ChoW#284 :: CLOSED :: Northern Hunter (WINNER: Trolljack)

[Eofn]

Character of the Week #284
Northern Hunter
Design a hunter character from the frozen North of a fantasy world

CONGRATULATIONS Trolljack!

DEADLINE: SUNDAY 15th APRIL 8PM GMT+1 (9PM British Summer Time)
Check your timezone!

Post your final images in this thread. Remember, any comments posted BEFORE the poll is posted will be removed without any sort of warning.

CHECK YOUR TIMEZONE

CHECK YOUR FILENAME

MAKE SURE YOUR IMAGE ADHERES TO THE BRIEF

The Guidelines:

• Can be any gender
• Must be fantasy
• Must be dressed appropriately for their job and to survive the conditions.
• Will use weapons they can easily fix/create ammo for (Guns are allowed, but think about how they might make more bullets)
• They have to fight off other predators as well as taking down their prey so it is likely that they will carry scars and battle wounds.

THE RULES
In addition to the brief, if you do not follow these rules, you will not be included in the poll.

• Files must be named: CHoW#284_Username 
(Files with any other names such as final.jpg or even chow284final.jpg will not be accepted)
• Finals must be posted in the finals thread BEFORE the deadline
• Final post must include the CHoW number and the artists username at the bottom of the image
• At least 3/4 of the focus character must be visible
• Final images must be accompanied with a basic character sheet in a separate image
 Character sheets should at the very least show a sketch of the front and back of the character and a couple of early thumbnails/silhouettes.
• Follow the brief!

[Trolljack]

Here's my Northern Hunter. Posting up now as I may not be around tomorrow.
Loved designing this character, I hope some of it shows in this final piece.

Great entries all around, I look forward to giving out my votes^_^ Good luck all! Here's to a brilliant topic

(P.S Eofn, is my character sheet acceptable? Wasn't sure if not having a back shot would be a problem. If it is I'll rummage something up sharpish).

[Whiskey Sour]

A lil' bit Scottish

[JSpayde]

My character for the week. I'm loving these challenges

[Yajmon]

Here is my entry. I focused on a design with line drawing intact and a bit of texture. Was fun and I learned a couple of things like better brush control and a quick pencil sketching effect.

[Sushy]

Here I go...

[bangalore_monkey]

This was a fun one. My thought was these hunters are so adapted to the cold, they can wait hours, and even days for the perfect shot. tried to capture this in my illustration.

[Hyunjae]

It was a fun project

[Philipp Scherer]

fun indeed sry. edit: named the files wrong

[JaninaG]

Phew, I'm done, this was really challenging and fun. Thanks a lot for pushing me out of my comfort zone!

My hunter wears lots of layers of furry clothes to keep him warm. The wolf whose skin he's wearing as a cape / hood was his first real kill in a ritual to pass into adulthood, and the same animal gave him a couple of scars in the face and made him lose one of his eyes.
Nevertheless he's still an exceptional archer who can take down most prey with a single shot.

[m0uS3r]

Here is my entry, sry for the lack of wips worked mostly on one layer and forgot i have to show more wips, some of the progress is available on my stream if anyone is interested

Good Job and good luck to everyone

[marko markovic]

here is mine
dying norhern hunter....

[Luayne]

Here's my entry. Finished, yay!
Hope I have done everything right and not forgotten anything crucial.

[Girsteroth]

My hunter, who hunts northern monsters in the north.

[blazinwolf]

[Neverwhere]

First time doing a challenge, this one was fun.

Great work from everyone. There is no Hashtag on my keyboard.

[Dread_Reaper]

He is the Northern Hunter, the Keeper of the Crows...

Great job everyone!

-Dread_Reaper

[mcreation]

my take on it, the characther sheet needed a little bit more work, but had no time to develop it further....critics and comments welcomed.
In this northern hunter tribe, the pieces of the animals you face are worn as a prize, and as a way to show your superiority and strengh to one another, the leader of the tribe normally is so dressed up, that no one recognizes him anymore, only the brave animal he wear, this northern hunter, is one..or maybe two steps to adquire some new prizes from the wolfes who will try to steal his dinner.

[krAtul]

Didn't have time and had to rush to finish something

[Eofn]

Closed! Awesome round, really amazing entires. The poll will be up soon followed by the new topic! See you on the other side!

[audit]

I'm gonna post this here anyway because my horrible internet connection broke from exactly 8.55 to now, which sucks since it made me miss the deadline. Oh well.

[Pixeltuner]

Voted for Trolljack. Most original in design and execution. The end result is a bit too flat to my likings though. There's no cast-shadows or any real form of lighting on the character so it's almost a carboard cut-out now. Even cell-shaded characters have some sort of value shifts.

[Trolljack]

Thanks a lot Pixeltuner! I agree with you, I had a hard time trying to nail the painting on this one. However, it's a character that I'd like to return to with a different painting technique at a later date:]
Thanks again for the vote!

[Christoffer]

Damn! Missed it.

Voted for Trolljack as his char was closest to the initial description. The design was cool, too, as it strayed from the eskimo/nord theme that seemed to dominate a little too much, imo.

I liked Philip Scherer's design as well, all though, a bit too clunky looking. Beautiful colors.

[carakhan]

I guess I misunderstood, in the original thread it said 9pm GMT, which my time zone converter said was 2pm my time, about now. (edit - it seems the converter didn't account for daylight savings, wtf) I feel so defeated
Anyway, here's mine. I'll cast my vote in a minute...

edit/ Vote goes to Trolljack and m0uS3r, loved both designs and the different takes on both. Trolljack yours is the most original, loved it from the beginning. m0usr, yours is beautifully rendered and I feel his character, I wonder what he is thinking and where he has been.

[Dryleg]

aw crap didn't make it.. hope it's still okay that I post anyway.
Audit, too bad you didn't make it cause I'd definitely vote yours for president! awesome

[Philipp Scherer]

some thoughts and feedback:

first of all, really just my personal opinion!

@trolljack as everybody said, very original design love the execution and the process! all your input and ideas, somehow the most elaborated entry.

defintley deserved a vote from me! well done. chapeau!

@
whiskey sour: nicely done, but somehow not harmonous: this leopard head, the gloves out of leather, bearshoes... same for the weapon, somehow too huge forefront, doesn´t look dangerous-hunterish.
background has the same problem. somehow you did not manage to put the focus right, too much work on the feet e.g.
sry, sounds harsh, just wanted to explain what i ment with not harmonous...
all in all a good entry

@jspayde: nice colours!
i think you have the same problem like whiskeysour with his weapon. also watch the perspective take a look at the horizon!
good work on the head

@sushy. harmonous! but somehow i miss some colour/atmospheric perspective. also where is the "north" in northern hunter? how about some snow
good work on the fur(maybe even too much details in the fur! be thughtfull where to put details

@bangalore monkey:
just love it, nice style!!! so much... +1vote

@hyunjae. glad you had fun, really looks like it! i like how you put the focus and the original approach -nice to see some feathers.
also: nice perspective.


@philipp scherer: you are a great looking young guy!

@janinaG: i am in love with this painting. i rarely paint traditional these days and what you came up with is really amazing! that must have been tons of work!
great work on the fur! also amazing sketches with the red pencil and linework!
needless to say that i gave you one vote


@moussr: solid etry, nice work on the texture.


@markovic: nice drama but too much texture, somehow the focal point suffers from that. everyhwere details from the texture. I ugess it loos better without out
also use light and movement to strengthen the drama!

@luayne: nope, don´´t think you forgot something crucial well done. this would be a great character for a 3rd person game since you put the focus on the back of the character.
one coin: looks like he is either getting cold or very warn those free arms or these warm shoes...somehow not harmonous(saying that word way too much in my comments )


btw: comment of a friend: looks like the head is rotated 240°

@blazin wolf: exactley what i had in mind when i thought of the topic. that can be the best or the weakest point of a character in my opinion. good work on the focus. great work on the wolf!

@Neverwhere: welcome i like it so far. original design, solid colours! i am glad you did not do the cleavage that you showed in one of your earlier sketches

@Mitze: absolutley amazing atmosphere. if i squint my eyes i think its a photo. well done.
work on atmosphere: +1....even though the character looses a little bit of importance in the picture. there are these 2wolves and he is kinda small. little bit more character would have been nice.
anyhow, amazing illustration as a whole. +1 vote.


sry for the rest, i did just not know what to say, or i was not sure about it at all

everybody great job, had fun while drawing and also looking at your entries

[elephant´s stroke]

i´d like to give some feedback too, but in general and is not a critique just some thoughts.
First, if you just wanted to practice with a topic and/or just have fun, then the following don´t applies to you!
Well, what i see is almost everyone did a great job depicting a northern hunter character, but in my opinion, it seems like the majority didn´t put much attention to be faithfull with the description of the character (wich might not be a problem really).
As i said, if was for fun, great! But if you are trying to take the opportunity to challenge yourself as if this were a description of a job provided by a client, then i think a lot more care should be put in the description.
So, not a critique really! just something that might be usefull to keep in mind for some.
So if i could vote just one entry i think the design of Trolljack has the best balance between originality, technical skill, and is one of the three or four that are faithfull to the description, but maybe the only one that in my opinion adjust 100% to it.
So...a lot of amazing and interesting desings regardless the description thingy, and kudos for those who made it on time.

Cheers.

[Luayne]

Thanks for the feedback, Philipp Yes, that with the warm boots and no sleeves would really be a problem, I guess. But I somehow liked the contrariness of it.

I voted for JaninaG, blazinwolf and Mitze.
Janina: I really like your characterdesign and style. The final picture is just awesome!
blazinwolf: I think there's something special to your character that really appeals to me. I like the way you integreated the wolf's head into her clothing without simply putting it on her head.
Mitze: The atmosphere is just great. I would have never dared to put so much blue into a painting, but it really looks realistic.