TEAM CHAL: Team Alpha Lasso

[AdrianNagorski]

THe TeAm:

1. Zelda_Geek
2. Trespasser
3. Saramel
4. Adrian Nagorski

[AdrianNagorski]

Hello team, thought I'd do a quick character design idea, for
the Homeland challenge.

we got to pick adleast 4 categories any ideas which we should do???

i'd like to do the EOW, CHoW, IDW . . . .

[zelda_geek]

I did some brainstorming last night. Not many good ideas, I do like nr. 2./2a. though.

There are many possibilities...
...SHARE YOUR IDEAS!

Edit: AdrianNagorski. I was thinking (EOW or IOW), CHow, IDW and COW.

[AdrianNagorski]

i like the combination of mid age Asian (Samaria) splashed in with steam punk elements you
got going Zelda_Geek; yeah man lets do all FIVE !!!!!!!!!

we just gotta find a common direction first i think. otherwise we just brain storm of a day or two and decide what works best??

i was thinking tribal native splashed with sci-fi post apacoliptic,
like the female i posted, but she doesnt look that tribal tho.

over all we should mash these together some how???

[zelda_geek]

Nah, I don't think we should mix too many genres and styles.
Maybe we can take two and mix them together to create something unique.

I like the tribal native idea of yours. Perhaps we can base the designs on the Ainu people, indigenous people of Japan? Perhaps the village gets attacked by a monsterous creature or machine and the guardian has to protect his homeland.

[AdrianNagorski]

ok, they seem to have this islander type feel to them (the tribe.)
its cool, i actual tried to do African Zulu's straps anyways . .

the homeland being invaded by alien machines, and the guardians rise up against them? i really wanna go for tribe splashed with sci-fi elements.

but like keeping the two genres distinct in one design is gonna be fun!!!

[Trespasser]

zelda_geek, I agree with you. We could do a mix between your var. 2 (I like it too) and something tribal.

Will do some thumbs later...

[Rob Powell]

You guys are awesome!!

[Vulgar`]

You guys are awethumbs!

[Saramel]

Thank you AdrianNagorski for allowing me to join your team!

I'm excited to start brainstorming with you all - great thumbs, zelda geek!

[AdrianNagorski]

Saramel: your welcome.

so a speedy sculpt robot IDW idea inspired by Zelda's 2a thumb.

me so messeeee . . . .

[zelda_geek]

AdrianNagorski: It feels too organic to be for IDW. It needs to be more mechanical; made of different parts. I like the alien machine idea. Maybe the alien machines use people/dead bodies for fuel and is why they go around and kill people and destroy villages? Or we could make the aliens the creatures and save the industrial for something else?

Anyway, I did this color thumb of the character (please ignore the bad anatomy and perspective, haha)
If anyone wants to paint over and come with ideas that would be great.

[Saramel]

Ok, a couple ideas keeping with the tribal/ancient oriental theme of those photo refs - a female as well, in case we aren't married to the idea of a male guardian. And an attempt at a creature design - a cricket-dragon mount... Anyway, just some real rough stuff to help with the brainstorming. This is tons of fun!

[Trespasser]

zelda_geek, haven't seen your post, but I sketched something quite close. I used your photo references of the Ainu people... And I also kept the design of the drawing itself similar to yours, it's very convenient.

The most challenging part is choosing a strong silhoette for a character. I thought of emphasizing the upper body

[Trespasser]

I have just re-read the rules and concluded that the only possibility to show the enemy in the painting (robots, alien invaders, etc) is putting it into the illustration or the panels, because the character, the creature, the environment and the industrial design must be the part of the homeland. Am I right?

P. S. Saramel, I like the mount :) The characters are a bit generic and don't seem to be able to guard. But this feature surely can be developed...

[Saramel]

Trespasser - nice sketches - I love the shoulder 'feathers', and you are right that mine are a little plain... I have this new design (still based on some of those photo refs), it may still be pretty generic - it's a little hard to get outside the box when I'm so rusty!

As for the ID, I just sketched out an idea of this huge weapon that's all ancient (yet high tech) and covered in ivy, and the guardian needs to climb up it and activate it cuz it's "the only way!" or something. (p.s., I realize I didn't make it that incredibly huge, not very impressive compared to his size... it would be cool bigger, too.)

just some more very, VERY rough ideas.

[SMILEFACE]

RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaAAAAAAAOOOOOORRRRRRSS SSSOME XDXDXD

[AdrianNagorski]

We gotta come together . . . . . . .

Hi guys, i thought i'd take this opportunity to try and do one of those
team boosting morale rants, hopefully i don't come across as to much of a d*ck!
PLEASE be brutally honest at all times, the truth is always better. .. . .

we must come to a consensus

1. direction - theme?

i think story plays a big part in this, in my mind i have this lush green,
japan highlands/ jungle like environment envisioned with if you imagine amazon tribes living in these
areas, with advance + primitive architecture, like tree top homes and such, they dress like tribesmen,
live like tribesman, simple lives, but they have advance tech at there
disposal that they hardly use but exists in there time, like sitting by the camp fire, and they'll have a pc
lying around next to it cables exposed and dust build up. The tribes are attacked by either alien machines or aliens.
i like Saramel's idea of a ancient cannon, a old but high tech line of defense, also imagine the canon being on a cliff
and a entire community of huts build on the side of the cliff and around the cannon.
i'd like to hear your ideas???

2. workflow:

should we all work on one image (topic) at a time?
in which case one of us should take the Art director mantel
i think Zelda_Geek's got the most skills to do that.

OR

divide the work load amongst us, with an agreed upon theme/direction and then every
couple of days critique each other
on the progress we have made.
also depending on each other strengths + weaknesses
passing psd's around. . .



Zelda:
literally spend most of today trying to repaint your painting Zelda! into
a different action pose, i'm a little frustrated to say the least, very cool lighting
you got going but it reminds me of a tutorial by Jason Chan with a very similar set up (composition).
also design wise i like everything but the straw hat, personally
the ainu people the males have a very cool rincle effect on there skin/faces,
hairy as well. anyway
one of your thumb nails 2a i think the character is right in the camera, and
a lot of story due to the background.

[Trespasser]

My thoughts on this:


1. theme

Lush green highlands/jungle environment is OK with me, and I suggest that the environment should be extremely beautiful and peaceful, something that one would want to protect :) I don't know about advanced tech, though. It's very difficult to mix tribesmen and hi-tech and get believable and natural result. I would like to hear what the rest of the team think.
An attack by aliens, though a cliché, seems satisfactory :)


2. workflow

Certainly we all can't work on the same image, it would slow the process greatly, and we would never come to agreement. But I guess zelda_geek could still be our Art Director, that's a good idea :)
Maybe we can split in pairs, or just everyone would choose a 'specialization' and show the workflow in this thread.
Before that we still need to develop a story behind all that, some direction for the team. I guess we were doing just that and we should go on.

About strengths and weaknesses: I would prefer doing illustration or environment, because character design or creature design don't seem to be my strong suit. But I don't really have any strong suits, so maybe it doesn't matter :
)

[zelda_geek]

Saramel: I like the gun/cannon. Once we have an environment to put it in, I think it will be awesome.

1. theme
All the character thumbnails illustrate people wearing clothes.
Therefore I think it would be weird to put them in a tropic climate.
Perhaps temperate climate fits better.

I agree with Trespasser that we should keep the technology relatively low-tech. That means no electronics etc.

I don't mind the alien idea, but as Trespasser mentioned it can't be the creature design so they must be shown only in the illustration (unless we do more than one creature design)

2. workflow
We could start out seperately, but eventually we have work together. Whenever someone wants input they can post it here and ask for input.
Then an other person jump in and fix errors, add details and things like that. It's important that the images have somewhat similar style and execution. Plus, I don't know about you, but I tend to get bored of a picture when I've worked on it too long.

I think we should design the environment next. Once we have that, it's easy to put the creatures and industrial stuff in that environment.

I used Trespasser's character design and applied it to the sketch I did yesterday. I'm not sure how it will work yet, but once we get the other stuff going I hope we'll be able to tell...

[Trespasser]

zelda_geek, I really like your interpretation. Concerning the character, we should also think about the style that we want — would it be realistic or more comic/anime/fantasy/whatever? In addition, almost all sketches that every one of us has done show just an inhabitant of some place, a dweller, a representative of the people, but not a guardian. The purpose of the character must be easily read. He (or she) should have some dreadful weapon, maybe a shield too, and (arguably) be massive and have a dangerous look.


As for ideas for the environment, I gathered some pics for inspiration. Most of them are photos of the taiga (with some exceptions).

[Trespasser]

Three different charachter silhoettes and a quick environment sketch over the photo I posted earlier. Mountains, forests and complex wooden buildings connected with bridges and ropes

[Saramel]

I'm glad you guys like the cannon idea - I like the idea of having it on the edge of a cliff!

Ok, so, I'm not very good at environments yet, but since that's what we're working on right now, here's what I got:

just a little sketch of a small village in a pine forest - I know four buildings doesn't really constitute a village, but in a forest, the village might need to be spread out a bit, if they don't want to interrupt nature too much. Again, not real great at environments, but I'm working on it.

Thanks for the pics, Trespasser - they were my inspiration.

Anyway, doing studies of trees and and landscapes in my sketchbook, but it's definitely not my strong suit at this time.

[Saramel]

Zelda Geek, that painting is looking beautiful - I couldn't really see it well on my phone earlier, but now that I'm home from work, the colors are amazing!!

[AdrianNagorski]

im gonna take another crack at your character design Zelda,
over all its just the pose as Trespasser mentioned he doesnt look like a guardian, but i think a alert combative pose might change that,
i like the sereen calmness atmosphere, a very peaceful flavour,
but i'll do my best, at this stage its just ideas.
edit: just added a speed pose idea i was thinking off

anyway in the mean time, great ideas T+S, thought i'd do a quick eviro mash
obviously needs tons of work. . . .

[AdrianNagorski]

creature idea inspired by Saramel

i was thinking wasps are SO japan and after seeing Saramels
rider creature , i brainstormed a bit
what do you guys think??

[Trespasser]

Guys, check this out: illustrations by Gennady Pavlishin. They show appearance and clothes of the Ulch, the Nani people, the Nivkhs — the inhabitants of the region of the Amur River estuary. Hope you find this inspirational

[AdrianNagorski]

Trespasser: great find!!! some great art, makes me want to use that sort of theme/style
on some of the creature design.

Saramel: Since the cannon was your idea, would you like to try to design it for like the IDW part??

Zelda_Geek: any comment about the pose idea??

thought I'd do the Creature design part, I'm sort of fixated on the wasp/dragon mount ride.
any comment or opinions about it???

in the mean time some studies.
COME ON GUYS lets pump it

[Saramel]

I'd love to take a crack at the industrial design for the cannon - it's not something I do often, but I'd like to try! I will be out of town this weekend, but I should have internet access... although I probably won't be able to get sketches up until I get back. I'm really excited about this, I think our idea is coming together very nicely

[Saramel]

AdrianNagorski - the mount is looking awesome - I'm looking forward to seeing what our guardian looks like on a huge wasp dragon!