ChoW # 214 :: Koschei the Immortal

[BANDD]

corspufo - i'd say the second row first.. half teeth showig with holes in the cheeks... nice heads

my work sketch... i'll prob change it. i'm trying to get a creepy more than violent.... crits?

[Nightblue]

Mr. Gadbury: Love the lighting. The elongated shapes are also very creepy. Can't wait to see it finished.

malisa: Really dig the glowing ribcage. Cool progress!

corspufo: Great facial studies. Love the personality coming through.

arri-att: Very creepy color palette choice, and the tranquil expression on his face is coming out nicely.

silentkitty: The vibe feels really nice, can almost feel the night breeze. Nice shapes in the beards and the face.

tbaldree: Cool helmet! The character kind of has a prince of Persia vibe.

[toastergargletop]

I so want to get in on this CHOW, it would be my first; unfortunately i have a heap of work to do and not so much time to spend on painting.

Just one thing i found out though and i thought i would share it; Koschei's weapon of choice was an iron club.

hope that helps, even a little! with any luck i will have some actual art to post in a few days, but it sure is intimidating seeing the quality of some of the roughs!

[John McKenna]

It would seem that I'm actually painting this. It's like I'm compelled... I can't stop.....




(..He's looking at me right now...)

[tbaldree]

Day 2!
Tried to take some crits into account - more old-man, less orc. Redid back-right arm and went for an egg-on-a-chain thing - want to make it more ornate. Fiddled with dagger orientation and a touch of foreshortening. Took a stab at coloring and discovered I suck at it. Thank god it's on an overlay layer.

Onward and upward!

[Smolin]

Wow, there is a lot of talent on display here. I read up on Koschei a bit and was inspired by the idea that he is wildly temperamental. According to folklore, when he flies into a rage, he tears off his clothes and streaks across the countryside followed by crows and storms. Freaky-deaky. Trying to hit some of that energy in this first rough.

[lkjhgfdsa]

lkjhgfdsa

[shockowaffel]

@lkjhgfdsa:
Didnt your Veteran character look very similar with sight on the armor ?

[MasterTroglodyte]

Ehhh.. He even creeps ME out...

[JJacksonB]

All the other pieces are so good I feel kinda embarrassed to post mine, but I shall anyway as I've had so much fun doing it.

Here's what I have so far, any crit or advice welcome. I need it

[shockowaffel]

@JJacksonB:
Reference is the keyword.
If you dont know how to draw something or it somehow looks messed up, check out an image where it's done right.

In your case skeletons or horses.
Horse legs are not C-shaped. Look em up to get it right.
The same goes for the bone structure of the human body and of course proportions. How big is a horse ? for example.
There's nothing wrong with using references.

[Vaejoun]

Color.
Iam not quite happy with the overall lightning. Its not as convincing as it need to be... Somethings not right. Andy ideas ?

[ArtByManon]

Wow, there is a lot of talent on display here. I read up on Koschei a bit and was inspired by the idea that he is wildly temperamental. According to folklore, when he flies into a rage, he tears off his clothes and streaks across the countryside followed by crows and storms. Freaky-deaky. Trying to hit some of that energy in this first rough.

These are cool facts!!! I may well shred the cape on my dude a little - i was actually going to have his skirts blowing up too to show his dingle dangle

[ArtByManon]

Color.
Iam not quite happy with the overall lightning. Its not as convincing as it need to be... Somethings not right. Andy ideas ?

I'm not sure actually as the first reaction I had to your piece was 'ooOOOoooh' - its gorgeous. I love it! I love the washed out desaturated colours - really really effective. The face is fantastic. I"ll be voting for this one.

The face reminds me of the bit in Alladdin where he's stuck in the jail with that old man who turns out to be the evil dude. Same kind of crazy eyes and teeth and smile! Its ace!

[Vaejoun]

ArtByManon:
Thanks you and yes, Jafar in his "old man costume" was somwhat in my mind when I drew the first sketch. ^^ He is just so damn ugly.
And a lot of thinking about russian impressions, dracula and a little bit of king haggarth from "the last unicorn" went into this one.

Nice to know about that facts. I saw some pictures of him where he is nude, butt when I let him raid villages, I think he would take one or two other nice things with him. XD
The crows.. well thast a coincidence. I put it as a soulbox in and I thought: Man hes rotting, he must stink like hell, which would attract crows. ^^

[ArtByManon]

JAFAR!! thats it... forgot the name. And yeah, king haggarth.. wow he was scary (when i was a girl!), and i can see you've taken inspiration there too. Its really fantastic. I can't wait to see it finished.

Do you use photoshop or painter? I just checked out your website - lovely.

[silentkitty]

Vaejoun: The lighting actually doesn't bother me at all, I think it's pretty damn creepy the way it is. Really digging the face.

Got a little farther on mine, just starting to work on the background mainly. Changed up the cape a little.

[shockowaffel]

@Vaejoun:
I think he lost a bit of the happy face he had in the first sketch.
Just as a thought, maybe pointing out his other arm, holding the girl would be good.

[Vaejoun]

@ArtByManon: Thanks again.
I started with a pencil sketch, scanned and colored it in PS. But I should do that first step in painter, its way better for the first colorshemes and blends better.

@silentkitty:
The eye is always drawn to the point with the highest contrast. At them moment that would be the lowest part of his cape, where the light grey cape makes a hard edge to the almost black cloud.
Mabe you didnt work on that part yet, but keep it in mind. I imagine a moonlight coming through the trees just hitting his upper body.

[ArtByManon]

I wish i could use painter - but my mac just won't let it work fast enough for some reason, and i have a ridiculous amount of ram. I know that at some poitn i'm going to have to get a new computer!! ARGH!!
so for now photoshop is my friend.

[Vaejoun]

@ArtByManon:
Ever tried Artrage ? Its a cheap alternative to painter with a lot of options as well.

[ArtByManon]

Yeah, i have but I found it really difficult to work in for some reason - the way they set out the screen just was tricky. I might try it again though - but for the time being i am happy with photoshop. I only have CS4, but i've got some cool pretend oil effect brushes on there which are good, but to be honest - i think its pretty hard to tell the difference between the two visually unless one uses impasto brushes or the watercolour ones.

[(lark]

hey everybody!

never done a chow before, but i was up late with insomnia and decided to give this a shot and whipped up this sketch. not sure if I'll finish or not. but I'd like to. its a pretty neat round.

[shockowaffel]

I kinda worked on the sketch a bit.
But Im quiet sure I'll start all over again, because the pose or composition is nonexistant, but at least I got the focus point good this time.

[Monsieur]

Color.
Iam not quite happy with the overall lightning. Its not as convincing as it need to be... Somethings not right. Andy ideas ?

Hey, Vaejoun, I am by no means an expert in the matter, but as your initial sketch struck me as brilliant (by far the most iconic of the contributions so far) I will try to adress the issue you're having.

I would try to flesh out the character a little more. You could definitely tell a little bit more story if you showed some armor and background and whatnot. Also, even if the character theoretically lurks in the shadows, I'm not sure it really meets the 3/4 rule of the chow challenge since you cannot really see him.

As for the lighting I feel it's too dark, and the face reads poorly because of too much contrast – you should try to ease up the values in the cracks of the face. Try to figure out the shadow pattern a little better. As this is a horror piece find some references of underlighting to accentuate the creepyness.

Also, I would work a little more on the composition of the whole piece. Make some thumbs to figure out how to best present your character.

Good luck!

[lach-land]

Spent an hour on two sketches tonight-so far.
Ones got a ratty old furry bit on his tunic-and one of those medieval daggers that look like a cock(but I pushed it further still) so he could compensate for his age related inadequacy(still an old perv though).

The other is demonstrating his deathless ability.


Hey vaejoun - I like how yours is like vlad the impaler(particularly in the moustache) gone old and crazy....and with an exploded head.


a bit later 30 min+coffee
- added a Koschei in a moment of 'weakness'- .......or pervyness

[ArtByManon]

Lach i love the skirts on the one on the right - really great. And cock-like dagger? How could a young russian princess resist?

[ArtByManon]

I'm HATING mine right now - don't relaly know what to do. Thinking i might ditch the chick and stick with Mr K.

[lach-land]

I love your ideas,- not just on this chow either,
I like the ideas in your Koschei so don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

oh and those daggers are called 'bollock knives'

[ArtByManon]

I love your ideas,- not just on this chow either,
I like the ideas in your Koschei so don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

oh and those daggers are called 'bollock knives'

I actually literally laughed out now at 'bollock knives' - hahaha!!! so brilliant!!

I'm glad you like my ideas - I have lost alot of confidence wiht my fantasy stuff as i've spent SO much time doing traditional! I used to do creepy stuff ALLLL the time as a kid/teen and i lost it somewhere in the ether, and now i'm just super critical of myself and want to get the same finish i get with my traditional and so when i can't - i just go AAAAARGH!!!

Thank you for the slap - I shall continue and try to get it pulling together!