CHow#251 :: Steampunk Coppélia

[Highland3r]

mr. gadbury, i think he mentioned bioshock because of the birdlike mask of your doll.

link

[vibhas_virwani]

@tawnos : Thanks a lot ! . i was thinking of belly dancers , they do all sorts of tricks with swords while dancing !!

[SaintLConcept]

lol so thats where it came from

[Rachel Pierce]

This chow is proving to be difficult for me. I have the idea for the character down and could paint her and her joints for hours but none in regards of how to present said character as an illustration. I have put her in literally a dozen poses and composition ideas but none have made me v. enthusiastic about the piece as a whole and I only end up frustrated.

This is what I pieced together, but enthusiasm is lacking.

[GEB]

Hey guys some great stuff in here again. Just wanted to share some ref with peeps. I don't know if any of you remember this Bjork video but it was very beautiful. I reckon if you swaped the plastic for porcelain and the black metal for brass you'd be onto a winner! Also ghost in the shell would be great doll like ref. Anyway here you go

[vibhas_virwani]

@Rachelpierce : I like your work so far , maybe think about the characters story for a bit ? Who is she ? does she have a personality , a character ? why is she like that ? did the mad inventor make him like that ? what is she doing in the scene exactly ? a performance with an audience ? such a storyline might help for an illustration idea . hope it helps ... i think i should apply all that to my own painting as well though

[GEB]

Just did a really quick sketch as I think this is a great topic

[Gadbury]

Geb that head design is awesome, I love the porcelain and brass, very Victorian

[CrownLullaby]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj5gcLDsnRk Thought this was very appropriate! Enjoy.

[Leo Ki]

EDIT: GEB - Stunning head design! /EDIT

Rachel Pierce - The contorsionist idea is already a great part of the originality of your design. I don't think you have to paint a whole scene, especially if you don't feel like it.

RedPen - Looks nice. I'd welcome a bit more technostuff to her though.

fragmentedchimp - I don't understand what she's doing with her arms

SaintLConcept - There's a healthy dose of fun in her design. But could you ask her to put on her mask quick please XD

snippet - The position is a bit awkward, maybe because of the knees that cling to each other and the face that reads like slightly fightened.

Caspia - Good start. Making her cold hearted is an interesting way, especially for a robot.

vibhas_virwani - She does look doll-stiff. When I looked up steampunk dance I hit a saber belly dance too

I'll post more crits later.


Here are my preliminary sketches. I was too tired to post them yesterday but I'm not happy at all with them today. I first imagined Coppelius the Geek had a crunch (EDIT: forgive my English, I meant "a crush") for "Asian dancing" and made his doll according to how he vaguely fantasied it. He also had a Chinese automaton. Problem is, Swanilda should be able to pretend to be Coppélia for the story to work. EDIT: The redness on her chest and throat is the "furnace" that shows through.

[Caspia]

GEBThat's really gorgeous. The jewelry reminds me of india which is appropriate for victorian era steampunk I suppose. Would be an interesting mix to see.
Leo KiI really like the concept of a very organic looking robot doing something so very machine like. If you can't think of expressing the steam or fire effectively you could always just have her lips parted and have a coal engine glow coming from it?

Blurgh. Chucking out another idea. Not happy with anything still. More obviously machine like than the other but this is turning into an illustration, rather than a design.

[Eofn]

You guys may want to check out this site at is was partcially the inspiration for this weeks topic: http://www.enchanteddoll.com/

Not only great for inspiration but also reference for joints, porcelain tones etc. Also if you have the time, check out Volks BJDs, Obitsu 60 and Pullips..... A very good source for doll references.

[no87]

GEB that is sooo goood man!!

been playing with a few steam punk ideas. not really sure about it at the moment

[Gadbury]

mr. gadbury, i think he mentioned bioshock because of the birdlike mask of your doll.

link

Ah right yeah - I love the venician masks!

update - Think I'm going to call this finished, might tweak a few things before Sunday

[Craig Paton]

Rachel Pierce - I think your character would look awesome with long white hair. Have you tried giving her hair?

GEB - Fantastic head design.

[FunnyFace]

Love the topic, glad I caught a steampunk one before they go out of fashion.



Some comments on the entries so far:

Mr Gadbury Wonderful how your depiction of the room really sets the mood. I would like to see the feet of the characters, not just because, but it looks a bit like she has a peg leg.

vibhas_virwani Very nice exotic take on the subject, really looking forward to the final rendering.

GEB Beautiful portrait, brings tears to my eyes, the good kind.

no87 I like the idea with the hoses and pipes as puppeteer strings. But watch the length of her arms and legs, they come off a bit simian now.

Leo Ki The more femme fatale designs you have going there looks interesting.

Rachel Pierce Beautiful drawing as always. I agree with adding hair but for some reason I think metal hair would fit better.

Dreoilin Love the scene and the potential detail. This can be awesome, excited to see where it goes.

[Aly Fell]

Mr Gadbury, - I second FunnyFace's comment. The cut at the ankles is really uncomfortable. It's a great image otherwise!

[Artfix]

You guys may want to check out this site at is was partcially the inspiration for this weeks topic: http://www.enchanteddoll.com/

Not only great for inspiration but also reference for joints, porcelain tones etc. Also if you have the time, check out Volks BJDs, Obitsu 60 and Pullips..... A very good source for doll references.

Wow this site is giving me the jibblies big time. Does this not creep anyone else out?? These collectors...I dunno maybe I've seen too much TV but...I wouldn't turn my back to them. I'm gonna post artwork I swear! Maybe...

[yakkman]

Well I think I might put in on this one
Portfolio

[Caspia]

*insert something informative here*

[fragmentedchimp]

Cool stuff, i like the raptor legs hidden under the cake dress, i'm prety sure its not actually called a cake dress.

I get you leo, they looked a little off, that ought teach me to get some thumbnails out first.
hells bells geb, thats a pretty good looking face, looks so convincingly fragile..
awful update, i've got a feeling its going to get rehauled 1000% , not digging the style its popped out with, it tends to happen every so often... maybe it rings steam punk to me.

oh and some electric sheep.

[JSpayde]

Here is my concept so far. I hope I can create an illustration by next week's deadline. Nice work so far everyone.

[theUNKNOWNsketcher]

very nice GEB

[Mr. Corlan]

@RedPen - Double thanks for that post, that really got my brain going

@Rinibee - Those dolls are amazing! Check out those knee joints! I don't know why I didn't even think about porcelain.

@Rachel Pierce - I liked her on the floor better. It seemed more believable. What if you just did something simple like a dark stage with her spotlit? You could put some sort of pattern on the floor maybe. Something along these lines:



It would also be a lot more three-dimensional if it wasn't just a dead-profile. Maybe turn her upper body so you can see some of the front planes - it doesn't have to be much.

There's going to be some awesome entries this round!

Heres my preliminaries. I feel like a bit of a sleazeball just cut-and-pasting photo references, but I plan to do this in oil paint so I'll have to redraw everything anyway. Tryin' to be all hardcore about this. We'll see how it goes.

The photo-refs and my subsequent paintover. There will be more gadgetry.

[Jager]

cool topic

[Mistermike]

great stuff form everyone so far starting to make progress on mine, not sure if the colours on the body are strong enough though

[KittyKaida]

cool topic, really neat entries so far guys,

I'm glad to get to do another chow, been out of town and started a new job too!

so.. sketched this out last night, fiddling around in painter today...

[mongreldesigns]

I was thinking of the robot waiting in the wings.

[kissorkill]

Heres my take so far.

[JanJager]

Mr. Corlan
Good use of photos. Looking great.
JSpayde
Nice
fragmentedchimp
I like the dynamic sketch and idea. Be careful to get the shape of the uttermost leg correct.
Caspia
Interesting composition. I like the design and colors. After setting the design I think you should work on the shape and colors of the shadows.
FunnyFace
I like the colors why not have little more space to the left.
Mr. Gadbury
Awesome!!!
no87
Nice idea. Watch the length of her arms.
Leo Ki
beautiful sketches. Very promising.
GEB
brilliant. genius combination of china and I-rbots. Beautiful.
Rachel Pierce
Very nice. I like the idea with the shadow but perhaps dampen it a bit.
RedPen
Coming good. Nice details in the design.
SaintLConcept
I like the idea and composition Looking forward to see you render it out more. Perhaps highlight the face in her hand a bit.
vibhas_virwani
Beautiful Nice details
Caspia
I like the composition.
ssandulak
Great sketches
Dreoilin
Good start
Jager
Great
Mistermike
Very storytelling

Sorry for not crating all.