CHoW#243 :: War of the Magi

[matt kohr]

awesome stuff.... ooooo....

Here's my start... -- i'm thinking "b"...



and some progress:



and some more --- the face is coming back, don't worry

[Partisan]

thanks for clarifying it again Rinibee, and Matt I`m thinking B or E ^^

so getting started:

[Pixeltuner]

update. sharpening, detailing etc.

Partisan Nice start, his face looks a bit Emperor Palpatine-ish.

[dawnusllaw]

arrgh, can't decide which element to go with! Leaning toward Air/Water... Also want to stay away from the usual depiction of wizards in hats with long beards and such..

@Pixeltuner - I second Rinibee's statement, you always tear it up!
@Matt Kohr - B is good, but also D and E!

[DBed]

This CHoW looks fun, I think I'll throw my hat into the ring for this one. Here's some doodles I've started to figure out where I'd like to go. I think I'll pursue a LIGHT (LIFE) MAGE...

[Partisan]

update

[Gavage]

Pixeltuner: That dark mage is amazing! You've inspired me to go with my first idea and exaggerate some of the rank undead details on the concept.

[pixelfuture]

[Droog]

damn pixeltuner, that wip just made me want to enter this. nice work!

[OfficialLamp]

@matt korr - I'm loving your process on this. I'm definitely going to give sketchup another look at. Which element are you going for? I'm sensing water or air, but that could be because the drawings are blue. 'B' for water, a combo of 'C' and 'E' for air.

@pixeltuner - The staff is pretty wicked and right on theme. Although, I'm a bit weary of the magenta-pink colour. It's a smidge more cheer then it is poison, if you understand what I mean.

@DBed - Always enjoyable to see people's beginning doodles on these. I like staff 2 the best because it makes me think of a sun more, though be careful not to make it too fiery.

@Missile - Oh man, have you got that death feel down! It feels very sickly and I love that. I'm thinking a more intense spotlight would be really wicked.

As for me, I'm totes going for water magi. I want to render me some waves (which I will soon regret). Hopefully I'll get some work to post by the end of the day.

[jacobanderson]

Here is my start.

[Partisan]

taking a break so state of affairs:



enjoy, see you all tomorrow
Seb

[jacobanderson]

Here's a WIP:

[APW]

Matt- i looove love love LOVE the composition ur rocking on C!

hope i have some time to get in on this action!

[Kei Abdene]

I'm going to try this out. Took a while to settle on an idea but now I got the rough composition down

[jacobanderson]

Another WIP

[Ashgrieve]

Just throwing in my first wip. Still alot of work to do, I'm not happy with the composition yet. Staff is just a placeholder squiggle. The dark squiggles to the left will hopefully become evil minions of Doom (tm).

[Pat Thompson]

Sweet topic. I've been having lots of fun designing this one so far.

Here's my basic composition layout. Still brainstorming their clothing, staves, faces, etc. This piece will be a water magi vs. a fire magi (obviously). Will make the water look like a wave, spear-headed by a chinese-style dragon/lion head. The fire will be spearheaded by a phoenix head, in keeping with the whole ying-yang feel of the composition. bg will be of some washed out clouds.



gldr: i love how the composition is looking so far, I'm excited to see how it'll turn out. but which element is lightning? air? light? water? I'd almost think light is more appropriate for a category, since it's the most open for interpretation.

Dbed: love the light storing vambrace and shin guards, great idea!

rob powell: love your adaptation to the death category. but why only one piece of human anatomy? perhaps adapting both arms to meet somewhere in the middle? like a feathered human arm, with stiff feathers for fingers so he can hold that staff? is he naturally in this shape, or did he transform into a raven?

la fairy: what element is this girl? and is there a reason she's licking her magic staff? i could see a villain doing that to taunt an enemy. or if i just kicked the butt of my victim, broke his staff, and then taunted him by licking it right before finishing him off. makes me think of Lurtz vs. Aragorn in LotR #1.

Millz: loving your design. reminds me a lot of Diablo 3 characters, which ain't bad in itself. perhaps look that way for inspiration if you need.

how did pixelturner do that so quickly?! makes me feel so inept, lol. inspiring me to get back to work!

[Blankstate]

Before getting into any actual character or compositional design my take on this chow would be to focus first on the element and the staff. Thinking of going with earth myself. I figure that's probably one of the least popular elements (that and light) so it would be challenging to make it cool.

jacobanderson Dang it! I really didn't think anyone else would choose earth. looking good though.

[jacobanderson]

Another WIP
I'm having trouble with whether the fawn communicates life or nature/earth more.

[Blankstate]

jacobanderson Which way are you wanting to take it? Life or Earth?

[APW]

well.. at least i got something down
haha im new to digital art and photoshop.. i usually role with good old ink
crits and comments welcome

[jacobanderson]

jacobanderson Which way are you wanting to take it? Life or Earth?

To be honest, I was thinking of life the whole time I was doing this.

[Matthew Campbell]

Here are my initial thumbnail sketches. I still haven't decided which one of these, if any, to develop further. Any suggestions?

[Blankstate]

jacobanderson Ooooh, k, then I think you're on the right track. I associate animals more with life/light and plants more with earth. Which is why I thought you were doing earth at first. Maybe incorporate some shining/glowing light effects into your image. Example: around the fallen/dead deer as it's being revived/brought back to life.

Some Initial compositional scribbledy poop.

[Choob]

Pixeltuner - Awesome as always man, the face and staff are great.

Partisan - Looking very biblical, like Moses. Great composition, can't wait for the final.

And Rinibee, nice theme, I like how it's not a very open one, and really makes people think about the design constraints.

[jacobanderson]

WIP:
I changed the composition of the deer to something I felt worked better.


*edit*
I also realized I didn't want the mage of life to seem so old.

[Blankstate]

jacobanderson That does work better.

And a bit of actual character design I just threw together. Definitely a battle mage of sorts.

[jacobanderson]

blankstate
That looks awesome. I'm a fan of the cloth wrap around the face.

[Reedux]

Sweet! Was sketching some figures and this popped into my head, thought it was fitting to the ChoW and kept going
Hide your kids and pray he doesn't knock on your door.