Team CHOW II: The Happy Little Trees

[{CKL}]

Obviously in progress, I'll post a few more phases before I move on to the other characters. Then I'll switch back to thief and do some variations on the finished sheet. I'll switch to silhouette if that helps everyone else.

[nimzicki]

Love that portrait.

If we're going to do the silhouette stage then it really needs to be done before the weekend, designing the specifics of my armour for instance is going to be a long process after finding that silhouette.

Ill go on to that now though if it will help everyone.

[nimzicki]

Silhouetteage:

[blackcherry]

Some nice early pieces of work flying around.

CKLAmb: Really like your head studies so far!
nimzicki: Some really nice silohettes there. I think with this being a medieval fantasy style theme, we'll probably have to avoid making it look too techy or sci-fi ish though, which some imply to me, but that could easily be altered when developing the armour in more detail.

I'll try and get some of mine up by the end of the night if I have chance after I'm done packing. I'll start on some silohettes tomorrow. Will we need to do different silohettes for both versions of the portrait?

I mentioned this earlier on in the thread, but just to recap I'm going to be visiting family back home over the next few days. I'm going to be travelling all day tomorrow but by next Friday I'll be back to having access to my own computer.

Before that time I will still have computer access so I can keep updated with the forum and I should also have a scanner at hand too so I can scan in some sketches and give/receive feedback. However, I won't be able to do any digital work, which will be annoying when it comes to stuff like silohettes :/ but I should get a lot of design work done.

I will try and check the forum daily in this time!

Also are we still going with an overall cold/winter environment theme with the characters in furs?

[ALH]

#6 i feel fits the character best at the moment, as the mass on his upper body looks very heavy. slimming down his legs a little would really emphasis the bulk, as being a weight he must carry, but also a nod towards the heroic proportions.

The others dont really tell me enough about the person wearing the armour, they appear slightly demon-y or armour-y, but thats about it. The asymmetrical shape of #11 did grab my eye however, and the cage atop the head of #3 helps to sell the notion that his armour is a cage.

[{CKL}]

Nim- Nice silhouettes so far, I'd try a few more that were a bit less bulky, think a little bit about practicallity. #11 and #8 appeal to me the most at this point.

Cherry- I was still wanting to do cold weather type gear, so I'm down for it if everyone else is

ALH- I really like the idea of wool. I think i would use it more as a insulation layer though, with bits of it poking out here and there.

[nimzicki]

I thought #6 was too bulky and bit too much "RAH DEMON ARMOUR" personally, I like #7 for its asymmetrical look, its not as bulky as the others and it gets across the demon taking over the human (well, orc) element pretty well in my opinion.

As for the cage elements, I agree, I would like to try and put that across in other details as well, use of chains etc. which is hard to portray in silhouette but ill have another crack at it.

Like CK, with all my other elements going on, the fur would be more of an insulator for my character too.

[{CKL}]

If you're not sure on the orc, you could go ogre, giantman, or some other type of race.

Thinking about the wool a bit further, it would be a good material for noise dampening too. Like in the joint and arm pit areas, no squeaky leather or crickety metal to give you away.

[ALH]

On the wool- im not saying have entire outfits made of wool, in terms of literal wool it would be just an accessory here and there, an armband or something as a sign of rememberance for the 'event' for example, that each character wears to show they will never forget that day.

In terms of graphical wool, im going to pack together this wool brush and do a couple of variations if you want to have a play with it.


I had a play about with imagining a demon armour, this is by no means a 'final' in terms of how i would do it if i was doing that character, more of a suggestion of the kind of things i would do personally to suggest the burden etc.

The wool here has made it look like he is wearing a skirt made of entrails

[{CKL}]

Alh- I really like the off-kelter organic nature, though I think he'd be a shambling mess in a fight.

Edit:And I've been kind of thinking of the armband type of element...I was thinking maybe some type of animal pelt(with head included like your knight design) that kind of represents that character as a cloak/skirt/scarf/etc. I'm doing a two-headed snow fox cloak for the thief as an example.

[ALH]

Alh- I really like the off-kelter organic nature, though I think he'd be a shambling mess in a fight.

Thats the point, it makes for an interesting animation set, unpredictably lumbering everywhere while trying to hit you, its intimidating, makes him hard to hit, one hell of a boss fight!

....Obviously it would have to be toned down a bit for an adventuring game character. O:-)


Each having an Animal pelt? Very nice. Ties them together in a more obvious visual way than an arm band, a bit like each having their own pet except the pet is dead and now a hat scarf combo. They could be like a walking anti PETA.

If they all have carcasses of furries on them in some way it would suggest that they have taken part in the great anthro war of AD666.

[{CKL}]

....you're evil.

A little more scribbling, definitely to upright. I think the cleric or crone is up next.

Oh and there was this guy named Diego he did a painting or two...

[ALH]

...I come from a horror place, it leaks through at times

[{CKL}]

Thumbnails due by Sunday night. Light needs to be polished and ready to rock by the 14th or 15th. I know ALH and Cherry have some time issues, if you can either push it out early or hand it off to one of us for finalization we can stay on track.

Bonus points if you surprise us with another finished off character.

Also, we need to think about format for submission. This isn't something we want to do at the last minute.

[ALH]

I think your thief is WAY too good looking at the moment, the nose/ears/lips may be large compared to a human, but his chiselled face structure is far from repulsive. He doesnt look goofy enough to be ashamed of his looks. Are you going to make him more hideous along the lines of the horrifying specimen in the portrait?

[{CKL}]

A lot of the oddity is going to be in coloration and some smaller details. I think repulsive is kind of so/so...I was thinking he'd look like a killer. Something that'd put the fear in you...not so much disgust. I think disgust can be overcome by people, fear is a lot harder. I mean some people just give you the hibbie jibbies just being near them....like they just might turn around and slit your throat.

Edit: But I think I will try a repulsive portrait too.

[ALH]

You should check out the mug shots on the smoking gun, most are kinda goofy or drunk looking, but some of these guys really look like they could fuck you up, its subtle in the face, but if you can capture it your character will have huge impact.



pic related.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/

Surprisingly the mugs of infamous murderers and gangsters dont actually look that threatening, a little 'off' perhaps, but not THAT scary compared to some of the petty guys.



Also- I've put a bunch of knit patterned brushes together, basic stuff, not modified much past their photos (some still have the sharp edges) but if you dual brush them and play about with scattering some interesting things happen. Feel free to edit them.

Make for bloody awesome chainmail brushes if thats something you want your character to wear, probably good for hair braids too.

http://typocity.deviantart.com/art/K...shes-132391896

[{CKL}]

Rush Limbaugh ftw on creepiness.

[ALH]

Rush's mug looks like a sitcom version of satan. I like gary buseys shot, he looks like an evil clown mob goon, as opposed to his usual look of terrifyingly insane evil clown.

More brushplay, loving the smokey shapes some of these make.

....her hair will probably not be an 80s power perm in the final.

[{CKL}]

New Moodboard for the characters, costume, color, etc.

[{CKL}]

Quick sketch of the healer and spell caster. I thought a bullwhip might be an interesting weapon for him.

[ALH]

Elizabethan Ruffs are a bit modern for the time periods we're taking about, advance with caution- work the shapes back into the dark ages.

Other than that, great moodboard for colours.

Watch some Blackadder, i think the kinds of goofy costumes here are more like what we should be going for.

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_lis...23DF380BB3720B


Some witchyness. Love the faces of these old asian women. Looking at Pre Raphaelite fantasy paintings for an idea of who my character could have been in the past so i can bring some elements of that into her present.

Found an illustration of a healer too!

[nimzicki]

Ah jeez, its far too early for some of those pictures :p Nice reference though.

[ALH]

get used to old lady boobs, i fully intend on my evil witch burning her flapjacks into everyones mind


Having spent this morning watching blackadder S01- i reccommend ep 06, where edmund gathers a group of evil warriors for a nefarious plot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVbn3upF7g8

[{CKL}]

Hrm, when no one said anything against baroque influences I thought it was up for use. Maybe I can do an altered collar that at least conveys the idea.

EDIT: BTW It is getting very close to Sunday, I don't see many designs up. Let's get to crackin' people.

[ALH]

Hrm, when no one said anything against baroque influences I thought it was up for use. Maybe I can do an altered collar that at least conveys the idea.

Yeah, i probably should have spoken up- I like baroque in terms of the darkness of the art, but having that kind of specific collar places characters in a certain era in fashion & culture that most people can easily recognise, which kinda pwns the medieval timescale. If you can take the silhouette and reimagine it so it doesnt look like it came from the 1500s+ though, then awesome.

[ALH]

Faces, general exploration and getting to grips with a saggy anatomy. These started to go towards cartoony at the end as i explored the shapes and tried to get a child-like 'cute granny' thing going on, though i think that direction isnt right for this project.

Where does one race start and another begin with fantasy stuff? if a human is particuarly squat or ugly do they become a dwarf? I guess its down to proportion, so i'm going to have to bear that in mind as i do variations later on.

...Or change my chars race to some sort of gnome/troll/dwarf- also a possibility, even if it messes with my backstory - i'd rather have anatomical freedom to give us something different than pay a direct service to my own concept, though i'll see what happens when i go digital.


Also- I need to put together a portfolio/presentation in flash before my interview next week, which may take a while, so i'm going to go off this for a couple of days. i'll have the silhouettes here on sunday, but team CHOW cant be my priority while i sort this stuff out.

[{CKL}]

What?!? You're going to pick some...some...company over CHOW! I'm beginning to question your dedication to this team. Seriously, what are you thinking?!?

BTW:I really like the rounder faces in your setup. Good luck on your interview stuff!

[{CKL}]

Starting some color studies. (Kept the collar, just because this is more of a personal piece, my thief won't have one. I promise.)

To tired to finish this up tonight. I'll give it a whack tomorrow then get some designs done for my thief.

[Mark Tarrisse]

Nice stuff so far guys,

I really like the mood and colors of this one

Keep on rocking !