Chow 106 :: The Lady Of Shalott

[S.C. Watson]

ROUND #106

THE LADY OF SHALOTT

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DESCRIPTION
The Lady of Shalott

Try to keep it traditional - but feel free to be creative. So, to totally confuse you: try to keep within the parameters of the poem and character, but if you want to throw a twist on it, go for it.

Lord Tynnyson's Poem

Lady of Shalott by Donato Giancola









Kind of a rough recording of Loreen McKennit's version. Best one I could find though. The video is pointless.

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FOLLOW THE TOPIC.

POST YOUR FINAL IN THE FINAL BURNING THREAD.


SAVE YOUR FILES IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT. Chow##_Nickname
example: "CHOW#100_Oblio.jpg"

PLACE THE IMAGE IN A FRAME WITH YOUR NAME/TOPIC


(you can add CA logo, etc).

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DEADLINE
SUNDAY, February 17th, 2008
The way the deadline works: if deadline is on a Sunday and your image is posted on that Sunday 23:59 your local time it's a good entry.
In fact - as long there is Sunday somewhere on the planet your entry is ok. I will make the poll sometimes Monday evening my time (GMT - 8 ) yet I'll have a look at the last entries.
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POST YOUR FINALS IN THE FINAL BURNING THREAD!

Remember to include your nickname in the filename.

About quality - as general rule: if your shapes and values are not decent - you are out. Watch proportions, perspective etc. we need perfectly readable shapes and coherent, consistent values.

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BE PROFESSIONAL - only finished and good quality entries will be taken to the poll. Oregano will make the selection.
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[PuppyKitten]

This is out of the box... I like! I'm gonna try hard to make time for this one.

[Lalilulelo]

Bitch in a boat, I'm on it.
j/k

[corspufo]

totally out of the box.

Lalilulelo: LOL

[Lalilulelo]

Try and keep it traditional he says.
Sigh....
Just for that...robot.

[Swan]

Oh great. Sure. Lady of Shallot. You had to throw that at me, huh?

I don't think I have the time...damn and double damn.

Hmm...who needs sleep anyway?

[OCL-R]

that's tuff, I need a bit more practice before a tackle stuff like that. I still need to figure this place out as it is.

[Ye Olde Badger]

Haha, I would be interested in seeing your robot rendition.

[Mirana]

This is so LAME, but I totally get a better vision of Lancelot for this. I'm a sucker for "dark curls" I guess...

[S.C. Watson]

Just a quick clarification: By way of traditional, I mean subject matter, setting, costume etc - not media.

[edit]Lalilulelo: I'm expecting that bitchbot in a boat from you now.

Cheers,
~Oreg.

[Swan]

This is so LAME, but I totally get a better vision of Lancelot for this. I'm a sucker for "dark curls" I guess...

Seems to me you could concentrate on Lancelot while still keeping with the traditional theme of the piece. The description does give her a rather large scrying mirror, after all.

[Mirana]

Poor Oregano...keeps trying to keep us all on point...and then there are ROBOTS.

Swan - Oh no, I realize...I just mean it's more important that I visualize the character that ACTUALLY has to be designed.

[Swan]

Mirana: Heh, well, Lord Tennyson does go on a bit about how pretty ol' Lance was, doesn't he?

But I look on that as good news, really. Since I don't recall he does much more than describe color of the Lady's dress, there's a lot of room to play with.

Maybe even enough room for....robots! Hmmm?

[Aly Fell]

I am half sick of shadows...

By the way Shane, she's not an onion. Shalott, not Shallot (Sorry, shoot the pedant!)

I absolutely love the topic. Two of the 'Lady of Shalotts' by Waterhouse are framed prints on my wall at home. But she's a real victim. I mean, she just dies! No reason for it. Floats off down the river and drops dead, probably of melancholy or one of those other silly Victorian illnesses. I'm tempted to stick her in some armour and give her a sword! But I'm a bit concerned this topic is really going to be down to 'pretty pictures' as the 'concept' is already there.

A synopsis of the poem:

Tennyson's poem of "The Lady of Shalott" (text) relates the story of a woman cursed to remain inside a tower on Shalott, an island situated in the river which flows to Camelot. No others know of her existence, as her curse forbids her to leave the tower or to even look outside its windows. Instead, a large mirror within her chamber reflects the outside world, and she weaves a tapestry illustrating its wonders by means of the mirror's reflection. As the poem progresses, the Lady becomes increasingly aware of the love which abounds in the outside world, and she tires of her lonely existence in her tower, saying she is "half sick of shadows". Then seeing Sir Lancelot riding down to Camelot, the Lady leaves her loom to look down on him directly from her window, which immediately fulfills the curse. Her tapestry begins to unravel and the mirror cracks as she recognizes the consequences of her impulsive action. She flees her tower and finds a boat in the river which she marks with her name and loosens from its moorings. She dies before her boat reaches Camelot, where she would have finally found life and love, and Lancelot muses over the beauty of this unknown woman when the inhabitants find her body.

[Swan]

No joke. Actually, I think by proper Victorian sentiment she died of "forgetting her place." I mean, literally looking outside her narrow little world? The cheek! What a nervy little bitch, eh?

[Tydal]

This seems an intriguing topic, I guess it's time for the "mouse master" to get to work ....

[grenogs]

hey oregano, whats with all the good chow topics lately, now that i dont have the time to do any

[Tifaria]

Awesome. I'm going to make time for this one!

[mythril_golem]

I am half sick of shadows...

But I'm a bit concerned this topic is really going to be down to 'pretty pictures' as the 'concept' is already there.

i agree, won't all the entries look a bit too similar

[Lege1]

Very good topic. I am trying to figure out how I am going to do my layout.

Takin from Wikipedia:

"Some consider "The Lady of Shalott" to be representative of the dilemma that faces artists, writers, and musicians: to create work about and celebrating the world, or to enjoy the world by simply living in it."

>>>Talk about a "Catch 22",lol.

[grenogs]

i agree, won't all the entries look a bit too similar

i guess this is where perspective, angles and lighting comes into play. example-You could create 10 exact designs, but all with different lighting and mood, and they will all look totally different. From an illustration or even story board point of view this is a great way to discover how perspective and atmosphere can play a very important role in art, how do you create something thats already been done a thousand times but better.

if only i had the time,

[Swan]

Plus, the poem itself takes place in more than one location -- look at the paintings in the Lady's bower versus the one where she's on the river.

Almost ready to put up my first WIP. I don't normally expect to be quite so rabidly on the ball with these sorts of things, but I was caught conveniently in between jobs.

[mythril_golem]

yeah i just always thought of chow as being more about the character than doing an actual illustration

[Swan]

Well, I'm new here and I've never done one of these before, so maybe I don't really understand. It didn't really strike me as any different than the medusa CHOW, for example -- everyone knows what one of those looks like too.

The Lady of Shalott is a fairy lady in a white gown. I figure, do with that what you will, you know?

Anyway, here's my WIP on this. There's a lot of little things that need work (the left arm isn't reading the way I want it to, and the castle needs tons of clean-up) but I hear my alarm telling me I should be getting up, so maybe it's time to get some sleep. I've of course given myself tricky lighting and shadow again (oh, how I love to hurt myself that way) so if anyone spots anything I missed, by all means let me know.

[mythril_golem]

well i think the medusa chow was a lot different to this but only because organo asked us specifically to keep it traditional this time around. it doesn't really bother me i was just voicing a thought, anyway great wip only gripe i have with it is that her corpsified pose doesnt look like she froze to death (assuming she's dead).

[daestwen]

In answer to the 'won't these all look the same' questions...

CHOW is ultimately about character briefs and concept. Just because your a concept artist, it doesn't mean that you won't have restrictions, and sometimes *really* heavy ones. Most of the time you simply wouldn't have the freedom that is normally given here in CHOW. Sometimes we have really open topics, and other times, like this week, they're more closed - it's still up to you to come with up with a kick ass way to concept her, and get across her story and character in a single image and design. So. Get to it.

[S.C. Watson]

By the way Shane, she's not an onion. Shalott, not Shallot

I know not of what you speak, sir

[Verastegui]

Here's my rough sketch.

[Arbu]

I'll stick to the third thumb =)

[Phuzion]

This is one of my favorite stories from Arthurian Legend... however, I'm with Posh Spice on this one... it really does come down to pretty pictures. I suppose people could design some medieval (long before Victorian people!!!) dress, but really it's just finding reference and slapping it together at this point. And when I say pretty pictures, I mean illustrations. As long as they find some reference for a dress, and get the proper melancholy mood in the image, it's done. This, of course can be the danger of picking an "Historical" topic. In any case, very nice subject matter! Those are just my ¢0.02...

Cheers,
~d