Team Chow III: The Pokemongrels!

[Evui]

Hello everyone! This is our first time participating in a Team Chow, so we're super excited! It's gonna be a fun learning experience with hopefully kickass work. Concept posts are soon to come!

[Evui]

Hello everyone! Me and Snoo were squirming and twitching around, eager to draw something since we weren't able to design for the topic yet. So instead, we decided to make a little story-in-a-day activity and designed characters (independent from this Team CHOW of course) of our own! We each took a stab at our own renditions of the characters we drew, so there are 4 designs, 8 drawings. This was a lot of fun!

Aryah and Bhorei ended up being my fave, which is good, because they were the main characters. My Bhorei sucks though. There's also the hulky guy, Lazuli, and Myrasel, the 12-year-old necromancer healer. The challenge here was that we had to draw characters based off of the other person's specs, so Drew told me different things he wanted my character to have, such a Bhorei being a merchant and crystals had to be involved. With Aryah, it was feathers. Enjoy!

[Evui]

We also decided that we might do a circus theme. As far as style, we're undecided. But circus could be tons of fun! Moodboard:

[Janos]

Good idea with the circus theme. I would say keep it dark though and do not go overboard with colour. Use colour only to make certain things pop.
Looking forward to a friendly competition with you guys.

[Evui]

Good idea with the circus theme. I would say keep it dark though and do not go overboard with colour. Use colour only to make certain things pop.
Looking forward to a friendly competition with you guys.

I'm looking forward to it too! Thank you for the advice, it's difficult not not go overboard, but in tarot style, I too feel it would be inappropriate to go all Disney with it, hahaha! It's exciting though, and I can't wait to start designing!

[Evui]

Hey everyone, sorry for no update in forever, we're not dead we promise! We know each other in real life so we just get together and collab. So far we're thinking a circus theme with a mad science twist, with the acts performed being either scientist, creation or both. Moodboard by Xzir-Nu coming soon.
These designs were before we decided completely on the mad scientists idea, so they're more "normal" than they should be. Changes coming soooon! So far, here are some sketches I've done for my Princess of Wands (firespitter) and my Strength card (the lion tamer):

[Xzir-Nu]

Hello all, forgive any awkwardness in this, my first post.

Evui summed it up nicely. What we're aiming for is a hybrid between these two slightly dissonant forces, the clarity of science and the creepy glamor of the circus. We'll be relying on the circus aesthetic for more for composition and narrative and the freak lab for more of the look and tone.

Here's the first moodboard and one of my ideas for the Knight of Pentacles (a bit clumsy with the loading thing:

[Xzir-Nu]

Loafed around today. I figure if I put all the bad ideas to rest (i.e draw them) I'll get to the good ones eventually. So scraps of what not to do!

[Evui]

Whoever that guy is, he's really hot. I also like extreme perspective, I was toying around with that myself. Mayhaps we can even make that a motif of ours! My sketches weren't anymore successful, and I'll scan the drawings tomorrow, but for now I also sketched on the comp, so those are posts nao! Anyway, there are some things I will keep, such as the lion with the tied head, and the bolts in strength's hair (yes, those indiscriminate blobs are hair). The lion also has exposed vertebrae and he may have a bio-luminescence (Avatar inspiration). I sketched another composition test, and I now like my sketch better. Now I just have to figure out the Princess.

[Evui]

That old sketch was a definite no-go. More anatomical issues than you can shake a stick at. I much prefer this revised one much more (and less anatomy issues!) Here's my sketch and value study for strength and her pet lion:

[Evui]

Update on Strength...feedback on colors? I'm afraid I've fallen so far into it that I can't really judge for myself anymore ^^;;;

[Niva.]

That last one is badass. I didn't recognize strength though until I read the text. Also I think you got too much on that lower foot, I'd shrink it down and work on the rest of the values to create perspective, cast some shadows!

[Evui]

That last one is badass. I didn't recognize strength though until I read the text. Also I think you got too much on that lower foot, I'd shrink it down and work on the rest of the values to create perspective, cast some shadows!

Thank you!! I really appreciate that, and yeah I noticed the foot too and had already shrunk it down since this last update. I'll also attempt cast shadows, but I think I'll have to consult with XzirNu (my color expert) for help with that. Thanks for taking the time

[Evui]

Okay, now for the Princess.. My idea was to have her inside a Tesla Plasma ball- the wand would be the the thing in the middle of the ball and mayhaps she will be standing on it (one of these bad boys)



As for concepts...I know I want her to have plasma hair so she is bald in these outfit comps...if anyone could tell me what their favorite was or some combination of the three i would appreciate it! Thanks for looking!

[Janos]

I like the second one most. I would keep her relatively simple if you are going to add all that electric energy.

[thegrayslayer]

Some really nice ideas and sketches here. Really like the compositions, pushing perspective makes them far more interesting. Thanks for dropping by with comments, Evui. Just repaying the compliment.

Good luck with your cards, Mongrels.

~Slayer

[DIMAGYAN]

Good idea about the theme!.I like the circus motif.
Interesting concepts.The last design is very nice Evui.I prefer the second one but i like the legs design of the first one.
The only suggestion i can give is to keep the values simple and quite halftones at first, then reserve the lightest lights and the darkest darks for the last moment.Right now the colours are a bit muddy in my opinion. In any case im not good for painting, so take this as a grain of salt.Waiting to see your finals.

[Xzir-Nu]

Caught up in a pro bono project. I've worked out some ideas for Knight. I orginally had cyborg as my symbol, but now I'm settling on a multiple personality disorder meets mind-control angle. Still not happy. I want a pose of all the figures that is tense but fluid and now he's just board stiff. Back to the cutting block. But first I have to get this latest project off my hands.

Thanks to Lauren for putting up with me for a partner. Any critique (there's not much to look at but a lot of problems) would be welcome!

[Evui]

Oh man....almost done I guess...there comes a point where I dono how to improve it...I work way to slow...

[Evui]

Whooooa I just realized my colors completely died in jpg. format! They get so much more grey, no wonder they look so muddy. Gonna have to fix that then...

[Xzir-Nu]

Such little time. Need to get this done. Will post death when I get more battery power. I've been painting with a trackpad, but work is about to start. Pray for me.

[Evui]

And so it was finished!!! And a fun ride it was. Enjoy!

[Xzir-Nu]

Done and done. Wrapping up the rest.

[Xzir-Nu]

mehh.....