E.O.W Round #199: In the Dead of Winter

[Naevea]

Here is what I have till now...

[AdrianNagorski]

takashmen: Thanks your tip helped tons!!!!
your seems to be getting complicated! adleast you got most major shapes down

zelda_geek: im liking your lighting, cant wait to see more.

andrei313: very cool, i would got for a night scene,
where the cops flash_light is falling out of his hands as he slips as he falls. . . .

Naevea: what is the thing frozen on the bottom left?? it makes me think of trains fall out of tracks.



i'm sort of getting there . . .

[BenJackson]

Hey all, I created these two roughs, going with the theme of a city encased in ice.
I'm new to this site and though i'd give this a go.

I'm loving the designs by everyone so far, makes me work a lot harder. I'm not sure if i'll use either of these yet, might do a few more roughs.

[Pixeltuner]

Nice roughs Ben, and welcome

Don't ever ask me to finish stuff again because it only gets more ridiculous and senseless the more I work on it :p

[CassandreBolan]

I really want to brush up on nailing down an environment efficiently and fast, if anyone has any tips to share please do!
I started loosely and ended up with lots of spiky stuff. I think I may take "dead of winter" more literally and involve a skeleton somehow....skeleton Valley is sounding really catchy right now.

[phantomfrog]

Hi... My first contest participation... I did this really rough sketch to begin with. Thought i ll simply put down whatever comes to my head first thing and then refine it.

[Coool Brain]

Starting late. A very quickie. Let me know if its making any sense

[android411]

great topic and ideas everyone! here are 2 wips from me too...

[Vulgar`]

[CassandreBolan]

Two more WIPS for ya!
Decided to go with Skeleton Valley as a location name. I've been thinking about my backstory a bit too and decided that this would be what happened if Republicans elected a president. ok, only kinda joking...
02- extended the canvas to the left a bit, continued to render
03- added some photo refs for some huge skeletons
__________
CRITS:
Pixel Tuner- it's just awesome. love the color palette and the spine-like mountains in the background

AdrianNagorski- I really admired the first WIP. I think the limited palette (grays and red) was amazing for winter, and i liked that your brushstrokes were very assured. I think you lost a bit as you went on. The figure takes up a bit too much attention. Oh, and you changed the statues from animals to figures...both are great but I think my favorite was the animals

Nestoronfire- love how the mountain looks like its going to eat something, reminds me of a moray eel. I do wish that there was a bit more depth and interest in the background though.

Howie- I am drooling over the brushstrokes- remind me a bit of Gregory Manchess. Did you do that in Corel Painter or Photoshop?

marko markovic- looks cool. is the mountain metal? One thing-the village in the foreground is soft and fuzzy, the mountains in the background are sharp and in focus.

artiphats- I agree with the comment about the deer being too prominent and central, perhaps put it on the other side of the river bank and push the wolf back even further.

takashmen- your 100% opacity brushstrokes are cool and stylized and look awesome. But the fact that they are all the same size, and that the composition doesnt section off areas by blocks of value or softness makes it impossible to read distance. So- great as a fine art piece, but needs to be more easily read to be a concept art piece.

BenJackson- I like the sphere one. and the rainbow palette is unique-cool

android411 - great atmosphere. makes me feel cold for sure

Stay warm everyone!

[liquorbleu]

Hey guys' it's my second EOW, here's my work in progress. Seeking crits!! thanks!

[Sunseaker]

Hi guys, this is what I got so far. Not done a E.O.W before, or an environment at all really. I wanted to make it look like somewhere with seasons, in mid-winter, rather than a place that is always cold. Everyone elses is looking super badass in comparison though!

[hekatoncheir]

adrian: I think a rectangular composition may fit better, for widening the space up I mean. But then again.I may just be biased towards squares lol.

benjackson: Ahhh please tell me you're working on the bottom one-- because the bottom one looks super cool.I think you can push your darkest darks more. Contrast etc.

pixel: ... close enough. :|

Android: Bottom one bottom one! Great depth and feel...love the blue colour palette. Mountain could use more spikes

cassandre: I think you can make the bones jut out more and interact with the mountain sides. (like what you did with the far left skeleton). More of that protrusion to break things up a bit.

liquorbleu: cool name, also cool piece. Probably the only one who's doing a townscape. I think it can work, and you can push the contrast a little.

Okay so this is my final (if I don't update again)... crits would be nice and highly appreciated. I wasn't expecting to finish this early. :|

[hannesrahm]

Wow, so many cool designs!

Here is my take on Dead of Winter.


What do you think? Too much with both foreground monoliths?
What else can I improve?

[android411]

thanks for the comments everyone, so here is an update... I like the second one better too, so I worked on this one a bit more, trying to not messing it up


hannesrahm - very nice, I think that you could add some silhuettes in the background where the light is very prominent, just an idea though, I did a rough paint over of what I mean, I hope you dont mind

hekatoncheir - looks great, maybe you could add a bit more ice here and there to make it look more winterly
liquorbleu - I like the colors and composition so far, maybe try to break up the straight line of the snow where it meets the houses, my eye goes straight to the vanishing point right now

[Sandrei]

Work in progress, awesome entries everyone.

[Chris Sanders]

Hey guys,

Here's a WIP of my interpretation of the brief. Still needs a lot of work. Experimenting with the lasso and overlays.

[AdrianNagorski]

'With the little they had, the Monks in the Northern Fringes
hired a small troop of mercenaries to protect then from an unnameable enemy.
"I wondered off towards the outer perimeter on my own, the cold,
its in the dead of winter, who would attack these cloaks?" Constantly
freeing the blade from its leathery sheaf least it sticks, the rest seemed to be happily nested in the
crumbling western tower, drinking, hiding from the cold.
"After all who would invade a place like this?
It Seemed to have happened once before, what sort of religion is this anyways?"
The benevolence of the statues screamed to run in the opposite direction.'

My final:



comments, hope i didn't miss any body:


BenJackson: liking the bottom thumbnail with that dome. also i noticed you framed it with rocks not bad.

Pixeltuner: that monster is pretty creepee , show me more!!! the red banner i think is a bit detrimental to your composition.

coool_brain: i like it its definitely got depth, you might be able to do some great architecture designs with it.

android411: i like second thumbnail, and the update makes it look epic!

Sandrei: theme parks!-(first reaction), reminds me of a horror film, workers at the plant, i think darken the structures a lot?!

Chris Sanders: has a desert feel to it. i like the story that is generated by the figures and vehicle.

hannesrahm: what can i say i like Androids paint over, hope to see more.

hekatoncheir: i spent 20min steering at my image thinking about wide shot view, and your right! thank you sir
although i think its a bit late now for me anyways, i love yours and the way it looks like a oil painting
and the spirit on the left is well done. i think if you added more depth and contrast on the right wall for
space or like a cliff side that leads to the left/bottom of the spirit to show a cave? just brainstorming . . .

Sunseaker : frozen lake is great i like the composition, thought about adding a story
in, like a hole in the ice and people standing around it on the lake.

liquorbleu: im not sure but check your perspective on the middle, darkest building seems a bit too centered
its a great scene.


CassandreBolan: Thanks for your comment, im liking where your going with yours! nice composition, cant wait to see more!

phantomfrog: seems like the perfect set up for a dragon on the center pillar!!! YEAH!

Vulgar`: season 3 is coming! i'm excited about EOW200, just please no 'in the heat of summer' briefs!

[MasterTroglodyte]

Okay I see a lot of awesomeness thus far; and, I'm not really sure what to say by way of critique, since this is my first EOW. I'm at a point where I really don't know where to go. I've been trying a variety of brushes and then just playing w/ various tools but... well... yeah.

[hannesrahm]

hannesrahm - very nice, I think that you could add some silhuettes in the background where the light is very prominent, just an idea though, I did a rough paint over of what I mean, I hope you dont mind

Thanks dude! Interesting idea. Ill give it a shot!

At work now, but did some more testing last night after some crits from the awesomehorse facebook group:

Think it might have helped the composition a bit. And the light coming from the lightning-strike makes more sense.
I do think it lost something in the process, but not sure. What do you think?

/Hannes

[CassandreBolan]

hannesrahm - i love the striking simplicity. I think all it needs is a bit of context/story....maybe put a spaceship in or a human silhouette....something to hint at what's going on or what kind of place this is.

[takashmen]

slowly rendering

will write about story and some crit later

[takashmen]

crits crits

CassandreBolan
at this stage I think you should focus more on skeletons, vary them, maybe convey some of rocks into bones, also take into consideration direction of spikes I mean they should point focal point, drive viewer thorough the picture, at least 75% should play such role
liquorbleu
looks interesting, I think your work need some textures, good idea is to look for references like snow, walls, whatever you need, also don't forget about what the topic is
Sunseaker

what you should do is to learn how snows "behave" in surrounding, go thorough number of studies or paint while looking on photos, don't make it up, it doesn't work good
hekatoncheir
cool atmosphere, color scheme and textures, need more hard edges and clear shape, can't wait to see it finished!
android411
i like the first idea more, because the blues were broken by orange, but talking about the newest one maybe vary grounds more
MasterTroglodyte
if you stack, "don't be afraid to murder your darling" leave it behind as an experiment and start the new one
first of all start with thumbnails, post them here if you want, and remember if sth looks good as an thumb it will look even better as full size painting
AdrianNagorski very nice, keep it that way and the progress will come!

and in the endThe story the rocks are rising up, air temple is moving up, who will survive? COMING SOON

[DNVN]

There is some really awesome work in here, here are some drafts there were 5 but I narrowed it down to these three, I feel like I can take any one these to the finish and be happy. Now for the choosing....

[takashmen]

DNV
I'd go for last one, it has nice story behind
first of all I'd work more on gray scale, define focal point, highest contrast ( it doesn't mean that it mean to be black) define shapes
also think about composition, in terms of story telling

[Chris Sanders]

Thanks for the input, your right Adrian, screw the last one, not wintery enough. Here's a new piece.

[marko markovic]

CasandraBolan - maby to c

heck some references..or skyrim concepts...just for tekstures brushes!!!it reminds me of that and i think could be great your piece!!!
liquorbleu - maby try to find COrto Maltese in the sybir(CARTOON).... a lot of inspiration can find tAdrianNagorski you changed composition i think this one is better...adn atmosphere is really cool ....
BenJackson - those two wips are great...specially first one be carrefull with colours...i think not
Pixeltuner -i love the style as always....very original ...composition...and i feel cold air!!! which is great!
liquorbleu -try to find corto maltese carton in the sybir ....maby u will find inspiration ...great start anyway!!!
android411- first one is mine favorite !!!!brrrr!!! beautifull art it is!
Sandrei- great idea with station! very clear paint
Chris Sanders- i think you are on thre right way to make this paint very cold one!
MasterTroglodyte - maby it would be better to make dimension of the image more..
takashmen -i love the palette!








DNVN- last one is cool!
/////and mine update!....

[TSonline]

Here's a concept I'm working on

[Sunseaker]

Made some changes as per AdrianNagorski and Takashmen's crits. Seem to be playing more than learning. Ah well. This thread is making me feel cold.

[Sandrei]

Adrian Nagorski: I guess it does resemble some sort of theme park from afar lol. Thanks I think you are right about the buildings.
Marko Markovic: Thanks man, I think Im scraping it though.
New entry, scrapping the old one :/.