EOW 85 Cloud Castle

[chaosrocks]

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/EOW2.jpg

EOW 85 Cloud Castle

REQUIRED
Clouds

NOTE: This would be an easy topic to do CLICHE and or Badly. Think outside the trite box and give us something GREAT!



DUE April20 th
Something a little fluffy after all that neon[.



NO description required, say what you need to say visually.


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[krisCrash]

I have yet no idea how to avoid cliché here (maybe by HANGING from the clouds instead of being on them...), but it sure is a topic with possibility for some epic scenery :3

[Lucky Munky]

I will attempt this potentially pansy-assed cloud castle with as much Bam-Pow Woo'ha as I can muster, that should hopefully avoid any of the verboten cliché pitfalls. I think it'll be a great challenge to stretch me out of my comfort zone. But I think it is a cruel challenge after our attempt at cyber mastery.

[chaosrocks]

hehehehe I am baaaad! :P

[Dan!]

it's on:steph: :anime:

[Lege1]

(hands on top of head confused)
This is an awesome topic and I think I really want to do this as my first E.O.W. It's a big decision between doing the C.H.O.W. or this.......daaaaaammmnnnnn
I feel like someone is asking me what my favorite color is,lol.....

[Lege1]

The hell with it, I am going to try and do both. There's still 3 days left on the C.H.O.W............

[krisCrash]

Sketchy thumbnail attack! Is this too messy to begin with?
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x201/tigr3ss/sketchcrap/cloudcastlecol.jpg
It's hard not to be inspired by Blood Elf buildings, or the Oocca's City In the Sky (Twilight Princess), probably as those were my favourite games x3

Before I go any further... please tell me if this has to be on clouds or made of clouds, or just in the sky? It's some kind of expression in English, isn't it? Cloud castles, I mean.

[DeKal]

does it have to be earth?

[Nigh7shad3]

does it have to be earth?



to quote chaosrocks

''Think outside the trite box and give us something GREAT!''

[chaosrocks]

cloud and castle
combined in any fashion you wish

of course it doesn't have to be earth...silly

crx

[Lege1]

Dekal: Glad to see you on this one bro =)

[DeKal]

this is totally outside of my own box but heres my start.
decided to keep it on earth or at least inside the milky way..those are real constellations...
laahhhts of tidying up still needs to be done...
let me know whats up.

[Sir Bret]

Never tried an environment before... lets see how this goes :|

not quite what i had in mind. Finish it tomorrow.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/mekese2000/enviroment3.jpg

[Lucky Munky]

I am going to try and depict Morlan's 'Castle Black' from Steven Brust's Jhereg Novels. A flying castle of black stone with a transparent court yard thousands of feet in the air.

That couldn't be considered a standard cliche 'castle in the clouds'.

Here is a very quick rough. Made without my wacom on that tiny little finger pad on my laptop... Wacom. Oh, how I miss her.

[Lege1]

Alright here goes nothin.....Peter Pan thoughts take flight. =P

[nickmarshallvfx]

WEll i absolutely love this topic, so im hoping to use this as my first forray into the EOW :)
Knocked out a quick concept earlier on today, but i dont like it, so im gonna start again. Thought id post it here anyway, coz after all, not everything can go exactly to plan, right?

http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL762/3253510/19178467/313109786.jpg

[fragmentedchimp]

sweet, i think im in on this one.. my first env. i think too.
yikes.

heres a go at it with some funked brushes, i may just improve onto this later. a little boring, but i think ill add some coal pumping looking machinery into it-that oughta jazz it up a little, i think.

[tsujni]

wip - clouds would be in there, somewhere:)

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh319/tsujni/cloud-castle.jpg


fragmentedchimp - interesting!!

[rebelionature]

Thought i might pip in some inspiration. Earths not the only planet with clouds, just the only one with clouds that wont kill us. For example brown dwarves have clouds composed of vaporized iron! Thought id share this info i got from history channel's the universe. Could you imagine a hellish castle atop a storm of molten iron? fun! hope this sparks ideas:yayca:

[reversenorm]

Okay so here's my WIP, trying to avoid cliche and do something that stil is in this realm of physics, no magic, no fancy science.

[chaosrocks]

i have no objections to fancy physics, or magic even or the dwelling of mist bourn elementals or what ever

[Sundance]

i have no objections to fancy physics, or magic even or the dwelling of mist bourn elementals or what ever

What about imagination...or just plain ol' creativity?

:bashful:

[Nightblue]

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd214/lxc2000/EOW85_pv1.jpg http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd214/lxc2000/EOW85_pv2.jpg

quick sketch, going for the evil but magnificent feel.

[chaosrocks]

all those are great
go for it?
Im gessoing a black canvas.. which Im going to attack in a cloud caste inspired frenzy.. we'll see what happens

[DeKal]

still workin on this..needs more touch ups and im thinking about putting an animal on that pillar..maybe a bridge connecting it to the larger castle too..

[reversenorm]

Don't misunderstand me I love imaginary science and magic, I simply thought that removing those might lead to a less common kind of image.

[kenjitsu]

I'm in on this one... I need practice. Let's make it really crazy, not what anyone would expect kind of thingy. I'll post some sketches shortly, hopefully... My first Eow! wiieee...

[Arteater]

No new C.O.W. topic so heres my work in progress :):yayca:
http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs30/i/2008/106/a/0/E_O_W__85_Cloud_Castle_by_arteaterproductions.jpg

[Vulgar`]

And the clouds parted...

[Vyse]

I´m sooooo going to participate in this round!!
Excitement...!!

[Sir Bret]

Thought i might pip in some inspiration. Earths not the only planet with clouds, just the only one with clouds that wont kill us. For example brown dwarves have clouds composed of vaporized iron! Thought id share this info i got from history channel's the universe. Could you imagine a hellish castle atop a storm of molten iron? fun! hope this sparks ideas:yayca:

I was going for a cliche scene anyway, despite chaosrocks saying otherwise, but you lead me into the realm of science fiction and I am LOVING IT. Cheers :D

[Hunger_Artist]

thumbs

[Hunger_Artist]

early vers & final- ended up looking way different than thumbnail

[Delmar]

Hunger Artist....Very nice process and final!...like the colors.:)

I thought i'll give it a try, since i have no experience in matte painting and i really want to get better in that......

so here's what i've got so far: The idea is that the castle is the clouds itself constantly changing the form while driftin through the sky. I hope i can take this to the finished stage....

edit: update

edit:close to final

[kenjitsu]

Hunger artist, thats really beautiful, what program are you using, could it be painter?... Like the soft colors and loose feel. You got me inspired. You even got time to make one more painting before the deadline. Damn I'm lazy. :)

Delmar, nice start, post more. :)

[DeKal]

delmar - i like
hunger - sooooo dope

[hound]

Thought maybe a suspended castle would be fun to do. I am trying to think of ways to make it look like it is something incredibly heavy being held up by a ball of fluff. Well just a preliminary sketch hopefully ill have something done for this.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh83/daymare27/Snapshot_20080415.jpg

[Arteater]

Im too scared to add color to the clouds, any suggestions would be great.

Hunger Artist: Awesome work, I love your perspective and coloring

http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs25/i/2008/106/1/1/E_O_W__85_Cloud_Castle_w_i_p__by_arteaterproductio ns.jpg

[iwantjelly]

I will try to give this one a go.

Arteater, I like what you did. I like The composition, and there's a kind of of tormented feel to it. If I dared, I might suggest to add some warm colors, for now you have mostly greens and blues, and adding some red and yellow could be a good idea. Or maybe just small hints of it, like a tonic.

Hunger Artist, really great style, very lively

[kenjitsu]

Hound, fun concept, finish it up. :)

Arteater, I too think you should add just a hint if not more of warm colors, maybe not so much to the sky as I like the cold fresh look to the far distant cloud castle, but to the forest in the foreground, it could have some warm rim light, from the side or something or just ambient warm light bouncing... other than that it's nice.

Edit: I just saw that you have some tornadoes under, and those might be more visible. play with a warm sunlight, might do the trick.

[lkjhgfdsa]

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/jonoy/EOW85_lkjhgfdsa.jpg

[ye_oldskool]

My very first post! Woooo

WIP - thumbs. Plenty of r&d to go before sunday...

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk142/ye_oldskool/MikeM_E0W85_WIP_1.jpg

Check out my blog! (http://mikemanalac.blogspot.com/)

[C0mBineD]

:( oh man my idea failed.. it was a steamtrain with a castle coming otu of the steam.. :P oh well nice entries so far :D

[Hunger_Artist]

Imagolith- I used photoshop and a textured brush
also, thanks everyone for all the other nice words!

lkjhgfdsa-that looks pretty epic, also, best screen name ever.

[Hive_minD]

Some frikkin' sweet stuff here. I really enjoyed scoping through this event :)

Chris

[Arteater]

lkjhgfdsa: Great work, love the color

Ye Oldschool: Great designs, cant wait to see the results. I like that guy right down the middle.

Ok added some color.

Everybody: how many pixels do you usually work with?
http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs30/i/2008/107/7/b/e_o_w__more_w_i_p__by_arteaterproductions.jpg

[Villa]

here's one more.

its nice to be back

[Vyse]

Villa, you could win this one..... i´m stunned.

[kenjitsu]

lkjhgfdsa: Cool... only thing is that the rings seems not to go in perspective...

ye_oldskool: nice sketches... I really like the originality to the one bottom left corner. The tree looks magical.

Villa: Damn! ...! well, no crits... thats awesome.

Warmup, trying to come up with something, the first sketch became cloud city rather than castle but hey, who cares, just warming up. will post more soon... I'm so tired but I'll make some more sketches now.
http://benjamin.salmi.googlepages.com/Sketch001.jpg/Sketch001-full;init:.jpg


Updated wip, nothing really fancy, quick doodles:
http://benjamin.salmi.googlepages.com/sketch002.jpg/sketch002-full;init:.jpg
http://benjamin.salmi.googlepages.com/VolcanoCloudCastle.jpg/VolcanoCloudCastle-full;init:.jpg

[Dan!]

ok giving it another shot

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/DECYPL/cloudcastlecopy.jpg

[Mat Kaminski]

Wow... so many amazing entries already

Alright... this time, I WILL DO IT! :0
Going to get on this right now.

[Nightblue]

wow, so many quality entries already *drools*

updated wip on page 1.

[corspufo]

holy crap, amazing stuff.

Lege1: your WIP is grand and sweeping, can't wait to see where it goes.

Dekal: quiet and beautiful, reminds me a lot of the palace in Neverending Story.

HungerArtist: Dude, I love that painting style. Very raw and intense. The color scheme is excellent, and the composition is wonderful. I would have kept the glowing light from the sketches and WIPs. I thought it added a little something extra to the piece.

Villa: Dude that's sweet. massive and daunting. The only thing I'd say would have been to extend the canvas a bit, to give your castle some more breathing room and a better sense of scale.

Arteater: The cloud swirling is a nice effect and works with the piece. I think you still need to take the shadows a lot further. The trees in the foreground would be more silhouettes than fully rendered trees with light coming from your castle. BTW, I'll usually create most of my work 3000 px by 2200 px. I can always Save For Web and make it smaller. As long as I have lots of room to paint in while I'm working, the output can be controlled after the fact.

lkjhgfdsa: very beautiful and romantic. I would say that some of the line work may need to be tightened up a tad, like on the rings. But overall it's a great piece.

decypl: cool image so far, but it's not finished yet. Sharpen the edges of your building, tighten the quality of the chains, have the lighting cast ambient light to clouds around it, push the glow of those ports on the bottom. Good work, keep it going.

[Dan!]

thanks corspufo, I definately have those thoughts in my mind- worked on it too long yesterday so I'll tackle it with fresh eyes later-
ye oldschool- epic design- hope to see it finished
dekal- definately giving me that nastalgic feel
hungerartist- very natural feeling- i'm not sure it has a castle feel yet
lege1- very classical idea
delmar- thats a great idea you have-reminds me of some of the art from the Faeries book
arteater- cool idea has a magical feel- i agree about adding some warmer colors.
kenjitsu nice sci-fi look to it
nightblue cool angle- funny thing- i started with the same composition-

great work all keep it up

[hallo]

tried to stay away from any fantasy cliches this time.

http://www.notmybiz.com/hosted/fb_portfolio/bilder/eow85_cloudcastle_final_hallo.jpg

I envisioned my environment as a 'real' place, featured as "the cloud castle" in some local folklore or tales.
... on a second thought, I fear it won't stand a chance against the other entries in its bleakness, though :)

okay, here's something for everyone...

dekal: i'm not quite sure if your castle is more on the peaceful or on the uncanny side, but it's definitely beautiful.

mitze: like it. maybe you could add some depth by darkening the foreground and, respectively, fading out the mountains in the background a bit.

lucky munky: i like the choice you made for the viewpoint - really makes me dizzy.

lege1: nice sketch, but i think less is more here; the castle lacks a distinctive shape, its a bit cluttered right now...

space sprayer: nice mood, liking the colors.

fragmentedchimp: cool, (what i assume to be) the supporting cloud feels a tad heavy ;)

tsujni: great! if only good old da vinci could see this.

reversenorm: seems i went the same route you chose... looking forward to the final result!

nightblue: really interesting! wondering how clouds will come into play... or is it floating?

arteater: quite epic vista. bit difficult to make out the castle itself as its pretty small atm.

hunger_artist: awesome. thanks for sharing the progress. i really love the colors, the style, the looks of the castle - heck, everything. one minor nitpick: the cloud in the foreground looks a bit unfinished, i think its lacking some highlights.

delmar: intriguing style, and cool concept on top. like it.

hound: like the idea, this could turn out great.

lkjhgfdsa: very nice. again, one little crit: the clouds behind the moon are a bit weird.

ye_oldskool: nice thumbs!

villa: damn, that's some heavy stuff. gorgeous colors.

kenjitsu: cool. like the volcano concept.

decypl: interesting and quite, uh, unusual(?) shapes. i really like it.

[kenjitsu]

Hi guys, I'm trying to keep up with the skill here, but it's not going that well, everybody has so nice compositions and concepts... I'm somewhere at a half mark on this one... starting to feel some colors... critique is always welcome. ;P trying to make a spiral composition... but, it's maybe too obvious at the moment, very amateur.

http://benjamin.salmi.googlepages.com/VolcanocoloringWip.jpg/VolcanocoloringWip-full;init:.jpg

[Jokisalo]

I hate it, hope you like it!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/Jokisalo/CA%20Activities/EOW85_Jokisalo.jpg

[tsujni]

needed a bigger kite!

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh319/tsujni/cloud-castlecopy.jpg


perspective image to reinforce castle

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh319/tsujni/cc1copy.jpg

hallo - I like yours the best so far! Not a thing I would change.

ye_oldskool - love your thumbs. Some of them give me a lunatic pandora vibe.

Jokisalo - I like it! gives an illusory vibe

[DeKal]

villa - reall cool man..maybe define whats going on in that center just a little bit more..
decypl - i like that..i think the lightening is a little distracting..maybe a little bit less and/or more concentrated at the tip..cool design overall
hallo - i really really like that man...talk about minimalist..that shit works well though..
kenjitsu - i like the swirling cloud..very strong compositional element..but the idea does seem kinda cliche..very lord of the ringsish
jokisalo - i do like it man..reminds me of a haunted house..original..just spruce it up a bit.
tsujni - like the direction your headed.

i was gonna say screw it on mine but this surge of entries and some comments may have motivated me to keep goin.

[tsujni]

***snip***
tsujni: great! if only good old da vinci could see this.
***snip***

Ever see that Simpson's episode where Jasper Johns is stealing everything?

[Delmar]

Mitze: Nice composition and colors so far. From the concept aspect i would say it slightly drifts into an ice castle image....too few clouds in relation to the ice and they ar also not quite related to the castle...so it's a little hard to catch the idea by only looking at the image. i hope this make sense...

Lege1: I'm really looking forward on your progress on that one..i like the idea of that huge impressive castle threateningly floating over our heads....maybe one compositional thing. The girl on the left really draws some of the attention away from the castle. She's very detailed and close to the "camera" but she's just a spectator...in such concepts i would use people just as scale devices or to convey a certain feeling...like a running scared crowd of people....but they should have no great detail.

fragmentedchimp: nice concept..really hope you push it further....maybe wrap some towers around the cloud and play with the perspective...it would give a nice fairy tale feeling.

nightblue: nice perspective and good design...for now i just miss the clouds,but i guess they will come

Dekal: very nice...it has a great magical feel to it.

arteater: really dig the swirling clouds and the overall surreal feal to the whole image....i woould push back the foreground a little bit more with darker colors to get the focus straight to the castle.

lkjhgfdsa: really nice colors and execution...imo the castle could be more defined and and a little more distinctive fom the clouds


ye_oldskool: nice thumbs! I like the lower left most. it looks like there is a big tree in the middle of the castle withe clouds instead of leaves...would like that idea.


villa: love the dynamic feel to it

decypl: nice design and color,i would stay away from the lightnings on top and would try to get more cloud feeling into that.....excited to see the result

hallo: man love your sense for design and mood (loved the blade runner enviro concept).....for this round you captured a great mood, but imo the concept of the castle itself is too little.

tsujni:Like your tiled drawing style and your approach to this topic....curious about the final.

..updated on page two..final i guess.

salute

Andi

[kenjitsu]

Dekal, I'll scrap this and start a new one then, I didn't think it was that cliche at first..., but my brother said the same thing as you did and I became more aware of the resembles to LOTR ... I'll drop this one for sure... Starting to make new thumbs... It was fun for as long as it lasted... I seriously need to start thinking more when painting. Thanks.

I got carried away with the oil brush again... a crop from the wip image btw...
http://benjamin.salmi.googlepages.com/Volcanocoloringxxxxxxxxxcrop.jpg/Volcanocoloringxxxxxxxxxcrop-full;init:.jpg

[DeKal]

kenjitsu - naw man...this looks a lot better..it still resembles mordor a little bit or whatever that giant evil castle was called..but this one is more convincing. that claw shape at the top and the greenish clouds make it more unique.. i like the cropped version but that volcano thats birthing the castle seems to be an important part of the desgin.so id say finish it up man..i like it a lot better now..your using ps or painter?

[kenjitsu]

Dekal, yes it's made in painter, with a default round oil brush, "Round Camel Hair",... and a little airbrush for coloring. I left the volcano out to maybe get rid of some of the lotr feel, but the "eye tower" resembles is still there, I have been trying to sketch alternative details to push away from lotr, but I think it's as far away as I can make this in this genre, but the top part of the castle is too close the "eye tower". There are always room for small adjustments but to make this completley fresh and original is just not gonna happen hehe... without screwing the feel totally. Glad you like it tho, thanks very much! :) ... I still got time til sunday, so everything can happen... Thanks again.

Edit:
I got it to look little more unique by taking away the focus from the glowing spiral gate at the top, and pushed the castle more in front. Might be just wishful thinking, but this might just do the trick. Still cliche but not so much lotr which bothered me the most, don't want to be a copier, even if it was subconsciencely. I'll post the result later on.

[Dan!]

i agree- the swirling cloud tower came out well and the lava was a great touch of tangient for the eye

[revenebo]

FINAL

Spiralling clouds or inverted whirlwinds which should resemble towers and pinnacles. Not much of a concept this week, sorry...

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q150/revenebo/EoW85_Revenebo.jpg

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q150/revenebo/EoW85_Revenebo_thumb.jpg



P.S. Chaosrx, I'll probably be away for the w-end, could you consider this as my final entry, plz? (How did you get those burns on your arm?)

[kenjitsu]

Here is one of 3 final alternatives, the 2 others are still B/W and I'm abit tired of this image right now... if nothing else, then this is my final, some small adjustments still needed thou. Feels good to finish it up somewhat rather than leaving it to dust in the scrap folder.

Painter x, Round Camel hair brush, for about 8h. No ref. <--- freewinging a painting might end up as very clyche result. Haha, Still bugged about the spiral thing up there... Anyways.
http://benjamin.salmi.googlepages.com/Eow85_Kenjitsu_CloudCastle.JPG/Eow85_Kenjitsu_CloudCastle-full;init:.JPG

[tsujni]

Here is one of 3 final alternatives, the 2 others are still B/W and I'm abit tired of this image right now... if nothing else, then this is my final, some small adjustments still needed thou. Feels good to finish it up somewhat rather than leaving it to dust in the scrap folder.

Painter x, Round Camel hair brush, for about 8h. No ref. <--- freewinging a painting might end up as very clyche result. Haha, Still bugged about the spiral thing up there... Anyways.


Perhaps a light blue sky, dark under clouds, may break the cliche

[kenjitsu]

Tsujni, Thanks. I could try that... But now I need to sleep, I'm so tired... :)

[Lege1]

Corspufo: I am thrilled that you think that my sketch is grand and sweeping. I haven’t been having the best of runs in these CA forums with my work so it really pleases me that someone would like my sketch so much. You’re about to see where it went,lol.

Decypl: Classical indeed, I was trying to go for that. I hope you think the finished product is just as. =)

Hallo: Thank you on the sketch compliment mosdef sir. I am with you on the more is less thing and I see artist after artist ripping the forums with their work on here and getting great votes in the finals with doing less. I try to do less but really like going all out on things I like. Sometimes I tend to do the overkill thing and drown the image out, but when it comes down to it you gotta enjoy what you’re doing and that’s what I am all about anymore. I wanted to do more with the castles shape but felt a little shaky with it. My sketches are usually very manic because I am most of the time. I usually lack time in my life to actually sit down and indulge in my work that way I would want to. Most artists suffer from this but I take it as a reminder in this life that I am simply not special, just another human being trying to achieve the impossible =) Hope you like the end product and thanks much for the crit.

Delmar: I am really glad that you liked the idea of the castle floating threateningly over head, unfortunately I kept a semi upshot for my final here because I felt it was just too much and I am always strapped for time. I did a manic sketch and truly bit off a piece that was bigger than I could chew. I really would have liked to keep the girl in the picture but like I said above it was just too much. Regardless of what went and what stayed in my work; I hope you like the end result. This is my first E.O.W. and I enjoyed it a lot.

Alright so I dedicate this one out to all you Environment of the Weekers and I hope you all like what I’ve brought to the table for my first E.O.W. C&C is welcomed.

-=Lege

[ViDA]

Fantastic work guys, heres my take.

[AlphaDMF]

I think this is my first EOW, anywho I am aware a Back story isnt really needed, but I couldn't help myself; In a nutshell the subject is the remains of a secret high tech lair (Castle) that was thrown deep into space within many a nebulae (Clouds)

Eons ago, An evil genius hell bent on planetary domination built a doomsday device deep underground to use for leverage in his plans above the surface; alas a tremor damaged it's core, obliterating the entire Planet save for a small shielded chunk that contained the monsterous device. That chunk, along with the wrecked machine float amongst the Nebulae, like the ruins of a castle...

Some fantastic entries here. - Dave

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/AlphaDMF/EOW85Thumb.jpg

[Arteater]

well here it is I guess, a lot of sloppiness :(
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs29/i/2008/110/1/e/Cloud_Castle_by_arteaterproductions.jpg

[tsujni]

final, maybe

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh319/tsujni/cc3.jpg

AlphaDMF - the colors, I love

[kenjitsu]

Ok here goes for the third time, damn browser deleted my post 2times...

Hallo: Like the milky colors and the minimalistic approach. Very clean.

Jokisalo: Very soft and lively, reminds me of gaudis architecture.

Revenbo: Nice twist there... Like it.

Lege1:Like the dreamy look to it, thou i need to point that the buildings seem to be a little bit wonky, check with your vanishiung point, hope I'm not too harsh. I like it. :)

Vida: Nice crisp and fresh image, one of my favorites. :)

AlphaDMF: Your building need more contrast, it melts too much with the pink fog, the night sky steels the attention as its the most contrast. Other than that very original and nice painting.

Arteater:Nice to see you put in some warmer colors, still very cold tho, nothing wrong with that. Nice mood, the clouds might have needed more cloudlike texture.

tsujni:Thats a really strong concept and nice painting. Like the vertical canvas.

Awesome paintings guys!

[chaosrocks]

FINAL BURNING THREAD IS POSTED. PLEASE MOVEYOUR FINALS OVER THERE

DON'T FORGET, I NEED AN ICON
150 PIXELS OUTSIDE HOSTED.
THANK YOU

GOOD STUFF!

[Lege1]

Kenjitsu: Thank you much. I was really trying to go for an unorganized, built on the clouds kind of look. When I get back to work though I am going to print the illustration out and lay a piece of tracing paper over it to see what's good with the vanishing points.

I really like the way your piece is coming out. It has a very strong digital paint look to it. I definitely like the clouds and how you conducted the water and brightness of the lava. Good work!

[Dan!]

well, had to call this one done-
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q81/DECYPL/decypl_eow85.jpg

[Nightblue]

Thanks to all who commented! There are some amazing entries this round. My favorite so far are:

vida: love your perspective, absolutely fantastic. I envy your ability to convey a feeling with something so simple!

kenjisu: it was a real pleasure watching your piece evolve and morph into something so beautiful. Love your use of colors, and the final composition is fantastic.

Hunger_Artist: I cannot imagine you going hungry with this kind of skill :) very nice classic oil painting feel, and your brush strokes work very well with the fantastical theme.

Well, here's my final. I could struggle with it for 10 more hours, but for a fun and experimental piece it's done. I used a different style than I normally do and found out I dislike it... The search for style goes on. I did discover several tricks and techniques along the way though, and I'm getting over the fear of using weird brushes. Maybe later on I'll acquire the skills to take this piece all the way, the way I imagined it.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd214/lxc2000/EOW85_pv3.jpg

[kenjitsu]

Decypl: Thats painting is very dramatic, with that lighting. Nice concept. hi-tech maya temple chained to the ground (possibly), very original. Really love that touch with that flying thing there... :)

Nightblue: Aww, Thanks for those kind words... my first environment, sadly I'm just so embarrassed about the resembles to lotr, when the task is to create something fresh... I wasn't thinking right... I thought, a castle on top of a volcano would be a nice concept... but after that my subconsciousness took over. Well... I guess I'll do better next time.. I'm doing another painting right now that might be ready before deadline.

Your painting has a very strong retro feel to it with those colors and the shapes, really nice, such variety of styles here, amazing. Only crit would be that the composition pulls the eye to the unfinished part of the image, the castle at the end, but as it lacks detail the eye returns to the foreground. There occurs a very fluffy conflict... You might detail the castle and have some cool rim light there, everything works very well, but there is no "award" at the focal point. Now I'm being picky but hopefully constructive. :)

Luckily we can vote for multiple entries, it would be impossible to vote for just one.

[ye_oldskool]

Arteater, kenjitsu, decypl, hallo, & delmar: thanks for the encouragement guys, appreciate it! Finally got around to finishing it, so its in the final burning thread now.

Decypl: great final render, really strong silhouette
Arteater: cool idea - don't get discouraged! We're all here for the practice & to learn
Vida: Great stuff! Love the loose rendering style - I'm trying not to be so strict with lines myself
Lege1: Man I can see why you were stretched for time. Ambitious! Nice stuff
Kenjitsu: Really nice atmosphere
Revenebo: Great idea - can imagine that would've been difficult!
Villa: What can I say? Awesome design, great bold colours
lkjhgfdsa: Sweet render, interesting idea
Delmar: Love it man, I reckon thats a winner for sure. The rough style & implied details are really great.

[kenjitsu]

here is a 40min sketch I did just now... wanted to know what you think about the idea, if I need to detail it more or anything like that.
A solar energy cell, that attracts to the suns heat, and makes it fly and follow the sun above the clouds at all time.
http://benjamin.salmi.googlepages.com/CloudCastleFinished.JPG/CloudCastleFinished-full;init:.JPG

[Rodimus25]

Hi, this is my very first entry into EOW. Cool topic:p

[hallo]

tsujni - negative, don't know that episode... gotta catch up on it.
delmar - thanks alot! guess you're right; my castle's indeed somewhat small, didn't have the time to work on it any more :/
lege1 - you're most welcome. like how it turned out.
nightblue, kenjitsu, vida - great stuff.

[kenjitsu]

Rodimus: very nice painting... like the colors and the design.
Hallo: Thanks. :)

I'm still wondering if I'm gonna post that volcano picture as my final or the hexagonsphere solarcell?

[Rodimus25]

kenjitsu: thanks man, really digging your lava mountain piece, really has a nice sense of foreboding to it, lovely colors too:) The solar energy sphere is interesting too.

Nightblue: Nice silhouette you have happening.

DECYPL: thats a very intriguing castle you have there, cool none the less.

Arteater: Looks very biblical

tsujni: really digging your style.

Jokisalo: Nice atmospheric lighting, very spooky.

[Arteater]

rodimus: yeah, didn't want it to look that way, but you cant always get what you want. As for your castle, Nice work, I think its my fav. Great design

kenjitsu: Awesome work man, nice color and design. I still like the lava ;)

Nightblue: I love the perspective, nice work with color and design. You always have a great imagination and skills to back it:)

decypl: vary nice work , fantastic view

tsujni: great colors, you have a way with the technical side of things.

Vida: Great perspective, looks so tall!

lege1:great work, every round of c.o.w. is awesome to watch you, now this environment is a gem to add to your portfolio. keep it up!

[Lege1]

Ye Oldschool, Arteater, and Hallo:

Thank you all much on your compliments and support of my image. I have really had a rough time adapting to doing more real types of art and leaving behind the world of everything being cartoony and graffiti related. I am really glad you guys like my entry this run. Thank you again for the compliments.

-=Lege