Team CHOW II: The Happy Little Trees

[ALH]

I ADORE the mood of those two, they may not be 'final' in terms of costume, but they really sell bleakness and evil without the usual 'halloween' colours (purple/blue/orange) that one almost expects in evil fantasy characters now.

The presentation with portraiture poses is one which could be an interesting way to tie them together, like wandering into a big musty old hall which is decorated as if the characters once lived there. If everyone has the same still life somewhere in the image, for example, it could be an extra nod to their character. The thief may steal a couple of vegetables, the fighter may toss the entire setup on the floor in a manly rage, the mage may levitate them, the healer may smush them together into a healing tonic etc.

...Though possibly a little too complex and irrelevant for this project, especially considering the deadline.

[blackcherry]

Hey guys, quick post. I've arrived at my destination. Got some sketches done and I've found a scanner. Need to get a lot of things fixed up though so I can get my sketches online and get some feedback.

ALH: Love the facial studies for your character.
CKLamb: Great work on the character studies Also great mood board thats gonna come in hands.

Hopefully I'll get some work on here soon. Wish I could touch it up a bit in Photoshop but its just gonna have to be rough and raw I think!

[{CKL}]

Thumbs coming tomorrow.

A few designs, I want to do one more round with a touch more layers and baroque elements.

[{CKL}]

Thumbnails people. Don't forget.

[ALH]

DEM THIGHS

Hold horses, costume stuff by the end of the day ( the say ends at 3am right ? :3).

Proportions are so funky on the sketch, knees are too high unless she is tiptoe, but eh. it was fun to wrinkle her up.

[{CKL}]

Cripes, did you have to have all those lines leading to the crotch?!? I think you can get away with some proportion smudging as she is very old. Can't wait to see your costumes.

[ALH]

Cripes, did you have to have all those lines leading to the crotch?!?

Yes,yes i did

[{CKL}]

Costume update. Working on thumbs now.

[nimzicki]

Tried working on this earlier one a little bit for my own amusement and see if I could get it to go anywhere, im still fond of the slightly OTT armour to convey the importance of it:



Also trying to work out other costume options, using CKLamb's straps/buckles idea to try and convey the feeling of being trapped but keeping everything a lot more simple:



CK - im most fond of the top middle and bottom left ones put of your batch, very interesting shapes without being too fussy/cumbersome.

ALH - crotch lines and all, I am suitably freaked out, also interested to see where you are going with the costume.

[{CKL}]

Doris- I really like where your last two are going, proportions need a little tweaking, but they look very promising. I agree with you on the two that I find most interesting in my batch, I'll probably keep playing with the other ones until I get five full designs that I like.

Edit, actually I like all three looking more at them, they could use some more refinement to push them a little further apart.

[ALH]

Those are looking promising Doris! You're doing VERY well for someone who has only been doing this for a short while



3 old witches. I wasnt really intending for these to be good or evil, im just playing about to see what happens. Since she is a mage dealing with dark magic she is going to have a base of 'evil' even when good, the challenge comes in pushing either side.

General theme is drapey things and fur with a 'monster' silhouette to make her more intimidating to her enemies.

Its slightly weird to design costumes for an old woman, the usual rules for males and females do not apply, its kinda liberating.

[{CKL}]

ALH- While I like all of theme, FUGGIN' Number 3 FTW! If you could incorporate the animal piece from number one that'd be cool.

[ALH]

i knew you couldnt resist old lady beaver

[{CKL}]

Oh yeah...that does it for me.

[blackcherry]

I really like the style you guys have all got for your characters. Here are all the sketches I've done for mine so far. No digital software to follow the trend I'm afraid, so I'm not going to be able to get that done til next friday...If you could just give me some feedback on my sketches and point me in the right direction I'll just have to go at what I can with traditional mediums.

On proportions, CKlamb, your thief guy looks to be very tall, I think he'd be better a bit shorter, I think it would suit his role as a thief much better. From what I gather ALH's is the shortest character, nimzicki's will likely be the broadest, I think mine should be the tallest as the eff (tolkien style) and your should fall in inbetween. Just a thought.

I realise these drawings are not as far along as you lot, I'll develop what you think's best. I've got some rough head designs here, some figure propotions, and just some experimental sketches for poses, costumes, weapons etc. The digital ones I did before I left.



I could probably knock out a drawing in the style of yours if you want me to? but it would have to be done in pen for now. Sorry if the scan's are not great!

[{CKL}]

Cherry- I get what you mean about height, I was originally going for half-human/half- elf, troll, or something, I'm leaning more towards half-elf/half-troll (though he looks 90 percent elf right now). So I think he'll have a little height, I'll just need to hunch him over a little or something. And on what you've posted, some nice posing (a bit to much super-hero/villian though, think of subtlety) While I understand he's an elf, you've got to add a bit more masculinity to him. Right now I am reading this as female for the most part. Also, think about the materials and clothing styles, fur, leather, etc. Good start, however, hopefully being away from digital will work out.

team- okay, enough jabber, finals for your first portrait on Friday (Cherry we'll help you get as close to possible to an end), post your compositional rough drafts asap. we'll all help each other over the week. If we fail to meet this deadline, it may very well be a death knell for the project. On that note, have a nice day.

Deadline Projection:

August 14th, 1rst Portrait Due
August 15th, Group Critique
August 21rst,2nd Portrait Due
August 22nd, Group Critique
August 30th, Completion of Formatting and Refinement
August 31rst, Turn in Project

[ALH]

I dont know if i'll be able to make that 14th date, I have a lot on this week and wont have my intous with me when im down in Portsmouth. Gonna see if i can get my graphire hooked up and get a little done on the train/evening, but no promises on 'final' stuff. Sketches, speedpaints, sure.

Additionally bad news RE my schedule- going up to the Edinburgh fringe next week with my sisters,couple of their friends and cousin- just for a day, but a crazy action packed day where we get up at 6am, wander round all night and get the train back home at 6am the next day hopefully intact. 19th/20th methinks. Sucks for this group chow, but i couldnt turn down a trip to the Fringe, its one of the absolute highlights of the year alongside Animex and my Annual trip to/through London :p.

Ill fit the two in by the end of the month, mark my words, i may just lag a little for the specific dates.

[{CKL}]

Just do your best. This is all self-inflicted anyways.

I should have a rough sketch of my composition up tonight( tomorrow morning for you all).

[{CKL}]

Whoot, I finally had a breakthrough! Haven't had that feeling in a while. This doesn't really relate to my character anymore but I thought I would share. It's amazing how a 10 minute paint-over can totally change your outlook on how to paint.

[{CKL}]

Okay...so I spent all night working on my new technique...composition sometime tomorrow.

[Adrian Wilkins]

sup guys??!

I really dig the previous shapes! and for the last guy I really like out the planes of his face are reading really really well, its also gotrecognizable character

keep it up!

[{CKL}]

Adrian- Thanks for the support! We really appreciate it. Actually, I'm not sure how the hell you have time to post anywhere with how much work you've been churning out for your team!

Team- Considering Cherry is out of town and everyone seems to be huddled away from the boards lets extend the deadline from the 14th to the 16th. Past that and I'm not sure what to do, because our main obstacle will be getting them to look cohesive, which is going to take some time.

[nimzicki]

Adrian - I can only echo what CK has said, your team are absolutely tearing it up!

CK - I think thats fair, deadlines are creeping on us so quickly, gives me time to work up a couple of different things I guess, added a bit to my earlier sketch:



I've just now realised i've managed to draw myself into a corner where its possibly starting to look a bit too much like zhanglu's example piece *sigh*

[Lege1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyli59EbOM4

HILARIO!!!!!!!LMAO!

[blackcherry]

Just to let you guys know I'm travelling back tomorrow or today rather seen as its now gone 1am, starting at 8am. I won't be home until the night though so I doubt I'll post again until sometime on Friday. I'll try and catch up you guys then and post what sketches I have. I'll be back to having access to my own computer from that point then so should be able to get more work done and crack on with the project deadlines!

[{CKL}]

Cherry, that's good to hear, there is definitely work to be done! Check skype every now and then.

My basic pose. From here I'll play with the head direction and hand/arm gestures. Ultimately, I want to do something very simple and character driven. No crazy illustrations, just straight portraiture. There will be a background, I just haven't decided on indoors or outdoors.

Doris- I did a quick paint over to play around with your design, noticed a few things: increase the size of the face (way to much skull not enough face to cover it), flip it back and forth horizontally (you'll notice you've got some symmetry issues), increase the leg length (once you increase the face you'll see the lower body issues a bit more clearly). My own suggestions, I dropped the shoulders, changed the lower stance, elaborated on your current elements (turned the fur piece into more of a mantle, and started adding more buckles around the armor.) I tried staying within the design you posted, but if you've got other ideas let me know.

I was going for a "look if you want to f'king fight then let's do it, if not bug tha f'ck off" look.

[nimzicki]

Damn you're up early. Muchos thanks on the paintover, thought I would show you what I was up to before you posted that:



I worked up the armour a bit more to make that more of an element, I think that in your paintover its perhaps looking a bit more fabric heavy and its perhaps looking a bit too similar to your dude? I love the stance though, do you think you could maybe help me work out the lower legs too, it's something I struggle with a bit and I don't want to end up with another one of your son's poo poo dances...

Another thing I was toying with was having the straps etc. feeding into the guys arm in places instead of just wrapped around it to emphasise the armour etc. being there by force rather than choice, do you think thats too much?

Agree on all proportion issues and ill take up your pose too, I was thinking our final presentation could take the form of a gallery wall with these portraits framed and hanging? I dunno, just throwing it out there as an early idea.

[{CKL}]

Yeah, I can help with the lower stance, and I jumped from my sketch to yours...so it's pretty damn close looking to mine, like you said. Feel free to contact me via msn or skype today.

Edit: The portrait gallery idea is definitely doable, I've been doing shaped frames with my other sketches (circular, arched, etc), so it's only a step or two away from that idea.

[nimzicki]

Hopefully you don't mind, im working on top of your paintover at the moment, learning a lot from it so thank you again. Ill get a little bit more done and skype you up in a bit.

[nimzicki]

Gone a bit quiet in here :o Alrrightt, here's where I am with roughly painting over my paintover from CKLamb, hopefully I haven't destroyed all your hard work:



Urrmm, ignore the legs. Trying to get a mix of where I was going before but keeping in with the same sorta style you've got going on Corey. Let me know if you spot any issues, otherwise ill keep ploughing on.