoos was a lil different, but that's all down to taste. :)

Arthemis IX Funny. :D I like the stylized version here, and the lipstick mark and all. The legs comes out a bit weird to me, but that might just be me. ^^

Gwenevere Simply because it's a true pinup, just laying there with his slightly psycopathic grin, for the womens pleasure, hehe. The background steals a bit of the attention, but I read the explanation for that. :)

Laliluleo I liked this from the moment I saw it. It varies from the others being an african vampire. And I like the cold colours on the char itself and the warmer background making it clearer. Less people than I thought based anything on vampires like Blade as well, so it's a refreshing image among the others. :) Prettiful ^^

Skorpi Hard to miss this one is a vampire, hehe. The shadows and highlights looks a bit off to me, but it I like it being so blatantly vamipiric. :)

Carguin Just because it's beautiful. Women tend to hang posters like that on the wall instead of just the basic "bare chest, sexy stare and half open jeans", at least I did and most of my friends back in our teenage days. That's one I'd still have on my bedroom wall. ^^

MarkDN Ooh... nasty boy. I like nasty boys on my wall. Wing a bit weird, but you've already gotten feedback on that. :)

Mirana It's a bit gorey for me, but I guess vampire chicks would easily buy that, hehe. Else than that I like the idea itself, and the tattoos are different. I see you've already gotten some feedback on it. :)

Zephyri Oooh, 80's. And 90's... *lol* I voted for this one because of the simple fact that it has a lot of similarities with what was on some walls back in the beginning of the 90's when I was young and stupid. ;) Now I'm just stupid. :P It has a nice border thing so it's not just a "photo" of a man. Me like. :)

Tom Garden It is bewtiful. I'd really like to see more refinement in it, but it does a lot as it is for the viewer.

I'll come back to the rest of you guys later, it takes time to go through them all, heh. :)

Lewis Bold colours, and nice tower/castle in the background. :) I feel it missed the brief a little as it looks more like an action pose than a pinup, but nice work. :) The colours seem to be in somewhat the same range though, I'd like to see you push shadows and highlights more.

IceMoon Very classic, nice touch with the rose. :) The sleeves look a bit awkward compared to the rest, I can't really decide if they're rolled up or that short. A little work with the wrinkles in the fabric should fix that.

GodOfWar Looks like young Brad Pitt, doesn't he? ^^ Nice touch with the clawmarks on the chest and the bloody water. The arm in front looks somewhat wrong, the shoulder and biceps lighted there looks a bit awkward to me.

rvdtor The skull was a bit over the top for me, but it sure makes the picture more suggesting. ;) The pelvis/lower abdomen area looks too long to me compared to rest, even if you did it in an exaggerated angle.

tsujni He doesn't look that much like a vampire to me. The picture isn't my kind of cup, but I would've found a lot more sexier if you'd toned down the "royal jewellry" splayed out in front there. ;) The chest looks a bit off to me, looks like his nipples is too high even for that position.

madhatter106 Nice touch with laying over the coffin ;) Since you haven't outlined all the light areas with black (i.e. the coffin), but did it on the skin close to the candle, it makes it look half and half. The foot that we see looks like it's in a lil weird angle, and to me it looks a bit too small, even if it's further away. Nice pose! :)

Kroevyn I like the overexaggerated blue in this picture. For some reason the line of the coat and the line following his upper body made me think he had a potbelly before I looked closer at it, though. I can see what you meant and thought when looking closer, but the picture meddles with your eyes when doing a quick overview. :)

bluemonika Totally not up my alley, but there's a lot of people out there liking this. ;) Slender and animelike. :) Pushing the tones for the shadow would give it more depth, and putting a little tint of that purplish around him in the least lighted areas could've been an idea.

meltface Gotta love the hairstyle :D The body with tattos and all came out well. Glad you ditched the "stairway to heaven" girl laying there ;) The arm he's leaning on looks a tad too thin in the lower part though.

Poshspice I was a little disappointed you didn't go further on this one. ;) That said, it's well done with a sketch like that and make it look like a final well done. Just your skill in nailing stuff back in the earliest sketching stages makes your entry high level if not what we usually see from you. :) I am jealous. :P

Xaya Green and purple together are two hard colours to work together, at least I find it so. Some more blending of each colour into the whole picture might help it. Right now it's parted in areas for me, so I end up looking at the coat first, then the pants, then the face. The skin is done better, I think, and next time use more of that colour in colour?

Mister Robot Also not quite my cup, hehe. The idea is very nifty though, with the height measurement and the sign he holds. The low cut jeans and the shirt like that I get more of a female vibe though, hehe. ;)

FunkaFide Nice start, but I don't get a "finished" thought about it. The light in the face should've been more defined, and the rest is really too unfinished for me to say much about it. The hand and the feet are just basic strokes for form... Sorry I couldn't say more. :)

Shera 3000 Doesn't really strike me as a vampire, but good try. :) His position is a bit awkward compared to the doors. The colours are also very monotone, try to blend a little of each colour you use around in the picture.

Bell Nice and classic. :) Not really much to say about this one, it's pretty clean, but lacks some details. Pushing the light and shadow more might be a suggestion.

rmygona This one also looks a bit unfinished to me, there's the basic strokes, but not much more to tell me what's going on. Giving the body some more love and trying to to define it better would be a nice start. Also, giving some light to the pants, as they're right now just a black splat underneath his upperbody. Nice idea though, and the wineglass is good. :)

-AP- Recently fed, eh? That you have positioned the girl so nothing is really displayed way open makes it ok with the chick in it for me. :) The light on the floor isn't really reflected the same way on the bodies though, and the curtains and the bars in the windows should've been more highlighted if looking at that floor. That's the feeling I get at least. :)

ikuru I really like a lot of your drawings, but this one looks a bit off. The upper body anatomy is not right, and the hands looks too little worked on, but I like the style you went for, it's a nice and rough one. :)

deadred Yes, I know you pulled out from it, hehe. I really like the picture, but didn't vote for it since it was more, as you said, a study than a concept. If you'd pushed things a bit further on the changes, this one would've been valid as hell and really yummay. :D The chopped style was good too. :)

Chicken Bone Pretty classic, following the brief without showing the world his babymaker. Nice one. :) The colours clash a bit though, there's large areas with one colour only , and the areas around them again is all new colours. You've put some more colours in the body, wish you'd done more of the same with the pillows and curtain. :)

Yin Another one that isn't quite my cup, but nice pose. :) It is a bit muddy though, no clear lines. Taking some to time to line out the details better with the colour would've done this a lot better. :)

cowboy surfer I like the "cleanliness" in this one. :) It differs from the others that way, and it has a nice graphical look. Some things look a bit off though, like her leg in the bottom of the picture. :)

Lucky Munky Another Brad Pitt? ^^ I think you're going for the chopped style here, but some things throws it a bit off, like the shadows on the arm the furthest away. They define the shoulder round thing too much, and it makes for me the picture visually blocked up in pieces and a little off, even though when I look closer I see that things are pretty much where they should be.

agnostes Pretty sweet idea there. :) The chicks and the way he's standing, and the pillars makes it a nice whole picture. The anatomy in him makes it a bit off to me though, the abdomen muscles and his chest could've needed some more reference. If you were going for a slightly unhuman look, I think maybe you should've pushed it further so it's not mistaken.

lewisaurus Pretty basic pinup, nice. :) The blood is way lighter red than it would be. That might've been on purpose, but the red in the background clashes a bit with it for me. I think you went for low cut jeans, but something there makes it feel like the pelvis area is way too long for me. Pretty nice though, I saw your progress on it :)

Ebony-chan He's standing there to be admired. ;) The arms and the body could've used some reference though, the muscles in the arms are bit off. Nice hair. ^^

Nike I love the heart with the wings, hehe. Gives it a slightly different setting that it would've had. I've read all about the pose and such, so I don't have too much to say there, but pushing the concept further on the details and make it more vampire would've made it more personal and concept-y. :)

timothee The angle is really pushed here, I like that. :) His top part of his hair doesn't seem to connect with the head or the hair around his ear though? I like his face too, it's different. :)

Tommoy Bathing in a coffin, eh? I have to try that once, *lol*. You've nailed some anatomy there pretty right, but the arm resting on the coffin looks chopped in pieces when it has that much shadow lining out the shoulder "round thing".

dream sear Very sweet pose, and the stake is a nice detail. Didn't see him crying blood before I looked more closely at it. Pretty sweet picture all in all, don't really have much crits to come with on it. It might a little bland in the colours though, as I didn't really notice it too much at first? I do prefer my pinups without stakes though *lol*

n1va Very nice image. :) The girl takes some of the attention as she's in the foreground like that though, like mentioned here earlier. It looks to me like some of the highlighted areas should've had less light or maybe slightly changed, but overall it's pretty good one. Not much more to say. :)

Sorknes Work on those skin colours. Find time to do the background next time. Do laundry. Again. And clean your bloody desk again, it's hard to find your cell phone, for goodness sake!

prepsage Pretty nice and clean picture, a little too muddy in parts for me though. Going less and less details downwards helps bringing the attention to the face, but it's too little defined for me to find much in it. Nice tattoo and knife, but doesn't really come across as a vampire to me, more like a killer.

Eugenesz Nice idea, but this is also one that looks a bit too unfinished for me to have anything useful to say about it. Putting some more time into the detail so the guy itself comes out cleared would do a lot. Right now my attention goes to one bloody arm and the clock face.

Jack Frost Nice to see a kind of a different vampire, not so pretty, but still looking good. :) The pose looks a bit awkward, like he's trying to balance on something. Love the stones. :)

PuppyKitten Nice drawing, but it didn't really come across as a vampire to me, this time. The hair looks a bit awkward for me, but you nailed most basic things and have a nice render, as usual.

nonie Very nice storytelling concept. :) I didn't get it all before I read the explantions in the posts later on, but the idea is sweet. :) Not much to say, good job. The hair comes off as a little more unfinished than the rest to me, though?

metalshit That's a nice thing you have going there, but you lacked the rest of the body. :) Like the eyes and the piercings. :)

alice Clean picture, nice, I like the mood and the idea of the cowboy. Another one that doesn't really come across as a vampire for me though, looks more like a killer just done with a job. If it weren't for that, it's a really nice one though. :)

ryoloulou Very nice graphic look, very Klimt. :) Clean and easy on the eyes, not much more to say about it :)

shardana I saw your progress on this one, good job. :) The lower abdomen and the thighs make him look a bit bowlegged to me though, it's the shadows, I think. The face looks like it got less love than his clothing, but well done. :)

Tin Can I like him being bald/shaved. The face lacks a bit of animation/expression, though? It comes across as a little flat to me. Nice angle, and the wine glass is a nice touch. :)

Giordan Very classic vampire, in his "throne" in the dark, with the moon, hehe. Not so much pinup though. The light could've been played on more, right now the picture comes out as a bit too dark to see the details without looking really close. I really like the forms of the chair and what comes across as metal work in a window to me though. :)

Wollstonecraft Also one that didn't come across really vampire pinup to me, more like some guy in a back alley trying to force his way with a girl. Some more reference for his body might've done you good. The lighter bodycolour on him makes him get the attention, not the girl though. I did notice her foot coming up from the shoe, nice detail, and the best in the whole picture.

Hope I didn't forget anyone, and if I did, please tell me so I can rectify that. :)

Phew, glad I finally had time for this, it's been hanging over my head a few days now. *lol*

Oh, and Phuzion. Whoever said that what we like to have on our walls is what we'd prefer to live with, eh? ;) Like a car mechanic said me to me once: "Yah, I like dem big titties on my wall here at my shop, but my wife makes the best meatloaf in the world." .... ;)

[Phuzion]

Sorknes: Ha! Mmmmm... wife meatloaf.

dream sear: That makes two of us. Damn those vamp romance novels!!

Madhatter: EVERYTHING should be in soft focus, like a soap opera! Cause those are real... right?

:P

[Gwenevere]

He's not vampire enough, right? This is always my problem! My characters are generic and don't fit the brief. I guess I am so chicken of pigeon-holing them. (never done chara design before I started CHOW and I can't get out of that mindset) any advice?

My guy is both "Squidgy" and "Podgy" according to different people. XD That must be really bad if there wasn't a word in existence to describe it and they had to invent new ones XD Hahahaha. Does this mean he's fat? Colors are muddy? Lines are too soft? No real anatomy? All of the above? Would someone push me in the right direction here?

"Not Vampire": I think it's cool that you go for a non-stereotypical look, it's just that, without knowing the subject matter in advance, I'd never guess he was supposed to be a vampire. Some little visual cue might help, a wee touch of blood, some sort of accessory, SOMEthing. I see you started to do that with the shadow, but it's maybe too subtle, I didn't see it at first - maybe if the shadow was exaggerated more, and there was some other small accessory to back it up. Actually, the piece by Alice is a good example - doesn't scream "vampire" but the bit of blood and the bloody handkerchief cues you in...

"Squidgy/Podgy": Nononono, I didn't mean that as a reflection of anatomy or rendering, just that you chose to depict a more, shall we say, slightly plump and cuddly type of physique (and face) rather than brawny or lean. An unconventional type to choose, but that doesn't make it bad. My sister would like him. ;)

[madhatter106]

EVERYTHING should be in soft focus, like a soap opera! Cause those are real... right? :P

Soap operas should be real sometimes - you ever notice that the common establishing shot in a modern day soap is to shoot the actors/actresses with some dumb lamp or vase sitting on an endtable in the immediate foreground? Almost as if it's a contractual obligation for the set decorating crew that this should be done? And do people even purchase vases and endtables in this day and age?

Actresses love soft focus. Like the camera lense has been rubbed with vaseline. In Hollywood, we sometimes call it the "Joan Crawford lense," since that was a trick she often requested...you see it a lot with old black and white movies - there a lots of loving shots of Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca that use it marvelously...

[Gwenevere]

Doesn't anyone find us real men attractive anymore?

Of course, ya know, us chicks have been complaining about a lack of depictions of "real women" in popular media for, oh, decades now...

Anorexic, photo-retouched, surgery-enhanced twenty-something fashion models, anyone? Hellooooo?

Feeling under-represented by the popular media? Join the club, hon. ;)

[PuppyKitten]

Of course, ya know, us chicks have been complaining about a lack of depictions of "real women" in popular media for, oh, decades now...

Ha! Point and match. :p


And thanks Gwen for clearing up some of the other stuff. It helps!

[Phuzion]

Gwenevere: Yeah, but that's different because... well... due to... um... you see... because?

f#@k ... do I get a point?

Besides, Gisele is not surgery-enhanced... is she? :[

[nonie]

Madhatter: Sorry I only thanked you... Didn't realize I was signing up to write crits for over 40 images by participating, but I tried to crit those who asked :) I've been told I was too harsh before too, so I kind of shy away from giving crits these days unless asked. But since you asked: I think you could have pushed the lighting quite a bit here, you have the perfect setup for an old-master style light setup... And leaving some of him more in shadow might have made it a little sexier. As it is, the pose doesn't seem that sexy to me because men don't usually straddle a lover, so somehow it makes me think he's joking or mocking a girl's sexy pose. I liked it better when you had one leg on top of the coffin in one of your WIPs. Also the face is a little too old-school dracula for me, with the black lipstick and the exaggerated chin and laugh lines. The really dark eye can be super sexy in some cases but you've got to be careful with it. The neck anatomy could use some work too. I DO really like the pose from the waist up, though, and the proportions are good.

Phuzion: Y'know, I never paint body hair on my dudes but I think my bf's is *really* sexy. There are some things that look stupid in pictures that work really well for some guys in real life. Anyway you shouldn't complain, as Gwenevere said, we girls have dealt with unrealistic depictions of women for ages. Also... These are vampires, they're just traditionally portrayed as dandies anyway :P

[PuppyKitten]

Besides, Gisele is not surgery-enhanced... is she?

Surgically? Dunno. Photoshopically? Yes.

All of her photoshoots include post-editing. She's not an uggo in real life or anything, but she doesn't look like THAT either.

[carguin]

Are we supposed to be able to keep making changes to the image even after the poll has started? That's what I've noticed others' been doing. Please put that in heading of the contest otherwise i think that's very unfair to those who don't know (i.e. me!) Thanks.

[timothee]

It was really hard choosing from so many great entries, but I voted for zephri's piece. His fit the role of vampire pinup model the best imo.
Mirana- Thanks!
Dream-sear- Appreciate it, I really tried to push the angle, but still have it look believable.
zephyri- I know, I have to push my contrasts more next time around.
gwenevere- Thanks for the crit.
Giordan- Thanks!
Sorknes- I see what you mean about the hair.

[Tin Can]

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my painting and to those who commented before it went to poll! I agree with allot of what has been said and will try to improve. I am super busy right now, but I’m hoping to comment on some pieces and vote tomorrow.

Take it easy! :)

[PuppyKitten]

Are we supposed to be able to keep making changes to the image even after the poll has started? That's what I've noticed others' been doing. Please put that in heading of the contest otherwise i think that's very unfair to those who don't know (i.e. me!) Thanks.

Well the images in the actual poll can't be changed. Oregano has them hosted based on the image that was in the thread at the time it ended. So people can update the image all they want and the changes wont affect their poll image. Most changes are prolly just people trying to show they took the crits to heart.

I haven't noticed any changes though. Did someone make a major change?

[DragonSnail]

ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH I missed this one! I can't believe I missed it! *sob* That should teach me to browse the boards more often, miss slacker. :nohope:

Anyhow, just wanted to say well done to all who participated, it's been a hoot looking at your entries! My votes went to:

Carguin - for beautiful, textury style and damn nice colorscheme, and to:

Dream Sear - for a rightout sweet concept and, uhm, droolable hunk of manflesh *cough*, and to:

Zephyri - naturally! Despite the slightly overdone long hair (I don't want to get choked with hair, I wanna get BITTEN, darnit!) he is the most gorgeous, yummie, exciting piece of hunk I've seen in ages. Including all the photos I downloaded lately. He is such a joy to behold! Did I say yummie? Yum! :^^: And finally one vote to:

Ryuloulou - for amazing, sharp design. Luv it.

There where lots of other images that caught my attention as well, but those really stood out to me. And next time there's goodlooking males on the CHOW-list, someone send me a PM if I'm not awake enough! >:|

[Giordan]

Sorry madhatter, i realized after i posted my comments that i forgot about your piece really , and you where one of the only few who did a massive comment and yours on my piece was particularly helpfull , so im gonna comment on yours as well.

I think the contrast between black and white can be really pushed more harder makin this image pop a lot , you anatomy is really good can crit on that part , other thing thats bothering a lil is his expression i think it doesnt go along with the rest of his body that is really expressing sexyness and his face looks sorta plain . Besides this things i think you were one of the only few who really took this concept boldly and whent the extramile to portray it , you have a really characteistic style to your work and it's really cool but i'd like to see you diversify a lil bit in some next chow if possible because i think you have a really great talent , (especially with the four brothers chow piece, the best i've seen from you so far)

[carguin]

Oops I guess the past couple of days of switching monitors really messed up my vision. This is my first semester having to stay in computer labs so much, and I saw a lot more red in one, and more green in the other... sorry I was confused. Thanks PuppyKitten for the headsup.

And thank you all for your crits and votes. I wish I could return the favor and write about each piece... but schoolwork... anyway, I voted for alice's. Loved the color scheme and the nicely painted face. (I actually didn't notice the beautiful red glow in his eyes until I switched computers!)

[Tin Can]

Hi! I’m really busy right now, and I’m going to be ridiculously busy for the next few weeks, which probably means I wont be able to participate or right comments :( I’m making time right now to comment on who I voted for and to return the favor to those who where kind enough to comment on my work. Sorry I can’t comment on all the works hear.

N1VA – Thanks for the comments on the other thread. I tried to widen the teeth and change the glass. As I already mentioned I think your Painting is very well done, but I don’t really see pin up and the girl does take allot of the viewers attention away. I do think she is beautifully done though. :)

Scorpi – I don’t think I fixed the arm, but hopefully I managed to make it better at least. I like your pic. I think you hit the concept more then allot of the images hear, but there is something about it that throws me off a bit… not sure what is… Sorry, not a very helpful comment. I like the yellow eye and the background as well. His costume is also quite appropriate

Arthemis IX –Thanks for your comments. As for your wok, I think It was well rendered, but I didn’t really feel it looked like an attractive pin up. Yet as previously mentioned, that is highly subjective. Apart from the cape, which I think could have used more definition, I think the cloathing was really well done. Having the image pinned to the wall was a good touch too.

Nike – Wasn’t trying to make him look childlike, but I do have a habit of making my characters look young. Perhaps it’s my large eyes. Didn’t have time to try to make him older though. :( I do think your Painting hit the brief well, yet I do feel it is one of those images that is more like an anatomy study rather than a concept piece. I think it could have been polished a bit more too. Cute heart-bat.

Madhatter106 – Thanks for noticing the Brandy snifter. That’s roughly what I was going for, though I think I messed the shape of the glass up. should have used a reference. In your piece, I like the candle light source and the candle stick in general. I think his pose and the full nudity is a little too sexual for the Pin up idea though. I agree with your black and white color choice though.

Mirana – Thanks for pointing that out his bellybutton is too high. In my rush to complete the picture, I hadn’t really noticed. I think the angle I was going for (which I didn’t quite reach) had allot to do with that too. I think your Tattoos are well done, given that you where trying to make them bright. I agree with the previous comments about the head, though, and I do think he came out quite feminine (especially the hands). One more point about the anatomy, the right peck almost seames to be more bulbous then the left, despite the fact the right is raised and should flatten the peck out. I think it is the harsh line on the inside of it though, because I can see your attempt to flatten it out by shading… Actually, now that I look at it more, I think the whole image as a whole would be allot better withough the harsh black outlines. I really like the way you rendered the steps, however, and the fabric on the corpses are well done.

Gwenevere – Thanks allot for your comments . they where very helpfull. Confirmed some of the previous comments and helped point out allot more. Ya, my rendering did have a cirtain rushed harshness to it. I guess you can never really hide when you’re in a hurry. :( your piece is well done, but I don’t find him very attractive. I love his position, however and the way his jaket is just falling off his right side. Not sure if I like the harsh redness of the blood, or the way it flows over the shoulder . I also like the background allot. I’ve always liked that sort of splattury effect.

Giordan – Thanks man. I appreciate the confirmation that the background doesn’t work. Your back ground, on the other hand, I find very effective. The stars and the moon are a little destracting, however. Nice pose on the charactore, but I kind of feel he is falling off the bottom of the page a bit. I think he could be raised a bit and perhaps enlargened as well. Perhaps a bit more contrast in the foreground as well. Once again, Love the window!!
Sorknes – Thanks for your comments. Looks like I still have allot of work to do to the face. I’ve already said that I really liked your magazine concept. I think your character came out a little generic though (to some extent). The overall idea is well expressed however. Nice new articles.

Puppykitten – Thanks for your comments. I’ll have to put more curve into my lips in the future. I really love you’re artwork in general, but I didn’t get too attached to this one. It is really well rendered, yet I don’t see much vampire in it. I think your anatomy is really nice too.

Zephyri – I voted for your piece. I think your Pic really hit my idea of a pin up and combined it with a creative Take on a modern Vampire. Great Job! I think yours is my Overall Favorite. Thanks for your comments on my piece too. I think I will redo the background later and see if I can refine my guy up a little when I have time.

Dream Sear – I had to throw a Vote your way. Really nice rendering and I love the literal pin up approach. Though I’m not sure if it’s a proper pin up if he is hanging from the ceiling and not from the wall. That’s just being picky though :P You did a good job of still maintaining an air of attraction with such a morbid concept.

Posh Spice – Nice Image, you got my third Vote. I really like the idea of a period pin up and the cloth canvas is a nice touch. Nice subtle use of color too. He is not what I would consider attractive, but I’m sufficiently out voted on that one, so I’ll give it too you :P Great Job. I think your image is one I missed on the other thread so I opologise. I don’t think I could have helped you anyway. :P

Bluemonika – Love your style, as always. One of my favorite images as a whole. Not sure if I think it is the best approach for the brief however. I find it hard to wrap my head around a Anime-ish pin up, especially considering that style does tend to make characters look quite young. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE your style and I hope to see many more images like this one!!! However, I would love to see you push yourself out of that comfort zone occasionally to see what other styles of work you can come up with. Looking forward to seeing more of your wo

[Atastrophea]

Argh I managed to get confused by the layout and voted for the ones ABOVE the ones I intended to vote for :S oh well, dont think it affected the outcome, just annoying :p Bluemonika and Carguin would have got my vote if I hadn't been such a dunce ;) Carguin because I liked the style and composition, and Blue because he was undeniably hot without being all muscly and Grarrrish (? new word is born....) think it was down to the movement and gesture :)