Team Chow III - Dire Pork

[thegrayslayer]

Go team Dire Pork! That'd be Liz Edwards, AG and miself! I guess we should bung all our rough-stuff, wip and banter here?

~Slayer

[Liz Edwards]

Yep yep, sounds good

[AG.]

Definitely

[Janos]

Hi team dire pork,
I was just wondering, if you would take another member in to your group? I am looking like crazy and our skill levels seem about right, and style wise i think all of us could work together well. Any thoughts?

Cheers, a small pm regarding your decision would be great.

[thegrayslayer]

As promised, Team Dire. I dug around for some stuff to post here. As I've already finished from Codemasters for the Xmas hols, I thought I'd look around at my work already in the public domain. (As I'm not able to determine whether my wip is ok to show before returning in the New Year and checking with the boss.)

Some of the most challenging; making convincing ingame crowd. http://playworksonline.com/blog/?p=1549 This is for Dirt2 and had to have all the nice things (normal maps, polys, texture budget) stripped to get this many ingame.

I also led (for a while) and contributed to a very talented Character Art Team on the Operation Flashpoint 2 - Dragon Rising project. There are tonnes of really nice screengrabs on the net, I'll add some wip grabs if/when I get clearance. I also helped out on some Jumpgate Evolution assets... which is obviously under wraps still.

Some more personal visuals to follow... if I can dig some out!

~Slayer

[thegrayslayer]

Some of my work. Finished, unfinished, abandoned.

~Slayer

[Liz Edwards]

Alright, we have AG doing XIII Death and XV The Devil

I'll take Nine of Wands and Knight of Cups

Slayer, still got no PC access? I don't know of a deadline on choosing our cards so we won't choose for you yet

How are we going to handle our characters? The cards seem to have a lot of designs and imagery tied to them already, especially with things like The Devil. I hope we'll be breaking away from those?

[thegrayslayer]

Hey Liz / AG. Just got back into the office and am trying to get up to speed on this new project. Well, new to me - and a lot to research! I feel like the kid that's been off sick from school for a fortnight.

Anyways, I've scanned over the list of cards and it looks as though they're all covered now? I mean, at least one team are tackling them... so I guess I get free pick over any of those you guys haven't bagged?

Am hoping home PC will arrive this week, until then I'm gonna be a busy boy during lunchbreaks!

[thegrayslayer]

Ok, had chance to give wiki a quick scan. I'd like to take 'Justice' (maj) and 'Ten of Swords' (min) if possible. Let me know what you think, thoughts, sketches..

~Slayer

[thegrayslayer]

Erm... sorry - me again! Just read the rules again regarding sign-up and 'ten of swords' already has a full quota. I'd therefore like to take 2 minor cards instead.

~Slayer

[thegrayslayer]

Ace of Wands and Five of Cups for me. Do I need to submit this elsewhere? The sign-up thread?

~Slayer

[Liz Edwards]

Ace of Wands and Five of Cups for me. Do I need to submit this elsewhere? The sign-up thread?

~Slayer

Yep, you have to post your choice in here: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...=177363&page=7 hopefully they won't be full up!

[thegrayslayer]

Cheers, Liz. Have done that... fingers' crossed I get my choices.

[Liz Edwards]

"The Knight of Cups is a person who is a bringer of ideas, opportunities and offers. He is constantly bored, and in constant need of stimulation, but also artistic and refined. He represents a person who is amiable, intelligent, and full of high principals, but a dreamer who can be easily led or discouraged."

[AG.]

"The Knight of Cups is a person who is a bringer of ideas, opportunities and offers. He is constantly bored, and in constant need of stimulation, but also artistic and refined. He represents a person who is amiable, intelligent, and full of high principals, but a dreamer who can be easily led or discouraged."

Haha! I was hoping you'd choose that zombie alien dude as your knight
Seems like our cards could have humor as the common theme. I'll do some research later today on mine. Surely a hilarious Devil wouldn't be too hard to find for reference.

[thegrayslayer]

Ha! Which one were you thinking as inspiration?

I've put together our set, though I've not had confirmation / acceptance of my choices just yet...

[Liz Edwards]

Ha! Which one were you thinking as inspiration?

I've put together our set, though I've not had confirmation / acceptance of my choices just yet...

I hope you get them, it'd be cool if we were both wands and cups. I'm not sure how we'd work those into our design but it could be one more thing to tie 'em all together.

And:

[thegrayslayer]

Hahaha! Well, you'd be hard pressed to find a more expressive face than Mr.Baker!

Yeah, that was my thinking on the card choice. Is a really interesting topic actually, looking forward to getting into it. On that note, lunchtime sketches attached. It's training for the '5 cups' or 'crying over spilt milk'. I tried to imagine the look of a man without a PC to work on at home.

Only joking, bit of internet ref used.

[thegrayslayer]

Another lunchtime sketch on the Ace of Wands idea. Still no confirmation on this as my selection as yet, so I'd better not get too far ahead until the list is updated! Anyways, a quickie sketch based on the idea of 'fire' being the major element for this card.

Bit disjointed working in 40 minute stints, but I'm expecting my replacement PC tomorrow so I'll be able to pick up the pace.

~Slayer

[Liz Edwards]

Another lunchtime sketch on the Ace of Wands idea. Still no confirmation on this as my selection as yet, so I'd better not get too far ahead until the list is updated! Anyways, a quickie sketch based on the idea of 'fire' being the major element for this card.

Bit disjointed working in 40 minute stints, but I'm expecting my replacement PC tomorrow so I'll be able to pick up the pace.

~Slayer

Great news about the PC! looking good so far. I like the sketches for the 5 of cups especially.

I'm reading up on cups:

The Knight of Cups isthe Lord of Waves and Water, often defined as the fiery aspect of water.
When you think of the Cup cards, think of the deep mysterious essence of water - an essential element of life itself.

You're taking the fire thing quite literally, do you think we should make the elements prominent in all our designs? Still not sure what direction we're heading. I did some sketching but nothing worth exposing to the light of day, yet!

[AG.]

thegrayslayer, interesting sketch. I think you should focus less on the element and more on what the card represents though. Possibly make the wand the point of focus? This reference pic might help you see what I mean.

[thegrayslayer]

thegrayslayer, interesting sketch. I think you should focus less on the element and more on what the card represents though. Possibly make the wand the point of focus? This reference pic might help you see what I mean.

Yeah, agreed. In fact, the next few sketches will be composed with the wand as focal point. I've noticed on the Rider-Waite deck that the cups / wands / rods etc. all follow the same design. Is that something we want too - as we have a couple of wands and cups cards?

[AG.]

Yeah, agreed. In fact, the next few sketches will be composed with the wand as focal point. I've noticed on the Rider-Waite deck that the cups / wands / rods etc. all follow the same design. Is that something we want too - as we have a couple of wands and cups cards?

Honestly, I'm not sure how we can combine our cards yet to make it seem like they are all from one deck. The cards I chose don't really tie in well with wands and cups unfortunately. I've been searching reference images for my cards, and they are all dark and gruesome. Maybe that's how we can paint all of our cards? Gritty and realistic? Just a thought. Oorr have similar elements appear on each card. What do you think?

[thegrayslayer]

Ha! Well, it's up to you what you post obviously - I was just gonna put anything I can get done here as a record of what I'm thinking.

I've been thinking about the link between the cards, and I don't know how crucial it is given that the ultimate aim is to combine all of the teams cards into one deck (chosen from the best designs). If you have an awesome character-driven idea for one of your cards, I don't think you should be tied to anything to hamper it. Not at this stage, at least? Oh, I agree on the fire thing being too literal. On reading a bit, I imagine the Ace of Wands as a character to be some kinda demi-God creating worlds and such like. Creative force being the key, not destructive (which is what I would normally associate with fire).

Will your characters be humanoid / humanistic or are you 'thinking more outside the box' ?

Oh, and my choices have been confirmed so we know our set now. Am going to pick up the pace with ideas and posting when I get setup.

[thegrayslayer]

Not sure if you've already found this site as I'm the late-comer: www.tarotteachings.com has nice-and-simple explanations of each card with all the key images you'd expect to see featured on each card.

AG., probably best not to get bogged down with linking these together just yet? There may naturally be a link once the designs are seen as a group. I think the main focus is strong character design for each.

[AG.]

Not sure if you've already found this site as I'm the late-comer: www.tarotteachings.com has nice-and-simple explanations of each card with all the key images you'd expect to see featured on each card.

AG., probably best not to get bogged down with linking these together just yet? There may naturally be a link once the designs are seen as a group. I think the main focus is strong character design for each.

Totally agree. This is team chow after all.

Some moodboards for my cards.
The designs are pretty dark and straightforward. I like the idea of a skeleton riding a horse, so I'll go with that. For Death though I'm debating between a full figure or a portrait shot like on the site you linked us to. The decision will be made after some sketching

[thegrayslayer]

Some good images, particularly drawn to the black guy on white horse. It's a difficult picks these I reckon, as you're probably wanting to create something different from the cliché. At the same time, both 'Death' and 'Devil' conjure up common images that most people will expect to see.

Death: I like the undead horse, or maybe the beast needn't be a horse at all but something more striking / original?

[AG.]

Haven't decided yet. As much as I favor the feel of the reaper in armor riding a horse, I don't want to completely rip off the Rider-Waite deck, so I'll definitely try to put a unique twist on it. Could always have him riding a bull or something of that sort, but not too far-fetched like a mythological creature. Want the style to lean more towards realism than fantasy.

[thegrayslayer]

Yeah, I imagined a zombie-buffalo or boar. Or bigger?

[AG.]

Haha, I like the rhino! Maybe! A yack could work, too. Anything bigger might not suit the reaper.