Chow 157 :: The ENDLESS

[Dan!]

solid round errbody- can't wait to see all the finals.

[Franna]

Some comments from my side. Don't take them too seriously...

Ramza: Some serious fatness there! I would try and give the transition from face to chin a bit more definition. Stick some folds or double chins or something in there. But it looks good.

KuGu: Excellent composition this. Can't wait to see what you do with the background (colourwise). Also, I'm glad I'm not her, look at where those horns are pointing.

DecayingLolita: You have to finish Damnit! Make some time. The head feels a bit small, considering its roundish shape. Taller people usually have taller heads, i think.

KayOnim: Very interesting, I especially love the little skull in the hair. I don't think the Grim-Head popping out works that well. I have an idea though, if you look at tall shadows like this, they usually have a gradient. They fade out as they get wider, if that makes any sense.

RichLyons: One of my favourites so far. Is that A breastplate on a fat guy?
And the bling, this guy is just so cool.

Threeeyesworm: You obviously know by now that you have to expand your canvas, and I think in terms of composition that could help you as well, cos this should have an epic-style background.

IIKII: Your death kinda looks like a GI-JOE, with her top kinda detached from her bottom. I would rotate the bottom. The face is cool though.

The Original [E]: This is destruction 200 years from now. It really emphasizes the endless' immortality this. I hope you can come up with something to give it a little more atmosphere that it lacks.

KleeWyck: I don't think that skintone works to maximum effect here. have you tried others?

Wheezy: Can't really say anything at the mo. Would like to see more. Face looks like Bill Kaulitz, and I suspect you used him as reference, but i might be wrong.

spaztastic: I would try some harder brushes on this piece. Also, maybe lower the horizon a little.

psantha: The little bookmarks in the oversized books are awesome. Major events in history those. The strange hand gesture sort of confuses me when I'm looking at his face though.

Razorleaf: Like the web idea. The character looks a bit too generic though (man in a robe. the end). Maybe put some glowy eyes in there, or something. Give it something personal and original.

dose: That hair is just brilliant. You can do so much with color here. So many options. Can't wait.

NicHols: Great. That character is just too well thought out. He looks like he's writing at a thousand miles per hour. Must be something important. Can't say anything except, he looks like he's about to fall off. Have you experimented with twisting the whole picture slightly clockwise?

kurios: I would put something in there that makes it "Death". Cos tight now it's just a steampunk lady.

agnostes: Great colours. Can't really spot anything off here. Good work.

Pheike: What a crazy design! Why don't you cut off the sides a bit? Because you really don't need to be dealing with a background like that. Focus on the character.

MJ Alcazar: Is your keyboard really doing that? Cool. That's a solid design. The hair on the right (her left) feels a bit big to me though. Gives her head a strange shape, if you know what I mean.

dream sear: Those eyes are deadly. I am actually not that familiar with this particular style, so I can't really say much. The skin looks good, soft and almost translucent.

Tommoy: Cool. He's so angry. I'm really interested in the figure in the back. What is that? Also, at that angle, maybe Dream's mouth should be a bit closer to his nose, and it looks a bit like he has no chin.

Baxter: Destruction looks focused and deadly. Have you tried another eye colour? Like red or orange or something. Nothing wrong with the blue, just something I would look at, that's all.

feifeicreate: Good stuff. The confident tranny looks very cool. We all really want to see this cleaned up. It's awesome.

daestwen: That's true Androgeny there. I really don't know what that is, genderwise. Looks like it's drinking blood, yummy. Sorry if it's supposed to be wine. But isn't red wine more like the colour of the waistcoat? Would really like to see more.

elliste: Would like to see where this goes. That sock is just crazy, in a good way of course. Also, are you outside-hosting your images? remember to use the attachment manager instead, in the final at least, otherwise you won't go to poll.

Ronpower: this is awesome. Great pose and great linework. Really like your style. I would make her pendant an ankh though, instead of a cross. Just cause it's sort of death's constant trademark.

audit: Looks good. Interstin lighting scheme. I think his one arm is a bit fatter than the other one, and the one that's pointing doesn't seem to have an elbow, or some sort of joint there. cool design, tough.

Arthur 'Two Sheds': That's some scary stuff. The gasmask tattoo is the best. And his hair looks like pollution, but maybe that's just me. It's brilliant. That back hand looks tricky. Good luck.

Man, I wish I could do everyone, but I need to finish my own too. Okay then, back to work. So long.

[xgabo]

I have no time this week... but damn, it's the endless! here's a quick 5 min WIP, more later.

[elliste]

Thank you for the information regarding the updates and the comments : ) Hopefully, I will be able to add more comments for the next venue now that I know about this site. I can't wait to see yours completed!

[Oxide-0]

Im working on Delirium and Banabas her dog, even though I am a late comer to this one I can’t resist putting my take on sandman characters it’s still early but do share if you see any wonky anatomy thus far.

[agnostes]

Ramza: Looks done to me. Post it before you break it!
KuGu: Really nice figure. Goat hind legs look a bit funny. It'd be nice to see some glistening flesh around the boney goat head. Get your paint on
DecayingLolita: He looks a bit depressed, but that fits. Nice touch with the mask.
KayOnim: Nice Episode One homage
RichLyons: Good solid work in every way. Can't fault it. And smoking terriers rule.
threeeyesworm Good foundation, needs more work. Also, maybe check: the >= 3/4 rule.
IIKII: Death's upper torso is ace, but her lower half is too square-on to work anatomically. I'd suggest repainting from the waist down, turning her hips a few degrees to the right. Delerium pose is much more natural.
The Original [E] : Interesting take on it, but the gun looks bent. The right side and (his) left hand don't look perspective-correct. Reverse the curvature.
KleeWyck: background looks good but she looks like she's floating. Needs a floor.
wheezy: Nice clean outline. Body looks too long.
Franna: Awesome. Worked out well. Don't overwork it.
psantha : I've liked this throughout. The lighting on the book is very nice. No crit. Sorry
Razorleaf: Scary and very atmospheric. It'll be interesting to see how you take it further.
Gothique: Liking this a lot. Needs more hooks and wires (maybe chains? but they are a pain to paint).
dose: Composition is spot-on. I'm sure you can get away with a cell-shaded look on this, maybe just vector fills, dunno. Would make a nice tattoo.
kurios: Need to see more
Pheike: Some environmental textures (stone floor, etc) could help dirty it up a bit.
MJ_Alcazar: No real criticisms on the outline.
dream_sear: I would say it looks flat if it weren't for the fact that it looks like a stylistic choice. Like a religious image in stained glass. Good stuff.
NicHolS : The books, the pages, the quill-fingers...the dude is a candle. Nothing else to say.
Tommoy: Very original take on him. Can't wait to see your final.
~baxter: Good clean stuff. Nice to see some line-work.
feifeicreate: How's it going? I prefered the one with the boobs tbh
daestwen: That quote needs to go in a speech bubble on your final
Ronpower: I love the sketch, hope you carried on and painted it.
Amber Alexander: Nice. Her right leg-to-right foot looks a bit flat. More work on the midriff to give it volume, but the image is a few days old, so...
audit: Good. Head looked a bit flat when you last posted.
Arthur 'Two Sheds': Yes.
darthmarsh: Are you finished yet?

Not much point in going any further back. Hope I haven't offended anybody.

[Sekino]

First, a few comments/crits. I apologize, I did miss a few people but I ran out of time for today

Ramza- I love it! Nice colours and composition.

KuGu- Very different-looking Death; I dig her hat and the creepy 'goat' creature she's riding on. Anatomy-wise, her knee looks very large and a bit distracting.

Decaying Lolita- Very broody Dream (which works). I did think it was Desire at first, perhaps because he's very androgynous.

KayOnim- It's been said before, but the shadow is still overpowering. I think adding more details on it will only make it dwarf the girl further. Maybe you could up the details on the girl some more and bring some focus back on her with lighting/colours? Aside from her face, she looks very plain.

RichLyons- Great interpretation of Destruction! It is easily recognizable as himself yet it is a totally different take. The little toy-pooch Barnabas is a nice touch.

Threeeyesworm- The 3/4 rule has already been mentioned. Aside from that; nice drawing, but there is nothing in there telling me this is Destruction. I get more a 'farmer' vibe from him.

IIKII- Don't give up! Your Delirium is coming along fine (I like the disgruntled person- Death?- in the background). Just needs some polishing and working on the smoke/sparkles.

The Original E- The drawing and character are nice, but I don't get a Destruction-the-character feel. To me, he looks like a soldier, not the embodiement of destruction. It's the 'stalking' attitude that doesn't fit: Destruction destroys merely by wishing it (or by being it). He wouldn't need to fight directly. But it's just my take on it and to be taken with a grain of salt

KleeWyck- I love the character and bird-inspired costume. Overall, I think it's a great interpretation of Death except that the sword distracts me a bit. She looks very defensive but the rest of the image is peaceful and quiet.

Spaztastic- A rare attractive-looking Despair I like it a lot so far. My main crit is that the character seems too colourful for the surroundings. She's peachy and rosy yet the environment is foggy and gray. Are her markings tattoos or cuts? It could work both ways for the character. But if they are indeed cuts, they could look a bit more mangled (like torn flesh) and bloody.

Franna- Looking great! You did a good job making him/her totally androgynous. That's usually the problem with Despair: Even in the Sandman series, artists have trouble making it truly 50/50.

Psantha- I love it! That book really looks like it holds the entire universe! Lovely style, too.

Razorleaf- Are there going to be more elements? I wouldn't know it is Destiny; he just looks like a person in a robe... Maybe if the spiderweb morphed into a galaxy (or the dew beads formed constellations), to
imply that he knows the entire universe's destiny? I dunno...

Gothique- Very creepy! I like it!

Dose- Beautiful! I really hope you'll have time to paint it! According to the story, Delirium used to be Delight; so I find the nice flow and grace fits very well

Kurios- I dig the idea of an eyepiece with a whorl. I agree that you shouldn't have to stick with black for her colours, as long as the overall elements identify her as Death...

Dream Sear- You really nailed the Klimt look! It's gorgeous

Curly- Looks nice, but I think the background greatly overpowers the character. Plus, since he is largely hidden by the character he's carrying, he needs all the focus he can get.

Tommoy- That's not Dream, that's Nightmare! Well, I guess he does take care of those as well Looking good!

Daestwen- Another great androgynous Desire. It's nice to see some Desires that I actually would find attractive: Most portrayals of Desire- even in the comic- creep me out. I think the little note fits very well, actually!

Audit- Great character and I LOVE the style! Lovely colours!

Agnostes- Really gorgeous image. But to be honest, I thought it was Destruction before reading your description. I think it's the combination of the armour and the red, mangled cape... But maybe it's just me.

Fersteger- I just had to say it: The shiny butt-cheeks make me chuckle Very playful and awesome!

And here's my next Death WIP:

[Tommoy]

@Ramza, very nice, the bleu sky looks a bit empty, maybe some rubble in there too. Also a little stronger rim light from the orange/yellow sky would bring her more to the front. I would make the hands reaching out to here more noticeable.
@KuGu, great sketch, anatomically I think her hips/butt are too low, and the same with her kneecap. Hope u can finish.
@Psantha, I love the book and the little leaves sticking out. His righthand bothers me, it looks a bit awkward. You could also spend more time on the cloak.
@Franna, looking great, can't wait to see it in color. One thing bothers me, the point were the legs come together, the crotch area, looks a bit unnatural.

Would like to comment on more but I need some sleep.

Here's what I've made of my nightmare, I mean dream.

[agnostes]

Agnostes- Really gorgeous image. But to be honest, I thought it was Destruction before reading your description. I think it's the combination of the armour and the red, mangled cape... But maybe it's just me.

With all the angry colours, battle armour and such, it's a fair point. That was my concept, I guess: a Dream prepared for war and defense, expanding on the protective helm, and pushing it far from the goth/emo/Bobby Smith look. That is, at least, what I tried to do

EDIT - Tommoy: The strappage, belts and plates are working well, but not sure about the orange vortex lines. Probably too soon to say.

[DigitalShade]

I chose Dream, not sure if I'll be able to get this one done in time. I've had a bad eye infection that's kept me down. So I haven't been able to clean this up and finish it. Hopefully it clears up by tomorrow ::sigh:: it would happen on a cool topic. Sketch idea and current wip.

[Aly Fell]

I know I'm pushing it a bit myself, but bear in mind this is a 'redesign' of the characters. I'm seeing some great pics, but many that look like the existing interpretations. Try to make some concession to how YOU would see the characters, not how they have previously been drawn. When Daestwen and myself make the selection we don't want to cut people for not being 'on brief'.

[KleeWyck]

took it a bit further with the advice i got from everyone. thanks guys. there's still a lot i need to improve but i definitely think it looks a little better.

added some souls... right now i think it overpowers the character. so i'll probably tone it down.

[Ronpower]

Here I added some rough colors. Very rough still, will be working on it all afternoon.



I saw the comment a while back about her neck. Good catch. Will try to fix this up as well.

[Oxide-0]

Heres an update on Delirium and her dog more to it than the last one, its not supper different from the original character still going with the teenish girl though i decided to throw in a vortex of chaos that chases her around and only affects her. The idea was to go with that whole MANIC personality being pulled in different directions kinda thing.


Great work stuff so far guys your keeping me motivated!

[Amber Alexander]

Ronpower: I like the pose and the colors, I'm assuming shes death because of the symbol around her eye but right now her necklace looks like a cross, I'd suggest making it more obviously an ankh if that's what its supposted to be. Keep it up tho, lookin good!

[croovman]

Ever looked back at something you've made and it made you wonder what it was exactly that you were on?
This has generally been a disappointment for me, art and concept wise, over-thinking it, yet under-thinking it. Over ambitious, I guess.
But I apologize in advance for the space taking, I thought too much about all this stuff for me not to share, however uninteresting.

First of all, I was going for keeping what represented the characters' personalities for me, rather than the visual symbols, while reinventing only the setting\background.
It being, instead of the original kind of meta-mystical setting, basically extremely corny sci-fi. With each character being represented in some different sci-fi pop-cultural manner.
The concept is that the Endless are an assembly of different superior races which are charged with the mission of "supervising" different aspects of our world for... pretty much ever.
They're pretty much stuck whith each other, so they definitely function as a family as in the comics.

Anyway, to your horror I challenged myself to redesign the whole bunch, so I hope you don't mind me giving a basic description for each one, in case anyone likes a concept I thought of which doesn't come through in the images.

Dream - Pale alien looking, with spaceman helmet and antennas, and with the psychic ability to enter dreams and so forth.
I thought I'd render him for the final, looking through his window from above the earth, stars reflecting in his big dark eyes.

Desire - Kind of a canine, royal, rockstar looking.

Delirium - Lizard-humanoid. She's kind of stuck in an undeveloped stage due to the irremovable broken brain enhancer she's wearing, which also makes her hallucinating and also project some whacky psychedelic magnetic fields around her. I really dislike the big eyed version I sketched, but the other one's okay.

Despair - This is where it starts to go too far.
Desire's twin, Despair, gets her brain put in a robot that's much less than attractive, and even less comfortable.
The robot is composed of machinery and this nasty meat-jelly matter.
She's in the habit of slicing the matter with her hook-like robot fingers. Nasty.

Destruction - In the comics, Destruction leaves his duties to roam the earth. And so here he does the same, only to become... Sasquatch!!! How's that for corny.

Destiny - Continuing over-complication.
Destiny is a parasitic creature, attached to, I thought, either an abducted cave man or an astronaut, who is carrying Destiny's super-computer, able to calculate data to foresee any event. Mmmmmm, cheesiness.

Death - Last, and definitely least, being made when I was already out of juice from disappointment.
Elf-like, all white, and generally casual.

I definitely lack perspective if I shared all a' this mayhem, so comments are really welcomed, folks.

-Stav

[Rodimus25]

Wow great round everyone, heres what i have so far. Dream wip-age.

Ramza: Looking really sick mate Nice one.

[jpedro]

so here's a color wip of mine.
thanks to the folks who commented, about the androgynous issue, i point to the wiki text and my last post

greets!

Jan

[anthro-trees]

never read the comics. but this sounds fun.

did a quick sketch of death. i think of the concept of death as very bird-like and strangely elegant. that's why i'm going with a bird-like representation.
will probably rethink the anhk sword...

then i thought that perhaps it would be interesting to incorporate the shape of the ankh to her silhouette/design... probably be messing around with that idea.

You're joking right?

She looks like she is in a chicken costume with wings sticking out her ass.

[Amber Alexander]

You're joking right?

She looks like she is in a chicken costume with wings sticking out her ass.

Maybe its the tone but a comment like that is more hurtful then helpful. If you think she looks chicken like then suggest ways to make it look more elegant rather then being rude. My first thought was to rework the legs, I like the feathers as they are.

[IIKII]

Actually i already fixed the problem in death last night & i did a destruction.

[Tavarilyn]

Wow... almost too late. There are some seriously smokin' images here!

So far, process... just put 'em all in one image. And below that, what I'm considering a "final". I'm not 100% happy with it... it's feels like it's missing something Delirium-esque? I was hoping the chaotic BG would do it, but... perhaps someone can offer some suggestions/critiques? I'm up for redoing her from the ground up if need be...

Tav

[MJ_Alcazar]

Thanks everyone for all the critiques!

Update on Death

[Tavarilyn]

Holy wow, MJ! Talk about a sweet job of portraying Death! Having spent the last four weeks or so working with you, I can definitely say I've seen you improve with every image you do.

The only critique I can think to offer is... light-source? Do you have two? I'm imagining the window is one... but it appears you have another one to the bottom right of the image ... and perhaps another one to the left? It's hard to tell. Granted, lightsourcing is my -worst- area so perhaps someone with more experience can tell.

-snugs- VERY nice job, though. I can almost feel the material... and talk about a snazzy outfit!

~Tav

[Jie Kageshinzo]

More renderings. Having a hard time with his right hand and arm.

[MJ_Alcazar]

tsav - thanks! *snugs* Umm, I was only suppoased to have two light sources. I was afraid the bsacklight would make her too dark and you wouldn't be sable to see her.

I actually think your first sketch had as more dillerium feel to it. Right now she looks to calm.

Everyone elase - I'm going to try fizxing my key boasrd aso the rsandom lettersa astop popping up. If i can get thast done in time, I'll try to leave asome lsat minute critas for everyone!

[Sekino]

I've finished both Despair and Death:





I think I'll submit them together, but I'm not sure if this is the right format (it looks weird if I try to put them in the same image):



Any idea?

[~baxter]

If you've done more than one put them in a single image.

Yep you got it right

[longshao]

Like Sherlock Holmes, John Carter, Smaug or Baba Yaga for example?

Loving the work coming through in this round. It doesn't look like trying to re-interpret the characters has been a problem.

Sorry I haven't been following chow. I'll check on previous threads.
update:

[hotjen]

so many inspiring stuff! i'm gonna get the folder chok full of goodies once everybody's done