EOW 101 : Mountain castle in the Snow POLL MULTIVOTE

[chaosrocks]

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

Eow 101 mountain Castle in the Snow
there was a tie for winner of EOW 99
between Space Sprayer and Mutley
the first will be Spacesprayers adn If mutley would like to contact me I will Make his/hers number 102

Brief
title pretty much says it all, your choice of historical, fantasy or what ever genre you would like to put it in

REQUIRED
castle
mountain
snow


DUEDecember 29th
and we're off again!

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






:right: FOLLOW THE TOPIC.

:right: POST YOUR FINAL HERE THREAD.


:right: SAVE YOUR FILES IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT. EOW##_Nickname
example: "EOW#100_Chaosrocks.jpg" ;)

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

example from CHOW

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

Add an icon to you final post
150 pixels either direction
PLEASE OUTSIDE HOST THE ICON
k thx

[xabian]

icon:
http://i40.tinypic.com/2w4047o.png

mountain castle in the snow:
http://i40.tinypic.com/2emgzgo.png

[iansnyder]

Hargarod Keep casts its many eyes over the frozen deadlands, keenly awaiting any trespass...

550332

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa76/lordkhronos/snowymtncastle_icon.jpg

[zyphryus]

http://breakthrough.ravensfeather.com/conceptart/eow101_zyphryus.jpg

thumbnail
http://breakthrough.ravensfeather.com/conceptart/eow101_zyphryus-icon.jpg

certainly not the best, but im here to learn!

[SoufMeng]

550351

icon:
http://i712.photobucket.com/albums/ww128/vxzl364/EOW101_SM_icon.jpg

[ATAnderson]

http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/2879/atandersoneow101icontx3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/6641/atandersoneow101snowmouze7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[IIKII]

Castle.

550408

http://i312.photobucket.com/albums/ll335/kindigo11/icon1.jpg

[Thalion]

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z139/thalion_art/EOW101_Thalion.jpg

icon:
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z139/thalion_art/icon.jpg

[kidult]

Hope I did this right

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg236/kidult_01/eowsnowthumb.jpg

[Vyse]

I don´t know why i´m even still participating..... ATAnderson killed us all x__x´....

http://img385.imageshack.us/img385/9958/eow101thumbrh4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://arcadian-art.de/pics/albums/userpics/10001/mountain_castle.jpg

[zelda_geek]

Worked hard on this one...
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3918/eow101zeldageekbe8.jpg

icon:
http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/2892/environment028icongr3.jpg

[lkjhgfdsa]

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/jonoy/EOW101-lkjhgfdsa_thumb.jpg

[Front_NC]

well... uploading mine:

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/1162/eow101frontncrh5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9035/eow101frontncki2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Pixie Trick]

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q54/pixie_trick/snowmountainthumb.jpg

550572

[ZUPZUP]

http://www.zupzup.com/Art/EOW_101_ZUPZUP_THUMBNAIL.jpg

[ArtbyWard]

:yayca:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v12/sigma_atf/EOW101_IceMoon_ICON.jpg

[Lady_Avali]

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/hidetomatsuhide/art/icon.jpg

'There once was a princess who believed herself to be too beautiful for the realm of mortals. As a symbol of her sovereignty, she ordered that an immense palace built atop the highest mountain in her kingdom, so that she might touch the heavens.

In the realm of mankind she was more powerful than any, but there in her castle she was humbled by the forces of nature itself. A mighty storm arose on the day her palace was completed, unleashing an avalanche that covered the building entirely, trapping all those inside.

Now her people have all but forgotten her and her marvelous palace. Lost and abandoned, it sits, still housing the souls of the nobility and servants locked within.'

[monotony]

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/8944/eowthumbga6.jpg

550757

[Windsrock]

hi hiii!

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn200/Windsrock/eow101_thumb.jpg

[arghmisfit]

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq122/jhustak/eow101thumb.jpg

[revenebo]

I think this round requires multi-vote, too much good stuff...

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q150/revenebo/EoW101_Revenebo.jpg

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q150/revenebo/EoW101_Revenebo_thumb.jpg

[tsujni]

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh319/tsujni/eow101_tsujni_icon.jpg

[Tonic]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/Cinot/concept_art/eow101_mountain_castle/icon.jpg

[fatehpur]

My very first EOW... Very interesting concepts here!

Thumbnail: http://picasaweb.google.ch/flamboyante2/ConceptArt?authkey=JfG-lHfpKvY&feat=directlink#5285347225950918466

[Saturns Gate]

Managed to get this done today. Used Alchemy to get started with some shapes, and this came out of it.

Was feeling really scratchy with my textures today. :P

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9856/thumbhv4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[fughi from yuggoth]

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t21/funghi_from_yuggoth/EOW101Icon-1.jpg

[AUG]

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/8540/eow101thumbav0.jpg (http://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?image=eow101thumbav0.jpg) http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/eow101thumbav0.jpg/1/w150.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img514/eow101thumbav0.jpg/1/)

[zao75231]

Here is my final

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v177/zao75231/avatar.jpg

[rubicante]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/meticulous_spline/EoW/EOW101_rubicante_thumb.jpg

[ethan karnopp]

http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q312/commiemittens/mountainsnowcastle.jpg
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q312/commiemittens/mscicon.jpg

[Misplacedhippos]

http://s276.photobucket.com/albums/kk18/onion204/EOW101nion.jpg
http://s276.photobucket.com/albums/kk18/onion204/ICON-EOW101nion.jpg

[timothee]

Final:

[Corrick]

Great turnout for this one... and lots of strong pieces too, well done all!

http://www.williamwerk.com/art/eow101_corrick.jpg

http://www.williamwerk.com/art/eow101_corrick-ic.jpg

[Ian J]

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee181/enigma9/EOW101_Mountsnwcstlicn.jpg

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee181/enigma9/EOW101_Mountsnwcstle.jpg

[Dile_]

Maybe its 29th somewhere in the world.. maybe it isn't but I couldn't submit it til' now , so sorry if i'm to late..!

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii465/cbrush9/tempel_Finish2.jpg

EDIT* SORRY CHAOS. first time participating :( really was stressed yesterday.

heres the ICON

http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii465/cbrush9/eow101_DILE_icon.jpg

[chaosrocks]

closed

hello Dile.. wheres my icon

new round posted here, this should be really interesting

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=145756

[Dile_]

icon up chaos, sorry i was reallyyy stressed yesterday + i've never done the eow before haha, not that its an excuse not to read all the rules.. :)

the new thread doesn't seem to work btw

[SoufMeng]

Hey good to see many folks participated!

Hideyoshi, why cant i see your entry, whyyyy?! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2059901&postcount=64)

I posted a few steps of mine in my SB, nothing very informative but in case someone cares, link (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2061459&postcount=285).

Thanks to Chaos for running this activity, environements roool!

[timothee]

Great turnout peoples, love the variety we have in this thread. I wish all the artists that participate in these activities the best for the New Years. Keep pushing for that elusive goal of perfection:).

[chaosrocks]

hideyoshi has his own reasons for posting ,or not posting his images to the final burning threads. sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. It is, of course his own choice...
poll later.

I love you all and Happy new Year..Let us tackle this year in joyful learning and enthusiasm.. And I bet even those of us who are already damn good will get better, and those of us who are mediocre to start with might get good, and those of us who are just starting may leap us all in great bounds... the possibilities are vast and exciting!

with respect and love
CHAOSROCKS!

[Jussslic]

wowowow... i'm normally just a lurker, but the quality of the concepts here pulled me out of the woodwork enough to comment. you guys really outdid yourselves on this one... just really great, creative, and diverse work all around. congrats!

[Vulgar`]

Damn, another excellent round.

[chaosrocks]

timotheee-- you Icon was attached..you know better
Fatehpur-- your icon was properly outside hosted...the trouble is I can't get the image tags to work on it... not sure what's going on..I apologise.

this is multivote ...so have fun.

[timothee]

Doh! Actually, I haven't done these EOWs in a while, and I forgot the icon had to be an outside host. Does Photobucket work(for next time)?

[chaosrocks]

until Jason changes it and doesn't allow out side tags anymore. yes photobucket works

[nickmarshallvfx]

Amazing round, congrats to everyone who entered! I really wanted to vote but was away for the week unfortunately. It would have been unbelieveably tough anyway.

Nick

[Hideyoshi]

what a round indeed!
Simple topics are the best as they leave the most room for exploration :)

Here's a round of crits if you don't mind:

xabian: composition works well, but it has a very low value range, looking almost duo-tone. With overcast skies and no direct sunlight, it's more accurate to have the ground darker than the sky.

iansnyder: cool mountain design! The color shift is nice and adds mood to the piece. Not sure but could have worked better compositionally if mirrored.

zyphryus: this needs more value range, it lingers in the midtones right now. Also better always use the biggest brush possible for individual strokes avoiding messy scribbling.

S.M.: hehe this is brill! I already offered some crits on your SB :) Seriously, this is clearly underrated so far! :/

ATAnderson: very cool take, although I agree, it isn't quite an environment. I like the rightmost figure for compositional balance! Nice going on design and detailling!

IIKII: sweet sky colors, but the ambient is very inconsistent throughout the piece. The main mountain looks like it is from another piece. The shadow areas would catch a whole lot more of the blue sky color. The leftmost foreground element destroys depth as it is too scribbly and rough while so close to viewer (same goes for other areas). Also check the perspective on the background mountain scape. Copying the gliders and arraying them in such an exact line-up takes away randomness and thus looks unnatural. The castle looks nice!

Thalion: Nice, my favourite area is the snowy ground in the foreground. The mountain range looks a little too even imo. There are details that seem to have been added haphazardly like the rider and the towers on the left.

kidult: very good job on painting that mountain! It's got pretty realistic colors throughout. I'd only have minor things to crit, so just keep on going! But maybe this would also have worked better if mirrored.

Vyse: this has a very difficult composition, it looks haphazard. Also practice your drawing skills and work with larger brushes. I really like the sky! :)
Not an expert, but I don't think you could ever have a lens flare like that. It's too small and wrongly placed. A camera lens wouldn't be able to catch one at the corner. Also, it's incorrect to light up areas beneath the flare since it's not an indication for an area that has added stronger light, but is simply an effect that occurs in a lens itself. But of course, the sun would be reflected to some degree on the ground despite having a flare or not. Just not that much.

zelda_geek: I like the colors, composition works ok as well. Not sure about the blur since the mountain is not affected by it so it looks strange. Loving the bounce light on the wall to the right! That turqoise is delicious! :)

lkjhgfdsa: looks like you put in a lot of work! Respect! The light blooming on the mountain is looking rad! But you could have pushed the dark values a lot more since it's such a strong backlit situation. Maybe run 'auto-levels' in PS and see what it does :)

FrontNC: good work on the clouds, they look convincing! Good aerial depth going on. The castle design looks a bit uninspired.

Pixie Trick: It's looking a bit flat, the lighting could have been tightened up. Sorry, my head went blank, your piece is kinda hard to crit properly, haha :P

ZUPZUP: I like this one! The brushwork is great, especially at the top. The palette works nicely with that black castle. I wish there was lesser snowflakes since they obscure a lot of the piece, but that's more of a personal preference. Motion-blurring them could have worked (but only if you like thoes kinda effects :P)...

IceMoon: Hard working on the castle, but the water didn't get much love, did it? The piece suffers from discrepancy of rendering levels. But I reckon, you simply didn't have the time.

darknight: This looks pretty realistic, is there any photo plates in there? The lack of visible brushstrokes makes it hard to judge and imo also kills personality. The mood is well conveyed.

Lady Avali: Nice colors and hue shifts! Sorry for saying this, but girls always tend to paint very graphic 2Dish environments ;) It works in this case, but practicing perspective wouldn't hurt :P (stating everything under the assumption you ARE a girl)
The oriental castle design is convincing and the silhouette treatment adds to it.

monotony: Good stuff! The lighting looks nice, but best on the right mountain ridge. IMO I would have killed that center mountain and extented the ridge behind the castle.
I like how you added the grassy parts, the texture looks nice there!
Some minor perspective issues on the castle which would benefit from a more interesting design.

Windsrock: interesting take! Those spirals have a nice graphic quality to them. But the mountain lacks some aesthetic.

arghmisfit: Love the houses running down the mountain. Kudos for tackling this kind of perspective! Scale and depth could use some work on the bridge. Cropping the piece just above the castle was a bit awkward.

revenebo: Despite the mid-toney quality it looks rather realitic. Good work on the textures and castle design! Flipping the mountain ridge in the bg horizontally (so it would run down to the right) would have helped strengthen the composition since it's so empty in that left sky area already.

tsujini: Great textures as always. The water area looks good and I like the deisgn on the castle and mountain with its tunnels. A square composition is very tricky though. The eye wanders around a lot.

Tonic: cool concept! The sense of speed is clearly conveyed. I am not a fan of overly color-dodged paintings though... The composition and colors work very well.

Damn, there is soo many entries! I am gonna pick up the rest later!

[Cyberman]

hey hideyoshi thanx, whats photoplate? and what is imo?, if thats pasting images onto the peice no I didnt do that, if you zoom in you will see the brush strokes, :) however Im flattered! yeah this is my first eow, may i say this is a hell of a group of competitors sheexz!lol I will definatly particapate more often now:)

[Mr_S_14]

A great end to a year, and a great beginning to the year as well for EOW, surprised so many entered this one compared to others ^_^ good show.

[Front_NC]

Great enviros from everyone! I think all are winners here... great place to have fun.

Hideyoshi,

I'm very grateful for your feedback, as I adore your work a lot (published on DA). I hope there will be more chances to get advice from you in the future...

[xabian]

Hideyoshi: thanks so much for the help dude I'll take that in mind and do some more enviro studies.
Great work everyone we got quality and quantity from this round =D

[ArtbyWard]

Hideyoshi Thanks man! This is a problem i often run into, Because I think i have to put the focuspoint in one place, and tend to focus on it so much, that the rest gets not enough attention.

[Lady_Avali]

Thank you so much Hideyoshi for the crit!
I can see exactly what you are trying to say, it is an area I know I need to improve on, and this confirms it. X3

[Hideyoshi]

Glad the crits were of help to some peeps!
darknight: yeah, photoplates = adding photos, IMO = in my opinion (lol, you really didn't know that one? :P)

Here's the rest:

Fatehpur: good values! It could use some detail all together. I feel it kinda lacks energy in the brushwork. Cropping some at the top could have enhanced composition.

Saturns Gate: I find this a little chaotic, there are tons of pools of detail/ interest so the eye doesn’t know where to rest.
The colors work well, the water is really nicely rendered.

Fughi: the hatching seems a little uncontrolled. Composition is kinda awkwardly framed.

AUG: cool style, love the rusty palette and textures. The design is very interesting. Some highlights could have given some punch, but that’s a matter of taste.

Zao75231: nice colors and lighting. I find it a little too symmetrical.

Rubicante: imaginative castle design, but there are some perspective issues. Also the snow looks very flat and lacks volume. I find the textures a little distracting in this one.

Ethan karnopp: nice castle design! I like how it is built into the mountain.
The value range is not completely utilized. You could also improve your marksmaking.

()nion: Hone your drawing skills. Always try to stroke the shortest distance when hatching otherwise it will destroy planes. The patches of snow in the foreground are a nice touch. Composition works ok, but the castle could have moved further to the left and down. Introduce some more darker values for depth also.

Timothee: brushwork looks pretty good, but I think you could even improve and place them more carefully and with more significance for the whole image. I like the dispersal of light and shadow areas. Nice job on the bottom right area where the trees run down.

Corrick: great as always. It’s a little hard to make out the setting. Looks kinda underwater even. I think the bright area on the left distracts the viewer a bit although I really like the dim, foggy lighting. I feel it needs a little more space at the top.

Ijacobs9: this needs a lot of work in many areas. It’s very undefined with a very dysfunctional composition. Also, try avoiding white as it is a depth killer. Same goes for pure black.

Dile: quite nice, but it’s a lil messy in some areas. Your marksmaking could be better. Nice detailling on the rocks. I like the angle and the composition also works well. The lighting looks inconsistent in certain areas but looks good overall.

I know I am usually pretty direct with critique, so I wanna excuse if some sounded harsh. Feigning compliments won’t help anybody though...

[ATAnderson]

A lot of skill and talent in here, well done to all who participated.
I think my favourite piece is probably Dile's

Cheers for taking the time to crit Hide, I hope to compete with you again mabye this year.

Thanks to chaosrocks for making this possible.

ATA

[Misplacedhippos]

()nion: Always try to stroke the shortest distance when hatching otherwise it will destroy planes.


Just trying to clarify; I should use a bunch of short lines rather than a single long line when shading? I'm assuming the background mountain was the worst for that?

By the way, I have been wondering how you pronounce your name.
Hid-e-yoshi, Hi-de-yoshi, Hide-yoshi...? Probably way off.

[Saturns Gate]

Cheers Hideyoshi! :) Yeah I see what you mean about being a little chaotic, the colours are kind of fighting for attention. Thanks for the crit!

[AUG]

Hideyoshi: Thanks for the input. I appreciate the kind words. You are right about the highlights needing some punch. I entered the round late and rushed the painting to meet the deadline without taking a second look at it before posting. I don't think I met the rounds requirements after viewing all of the other entries.

Thanks again for the critique.

[Hideyoshi]

Just trying to clarify; I should use a bunch of short lines rather than a single long line when shading? I'm assuming the background mountain was the worst for that?

By the way, I have been wondering how you pronounce your name.
Hid-e-yoshi, Hi-de-yoshi, Hide-yoshi...? Probably way off.

Yes, that's basically what I meant. Instead of hatching downward, you could have used horizontal lines to add textural volume to the mountain. It does not mean however that you should break up a long line into several small connecting ones because that would also look pretty ugly..
The way you did it on the castle is much more effective.
You can witness this a lot in Mullins' work.
--
as for my name: that's really difficult for english native speakers.

It's kinda like Hiddeyoshi or Hid-e-yoshi. Not at all like the english word 'hide'
The 'e' is NOT 'ee', but more like the 'a' in 'back' for example.

I have been meaning to change my nick very often, because I hate to know people almost always pronounce it wrong... :D


Also, great to know my crits were of use!

[Tonic]

Hideyoshi, you did well with punishment for not uploading your work :P

What you said sounds similar to opinion that person said in Epic EOW. He said I overdid the contrast, you said I over-dodged color. It's hard to imagine how to improve it, or how it should look. Would you mind elaborating it?

[Hideyoshi]

Tonic: well, it's obvious then, no? Just don't use the dodge tool too much then ;) I'd only use it in a really subtle way if at all, to punch up some values if needed.
Try choosing direct values and painting them in instead of relying on Photoshop's rendering. Paint the light! :)

[Dile_]

thx for the critique hide ! :bow: