IDW #54: Magical Toy

**yoitisi** · December 30th, 2007, 07:40 AM

IDW #54 Topic: Magical Toy

Deadline for voting: Sunday, Januari 6

No voting for your own entries! I repeat, no voting for your own entries

Give critiques and comments, we're all here to learn from each other!

Original thread: IDW #54: Magical Toy

**yoitisi** · December 30th, 2007, 07:51 AM

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Artist: EElevation

"every year the moogles in narshe forest celebrate the fall of kefka by bringing out the dragon in a box for all of the little moogles. in the hands of humans the toy would be quite dangerous, however, these are moogles after all!"

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Artist: jorge f. muñoz

The Strange-O-Rama
Click on the button and witness one of our +300 000 Strange-O-Channels!

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Artist: Dekus

Magical Miniature fireworks box
No need for buying expensive, dangerous rockets and stuff.. a miniature, little, harmless, beautiful firework for children is the perfect gift for this year! Runs on magic and you can control the show with your hand movement, like color, amount of particles and variations in fireworks shapes...

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Artist: Shera 3000

A magical rattle toy that when shaken, can make toys come to life.

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Artist: kMh

Planetary Mobile
The planetary mobile was created by an adept from the great city of Jaggonath on the planet Erna. It was created using the magical earth Fae for the sole purpose of keeping the adepts infant child calm and amused.

The shattered fragments of rock that came from the base now float suspended in mid air and very slowly circle around the base, while in the center also suspended in the air is an image of the solar system.

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**yoitisi** · December 30th, 2007, 07:54 AM

Couple of notes:

Happy New Year

**FilRam** · December 30th, 2007, 08:51 AM

It seems i dind't make it in time... but the deadline was Saturday 30...well today is Sunday 30... here goes my shot at it.

**Dekus** · December 30th, 2007, 11:30 AM

I want that solar system-thingie! soo cool... voted for ya kMh
Happy new year to ya all dudes!

**kMh** · December 30th, 2007, 11:54 AM

EElevation: I really like the design of the dragon in the box. The choice of color and the over all design I find very pleasing as well as your style. I voted for you on these reasons but, I feel you didn’t quite make it look “truly magical” like the description said. To me it looks almost like a design that gnomes would make in the many of games that have gnomes

jorge f. muñoz: I find your concept intriguing though I’m not sure if a futuristic TV qualifies for a toy. I also like the poses for the two battling figures. The only possibly problem I see is it still looks like it’s ran on technology instead of magic because of the base but, it could very well just be me so please, pay me no mind. I enjoy your unique style quite a bit.

Dekus: I think if you would have finished this one it probably would have gotten my vote. I love your choice of colors, very vibrant and rich and the idea is great (truly magical) but, since you said it was only a sketch I didn’t vote for it.

Shera 3000: The general idea that you came up with has a great many possibilities and it fits the description perfectly but, the over all work seems very much unfinished.

**Dekus** · December 30th, 2007, 12:04 PM

kMh oh well.. its ok if i wont get any votes.. im used to it..

Thanks for the comment!

**Skrunchey** · December 30th, 2007, 06:24 PM

Overall, I was disappointed with the quality and effort on this poll.

Eelevation~ I like the concept, seems pretty sketchy for a final entry. I would suggest blur your background or desaturate a bit, and add more detail to your focal point (the toy) and clean it up, sharp edges good contrast etc. I love the fact that it is coming out of the treasure chest!

JFM~ wasn't really sure this seemed magical to me... glorified TV? The overall rendering is well on its way! Keep at it!

Dekus~ Very sketchy, for a final. Too incomplete for my vote, wish you had finished it!

Shera 3000~ looks more finished then most! Like the concept, but still very sketchy for a final.

kMh~ I like the concept, looks fairly finished. Technical suggestions would be more contrast.. i.e. darken the background and really emphasize the components within the mobile. vibrant colors for the "planets" more detail in the galaxies, and "space" stuff!

My overall suggestion for everyone here is attention to details, contrast is your friend, and if you are going to enter, try to make things "look" finished instead of haphazardly thrown together at the last minute!

Looking forward to future polls and work!

**kMh** · December 30th, 2007, 09:16 PM

Skrunchey: I appreciate the comments. This is in fact my 1st real digital painting so, I know I still have a lot to learn which, is the reason I’m here. As far as the contrast goes, I was playing with it quite a bit I made the contrast stronger on the base, box and some of the fragments of rocks floating around (the ones closer). The reason I decided to lower the contrast on most of the stuff in the middle is mainly because I have smoke and a fairly bright light coming out of the base and figured that it would ruin the visibility of some of those object. I could be very wrong on this but it was my best educated guess. However I will keep your advise in mind when working on my next piece, thank you very much.

**aoleon** · December 30th, 2007, 09:44 PM

First off, thanks for the comments kMh & Skrunchey,
now for the crits

Eelevation>>You got my vote. I like the concept, although I'd like to see more of the toy design itself instead of the environment its part of...

jorge f. muñoz>>I like the characters and the colors you used but I'd like to see a more refined version of the actual object, right now it looks more like a projector to me than a toy.

Dekus>> Again, the characters, colors and design are nice to look at but some refining of the toy is needed.

kMh>> Nicely painted, the only crit I have is on the concept itself. A mobile that projects real flying rocks is a little dangerous for an infant I would think, but thats just me...

Overall, from viewing prior IDW threads, I was expecting to see more technical illustrations of magical toys.

Hope to see more work from you all in future rounds!

**yoitisi** · December 31st, 2007, 06:55 AM

Although I didn't feel like commenting on it this time, I have to agree with Skrunchy on the quality in this round, most of the entries didn't really qualify as 'final rendering' to me. Then again, with Christmas just over and a new year around the corner I decided to just leave it this time.

Next round I will be more strict when it comes to the final rendering, so keep that in mind

**EElevation** · January 1st, 2008, 03:14 PM

voted for kmh , good job bro!

**paran0id** · January 1st, 2008, 05:41 PM

Everything IMHO:

EElevation

pro - color palette
con - not finished, without description hard to understand, a snake? crates?

jorge f. muñoz

pro - stylish fight, i like the magical holograph style
con - not finished, girl has a small head, her legs are placed strange

Dekus

pro - anime eyes? ( i like risky people =P ) , great idea, good mood, would have had the votes if finished =)
con - very sketchy

Shera 3000

pro - i want the toy =)
con - not finished, no shading, anatomy of the right hand,

kMh

pro - seems finished
con - seems a bit boring, static...

FilRam

pro - like it, dont know why
con - too late =P , hand a bit to long.. but not the fingers

Vote for kMh or jorge f. muñoz. Both have similiar concept and are finished enough but munoz is more magical and i dislike the feel of 3d...

**Dekus** · January 2nd, 2008, 05:38 AM

digital seeker
haha.. Thanks for the comment! yah.. i would like to be able to do anime-like people but so that it would look good.. you know.. like in good anime.. (GiTS, Wonderful Days, Macross Zero...)
yah, i know its too sketchy.. i did this just for a test.. i wasnt really going to enter this IDW... but i was bored one time and thought of this fireworks-box-thingie.. and sketched the idea quickly.. but never Finished it..

But im glad you liked it anyways! Thanks

**Korovyov** · January 6th, 2008, 03:10 AM

Wow this is a tough one. There is some nice art here, but do any of these really look like a magical toy?

EElevation - its not really clear that this a toy. A toy is something that children play with, and the Moogle children do not seem to be interacting with your toy at all.

jorge f. muñoz - As with my comments to EElevation, its not really clear how the children are interacting with this toy. It looks more like a hologram projector that the children are watching, not playing with. This is especially conveyed by the girl's hands in her pockets. Instead it would look more like a toy if you gave the children video game controllers to make it look like they were actually controlling the battling figures. Also, it doesn't look magical whatsoever.

Dekus - Well it is clear that your toy is magical, but everything else is a total mystery. Like what exactly is it? It isn't clear that this is even a toy. It appears to be a box full of formless magic light being released.

Shera 3000 - The concept behind this one is actually really strong. It actually looks like a magical toy. Your composition and artistic execution however does not do your idea justice. Your background color and the yellow-brown color you used for the border and text blocks looks really bad, especially on this CA's default tan background, yuck. Your final product is also very flat. It would greatly improve if you used a greater range of light and dark tones for each element in your scene, the skin tones, the hair, the shirt, the toy, and the green electric light coming from the toy.

kMh - while you have created the most polished final product, it is neither a toy, nor is it magical. A hologram projector is Scifi for sure, magical not at all. As for the idea of a mobile, they suck as toys. If my parents ever got me a mobile for Christmas as a kid, I probably would have thought, "WTF!!? Why didn't they get me a F#$%ing action figure!!? I can't play with this model S%#$!"

FilRam - This is a cool idea, but the execution is kind of misleading. Your choice of composition emphasizes the relationship between the lizard and the person, making it look more like a pet than a toy. The difference you ask? A pet has its own mind, and cannot be controlled to the same extent that a toy can. It has its own wants, wishes and deserves a lot more respect. Your GI Joe is not going to react in any way if you dress him up in your sister's barbie lingerie, your cat on the other hand will probably get very pissed off and scratch you.
Also, as with kMh's design, it looks more scifi than magical. It looks like you tried to avoid this by adding flames to the lizard. This doesn't really make it look magical, but instead makes me afraid to touch it. You could change the color of the flame to blue or green to make it look more magical, but that wouldn't solve the magical problem entirely. Maybe if you added some glowing magic runes or something like that it would drive home the fact that this was in fact a magical toy.

Overall - nice art happening here, keep it up all. People should focus more on clearly communicating the given concept however. That is what illustration is at its most fundamental level, communication.
Sorry if I was too severe with any of my criticisms, but I hope that holding you all to a high standard you are able to improve area's of weakness and become a better illustrator/artist in general.

-Korovyov

**Korovyov** · January 6th, 2008, 03:12 AM

Oh yeah, I don't know if this counts or not, but I vote for FilRam despite the fact that it was submitted late and his name doesn't appear in the poll.
What made me pick it?
That lizard is wicked cool, and I totally want one!

**kMh** · January 6th, 2008, 03:45 AM

Originally Posted by Korovyov

kMh - while you have created the most polished final product, it is neither a toy, nor is it magical. A hologram projector is Scifi for sure, magical not at all. As for the idea of a mobile, they suck as toys. If my parents ever got me a mobile for Christmas as a kid, I probably would have thought, "WTF!!? Why didn't they get me a F#$%ing action figure!!? I can't play with this model S%#$!"

It's not a hologram projector? And a mobile is very much a toy and as I stated before, it is designed for an infant. I got the idea because my child, when she was very young had a toy that had a light under some water so it would shine up on the ceiling. Babies like to look at things, it was never intended for anyone older lol but, thank you for the crit.

**aoleon** · January 6th, 2008, 01:31 PM

Yeah, I was worried about how that background color would work against the CA bg color as well as the other things you mentioned but I ran out of time and I decided to leave it alone--lesson learned.

It would greatly improve if you used a greater range of light and dark tones for each element in your scene, the skin tones, the hair, the shirt, the toy, and the green electric light coming from the toy.

This is actually the kind of crit I was looking for...As an artist that usually works traditionally, I'm looking for specific ways to improve my ps skills (this was my second digital painting), so any feedback like this helps.

**Korovyov** · January 6th, 2008, 01:52 PM

kMh - think of how much more powerful your image would be if you actually showed the expression the face of an infant staring up at it. Being that this is what inspired you to do this piece (I assume) I'm sure you can appreciate just how magical that in itself is.

Shera - I don't really know much about digital painting myself, and am actually in a similar situation to you. The way I am going about trying to teach myself digital painting is just experimenting and practicing. Try to increase the level of contrast as I said before, and practice blending these areas of light and dark as seamlessly as possible. Thats really all I can say at the moment.