Pure Explodium!

[Clockwork Bunny]

Coming to your screen made from Purest Explodium!

Clockwork Bunny
Mythril Golem
Parcel Sisters
Kir Nuyts

[Kir Nuyts]

Hey peeps ;)

All ready here?

[Kir Nuyts]

Hey I ll start design a logo ok! ;)

867116

I made this real fast...looks like dog**** It s only few fancy Photoshop effects lol... but i ll make new one ok.

[mythril_golem]

okay people, get on skype grrr (not right this second, i just mean in general >_>)

[Clockwork Bunny]

with much faffing and fiddling the mic, headphones are set up and skype installed.

A very appropriate topic - been dabbling with Tarot recently.
I like our cards and can't wait to get started :) I've had a look at the meanings and if we were to take that as a team reading -its pretty good, just need to be wary of the feeling over whelmed ( 9 swords) or having too much choice and being self indulgent ( 7 cups)

[Clockwork Bunny]

Ok so what we need to sort out.. I've been talking with MG and I came up with a to do list which I need your input on.

1. Over all style - Scott M Fischer (http://www.fischart.com/FischartPersonal.html) has been put forward as a style we think would be pretty cool and push us on the challenge. Are we happy with this?

2 - Who's doing which card - We have:

The Emperor
The Wheel of Fortune
The Sun
3 of Wands
9 of Swords
7 of Cups
Knight of Cups
Queen of Pentacles

I'd like to claim The Sun & the Knight of Cups if no-one objects.

3 - Boarders and Fonts - We should have one boarder and fonts style to tie all cards together, this we need to discuss.

I know we still have New Year to come but anything before the challenge begins to help us co-ordinate better can be done before then so we can use the challenge time purely on the cards themselves.

[mythril_golem]

ok
1: scott m fischer's graphic bg +char is only a start as far as style is concerned imo, we have much to discuss. but 3/4 have said they liked it so i think we're good on that bit :)

2: not particularly bothered with what i get but my mild preference is for emperor and 9 of swords

and 3: borders and fonts might not even be needed, since daestwen mentioned possibly printing a set i think there will be one done separately outside of the comp entries.

also we need to think of something in the way of story/flavour.

[Clockwork Bunny]

had a thought for the story line for flavour, what about changeling as a theme?

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is based on the changeing's world within worlds.
There was also a White Wolf RP game Changeling the dreaming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling_The_Dreaming
twisted fantasy with dark and sinister elements.

from this I would use a Sidhe - the nobility, Lords and Ladies, elves, the Shining Host. The dream of all that is noble and honourable in leaders, but also the arrogance of many leaders for the sun
and a Satyr - lovers and revelers, horned god, Pan. Formed from the deep passions and lusts of mortals for the knight

[Parcel-Sisters]

Wow, I really need to get with the picture! Apologies to you guys for being a little more than slow with communications. I promise this won't be a problem from now on (hopefully).

As far a styles and theme, we should really stay away from any overworked ideas, which means our overall theme should not be something that someone sees and thinks, 'Oh, that's fantasy/ sci-fi/ etc.' This, I believe, especially includes steampunk, which has been used more in the past few years than Lindsay Lohan's toilet and gag reflex. ;-) But seriously, what's going to make these characters interesting is that we've never encountered anything like them at all. That doesn't mean they have to look outrageous and alien, because 'alien' itself is another common topic that should be avoided.
I think what we can do is make a combination of themes, overall "emotions," legends, etc. to make something familiar yet strange. Clockwork Bunny brought up some work by Neil Gaiman and his book, Neverwhere, which I think is a great source to draw from for a mix of realism and mysticism. Gaiman's other stuff works just as well, especially the Sandman series which gives us a cast of 'D' characters that we can identify with and never really understand at the same time. Personally, however, most of Gaiman's work is with known characters and myths, which can get a little boring. In short, I think this project could be really interesting using characters that
1) we can't identify with a genre (fantasy, sci fi, steampunk, etc.,
2) clash themes together (ie, historically we know how to perceive an emperor or what swords were used for, but what do they mean out of context in a contemporary setting: Emperor = corporate executive, 9 of swords = 9 different weapons a housewife might use to kill her husband)

A good idea might be to add some sort of sinister twist. Like if we combine two INCREDIBLY different themes. For example, if we use Fischer's overall creepiness and generally 'dirty' composition with pleasant pin-up/ 50's advertisement themes.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f100/Fischart/SengirNosferatu.jpg

http://www.fischart.com/assets/title/titleImage.jpg

http://www.fischart.com/assets/art/artwork/Games/magic/viridianshaman.jpg

http://www.creativelydifferentblinds.com/BlindImages/2773.jpg

http://hunternuttall.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/cola.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/10/07/business/07adco_450.jpg

Anyway, there are still plenty of things to discuss but at least we can start putting stuff down on a canvas. It makes no real difference to me which cards I do -- I think they're all very interesting and it's the style we do them in that's going to be the most fun. :-)

Below are a few references I gathered together. I hope I'm allowed to post them as long as I state they aren't my own work...? Mostly Mucha, Amano, and Klimt..

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h112/parcel-sisters/artnouveau-reference-1.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h112/parcel-sisters/klimt-amano-reference.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h112/parcel-sisters/surreal-reference.jpg

[mythril_golem]

very interesting posts and i agree with a lot of it, but what say you people to a daily meeting on skype (or any other im you all want to use)? not sure if you got the message since i've been away a few days. real time conversation would save time.

[Clockwork Bunny]

agree - caught up with MG be good if we can all get together at some stage.

I'm usually on between 7- 11pm GMT - not necessarily all that time ;)

anyway been sketching more ideas and thumbnails

[Parcel-Sisters]

Ok, so just read the backlog from skype. There were some good ideas passed around. I think we definitely should find some sort of paintchat so we can all put our ideas down in both words and images at once, but we'll definitely need a specified time to gather. School and work starts for me tomorrow, so pretty much every day I don't get out of work/ school until 6-ish over here, which makes an ungodly hour in the morning for everyone else.. :-( I'll sneak on when I can during work in the morning for me, but I think most of our time together is going to have to be on weekends. If 7-10 works for you guys, that's about midday I think for me, so that'll work pretty much every weekend.

Also, I really liked the zombie-ish theme, but if another team is already doing that, I think the 'dead' theme is different enough to use. Sounds good! Hopefully I'll catch you guys on skype soon! :-D

[Parcel-Sisters]

Also, if there's no objections, I'll be taking the 7 of Cups and Wheel of Fortune.

[Parcel-Sisters]

Oh, meant to post this, too -- the idea of doing dead characters made me think of the morbid portraits at the Disneyland Haunted Mansion where the figures are calmly facing impending death. Maybe the surroundings of the character could "tell a story" of how they died or how they are about to die.
Check it out:

http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4782288/stretchingportraits_Full.jpg

[Kir Nuyts]

I like the ideas flowing here :).. I love the 'deathish' theme and the somewhat twisted sick feel, by use of colors and mood/ facial expression. Reminds me abit of Alice in Wonderland/ Dave McKean/ Danny Devito as the Pinguinman in Batman. But then Like Colette says, more original ^^ :D haha

As for the cards: Is the Queen allready taken? If yes, is the Sun allready taken?

Time to go go go go go... :)

[mythril_golem]

golem: emperor, 9 of swords
clockwork: sun, knight of cups
parcel: 7 of cups, wheel of fortune
kir: queen of pentacles, 3 of wands

all good?

a sketch from me

[Clockwork Bunny]

ok so between us the theme is twisted dead fairytale like characters.
sounds good! ill do some more sketches I like it! Can't wait to get started properly

[Parcel-Sisters]

Lookin' good golem! The background is exactly the mood I think we're striving for! I'll post some sketches soon.

[Parcel-Sisters]

Here's some background work for the 7 of cups. I'm thinking this is going to be a bloody one, though I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to portray the character... I was thinking of the cups holding his blood pouring from several suicidal wounds (wrists, neck, and other places I can't think of) to kind of demonstrate the card's meaning of indecision as far as all the various places to cut yourself.
Another thought was to have each cup hold a different kind of poison to again show variations that the 7 of cups symbolizes. Let me know what you guys think!

[mythril_golem]

hmmrmmm rmmmm indecision. also wishful thinking and disconnect/ungroundedness. flowing blod is a good idea for the water elemtn of cups in general. 7 wounds on the body? i can't really think of 7 off the top of my head.
some ideas:

make the 7 goblets phantasmic/smoky and have them collect blood and tip into each other in v formation at the bottom. so just 2 for collecting from wrist streams

have the figure hung. the noose could be ghosty.

float a lot of knives around the hands to show more options.

more overlapping spirals/circles for the graphics in the bg.

tilt the head to one side with the legs crossing over slightly to face the other?

some cool stuff for ghostliness/disconnectedness:
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/9e/74.jpg
http://magiccards.info/scans/en/fut/2.jpg
http://www.wizards.com/mtg/images/daily/boab/boab55_trespasserIlVecSplash.jpg
http://wowbox.yatta.com.tw/mtg/images/timespiral/Zealot_il_Vec.jpg


i sorta wondered off to work on another pic D: but it'll be ok, should definitely finish in time. gotta shove more symbols into the emperor card too, so i'll be looking up more of the meanings tonight. might also add more complexity to the graphic bg if it pertains to the theme, it looks very simple to me now that i've played around with it more.

[Parcel-Sisters]

I was definitely thinking of having the figure hung... but I wonder if that'll confuse the card with The Hanged Man? It's kind of the same problem with the knives since there is a whole Suit of Knives. So I dunno -- maybe if it's not the focus...? I'll work with some more ideas, but I'll put the figure in a less stiff, more corpse-like pose.

I love the little glowing crown! It goes well and adds a perverse element to the card. You were going to have chains holding him up, weren't you? Are they going to be holding him in a sitting position, or is he actually seated on something?

[Janos]

That emperor is the epitome of morbidness and awesomeness for me. Love it. Looking forward to competing with you. :D

[mythril_golem]

@parcel: hmm you've got a point, i think so long as the goblets stand out a lot more than the knives you should be ok, same with the noose maybe. how about another ungrounded way to die, in a bathtub? would certainly fit with the suicide idea. oh you could try pill bottles and razor blades instead of knives
the pose thing isn't so much for making it more dead-like, though it has that effect. i was thinking of ways to show indecision.
and i'll be adding the hooks and chains too, but i gotta work on weighting him right (bring the legs up and drop his butt for one). he looks supported from beneath... unless i put a pole through his pelvis horizontally >_>

@Janos: the epitome? wow thanks indeed XD. instantly fell in love with the theme your team is going for and can't wait to see what you guys roll out (also you should check out michael hussars work if you haven't already)

[Clockwork Bunny]

loving it all so far!

sorry for the lack of responses from me, been under the weather and the kids are home as the schools are closed due to snow, so day drawing tie is 0 atm :( hopefully feeing better so will get stuck in tonight so glad we have our direction sorted now!

[mythril_golem]

it's cool Alex, hope you get some peaceful arting time
an update (some layers are invis, i'm still going for predominantly dark with glowy light)

[Clockwork Bunny]

heres a sun update crits pls!

[Clockwork Bunny]

Parcelsisters - I like the idea of razor blades, could the cups be full of blood? I like the background andcomposition, looking forward to the update.

Mythril Golem - loving the mood of the whole thing, the glow of the crown is ace, perhaps we could have a glowing object in each card?

[Parcel-Sisters]

Golem - great progression! Keep it up! My only suggestion so far is to raise his mouth -- right now the angle of the nose is steeper than the mouth so it looks like he has a really large space between his nostrils and the upper lip.

I agree with clockwork bunny that maybe each of the cards should have a small glowing emblem that symbolizes the card as a whole. Of course, golem, if you want to keep this unique to your own, just say so!

[mythril_golem]

@clockwork: hmm not sure but if the head is the tilted that much would the neck be as visible as it is? pose to reflect the card, open palms looking deliberate, also more corpsified. the way the hand is held above the chest with a light in it looks liek she's very much alive. for the bg graphic style sunbeams (triangles wavy or straight) rather than random.

@Parcel: thanks for pointing that out, yeah i'll try some more changes to the head. tried some before to make it more human and less melted but the melted just felt a lot better for the overall image. and happy birthday :)

and go for it, so a white graphic that glows? or perhaps just for major arcana. we could use creeping dark borders and only have the single figure lit. the more we have in common the more unified our collective entry so i'm happy.

[Clockwork Bunny]

k repositioning the head so its tilted to one side and the hand so its palm up, i'll fiddle with the hand holding the sunlight see if i can make it look more dead - it was meant to be the light of life leaving the body and the last attempts to hold it in.
Cheers for the feed back

and Happy Birthday Collette!

[Parcel-Sisters]

thanks everyone! Time to go buy some booze!

[Clockwork Bunny]

Hope it was a good party ;)

ok so after 2 nights work and the 1st night loosing all my work ( arrgh!!) he's an updated corpse.

[Parcel-Sisters]

great update! I really feel like she's dead now (and even decomposing!). The background has come around nicely too! :-D

[Parcel-Sisters]

And here's a bit of an update from myself...

[Clockwork Bunny]

Phew! At least I'm on the right track, I'm not 100% with the mouth, it looks odd - I'll have a play.

Liking the update parcels, still looking like he's alive but as its a work in progress you neverknow what it'll be like when its finished. Loving it so far :)

Next knight of cups, I'm thinking vampire knight with a goblet of blood, technically vampires are dead ;)

[Kir Nuyts]

Hey,

Here is Wip of My Queen,
I have also been working on my three of wands...I ll post that one soon!
The queen is still wip, some proportions will be changed during painting
It s going good all, all some same style, I hope mine will fit in too!! I guess with some colors it will be ok!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v424/MacKiwi/Sunclips/Drawings/QueenOfPentacles.jpg

I have no internet at my Dom for the moment :x...So I will be communicating from work 'sigh'
I will try to post more tomorrow ^^

Greetz
PS: Give me crits!

Goooooooooooooooooooooooo Explodiummmmmmm

[Kir Nuyts]

I like al the poses everyone has: verry dramatic, like in opera :D
I love the cloth in there Parcel :) Reminds of something verry religious, like Jesus hanging on the cross. Don t know yet about the colors So manny that my eye can t focus, but I think it will be ok in the end!
@ Bunny I like your idea!...Maybe u can even let her float a bit more!...now she seems to be laying down, I will make a sketch of what I mean ok. Maybe it can help U!... I would make it verry sunny in my opinion, or at least give the feeling of flash of light or something (because it s sun)
@ Goblin: I like yours verry much so far, can t wait too see it finished
Greetz,

Kir

[Clockwork Bunny]

Look forward to seeing more, I'm sure when its coloured the cards will all look like they belong to the same deck :)

Had a fiddle with the sun, mouth altered and lay her in water - as that card is linked with Aquarius.

[Parcel-Sisters]

Hey guys! Everything's looking great so far!
Kir - I really love the pose and your style! Very dark, yet vivid.

Here's some bad news, though - Golem informed me that he probably won't be able to finish his cards on time. It's already pretty late in the game and I have to admit that I'm a little behind at this point, too, what with work and school. BUT! If you guys still want to finish, I'll try to hustle this weekend to finish my cards to the best of my ability and we can split Golem's two cards and just count as a team of three.. or I dunno if we can just restate our team members and have Golem's assigned cards also taken off our roster.
If it's not worth it, however, I completely understand and we can just finish the cards at our own pace for personal reasons or not at all.
Let me know what you guys think ASAP so I can plan my weekend accordingly!
:-)

[Clockwork Bunny]

im up for taking on another cards but im sure its 2 cards each so these'd be counted as extras i guess