Chow 112 :: Grandma the Serial Killer

[daestwen]

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii293/chowarchive/CHOW-LINES/CHOW-LINES-MEDUSA.jpg


ROUND #112

My Grandmother the Serial Killer
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DESCRIPTION

Grandma took up a new hobby, and it ain't needlepoint. She's a sweet old lady, we swear, she just has an insatiable hunger for human lives. But she bakes great cookies!

Key to this week's character is to get the point across without excessive use of gore. Extra points if there's no blood at all!

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:right: FOLLOW THE TOPIC.

:right: POST YOUR FINAL IN THE FINAL BURNING THREAD.


:right: SAVE YOUR FILES IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT. Chow##_Nickname
example: "CHOW#100_Oblio.jpg" ;)

:right: PLACE THE IMAGE IN A FRAME WITH YOUR NAME/TOPIC

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/frame.jpg
(you can add CA logo, etc).

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DEADLINE
SUNDAY, April 6th, 2008
The way the deadline works: if deadline is on a Sunday and your image is posted on that Sunday 23:59 your local time it's a good entry.
In fact - as long there is Sunday somewhere on the planet your entry is ok. I will make the poll sometimes Monday evening my time (GMT - 8 ) yet I'll have a look at the last entries.
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POST YOUR FINALS IN THE FINAL BURNING THREAD!

Remember to include your nickname in the filename.

About quality - as general rule: if your shapes and values are not decent - you are out. Watch proportions, perspective etc. we need perfectly readable shapes and coherent, consistent values.

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BE PROFESSIONAL - only finished and good quality entries will be taken to the poll. Oregano and Daestwen (yay!) will make the selection.
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[Ridz]

love it!

[Stoni Clifton]

lets see if i canfinaly finishsometing on time :)

[Studio Colrouphobia]

Going to try to join in on this one also... hmmm...

[skorpi]

nice topic. I'll try it :)

[Kmadden2004]

Darn it! I'm going to be away from my scanner for this one...

And it's such an interesting topic too!!!

Oh well, maybe next time...

[Amedyr]

When searching Yahoo Images for "grandma", PLEASE turn "SafeSearch" on.

Trust me.

Really.

especially on page 2 of the "old grandma" search.

[Hendric VII]

I don't think I will be participating but this definately reminds me of an interview I saw with Bernie Wrightson, who when asked what was to him an example of a horrifying image said to see a neatly groomed and pressed gentleman standing on the corner on his way to work and on his shoe was a single drop of blood.
Good luck everyone!

[Giorge]

I sence this will atract more participants then the last one :)

[Sir Bret]

Maybe it was a small nosebleed :D

[lord_regenschirm]

Hahaha! I'm in ... at least I'll try to be ... academy starts tomorrow again ... :[

[UCT]

Im back at work this week so might not get this finished or even developed into better composition/character explanation but the idea made me chuckle a bit.

[Dandilion]

Ohohohohoh!
Do I have the gutts to participate? O.o

Hmm.. Due on sunday ey? Hmm.. We'll see if I have time left. :P

~Em

[Bryno]

good one- lets see what we can doo. :)

my grandma will be knitting with killer knives!

Http://www.brynodesign.com/bruno.jpg

WIP-

i might change the whole design. tell me what you guy's think so far?

i like the idea of the "poisoned cookies" btw, nice one UCT

[hatface]

would love to do this one. i'll try to fit it in with the pages i have to do for my classes.

is anyone else tempted to draw their grandmother as the sweet old serial killer? my maternal grandmother is fairly aquiline and intimidating already, but my dad's mom is a sweet little cookie grandmother... who debates shooting the deer grazing on her front lawn in the new york boonies while on the phone.

[t i m]

getting there, working with my inner Watterson...


UPDATE:

Almost there..gotta work on those bunny slippers. Anybody elese notice a huge change in color/gamma when going between comp's?

Which one looks better, first or second?

[RevoLverZ]

my grandma` smoking weed, a sketch. wip
running with her wheelchair in the hospital.
final will be with guns atached to the chiar and some scared doctors in the back. :)

[corspufo]

I gotta do my best to get into this one.

[Giorge]

RevoLverZ - that looks nice , looks like grandma bakes with steroids :pump:, maybe you should throw in a camel toe to :)

[Sorknes]

Ooh sweet! :D

For some reason this "lil" lady came into my mind straight away.... Belle Gunness, sweet serial killer... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Gunness)

Hope I get this one done :)

[Danuh]

haha wow I can't believe how inactive I've been for the passed month and a half. This concept is too great, I just might have to enter.

[Rodimus25]

Some loose sketches for the mo.

[madhatter106]

Ooh sweet! :D

For some reason this "lil" lady came into my mind straight away.... Belle Gunness, sweet serial killer... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Gunness)

Hope I get this one done :)

And don't forget lovable Jane Toppan, the nasty nurse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Toppan), the last person I'd want to see standing over me with a bedpan...in Toppan's case, she derived an almost sexual delight of her victims' death throes, and would crawl into the hospital cot with them as they were breathing their last. Eerie stuff.

Female serial killers seem to rely a lot on poison - it's a more subversive way to off your victims, and less strenuous than strangling or knifing or bludgeoning someone to death.

This challenge has Arsenic and Old Lace written all over it. ;)

[Sorknes]

Yeah, we were talking about it on IRC and I mentioned Arsenic and Old Lace.... it's ideal.

So is also some of Agatha Christies stuff, especially the Mrs Marple stories, but some Hercule Poirot ones hit the nail here too ;)

[Cookiedough]

Here's a bunch of grannies that are dangerous:
Velma Barfield (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/velma_barfield/1.html)
Arsenic Anna Hahn (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/anna_hahn/2.html)
Mary Ann Cotton (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/cotton/1.html)
Nannie Doss (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/doss/1.html)
Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/golay_rutterschmidt/1_index.html)
Belle Gunness (http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/gunness/index_1.html)
Dorothea Puente (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/puente/1.html)

Female Mass Murderers in general (http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/female_mass_murderer/1.html)

I like reading up on things on this site... Overall, most of these women were pretty passive agressive in their approach, some were in abusive relationships and stayed, while slowly poisoning their husbands. Others were just plain greedy and looking for materialistic valuebles, and didn't stop cos of a familyrelationship, killing off their own kids and grandkids. The fact that they were so creepy and secretive about it, enjoying it all while usually 'aiding' their victims... makes them very scary to me.

Anyways, good topic. I got more macabre reading to do. :)

[satori]

cool this is gona be fun
hope I get done till sunday
this is what I've got so far

337904

[Amedyr]

Here's what I've got, so far! :)

[Mochachinoprince]

wow...those are amazing sketches rodimus....^_^ love the style just the extremes that the facial expressions have...

i'm so horrible at actually being active on this site, but i'd love for this fun topic to be the one to break me into chow ^_^

[corspufo]

Rodimus: I like your style. Keep it up I want to see it finished.
Satori: I like the idea of garden corpse field, keep it up.
Amedyr: Your Grandma's head and shoulder's looks a little masculine. I would try to soften them up a touch. I like the idea of the steamy skull.

Good stuff guys, here's my WIP.
http://www.geocities.com/titanamongstmen/grandma.jpg

[Amedyr]

@ corspufo: Thanks for the critique! There was something bothering me, I just couldn't figure out what... Haha, your grandma looks totally deranged! I'm almost too afraid to ask what's in the bucket XD


EDIT: Quick redrawing....

[lord_regenschirm]

Aaaand I'm out again ... :teeth:
Doubt that I'll find some time this week ... and the current postings are too good to cope with anyway :^^:

[Bryno]

Don't have enough time this week- it's a shame for such a good concept! anyhoot- this is my final version... so far. if i might find some time- ill add some more stuff/ detail.

Corspufo- Nice design, i like the whole dynamic in her pose. makes it very attractive.
rodimus25- very classy... nice design!


Http://www.brynodesign.com/Bryno_FinalKillerGranny.jpg

"Oh hello dear... How nice of you to bring your fiance around... I'd like to meet her!"

[MEMPER]

Heres my WIP.

[Shard]

loving satori's idea!
doubt I'm gonna finish this but here's a sketch..

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/6312/grannymk3.jpg

[St. Ginger]

I only just saw this challenge, and couldn't resist. I'm gonna change the knitted scarf to a noose, just for a bit of story. (the hangings came after, and its in ball point pen. lol) The sketch took me the best part of double french this morning, but this should be fun!

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/St-Ginger/scan0001.jpg

[S.C. Watson]

here's one for you: Ruth Neslund (http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=8137), not a serial killer, but freaky none-the-less. She lived over on Lopez island (where I work one day a week) and my former assistant manager at the bank I worked at for a bit was jurer #1 when it went to trial.

Also, for those that are interested, Anne Rule recently (about a year or so ago) wrote a book about the incident.

Um. yeah. So, beautiful scenery here in the islands... :er:

~Oreg.

[Studio Colrouphobia]

Here's my WiP.
Not sure I'll make it this week, but I will try in any case...
Leaving alot of white so that there is some mystery as to what is going on :p

[timothee]

I was kinda hesitant to participate this week, but since i haven't done a CHOW in a cool minute, I'm going to try and finish one.
Here's a quick sketch:
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r146/timdeplace/granny.jpg

[mayk]

Hey everybody, she's not my grandmother, but anyway ;)

work in progressss #1

[S.C. Watson]

work in progressss #1
Sweet. :geekg:

~Oreg.

[Leysan]

Hi, I'd like to participate here too.

Here's my wip:
338286

[corspufo]

Amedyr: Good progress. She looks better. I also like that you made the Poison more noticeable.

Studio: Love where this is going. You've got a sweet painting style. More more, need to see more!

Timothee: nice idea, I would exaggerate the pieces on the cookies more though.

[MEMPER]

Dropping out. Accidentally deleted my file.
Next time...

[Matthew Campbell]

Nice topic, I couldn't pass this one up.

Here's what I have so far. It's 5:30 AM, and I have a fairly early start tomorrow, so rendering can wait.


http://xs226.xs.to/xs226/08144/grandmother_1_wip563.jpg

Still have to add the murderous elements to the image. :yum: Now, what style to render in... shall I use Painter or Photoshop. Hmm...

I'm going away until Sunday, so I'll have to rely on my old steam-powered laptop. I fully expect to alternate between violent, desperate rage and tearful whimpering as the laptop grinds to a half-hour halt after every brush stroke.

[safesheep]

Alright, well here is my first post on CA, gotta say I love this community. Looking forward to learning a lot from everyone here. So here it is, my WIP. She looks fairly normal right now, but I plan on adding in some slightly disturbing elements... her stare is a bit disconcerting I think. I am just starting to knock in the basic values, so let me know if you have any advice, it would be much appreciated! Hope to have it done by Sunday...

[Ninjamuffin]

Yeah, I'd be amazed if this one made it to poll, but I think it's amusing nonetheless.
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/9632/killergrannybs2.jpg
Just sippin' tea and admiring her handiwork.

[Giorge]

Yah ppl remember that is a sweet old woman , not a life sentence serial killer who just got out of the pit.

[mayk]

give me a chance guys, I want to show two faces of grandmom..;)

[skorpi]

atachUCT Nice start, I lik it but I don't thinkyou see the blood when the cookie is baken.

t i m o t h y I like her glases

RevoLverZ I like the idea but I think it could be more subtle

rodimus25 great sketch, looks good

satori I like the concept

Amedyr She looked a bit like a man now it's quite better :) I like the concept.

corspufo She's crazy, I like your drawing

Bryno Nice a granma with piercing

MEMPER Sie looks like a evil witch. I like her face but I think she fits to the concept.

shardana Uh, I wouldn't meet her O.o
Her right arm is to litle and to thin.

St. Ginger Nice concept I like it.

Studio Colrouphobia I like xour painting, what does she held in her hand?

timothee Really nice, I hope you finish it.

mayk Looks great

Leysan I like it because it's subtle

Matthew Campbell Nice sketch I'm curious for the murderous details.

safesheep She looks a bit crazy, nice start.

Ninjamuffin Someway I like it. Will you work it out?


My first sketch, hope I find time to finish it

[Studio Colrouphobia]

Skorpi, the hand that is stretched out in front of her will have a tray of cookies in it.

Flamable, so wait a bit... you took this bit litterarily: "She's a sweet old lady, we swear," ?!
Personally I took it as something of an irony...

Sort of like how you can say: "Hulk Hogan is a choirboy, we swear..."



As long as it's a granny with murderous intent I think it will be okay...
My gran was a vicious she-monster who tormeted her entire surroundings...not all grannies are nice...

[Leysan]

rodimus25 ninja grandma, cool

satori I like the idea. she looks a bit like an alien with those glasses. Is that a skull in the sky?

mayk the rendering is awesome

safesheep her eyes are scary, she looks like a zombie

skorpi show her finger how she's pushing that big pot XD


I wonder if it's not too subtle.
338848

[corspufo]

Mayk: great style, and sweet painting method. It would be cooler if you could see a little more of what she's holding. Is it a bat, an ax, giant cleaver? Just my opinion. Also, maybe a touch more refinement to the hooks in the back and we may have a winner.

Leysan: Too subtle? I'm not exactly sure how this lady is at all dangerous. She could be Whistler's Mother for all we know. Which I guess is the point of serial killers. They could be anybody. But still for purposes like these, I would say there needs to be some element that makes the point, dangerous or killer.

Safesheep: keep on pushing this, it could be really cool.

[skorpi]

@Leysan: I would bring the axe out more. Give some more contrast in this part or somthing like that.

[mayk]

Thanks guys.

corspufo - she's holding axe, I'll try to show it ;)

heres recent compilation ;) day and night ;)

[Dreoilin]

mayk- She still scares me:$ But seriously, this is pretty friggin sweet!

[safesheep]

Sweet, man I love this stuff. Some really cool characters. Still working on mine, I am getting close to finishing it up. I'll have it in by Sunday.

Mayk: Awesome, really love the atmosphere, and of course the character! Its cool to see both ideas of Granny. I like how subtle the axe is too, not too obvious but also not too hidden

Ninjamuffin: A humorous take on serial killer granny, nice, i like it

Matthew Campbell: Great perspective and character, really looking forward to this one. Best of luck with your laptop!

timothee: Love the glasses and the "kiss the butcher" apron

shardana: thats one grandma I would not want to meet, looking good

corspufo: excellent work, hope my head isn't in the bucket

Leysan: looking good, like others said maybe emphasize the hatchet more

[timothee]

corspufo, skorpi- Thanks!, I still have to play around with the cookie pieces, and workout the folds in the dress.
mayk- sweet friggin render, I like the contrast between Granny's two personalities. She reminds me of that creepy Kathy Bates character in Misery.
Progress:
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r146/timdeplace/granny1.jpg

[Tommoy]

Mayk, i don't know witch one is scarier.

Heres a wip.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t19/Tommoy/CHOW112ck.jpg

[Kaizer]

Timothee, change the color of the cookies slightly from the color of the flesh, so it doesn't look like she just had a good time making the cookies LOOK like body parts instead of COOKING body parts. Maybe define her legs and skirt a bit more, too. Otherwise, it's pretty sweet.

[skorpi]

WIP
I don't know if I should draw the perspective correct ore more freehand. :rolleyes:

[RevoLverZ]

hey guys , nice entries.
If you can help me a bit with photoshop I`ll be very happy.
I usually use a 1024x768 resolution for the monitor. I painted this at this resolution. But when I changed it at 1280 x 1024 the picture saved looks horizontaly deformed.

[Windsrock]

I also have work in progress. Hope its gonna end up nicely.

[MonkeYoakum]

Skorpi, I think yours is coming real nice, I'd keep up with the perspective how you are doing. Awesome idea of inocent grandma killing.

Mayk: the daylight grandmas arm is so buff!! I think she looks kind of transgender in the daylight, but I kind of like buff happy transgender dudes.

[safesheep]

Timothee: great start with the painting, I agree with kaizer, maybe change the color of the cookies a bit so we can see those delicious ingredients

Tommoy: very nice wip, disturbing character and environment. I particularly like the veil your granny is wearing. Keep going!

Well here is another WIP, almost finished with it. I need to clean up a little bit and perhaps add a few more details. Just not sure what to add, or if I should let it be...

[kaikai]

safshep you should take the where am I? off the mirror...

[Matthew Campbell]

Skorpi, thanks for the comment. Your image is coming along nicely. Regarding your perspective issue, normally I would be inclined to go for the correct perspective. I'm not sure here though. There is almost a slight curve, which is quite pleasing. It could perhaps add a certain hallucinatory nightmarish quality to the image, if used properly.

Safesheep, thanks. Your character looks like a creepy old peasant woman. I like the face and expression, although feel the pose is rather stiff...

Here's a preview of my image in it's current state, after roughly three hours of happily painting away. Still have lots to do. Those currently empty shelves may prove to be my downfall. I thought I'd post a preview now, in case anyone spots any glaring issues I may have overlooked.

http://xs126.xs.to/xs126/08145/grandmother_preview978.jpg

It's not clear yet, but the dark rectangular mass at the bottom is a table, fairly close to the viewer. On the table, will be an example of this sweet old grandmother's perverse handiwork. Aah, what a great topic.

:yayca:

[corspufo]

kaikai: dude no way, I think it's cool and totally adds to that sense of trying to find self worth. If ANYTHING, would suggest maybe playing with a couple of different phrases.

"Who Am I" "What have I Done" "Where's my Soul" "I can't find my keys"

play with it!

Safesheep: it's probably the look you're going for, but I would recommend, making both eyes clear and focused. Right now, she's got a lazy left eye, and it's coming off more as incorrect rather than a deformity.

[safesheep]

Corspufo: Yeah I'm thinking you've got a good point there, I was going for the lazy eye, but I don't think I quite have it. I still need to go in the face area and clean it up a bit, so I'll see what I can do, thanks. I thought about other phrases to put on the mirror, I'm liking where am I the most right now. If anyone else has some good ideas I'd love to hear them. "I can't find my keys" is great, I'm considering that one now :rendered: perhaps "who stole my keys?"

Matthew Campbell: The pose is definitely stiff, you hit it spot on. When I started this pice I forgot you had to display 3/4 of the character... I had started out with just the head and then remembered, so I added the body on afterwards. I probably rushed the pose a little bit, definitely something I need to work on. Silly mistake, but oh well. Thanks Your values are looking really good right now, I can't wait to see what will be on the table

[S.C. Watson]

Finals thread is posted (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=122579)

Ciao,
~Oreg.

[Leysan]

timothee I like those fingers sticking out of the can. Maybe you could make them look a bit more like fingers. And make cookies and pieces of different colour.

skorpi I'd try to make the perspective correct... The granny looks really nice, though she doesn't seem to look down now, or is she killing by accident? :)

safesheep she looks really mad with those eyes and all the photos, I like that. I'd leave the eyes looking in different directions. The folds on her clothes look strange. I wouldn't have recognized that frame as a mirror, now it looks more like a painting hanging backwards to me.

Matthew The values look great and I like the furniture a lot and the look on her face too. But I don't like how the tip of her left foot just touches the table. Also for me it kinda looks like her shoulders are broken.


Ok, I'm trying to make mine look more creepy, mostly by changing the background.
339775

[timothee]

Kaiser- Initially, I wanted the cookies to have a reddish tint( because of the special ingredients), but I think you are right in changing the cookies' color to make the human parts more readable. Back to the drawing board...

[candyjanney]

Damn I was out of town! I don't know if I'll have time to finish! I hoope I can!!! What do you think so far?

[Flipnastywebby]

mayk because of the hooks behind yer grandma it looks like the acid pit from MKII.....finish her!

solid work though dude

[mayk]

Thanks guys for support , I think it's done

[safesheep]

alright, I'm going to have to call granny finished, I've got a lot of work to do for classes this weekend... been putting it off so I could work on this. Its going to be exciting to see all the finished pieces, good luck everyone! Sorry I couldn't address everyone's suggestions

[snootchy]

interesting subject, just started this about 2hrs ago, still not feeling it but will try to finish this up, it's the psycho granny that keeps her kill count on her pillow and takes your last breath while your asleep

Sketch Book (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112991&page=3)

[madhatter106]

safesheep - I'll echo the comment about her pose looking stiff - combined with the awkward googly/lazy eye, it looks like (pardon the un-PC brusqueness) she's a recovering stroke victim...it looks like she's more impaired/deformed rather than psychotic...but that's just my initial read on your image...

[Amedyr]

Gahhhhh still so much stuff to do....

1- finish background
2- cookies
3- shoes
4- steam
5- bottle of poison

And now I'm off to my first exam of the semester, then to work, then to my cousin's wedding.... *panic*

[Matthew Campbell]

Here's another update. Tomorrow begins the colouring process. It's been a while since I've painted using Photoshop, and started from grayscale like this. These days I usually prefer a rougher, more energetic style, not sure how I feel about this.

I had a couple of ideas for showing her serial killer nature, that didn't work out compositionally. One of them was to have some creepy old dolls on the table, one of them customised with the severed face of her husband. I also painted in a portait of her husband on the back wall (just to suggest who the severed face belonged to), but it was too visually distracting. Guess I've got a lot to learn about composition.

http://xs226.xs.to/xs226/08146/grandmother_preview_2452.jpg

[Rodimus25]

My Final.

[corspufo]

hey guys, finished mine. What do you think?

http://www.geocities.com/titanamongstmen/grandma.jpg

[OYO!]

Hey guys ! Really fun topic and some really nice entries here !
Here is mine :

http://www.oyoz.com.au/images/chow_grandmakilla_web.jpg

Enjoy !

Y.

[skorpi]

All this great entries, I have no chance, but had fun :)

[flashrabbit]

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p97/DkJunior/chow112_flashrabbit.jpg

"Behind that somewhat calm exterior hides her true face.
From her shadowy depth, her alter ego creeps up on you.
And before you know it, crack! The sound of your broken spine echoes down the streets.
Dont let the cookies fool you."

[Amedyr]

Leysan - Flipping the image made ALL the difference! I really like yours, it's subtle AND terrifying, once you get the message :)

candyjaney - wow, that's gross! LOL The wrinkles on her forehead could use some work; at first, I thought she had bandages on.... maybe you should make the wrinkles go in a slightly different direction than the lines on her hair? Anything that sets those two sets of lines apart

Mayk - Oh, those poor grandchildren... I can imagine them being forced to kiss grandma and being psychologically (and physically, depending on her mood!) scarred for life!

corspufo - I really like the texture on her dress! The image overall is great, the little doggy is hilarious XD

skorpi - I love yours! Great way of showing a killer grandma without a single drop of gore :) (PS: die, litterers, DIE!!)


Ok, if nobody has any more advice for me, this is probably my finished piece...

[Nightblue]

Looked at CHOW section for the first time in a week today... I was surprised because I had to do it, and I normally don't like drawing people from our time period.

Back to school work. Awesome job everybody... I really like OYO!'s, there is just so much attitude in the painting. mayk, your colors and mood is beautiful.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd214/lxc2000/chow112_pv.jpg

[ibrahx]

well this my first chow!!!! its already done but heres my sketches

[S.C. Watson]

POLL IS POSTED (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=122579)