CHOW #311:: Post-Apocalyptic Santa

[Havok Reed]

Character of the Week #311
Post-Apocalyptic Santa
Deadline - Sunday, December 30 10PM GMT


The world has been destroyed but not the hope that resides within every survivor. Christmas is still celebrated to keep everyone's spirits up and to look forward to the future. Santa is one of these survivors and still brings happiness to all the young kids living in these hard times. With his original workshop destroyed he had to rebuild another one with what he could, that includes his magical sleigh!

We want you to come up with a Santa that fits this time period. Think about what he might have to use for a sleigh until the world gets back together. He may be slightly better off than the normal people, but he has also fallen onto hard times. Be sure to depict this in your design as you plan, sketch, and paint.

This will be a 2 week long project because of the holidays. I'm sure everyone will be busy, so do the best that you can!

This will be a fairly open topic, the only thing we want to see is that this is, indeed, Santa Clause.

The Guidelines:

• Must be human male.
• You have 2 weeks to work on this.
• Post-Apocalyptic time period.

The Rules

• Finals must be posted in the finals thread before the deadline
• Final post must include the CHoW number and the artists username at the bottom of the image
• At least 3/4 of the character must be visible
• At least two wips posted in the finals thread
• Background is optional
• Have fun!

[Apokalyxe]

Oh my god.
This is amazing.
I must attempt it.

[Fiammama]

How hilarious! I just sketched something like this out in my non-digital sketchbook after returning from Santacon last night! Awesome!

[MasterTroglodyte]

I figure this Santa's a rascal. A curmudgeon, even. Like he'd sooner kick you in the groin than eat your homemade cookies.



This is Santa after most of his slave elf population is decimated; hence, fewer grandiose, sugar-laden meals; also, fewer gofers. I envisioned him hitchhiking as an alternative to the elegant sleigh—don't ask me he gets around the world in one night—but I don't know if that's a good idea in a post-apocalyptic world.



This is kind of a spin on the darling Coca-Cola santa. I wanted it to look like he's bringing a package but it's more like he's swiping it.



All of the above still need embellishment. There's something "Santa-esque" about them, but ah.... I dunno.

[chuckly]

Early Ideas,
Black Snow, Fallout, Famine,

Bandits , mutations... distinct lack of Yuletide cheer

[Pixeltuner]

Rudolph the red-nosed mutant ^_^
Just a fun little sketch.

[elephant´s stroke]

Great sketches so far.
Pixel that is a very fresh sketch, i like a lot the mood and lighting, but mostly the spontaneus strokes are giving it a lot of life to the scene...cool sketch. Maybe using this as a base you could develop and polish the idea, though not sure that if that is your original intention.
Chucky, the little concept at the botton has a lot of potential!
MasterTtroglodite, I think something in the lines of the first and lats ideas can work, the one at the middle i don't know.

[mcreation]

my very first sketch, santa lost all his crew, including his reindeer, so he had to reinvent to still make the kid happy, well, very inicial idea, that ill work mmore later

[Primordial Seven]

Just to be completely clear, is magic out the window?

[Animare]

So Santa is now a keen engineer, since all his elves died he's had to make the gifts himself and he's learnt a few useful things to aid himself on Christmas eve.
He built a giant mechanical bird called Rudolph jr. (Rudolph forsaw the the apocalypse coming and bailed like all the other smart animals)
The bird carries the massive sack of presents and Santa's chair. Whilst in mid air the presents come down long pipe to Santa and he attaches them to a flying propelled thingy.. And it makes it's way to the kids home. Viola xmas is safe for another year.

[NickyBeats]

no real design yet, just sketching and hoping one will come to me...

[Pkun]

This in me first time with chow.

Let's go!

I started with four different ideas.



But finally i chose the fourth.

[Havok Reed]

Just to be completely clear, is magic out the window?

Could you be more specific?

[Hyunjae]

sounds like a fun concept
heres my first stab at it. I think i need more post-a feeling and less sci-fi. The tube on arm is supposed to attach to a bag of gifts.

[mcreation]

one more for today, tomorrow color!!

[El_Khan]

Cool one !!! perfect for this season !!

Super sketchy concept and first stage lineart !!

[zenarion]

Awesome topic.
I'm having troubles setting for a theme of this Apocalypse.
Natural disasters? Alien invasion? Infernal outbreak? Cthulhu awakened? Zombies? Meteor crash? Nuclear war?
Here's what I got for now.

[Animare]

Al-Kgan I really like the second camera angle

Santa update

[Pkun]

I started with the color and i put a deer.
Much work remains.

[Ninja Adi]

Tried to stay away from the traditional santa with his big red suit and godly facial hair
Here are some thumbs so far:

[Bjulvar]

Perfect mix of themes! It felt both hilarious and surreal having a serious discussion about Santa Clause in the wastelands!

Here's a pretty rough concept of my idea. Haven't started thinking about any illustration yet.

[El_Khan]

MasterTroglodyte: I think The first one will look better in a post-apocaliptic setting.

Chuckly: Love the concept so far !

Pixeltuner : does he gives presents to mutant tentacles now ? lol
funy one, mutant rudolph rules !

mcreation : I dont really see a "post-apocaliptic santa" there

Animare: i like the idea but not sure about the design , seems weird to me
that the bird is up there and santa like hunging down on a chair.
but is still too sketchy to say. the santa looks cool so far.

Pkun: I think the 1st one showed more the concept of a
"pocapocaliptic santa".

Hyunjae: thats a badass weird santa XD .. the kids migth not be eager to hug him.
anyways, i think he is starting to look something else than santa ,
try to keep some key element to recognize him. the colors, beard, etc...


Bjulvar: thats a badass santa too ! looking good

[ArtbyAntB]

Hey guys!!! Im so glad that this one is a 2 week character or I would have missed it!!!!
@mastertroglodyte- Love the 1st sketch the personality in it is awesome.

@chuckly- I like the theme that Santa would have to wear a gas mask. Definitely fits the theme.

@Pixeltuner- looks like Rudolph got the worst of it lol. good sketch!

@Pkun- Im digging his beard a lot. Good character.

@Hyunjae- very out of the box design. cant wait to see it finished.

@mcreation_ That sleigh is sweet!!! double check the proportions on your Santa though.

@El_Khan- I'm really diggin yours. We seem to be going the same route.. (bad ass Santa)

@zenarion- awesome thumbnails. Looking forward to which you decide to go with.

@animare- Your santa is definitely unique.

@bjulvar- Im diggin Santas threads and hairdo. keep it up


For mine I was thinking, If the world ended Santa would of had to evolve into a bad ass Santa who probably had to kill a shit ton of zombies to deliver his presents to the few good people left. I couldnt get a handle on the sleigh, Hopefully I can pull it together. Hope you guys like it. Not sure if I'm digging his boots anymore either:/

[Migsta]

Had to try this one.

[Ninja Adi]

I've decided to go for a more realistic approach - a solitary wanderer of the wastes handing out supplies to those in need. The post-apocalyptic setting i've chosen is a little less radioactive, and a little more 'natural disaster-y'.
Also, can't figure on the colours too well - i'm trying to make a dull overcast day, but don't really know how to get the shading right without making the whole thinglook flat.

[Primordial Seven]

Just to be completely clear, is magic out the window?

Could you be more specific?

I'm mostly thinking about something like resources. Probably the average person in a post-apocalyptic world can only scavenge whatever they can find but could this Santa magically conjure whatever machine or material he wanted just so long as it's all still grounded in reality and some how reflects the post-apocalyptic theme?

[Ironbyte]

This popped into my head while sketching...

[Ninja Adi]

ok finishing up, any critiques?

[PhilipO]

This thread was simply to awesome to ignore.. Great work everybody, really looking forward to see all the finished works!

this is what I got so far.

[Axec]

ok finishing up, any critiques?

His right (our left) leg seems to be floating or orthographic, try angling the foot a bit more towards the right give a more 'grounded' impression IMO !