ChoW#275 :: Loa of Love

[meth]

@pixeltuner, i see you are doing almost every chow, and that's good, but one thing i have noticed, is that all of you yours characters looks the same, their faces, built, poses, etc.
Try something new, fresh, push your self a little bit. Get out of comfort zone.

M

[JamesWintle]

Erzulie Dantor

Nice starts so far, everyone.

[AzuraRiverja]

First time poster & participant, hopefully I did everything right. My art's been stagnating for the last few years so hopefully this can help me challenge myself and improve. I'm feeling a little out of my league though, everyone's look so expertly done. Can't wait to see more!

Anyway here's my sketch of Erzulie Freda. I was aiming for sad and possibly spoiled/haughty, girly & feminine/curvy while still retaining a fairly stereotypical voodoo flavor. Not sure if I want to keep the purple hair or not. Critique is welcome and appreciated.

[YoungBuddha]

Erzulie Mansur... maternal made me think of pregnancy, so this is my attempt.

[Mat Kaminski]

Was at school... couldnt stop thinking about this one.

[Pixeltuner]

@pixeltuner, i see you are doing almost every chow, and that's good, but one thing i have noticed, is that all of you yours characters looks the same, their faces, built, poses, etc.
Try something new, fresh, push your self a little bit. Get out of comfort zone.

M

I wish I had a comfort zone to fall back on :p And haven't you seen my last chow?

[meth]

@Pixeltuner, yep i did, well it is same build i must say(short legs and bigger hips), and pose is kinda stiff.

M

[Pixeltuner]

@Pixeltuner, yep i did, well it is same build i must say(short legs and bigger hips), and pose is kinda stiff.

M

No I meant the Prophet one? I thought that was a bit different, but maybe I'm not objective enough hehe. Anyway, I do have a certain way of composing my characters but that's more taste then comfortzone I guess. Maybe I should do a very toony one for a change. I used to do a lot of vector toon characters back in the day so that might be a good mix-up.

[AndreaC]

Haven't posted in a while, wanted to give this chow a go but the more i try coming up with a design the more i get confused about the style and lore of this goddess :l
So well, pretty lame wip

[Sakuranym]

Was at school... couldnt stop thinking about this one.

Some nice costume going on! I think your anatomy need attention, specifically on the legs. Your figure looks very unbalanced. Her head looks a little small and her arms too short. I tried to illustrate some ideas for you that might help with the anatomy and pose.

[meth]

@Pixeltuner, sure. I'll be here checking out, if you need help i can give you some advice

M

[Pixeltuner]

Better? ^_^ I kinda forgot how much fun a bit more humorous route could be..

[vandalfish]

Pixeltuner- That's so much more dynamic than almost everything I've see you do! By that, I don't mean the style. I just mean the pose and the proportions- which I think you could carry off in a non-cartoony style as well.

Also, I noticed a lot of people are incorporating skulls to get across the whole "voodoo" vibe, but in the case of Ezili Freda at least, I wonder at how well that represents her actual character. She's more about romanticism, vanity, and beauty. The skull is a cool motif, but kind of an easy fallback. Things to consider might be excessive shiny jewelry, bright feathers, elaborate makeup, mirrors, fruit; you get the idea.
Packet Kongo, the tribute bottles that are crafted as gifts to the loa, as well as voodoo altars would be good things to look at to figure out how to give the character a Haitian voodoo or deep South flavor without making her too stereotypical. Veve designs, decorated bottles, beads, bits of shell, Catholic iconography, re-purposed doll parts, and chicken feathers all feature prominently.

[meth]

second this ^^

M

[Pixeltuner]

Vandalfish: you're (and mateja as well) probably right. I kind of find myself mostly occupied with rendering and design instead of dynamics and tension in the pose while I'm perfectly capable of doing the opposite.. It's kind of lazy I guess, I don't know.. Thanks for giving me a well deserved kick up the arse though. That's how progress is achieved ^_^

[littlemonsters]

I wanted to depict Erzrulie Freda as a fashion model. Hope this doesn't infringe on the hot/naked rule... but I thought it would be fun.

[MasterTroglodyte]

So, pardon, but what exactly is meant or implied by "horses" as found in the wikipedia descriptions?? Just curious...

[AzuraRiverja]

So, pardon, but what exactly is meant or implied by "horses" as found in the wikipedia descriptions?? Just curious...

My understanding after reading around is that the "horse" is the person who is possessed by the spirit for the duration of the ceremony/ritual.

[b-dawg]

Here's a new pic of Erzulie Freda which I'll be coloring. Still struggling with her feet, that's the weakest area...


@Vandalfish - thank you very much for clarifying!

[orangus]

B-dawg- the feet look fine.I feel she'll fall over on the right though, she doesnt look very balanced.. I like the comp tho, nice

Here's my attempt at it so far.. crits are welcome..
In of the descriptions of Erzulie Freda I read she's got a knife stuck in her heart but she bears it with grace. I still have to work on that expression tho..

[Pixeltuner]

Trying out some different stuff ^_^

[LoftyNz]

@pixeltuner loving the flow of your second attempt!

heres my wip so far startin to build in the voodoo influences, heading down the caramel skinned blonde haired depiction of her, detailing is usually my downfall so will be workin hard to do that! hopefully finish this one

[blackrobin]

first WIP guys, probably Erzulie Balianne

[Funkykzu]

My WIP

[Disciplette]

I don't think I'll be able to finish this but I'll give it a shoot. I was going to go in the direction of the deep southern character rather than the over the top tribal style. Maybe I should be going in the opposite of what I should be doing. I was also going to do the granne ezrulie instead of the young love goddess.

[David Keen]

Hey guys, some really great wip's appearing for this topic. Here is what I've got so far, there is a lot more detailing to be done and tightening up the figure. Any crits would be very welcome!

@Pixeltuner: Really cool to see you breaking away and doing something radically different from your other work. I really like the second concept you did, the energy and movement in the figure is very effective.

@b-dawg: Your second drawing is hugely improved over your first attempt! There is a great voodoo vibe about the character without resorting to having a skull face which is a great achievement! I'm looking forward to seeing the next stage of your process.

@blackrobin: Cool sketch dude. Her expression makes her feel wise and dangerous, which seems very appropriate for a voodoo spirit. Can't wait to see the piece progress.

[Seablossom]

Hi All! Been about a year since I had the time to join in! Been almost that long since I had the time to draw too.....

I chose Freda due to time and all the info you can find on her as opposed to the others.

[AzuraRiverja]

here's my second WIP, now with some shading and a background. I opted for trying grayscale and adding color later. Might be more ambitious than I have time for, though, since I'm more accustomed to simplistic cell shading, but the point is to push myself, right?

[Funkykzu]

My WIP

[Drygrass]

Heylo! Been awhile, thought I better flex my fingers and get back in the game! Here's my current wip for Granne Erzulie. Going for a mix of southern/haitian/catholic influences. Granne is supposed to correspond with St. Anne so I'm trying to mix 'em up a bit in the design.