P.O.W.! Challenge 36: Five Covers...

[Razorleaf]

I think I'm gonna change-up this one a bit ..... I'm not sure about all the negative space but maybe that's its appeal!

I didn't go horror or blood, guts and gore with this one....... I kinda leaned more toward "The Twilight Zone" ...

[Razorleaf]

I wanted something soft and child-like for this one. I wanted to express the longing and shyness without any real negative impact to the viewer. Its all about the child. She's looking out a window - I hope you can tell.

[Razorleaf]

Can "The Five Stars" be representational or must it have characters in it?

[The Crazy Dude SRD]

Razorleaf - That Seedling pic is awesome, absolutely wonderful execution.

If you want the window to show through see about giving some manner of reflection and a bit of fog where the kid is breathing on the glass.

Keep at it. I was thinking of doing something 'medieval' with it myself but I'd like to know too.

edit:: Whoops forgot to post the current wip of Fractured... Added a dude in the corner and I'm going to add some other mofos in the background tending to daily tasks in the shanty town...

I thought of the skyscrapers because in the description, it didn't define that the planet wasn't already inhabited and built up... Just that the alien peoples are sorta stranded there. I'll see what I can do to help illustrate it but I've been fighting photoshop for a while and I have found a few hints on how to better abuse the Piece of shista. Sooooo hopefully I will have it working now...

[Razorleaf]

Thanks Shawn. I'd add a couple more aliens to yours - one beside the man leaning back and the other by the birdman. Ooh! Ooh! ... and maybe a spaceship landing to create that "dumped off feel". Looking forward to seeing more of this one! I know you like bold beautiful colors which will give it that high-impact look.

[Nike]

Razorleaf - I really like the idea and execution so far - but I think she looks more like a young woman than a child right now - maybe try to soften her features a bit more?

Shawn - I'm all for more aliens, too - the setting looks interesting!

[j.s. sabastian]

fine monkey see monkey due..... i bought a bottle of wupp ass......and everyones gonna sit at the table and have a glass.....lol in alphabetical order

[arttorney]

That's the spirit!11!! I have finished the three half days of pro tem judging I did this week (it's prime judge vacation season). Now I'll have a bit of time to return to this stuff.

FINAL for The Seedling:

[dustin53545]

Wow this sounds like some of my real clients...lol I'm in!!!! Can't wait to get this started..lol

Welcome to Hell!

Elementary school is over, and you've all volunteered for the Marines. From now on, we're going to show those KON-sepschu-all skanks that think they rule this cesspool just how the grownups do it. I sound nice on this forum when I'm tired and trying to make things right that need lt, but once everything falls into place, I GET REALLY HAPPY...and when I get really happy, I become a homicidal prick...and you are all slow-moving targets.

P.O.W.! is moving to the next level of bone-crunching tyranny. From this point on, you will be asked to stick to deadlines, follow the rules to the point of not being allowed to have sex for a year if you don't, and you will also be pitted up against every evil idea I can come up with to ruin your pitiful lives.

To start this rolling, I AM going to be a bit sympathetic and allow some extra time due to the holidays, BUT...you take it as a chance to fuck off and watch reruns up to the day before the deadline, YOU WILL DIE! Publicly! I will crit you into the ground and send you crying to your mommas for every nit-picking little screw-up you try to get by me.

YOU...WILL...DO...THE...FOLLOWING...as professionally and completely as your current level allows...and then some. Trying as hard as you can and failing will not piss me off, but slapping shit down as if you had no respect for your fellow travelers and their efforts in this hell-hole will not be forgiven.

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P.O.W.! Challenge 36
Deadline: Sunday, January 24, 2010, 11:59 pm anywhere in the world.

Topic: Five Covers...

This thread will be the place you ask questions on this challenge, trash talk, post WIPs and post your final art. See the READ THIS FIRST thread for all specs.

Good luck.

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All due at the final deadline, and to include the following:

• An appropriate high-impact and attractive image with an eye to attracting the primary audience I list with each cover.

• The cover/comic title I assign below prominently displayed along with your name as artist/author as well as a small simple publisher's mark to read "CAPOW!"

• Covers are to be 8-1/2" by 11" (22cm x 28cm) (51 picas x 66 picas) with an extra 1/8" (0.5cm) (1 pica) extension of the art in all directions, and all should be in Full Color, which does NOT mean that the cover can't be predominately white if that's appropriate to your art.

NOTE ON COMIC SIZE...

A number of people were confused by my jumping to another size for this challenge (the gray note above). To prevent any problems, I'm moving the sizes back to our usual Standard CB Sizes. If you've already started in the larger size, don't worry about resizing or re-proportioning your entry--I'll allow for it here. Sorry for any confusion.

Standard Comic Book Size:

--Trim size: 6 5/8" x 10 1/4"
--Live art area: 6" x 9"
--Bleed size before trimming: 6 7/8" x 10 1/2" (1/8" in all directions)

• Submissions should be 96 dpi jpegs at same size (unless the image manager disallows--just reduce slightly then), and titled in the following manner...

Your screen name-POW36-A(or B-E as needed).jpg

I would suggest doing your original art at 300 dpi same size minimum and making a copy for posting here, because there is a VERY strong possibility that ALL work from now on in this section may be reproduced in print...so if you fuck up, you don't get included...nyah nyahhhhhhh...

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Cover A. Title is "FRACTURED." Theme/synopsis is Sci-Fi--A world has/is evolved/evolving with a slight post-apocalyptic feel to it that includes disparate races/species/etc. being forced to live together in as normal a situation as possible after they have all been stranded/dumped/voluntarily escaped to the world. This is NOT a "Us vs. Them" scenario. Think of it as a "We're all in the same boat so let's get along" story.

Audience is adult/young adult/hopefully attractive to both genders.


Cover B: Title is "BUTTON PUNCHER." Theme/synopsis is high-school coming of age/love story/drama where one of the two main characters is a 16-year-old professional assassin. Feel is romantic, humorous (ya'think?!?), and as serious or cartoonish in approach as you want.

Audience is Teen/young adult/hopefully attractive to both genders, with slight leaning to the female reader.


Cover C: Title is "SHADOWS." Theme/synopsis is horror/mystery, with a primary character who has a history of incredibly bad luck, but comes to realize that it is actually due to someone/somethng just out of the his/her peripheral vision that is actually manipulating his/her life for some unknown reason. Story is spooky, bloody and messy in both plot and lifestyle. The horror is more psychological than "CREEPY Magazine" blood, guts, and gore, even though it's loaded with all of the aforementioned.

Audience is older teen/young adult/adult due to gore and such.


Cover D: Title is "THE SEEDLING." Theme/synopsis is a young person--age 5-6--who has been raised in isolation from other children and is suddenly exposed to a new family, city life and school for the first time. The little one is extremely shy and reclusive, and story is concerned with how our little person slowly integrates into society.

Audience is preteens to adult, and cover should be attractive to both extremes.


Cover E: Title is "THE FIVE STARS." Theme/synopsis is stereotypical fantasy/swords and sorcery/mis-matched band of heroes on a quest kind of thing. Any approach is cool--Asian, LOTR, African, ancient, modern, whatever floats your boat. Be as creative in approach as you want--you know how this type of story works.

Audience is Teen/young adult/adult/hopefully attractive to both genders, with very slight stress on the masculine reader.

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This is an exercise in interpretation, originality (in approach), and marketing. You aren't doing a neato drawing/illustration. You are executing the primary first selling image of a mass market item that won't sell if no one picks it up. It's both illustration, conceptual art and graphic design. I'm the client, so if any of these don't sell and i can't afford my rent, it will be YOUR fault...and I will break every bone in your puny bodies before selling you into slavery. Enjoy.

You are now a professional. Do the best you can based on your current level of skills--plus some--and I'll be happy. Those of you further along, this should come out at nearly the level for inclusion in the FINALLY FINISHED thread.

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A little note here for all of you who have supported the P.O.W.! Challenges...thankyewthankyewthankyew...

Just a reminder--those of you who didn't get a chance to finish exactly the way you wanted to, or ran into deadline problems, remember there is a sticky section where you can post your stuff when you do get it up to speed.

[Choob]

Scanned it.

Planning on the details with my new graphics tablet, and posting some different faces.

I want her to have attitude, but it could end up as constipated. Meh.

Good stuff so far guys, loving the WIP for Seedling Razorleaf.

[arttorney]

Five Stars WIP

[Hari Gopinathan]

Hey guys. I finally got some time and Have now decided that come hell or high water---- I will try THIS

Here is my semi inked cover for FIVE STARS

[j.s. sabastian]

oh you thought my sketches where WIPS....artirstically friends or not i'm head hunting!!!!

[Razorleaf]

j.s. sabastian ... could you please post a blank dotted outline for the size requirements. I used the sizes given but mine seem to be somewhere in the poster range hahahaha.

Also the original size of 8.5 x 11 inches should equate to what in pixels? It is not necessarily a stupid question, I'm just making sure I have all the requirements right before my final submission - with this being my first POW and all. Thanks

Oh and Hari Gopinathan your WIP for the Five Stars cover is great ...... can't what to see what you do with it.

[arttorney]

2550 x 3300 is 8.5" x 11" at 300dpi

In the "Read This First Thread" of the POW subforums Ilaekae has posted a link to the dotted line templates in both 96 and 300 dpi. Those are matched up to the standard comic book specs that we have been told is OK for this challenge, rather than the 8.5 X 11 that we started out with. There is a free open source software called Inkscape that has a template in it for 8.5 X 11, and I am finding that when I open that template and export it, I get a .png of that size at 300 dpi to start out with. (Export is necessary if you plan to do raster work because Inkscape is a vector program.) There are no dotted lines in the inkscape one. It's just a white sheet that is the right size. File>Document Properties>US Letter. While you are in Document Properties, though you can set up guidelines, grids, and snaps.

[skorpi]

Finally time

Nice work here, so far.

First idea sketches. I hope it's ok, if I draw/ paint every cover in a different style and technique. I already have some ideas how I like to do them.
I have no idea for the five stars, guess it will be the last one I do.

[Ilaekae]

You have it right, skorpi. All five covers are meant to be different to allow better targeting of your potential audience. Something aimed at a child or a mature woman would almost certainly have a different approach from something aimed at a male audience or teenagers. That is NOT to say that the same technique approach couldn't be used for all five covers if that works for you.

Just remember, everybody, that you are doing the equivalent of a small poster that contains only a few major pieces of text necessary for the marketing of the comic. It's a tease...a kind of preview of what's to come inside...and it should punch your lights out when you scan the display rack with a couple hundred competing covers. Buyer no notice...no buy...artist starve...live in refrigerator box...

[Hari Gopinathan]

Finished inking my 2nd one.

I am just trying to get all the inking for all the covers done.

Thinking of doing digital colouring this time. Cos it might be faster than hand rendering ( like I did for the last challenge).

Exams going on. But I dont wanna miss this challenge.

Razorleaf Thank you so much for the encouragement. Even I can;t wait to se how it comes out, cos I've got no clue right now.
By the way--neat yourself- especially the seedling one

I PRESent before you
SHADOWS

[Choob]

Scanned it, cleaned in photoshop, added face, and basic colouring.

Obviously no shadows/highlights, just seeing if the colours suit her.

Any feedback appreciated.

[Razorleaf]

Two things I noticed Yowza ....

1. On my computer the screen kinda sucks so she is coming off a bit orange, I'm not sure if this is intentional or not.

2. I can understand that the sleeve of her "uniform" will be scrunched-up and therefore the highlights will be rough but there should be no such motion on her hip and thigh. I would persume that that area would be quite smooth, hence a less rough highlight should be applied. The same goes for her rib area, both should be more like her chest. Over all I really like this. It kinda reminds of a style I used to see back in the 70s. Hopes this helps!

[Razorleaf]

arttorney .... your "Five Star" is really coming together. I gotta admit I had no idea where you were going with it when you first posted it.

[MiniGoth]

:/ I can't find a good place to put the other hand.

[Molly]

minigoth - could ya resize? Its difficult to see this big!

[MiniGoth]

Oh jeez, absolutely!

[arttorney]

The thread's already passing me up, but if anybody looks in, I am especially wondering who likes/hates this font.

Five Stars FINAL.

[Choob]

Thanks for the feedback Razorleaf, this is what I've done so far.

Any comments appreciated.

[arttorney]

I like her better now. Are you going to put the words sideways down an edge or across part of her?

[Razorleaf]

If I were to give highlights to this character I would do it like this Yowza, but I do not have your particular style of artistry (wish I did! ) She is definately coming along nicely.

[Razorleaf]

I don't think that this one will ever be finished ....

[arttorney]

The upper left creature face is a little closer to the chop-off zone than I might have put it. I think it is technically OK though.