IDW #125: Pirate Dirigible - Voting

[yoitisi]

IDW #125 Topic: Pirate Dirigible

Deadline for voting: Sunday, May 2

No voting for your own entries! I repeat, no voting for your own entries

Give critiques and comments, we're all here to learn from each other!

Original thread: IDW #125: Pirate Dirigible

[Nightblue]

While the Crimson Dawn was not the biggest or the fastest of the pirate vessels in the Kingdom, the bounties on her were vast and remained unclaimed. Her handlers' unprecedented ability to navigate the unpredictable air currents inside large rain clouds gave her name an almost mythical quality. Equally legendary was the cold accuracy of her hooking harpoon, with which she reeled herself towards the unknowing prey under shrouds of mist and cloud.

[mbetteker]

Captain Dirigible Pants and The ole' Floaty!

[Phade01]

Arrrrrr!!!

[John McKenna]

The Parasite is a motley collection of stolen parts: The hull used to belong to a merchant fleet up North, the spell-tree was poached from a Royal orchard, and the furnace was salvaged from a corvette which had laid dead in a swamp since the early days of the War.

[LordVenom]

This is very last minute, tried to make it fit to another airship i drew earlier.

[twentyone]

Ahoy there Mates!

[yoitisi]

And some notes on this round as usual:

Uhm, actually, I ain't got a lot to say Good round everyone, next round will be up soon. Be sure to post comments and crits if you vote please!

[Nightblue]

mbetteker: I like how the balloons are attached to the bottom of the vessel, and having the crow's nest underneath is a very fresh idea. More pirate flairs and aggressive shapes would help convey the theme.

Phade01: Nice perspective and great shapes on the ship. The skull on the front is a very nice touch.

Arthur 'Two Sheds': Cool shapes! I like how clear your design is. Feel like the ship could use a bit more of a floating device though, on top of the cool missle maybe.

John McKenna: Very creative design The pirates are not only mean but also green!

LordVenom: Love the compact, grenade-like silhouette of your dirigible. It feels both industrial and aggressive, and it's probably the most practically possible design of this round. You got my vote!

twentyone: lovely colors and textures! The beasts heads are intimidating indeed. The design looks very regal though, and the pirate flag feels a little out of place.

[Ragnj]

Aw hell missed the poll, thought I it didnt close just yet.

[yoitisi]

Ragnj: Sorry that you missed the poll. I'm trying to be a little more regular with these things so I can schedule them into my own agenda a bit better. Next time if you're not sure you're going to be on time send me a PM!

[Ragnj]

Ah ye its my own fault ofcourse, I think its good to be rather strict with the deadlines. I had it ready and checked the finals thread a couple of times but never got around to posting.

Good round all

[vrt]

Alright, let's give this a go.

Nightblue: I'm really liking the color and style you used. However, it doesn't really convey a 'pirate' idea; it looks a bit like an outdated spaceship, instead. The balloon also doesn't read too well, but that might just be me. Still a lovely design.

mbetteker: I'm a fan of the color choices and composition. The ship itself seems fairly straightforward, but the little touches with the graffiti and crew members are quite nice. The only technical problem I could see is the bow of the ship having a bit of an unfinished look. Nevertheless, it's a nice design with a high cute-factor.

Phade01: Definitely where my vote went. Great texture, great presentation, and very good suggestion of detail. I'm quite fond of how you combined the elements of the ship and the zeppelin into a believable package.

Arthur 'Two Sheds': Very clean look to your work, but I feel the styles of the ship and zeppelin clash a lot. The balloon is very sterile and straight, whereas the rest of the ship uses a lot of curves and detail. It just doesn't really seem like a 'whole' to me. Perhaps a perspective shot would change my mind, but sadly, none of those.

John McKenna: Very effective style, bit dreamy quality to it to fit with the design. I must say though, the design right now seems to be lacking a theme that's carried through, it's more of a combination of elements. Perhaps the tree's roots extending and forming a structural support?

LordVenom: Holy steampunk Batman! Very nice, compact design - it looks as if it could actually be built. However, probably due to the last-minute-ness, it seems like the design and background clash, actually leading the eye into the background in places such as the top of the rudder.

twentyone: I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Nightblue here, the design doesn't really say 'pirate' to me. It looks like the aerial fleet of an alternative French medieval empire. Still, there's quite some nice detail in there, the firing cannons giving a nice idea of how it'd be in action.


Hope that one was useful. At the very least, rest assured I enjoyed looking at all of these pieces, and that I'm mostly really just nitpicking.

[LordVenom]

Man i love airships, this round was really fun!

@Nightblue Thanks a lot an, it means a lot to me if people think my designs might be plausible, and thanks for the vote

@vrt Thanks for the advice man, now that u mention it the background is really distracting in some areas. I need to get myself together and start working on these entries in time.

I had a hard choice picking between Nightblue and Phade01. But i went with nightblue's design. It reminds me of an alternate future or retro futuristic past, and it has a touch of "Pirates of Dark Water" feel to it. I love the big harpoon and all the repairs all over. Definitely not a construction line vehicle but an over the time upgraded and updated war machine.

Phade01 great Pirate airship all around nice design and execution, all the cannons and the spikes all shout pirate. Nice work here!

mbetteker Absolutely cool design man, love the upside down lookout and all the balloons. My only problem with this one that it doesn't say pirate to me, it looks more like a merchant ship, and awesome merchant ship

Arthur 'Two Sheds' As it was said before the zeppelin and the old style ship conflict a bit, if you'd taken a more early 20th century ship design it would have worked a lot better. But i like the polish you put into it.


John McKenna I can imagine this ship in a "Stardust" like fairytale movie, i think it would work perfect there. A quick hit and run pirate ship. Would have been nice to see a not cross sectioned view to.

Twentyone I agree with the others that your design looks more royal then pirate. And the fact that you have drawn more of them. Pirates usually operate alone and don't have ships that are very similar, they are stolen and heavily modified ships. Your designs look really cool but maybe for the military of an eastern/asian empire, with all the gorgeous golden details.

[Rambozo]

mbetteker : seems simple enough right ? Some balloons latched onto the bottom of the boat ? I like it though hehe, voted for it even. The American flag down under is probably my biggest concern : they're pirates dude (although I guess you could go for the whole "letter of mark" argument). Anyway, I like it : something "monkey Island" about it

Phade : nice angle, good feeling for the scene. I wasn't too sure about the sails at first, but it gives layers to the design which I like. I'ld say maybe you could have made them bigger in fact, maybe a few more, more elaborate layering, I think that would have pulled me in quite a bit more. Not hooked on the skull up front but good entry.

Arthur : Lovein' the Albator feel I'm gettin' from yours. I almost voted for it but something doesn't feel quite right ? I think it's that the elements don't seem to gel well together. I don't mind the old caravel-type boat lodged under a zeppelin (zeppelin's rule of course of course hehe) but I think it would have worked better with a more obvious unifying element, something they could both share. I'm also wondering if a side-elevation is the best angle to give us a nice view of her.

John McKenna : I like the fact you used a tree in lieu of a balloon (trees float ??? wtf?). I'm not convinced the illustration really tells the story as well as it could, but the imagination factor is pleasing to me

[twentyone]

night blue- My intention was to create a powerful band of pirates, not just one crew. They have a good sense of roaming the air and looting and seem to be doing well at it. The pirate flag does not seem to bother me much, my intention was for the pirates to have a humored black flag attached it, clear and readable.

night blue critique- I think you could have rendered it a bit further to really bring out the colors, I like the idea that the blimp is bigger than the ship but it seems clunk and prawn shaped ,with cloth to support the balloon it would be hard to maneuver.


mbetteker critique- I can see that it is going to be a humoring illustration, I like the details from the wip section, functionally it would be hard to carry all that weight and cargo on top of the balloon, but I think it would still be able to float in the air for some reason. I do hope ol' floaty does not stop floating, lol or it would be a not so funny fall.


Phade01 critique - It’s a ship, like a ship it has the functions such as the rigging, plank. but the blimp seems to be the same length as the ship. The ship seems heavier in mass which might go against physics, the balloon might need to be 2x times bigger to support that mass, like night blue, she had a smaller ship to show some kind of support. Good angle though.

Arthur 'Two Sheds' critique- The Horns waggle is a very nice design, I really do like it.

John McKenna critique - I see it as a blueprint, the tree seems to be attached to the ship since the voting started on earth day, it gives a nice touch to the topic.

Lord venom- I’ve seen your wip, you know your ship very well to a degree. But it seems hard to maneuver as compact as is it is, but you want it compact and fun for this entry. The background image seems to clash with the design.

Lordvenom- Thanks for your critique, pirates came from all sorts of cultures, poor or rich they were pirates. I wanted a group that didn't have to be generic pirates for this entry. I did base mines on more Nordic mythology with a few other elements, like the dragons head. I was thinking of adding a serpent somewhere. Ships are not french, british, military.. and making the blimps more industrial. Similar to norwegian viking pirate ships, it’s said dragons protected them while sailing.

good work everyone.

[frixon]

all entries are great, but i like mbetteker's unique approach best.

[mbetteker]

Thank you everyone! This is my first time participating in the sketch groups and I must say I am instantly hooked. I love this community! I have been a member of CA.org for years I and must say this is the coolest part of it. I am finally joining the cause and it sure is fun.

So the ole' floaty... well, I was going for funny. It surely isn't feasible for the center of gravity would be up high and the ship would surely flip upon launch. But I was trying something different and I was assuming there would be some counterweight or heavy material nested at the bottom( i should have sketched er in.). Looking back on it I am happy with the render but would love to have taken the design in a different direction. Like porcupine spikes on the bottom section for ramming, etc.

Oh, and a note on voting since I am new. I voted for myself... I assumed that everyone would do that. Epic fail on my part... please forgive. Well I feel like an ass, and if I were to re-allocate my vote I would send it in the direction of Nightblue. Your ship is quite mean and I really love it. The harpoon guns in many directions really evokes "pirate craftsmanship" to me and shows me how you thought about it. The color choices are also nice, and the clouds are soft and fluffy. me likey.

night blue- I said it above.

Phade01 critique - I really enjoyed this render as well. The dynamic angle of the ship and simple background really worked well together. If I had to pick one thing that stood out to me it would be the life of the ship. Where is the crew? I think I see an indication of one on the front top of the ship, but it is hard to tell. You rendered his beautifully and I would really like to see you handle the crew in the same manner!

Arthur 'Two Sheds' critique- Nice... Nice. Very clean and articulated style. It reads very well. Minus color however it lacks alot of the character that the "pirate" world is imagined in most minds. I really like this design though, would be my second favorite for design creativity...

John McKenna critique - Not exactly sure how this ship would work. I like idea of a magical tree keeping the ship afloat, if that is what you had in mind. Magical trees are neat . If you decide to take this idea further please keep us informed, I would like to know more about what you were thinking.


Lord venom- Quite frankly I would like to see more. The flat side view approach you took is good. And from what I can tell your design is a steam ship and it looks quite AWESOME! But I want to see it with some color breakups atleast. Or rendered even if you have the opportunity. With that said I do like the style you have chosen with the paper texture background. But the ship is filled with a solid color that is exactly the same as the common background color so it really flattens what I am looking at.

Twentyone Critique: Loved your design. It looks modern yet old at the same time. For some reason I imagined the flotation devices being a clear acrylic or ballon like material with the hard metallic heads on it. The render style is also really nice. The texture is just right and adds a nice element of depth to the piece. Love it!

Thank you everyone for this experience, am looking forward to contributing in the future.
-Matt