Chow 199 :: Courtier - Pre-Mascot Round!

[daestwen]

ROUND #199 :: Courtier

DESCRIPTION

Courtier

It's round 199 guys! We're finally here!

Every Queen has her court, and every court has it's courtiers - men and women of the upper class who make up the Queen's close social circle - and also harbour some of her worst enemies.

This week's round is very straight forward - design a courtier character. But let's think out of the box! Next week will be the new mascot round, and this courtier will be the herald to the mascot, so to speak.

Don't be afraid to push boundaries on this one. Maybe it is the court to the queen of the gods? The soldier/guard bee of the beehive? A band's screaming groupie? A medieval lady in waiting? A hyper-future galactic warrior queen's right-hand man? Think about the kind of queen you are designing the courtier for, and have fun!

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DEADLINE
SUNDAY, May 9th, 2010
Deadline is Sunday, at 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5).
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FOLLOW THE TOPIC.

POST YOUR FINAL IN THE FINALS THREAD.

SAVE YOUR FILES IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT. Chow##_Nickname
example: "CHOW#100_Oblio.jpg"

PLACE THE IMAGE IN A FRAME WITH YOUR NAME/TOPIC


(you can add CA logo, etc).


POST YOUR FINALS IN THE FINALS THREAD!
Remember to include your nickname in the file name.

About quality - as general rule: if your shapes and values are not decent - you are out. Watch proportions, perspective etc. we need perfectly readable shapes and coherent, consistent values.

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BE PROFESSIONAL - only finished and good quality entries will be taken to the poll. Daestwen and Aly Fell will make the selection.
Please review these helpful reminders if you have not done so already.

ON GETTING TO POLL
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NEW ROUND RULE: WIPS PLEASE!
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SUBMISSION FORMAT REMINDER



PLEASE REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR COPYRIGHT INFORMATION UNDER THE IMAGE IN THE FINAL BURNING THREAD SO I DON'T HAVE TO HUNT YOU DOWN LATER!

[hunchback]

kickass

ill get right on this

[Ian Barker]

woohoo! Perfect timing, just finished classes

[Pinback]

Really inspiring topic, I'm in for sure.

[Josu]

aweosme. i'm so in

[prsnsweeney]

going to start participating in these and this topic seems like a great one to start on

[Diantoga]

Wow, sounds like this'll be a lot of fun to do! Just hope I'll get enough time this week

[Pixeltuner]

I'm in, if I find the time between all my house fixing... My workspace is still in boxes and all..

[George Abraham]

They don't perhaps wear fake large noses and ears to make the queen feel better about her large head do they? Hehehe!!

[St. Ginger]

Got to give this one a go. When i think of 'Queen' all i see is the Alien.

[Burhtun]

Got to give this one a go. When i think of 'Queen' all i see is the Alien.

'Queen' makes me think of the Highlander theme song. "Heeeere we are. Born to be kings. Were the princes of the uuuniverse..... HYA! neer neer neer neer...."

Anyway. I think I'll give this courtier a go also, and the actual Queen after this one too.

[QueenGwenevere]

Um, are the deadlines officially going to be Sunday afternoon from here on? I've gotten so used to Monday afternoon, just wondering if I should readjust my brain to Sundays now... Or is it going to be different every time?

[Diantoga]

whoot! Got a few thumbnails and whatnot sketched out, all I need to do now is get this down onto some proper paper, and hope I get enough time this week to work on it...

[Gavage]

I remember reading.. somewhere.. that queens would (fairly) frequently have women with dwarfism as ladies in waiting and other close members of the court - either because they were almost seen as pets, or because their stature meant the monarch would always stand taller than them. Might be useful for inspiration.

Is this specifically for a queen? Ie, would the pampered mistress of a king be out of the question?

[NoShot]

Going for a classic pose/sketch style with a bionic twist. Not sure if her human forearm might be slightly too short

Edit: roughed in the legs. They kinda look wonky any suggestions?

[Josu]

we can go for any kind of queen, right?

so i'm going for the herald of the queen of ROCK! hell yeah

[hunchback]

heres some quick concepts O_O

hoping to feed off of the creative juices around here

[Diantoga]

Going for a classic pose/sketch style with a bionic twist. Not sure if her human forearm might be slightly too short

Edit: roughed in the legs. They kinda look wonky any suggestions?

Great detail! Your shading style is very similar to a friend of mine's...
Maybe instead of crossing them, you should have them plushed against each other with the lower half pointing to one side, like how posh women often sit

josu haha thats an awesome idea! Is he air guitaring on that flag pole by chance?

Hunchback looking interesting :o very gothic too, if thats what you were aiming for : )

[Ian Barker]

NoShot: Good start, but I'd like to see how exactly she serves the queen. Right now she could could be any random lady.

Josu: Neat idea, looking forward to see it develop! Watch out for the positioning of the guitar. With the only the head showing it's a bit awkward.

hunchback: Nice start, I think I like the mystic best so far although it's a bit unclear. Maybe you already do this, but you may enjoy using a random shape brush to come up with new ideas.

[Josu]

Diantoga thanks, ahah maybe i haven't really thinked about that

Liffey thank you, actually i already redo the guitar. was completly wrong

hunchback my favorite right now is the joker

[Define.]

Really wish I had a scanner at home, make it much easier to post progress. I'll be going for a very epoche feel as well. I just love what the word 'courtier' brings into my head. All I've been watching lately are 17-18th century costume films.

[NoShot]

small update. Fixed the leg issue

I'm thinking more of a high class court assassin, so I added a vial of some poison in her hand (pretty cliche, but I think it works). Now I need to figure out how to add more techy elements or maybe just ditch the bionic arm.

[Pinback]

I was always fascinated by early automatons and calculating machines, so I decided to design a clockwork courtier. A mechanical marvel built for the court by a renaissance genius, this automaton is well skilled in arms, music, and politics. This is thanks to it's elaborate network of tabulating ribbons, or something. Basically it's a mechanical Sir Walter Raleigh.

[Homerid]

Here's my first very rough sketch, I went with a futuristic version of a Roman Empire Magister Equitum (Master of the Horse), a courtier official serving as the queen's main lieutenant, and second hand in power.

[xvampire]

No_shot : wow very neat sketch
josu : hmm sexy, but isnt this is not about the main character rite?(queen)
hunchback : i love it! keep goin!!!!! i think im going with same direction too :p
pinback : intersting design!
homerid : goodstart, i!! cyborg horse? or fully mechanical horse?

rough doodle
now seems look like regular bodyguard but i ll try to make it more classy
ill start with dude on the right, will do detailed doodle based on this silhouette

[Grimwood]

Lurker, reporting for duty!

NoShot: Looks cool, cyborgs are always good xD Her left eye (right side of the picture) looks a little out of perspective, as if it were turned more toward the front than the side. Just wondering, is she meant to be bald? If not, her hairline is pretty high. If so, awesome

Pinback Your guy seriously needs a metallic clockwork codpiece

Quick thumbnail idea that I'm playing with currently:

Was wondering why my image was over the upload size... I forgot to set the colour mode back to RGB

[Zaelzar]

Here's mine so far.

[Josu]

ok enought for today.

REALLY early rendering, the hair is the most sucky thing right now, i know, i always leave it to the end

some ideas for the background?

[madhatter106]

Some interesting images, but I'd suggest people to keep the brief in mind...quoting daestwen, "men and women of the upper class who make up the Queen's close social circle."

When thinking courtiers, you could go many different directions - from grovelling toady to conniving schemer to dashing heroic. It runs the gamut from people like Sir Walter Raleigh to Madame de Pompadour to Cardinal Richelieu, to all those royals who used to watch Louis XIV get out of bed each morning.

I think the term "herald" may trip some people up - we're talking metaphorically heralding the arrival of Round 200, right?

[Ian Barker]

Pinback: I like the technique you use, I hope to see this retain a similar style in the final stages

Zaelzar: Looks interesting, but try to give it some context of being a member of the queens court. Looks like a random evil guy.

Homerid: Nice start. I'm interested to see what the background setting will be.

xvampire: Really nice sketches! I'm not exactly sure what the forms are but there are interesting shapes.

Grimwood: Cool to see the unique direction, looking forward to see you progress.

Josu: Actually the hair is my favorite part right now. It's a nice graphic element, wereas I feel like the rest of the body is still lacking in its definition of form. Here's just a quick example to show you what I mean with the graphical element. I'm not saying you should definitely go this direction, just an idea.