P.O.W.! Challenge 36: Five Covers...

[Ilaekae]

http://photos.imageevent.com/aljmary/conceptarts/CA-POWexLOGO.jpg


Welcome to Hell!

Elementary school is over, and you've all volunteered for the Marines. From now on, we're going to show those KON-sepschu-all skanks that think they rule this cesspool just how the grownups do it. I sound nice on this forum when I'm tired and trying to make things right that need lt, but once everything falls into place, I GET REALLY HAPPY...and when I get really happy, I become a homicidal prick...and you are all slow-moving targets.

P.O.W.! is moving to the next level of bone-crunching tyranny. From this point on, you will be asked to stick to deadlines, follow the rules to the point of not being allowed to have sex for a year if you don't, and you will also be pitted up against every evil idea I can come up with to ruin your pitiful lives.

To start this rolling, I AM going to be a bit sympathetic and allow some extra time due to the holidays, BUT...you take it as a chance to fuck off and watch reruns up to the day before the deadline, YOU WILL DIE! Publicly! I will crit you into the ground and send you crying to your mommas for every nit-picking little screw-up you try to get by me.

YOU...WILL...DO...THE...FOLLOWING...as professionally and completely as your current level allows...and then some. Trying as hard as you can and failing will not piss me off, but slapping shit down as if you had no respect for your fellow travelers and their efforts in this hell-hole will not be forgiven.

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P.O.W.! Challenge 36
Deadline: Sunday, January 24, 2010, 11:59 pm anywhere in the world.

Topic: Five Covers...

This thread will be the place you ask questions on this challenge, trash talk, post WIPs and post your final art. See the READ THIS FIRST thread for all specs.

Good luck.

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All due at the final deadline, and to include the following:

• An appropriate high-impact and attractive image with an eye to attracting the primary audience I list with each cover.

• The cover/comic title I assign below prominently displayed along with your name as artist/author as well as a small simple publisher's mark to read "CAPOW!"

• Covers are to be 8-1/2" by 11" (22cm x 28cm) (51 picas x 66 picas) with an extra 1/8" (0.5cm) (1 pica) extension of the art in all directions, and all should be in Full Color, which does NOT mean that the cover can't be predominately white if that's appropriate to your art.

NOTE ON COMIC SIZE...

A number of people were confused by my jumping to another size for this challenge (the gray note above). To prevent any problems, I'm moving the sizes back to our usual Standard CB Sizes. If you've already started in the larger size, don't worry about resizing or re-proportioning your entry--I'll allow for it here. Sorry for any confusion.

Standard Comic Book Size:

--Trim size: 6 5/8" x 10 1/4"
--Live art area: 6" x 9"
--Bleed size before trimming: 6 7/8" x 10 1/2" (1/8" in all directions)

• Submissions should be 96 dpi jpegs at same size (unless the image manager disallows--just reduce slightly then), and titled in the following manner...

Your screen name-POW36-A(or B-E as needed).jpg

I would suggest doing your original art at 300 dpi same size minimum and making a copy for posting here, because there is a VERY strong possibility that ALL work from now on in this section may be reproduced in print...so if you fuck up, you don't get included...nyah nyahhhhhhh...

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Cover A. Title is "FRACTURED." Theme/synopsis is Sci-Fi--A world has/is evolved/evolving with a slight post-apocalyptic feel to it that includes disparate races/species/etc. being forced to live together in as normal a situation as possible after they have all been stranded/dumped/voluntarily escaped to the world. This is NOT a "Us vs. Them" scenario. Think of it as a "We're all in the same boat so let's get along" story.

Audience is adult/young adult/hopefully attractive to both genders.


Cover B: Title is "BUTTON PUNCHER." Theme/synopsis is high-school coming of age/love story/drama where one of the two main characters is a 16-year-old professional assassin. Feel is romantic, humorous (ya'think?!?), and as serious or cartoonish in approach as you want.

Audience is Teen/young adult/hopefully attractive to both genders, with slight leaning to the female reader.


Cover C: Title is "SHADOWS." Theme/synopsis is horror/mystery, with a primary character who has a history of incredibly bad luck, but comes to realize that it is actually due to someone/somethng just out of the his/her peripheral vision that is actually manipulating his/her life for some unknown reason. Story is spooky, bloody and messy in both plot and lifestyle. The horror is more psychological than "CREEPY Magazine" blood, guts, and gore, even though it's loaded with all of the aforementioned.

Audience is older teen/young adult/adult due to gore and such.


Cover D: Title is "THE SEEDLING." Theme/synopsis is a young person--age 5-6--who has been raised in isolation from other children and is suddenly exposed to a new family, city life and school for the first time. The little one is extremely shy and reclusive, and story is concerned with how our little person slowly integrates into society.

Audience is preteens to adult, and cover should be attractive to both extremes.


Cover E: Title is "THE FIVE STARS." Theme/synopsis is stereotypical fantasy/swords and sorcery/mis-matched band of heroes on a quest kind of thing. Any approach is cool--Asian, LOTR, African, ancient, modern, whatever floats your boat. Be as creative in approach as you want--you know how this type of story works.

Audience is Teen/young adult/adult/hopefully attractive to both genders, with very slight stress on the masculine reader.

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This is an exercise in interpretation, originality (in approach), and marketing. You aren't doing a neato drawing/illustration. You are executing the primary first selling image of a mass market item that won't sell if no one picks it up. It's both illustration, conceptual art and graphic design. I'm the client, so if any of these don't sell and i can't afford my rent, it will be YOUR fault...and I will break every bone in your puny bodies before selling you into slavery. Enjoy.

You are now a professional. Do the best you can based on your current level of skills--plus some--and I'll be happy. Those of you further along, this should come out at nearly the level for inclusion in the FINALLY FINISHED thread.

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A little note here for all of you who have supported the P.O.W.! Challenges...thankyewthankyewthankyew...

Just a reminder--those of you who didn't get a chance to finish exactly the way you wanted to, or ran into deadline problems, remember there is a sticky section where you can post your stuff when you do get it up to speed.

[arttorney]

Interesting. I'd say there are one or two would be illustrators around who could use the portfolio material. Wonder if they'll risk the bone breaking?

Since the Title required to be on the piece and the file names, as commanded, are specific it does not appear that doing them in order is absolutely necessary.

[Hari Gopinathan]

Ilaekae

So is it that, we can do either one of the five,,, Or do we have to do all five???

[~Faust~]

You know what? Fuck it, I'm in! Sleep is overrated!

[skorpi]

Same question as Hari Gopinathan, all five?
Intersting topic anyway.

[Ilaekae]

You...will...do...all...five...

...you clowns really think I'd give you five weeks for ONE cover? Get real...this is a test of working under deadline...and to prove it can be done, I'm doing it, too, and plan to finish early...

...and they don't have to be done in any specific order...the label is to make sure I get them right for the poll...

[...nice avatar, skorpi...]

[Ilaekae]

I would also recommend everyone flipping through this thread...

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=173315

There's some amazing stuff posted here, and not all of it is massive heavy duty illustration that took weeks to do. Covers, by their nature, are more about IMPACT than they are about DETAIL alone. The trick is to get someone to notice first, be interested second, and to open the sucker third. Keep in mind that a cover is always immediately competing with hundreds of other covers, something the internal art of a comic doesn't have to do. Covers are conceptual design point-of-purchase tools before they're information or entertainment--pure marketing at its best.

[skorpi]

Thanks Ilaekae

I'm in :)
Maybe some inspiration:
http://best.complex.com/lists/The-50-Best-Comic-Book-Covers-of-2009

[velderia]

It's going to be a lot, but I'll give it a try.

[AndrewRitchie]

Ilaekae,
I don't understand the 8-1/2" x 11" dimensions for a comic book cover.

[Asatira]

It is very tempting. Time to start practicing some self-discipline and I may be able to get something. Will take some fiddling to figure out how to adjust to 8.5x11", but should be doable.

*breathe*

[AndrewRitchie]

Had to knock out the horror one first. Pencils of cover C

[Ilaekae]

I bumped the size to "letter" size only to give those of you who needed it as such a better sample printout. If you rather we stay with the standard sizes, I have no problem with going to the more normal standard size we've been using. I'll post a note at the beginning indicating this. If someone misses the note or has already started, I won't worry about it...

Will that be okay with everyone?

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

I am motivated enough to push myself with this, I am hoping that with the pressure a diamond in the rough will form much faster rather than with time.

I'm going to work with some thumbs to try to get some good ideas flowing for each of these. Seeing as how you are acting as 'publisher' in this Illaekae, I would like to have your opinions the most and I will have to acknowledge that you are also busy with this, but I will take any wise words as I receive it (that includes anyone else out there reading this :)).

[j.s. sabastian]

i love this part it's where most die and some thrive (hummmm wich will i be) five weeks is way to much time just for five covers.....IMP..... it should be a cover and one page of story.....but than agian i should just shut my F**ing mouth.....before i end up eating my own words...lol

[Molly]

This sounds like a pretty cool challenge. I want to partake more in the community (as I have been rather lapse with it of recent!) ~ A good challenge to push myself into.
Thank Ilaekae!

EDIT:

STUPID(ish) QUESTION: will we have to create the graphic type/logo/barcode/publishing co. name/price tag - all that stuff too?

If so, its good for us all to think also about the layout of the image within, to conteract the type to be laid ontop...just a passing thought for all....

EDIT AGAIN: What about the back cover? Would it be an open option for us to include it etc etc?.... :)

Mama Molly x

[Ilaekae]

"...five weeks is way to much time just for five covers..."

Got that right, but we have an incredible number of newbees here who spend a lot of wasted time on school, getting laid, eating, sleeping, bragging/complaining in the lounge, etc. 10 days is more like it for 5 run-of-the-mill covers, with maybe 15 days if we're gettin' fancy (I'm talkin' DEADLINE work here, not special situations.)...

Molly, you don't have to create the bar code, etc., but you raise a good point that I haven't mentioned before in an obvious way... Usually, the publisher will require a small area of the illustration be a bit "clean" of anything important for the code and legaleeze to be mortised into. The price has traditionally been inserted in the corner top left or right, but lately, it seems to be with the bar code info, if it appears at all.

I have no trouble with a wrapped cover, but US comics often use the reverse for promo or advertising.

Many higher quality comics with wrapped covers often have the barcode and pricing/publisher info on the back now to keep the cover high-impact.

[velderia]

I think I'll just do this 8.5 x 11 size like you said in the first place. I like big paper.

[velderia]

Cover B:
862578
Cover C:
BAWHAHA texture abuse. :P Gonna probably tone it down a bit though.
862579

[Razorleaf]

This sounds like something I could really get into. I'll give this one a go!

[j.s. sabastian]

is that a Z-brush?

[Raoul Duke]

Is it okay if my chow team warms up by entering this pow? I know it sounds like unfair advantage, but we are learning how to work as a team. It could be a disadvantage in some respects.

[Janos]

Hey, I think I might give it a shot, though I wonźt be able to post any progress until the 5th or 6th of january. Raoul, I guess we'll just work indipendently, but Help eachother out if we have problems? Also, I guess we should make team Chow our prioirity. I have got so much stuff to do, so I'll just fuck off now and start drawing.

EDIT:
So. Here are the first ideas for each cover. I love challenges like these, but with team chow coming up I'll have to fight hard to stick with my plans. I am going to decide on what I dea to follow soon, and start sketching it out. In about two weeks I'll then be able to work with it digitally (layout etc.)
Ma main goal is to establish a certain style in each cover, and keep them individual yet still recognizably mine.
Please give me feedback on which cover idea works best and so on. I will decide based on your opinions but in the end its up to me of course.... :)
Sorry for the VERY rough sketches. I still need to learn how to sketch fast from imagination. That is definitely not my forté.

[arttorney]

Cover C Final
864974

[Ilaekae]

Raoul, I don't think a team ENTRY would be fair to the other contestants, but I see no reason why the team couldn't do the Challenge as an exercise...it just won't go to poll. I'd be damn curious to see how it comes out...

[blackrobin]

excuse me for asking sir Ilaekae

so current POW topic is to create 5 cover
the cover only?

[j.s. sabastian]

blackrobinyes......five covers...
yeah i am so against team challenge I have enough comp as it is...
merry f-cking xmas to everyone....hey santa where's my hot girlfriend???? bich>>>

[velderia]

An idea for Cover D but I think I might try something different. It's a bit cutesy for me.

863802

Edit: Second attempt. It's not as cutesy, but it doesn't really fit for me. I think it could be better. I thought it was funny on its own though. :)

863833

Edit 2: Okay, I think I got it right this time. :D

863850

[Janos]

@ velderia. Lov ethe second one, and the nomnomnom makes me smile. Please do not lose the copmic side to this cover. It makes it!

[Ilaekae]

blackrobin, yes, it's five covers only...and you don't have to call me "sir." "Your Most Revered and Royal Holiness" will do...

velderia, I like the humor on the covers. Hard to pull off, so I'm impressed.

[Razorleaf]

I kinda like the direction this one is taking so far but I'm wondering if the rim is too dark.

[velderia]

I forgot to post Cover A:

864381

[arttorney]

I'm impressed, everybody. Fight hard!

Razorleaf: I don't think anything is ever too dark, but I'm kind of a goth. What I would suggest is to make a gray scale version and see if the values, the shapes, the positive/negative space are doing anything for you. I think you'll see you need to punch their faces a bit (artistically speaking). Nice bricks. I know it's not easy.

[Razorleaf]

Thanks arttorney .... gray-scaling didn't do as much as I had hoped but I'm thinking I will go with the less darker edging for the lens/scope. :)

[Razorleaf]

What type of book covers are these? Are they all for comics? There's a big difference between magazine, comic and paperback - each having their own market and subsequent style. I'm asking so that if I change-up my styles for the five different themes I will get them right. Thanks. :)

[arttorney]

I've been operating with the assumption that they are comic/graphic novel covers, although Ilaekae is the boss. I expect he will check in some time today and say something. I am going to have variation for sure. My Five Stars will probably look more like a video/DVD cover for a jiang hu movie, with lots of portrait and figure work. My Fractured will have an alien and some creature/industrial design elements. I haven't decided what to do about the other one yet.

Here's a WIP:
865232

[SalOnimaruRem]

aahh very in-ter-res-ting...i shall definitely have a go at this...on the next day...today i havent slept yet so nyah :P

for once i think i am going to follow the rules :P

[Razorleaf]

This time I kinda like the painted version .... still the B&W has potential :)

[Razorleaf]

I'm working with the specs given but each time I upload a new WIP it seems blurry. I do the original in Painter but I adjust the sizes in Photoshop. Any ideas why this is happening? Thanks! :)

[arttorney]

That's probably an artifact of going down to 96 dpi. The spiderwebs in the letters of my
Shadow one look great at 300 dpi but they look like crap at 96. I'm not good enough to tell you what you can do about it. Sorry. Maybe somebody else can. (Updated above.)

[smugbug]

I've been running out of creative steam and this challenge will definitely help in gettin' me back into the art! Yay!

[Razorleaf]

I thought I'd go with something a bit retro for the composition ....

[arttorney]

I always love your work Patricia. Glad to see you're aboard.

Razorleaf is determined not to fall behind. Good show! Trying to crank out five of these babies in the last week is not likely to lead to any good results. I'm trying to pull ahead on time myself because I expect all the figures in my Five Stars one to take forever and my Fractured was going to need a figure, a creature, and an environment.

[SalOnimaruRem]

this is gonna be a challenge for me to color it in hahaaa x]

here is what i have so far for A...i hope i got the sized right @_@

[Ilaekae]

To verify--all covers are meant for comics or graphic novels (or Mangas or Manhuas if you swing that way)...

Nice efforts, everybody. I'm impressed...

[velderia]

Damn, Oni, I do love your pencils. :D

[Janos]

hey guys, I know you are kind of a tight knit crew, and although I haven't posted here since a few days, I still am going to enter. On the 5 or so I am going to post real updates, until then, what do you think about my different cover ideas?

Oni Rem I love the pencils. The only thing is I think the Papyrus font cheapens it. Search for something interesting and modern in teh web. There are many good, free fonts out there.

Razorleaf Hi, I like it. The composition is a abit weird, especially the alien looking up. He should kinda be in teh middle for such an old school cover. BUt I like the old schoolishness of it. Space is too turquoise for me, but might be my taste.

I am gonna post thoughts on you other guys later on. And believe me Ilaekae, when I start something I finish it.

SO thanks for the great ideas and see you later.

[arttorney]

This stuff is for Janos:

I like the fractured idea with the architects best, I think.

The sword behind the back one seems to have the clearest narration in button puncher.

Shadows- the hiding on the subway one seems creepiest to me somehow

Seedling- This one is tough to pick a winner but I think the broken toys one is interesting

Five Stars- I'm leaning toward the weapons one right now. The covers are supposed to be high impact and sets of shoes would have to be pretty damn cool shoes indeed before anybody besides Imelda Marcos would find the cover very attractive. The five way face has potential, particularly if you work in a star like motif to the abstraction. I just never really have much luck with abstraction around here. That's what brought me back to the five weapons on the table.

Oni Rem: Don't let color intimidate you. If nothing else, get all your linework done on the five and do some kind of "colorize" or "posterize" button on your Photoshop. You have such great starts and I would love to see you finish.

[Choob]

Quick webcam of my WIP for Button Pusher, going out so I don't have time to scan yet.

http://i711.photobucket.com/albums/ww113/President_Choob/2009-12-29-54193.jpg

Just a speedy ink, unsure what to do with the face. I considered sunglasses, but I figure the eyes are important to show her youth.

Great stuff here guys.

;)

[Razorleaf]

Oni .... really like your sketch, can't wait to see what you do with it. :)

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Got a bit going so far... I'm still working on the rough sketches of the other four and haven't gotten them scanned.

This one I'm thinking on making the foreground houses simmilar to a shanty town with highrises in the background.

Had a bit of a problem with photoshop when I was painting at 300 dpi...

Every time I tried it would freeze up... I then increased the ram usage and decreased the history. everything seems to be working a bit better now.

[SalOnimaruRem]

haa thanks all for the encouragement!! it does a lot to my motivation :D

as for font i threw that in for now, but in finding a good font i will shit bricks for that :P

[Nike]

Thanks for the great topics, Ilaekae (though i doubt I can do them justice) :)

I want to jump on board.. been working on "shadows" during the last days... hope the size thing (I oriented on the gray text) is alright... and well, crits are more than welcome!

Really nice stuff going on here :) velderia, I love your ideas! oni rem - the fractured sketch is really stunning! Razorleaf - love the button puncher w-i-p! I like the colored version better, maybe a not daylight setting would make it a bit more creepy (I don't know if you're going for that, of course). arrtorney - love your shadows cover - the simplicity works very well :)


w-i-p

[SalOnimaruRem]

it looks like i wont be having access to the internet for a while so i will find some other way to post my stuff :/

[arttorney]

Aw shit. PM me the email address. 1 hr. per day library access. Gitcher scans in to me by email. We'll see to it you can post.

[Janos]

Nike Atm she looks a bit zombieish. I would try to soften her up and go only with blood splatters. Also I think the image lacks some more colours. Going all red gives it a nice graphical touch, but I would colden up the shadows by adding blue, and I say try rendering the grass yourself. It'll look soooo much better.

The Crazy Dude SRD I like the idea of the aliens sitting on a truck. I say try to make the architecture and the cars more modern. They are on a different planet after all. Somehow I also didn't imagine skyscrapers for fractured, rather assembled huts made out of spaceships or so. I also like the alien you drew, but I would add another few. Fill up that truck!

[j.s. sabastian]

i really like wips every one is posting........but i think.....it's a bit to soon... take your time remember there's five......maybe in a week or so unleash the WIP force or something like that. bounce back and forth between covers to give yourself inspiration. or at least that's what i keep telling myself..... i guess what i'm saying is we have more time in this challenge to tell a story with one image. than having to display panels telling a story so in theory it's the image that counts>>> who know's what the f--ck i'm saying anyway's

nike great pic selective color's can make an image really bold but imp just stick with red black and white for highlights it looks like you where adding "flesh" tones wich throws everyting off....i get the shadows part of it but you could incorporate more "story"

the crazy dude srd Jesus you couldn't of picked a shorter name....jkjklol
i like your style. but i would like too see more "other worldly" things in that truck there's
nothing alien about about a man and a chicken......

razerleaf i think your fractured is kickass, but you should reverse your ships they supossed to all be dumped on the same planet. not escape from it. and on a side note are you using vector graphics for your button pusher? it just coffusses me.

oni rem great start but WTF now YOU CAN'T make it????? look i'll say this i suck at skecthing with pencil!!! the eraser is my best friend. but you my friend (i don't know you) you rule so get of your ass.... pencil and then shade i'm sure you'll quallify for other challenges

arttorney solid work on your shadows cover.......what medium are you using for these becuase you might want to diversify for your seedling cover.

velderia great images have you produced....attached to them you must not be......(whoooowww now i',m talking like yoda) you have time try other things...for instance "button pusher" is /slash/ romance but where's the button pushing? unless it's a sexual button ooooohhhh that's why there in bed.......

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Janos and Sabastian; Great ideas I'll get crackin'

oh and Sabastian, if it's easier just go ahead and call me SRD, or Shawn. :)

edit: whoops sorry Sabastian... I mostly spell phonetically... and I have massive cerebral flatulence on the occasion.

[j.s. sabastian]

dammit people it's spelled wrong for a reason.....i'm an idiot!!

[arttorney]

Because the other three are going to take me so much time I am probably going to have to finish the Seedling one and move on, but I understand what you are saying. These are mixed media tied together with the GIMP. The Shadow letters for example are scans of letter stencils that have a printout of a spiderweb behind them showing through. The figure was a pencil drawing based on a photo. I drew over the scan of the pencil drawing with solid color and then bucket filled with that warning pattern. (etc. etc.)

[Razorleaf]

I think I'm gonna change-up this one a bit ..... I'm not sure about all the negative space but maybe that's its appeal! :)

I didn't go horror or blood, guts and gore with this one....... I kinda leaned more toward "The Twilight Zone" ...

[Razorleaf]

I wanted something soft and child-like for this one. I wanted to express the longing and shyness without any real negative impact to the viewer. Its all about the child. She's looking out a window - I hope you can tell. :)

[Razorleaf]

Can "The Five Stars" be representational or must it have characters in it? :)

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Razorleaf - That Seedling pic is awesome, absolutely wonderful execution.

If you want the window to show through see about giving some manner of reflection and a bit of fog where the kid is breathing on the glass.

Keep at it. I was thinking of doing something 'medieval' with it myself but I'd like to know too.

edit:: Whoops forgot to post the current wip of Fractured... Added a dude in the corner and I'm going to add some other mofos in the background tending to daily tasks in the shanty town...

I thought of the skyscrapers because in the description, it didn't define that the planet wasn't already inhabited and built up... Just that the alien peoples are sorta stranded there. I'll see what I can do to help illustrate it but I've been fighting photoshop for a while and I have found a few hints on how to better abuse the Piece of shista. Sooooo hopefully I will have it working now...

[Razorleaf]

Thanks Shawn. I'd add a couple more aliens to yours - one beside the man leaning back and the other by the birdman. Ooh! Ooh! ... and maybe a spaceship landing to create that "dumped off feel". Looking forward to seeing more of this one! I know you like bold beautiful colors which will give it that high-impact look. :)

[Nike]

Razorleaf - I really like the idea and execution so far - but I think she looks more like a young woman than a child right now - maybe try to soften her features a bit more?

Shawn - I'm all for more aliens, too - the setting looks interesting! :)

[j.s. sabastian]

fine monkey see monkey due..... i bought a bottle of wupp ass......and everyones gonna sit at the table and have a glass.....lol in alphabetical order
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/CoverA.jpg
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/CoverBtheBUTTONpusherbraggingrinrig.jpg
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/CoverCShadows.jpg
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/CoverDtheSeeedling.jpg
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/CoverEthefivestars-1.jpg

[arttorney]

That's the spirit!11!! I have finished the three half days of pro tem judging I did this week (it's prime judge vacation season). Now I'll have a bit of time to return to this stuff.

FINAL for The Seedling:
868025

[dustin53545]

Wow this sounds like some of my real clients...lol I'm in!!!! Can't wait to get this started..lol



http://photos.imageevent.com/aljmary/conceptarts/CA-POWexLOGO.jpg


Welcome to Hell!

Elementary school is over, and you've all volunteered for the Marines. From now on, we're going to show those KON-sepschu-all skanks that think they rule this cesspool just how the grownups do it. I sound nice on this forum when I'm tired and trying to make things right that need lt, but once everything falls into place, I GET REALLY HAPPY...and when I get really happy, I become a homicidal prick...and you are all slow-moving targets.

P.O.W.! is moving to the next level of bone-crunching tyranny. From this point on, you will be asked to stick to deadlines, follow the rules to the point of not being allowed to have sex for a year if you don't, and you will also be pitted up against every evil idea I can come up with to ruin your pitiful lives.

To start this rolling, I AM going to be a bit sympathetic and allow some extra time due to the holidays, BUT...you take it as a chance to fuck off and watch reruns up to the day before the deadline, YOU WILL DIE! Publicly! I will crit you into the ground and send you crying to your mommas for every nit-picking little screw-up you try to get by me.

YOU...WILL...DO...THE...FOLLOWING...as professionally and completely as your current level allows...and then some. Trying as hard as you can and failing will not piss me off, but slapping shit down as if you had no respect for your fellow travelers and their efforts in this hell-hole will not be forgiven.

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P.O.W.! Challenge 36
Deadline: Sunday, January 24, 2010, 11:59 pm anywhere in the world.

Topic: Five Covers...

This thread will be the place you ask questions on this challenge, trash talk, post WIPs and post your final art. See the READ THIS FIRST thread for all specs.

Good luck.

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All due at the final deadline, and to include the following:

• An appropriate high-impact and attractive image with an eye to attracting the primary audience I list with each cover.

• The cover/comic title I assign below prominently displayed along with your name as artist/author as well as a small simple publisher's mark to read "CAPOW!"

• Covers are to be 8-1/2" by 11" (22cm x 28cm) (51 picas x 66 picas) with an extra 1/8" (0.5cm) (1 pica) extension of the art in all directions, and all should be in Full Color, which does NOT mean that the cover can't be predominately white if that's appropriate to your art.

NOTE ON COMIC SIZE...

A number of people were confused by my jumping to another size for this challenge (the gray note above). To prevent any problems, I'm moving the sizes back to our usual Standard CB Sizes. If you've already started in the larger size, don't worry about resizing or re-proportioning your entry--I'll allow for it here. Sorry for any confusion.

Standard Comic Book Size:

--Trim size: 6 5/8" x 10 1/4"
--Live art area: 6" x 9"
--Bleed size before trimming: 6 7/8" x 10 1/2" (1/8" in all directions)

• Submissions should be 96 dpi jpegs at same size (unless the image manager disallows--just reduce slightly then), and titled in the following manner...

Your screen name-POW36-A(or B-E as needed).jpg

I would suggest doing your original art at 300 dpi same size minimum and making a copy for posting here, because there is a VERY strong possibility that ALL work from now on in this section may be reproduced in print...so if you fuck up, you don't get included...nyah nyahhhhhhh...

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Cover A. Title is "FRACTURED." Theme/synopsis is Sci-Fi--A world has/is evolved/evolving with a slight post-apocalyptic feel to it that includes disparate races/species/etc. being forced to live together in as normal a situation as possible after they have all been stranded/dumped/voluntarily escaped to the world. This is NOT a "Us vs. Them" scenario. Think of it as a "We're all in the same boat so let's get along" story.

Audience is adult/young adult/hopefully attractive to both genders.


Cover B: Title is "BUTTON PUNCHER." Theme/synopsis is high-school coming of age/love story/drama where one of the two main characters is a 16-year-old professional assassin. Feel is romantic, humorous (ya'think?!?), and as serious or cartoonish in approach as you want.

Audience is Teen/young adult/hopefully attractive to both genders, with slight leaning to the female reader.


Cover C: Title is "SHADOWS." Theme/synopsis is horror/mystery, with a primary character who has a history of incredibly bad luck, but comes to realize that it is actually due to someone/somethng just out of the his/her peripheral vision that is actually manipulating his/her life for some unknown reason. Story is spooky, bloody and messy in both plot and lifestyle. The horror is more psychological than "CREEPY Magazine" blood, guts, and gore, even though it's loaded with all of the aforementioned.

Audience is older teen/young adult/adult due to gore and such.


Cover D: Title is "THE SEEDLING." Theme/synopsis is a young person--age 5-6--who has been raised in isolation from other children and is suddenly exposed to a new family, city life and school for the first time. The little one is extremely shy and reclusive, and story is concerned with how our little person slowly integrates into society.

Audience is preteens to adult, and cover should be attractive to both extremes.


Cover E: Title is "THE FIVE STARS." Theme/synopsis is stereotypical fantasy/swords and sorcery/mis-matched band of heroes on a quest kind of thing. Any approach is cool--Asian, LOTR, African, ancient, modern, whatever floats your boat. Be as creative in approach as you want--you know how this type of story works.

Audience is Teen/young adult/adult/hopefully attractive to both genders, with very slight stress on the masculine reader.

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This is an exercise in interpretation, originality (in approach), and marketing. You aren't doing a neato drawing/illustration. You are executing the primary first selling image of a mass market item that won't sell if no one picks it up. It's both illustration, conceptual art and graphic design. I'm the client, so if any of these don't sell and i can't afford my rent, it will be YOUR fault...and I will break every bone in your puny bodies before selling you into slavery. Enjoy.

You are now a professional. Do the best you can based on your current level of skills--plus some--and I'll be happy. Those of you further along, this should come out at nearly the level for inclusion in the FINALLY FINISHED thread.

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A little note here for all of you who have supported the P.O.W.! Challenges...thankyewthankyewthankyew...

Just a reminder--those of you who didn't get a chance to finish exactly the way you wanted to, or ran into deadline problems, remember there is a sticky section where you can post your stuff when you do get it up to speed.

[Choob]

Scanned it.

Planning on the details with my new graphics tablet, and posting some different faces.

I want her to have attitude, but it could end up as constipated. Meh.

Good stuff so far guys, loving the WIP for Seedling Razorleaf.

;)

[arttorney]

Five Stars WIP
869385

[Hari Gopinathan]

Hey guys. I finally got some time and Have now decided that come hell or high water---- I will try THIS

Here is my semi inked cover for FIVE STARS
868905

[j.s. sabastian]

oh you thought my sketches where WIPS....artirstically friends or not i'm head hunting!!!!
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/CoverA1.jpg

[Razorleaf]

j.s. sabastian ... could you please post a blank dotted outline for the size requirements. I used the sizes given but mine seem to be somewhere in the poster range hahahaha.

Also the original size of 8.5 x 11 inches should equate to what in pixels? It is not necessarily a stupid question, I'm just making sure I have all the requirements right before my final submission - with this being my first POW and all. Thanks :)

Oh and Hari Gopinathan your WIP for the Five Stars cover is great ...... can't what to see what you do with it.

[arttorney]

2550 x 3300 is 8.5" x 11" at 300dpi

In the "Read This First Thread" of the POW subforums Ilaekae has posted a link to the dotted line templates in both 96 and 300 dpi. Those are matched up to the standard comic book specs that we have been told is OK for this challenge, rather than the 8.5 X 11 that we started out with. There is a free open source software called Inkscape that has a template in it for 8.5 X 11, and I am finding that when I open that template and export it, I get a .png of that size at 300 dpi to start out with. (Export is necessary if you plan to do raster work because Inkscape is a vector program.) There are no dotted lines in the inkscape one. It's just a white sheet that is the right size. File>Document Properties>US Letter. While you are in Document Properties, though you can set up guidelines, grids, and snaps.
869150

[skorpi]

Finally time :)

Nice work here, so far.

First idea sketches. I hope it's ok, if I draw/ paint every cover in a different style and technique. I already have some ideas how I like to do them.
I have no idea for the five stars, guess it will be the last one I do.

[Ilaekae]

You have it right, skorpi. All five covers are meant to be different to allow better targeting of your potential audience. Something aimed at a child or a mature woman would almost certainly have a different approach from something aimed at a male audience or teenagers. That is NOT to say that the same technique approach couldn't be used for all five covers if that works for you.

Just remember, everybody, that you are doing the equivalent of a small poster that contains only a few major pieces of text necessary for the marketing of the comic. It's a tease...a kind of preview of what's to come inside...and it should punch your lights out when you scan the display rack with a couple hundred competing covers. Buyer no notice...no buy...artist starve...live in refrigerator box...

[Hari Gopinathan]

Finished inking my 2nd one.

I am just trying to get all the inking for all the covers done.

Thinking of doing digital colouring this time. Cos it might be faster than hand rendering ( like I did for the last challenge).

Exams going on. But I dont wanna miss this challenge.

Razorleaf Thank you so much for the encouragement. Even I can;t wait to se how it comes out, cos I've got no clue right now. :wink:
By the way--neat yourself- especially the seedling one :) :) :)

I PRESent before you
SHADOWS

[Choob]

Scanned it, cleaned in photoshop, added face, and basic colouring.

Obviously no shadows/highlights, just seeing if the colours suit her.

Any feedback appreciated.

;)

[Razorleaf]

Two things I noticed Yowza ....

1. On my computer the screen kinda sucks so she is coming off a bit orange, I'm not sure if this is intentional or not.

2. I can understand that the sleeve of her "uniform" will be scrunched-up and therefore the highlights will be rough but there should be no such motion on her hip and thigh. I would persume that that area would be quite smooth, hence a less rough highlight should be applied. The same goes for her rib area, both should be more like her chest. Over all I really like this. It kinda reminds of a style I used to see back in the 70s. Hopes this helps! :)

[Razorleaf]

arttorney .... your "Five Star" is really coming together. I gotta admit I had no idea where you were going with it when you first posted it. :)

[MiniGoth]

:/ I can't find a good place to put the other hand.

[Molly]

minigoth - could ya resize? Its difficult to see this big!

[MiniGoth]

Oh jeez, absolutely!

[arttorney]

The thread's already passing me up, but if anybody looks in, I am especially wondering who likes/hates this font.

Five Stars FINAL.
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[Choob]

Thanks for the feedback Razorleaf, this is what I've done so far.

Any comments appreciated.

;)

[arttorney]

I like her better now. Are you going to put the words sideways down an edge or across part of her?

[Razorleaf]

If I were to give highlights to this character I would do it like this Yowza, but I do not have your particular style of artistry (wish I did! :)) She is definately coming along nicely.

[Razorleaf]

I don't think that this one will ever be finished .... :)

[arttorney]

The upper left creature face is a little closer to the chop-off zone than I might have put it. I think it is technically OK though.

[Razorleaf]

I like the font artorney ....

What is your theme for the Five Stars?

[arttorney]

There is a whole genre of Chinese language movies taking place in a hypothetical fighting underworld colloquially known as jiang hu. The closest movie to this neighborhood probably known to the English language filmgoer is "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" or perhaps "Romeo Must Die" as a crossover. There is one that is actually called "Jiang Hu" that is taking place more modern day and concerns the Triads. The closest reference I am using for this is the DVD cover for my copy of "House of Flying Daggers" although I have a substantial memory library because everybody else in my law firm is of Chinese ancestry. I still haven't decided if I want to base the hero guy off of one of my friends.

I am using Zhang ZiYi's lips, eyelashes and eyebrows although I have made her face a bit taller and changed out her nose for one a little more like I remember Michelle Yeoh's. (I don't want to make a straight up copy of anyone).

There's generally romance, fighting, and death. There is also stuff that is like magic because people can frequently fly, or heal, or see while blindfolded, etc. although it is usually more characterized as "that guy is really advanced in his wu shu" (or his meditations or some such thing).

Big Trouble in Little China is a reasonable homage, although you have to watch it as though Wang Chi the restaurant owner is the hero. Kurt Russell is actually kind of a clown in that movie.

[Razorleaf]

I've seen all the movies that you have referenced. The House of Flying Daggers was really good and I loved "Big Trouble in Little China".

At first I thought your idea was more "Olympic" but I am starting to see the references now. Because of your Asian references I am not sure that this font is suitable but I won't be able to assess it properly until I see more of the painting. I am, however, looking forward to seeing this one done. :)

[arttorney]

Ahhh! I thought about putting "Five Stars" on there in Chinese, but most wouldn't be able to read it. House of Flying Daggers uses something that looks like Roman Serif. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is very similar although the serifs are not as pronounced. Once Upon a Time in China is sans serif, except for the word China. Kung Fu Hustle is kind of poster style, but I've already been there with Shadows. I can see the guy with the halberd (based on Guan Gong) is kind of a visual cross up because of the white hair. I've been trying to incorporate a few characters with a bit of age on them.

Here is a sample of what it might look like with Chinese. Native speakers are of course welcome to correct me. I already know I am bad. I just said "five star" and there should probably be a measure word in between but I don't know the measure word for stars.
870480

[Razorleaf]

If you are going with an Asian theme then maybe you could do a google search for asian fonts. Its an idea! When I look at your font now I see "old english" - like the style that would be on a plaque outside a small english style pub or something. I really like the idea of putting the Chinese version of the title in there too. :)

[skorpi]

For special fonts: http://www.dafont.com/

[arttorney]

I got Cambodian and all kinds of stuff already available on my computer. I just don't even know what the sounds of those alphabets are. My Fedora Linux computer won't go to certain sites through my roommate's wireless router so I'll have to wait until I go to work to look at Skorpi's site. I already reported the spambot, who also posted in a whole bunch of sketchbook threads.

[Razorleaf]

I bookmarked this site a while ago for my kids arttorney but you might find it useful. I just tried it using (The Five Stars) and it works great.....

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt

[arttorney]

Interesting they use "ge" for the measure word. That's the measure word for things with legs. (It's kind of a default setting and the one I would have tried if I had to guess).

[kyurai]

hello,

this is the first part of the seedling cover . Hope i can finish at least 2 in the given time :)

[Choob]

I like her better now. Are you going to put the words sideways down an edge or across part of her?

Not sure at the moment.

I figure I'll just move the text round on the page until I find somewhere it looks good.

Down the side is a good idea though. Like the Watchmen title.

http://www.watchmenmovieposters.com/watchmen.jpg

Thanks for the tip Razorleaf, I didn't really put that much light in, because each time I did it didn't really feel right.

;)

EDIT: There's a site called babelfish? :D Anyone else a Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy fan?

[Razorleaf]

Quote - Yowza - Thanks for the tip Razorleaf, I didn't really put that much light in, because each time I did it didn't really feel right. - Quote

No problem ..... ya gotta do what feels right to you as an artist, thats what makes us all unique and special :)

[tobbA]

Babelfish is old. translate.google.com is the new shit ;)

Anyway... Cover one from me. I had the title in watercolor as well from the start but then I realized the proportions were off so i had to crop it. The water color title wasn't too pretty anyway.

[kyurai]

@tobbA: i m no expert, but when i look at the image the background is a little too busy. Those vertical lines distract a little from the main characters. Maybe alter digitally the background of those lines to a different color than white and leave the main characters with white backgrounds ?
As i said, i m no expert :)

[Razorleaf]

When we post our final images what size should they be? I mean the original 8.5x11 is way too big for the screen as so is 6x9.

So can we do the originals in (8.5x11)(6x9) and then reduce them to say 600x460 pixels @96dpi .... or something like that? :)

[Janos]

TobbA Nice one. I liek the characters but as a layout it looks a little patchy atm.
The background is too busy, try taking away contrast and colourvalue.
The typography is too stuck on, and it doesn't help that you can still see the rests of your original title. Try also not covering the attackers face in your next try. We should see the evil guys. :D

Cheers

[Ilaekae]

Razorleaf, how large is your monitor? I'm not sure why you think the 6x9 at 96ppi is too big, for example. I usually post mine at 9" or 10" high without any problems (that's a bit under 1000 ppi high).

[j.s. sabastian]

blahblahblah.....since when is this a chat forum?jkjk i think i'm gonna try a differen't......eh.....what's this master yoda!!! oh i'm sorry i didn't realize i sat on you. forgive me i thought you where kermit the frog....what???? p.s. arttoney don't you dare talk shit about jack burton!!! that man saved a lot of east bay lives including mine!

"Big Trouble in Little China is a reasonable homage, although you have to watch it as though Wang Chi the restaurant owner is the hero. Kurt Russell is actually kind of a clown in that movie"

[Razorleaf]

Ilaekae ..... all I have to use right now is a small 12inch laptop. Its a great little machine and I love it but its not the greatest for painting on. :)

But if those are the specs I can post them anyway.

[Razorleaf]

j.s. sabastian ...... you gotta open that closet door and let some fresh air in hahahahaha :)

[skorpi]

kyurai sweet :)

tobbA I agree with the others, I think, it would work better if the background is a more steady element.

Sktches for the Seedling and Button Puncher. I still have to work on the proportions and the poses at the Button Puncher cover, but first I need a break.
And I think, I'll paint the Seedling cover with water color :)

[Razorleaf]

This is what I've got for now ......

[blackrobin]

Master Ilaekae! I have made my cover 1 and 3 :yayca:
c&c please!
Nice works, keep on working guys!
Im not really sure about my cover1 though, not satisfied about something but im not sure
I did my cover in 6" x 9" 300 dpi (posted 6" x 9" 72 dpi here), but people are talking about 8.5" x 11"
Am i doomed?

Standard Comic Book Size :
--Trim size: 6 5/8" x 10 1/4"
--Live art area: 6" x 9"
--Bleed size before trimming: 6 7/8" x 10 1/2" (1/8" in all directions)
can anyone help me to explain those sizes stuffs?

[arttorney]

Blackrobin_ You can get away with either size. I'm just doing 8 1/2 x 11 because that was the first and easiest template I found when I started drawing but Ilaekae has also made the comic spec template fair game. Those trim and bleed dimensions are explained in the "Read This First" thread in this subforum. They are basically a way of making sure no important part of your beautiful drawings gets chopped off by a page cutting machine that has no artistic sensibilities. Those areas are not required to contain anything but white space (if you want to leave a big margin. If you only painted the 6x9 live art portion, then maybe you can add 3/16 inch of white margin to each side and 5/8 inch of white space to each of the top and bottom (for those covers I might use black margins).


blahblahblah.....since when is this a chat forum?jkjk i think i'm gonna try a differen't......eh.....what's this master yoda!!! oh i'm sorry i didn't realize i sat on you. forgive me i thought you where kermit the frog....what???? p.s. arttoney don't you dare talk shit about jack burton!!! that man saved a lot of east bay lives including mine!

"Big Trouble in Little China is a reasonable homage, although you have to watch it as though Wang Chi the restaurant owner is the hero. Kurt Russell is actually kind of a clown in that movie"
LOL. He showed great courage. We are in his debt!

[velderia]

Sleepy, but workin'.

Cover B Final(?):

872743

[Janos]

An idea for the seedling, far from done though. Love all of the other entries. Good times.

[Molly]

OK, below are thumb ideas for each cover.

Cover A: Fractured; I wanted a sense of an 'over-crowded' city, or public transport, something that was more to real life than the usual post-apocalyptic theme of desparate people and fighting. Like things today, immigration, asylum seeking, except, its aliens. Also, I would like to do this back cover to front, to make more of an impact on the sense of feeling crowed and claustrophobic...
873216


Cover B; Button Pusher; I wanted this to be more teenage fun than a serious story. The thumbs are based on the two main characters, one or the other being the assasin, and a li'l tribute to spiderman in one of them...
873219


Cover C: Shadows; this genre requires a serious, dark and twisted feel. The character is tormented, mentally and physically...I was thinking on the lines of Momento and The Machinist...
873220


Cover D: Seedling; the age group for this one - 5-6yrs pre-teens - is a nice change to the others. I wanted a reason why this young person was in isolation before their integration into society. So, I figured the young character could be a 'fantasy being' of some sort, displaced by the loss of its natural surroundings. I've made this character a child-fawn, brought into society, because of the loss of the forest they used to live in. This would be a good way of bringing up moral issues, about nature, the earth, people respecting one another etc etc... Ilaekae, I hope its ok, to put this plot behind it. IMO, I think it easier for children to relate to a strange being, that is different in color and shape - than chosing whether or not the main character be black or white...
873222

Cover E: The Five Stars; well, I was kinda stumped with this one. I decided to keep this more 'modern-urban-style-fantasy'. A young group of people, with cool skills, fantastic fighting scenes, with kick arse gorgeous babes..
873224

[kyurai]

hey guys, i have a question here : is it possible to put the title of the comic on the bottom of the page or this a complete no-no ?

i was thinking about integrating the title of the seedling cover in the picture. Something like chalk writings or pebbles on the ground under the main character.

[tobbA]

Thanks for the comments... And good job from everyone here

I tried to fix the issues, moved the title and tried to make it fit more with rest of the image

Hopefully it's a little better

[Razorleaf]

tobbA ... I think it looks much better now. I like being able to see his face. I am wondering if you couldn't lower the bad guy and the direction of the gun and still put the title at the top. Just a thought! :)

[tobbA]

That might make it better. Though I don't think there's anyway of changing it now. It's aquarelle after all

[skorpi]

Razorleaf I like your cover, composition and colors are working. Maybe you can make the painting more uniform. At the moment, the difference between textured areas and painting is to big and don't really work together (the painted areas looks unfinished, because you expect them to be as detailed as the textured)
And change the Typo, Comic Sans is not a good font.

blackrobin I really like yourpainting style. I love the Shadow Cover, only the title is dificult to read, I needed two times, to see it's one word.
And maybe I would change one of the humans to an alien at the fractured cover, since it's an all together story.

velderia Very romantic cover, I like it.

Janos Really interesting cover, far from what I thout but it works. great painting style.

Molly Nice thumbs, I'm courious wich you will choose.

kyurai I dont know how it is in US but usually the title has to be on top, because magazines often are aranged so you only see the top part (and there you want to reed what magazin it is)
I don't know, if this matter an this POW, but if possible, I would plan the cover this way.

tobbA Looks much better :)

Work in progress, I have to work a lot this weekend.

[Razorleaf]

Thanks skorpi ..... and about the font, hey I don't get to use this font very often so I thru it in. I kinda like it! I suppose its an industry taboo now to use it huh? :)

[kyurai]

@tobbA : it s looking a lot better now
@skorpi : i love the girl look :D

i ve made the characters for Button Puncher separately(the problem is going to be to put them together), let me know what you think :)

[arttorney]

This is still a wip.
875060

[skorpi]

Razorleaf Use it you like, but there are lot of better fake handlettering fonts wich are better, in my opinion. ;)

kyurai Thank you :)
I like how you use the music to give them some connection. But I see, put them together to ine cover seems difficult.

arttorney *lol* I like the details. My question is, isn't it to much the illustration of the title? The customer reed it, then he don't have to see it too.

Button Puncher final (maybe I'll change the typo)
And sketch for The Five Stars.

[arttorney]

Well, I'm hoping as she shapes up she'll come to take over the focal point. I am going to try to make her hot in more ways than one. As I work on this I am realizing she is kind of a bulimia superhero, and I swear that wasn't intentional from the outset, though it's kind of hard to escape from seeing it now that I have. Hopefully Capow is a crazy alternative publisher.

FINAL for Button Puncher.
876943

[blackrobin]

thx arttorney for explaining the sizes, ill try to upsize it, edit: btw, cool lazor!

thx skorpi for the crit, no style there, just my poor painting technique lol, i'll see what i can do to the title, but have to finish the other covers first

another edit : i browsed through CA and found someone posting a job offer wanting Y-The-Last-Man/Pia Guerra's style, never heard of the comic, googled it and wow the covers she made are really good
here's a link to her covers : www.coverbrowser.com/covers/y-the-last-man
anyone knows some other author who make great covers too?

[Razorleaf]

Thanks for the link blackrobin, ya you're right she does excellent work. Not only are the covers rendered beautifully there is also a flare of graphic design in there too. Nice! :)

[arttorney]

a wip.
877384

[tobbA]

Skorpi: Nice. I like the humor in it. Something that bothers me a little is the bg tho. Perhaps put some rubble there to make it more interesting or just something to indicate what kind of room they're in. Just a thought

Five stars cover is looking neat. Can't have enough gryphons on a cover ^^

Kyurai: Nice. I like the girl especially. The guy don't really stand out much to me. Apart from the hair, perhaps give him some features to make him stand out more.

Arttorney: Nice idea

A sketch for the button puncher cover. I know I misspelled the title (Seriously... even misspelled button. What's wrong with me. ^^')... Lucky it's just a sketch. :P I'm probably gonna try to move the bike down a bit to make the composition more golden mean-ish.

[Razorleaf]

Great sketch tobba ..

arttorney, I can't wait to see where you are gonna take your 'Fractured' idea.

skorpi, I love you 'Button Puncher'.

[kyurai]

@tobbA: cool sketch... i was just wondering that if you move the bike lower, won t the street be a little too empty ?

@arttorney: i can t see where this is going yet , where are the aliens gonna be at
the button puncher cover is really neat ! i never thought it could be interpreted like this

@skorpi: i like the idea of the "nerdy" guy a lot :)

[kyurai]

i have a new guy fir the button puncher cover. You were right, the other one didn t stand out at all. Hope i can match them in GIMP (gave it a try last night and all i got was a headache :( )

and i think i finished the shadows cover, but here i would love some crits since i m not sure if the idea is getting through.

[arttorney]

When I first got the button puncher idea I definitely went back to look at the brief and I saw that "humorous" is OK and as serious or cartoonish as we want. I think this one is heading off in a non-serious direction. I figured I could get away with it. There's some room for teen angst and everything, like Rogue and Bobby in XMen 2 trying to figure out how to be a couple when she is all scary and dangerous.

Fractured- I am going to have an alien or two with a barbecue grill and a shopping cart/push cart setup on the foreground roof. Some humans in winter garb will be there buying something to eat. It's a little cold in this dystopia. I was initially looking for a Waterworld-like fill pattern but I stumbled on this one that I liked. I need to do a little more work to make it look like glaciation is shoving up against those far buildings. There'll be tracks in the snow I drew on the indented building tops. I guess I have to draw big mounds of snow on the other building tops and the top of the wall around the near building top. I haven't decided if I want to draw rope bridges between the building tops.

I find it's easiest for me to work with the gimp if I open up all the dockable dialog boxes for the stuff I usually use (toolbox, layers, brushes) and just drag them around the screen by the blue part at the top to get them out of the way of whatever I am drawing.

[Razorleaf]

I find it's easiest for me to work with the gimp if I open up all the dockable dialog boxes for the stuff I usually use (toolbox, layers, brushes) and just drag them around the screen by the blue part at the top to get them out of the way of whatever I am drawing.


arttorney .... I'm not sure what you use for painting but I use Corel Painter. To remove the boxes on my screen all I do is press the tab key and they disappear and then press it again to have them back on the screen. It is so easy! Hope this helps. :)

[arttorney]

Well, I bounce back and forth between the GIMP, Inkscape, SketchUp, and Open Office Drawing Tool. Several of those have some right click flyout menus or preferences you can set, etc. but it takes longer to figure them out than it does to just make the drawing. I have gotten away from thinking about quick keys and stuff mostly because the ones on my tablet haven't yet been supported on a linux platform. I did recently find out that CTRL by itself as punched on the keyboard seems to give the sampling eyedropper in the GIMP. I had been trying to use "shift" for straight line drawing and got the wrong key.

I will probably upgrade this spring to Fedora 13 because it is such a lucky number. Maybe I will check then to see what the Linux Wacom Project has come up with lately. There is a CTRL [letter] way to call up most of the dialogs but I am too lazy to memorize them. Still, it is kind of a waste of time to drag dialog boxes around everytime I change from 25% to 100%. For a while I would use minimize/maximize but I found that too tedious since I like to have the toolbox handy all the time.

[kyurai]

@arttorney : cool idea for fractured! never thought about a ghetto barbeque for aliens. :))

well, i m new to GIMP and all other programs of this kind. So, i guess it s normal to get something very easy done in like 1h and getting white hairs in the process. I m gonna do some more tutorials today and hopefully i ll be able to finish the 10 min thing in 45 :)

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Awesome work so far everyone... I wonder where our local kitty is looming... Perhaps he's pondering on his vicious bitch slaps that he will deliver upon us like lightning raining down on the Empire State Building.

I figured though that due to the fact that if I try to put color on these I'll end up butchering these things beyond recognition (and the fact that photoshop is being a buggy little bitch to me for having more than three or four layers in the full 300 dpi versions...) I'll try my best but I will probably not be able to have the full 5 colored without pulling pieces of glass from my fist every G... DAMN TIME THAT FUCKKKING THING CRASHESSSS!!!!!!

But anywho... A small update of what's been going on for these...

-Fractured- is about done other than some color...
-Shadows- I want to render in the characters and figure out how I'm wanting the title to be laid in... I also want to try to pull off some reflections below the lady as her blood pools under her.
-Button Puncher- Still needing more work but the dude is carrying a paintball gun, the girl an Kalashnikov w/red dot sights... Trying to go for a 007 sort of feel with it... but 'eh...

The other two are still in pencil stages as I'm still trying to figure out the composition.

Arttorney - I highly admire your use of the GIMP... I tried my damnedest to try to figure it out and it is by far a pain in the gluts.

Skorpi - an awesome composition on the BP... I can't wait to see what the rest have in store for you.

Razorleaf - All those covers are very nice... Personally I think the Seedling resonates nicely and (if we were actually selling these babies) would definitely be a gem of a cover.

Sabastian (Look I got it right the first time!!!!!!) Really diggin that cover dude.

And Blackrobin, thank you very much for showing that link... I certainly hope one day to see myself pushed to levels of that caliber. Fine work by that artist...

Anywho... I'm tired and work's got a big inspection... not fun not fun at all.

[j.s. sabastian]

my bad!!! i had to make a major edit there i thought it was "the button pusher" not "the button puncher".....and i copied the specs for the challenge by word via cut & paste and still managed to put the wrong title .....oh well. My origanel didn't have the whole ninja assasin feel too it.....Besides nothing says teenage assasin like a pinked spiked yo-yo:) A&C are fini..D&E will be remade also
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/BUTTONPUSHERREMAKE-1.jpg

[Razorleaf]

Love the updates Shawn, especially the Fractured and Button Puncher ones. :)

[j.s. sabastian]

r u f-ing kidding me what am i f-ing invisable hear f-ing mother funnlover . what the f-


oh so i don't exist ....i new it..... cuaght a light sneeze dreamed a little dream made my own pretty hate machine.. i'm tired whhooooop's! *cough* *cough*oh shit i'm broke and by sunset i'm gonna be playing me songs on the street for beer money becuase i need some beer..... no really-f-ing square's

[Razorleaf]

oops so sorry j.s. sabastian ...... didn't see you there :^^:

Yes, your off-the-wall assassin is kick-ass hahahahahah

[j.s. sabastian]

i hate the f-ing internet it so lags;)

[aRKaycreative]

arttorney .... I'm not sure what you use for painting but I use Corel Painter. To remove the boxes on my screen all I do is press the tab key and they disappear and then press it again to have them back on the screen. It is so easy! Hope this helps. :)

To hide the docks in GIMP just make sure you have the Image window active when you press TAB otherwise it will just tab around in the active dock...

[kyurai]

hey guys , i have a question for you :) don t kill me !

ilaekae said that we should post the finals in 96 dpi. I have 3 of the 5 covers ready and i worked them in GIMP in 300 dpi. My problem is that i don t know how to scale from 300 down to 96.
I searched the web, and all i found was that i should use the scale tool and set my dpis there. But when i use it all i can set is the width and length of the picture. Is this the way to do it ?

again, sorry for the stupid question but i m a complete GIMP noob :(

[arttorney]

The following two step process has been working for me.

1. In the Image pull down there is a "scale image" option. Go in there and where it says horizontal is 300 dpi change that to 96. When you click in the vertical box the 300 will probably automatically change to 96. At this point click scale image.

2. Doing that will make the image become theoretically like 26 inches wide across the top so you have to go back into "scale image" a second time. This time where it says units and it gives you the default of pixels, work the pull down and select inches (or cm if you are using that) and then make the image size be the right size across the top by changing the number. When you click the vertical box it should automatically change. Hit "scale image" at the bottom and you should be done

I don't know why, but I couldn't get it to let me change the size dimensiona and the resolution at the same time and I think I had trouble when I tried to change the size first and the resolution second (if I remember correctly).

[kyurai]

thank you arttorney :)

[arttorney]

Hey, I know it doesn't come with a nice hardcopy manual or helpful university classes to tell you how to use it. For an artist who's just trying to get some work done, an elitist "RTFM" response is not very polite. Glad I could help.
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I need to do a little work perhaps to make sure this new stuff is properly in perspective with the environment, but I think I can get finished with my five on Saturday. I got a couple of tarot cards I gotta bang out by the end of the month.

[kyurai]

@arttorney: it s starting to look like a ghetto alien barbeque. But they are not popping out of the picture, they are a little to tiny ? Or maybe brighter colours ?
Oh, yeah , i read the online manual today(slow day at work , lol)


@the crazy dude: they are all looking good. I especially like the shadows idea

@j.s.sebastian: very high school :) the leg that is on the wall looks a little bit odd to me, but then, i m no expert on the matter

[kyurai]

okay then, here are the covers i finished so far
c&c is more then welcome :)

i hope the images are not that big, i made them in the first size ilaekae said (22.5 x 28.5 cm). If anything is wrong let me know :)

FINAL - FRACTURED

FINAL - SHADOWS

FINAL - THE SEEDLING

[Razorleaf]

I'm thinking that I like the first one alot kyurai, there's just something about it that makes me want to read every word. Kinda reminds me of a Cosmo or Vogue magazine cover. Really Nice! :)

[arttorney]

What I had before was just the pencil drawing of the alien. I hope this will be better when I have finished coloring him and drawn some other people in here. Tracks in the snow will probably help sell the scene a little better too, I think.
881032

[skorpi]

arttorney Insteresting progress. I don't really like pattern but you manage to to use them so simple that they work.
The perspective in your fractured cover is some kind of irritating, I think, because the vertical lines are in different angles.

tobbA Thank you, I added some kind of background :)
I like your sketch. I would draw the motorcyce a bit bigger, so it looks more impressiv.

Razorleaf Thanks :)

kyurai Thank you.
I love the shadow cover. I'ts horror on the second sight.
Fractured is nice too.

The Crazy Dude SRD Thank you too.
I like your motives. take a look at the perspective at the fractured cover, I think, you have different horizont lines.

j.s. sabastian I love your motive, very dynamic scene.

I changed the facial expression of the button puncher guy, some people said, he's looking to violent.
And coloration for the seedling and the five stars. Maybe I'll change some things, but first I have to do the other covers.

[Razorleaf]

I really like the evil djinni thing you got going there skorpi! It reminds me of a cartoon I used to watch when I was a kid. :)

I thought the guy in your Button Puncher looked a bit crazed too, I'm glad you changed it.

[kyurai]

@razorleaf: thank you !!:) it s the look i was going for

@skorpi: yeah, i hope that the message for the shadows cover shows :) i m not very sure about it yet :)
the seedling cover looks very nice, or it works for me. i love the shy girl
the button puncher cover looks better now, the guy looks more surprised than angry :)

@arttorney: what i see first now is the hit dog commercial rather than the alien. The snow works, but for some diversity maybe you should through more colours, not just white :)

[PlasmaErnst]

Hello all!
I would like to join this activity. I probably will not have the time to finish it. But it is a good practise anyway :)

> Fractured

[tobbA]

Kyurai: Neat idea for the fractured cover :)

Skorpi: Looks better with the bg, really like that seedling cover :)

Here's mine for Button Puncher...

[Nike]

wow, good stuff happening here!

continued with Shadows ...
will hopefully post the seedling tomorrow and hope I'll be able to continue with the other stuff in time as well :/

w-i-p

[Razorleaf]

Tobba your button puncher is really coming along .... but I'm thinking you could reduce the smoke from the tail pipes a bit and maybe add a bit of fire from the tail ends. Just a thought. The orange makes it pop. Nice! :)

[Ilaekae]

This is lookin' good...just make sure I know what you are entering as final images if you've been posting wips...

[kyurai]

here it is! the button puncher cover... i m never going to separate characters ever again :)) took me an eternity to put them together.

FINAL - BUTTON PUNCHER

[j.s. sabastian]

my new seedling-W.I.P! today i painted a room and this ...in my spare time..
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/theSeedlingremake.jpg

[skorpi]

Razorleaf Thanks :)

kyurai Thank you.
The button puncher looks good. The music coming out of the gun is some kink of strange.

PlasmaErnst I like what you startet, it's dark and really post apocalyptic.

tobbA I love the wings on the Motorcycle.
and thanks :)

Nike She looks like a vampire, i like it. Thins black and red works good.

j.s. sabastian Her arm is to short, but good start.

The shadows cover, some kind of fast technique *g*

[kyurai]

@plasmaErnst : very menacing and dark. i like where this is going

@tobbA: the coloured bike looks much better

@nike: the red and black look very good together fo this topic

@J.S.sabastian : something really bothers me about the anatomy of the characters, but i can t put my finger on it

[Hari Gopinathan]

I really wanted to take part in this challenge and even had done the inks fer two covers---but alas----i am going on a 2 week long trip---and wont be able to work on the rest... So here is a half coloured WIP pic of my FIVE STARS cover. ITs all i've got... wish i could have completed em
(just so you know---i had a month full of semester end exams this past month)
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[j.s. sabastian]

REALLY...no really i'ts come to 'anatomy' has it? becuase. if ya wanna throw that BALL hell i'll play catch!!!!and throw that shit right back at ya!
reallisticly
A: i'm sorry i thought i was in the panels of the week!!!!! contest....not fine art\human study....eerr smart stuff becuase it makes no sense line.....duhhhhh!!!!!

"her arm is too short, good start"-----is a respectable crit-
"something really bothers me about the anatomy of the characters, but i can t put my finger on it"-no that i just can' let go
B: god forbid i produce a W.I.P that is not anatomicaly correct....becuase after witnessing the awsomeness of correctness of your anatomiclly correct WIPS...i just sit here in fucking aww......


sorry i'm just drunk and shit talking.....p.s you ain't got shit on me!!!!! talking
stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!line.....and ya like whatever!!!!

[Molly]

j.s sabastian - its just a crit, and one you could take into account, OR have just ignored instead of bitching about it here....

[kyurai]

as i have states many times before, i am no expert in human anatomy. I am not that good about spotting the exact thing that is off.

And "throw back the ball". Critique is always good.

[arttorney]

In any event, let's finish them up. The 24th is almost upon us.
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[j.s. sabastian]

WE'll im sorry. i didn't mean disrespect to any individuals....i was just trash talking. lashing out in drunken idiot defensive anger. It happens....frequently
TRUST ME i'm not the only one in this thread who does it.....(drunken trash talking)
So my bad!:(

[kyurai]

so, because the 24th is almost here, the last cover
i can t believe i managed to finish all of them in the given time !!!!

FINAL - THE FIVE STARS

[j.s. sabastian]

kyrai that's freaking awsome. are you using acrylic's? i wish i would have known. then we could have battled in naturaull medium.! instead i am stuck with ps\wacom. my new five stars W.I.P
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/thefivestarsremake.jpg

[Razorleaf]

Kyurai ... your five star idea is preety cool. Nice! :)

[kyurai]

thanks guys :)) !!! (also i lot of thanks to my brudah, for the good critique on this one )

@j.s.sabastian: yeah, i m using acrylics... since the place i live in doesn t have that much ventilation. i thought acrylics were best :)
and also they are a f-ing nightmare.
i think that i m going to pluck out each hair on my head and than go shopping for a wig.

- i like the wip, lots of things going on there

[arttorney]

FINAL
886956

Thanks for your crits everybody. It's been a lot of fun and even if I didn't seem to change my drawing based on a crit, I am taking notes about them for the future. (Sometimes life gets challenging, and I doubt if that's news to any of you.)

[Waterbird]

I'm in! Here are some WIPs.

[arttorney]

I am pretty sure Skorpi can get something in for Fractured, and that would make four by my count (already a big turnout). But I also have tons of people I'm really pulling for (especially looking at you JS, Tobba, Molly, Crazy Dude, Blackrobin, and Velderia who each have more than one done or else multiple WIPS). Impress me. I like it when people impress me.

I always love your work Waterbird. If you can crank out five covers in a day or two I think it's "hall of fame" time for you.

Special mention- Hari Gopinathan, you were doing so very well. I am sorry that real life has proven to be so inconvenient for you this month.

[j.s. sabastian]

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! kyurai nnnnnoooottt the HHHHHHAAAAAIIIIIIIRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!lol

[Nike]

kyurai - love your Five stars! Cool that you're working with acrylics!

skorpi - love all of them - the Seedling one is my favourite!

tobba - coming along well!

js - the five stars sketch is looking good - I like the colors a lot - hope you'll be able to finish your stuff!

Hari - it's really a pity you aren't able to finish your stuff - the lines looked promising! :)

arttorney - I know it's finished for you, but I'd chance the fontcolor in your fractured entry - it's a quite hard to read.

Well, I have some finals finally :) I'M curious if I'll be able to make it with the other two still unfinished. January is always a busy month with lots of real life deadlines, too :)

FINAL - SHADOWS
FINAL - THE SEEDLING
FINAL - THE FIVE STARS [EDIT!]

[arttorney]

Come on, Nike! Now I gotta pull for you too, seeing as you have graduated into the more than one club.

[Razorleaf]

Wow Nike you are certainly diverse in your styles. Your five stars is pretty cool but I think I like your shadows best. :)

[Waterbird]

Another WIP...

[j.s. sabastian]

wow i'ts a good thing i rechecked the the due date i thought i had more time but i'm pretty much done;) and i have all day to touch things up! that's if i don't die on the way too the store to get some damn drank.....damn i'm thirsty

[Razorleaf]

Waterbird .... I'm not sure if your most recent is water colors or inks but very nice! :)

[Ilaekae]

Just a reminder...I leave this alone until early Monday morning to make sure all the guys at the end of the time zone get in...heeheehee, so if you need a few hours to finish up, it's built in, even if it's past midnight at your place.

[Nike]

thanks for pulling, arttorney :)

Razorleaf - thanks! Was trying to approach these topics with very different styles... good practice, but wasn't easy for me to leave my comfort zone, hehe ;)


Waterbird - really nice one! :)

Five stars needs some cleaning, but I'll leave that for later (if I happen to finish early with Button Puncher)

bit rushed, too...

FINAL - FRACTURED
FINAL - BUTTON PUNCHER [or: sometimes you think you have a good idea and it takes you hours to find out it's not. eh]

[Razorleaf]

Nike .... I really liked your Fractured!

[skorpi]

I finished in time, so here all covers :)

[Razorleaf]

skorpi ....... they are all really good but its a toss-up between your button puncher and your shadows, I can't make up my mind which one I like best. :)

[blackrobin]

right on time, phew :nohope:
i crammed last 3 covers (buttonpuncher, fivestar, and seedling) in 1.5 days
bad for quality and bad for sleep
time for bed now :dead:
see ya folks at the next pow, hopefully :teeth:
:yayca:

[Razorleaf]

Really great stuff blackrobin. :)

[Nike]

blackrobin and skorpi - looking good!

can't believe it, I'm done. I edited the five stars - replaced it with a slightly cleaner version. Not everything turned out the way I had imagined or wanted it to, but it was great practice, I learned a lot, and some of them actually turned out better than I had expected. hah, now I'll do sthg against that lack of sleep :)

[j.s. sabastian]

http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/CoverAFRACTURED.jpg
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/BUTTONPUSHERREMAKEfinal.jpg

http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/CoverCShadows1.jpg
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/theSeedlingremake-1.jpg
http://i530.photobucket.com/albums/dd349/jssabastian67/thefivestarsremake-1.jpg

[Waterbird]

Here are my finals. Thanks again for the great themes, Alj. And good work, everyone.

[arttorney]

Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock-N-Activity!

[rmygona]

d*|*b

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Mah oh mah... The crowds definitely in for a treat here... not by me of course... but everyone else posting here fucking awesome job... (note to self... don't post tired...)

Anywho... Due to the PhOtoShop being as the capital letters that I put in place on said program's name.... I couldn't do these in color as I really wanted... Took me about half of the month to try to hunt down fixes and troubleshooting the whole mess. But I was successful in figuring out the core problem (I no can has music whilst shoopin and the damn cache had to be lowered.) so this definitely was a worthwhile learning experience. Thank you Ilaekae for putting this together.

Skorpi, Sabatian, Razorleaf, and everyone else who have posted so far... (sorry just haven't had any sleep and it's 7 in the morn...) Fucking fantastic jobs all... You all busted ass and that deserves respect (at least from me ;))

Anywho I'm gonna go crash... My finals for the contest are below... G'night

[Razorleaf]

Excellent stuff Shawn (The Crazy Dude SRD) ..... really nice! I especially like your Seedling and Five Stars. :)

[Nike]

Ilaekae -

I have obviously been unable to read - just realized that we were to contain our Names and "capow! as a label instead of the pow logo I used...
I've changed my files now - shall I post the images again?

Sorry bout being so slow-minded :S

[Ilaekae]

Nike, if you have the five corrected, just post them. I'm getting two polls together at the same time and there's time. I'll just pick up your final version here...

Okay everybody...because of the amount of pieces posted, i want to check that I haven't missed anyone. So far, I have five covers for poll from...

The Crazy Dude SRD
Waterbird
j.s. Sabastian
blackrobin
skorpi
Nike
kyurai
arttorney

Did I miss anyone else who completed all five covers?

********************************************

I'm also prepping the poll for Challenge 35, which should have been up at least a month ago, but the weather here really destroyed my net stability. I couldn't get the pieces posted without constant service cutouts because of the snow and ice on the lines here. Sorry for the lateness, but it couldn't be helped...

[Nike]

thanks!
ok, here we go (it was a quick edit, though - just added the ca to the pow logo and my name - hope that's ok)

and I think Razorleaf has completed all five, too, rather early (page 4 of this thread).

[Razorleaf]

Thanks for the notation Nike .... yes add me too! :)

[Ilaekae]

I KNEW I missed somebody... Page four wasn't loading properly for some stupid reason. Got everything now. Thanks.


...btw...I finished mine, too, but decided during the challenge that I wasn't going to be in the poll. I think I'll do that for all the Challenges from now on, because I realized I have a slight edge on everybody when I'm the one making up the topics. I'll post mine when the poll is finished so you can all get picky on my ass after I do all of you in...heeheehee...

[Razorleaf]

I'll post mine when the poll is finished so you can all get picky on my ass after I do all of you in...heeheehee...

Oh wow! ..... you wait til the end to do your crits Ilaekae ... thats a bit cheeky hahaha :)

[Waterbird]

I'll post mine when the poll is finished

All right! Always a treat to see your stuff. Pen and ink masterpieces, no doubt. :)

So... what's the next topic? :)

[Hari Gopinathan]

Attorney Thanks for saying that my work was coming along well. :sungod: And yeah--- I really wanted to be a part---but like u said---real life didnt let that happen!!!

Nike Thank you so much. I was really liking how things were shaping up. But thats when- work came in the way of play.

By the way ILAEKAE---I'd just like to say ---that this thread is awesome!!!:yayca: kudos to you for bringing up all these awesome topics and managing the thread so well. :)

Thank you all fer yer encouragement.

And awesome work all. Great turn-out this time. This thread is really on a roll.

See ya all in the next challenge.