Chow 147 :: VOTING :: Baba Yaga - IDW Crossover

[darkly]

Okay, call me selfish, but I want input darn it! You see this whole painting thing can be really difficult (duh) and I want to know where I'm f-ing up. So I took the crit I was given (thanks again Dae and Posh) and tried to fix my piece. The one on the left is my original entry and the one on the right I added more rim lighting, a bit of atmosphere, and a darker core shadow. I must admit I think it looks better, but it was done pretty quick, so I don't expect a bunch of crits on how it could be polished. I was mostly interested in, is this what daestwen and Posh meant with their crit. I'm all ears open ..er eyes; Let em rip! Thanks in advance!



Hey isn't this what ca.org's all about? A lot less of this and a lot more of this . Love ya all!

[Joey-b]

Hi Guys, no more winning about voting and stuff

Thought I'd Crit all submission (not just entries but all submissions)

Dan Liimatta - Well its clearly not finished, but i like the looks of it, the skelleton
feet dont seem to fit the body very well

Joey-b - start studying dude, nice try she looks like a male though

Markusthebarbarian- I like this one a lot, I like the detail u put in the Background,
also the lighting is pretty well done , 2 nit picks, she looks a lot like a male, and i cant
see what that thing at the bottom of the mortal.

fersterger - Lovely work, although there arent many things that tell us its Baba Yaga
its still a very strong piece. maybe next time u could detail it out a bit more?

Sticmann - Hmm i like the skulls u painted but im missing the link to Baba Yaga in this
drawing completly

Sony - Good effort, but like whats been said before. the anatomy is lacking (i shouldnt
be the one to speak cause i suck at it), Also i think the texturing on the dress isnt working
at all. Maybe next time try a bit collored background instead of the Harsh white (the white
ruined your flames). U should Visit www.posemaniacs.com for good reference

Jeremy Hoffman - Hey, your New style isnt really workin for me, think thats just a
personal prefference, but i think ur not using all of your skills with this style, its well
executed though


Nikola Marinkovic - Very little of the character is showing, also u forgot to include
any of Baba Jaba's Features, The sigarette is pointless and doesnt add, I like how u did the
background though

Masque - I love the colors u used, its so nice to see all those brushstrokes in all
sorts of colors.. almost like Vincent Van Gogh. nice one!

Artofinca - Nice work, what can i say about it, well painted!

Artina - Good work on the glow and texturing of the skin and clothing, the anatomy on
the right arm is way of though, the underarm is way to long

The Kiminator - I think in this drawing the coloring is lacking the drawing is self is
pretty well done, but the coloring seems rushed and uninspired, also the placement of her
lefthand is awkward, i think we should be seeing the back of the hand

Inkfish - I like the mutated face, the Hat isnt really workin for me. I would like to
know whats in that bottle though, seems important. also very good job on texturing little bits
of the clothing, seems like everything is made out of different fabric

Sekino - One of few people who made her friendly, Nice traditional style look, one thing
that bothers me is that the rug on her back has no outlines and the rest of the drawing does

Boyo - Hehe this one made me laugh, I love the style and the expression of the child is
priceless

Doomstagg - Hmm she looks more like an angry american farmer (male). also the background
is way to dark and texturless, and your using cellshading and normal shading mixed, wich doesnt
really work

Tommoy - You've really improved over the last year (I've been away for a while), and
this drawing is showing your skills. Awesome work. one crit the girl could use a bit more
colourfull shading maybe? its very grayish now.

Dwinbotp - Great piece, i think a green background or maybe less saturized background
would work better, and i think u should spend less time on detailing cause half of it isnt
showing in the final piece ( u mentioned something similair in the WIP thread ).

Asura - Its a bit hard to read, cause of muddy shading and little contrast, i like the
house u dud thoug. seems like a fun place

MrAnimation - To be honoust, The colouring doesnt look very good, its to bad u didnt
post wips cause the sketch seems to look pretty good.

Atne - Thats one awesome drawing, and im glad u posted the detail in the drawing itself
cause it looks great, I like the look of the background, makes me focus on the character, and
thats what CHOW is about

Darkly - Like MrAnimation, The Pencil looked way better than the final result,
combination of outlines and no outlines doesnt seem to work, try to create a bit of harmony in
your colors

Deadred - To bad u didnt use my road sign (if u didnt see it, its in the WIP thread)
Nice work, i think u kinda overdid the nipple eyes, their to distracting, cause the face is so
wonderfully rendered. The way she's holding the skull seens kind of weird

Benu - Original take on the subject, good work also. could use a whole lot more
detailing

Lpeters - The character seems Pasted in a photo, wich doesnt look good, Try to get some
harmony in your colors, The skull make it seem like there is some orange light while the Mortal
n pestal look like their in more of a blue light, all objects seem like painted seperatly. I
like the effect of the blowing leaves a lot, good work on that

Adam Hunter Peck - That is great. Looks traditional done, The stars in the background
are a bit lame.. try spending some more time on those little things

NateShaw - Watch out with all those dark colors, the painting is a bit hard to read
cause of all the dark colors, I do like the illustrative look of it

Revenebo - Yeah its clear u didnt get to finish it, Has potential. Almost looks like a
flying gargoyle. That frog is hilarious haha. Nicely rendered

Mike Rorschach - AAAAGGHHHHHH , damn that drawing is screaming. STEP AWAY FROM THE
WHITE. U've used way to much white. Next time try to finish the drawing before submitting, this
is clearly not finished

Dirkvandulmen - Cool Illustrative drawing, I think its a bit to dark wich makes it hard
to read, I do enjoy all the little details u've put into it, that little kiddie head made me
chucle (sick me )

Chupacabra - Nice, it doesnt really look like a woman though, i love how u mixed the
white background with the highlights on the body, seems rushed for your standard though

wrdls - Nice spooky mood in the drawing, love all the detailing in the drawing, think u
overdone it a bit on her chin, almost looks like a robot chin hehe, the background seems to be
in a different perspective than the charcter

Bugmeyer - very weird peacefull mood in this drawing, good work, dont really get the red
on the nose though

Mitze - The Almost traditional style is very appealing, The face of Baba Yaga has way to
strong highlights on them, also the little kid seems a bit pasted in.

Pixeltuner - Seems we both went a different way , nice work on ageing her, Although u
could've gotten rid of those silicon boobs . The Character doesnt really have a whole lot of
Baba stuff going on, well rendered though.

JohnBridges - Nice work here, love the sketchy style, its workin very well on this
forest scene, is she wearing baseball cap???

Kian - Damn nice work here, i do think the pose is a bit wonky, seems to be falling
over, maybe if you would've placed the walking stick on the right side of her body it would
look better?

Kaya - Good job on rendering that skull, makes me look at it all the time hehe, pretty
simple design but seems to work well. I do miss a lot of baba yaga features

Tugelbend - nicely executed action packed painting, My first sketch was kinda similair
to this, would've never made it so good though. uuhh crits.. cant think of any.. maybe her
right boob should swing back more.. but looks okey like this

Anamirela - Cool pose, looks a bit rushed though. but the pose itself is awesome. I love
all the Limbs coming out of the bucket hehe

Sulksal - Try to get ur anatomy better, It kinda ruines the drawing, also the fact that
we can still see ur pencil shading trough the colors. it isnt really a problem, but u've added
a perfect crystal clear background, that makes the pencil shading look muddy

Wunderdark - I didnt realize untill i looked for a while that she was sitting , i though
the bucket was her dress haha. i do like this, although the fact that the kid looks scarier
than baba makes me wonder...

Septomin - I love the colors in this one, although it does look a bit unfinished and it
doesnt have a whole lot of baba yaga features. The anatomy is a bit weird but that could be
stylized

Josh Chodorow - I like the design but like u said its not finished

IanLlanas - Nice composition, this one scared me the most out of all of them, and the
little kiddie finished the drawing. great great stuff.. looks russian also, could use some more
color variation though, I thought she had sleaves but now that i look at it she doesnt, its way
to brown there


Bumskee - Damn that looks almost like a 3d render.. but than better haha, the hair is
done amazingly, i do think the right side of the painting is a bit hard to read, and im not
really fond of all those green little details in there ( think its some kind of texturing, but
its not really working for me), also it would've been cooler if u would've added a little kid
instead of a hot babe (not that i dont like that )

MJalcazar - Hmm very nice original design, but im not really gettin the background, with
those flying arms.., also im not very fond of the style.. but thats personal

Venger - Thats awesome, I love those little kiddies in there, i think it would be better
if u would've left the green fairy out of there. but that doesnt make me think less of this..
one of the best

Ionic - Nice work, To bad the back ground is a bit unfinished - would be cool to see the
riders in full detail, I think here arm could use a bit more saturization if i look at her
face.

Wolfentir - Looks a bit, simple.. the Lettering on the mortal n pestal looks out of
place, and it there isnt any perspective in the letters

Chelette - That face is cool!, missing baba yaga stuff in this drawing and her fingers
seem to disappear in the staff, also she has not thumb there, the skin parts seem very well
rendered whilst the rest is a bit blurry and unfinnished, thats to bad, could've been a great
piece now its only a good piece

Vorace - Damn the colors in this are awesome, i think u could've done without the red
flow from the eyes. I love the defformed shape of her body and the nose looks razor sharp hehe

Faxtar - Nice mood in this piece, nothing to crit really. its all good and that teddy
bear is a good touch

subesoflard - I like this one a lot, nice work on the face and those "nightmare before
christmas-like" skulls are sweet, crits - the fabric looks a bit flat, specially on her legs,
and (like many other) has little baba yaga features. ow and for god sake, finish those feet

VegasMike - Nice one, your sketches always remind me of murals.. dont know why, u did
great as ussual, love the comic like style u got, to bad the child seems a bit unfinished

Wingedchime - Great, a bit of topic but well rendered, looks like something out of final
fantasy Chrystal Chronicles, i like how u did the background, i try to do something similair
sometimes but i never get the effect i want, and u seem to do it perfect

Poojipoo - I like the sky u did there, cant really read the tongue/hand bit of the
drawing, looks like the tongue is going thru the teeth, the rest of the drawing is nicely done
though

Adam SChumpert - Nice action packed drawing and u included the house as well, i think u
could post it a little smaller next time cause now we can see u should've detailed it more ,
I love the kids in it, nice expressions and good poses

FerrousJack - Its a bit rough and unfinnished (like u said), the female figure in it
looks kinda stiff, almost like a barbie doll, i like the face on baba though

Poshspice - When i first saw the sketch i thought u would make her look to young, but it
looks great in the end, a bit like a gipsy , to bad u didnt include more Baba features, the
background looks a bit to dark and muddy IMO, other than that, great rendering and as ussual i
saved it ti my HD

Daniel - Nice work, im glad u got rid of the head band haha, good job with the little
signs on the pot

Rusty - Wow lovely scene, i think this could be among the best, if u'd only finished it,
the kiddies in it look so great, and the witch just seems to wait for the right time

IIKII - well most of the crits have been said in the paint over, try to focus more on
the character next time and get that right first. Keep trying!

Yoitisi -Yohetismij, duurde ff voor dat ik dat door had haha, Great work, i think the
hair of skulls look a bit flat. but the design itself is very good, maybe the knees and body
could use a bit more highlights?? The house u did, im just speechless, that is awesome.

Pff finnaly done, took me 1,5 hour crazy me

[Joey-b]

Darkly - get ur colors to work to getter a bit better
just a 1 minute paint over

some extra lighting, some extra back light and a color overlay

[davidherd]

That was a tough vote and an inspirational round! Outstanding work everyone.

[Mara644]

it's nearly impossible to reduce the number of votes to a reasonable amount. there are just too many great entries!

here are my favourites nevertheless:
D@niel - great colours and energetic arrangement
dwinbotp - watching this, i feel i'm the next to be devoured... rrreally creepy!
ionic - stunning artwork! and including a plot.

[FerrousJack]

Thanks everybody, I really enjoyed this round and all the previous rounds I've been in on. My first was #145 and I've been trying to participate each week because I think this is the best source of motivation I've ever had. If I didn't have a day job I would be here doing EOW, COW, CHOW, POW and daily sketch every week, all day, every day!

As for Nehrala's comments: I understand the frustration and the sentiment at times, but we have to make a decision about what we want to take away from these exercises. The unfortunate truth is that exquisitely rendered pieces (regardless of the merit of the design) will always get more votes than ones that are just so-so. There are two aspects to character design: good design and good communication of that design. If you fail at either, then the whole effort has failed (tho a nice drawing of a bad design is more pleasant to look at than a bad drawing of an awesome design). It doesn't bother me really see awesome renderings get lots of well-deserved votes, since I know my primary goal here is to become a better artist/illustrator and I hope to attain the level of Posh and D@n and Deadred, etc, eventually. I know how hard it is to get there guys!

My only (minor!) annoyance with how the CHOW is run, is that sometimes a really top notch piece ends up in the final burning, but the WIPs and sketches associated with the piece are not posted in the main CHOW thread. So it feels like someone just swoops in at the last second to kick our asses (even tho I know this isn't true... those pieces take just as long to develop as any other). This only bugs me because I want greater insight into everyone's working processes, and not being able to see the WIPs and the progressions denies us all a great learning opportunity.

[MJ_Alcazar]

Joey-B - thanks so much for your input. I appreciate it. It's funny you should mention the background, towards the end, I was thinking it might have been a bit much and I should've focused on my initial nature idea.

Really awesome entries everyone, loved the different takes of Baba Yaga.

[dirkvandulmen]

Wooaaaahhh great round everyone! Lovely pieces, scary pieces, great rendered pieces, ingenius idea pieces and the list goes on, there's some for everyone!

... and Ferrousjack , i agree ! well spoken.

Great stuff, great inspiration and still a lot to learn.

[Ionic]

daestwen: Hey D... I didn't know that rule... hell I just figured out you could vote for multiple people after Chow146. Sorry for the confusion.

I'm not to bright when it comes to paying attention.

[shannanigan]

I'm with Bugmeyer.... damn you Boyo!! How dare you force your uniqueness upon us... visually assaulting CHOW with something fantasic that is clearly not the hyper-realism expected. The NERVE!!

So yes I voted for Boyo... and VegasMike (glad you got in finally!) both for the more stylized, cartoon elements and great character design they brought to the challenge.

I also voted for:

Artofinca - for its Steamy'ness and awesome house, and actually being a character design, not just a pretty picture... but I'll get to that in a minute.

Antne - This is the closest to Baba Yaga in my mind... how I personally envision her. I love it!

Deadred - WTF??!! I'm going to have nightmares about this one for weeks. Great job! LOL!



As to the little snafu going on here... I agree a little bit. It is supposed to be "Character Design of the Week" right? Not illustration... so perspective, composition, environment, etc shouldn't be a factor. Some of the most beautifully rendered aren't the most interesting character designs. For instance... and I'm really sorry but... Bumskee's entry this week. Gorgeous image, no question, but how is it character design when her back is turned and you can't see her face?

I was told that people don't enter if they have to do actual stripped-down character design, which is too bad. And I do see a trend of passing over some less skilled but very creative or innovative ideas in favor of a pretty picture. Would be nice if creativity won over beautiful a little more often. But as they say... life imitates art... and vice-versa. XD

[Chelette]

Witches galore, there are quite a few just awesome entries congrats everyone!

These stuck out to me to have some great storytelling. Going straight down the line.

IanLlanas: I went to sleep with that image of an old lady about to swallow a child whole....or biting his face off....but snacky none the less. You've captured a predatory moment.

D@niel: Like a bat out of hell, love the movement, almost looks like she's bringing the storm.

Tommy: I loved the sketches of this, the idea of her being almost a creature, but with a wisdom to her i'd probably follow her advice....but she'd still be able to eat me. And I the juxtaposition of the simplified little girl and her colors.

fersteger: Her presence wow, like she ~is~ the forest...swallowing whole children like bonbon's .....or your step siblings....

dwinbotp: I really like the execution of this one, her posture....even though those kids keep asking questions that age her another year, she's powered by something otherworldly. From the looks of her I don't think very many people make it home.

Bugmeyer: Love the idea of her, i also like the quiet moment of she possibly just had some kids for dinner and it's time to sit and relax.

anamirela: I really like the impact of this one, the look on her face....she's got something to do and it's going to get done.

Joey-b~ Thanks for the crit, it's what i'm looking for Yeah, i struggled with the edges, they were originally sharp, put purposely blurred to direct the focus....but it looks like i need to find another way.

[deadred]

ok i'm gonna make an effort to comment on every entry, polled or not. this is only right for all the kind feedback i've been getting for my chows lately


dan liimatta: very interesting concept, those skeleton legs are wild hehe, the lighting could be better to help make it read clearer in a thumbnail, maybe a top-down or frontal lighting, given how intricate the design is.

Joey-b: it looks good but seems abit generic in the zombie look, but maybe i've seen too many zombies lolz, love the way you rendered the chicken, some lighting issues on the skull, overall fun piece either way.

Markusthebarbarian: good atmosphere, great color scheme too, but maybe moe of her body should get the light so she reads better in a composition way, as the first thing i noticed was the ground instead of the character o.o

fersteger: one of my favs this round, i like her design and scale, very instantly-interesting

sticmann: not quite human enough for me to think of her as a baba yaga but looks good as a creature on its own merit

sony: you really put in effort for the design and your hard work shows, but something about the overall pose make her look disjointed and her hair doesnt look natural on her head. that playstation on her belt is a cute touch, but it doesnt seem to hang on her naturally. cool weapon and pet bucket hehe

Jeremy Hoffman: interesting composition, and looks fun. abit on the wild toon side, which is always cool

Nikola Marinkovic: your rendering puts her between the land of toon and illustration and it's abit lost in limbo there in my opinion, and it hurts the overall feel of the piece. good concept but presentation/rendering could use more push.

masque: haha so nasty, love that expression! something about the kid's anatomy looks off, but maybe its just the lighting on him that doesnt jive with the rest of the image.

Artofinca: good designs especially on the house, but i wish i can see more of baba yaga's clothing, abit lost in shadows there

artina: very striking piece, but needs abit more on the concept i think, her overall character is abit plain. nice pot tho

The Kiminator: this looks like a good start of a wip but needs love on details, such as a less bored expression, some textures and extra lighting to play with composition perhaps

Inkfish: i like her best in the first WIP pic, before you gave her that warped mouth. it doesnt seem to fit in very well somehow, but maybe that's just me. something about the saturated colors in the final hurt the image, mostly the composition i think. the first wip focused on the character in a more intense atmosphere and more muted colors on her dress would work better.

Sekino: very nice traditional look, no crits from me

Boyo: fun and vibrant, i love the movement in the image and the lil touches like the bolts and hair stuffs

doomstagg: you have good ideas in the piece, but i think anatomy studies will help make your ideas get presented in a more believable way. overall proportions of things really look off.

Tommoy: as i've said in wip thread, cool entry! no crits.

dwinbotp: something about the perspective/foreshortening is off in the final, giving a weird sort of vertigo feeling that feels more trippy than menacing.. she also looks more intense to me in the early wips where she is viewed more top-down and also the flying curtains and veil looked better than the stuff in the final, but this is all just personal preference good piece either way.

AsurA: the chicken house looks far more interesting than the character heh, she looks abit generic, but the house is great

MrAnimation: good effort, not much to see in a design sense, abit plain, but her ride sure looks cool

Antne: her pot looks abit warped/bendy, but other than that, it's good, tho i wish i could see more of her body to show her character.

darkly: weird that this didnt make it to poll.. i like it and would have voted for it. it's a very fun design overall, only rendering/lighting is abit flat and could use more love on detailing her, but that's a great face and love her hair hehe

deadred: get out, you're obscene

benu: cool characters! coloring really sells the piece but anatomy, composition and lighting could use some work. everything's too centralized and non-dynamic and there's no central focus, everything's everywhere o.o the lighting/compo in the third wip piece works much better.

LPeters: she looks very dangerous, and those peg legs! good compo but the rendering on her hair and face could use more love. nice nails btw

Adam Hunter Peck: hm abit plain, but very illustrative. good hand gestures

NateShaw: overall, the image doesnt read very clearly until i look closer and only notice she's pouncing instead of pretending to be a tree (lol). lighting could use a push too. is she invisible to the girl?

revenebo: looks rad, tho some lighting isues make her look less solid, especially on her thigh and boob. finger anatomy issues too. i want a pet frog..

mike_rorschach: looks really rushed, and rendering is super flat, but you have some good ideas going

dirkvandulmen: hard to read your composition overall, maybe making the colors more organized and brighter lighting on the figure herself could help

Chupacabra: the first thought that came to me when i saw your entry was "i wish i could think up something so simple and yet so cool" i like her face and anatomy.

wrdls: that bottom of her pot is very eyecatching, and i like how you render her like a rock golem lol good pic, but something about her clothing make me wish you added as much detail there as you did her ride.

Bugmeyer: very interesting design, i like her profile, and that touch with the dripping blood from her basket.

Mitze: i like your WIPs better than your final somehow.. i think it's cos of the colors and values are more muted and rich. the darks in the final seems abit too much.

Pixeltuner: interesting dress, but her anatomy looks like she was created in spore creature creator o.o not enough human i guess? heh, and something about her overall design doesnt read very well to me, it's a matter of proportions, doesnt make her look believable

John Bridges: really good illustration, no crits.

Kian: wtf? gigglicious ribbons! your wip was better tho

k a y a: simple and cool, no crits, maybe slight anatomy issue on her free hand

Tugelbend: scary boobies! nice work, colors seem to not sit well together tho, maybe it's a matter of saturation

anamirela: great profile, kinda needs color to look more finished but that's just my personal pref

Sulk-Sal: very nice etched effect/style you have going, but some anatomy and proportion issues, especially with the kid and her hands, but good ideas on her head dress especially.

WunderDark: cool costume details, perhaps thinner outlines would make the piece look more refined, given the style. i like the way you rendered her bucket, and good color handling too.

septomin: maybe a lower saturation and limited palette would give a more ominous feel like in your black and white wips. currently she looks very.. cuddly.. to me anyway lol

Josh_Chodorow: would've been a good illustration if you had more time to work on it. she looks fun

IanLlanas: the rubbery rendering of the skin was the first thing i noticed, and it sorta kills the atmosphere of menace.. perhaps play around with subtle pinks and greens for skin color, to make it look more organic some anatomy issues with the hands too. that lurking chicken house is a nice touch.

bumskee: my top fav in this epic round! always a pleasure to see you post a chow, this piece is so good, especially in the storytelling sense where you sorta merge their hair and make it hint that she's feeding off life energy or something from the girl, so genius! those trees in the background took me awhile to figure out they were trees tho o.o

MJ_Alcazar: i'm sad this didnt make it to poll, one of your best work yet! there's some perspective issues with the pot and with the foreground tree.

Venger: your image is all sorts of fun, love it, no crits

Ionic: dude, your piece was looking great until you added bloom to it i dunno, it suddenly made it less intense and more .. disney, and i was hoping you'd detail the horsemen but perhaps you ran out of time? cool witch either way, you sexyface

Wolfentir: looks abit unfinished as far as detailing and colors go, and her head dont seem to be put on too right on her shoulders. needs more love!

Chelette: i really like the way you drew her face and the color scheme. her body looks abit fuzzy and proportions seem weird on her belly area, like you rushed through the bottom half of the pic.

Vorace: she's so cuddly like a roasted blue chicken served in a spikey pot!

Faxtar: amazing piece! good atmosphere and style. love it, no crits

cubesoflard: something about the lighting doesnt wrap around her form too well to show good solid mass, so the entire piece looks sorta flat despite the interesting colors and lighting setup

VegasMike: she looks half-chicken! silly and fun style

Wingedchime: hey! that chimney came out great very cute and creative design, tho the background kinda hurts the piece, maybe fade it more off to the white so it doesnt fight for attention with your witch and birdy house


Poojipoo: it seems you rendered her face and forgot to detail the rest of her. good work on the colors/atmosphere but she needs more love.

Adam Schumpert: one of my favs this round, i like those expressions on your witch and kiddies, pity you dont have time to render everything out like you did your supervillain sp, would've been epic then got my vote either way cos i like your concept very much

FerrousJack: you should keep working on it, looks fun

Poshspice: i always greatly admire your work and this is no exception! not crits that i can think of, this is gorgeous, looks like something that'll be on a huge poster in a library section for folktales or something cool like that

D@niel: technically awesome painting, but the actual witch concept seems abit plain. i like how you added that chicken house in the background, nice touch

Rusty: great illustration, keep working on it! i really like your pudgey baba yaga.

IIKII: others have given better crits than i ever could, heh

yoitisi: this is your best character yet, love all the symbolism and render style. i'm gonna be your rabid fangurl if you keep this up


(omg my fingers..)

i try to limit my votes to very top personal favs, so it's bumskee, fersteger, yoitisi, Adam Schumpert. very epic round!

[daestwen]

I've already stated my piece about the previous argument, so I will not be addressing that again. However, since this seemed to directly reference me ("how CHOW is run") I felt i should address it.

My only (minor!) annoyance with how the CHOW is run, is that sometimes a really top notch piece ends up in the final burning, but the WIPs and sketches associated with the piece are not posted in the main CHOW thread. So it feels like someone just swoops in at the last second to kick our asses (even tho I know this isn't true... those pieces take just as long to develop as any other). This only bugs me because I want greater insight into everyone's working processes, and not being able to see the WIPs and the progressions denies us all a great learning opportunity.

There isn't really a way around this, and this is why the WIP rule is now in existence. Some people don't even see the topic until the day before, so forcing people to participate at an earlier stage only leaves some people out.

Most people still do post in the thread, but this way even the people who didn't have a chance to, or were too shy to post in the main thread, can still participate in the activity, and still show the progress on their work. :]

[IanLlanas]

Cool, I guess other's have the same idea (Deadred and Joey-B)

Great entries from all! Really hard to vote. In general I think that a few people would benefit from multiple thumbnails at the start of the process, it helps to not be so attached to any one idea and then end up trying to polish a turd in the end. Besides, it’s what you’d be doing in the professional world (bouncing ideas off of an AD), so might as well get used to it now. A quick strike to all with my Critique Staff of Equanimity (+5 to fragile egos). Insert “I really like your work! Great job, but IMHO” before each sentence. I’m not trying to hurt feelings or discourage anyone, please don’t take it that way and if it makes you feel any better, I got kicked out of art school :/

Dan Liimatta – Cool style, reminds me of a wood cut print. A little hard to critique ‘cause it’s so stylized, but overall the forms look solid. You lost a lot of contrast and depth when going to color, the afterthought of adding a cooler color to add depth is not focused enough, keep the warmer colors in the foreground and the cooler colors in the background in general.

Joey-b – Nice colors, lighting is pretty accurate. Your anatomy needs work. I’ve only seen 2 of your pieces, but it looks to me like you’re relying too much on being gross to carry your pieces. I don’t have a problem with the grotesque (love it actually) but you should concentrate on composiotion, rhythm and anatomy more as well.

Markusthebarbarian – The light filtering through the canopy and lighting the trees, ground, etc look really cool. It looks like you spent the least amount of time on the witch though, I just want to look at the environment and she’s just getting in the way. Also, the pose isn’t doing anything for me, I feel like I walked in on her taking a dump.

fersterger – Really nice colors, such a nice mood. Probably the most unique take. Reminds me of the Never-ending Story or Labyrinth. I think some of the light from her eye-light should be cast on the child and her hands.

Sticmann – Interesting style, I love the watercolor wash look to the background. The grey/white fog against the warm background is hurting the depth.

Sony – It looks like you used reference for the PS3, use it for the rest of the piece. The mortar design is rad. Don’t like the white background. Her pose is really awkward, feet pointing right, arms to the left. Quick gesture drawings help with this. People recommend using posemaniacs.com, I guess that helps, if you want to learn how to do gestures of posed 3D models (maybe it has merit?). I watch movies and hit pause at random times for 30/60/120 seconds and sketch that.

Jeremy Hoffman – This is a cool experiment in style. Someone around here once said that your style will find you.

Nikola Marinkovic – That staff looks cool, but it looks like it’s going behind her hand, it needs more light on it near the hand.

Masque – Wicked colors, very impressionistic. Her hair and sleeves are blowing forward? The perspective of the kid isn’t jiving with the ground. If you just look at the kid and block out everything else it looks like he is running on a surface almost parallel to the bottom of the frame.

Artofinca – Sweet designs, I hope you entered the IDW with this as well.

Artina – There’s some lighting inconsistencies, especially noticeable on her face. The lighting appears to be directly behind her, but it’s showing up all over.

The Kiminator – This is a great idea. The reason it’s reading flat is that you’re letting your lines do all the work value-wise. Try to chisel in with darks and pull out with lights, if that makes any sense.

Inkfish – I really liked the initial concept, with just the lighting drawing you to the face. I think in the final everything looks too glossy. The background became distracting in the final step too, it’s so bright.

Sekino – I love the illustrative storybook feel and that bear and cat are adorable. My only crit is that the snow is just a mass of white, it looks flat.

Boyo – FUN! Great color scheme. Got my vote.

Doomstagg – It seems like something is getting lost in your process, I can’t tell what ‘cause you went from line drawing to finished in one step. The only thing I can think to suggest is that you start from the largest forms and work your way down to the details. For example don’t add stitches and seams till wrinkles read well, and no wrinkles until the shape of her torso reads well. I’m sure someone else can explain that better. Help.

Tommoy – The contrast between the blonde girl in the white dress and the big, dark witch is wicked. The trees in the background perfectly frame her body, not sure if that works.

Dwinbotp – Arg, freaky! You were so close to getting my vote. For me the face killed it, I loved the initial face you had, so much more expression than the pierced gross one. Anyway great job, I’m a fan.

This is taking more time than I thought, I'll do the rest later.

[IanLlanas]

It is supposed to be "Character Design of the Week" right? Not illustration... so perspective, composition, environment, etc shouldn't be a factor. Some of the most beautifully rendered aren't the most interesting character designs. For instance... and I'm really sorry but... Bumskee's entry this week. Gorgeous image, no question, but how is it character design when her back is turned and you can't see her face?

I was told that people don't enter if they have to do actual stripped-down character design, which is too bad. And I do see a trend of passing over some less skilled but very creative or innovative ideas in favor of a pretty picture. Would be nice if creativity won over beautiful a little more often. But as they say... life imitates art... and vice-versa. XD

You may have a point here, but I don't think that perspective, composition, beauty, etc can ever be excused from a picture, unless we are supposed to be doing strict isometric character drawings. Also the character's environment speaks as much about them as their costumes, gadgets, etc. Maybe there should be an illustration of the week challenge too?

[Sorknes]

Voted, lots of awsome entries.

Daestwen... Maybe you could make it so that whatever side of the picture that's longest get a set pixelwidth instead of only doing it on width only? So that let's say 300 pixels is the limit, and on the pictures widers than high it sets 300 width and for the pictures taller than wide it's 300 height?

I actually threw one vote wrong this time because I confused two of the pictures, after I went through the submissions I voted, and didn't realise before the votes went through that the thumbs of two pictures were so small and somewhat alike that I'd given mine to the wrong person......

Also, it would make it somewhat fairer for the people in the poll, as all thumbs would get the exact same exposure.

It might be too much work though, I dunno, I know there's a lot of work just to keep this challenge going.

[daestwen]

Sork: I keep meaning to fix this, but not have time to do it. The way it's set up I can do all the images in about 30 seconds, which is why it's set up the way that it is, and I haven't yet found a fast way to do both, but i've been meaning to at least work something out, even if it is slower. I'm just a little lazy, heh.

But if it's causing issues with voting, I'll put more work into it next week.

[Joey-b]

IanLlanas - thanks man, as for the gore thing.. well i actually never do that.. just these 2 haha.. weird huh?

Deidred - thank you, yeah i went overboard on the zombie

[Tommoy]

Compliments to all participants in this crazy round, the quality from beginner to pro is outstanding. At first I wasn't going to join but after seeing the first sketches my wacom pen flew into my hand like the lightsaber into Luke's. And thats the power of CA, it inspires you and makes you want to join and draw. Looking at other peoples work, getting comments and crits is very useful and help you getting the best out of yourself. Besides that, I had never heard of Baba Yaga, and now she's in my head forever, thanks.

Voting actually was easy this time, almost everyone deserves one but I've chosen the one that imo is the very best, bumskee. First of all the colors are so well balanced, its a lust for the eye. The bleu/white skintone is perfectly contrasting with the background, the colors of her dress and hair, it pops out but not to much. I'm no expert, but I bet every muscle and bone under that skin are on the right spot and so clearly readable. The wrinkles in her skirt are so darn subtle, just compare it to any of the others. Her clawlike hand almost motherlike under the child's chin I think is more powerful then 20 chopped of heads (although I like that as well) The hair, I want to know what shampoo she is using.
Thinking of a witch, specially the face, immediately several elements come to mind, glowing eyes, sharp nose, gaping mouth with bad teeth, pointy chin. Automatically you want to show these elements as clearly as you can. Bumskee shows the head almost from behind, leaving us, viewers, with our own thoughts, and thats more scary then anything else.

[anamirela]

Awesome entries everyone!
Voted for three, like usual.
Tommoy , Venger, k a y a
No crits and comments this time.
Peace!

[Sulk-Sal]

Thanks deadred daestwen and Joey-b for the crits! I guess this piece kinda turned into a failure, but at least I learned a lot form it. I guess priority 1 is to find a good anatomy book to study (no live models around here, and I really need a refresher), priority 2 is to really think about the limits of my style and how to refine it, especially with lights, darks, colors and the background. I really should have started doing CHOW after I graduated. That brings me to priority 3. Stop wasting time.

[Izi]

after some consideration i voted for poshspice over bumskee

I liked them both i just went with my gut. baba yaga is one of my favorite faery tale characters I prefer her with both power, dignity and definately a crone feel. i think of baba yaga as a grandmother and not so much a monster so that's why I felt poshspice nailed it. i did like how she was more human. fersteger was a cool alternate take as well but more troll-like. well enough said.


all of them were just really impressive

Of all the alternate visions wingedchime was my favorite.

Naomi

[Sekino]

Okay, here are my personal impressions on all the other great entries.

Dan Liimatta- I liked the character a lot: The bone-legs and the crown gave a very mythological feel to me. I would have liked the background, or the colours, to make the figure stand out more. It seemed a bit dark, overall.

Joey-b- Very creepy and interesting Baba Yaga. Maybe more drama (like a more detailed background) or movement would have carried off this scary-looking hag a bit better...

Markusthebarbarian- The realism is awesome. The sun reflections on the trees are striking. I felt that Baba Yaga was a bit too passive, though; like only striking a pose for the camera as opposed to showing her in action and defining her character.

Sticmann- The drawing is awesome; beautiful technique. The character seems a bit alien to me however. I don't get an especially 'witchy' feel from it; more like a Jedi feel.

sony- I liked the idea of the anachronisms, like the Playstation hanging from her belt. She reminded me a bit of a bag-lady (the way she pushed her mortar around, filled with skulls). I think it would have brought the point home better if she, herself, looked more modern,maybe, more post-apocalyptic like wearing a mohawk or boots, etc... It's just a bit hard to pinpoint her exact attitude or era right now.

Jeremy Hoffman- I really loved the style and colours the minute I saw it. But I had some trouble interpreting her actions or position: Is she standing, lying down, flying...? Maybe I'm just used to more representational images. So it's my bad

Nicola Marinkovik- Nice, sinister approach. But I find there was a bit too much black and dark values. I don't feel I could see the character enough.

masque- I liked the movement and the red reflections: it provided nice contrast with the other colours. I would have liked to see more hints of Baba's personality, though (Tools? Adornments? Weapons?); just to further appreciate her character aside from chasing kids.

Artofinca- I truly enjoyed this one, with the steampunk feel and the sketching style. The house was so detailed and cool that it outshines Baba Yaga a bit.

Artina- Overall, very nice character (I would definitely recognize her as Baba Yaga). Even though I liked the vibrant colours, the background reminded me too much of flames or an explosion and was a bit distracting.

The Kiminator- Loved the quiet, mysterious feel. The colours seemed somewhat flat, though. A bit more contrast would have made the elements pop out some more.

Inkfish- Very creepy and nice technique. I think I felt a bit too much 'zombie-ness' as opposed to some old witch.

Doomstagg- I liked the interpretation (the hunter feel), but I felt it looked unfinished. There could have been more definition to make the image 'crisper'.

Tommoy- That looks awesome! It looks like some dance between Baba and the little hypnotized kid.

Dwinbotp- Very nightmare-inducing! The character looks great, but I was confused with the setting: I can't tell if she's outside or inside and what is the source of the red light...

AsurA- I liked the illustration overall, but it looked unfinished. I didn't mind the monochromatic scheme, but some elements were lost with not enough contrast (the kid's features are very washed out and the little critter on the tree is easy to miss).

Antne- I like the layout and the very 'character design' feel with the portrait. It was in my personal runner-ups for votes.

Whew! So many! I'll do my best to cover everyone, but gotta go back to work for now.

[CCThrom]

There were so many to choose... so many I really like... but I limited myself to 5. And those are...

D@niel - Now that's the feeling I was shooting for and missed on my first sketches
dwinbotp - too magnificently horrible not to vote for
Poshspice - so classic and beautiful colors
Anamirela - l love the characterization and the creepy vibe
Bumskee - just... wow... looks like one of the great masters of ninteenth century illustration reborn

My runners-up (not voted for, sorry but 5 was an arbitary limit)
Venger - another classic illustration vibe
Fersteger - great painting but feels a little unfinished as compared to many others... I'll say it again, very D'aulaire
Tommoy - like the painting a lot and loose-yet-polished feel
Antne - as you can see, I like the classic interperetations
John Bridges - This was really close to my top 5... it feels a lot like a 50's era book cover... I could almost see the Hardy Boys chasing 'Yaga in this. I also love the museum matte / naturalist vibe you've got going.

[Clockwork Bunny]

limited myself to 2 this time

Sekino - I love the style and delicateness ( is that a real word?!) of the picture, I feel it captures the folk tale it would have started from
Kiminator - After reading up on Baba Yaga the thing I thought was wonderfully mysterious was the silver birch broom sweeping away any evidence of her being there and you caught it, its a silent and eerie image

There were some other top entries some are beautifully drawn, fantastic ideas and some are just damn creepy.

[Main Loop]

Nerahla, respect your opinion, but I think you could have worded it a little better. a little harsh with your words there.

I am sure posh, d@n, me and many others agree, that we don't take this as a popularity contest.
I actually think you see ChOW as a popularity contest... you seem awfully attached to this popularity contest idea..

And not to bust your bubbles but we don't just click a button that creates ChOW entries.. it's the truth!!

Dude I have a bunch of Chow-Entry-creator photoshop custom brushes that I can share with you if you like!

[Nutter]

Great entries once again. It just keeps getting better and better.

All the ones I voted for just made me feel warm and fuzzy. I can't really explain it better than that. Particularly deadred's image, what the fuck is wrong with you! I love it.

Honorable mention to Tugelbend for best saggy boobs.

[Mr. P Show.]

Alot of amazing entries. My votes are:


Anamirela - Mmmmmm, sagging boobs.
Poshspice - I can almost smell this piece.
Wingedchime - Your style is really colorful. I like.
Sekino - I could see this one hanging in Baba Yaga's own house.
dwinbotp - I love the settings you create for your characters.
fersteger - Marvelous.
aoyo - Cool flow and style
Daniel - Love the cinematic composition.
Faxtar - atmospheric.
bumskee - Great characterization and composition as well as fluid lines from their wardrobe to their hair. Amazing job.

[Sekino]

Part 2:

darkly- Nice character and details. I liked the very stony aspect of the mortar. The issues with the lighting have been already mentioned but they did affect the atmosphere and the colours.

deadred- Definitely in the top 2 or 3 creepiest entries! Very nicely done!

benu- I liked the colours and the original sketches, but Baba Yaga got somewhat overshadowed by the other characters.

LPeters- She's looking evil! I like the bloody hand print detail. The background seems to clash a bit though: It doesn't match the lighting.

Adam Hunter Peck- Another favorite of mine (I should maybe increase my voting limit...). Love the cartoony style and colour. This Baba seems quite likeable to me; maybe it's the tea...

NateShaw- Nice book-illustration look. The colours could have supported the linework better, but overall I like the style and characters.

Revenebo- Love the engraved mortar and very 'trollish' Baba Yaga. You did mention you got pressed by time which shows in the background; but nice image nonetheless.

mike rorschach- I like the style. Too bad you didn't have much time to polish it. Next time

dirkmandulmen- Great, funny cartoon! Horrible thing to say but she reminds me a bit of someone I worked with (weird, I know) . My only crit is that I found the colours a bit dark so it took me time to appreciate all the details.

Chupacabra- I actually love the simplicity of it and the blue skin. Creepy ogrish look.

wrdls- Nice texture and details (the metal parts are very convincing!).

Bugmeyer- Not the most gory, but I find it very creepy anyways. I like the style of the character. It took me a while to make out the house and chicken feet clearly though.

Mitze- I love the colours and overall image. I'm only wondering how the kid isn't losing his mind with terror: That 'Grandma' is scary (the bonnet makes it much worse, too!)!

Pixeltuner- Really great technique! My only crit really is that I didn't get a Baba Yaga feel... Even though I do believe she could eat my kids!

Kian- Great style: I like the brushstrokes. I'm quite distracted by the ribbons though (the one at the front is especially heavy). She doesn't strike me as the coquettish type...

I'm really trying to cover everyone, but I'm limited with time this week. Also if I skip anyone, it is totally unintentional.

And BTW, Mr P. Show:

I could see this one hanging in Baba Yaga's own house.

Thanks!! I can see the caption: "Winter 1507; Sergei annoying Puska again"

[chaosrocks]

not that a late opinion matters much, butthis was a truly stunning round nearly all the entries could easy graces the pages of a book of fairy tales , and there seems to have been an outbreak of the kinda of excellence that I think of in term of turn of the century illustrators (who I collect and adore). The over all quality of chow is amazing at this point. I would like to see more personal variation in style it is seeming to develope a collective style , which although it is lovely seems almost stilted. LLike it might become the "CA LOok" I know it is hard to leave something that is working, but I urge you if you are adapting to what is popular, and suppressing something way of working that you might like to try... this is actaully a good place to try it.
that being said, I could not limit myself to my usual three votes. so I felt that I needed justify my choices... the are fairly stream of consciousness:

yoitisi- I love tht yours has th e glint off chance of being benevolent, because she sometimes would actually help. She actually alos looks like she might once have ben beautiful. I find thathis makes her very much moreinteresting than a straight horror

Artofinea- the style and beautifully design layout of yours along withthe wonderfully quirky steampunkyness got my vote

Tommoy- definitely has the Brian Froud quality I could totally see this illustrationin one of those beautiful kids books. It would have to have a touch or quirky humour to achieve rackhamesqueness

wingedchime- beautifull colours annd style, and the design of the chicken hut is unique and quite wonderful

POshspice. Lovoely , It is really interesting that you portrayed her as a plausible old woman, anggry at the world. the colouring is reminding me of the darker Wyeths....(NC not andrew or Jamie)

anamirela- simple, straight forward and elegant

Bumskee- wow just wow. have you ever seen the work of Bosschere? ( I may have spelled it wrong it's french. He wrote a book called "The City Curious" and there is somethign about this illustration that reminds me of it

once again Lovely work