Funny...you don't look Zorbatikish... (Due December 15, 2007)

[enrigo]

My squiddy monsters, I don't even know what I was going for myself so they look all over the place.

[Jason Rainville]

Blah, quick 'n dirty...

EDIT: funny you can see the quicker and shittier they got as time went on. If there were any more faces to do they'd probably just be scribbles

[edgaronfo]

Hello Again,

I hope I can still make it, here are my ten female faces.

[edgaronfo]

And finally, here are my ten alien faces...

[Seedling]

Hi Ilaekae! I spent some time goofing off with some of my coworkers and some sculpy yesterday, and I used your assignment as a starting point. It sure was fun.

[enrigo]

Seedling ! you did just 9 of them !! you are a bad role model for your students.

lol, just kidding. They look very nice, very Zorbatikish......

[alesoun]

Hem! They looked so good, I ate one.....

[realitychek]

Gah, didn't get any time these past few days to work on much, still going to work on it on my own though

[delectro99]

gah, i had to work a lot this week... dont have many of the heads done... but ill finish them... but should i post them?

[Arish]

Eeek, I didn't get to do my females and aliens by deadline either. Is it ok if I post them later today?

[Ilaekae]

Post them. I'm slowly going through everybody's stuff and writing comments, so you have time. Better late than never. They only shoot people for being late in the Challenge area...

[Rogzilla]

Alas I could not finish. My Christmas trip has snuck up on me and I am in full panic mode trying to get everything taken care of. Alas that I wont have access to a scanner until the 30th.

If you could still comment on my stuff Ilaekae, I would appreciate it and I look forward to participating full time come 2008.

[JonZ_]

I finished my 10 females but halfway my men... I don't think I will have enough time for the aliens. Anyway, will post what I had done.

[JonZ_]

There, here my females/men... I used a lot of ref...
This one is messed up tho, I accidentaly left open my sketchbook in my backpack and the lead has smugged all over the page....

[enrigo]

Whoa ! those are just so cool, Jonz. I would sure like to see your alien/monster piece too !

[JonZ_]

My regrets is I did not went too much to my own drawing style, I mean those face were real and quite easy... But when creating my own faces like those marked by X, it was awful...

I'd like to have more time for the aliens :/ Will do maybe one or two but I will certainly not encounter the difficulty of the 7th or the 8th face :/

EDIT: well I did it, I took the aliens from Halo, and tried to do something with it...

[Ilaekae]

This is a general note I'm posting in my Mentoring thread, and the two classrooms...

My sincere apologies for seeming to disappear for the last week. I expected a lot of problems popping up at the end of the year because of changes that are happening in my personal life right now, and they did--in spades. They've all resolved smoothly more or less, but at the worst possible time as far as my time on the forum is concerned.

I had a lot of research to do to set up the POW! challenge in time for our deadline, my social security and retirement had some problems that had to be resolved by repeated trips into the city, some final details on legally dissolving a 40-year business before the end of the year, and of course, the usual shit that occurs with the holidays. Now I'm playing catch-up with comments on everybody's work posted in the last week. I should be caught up finally today (Monday) and back on a normal schedule this week.

I'd like to thank you all for being so patient. 99% of my annoyances are over, and now I get to annoy all of you again...heeheehee...

BTW...I've been checking in to see what you guys have been up to and I have to say, I'm very impressed.

Ilaekae.

[Ilaekae]

Again, truly sorry for the delay, everyone, but it shouldn't happen again any time soon...

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alesoun:

Males--actually not a bad range, but I'm guessing you did the top four from memory because they all have a strong family resemblance, especially around the mouth and nose. That particular mouth continues on the guy with the glasses and the guy next to him with the short hair. The two at center row right and the one lower left are particularly nice in their obvious differences from the others, but you still have that little problem of working uphill to your right, which affects mostly the lower left's left eye. This uphill thing is really obvious at the upper right guy, so this is something you'll have to continue to watch for. I'm not sure if you noticed this, but top third, center two on right, and bottom left, are all very expressive with minimal pencil work, and they didn't require a lot of shading to convey the feeling of volume to the faces. These four are particularly effective.

Females--Actually, with only one exception (the "hooker" in line two and to some degree, the dark=haired girl right above her), you have a very strong familial resemblance with all the faces here--they're all "round" or as wide as they are high. This is a very strong "typecast." In real life, the face proportions (height vs width) would fall all over the place. One thing...you lost your "uphill-to-the-right" slant here, and you've got some nice expressions captured (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9). The baby is delightful, but maybe could have used a tiny bit bigger eyes to be perfect. Again, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 to some degree, and 9) have all achieved a nice presence with minimal line work and shading clutter.

Creatures--Okay, so you're not into creatures. My first wife wasn't either, which is why she was my "first" wife... In spite of that, you've actually made your creatures more different within their species without losing that species identity than you did your human equivalents. Amazing what you're capable of when you're not afraid to exaggerate, isn't it? I mentioned this before in a post to either Rabbi' or JonZ...the human face is remarkably consistent within the "racial" types, and even the difference between the sexes within these groups isn't as great as most people believe. It's all a matter of extremely fine and subtle differences for the most part, with most visually memorable people being so because the have an element extremely exaggerated beyond the norm--big nose, big chin, "perfect features," very thin or thick lips, etc.

Because of this, you felt more comfortable pushing the facial elements on your creatures than you did on you humans, maybe possibly because you didn't want to "get ugly" or exaggerate the features too much.

Good try. Good job.

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enrigo:

Males--good group with a lot of facial separation (and not a bad likeness of Eastwood). I'm fairly certain you did some from ref and some without, and I think I can pick out the ones that are each. You need a good bit of practice with the anatomy of the face, especially the way the bone structure affects it. The guy at center right, grinning, has a believable skull under that smirk. You can almost feel it. The circle of guys at the upper left, and the one to the lower right I'm fairly certain are not from reference. The reason I think so is because you don't seem to be quite sure where their skull is underneath all that skin, so their features are "drifting" around a bit. Do you notice on most of this little group that you have the mouth closer to the edge of the chin than to the end of the nose? It should be the other way around in most cases, even though it works well as an aid to the expression on the lower left-most face. He looks...chagrined, for want of a better word, and this placement exaggerates that feeling, though his mouth probably should have been just a bit higher without taking away from the effect.

The round-faced guy at the center is actually pretty good at showing someone who likes cookies and lunchmeat a bit too much , but again, I would have moved his mouth up just a bit (which would actually accentuate his weight). As fat as his right cheek is, I'm thinking his left jaw line would fall a bit more to our right to actually allow enough room for a symmetrical set of cheeks.

The "strong-man" type right above the fat guy seems to have a jaw that lost its way--I'm thinking it would drop downward a bit more than you have it, then bounce an angle over to a slightly less-wide chin (sort of like the guy with the glasses).

The profile I have no problems with, but that ugly chick at the lower left should be in the creature set with the rest of its kind.

Females--You have a good range of attractive faces here, and most of them do have a definite separate identity. A few do look like sisters--upper left, high center and right center--with the same features, and you have the problem with the "low mouth" here, too, which is also on the girl behind the afro. You do have a decent variation in facial shapes overall, as well as hairstyles to a lessor degree. The woman smiling at low center looks a little strange because you paid too much attention to her teeth. In a smile like this, less is more--just indicate the presence of teeth instead of drawing each one. It allows for a cleaner look.

Creatures--considering that you went with something that actually doesn't have a face as such, you did remarkably well here. They definitely all belong together as a species, but the differences are positively exaggerated enough to allow an "outsider" to recognize them as individuals.

Overall, very nicely done. You need some work on anatomy, as i mentioned before, and a bit of care on the relationship of the features to each other.

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edgaronfo:

Males--in the context of this assignment, there's not a whole lot here to find fault with. You've got a nice range of head shapes without any going to an extreme, and a wide enough range of features that i wouldn't have trouble identifying each individual. Well done.

Females--again, a good range of facial shapes and features, but I think you really had to work at this one. It's not easy to draw a bunch of stereotypically pretty women and have them look different, is it? In spite of that, I think you did rather well here.

Creatures--I'd buy this. They definitely look like the same species, and I don't think I'd have all that much trouble telling Fred from Aunt Tillie. Good work on caricaturing the features.

Overall, not badly done at all. I'm very happy with these. I think you ned a bit of work with eyes, though, because you have a tendency to repeat what you're comfortable with. Eyes (and the lower end of the nose) are the one of the things that most people assume they have down-pat, when in reality, most of us only THINK we know what the suckers actually look like. they all have different slants and shapes, and the various lid folds and socket skin folds really make for a lot of possible variation. Well done.

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TimV:

Welcome to the circus. Males--Good shape range. The faces are generally anatomically sound, and definitely have an identity of their own, but you really had to work at it, didn't you? Here's why...you're fudging the lower nose and eyes when you think you can get away with it. This means you have to work harder, because you removed two very important elements from your "playing." (See my note above to edgaronfo (under "Overall...) The first three noses are exactly the same, the two at the bottom plus the guy with the glasses are almost the same, and the two in the center are exactly identical. This kind of sameness forces you to think "family" rather than individual, and when you have a lot of people in a scene that is NOT family, you have problems.

A suggestion...look through a week's worth of newspapers and pay special attention to the faces of the people pictured. Politicians, sports types and your average Joe on the street aren't all that stereotypically "pretty" the way models are, so you'll get a better feel for how gross facial features can get without drifting into a bad drug trip. Models look alike. Movie stars look alike. You and me probably look like people from two different planets... We want more of "US" drawn, and less of "THEM."

Nicely done.

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Frumious Me:

Males--Well done. Lovely range of shapes, types, and features. The only thing I have some (small) problem with is that many of the eyes are similar. this is a bit of a problem for most of the people who turned work in on this, and I'd be really stupid if I didn't think that part of the problem was the small sizes we're dealing with, but I can tell when someone might be in their "comfort zone," and this is why I'm mentioning it as a possibility.

Female--Again well done, though you don't have quite as much range in the overall facial shapes as you do for the males. I absolutely love the expressions on the top two at the far right and the top two at the far left. Again, I'm worried a bit about the eyes and noses, but with females, this is always a problem because of stereotypically "pretty" and make-up...

Creature--You surprisingly pulled this off without any real extremes, and I think part of that is you had the horns to play with. Good ploy. Ignoring the horns, the faces still hold up remarkably well as individuals, so I'd call this a successful solution.

Overall, very well done. I only have problems with little nits, and those are probably due to the size we're working, as I mentioned above.

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Arish:

Males--Very well done! You obviously have the drawing skills to pull off the subtle caricaturing needed for something like this. Nice range of types, shapes and features, and some very clean confident inking. I'm guessing you just started drawing for the first time...oh...maybe...the day before you did this assignment...

You have a knack for characters, so I'm hoping you get involved in the P.O.W.! Challenges. It seems like the kind of thing you'd have fun with...

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RabbiSatan:

Males--I know how hard you worked on this assignment, and it shows. You've got some good variation in the head shapes and features here, so we both know you can do it. Now it's just a matter of continuing to study your anatomy and practice. Well done.

Females--AND we all knew how hard this part was for you. In spite of all your worrying and struggling, you pulled off some rather nice variations here, and you've actually got all the important parts pretty much where they belong. I think you can see what I meant when I told you that it was really hard to differentiate between the sexes, let alone between the individuals within those two groups. At this point, you're having a bit of a fight to get down what you want, and we've all been there. It's just a matter of time and practice. Don't give up.

Creatures--You missed the point about the "same species," but you've got the start of some pretty decent creatures here. I think you should let this area sit for a while until you get your human details under control. That will make everything that comes after a hell of a lot easier.

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JonZ:

Males--It's obvious you have some decent high-level drawing skills, and you definitely used 'em here. In the context of the assignment, there isn't a single thing here I can find fault with. Extremely well done.

Females--Again, a solid grasp on what had to be done. Very professional level. I would suggest reminding yourself when you go out to sketch to include some ladies who aren't necessarily all that "photogenic" to get a wider range of "types." I'm mentioning this because of the facial shapes I'm seeing here--they're just a bit stereotypically model-ish. You have a knack for expressions like Arish above. I'm hoping you follow through on your plans to enter the P.O.W.! because I think you could have some real fun with it.

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Rogzilla:

Males--Nice range of shapes and features. (Good drawing skills, btw.) You've got a nice touch for subtle caricature and it's working well here. I'm especially happy you went for different ages and the rather "un-pretty" guy in the second row. Well done.

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Jason Rainville:

Males--Very good range of shapes and features. Some of your eyes are a little repetitive, but we're working so small that it's not a big hassle for me. (The eye thing is actually more obvious on the females, but my comment still holds).

Females--You pulled off a wider selection of face shapes here than with the males. I'm specifically looking at the second one in both rows--tall and narrow. I think you pulled off both sexes beautifully without getting extreme. Nice job.

Creatures--Very nicely done. Making assumptions about the "crests" and "facial ornaments," and adding in the various shapes of the face/heads, you've pretty much pulled off a species style with a good deal of individuality. (The assumptions I'm talking about are the differences I see within the animal and bird kingdom WITHIN a species which can get pretty extreme for various reasons...)

Overall, Very nicely done.

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Seedling:

Males(?)--Hahahahahahahahahahaha... Love these! Nice range of shapes and features. The only thing that thoroughly disturbs me is that they're ALL NEKKID! I may be scarred for life, but don't worry...I'll work it out with my $1,500-an-hour stable of shrinks...

(It's fun to play with clay, ain't it? I actually "draw better with a lump of something soft than I do with paper and pencil...)

[Arish]

Thanks for the nice comments Ilaekae! I hope the rest of your holidays is more relaxing for you. And yea I'm really looking forward to P.O.W, as soon as I finish my art school application ... and *cough* LMS... *runs and hides*

I loved seeing everyone else's take on this, and I'll try to finish the assignment once things are a bit less chaotic. Happy new year to all!

[Liam Harvey]

can i still do and post my result? i had no idea about this task and i feel really up to it even if no one wants to reveiw the results.

[Curse]

Gerbil, the "Late assignments" thread was made just for that, so go for it.

-> http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=114276

I'm sure someone will be willing to give you some crits, if not Ilaekae or Seedling themselves.

[MemoryXIII]

Er.... I'm new... When will there be an update on assignment?

[Wilbur]

I probably shouldn't post since I haven't done the assignment, though I think it's a brilliant one, but I was very interested by the problem that arose on the first page: "How do we make individuals of a different species look like individuals?"

I hope that this hasn't already been mentioned - I just skimmed for the most part. But I think that the simplest answer is that we make individuals of a different species look like individuals in exactly the same way the we make individual humans look like individuals. We play with the aspects that we, as people, instantly recognize, like distance between eyes, distance from mouth to eyes, eye size, face width versus height, forehead length, etc, even if our subject isn't human.

Even if the species doesn't feature some of these features we still have to manipulate the ones that it does feature. This is because people, not aliens, will be viewing your artwork, so if you make your aliens individuals in ways that they do not recognize, you're failing to communicate your ideas, and that just doesn't work in concept art.

The idea of manipulating human characteristics is most important when we consider that we might be trying to make the alien individual have character of a certain sort. What I mean is that if we give some alien a heroically sized chin structure, we are conveying to the viewer that the alien is heroic. You can't really use features that you invent (say you make a creature with vents on the bottom of its jaw) to convey emotions or character traits in a predictable way. You might use the vent size to distinguish between individuals, but that's all it's good for. Manipulating the vent size isn't going to convey rage or heroism unless you repeatedly visually associate it with your characters in that way.

It's also worth mentioning that alien features can be substituted for human features in this way. If an alien has antennae located above its eyes its probably possible to use the antennae as stand-ins for eyebrows, and can be expressive of emotion or character traits.

If the alien doesn't have to function intelligently at the human level - maybe it's the equivalent of a mindless alien farm animal, then the character conveyed by human aspects of eye distance and the rest are still important. You can make a whole alien race look stupid by giving them really wide spaces between their eyes and small foreheads, and manipulate the rest of their features to make them individual.

I guess I've been rambling for a while. I'll go mind my own business now.