Iow #24 - GAME OVER

[Andrew Sonea]

Illustration of the Week #24: GAME OVER

This is a two week topic. This weeks topic was suggested by Kuroyue.

Topic
This weeks topic is : GAME OVER. In contrast to the past couple of weeks this one will be left completely open to interpretation. Let loose and have fun--you can do basically anything here, obviously video game related things are a possibility, but don't feel limited to that. One thing that I will say however is to really push the story side of this illustration, and make sure that when someone sees it and knows the topic they will make the connection and not just scratch their head.




Deadline
The deadline is Sunday 13th of May, 23:59 GMT

[Aaron_]

No! Noooo!

Just an idea sketch.

[Voodoowolf]

Trying to push my art so I thought I would try this chalange for the first time =3 So here is my first idea. Ignore wonky face of background girl just getting sketch down.

[AriA]

quick sketch up of my idea.

[MeteorCat]

1st WIP

[MeteorCat]

2nd WIP

[IntoTheVoid]

Okay, can't resist this one.
"You're too late heroes - I've already won! Ahahahahahahaha"

[niffick]

Thought it's time I try my hand at one of these contests. Nnn. So far I have this:

[littlemonsters]

@meteorcat

your image looks like a still from the movie gladiator.... I do not think copying a movie frame is the best idea for this contest.

[Dahlia]

I love the open ended topics. Here's where I'm at so far!

IntoTheVoid- looks like we came up with similar ideas, I promise that was unintentional

[MeteorCat]

@meteorcat

your image looks like a still from the movie gladiator.... I do not think copying a movie frame is the best idea for this contest.

It truly is a screencap from Gladiator I have no intention of hiding that and if it's against the rules I'll take it down, I'm sorry. Currently, I only really know how to 'copy' what I see so I thought it would be okay to just showcase technique and observation but if it's frowned upon I truly don't wish to ruin these wonderful activities.
Again, I'm sorry.

[Rob Powell]

MeteorCat: Not so much as frowned upon but rather these activites are meant to encourage creativity, of course copying an image that already exists isn't very creative. If you have trouble capturing an image in your mind as opposed to an image that you see, first try to draw out a very rough idea of what your thinking, use thumbnails to make a rough comp and silhouettes/doodles to help build up your ideas even further, and if needed (I highly recommend that you do) use reference if your unsure about how some things look. Clothes, faces, lighting on materials, etc. It's always harder to paint things without a picture in front of you but referencing can help with that so long as you have a basic idea of what materials and lighting conditions you have in your idea.

I would recommend you keep working on that screenshot though, it's always good practise to study what already exists to have a better understanding of lighting, forms, etc...

[AriA]

Working out a few things.

[warburton]

continue haha, his face is priceless

voodoowolf good idea and start, try doing some more sketches and gesture studies to nail to action more.

meteorcat Interesting start, is this a film still from Gladiator? Try to use your own imagination and ideas for the final illustration though. Don't be afraid or ashamed of your skills, thats what these contests are about. Just try your best to push your own ideas, and use film stills and stuff as ref or studies. You'll probably be suprised at how well you can do if you focus and push yourself, and if not, thats cool too because it just means you know what to improve upon. Only from making mistakes can we learn and become beter. The great thing about this place is if you get stuck theres always people who are willing to help too, so don't be afraid to take a leap out of your comfort zone, thats what its all about, just try to improve yourself and have fun

intothevoid Haha, cool idea. Try doing some more comp studies and push your idea further. Also bear in mind square illustrations can be very hard to achieve, composition wise, especially with a fast paced subject matter like your own. Keep pushin, i want to see it in the finals

niffick Defiantly game over, abit early to crit but the ideas there, keep pushing it and i look forward to seeing it pushed further.

dahlia A solid start, its abit unclear who or what the characters aredoing though. Try to push gestures and facial expressions to express the characters more and what their doing.

aria nice comp and interesting idea, keep pushing it, and just a suggestion, but make the chick bigger because she doesnt fit in the image all that well being the main focal point and the smallest aspect of the image.

Heres a few quick thumbnails i came up with. number 4 is from a previous idea i never chased up but this might be a good excuse to finish it.

I'm thinking of running with either 1 or 4 but i'm not sure...
Any input would be greatly appreciated

[niffick]

Somehow it turned into paintball. Except that it's... still... going through his chest? .../scratches head. Well at least I'm having fun googling paintball gear. These people are really serious about their game, wow. o_o

[IntoTheVoid]

Dahlia - no worries. I'm centering mine more around the villain, so I'm happy to see someone exploring the other side of the coin

warburton - thanks a lot for the feedback! I'll make a few more compositional thumbnails to see what works best.
Of your thumbnails, #1 is one I'd associate with the phrase "game over" even if I hadn't read the theme's description. Very powerful mood.

niffick - EXTREME paintball! It's like real war, but with paint. And the paint is FATAL
But is there a reason he's shirtless?

[Voodoowolf]

@Warburton - Thanks for the suggestion! I actually hopped from Photoshop into painter and I'm trying out some sketching in there which seems to be helping me to be more loose and free with gesture drawing since its much more like my traditional media I'm so use to. My Achilles heel in art has always been being too detailed too fast.

[niffick]

IntoTheVoid - Not really, I just started adding tone to get a feel for the shape of his torso and starting with a skin color seemed the logical thing to do, and then before I knew it I had done down to his waist without switching out of the skin color. :I But I've since given him a shirt, not to worry. Those damn paintballs hurt enough with clothing, I'm not about to make the poor guy go without.

[IDP]

Don't know if I'll have time to finish but thought I'd try my hand at this one.

Here's what I've got so far...

[monologish]

Ok this is my very first contest submission here on Concept Art..and if I am doing something wrong, do let me know..

Here is my rough draft of what I plan to submit..image will be black and white mostly..not very into colors...

Appreciate any critique...

[IntoTheVoid]

Ok this is my very first contest submission here on Concept Art..and if I am doing something wrong, do let me know..

Here is my rough draft of what I plan to submit..image will be black and white mostly..not very into colors...

Appreciate any critique...

Looks interesting monologish. Still too early to critique, since I can't quite make out what's going on in there, unless you want to describe what you're planning. Good luck and welcome to CA!

[niffick]

IDP - I really like what you've got so far. And I like that yours is about an actual... game and not demonic apocalypse paintballs or whatever it is the rest of us are doing, so double points for actually staying on topic, haha

monologish - Yeah there's not much we can do to critique until we have a better idea what you're planning. I am intrigued though, I can't wait to see what it will look like more fleshed out.

Nrr anyway here's another WIP for mine. I... I think what's going on here has sort of spiraled out of any rationality, but I hope the "game over" theme is still clear. If it's not totally obvious gimme a heads-up, I'd rather know now than when I'm nearly done.

I spent ages and that damn helmet/mask thing and I'm still not at all satisfied with it but I think it's reached the point where if I keep messing with it I'll just ragequit, so I'm gonna go ahead and start on, you know, the other 98% of the canvas and leave that one enraging bit for when I have something more substatial to fit it into.

[monologish]

Hey,

IntoTheVoid and niffick - You guys are right, the first draft was sort of too rough..sorry about that..will remember to add more detail in my first WIPs now...

niffick - I think the gun and the hand holding it look perfect..you got the perspective thing really well..and I think your piece definitely fits the theme..

Here is my piece now with a lot more detail..I am kinda done with the woman's face, just some cleaning and tweaking left, though the screaming lady and the dead person need a lot more work...I don't think I got the perspective completely right on the screaming lady's face...

Anyways guys..do let me know what you think of this..

[derekdedgell]

warburton - I'm partial to #1 myself. I like the mood and composition, it has strong potential.

monologish - Do you have any reference for the faces? If not I would highly recommend acquiring some as the structure looks off.

AriA - looks cool, but i'm not 100% on what the focal point is yet. I think its the female figure within the black silhouetted figure, but not sure. If it is, I would recommend pushing the contrast.

niffick - I don't think I'd ever want to play paintball with you =P.

IDP - Checkmate! Nice image, reads really well. Great body language too! Looking forward to seeing this one finished.


An initial idea, still in development.

[niffick]

monologish - Looks like it's coming along well. I definitely second derekdedgell's recommendation to get references for the faces. If internet searches fail you can always just make the face you're going for in the mirror with the camera phone. Your reference doesn't have to be pretty or high-quality as long as it gives you an idea of what you're trying to draw. In general just try to remember that faces aren't just flat surfaces; they're part of the skull, a round(ish) object.

[IntoTheVoid]

niffick - Hey, I actually like the mask. Your piece is shaping up pretty well. However, the other characters are confusing the narrative. They should either be interacting with your main character much more, or much less, depending on the mood you're going for. At the moment, they look like they're from an unrelated illustration.

monologish - Thirding the reference suggestion Your piece has a pretty good feel to it and the individual elements are working well enough, but they're not working together I'm afraid. I can't tell what is happening in there story-wise. I can see an element of anguish, but what's causing it? Who is that face? Why does she have face-tentacles? What part represents a "game"? These are all questions that need to be answered by the illustration in order to be effective. Always think about the story you're telling.

derekdedgell - ooh this one's pretty neat! I like the duality of "game over" and "continue?" created by the coffin and VR.

Busy week, but finally got some work on mine. Just a rough sketch with more or less everything I want to get into this piece at more or less the correct spot. Let me know if the composition is working

[monologish]

@derekdedgell - Thanks , I did not use a reference, and you are absolutely correct the faces look very not-right...I really like your concept..very sinister..

@niffick - Thanks a lot, I usually use a photo reference off the Internet, but thought I would give not-using-one a shot as well...I guess I need a lot more practice before I can start doing that

@IntoTheVoid - Thanks for the input ..I was trying to go for a more sinister expression on the big face, but that has not happened...As far as the story goes..I do have a story in mind, she is like this evil villain, who kills the now-dead person, with her tentacle-like reach...despite the efforts of the screaming lady to stop her..and the evil lady is smiling because it's all a game for her.... I guess I am being too presumptuous with this piece..I think it needs a lot more work...I think your new composition works much better, but is there a reason why you have so much space allocated to the background??.. I am still learning to draw so please excuse my ignorance..

Well its back to the drawing board for me....

[IntoTheVoid]

@monologish

@IntoTheVoid - Thanks for the input ..I was trying to go for a more sinister expression on the big face, but that has not happened...As far as the story goes..I do have a story in mind, she is like this evil villain, who kills the now-dead person, with her tentacle-like reach...despite the efforts of the screaming lady to stop her..and the evil lady is smiling because it's all a game for her.... I guess I am being too presumptuous with this piece..I think it needs a lot more work...I think your new composition works much better, but is there a reason why you have so much space allocated to the background??.. I am still learning to draw so please excuse my ignorance..

Well its back to the drawing board for me....

Cool, I see what you're going for now. You chose a very nuanced narrative that requires a lot of storytelling to get across to the viewer (which certainly isn't a bad thing!). There are many small changes you can make to improve this, though I'm far from an expert on such things, here are a few that come to mind:

a). Have the evil lady facing the grieving woman - looking away makes her look unrelated. Looking at the scene (that she caused) will help connect them.
b). Narrower lips and narrower eyes convey a greater degree of "sinistry". Search for "smug" expressions for reference. If you really want to push the evil look, make the pupils small.
c). Metaphorical tentacles are hard to convey, as they often end up looking like regular tentacles instead. Having them surround the grieving woman, like they're about to grasp her will better underline the notion that she is "reaching" behind the scenes.
d). The two women mustn't be on the same plane. This concept requires that the sinister face is behind the woman. You can achieve this using line weight, as edges that are closer and in light will be harder than edges that are far away and obscured in shadow.

And to answer your question: yeah, I'm planning to crop and rearrange the objects in the background based on what I feel works and what doesn't. My goal is for the composition to guide the eye toward the big monitor behind the villain, which displays a rocket being launched as the villain laughs uncontrollably... I just noticed the monitor is blank in this screenshot. Whoops

Hope that helps!

[warburton]

Thanks for your guys iput, heres an update

i don't know whether the archer dude is abit over the top with detailed armour junk.

What i do know is it was the dick shot which finished this guy.

[monologish]

IntoTheVoid - Thank you so so much ..your pointers are super helpful..I am working on the changes now..and you are right...since I'm trying to say so much with art..I need to make it really well...but I guess that is the whole point ...