Chow 157 :: The ENDLESS

[Tommoy]

Ferstenger, she isn't gonna finish, maybe he is.
Not sure where this is leading to.

[quickreaver]

Cool Chucks, Tommoy. 8)

Updatedness! All crits welcomed, especially since I'm fumbling my way through this, trying not to over-render. (Hope you can tell it's Desire!)

[Pheike]

some cleanage. =)



i´m little tired now to fully color the character so i painted the basics colors, i will try to finish it tomorrow.

[Elidee]

Finally got some time to comment on entries! They're all so interesting so far, and there are lots of things I like in each.


Kleewyck: The bird idea is a very different take on death. I think the high cheekbones work well this design, and I like the ankh-sword.

Sorknes: Great that you included the goldfish balloon, and I think your idea of adding the tutu will help to differentiate this design a bit more. Maybe pushing the asymmetry will help too.

Baxter: I've loved your versions so far. I agree that the cool color version of Destruction is not the first instinct, but I think I prefer it to the warm version by a little bit.

Darknight: The dreamy Amano feeling you wanted is definitely there, with that oversized throne. It's imposing, yet lonely. The legs/knees do look a little disjointed though.

Amber Alexander: I like the ankh-staff you changed it too. One suggestion is to add in the eye swirl tattoo that Death normally has, and maybe darken the hair a bit. The duality you're going for is a great idea.

Poshspice: I'm really loving the bubble-gum colors in the rough color version, and the little bow in Death's hair. I really like the family picture sketch with Death, Delirium, and Desire as well. They're all interesting designs, yet it's still easy to tell who's who.

Arthur Two Sheds: A definitely different, and scary, take on Dream! The incorporation of the dreamcatcher is fantastic.

AvisNocturna: You really captured the androgynous nature of Desire, and I love the lounging pose. I can't wait to see this finished.

Mercuralis: I loved seeing this evolve! The symbols of the siblings in the bubbles is a great idea. I really do think adding the sand trailing from his hand and a sandier mist in the forefront would work out great.

Mara644: Very confident pose, and the hairstyle is perfect for a take on Delirium.

Ghostbrush: I really love the squid-hair, and the drifting/dreamy pose.

Dream_Sear: Great job so far, I like the new expression a lot.

fersteger: More and more detail gets added every time! The bright and varied colors are lovely.

Brewin: I really dig the dynamic book poses for Destiny so far, and the half-hooded face.

KayOnim: Death as a little girl is an interesting idea, especially with the more traditional grim reaper rising up in the back. Glad to see the details like the eye tattoo there.

Hungryan: I think the slightly inhuman look makes him feel strange and timeless, in a good way! The incorporation of the stars into the clothes and the upped contrast look great in the newest version.

scottmcd: I really love the fiery and colorful hair for Delight/Delirium. It's a simple, but really interesting piece.

Daestwen: Wonderful expression on Desire's face there, and it's solid lineart so far.

RichLyons: I think it looks great! Destruction-biker is a neat idea, and the motorcycle looks good so far.

Pheike: the sketchiness gives it a good energy so far, especially in the pages.

feifeicreate: The overall comp is really strong. I like the boots+fishnets combo.

Nightblue: This looks more and more polished each time. The feathery colors in the hair, asymmetry, and the swirling pose are wonderful.

DIMAGYAN: I think the size of the head looks okay, and your outfit is definitely one I can see a more toned down Death wearing.

Heliux: The sketch so far is really different and interesting. I want to see more!

KuGu: Wow, my Destiny is completely outclassed! This is such a powerful pose and a really different, mystical take on the character. The messenger birds over the eyes is my favorite thing so far.

DecayingLolita: A very pretty version of Dream, and very melancholy. Maybe putting his raven Michael in the piece would help push the mood.

JaneM: The duality idea between Destruction and creation is going great! His mustache is awesome.

Nadiamoon : I really like the development so far, and the BG. A very archaic and ancient seeming Dream!

jpedro : Such a strong pose, and I really love the position of the feet and toes. Maybe a feather would work better as a romantic playful icon than a yo-yo? The idea is great though.

darthmarsh: That lotus keeps looking better and better! Maybe a starry background that emphasizes his eyes, and draws in a little more color than blue, would look good.

agnostes: Wow, that hair on Dream is striking!

Spaztastic: I think the nipples are a little high, and maybe some more blues would better emphasize that this is Despair.

mechashiva : I like the pose and the idea of the blood trail. His skin colors look great so far, especially the purple-blue shadowing.




Running out of time, I'll try and post more later.


Pretty sure with this angle I bit off more than I could chew, but scrapping it now would probably lead to me not finishing this. I took Hungryan's advice and tried to modify the clothing to make the design a bit more unique. The anatomy is still wonky, bit I'm trying to figure out of to fix it. Toying with the idea of ink/words from the book bleeding up his arms, and I need to pump up the shadows on the skin (maybe with some blues).

[longshao]

guick sketch for death, inspired by pieta

[dirkvandulmen]

wip...

[Ironbyte]

First sketch, she's kinda turned out looking very cheerleaderish...

[agnostes]

WIP. Really need to sort that cloak out (among other things).

[Dan!]

Only had a small window for this one- great works as usual. here is my go at Dream

[quickreaver]

Don't forget to have at least a 3/4 length fig, GloomBunny!

[Ironbyte]

@dream_sear, will do thanks, trying to get my ball rolling

[Sekino]

I think I'm almost done with my Despair...



But I was also thinking there was no way I could NOT do a Native American-inspired Death! I hope I'll have time to finish more than one character...

[quickreaver]

Wow, Dan! I'm so digging your Dream...

[andyhunt]

LOVE IT Dan. A lot of these look a bit to close to original subject matter imho, but you've done a great job of completely re imagining Morpheus.

[Amber Alexander]

Dan! very cool idea, I love how it looks!

WIP update:

[dose]

Sketch for Delirium.

[Djinn]

There is too much awesome here to comment on everything.
But specifically, I really really like where
darthmarsh and tommoy's pieces are going.

Heres just a couple costume thumbs I've got here, I really love the idea that the endless appear in different forms depending on who's looking, especially dream obviously, So I'm focusing on two things mainly: Dream as he might appear to a norse culture, perhaps to a norse shaman of some kind (I also liked the fox-spirit thing from the tale in japan). And the fact that dream is the ultimate storyteller. the latter will become more apparent as the piece as a whole moves forward, I'm hoping to weave in bits of scrolls and runes and such, crafted from his sand. (also, theres gonna be a big black shock of hair coming out the back of the helmet)

[scottmcd]

darthmarsh: Really liking that one. I'd probably go with a blue background over straight black.

Here's my close-to-done piece. Any suggestions? How does the silhouette work for you? (I only recently noticed the resemblence to Dekko from Zot!)

[Nele Klumpe]

dirkvandulmen: I'm loving your concept so far! Great work!
mercuralis: I had to, need to catch up with all the amazing ppl around me! I really like the character of your dream, his expression and face.

Great work everyone so far, no time to comment on each one, maybe I can write a few lines next update

Tried to do something with the foreground and added another lightsource to define its legs a bit more...

[feifeicreate]

Feels obligated to write some critique here. The only thing I learnt from all those years in art school is how to trash other people's work and make it sounds like "constructive". So if my comment offend anyone...feel free to trash my work. LOL.

So here it goes:

Amber Alexander : Love The costume, tattoo, and rather Egyptian style. Would be great if the muscle structure is more defined, and since you have one primary light source down below, several secondary light source above, the lighting is kind of confused.

Sekino: Nice despair. And I really like Native American "death", refreshing approach compare to other Goth/Emo/Dark..."death". I know nothing about the comic though, don't know if the style fits the requirement.

Dan: Have to say, the best Dream I've seen so far, very original, and "dreamy".

Agnostes: What is on his back? a sward? I like the pose though, light source is a bit confusing, but I think it's probably because the art work is still at a very rough stage.

GloomBunny: Very close to the comic book style death...Would be nice to step out side the box a bit. That's how I picture it, if one of those days, Death came to visit me, what would she look like to me? (I my head, she's probably Chinese...LOL).

Dirkvandulmen: Cool Destruction. Be careful with your light source though, The shadow of the sward seems a bit off.

longshao: Nice mood. Looking forward to see how it turns out.

Elidee: The perspective is a bit off. But the angle is very interesting. I wonder why you would pick this difficult angle, does it attribute to the overall composition? Does this particular angle helps to tell the story and his personality? I think it is very important for illustrator to consider his/her painting from this perspective, everything on the picture needs to serve your motif (Think of it in this way, you spend all those hours paint this d$%m thing, might make every stroke count). My suggestion would be get your friend to pose for you and take a picture of him from second floor or something. That will definitely help you get the prospective and anatomy right.

Pheike: nice destiny. Although...it does look a bit dark, I know I'm personally favors dramatic lighting and bright color, so if it's not your style, ignore me please

Dream Sear: I love the halo and her expression. It's like saying "come and get me, jerks!" or something like that. (sorry if that's not what you have in mind...) And the snake is nice touch.

Tommoy: So....this is ....destruction? Sorry I'm not familiar with the comic book...Love the color, love the armor...Don't know about sneaker though, for me, they're kind of out of place, stand out too much. If it's me, I'd either add other elements to match with the sneakers, or drop them.

DarthMarsh: (star war fan?) Blue background, give you some depth. My painting prof. told me one principle: there's no "black".

Fersteger: Is that a sundial on her toes? yeah...it's getting weird. normally I'd say the anatomy is a bit off, but with all these twisting, dog in sunglasses and sundial...I say go for the twist and weird! color is great.

Audit: As long as you don't make his forehead glowing, I don't think he looks like Dr. Manhattan. The page dress is rather nice touch.

Hungryan: Dream I guess? Nice face. very different from the normal "dream" look. Personally, I think it'd be nice to have the skull facing him...but that's just me...and I know that would make him look like a weird Hamlet.

Spaztastic: Nice face. nice to have a somewhat Asian look for a change. remember the hook ring though...and despair is rather flab (over weight), she looks too pretty.

Franna: Nice Rockstar Desire. be careful with the face though.

Ramza: Nice start, nice mood, even at this early stage, I really think she's going to look great.

Iliada: Frontal foreshorten is almost always the hardest to draw, and even when you get it right, it looks awkward somehow. I'd play with the pose a little bit, to avoid the straight up frontal view, and to make the composition more interesting.

IIKII: Nice costume, right knee is a bit weird. I'd make her eye color brighter, because that's her feature.

KuGu: I love it. The face, belt, bird, pose, tree...it's coming together pretty nicely.

NicHolS: I like the idea. The composition is pretty good too, but I'm not sure if this will meet the CHOW requirement.

RichLyons: I don't think yours boring, not at all. I think he has a personality, and I like him (and the talking dog).

Uglyographer: I like your Despair, and she looked really desperate. I think that alone should do for this topic. but still don't know if you can get away with skinny figure and no hook ring for CHOW. otherwise, I think the picture looks pretty good. just one thing, the pigens on the right lower conor, they looks kind of stand out, doesn't have connection with the the figure. if that's how you want it, that's totally fine.

NightBlue: Love her, nice hair, nice costume (the fur is really nice touch), the pose and color style works pretty well too. would be nice to see more fish and other pretty/crazy stuff around her.

MJ Alcazar: Your work come alone pretty well over the time. And this death looks pretty good. and try not to cut off at the joints, like ankle, knee, waist, elbow, wrist...composition wise, it's consider a "no-no". Unless, of course, it is a design choice.

Majenkus: I like the over all style...although he remind me of Wolverine...I know...probably because I just watch the movie. And I really like the blue reflection light on his face.

MichaelNoel: Her face looks pretty nice, looking forward to see more.

Mercuralis: Love his face, and all those bubbles. dreamy mood is also very fitting.

KayOnim: Innocent child with a dark shadow? LOL, nice approach. I know it's too early to say, but no shadow is black. if the shadow gonna take the focus of the picture, might be a good idea to make it look more interesting.

OK....Page 3....

Mechashiva: Why does he look Greek? I like the pose, and dead body and blood trail (which is not yet there...but a good idea), as if he's rethinking his "destructive" lifestyle. But, in your sketches, I actually like the bottom right one, he looks really thoughtful.

~Baxter: So you want to draw all 7 of them in a tarot card kind of fashion? Ambitious. So far I like despair, Destruction somehow doesn't do it for me with his classical armor...I always picture him a more lay back carefree kind of guy, but what do I know about sandman, I never even read that book...LOL...

jpedro: Yeah~~~All I can say is: thank you mistress may I have another! I like the style, like the whip, how about a heart shaped yo yo? and boots! Can we have boots...please~~~~~pretty please?~~~~ anyway...I like it, color it up, and let's see how it goes.

Nadiamoon: Maybe it's the staff, but he looks like a Greek god...well, i mean he is a god....anyway, nice muscle, nice shadow, want to see more.

AvisNocturna: Desire, right? white hair? I'd make him/her more seductive...looks to me, he's too lay back.

JaneM: Love it! That's how I pictured Destruction after I read his description on wiki. someone you might want to be with, unless the rest Endless siblings...

Scottmcd: The background face profile is kind of confusing...I would give the face more texture or pattern or something to look at rather than just a block of dark color. foreground girl is pretty nice though, the style works pretty well with Delirium.

DecayingLolita: you mean dream as a lay back punk? LOL...I like him though. It is very hard to make something unusual when you have a subject so iconic.

Daestwen: Now we have a more sophisticated Desire, how Lovely! Remind me of those 18th century playboys. and the expression is dead on! but heart! where's the heart?

Ghostbrush: I like how you did with her hair, and the entire "ocean creature" theme works pretty well. tattoos is pretty cool too.

OK...I think I have everyone here....gosh, 2 hours! Anyway, for those who couldn't find their name on this list, two reasons:

1, the sketch is too rough to say anything constructive.

2, you're too damn good I don't have the nerve to critique your work.

[quickreaver]

You gonna put something cool in your Desire's cigarette smoke there, AvisNocturna? Perfect opportunity for some cool symbolism!

PS....your Dream design, Dan!, is supercool.

[Franna]

Done for the day.

Scottmcd thanks for the crit there. I moved the near-leg more out, if that makes sense. I think it helped a bit. Let me know if you still see issues.

Went for a traditional smokey background...

[Jie Kageshinzo]

Hi guys. Been busy with work so I still haven't had much done yet. Here's what I have so far. Taking up Dream. He's gonna be holding his helm for this one.

[KayOnim]

Thanks for all the comments.

feifeicreate: Yeah, making the shadow more interesting is a good idea. Not sure yet how i will do that but I'll sleep over it and tackle it tomorrow.

So, what have I done today? Again, not as much as I'd liked
Reworked the head, cleaned a few things, started to fill in some color and wasted a lot of time in between (I'm really good at that though )

[aosha]

this is my first time doing chow, here's where i am so far.. crits please (she's not very delirium-y yet..)
i really hope i finish this tonight coz i still want to draw one more endless.
there are a lot of entries that i like already!

[Majenkus]

I wanted to see what it would be like if I sketched some legs. It's kinda weird, I feel like I'm plagiarizing myself. It wasn't meant to have legs, is it too weird?

Here are the collected WIPs

[Majenkus]

feifeicreate - I am interested to see this as it is cleaned up. The scene is really good (great angle). With all of the red why don't you use it to your advantage and sneak some contrasting colors into the parts you want to draw attention to? I think you hinted at that, but the skin, lipstick, and the eyes would be good places.

fersteger - WOW! That's so cool. The dog in glasses is great. The foreshortening, anatomy, and colors are really good. My mind is blown.

[daestwen]

Daestwen: Now we have a more sophisticated Desire, how Lovely! Remind me of those 18th century playboys. and the expression is dead on! but heart! where's the heart?

It's very, very loosely sketched in on his vest - it'll be basically embroidered if i ever get to the 'colouring' part...

[feifeicreate]

since several people mentioned about a male Desire, I think I'll give it a try. Although I'm still not sure if I want to go with the "drag queen" idea. But after sketched out, I actually like him! OK, I'll keep him male~~~thanks guys!

The contract color is a very good idea! Thanks! I'll have fun playing with it.

[Ian Barker]

Here's my first idea. Don't really like it at all (not very interesting pose or dress, head looks like bratz doll), but it got my brain working I guess.