IDW #52: Undead Carriage

[yoitisi]

Topic: Undead Carriage

Background: I thought it'd be good to do something with the realms of fantasy as well in IDW, as the focus is often more on the futuristic side of things.

Basically, the topic is to design a carriage of the undead. What they do with it or what they use it for -piling up fresh corpses to move them, a carriage for necromancers, a cage for victims or even a skull catapult- is up to you, as long is it's is clear we're dealing with undead and not with the purple-green fearies of the Magic Forest next door :)

Drawing beasts that pull or push the wagon, as well as the occasional skelleton or necromancer is totally optional. However, it must be clear how the carriage is actually moved even without them. Steam power or just plain old magic is an option for this as well of course.

Brief:
1. Draw and design an Undead Carriage.
2. Choose what the Undead actually would use it for and make that clear.
3. That's it...

Deadline: Wednesday December 12 2007

[Dekus]

Nooo... just when i thought we would design something cool, futuristic vehicle or stuff.. this fantasy, fairy, undead task comes in... im not interested in those kind of old things at all.. oh well... i hope there would be something cooler later.. :)
Interesting to see what you guys will come up with..

[Lynus]

I have two words to describe this weeks idw. Awe- some, can't wait to get cracking on this!

[Matsign]

we can't always choose what type of job we have conceptualize. Why don't you make it a futuristic undead carriage? Piece of cake. The topic is awesome.

[nutkin]

cool topic, let the sketching begin!

[Legato]

is a large battle chariot fair game? *thumbnails it anyway*

[oDaYWaLKeRo]

Cool topic ;)

Sword & Sorcery is an awesome choice for a dinosaur like me who is a big fan of Frazetta hehehe

[grenogs]

dekus dont be to disapointed, theres no reason why you still can't make this very sci-fi or futuristic, or even very steampunk.

[yoitisi]

Dekus: In my experience there are no 'bad' topics, just topics that are more fun than others. What's more, sometimes the ones you thought would be totally boring will be the most fun once you start on them. Anyway, you can always wait for the next IDW I suppose.

Legato: A chariot would be somewhere on the border of what this topic is and is not about I think, but if you manage to pull it off go ahead :)

One more thing everyone, as I've heard some people suggest to make a futuristic version of the carriage. I must say that since I didn't actually forbid this, yes you can make a futuristic Undead Carriage. However, I did state that we're talking fantasy instead of Futuristic stuff this time so I don't really see the point of doing it this way.

Think of it as a job given to you by a client, would he/she really expect you to come up with a futuristic wagon as everything in the topic points to fantasy? I ran into a similar problem once in COW, where the topic was 'heart harvester'. The one argument that killed my entry was like: yeah, if your client wants you to draw a heart harvester, he doesn't mean a vegetarian eh?

[grenogs]

actualy dekus ill take that back , maybe a future or sc-fi carriage isn't actualy the way to go lol;), but still as yoitisi said fantasy can be fun also, just got to put the right mind set to it, thats all. :)

Yoitisi how do you actualy want this presented, as a more traditional technical plan, side view, top view, etc..., or a more 3d look as if it was a concept for an illustration, ingame shot or movie, with background. Or doesn't it realy matter.

[Dekus]

actualy dekus ill take that back , maybe a future or sc-fi carriage isn't actualy the way to go lol;), but still as yoitisi said fantasy can be fun also, just got to put the right mind set to it, thats all. :)


Yeah yeah guys.. i get it... xD I guess i just over reacted since its the first time im joining this kind of stuff... ;)
Ill do something..

[yoitisi]

Grenogs: There's no specific view/perspective I ask of you this time, although as I said in earlier rounds some views are better than others in a general way. Perspective drawings like 3/4 front view or something give generally more information about your design than a sideview.

Dekus: Good, that was our point :P

[grenogs]

ok, so just a quick idea so far, and some background information. Basicly this is Cinderellas carriage. So everyone knows the story of Cinderella, with the carriage, the ball, and prince and that everyone lives happily ever after. But i think the ending was actually changed in order to have the happy ended, i think it should actualy have been more this way: when Cindarella left the ball she was already late, there is no way she would have got home in time before her carriage turned back to a pumping. Actualy she was so late that in fact her carriage changed back soon after she left the ball, whilst the carriage would have been going at high speed. Which would have killed her instantly. So now Cindarella, because she was not ready to die and still had much things in her life she wanted, she still is searching for her prince amongst the living. Only real difference now however is that after midnight she must return to her natural state where she belongs, amongst her own kind, the undead.
The End

Still not sure how to carry on with this yet though, should it be all bone or should i go more towards rotting flesh? any ideas?



http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x279/grenogs/cinders-carriage.jpg

[nutkin]

nice idea, on your last point, it might be fun to keep the carriage as a fruit or vegetable, maybe a really creepy, poisonous thing (you'd be able to find some fun references. As for building it out of bones, maybe you could find some bones that would naturally make that shape, a huge round skull, an array of ribs...

great background story!

[grenogs]

thanks nutkin, i think you could be right there, i also thought maybe i could even have the carriage as a rotting pumpkin, or as you mentioned another creepy poisonous plant thing but with its own bones and everything showing as if it were once a life of its own. Also this may help me with the wheels, i wasnt quite sure how to do them, and i wanted to build them with more than just bones.

[yoitisi]

Cinderella...Still not sure how to carry on with this yet though, should it be all bone or should i go more towards rotting flesh? any ideas?

This combination made me laugh out loud :P I like the background story already. I think the rotting pumping would be cool, maybe you can check other fairytale cliches and give them a twist (like what is connected with 'evil' in those stories..bramblebushes, stuff like that).

[grenogs]

thanks yoitisi, but i realy wish you hadn't, now i'm going to have to finish this one, lol.;) I think im going to go for a more animated or stylized approach on this one, similer to the corpse bride or even the Undead game that was out on the ps a few years ago. I dont think a realistic fantasy approach would give it justice. I like your idea about giving other fairy tales a similer twist, though the evil approach may be a little easy concidering most fairy tales are already based around some kind of evil or bad omen.

[Dekus]

So heres my sketches.. the big one can somehow be named as a rendering.. but the paper ended.. xD

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d76/Dekus/sketches_110.jpg

[form2function]

Gonna sit this one out I'm afraid but I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with. And Yoitisi, I'm guessing you got COW-influenced on the topic eh? ;)

Oh and I love the direction you took with it Grenogs. Don't be afraid to bring some realism to the design though, if you'd like to. Should limit yourself to stylized or anime looks just due to the subject matter. Just because someone happens to think that bones make bad choices for automotive construction doesn't mean they're right. It's all subjective. :)

[gene0i1mortal]

That's fun as hell gregnogs, definitely think that's a keeper concept.

[hallo]

WIP

http://www.notmybiz.com/files/fb_portfolio/bilder/idw_undead_carriage_wip1.jpg

[form2function]

Oh my.

[Danuh]

hallo~
AMAZING colorwork so far. I have a feeling that'll look pretty hardcore once finished.
Wish I had more time in the week to dedicate to this challenge. I might only be able to get a WIP done.

[Demo]

well heres mine so far it needs a lot of work and im kind of stuck so im hopeing for lots of feed back and helpfull comments.
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd17/Demo_09/Skeletoncarriage2copy.jpg

[Arbu]

crazy topic!! must find the time to draw something :D

Dekus: I like the drawing in the right center of the image :thumbsup:

Hallo: total awesomness!! :D

[Legato]

these rendering is very old, but it should show you the direction i am going. the current version is knee deep in background etc, but i've been looking at it so long i can't tell if its crap, or good enough to post... so i won't X_X

so yes, to restate, this is before drop shadows, highlights, placement, scale, etc

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/legato/IDotW/IDotW052-WIP1.jpg

*edit* sorry its super huge... i've taken out the image because im too lazy to resize and put up, but it's now a link!

[Dekus]

Arbu: Thanks!... finally i got at least some kind of comment.. :D Maybe ill do that one or one that i havent showed yet.. ;)

Legato: interesting.. looks almost 3d!.... but it reminds me of a tank more.. :)

[yoitisi]

Dekus: Yep, the middle-right one looks best to me too, as it is more a carriage than the car on the left :P Be careful not to put too much time in the creature up front but try to keep the focus on the carriage itself as we're here in the IDW thread :)

hallo: Looks pretty cool already. The foreground might be a bit darker compared to the background and carriage, but as this version is not yet finished you probably already knew that :)

Demo: Lots to say here as it isn't finished yet, but I think the most important point is the perspective. Right now it actually doesn't really have any, as I see the side and back without a real vanishing point. Eye-height perspective is cool for a carriage like this, but it means you've got a horizon at eye height with two vanishing points to the left and to the right of the carriage.

[Demo]

ok i started a new sketch to work on the perspective. i dont think ill get this finished by the deadline but id like to have a good sketch of what im going for.
http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd17/Demo_09/Skeletoncarriagesketch3.jpg
i think the window in the front is off a little bit and im not sure about the background yet.

[Legato]

ok i started a new sketch to work on the perspective. i dont think ill get this finished by the deadline but id like to have a good sketch of what im going for.

i think the window in the front is off a little bit and im not sure about the background yet.

for future projects, it might be beneficial to spend a day getting used to google sketchup and trying your hand at block modeling, or draw in a perspective grid and go from there... i find that if you start traditionally its easier to do a perspective grid, than if you start digitally, but thats just me

[Dekus]

Hey guys! If anyones interested, heres a 3D sketch of my sniper rifle concept i did today.. Its the concept for the Sniper rifle IDW last week.. but i was too late for that so i did this just for fun..

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1564132#post1564132

[yoitisi]

Dekus: Seriously a pity you didn't finish that one in time for the poll. I like the ring which connects the scope and barrel to the rest.

Legato: As far as I know (and I should know this :P) you still have 2 days to deliver a final rendering so take it easy.

[Legato]

well... i think i am really really close, so i doubt if anything huge is going to happen

EDIT - i don't think i need to restate this, however if anybody notices anything i'll see if i can change it!

[Danuh]

Here's my WIP. I decided to go all traditional on this. My problem is that the paper its on is too big for my scanner and my digital camera's busted xD;

I'll find some way to get the finished one up.

Demo - Looks much better with the perspective :0 I love how you can see the bench through the little window.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v382/ckat/120907_UndeadCarraige.jpg

[Demo]

for future projects, it might be beneficial to spend a day getting used to google sketchup and trying your hand at block modeling, or draw in a perspective grid and go from there... i find that if you start traditionally its easier to do a perspective grid, than if you start digitally, but thats just me

Thanks im gona try that for my new renderings idk if ill get to do any for a while because of county but for futer projects its a good idea.

[Legato]

*image updated below*

*EDIT 1*
added some texture, and sorta dirtied it up a bit... not sure about the 'right' way of going about it though

///

ok... heres the first fruits of my last few days worth of labor. with my large amount of class time devoted purely to doing these challenges, and my desperate need to get over my fear and suck of doing full compositions / environments / color - im going to be forcing myself outside of my usual box, in hope that i can ramp it up and snag a job here soonesque...

done in sketchbook pro and painter with a block model for the front carriages wheels and a box i've learned allot about... mainly in regards to what im going to do different next time.

if anything this suffers from way too many direction changes. it started out being pushed by your stereotypical undead fantasy beasts, than pulled, than i changed it to a freaky baby-burning steam engine... and than changed it to being pushed again.

all in all the change to the steam engine should have manifested in further changes to the design but they didn't for instance design wise i would have taken off that rear metal canopy, and tried to add in some chains and the like for steering.

as far as the concept goes, the topic for this one was "undead carriage" which is by far and away the weakest interpretation i have ever submitted so far - especially considering i turned it into something that is being pushed, however in that respect, i assume it could travel both ways... 'backwards' when its running down people and spearing stuff, and forwards when its... trying to explain away the nagging problem of consistency.

furthermore, mad props to my aim buddy list for the spam of "ok, now whats wrong" and to form2function for teaching me that the overlay layer style is pretty much amazing and that i am a photoshop/painter noob.

i was really close to impulse flipping the thing, the lighting really made it seem like these guys were departing at daybreak, however, this was drawn how it is now, and there were core things i would have changed had i intended it to be flipped from the start...

i got a full day or so to work on it tomorrow, any and all crit might be enacted upon

[hallo]

http://www.notmybiz.com/files/fb_portfolio/bilder/idw52_undeadcarriage_hallo_final.jpg
Here's my final entry. If time allows, I might retouch two or three details.

Legato: Thanks for the advice, I darkened the foreground a bit more.
That's one beast of a vehicle you got there, by the way :)

Danuh: Interesting sketch – looking forward to the outcome.

[yoitisi]

Danuh: Although side views often look easier and quicker to do, they actually need a lot of attention to make sure all the information is visible. Right now the sketch looks a little flat. Also, you might want to focus more on the actual carriage instead of the details on characters and beasts.

Legato: I think it might be helpfull to check your image in b&w for a minute, as it looks a little flat in places and the drawing is loosing its contrast here and there. Such a dramatic lighting often works stronger with a higher contrast between the shadows and part that catch some light. Also, and you already mention it yourself, but it kinda steps away from the whole 'undead' topic :P

hallo: Nice :) not much to say actually. Maybe you can add a little more detail here and there.

[Dekus]

Hey guys! This is very exiting.. i finally got time to render my sketch.. So here it goes.. ;)

The sketch:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d76/Dekus/sketches_111.jpg

And the Final painting:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d76/Dekus/IDW_1_ForCA.jpg

Took me about 4 hours to render non-stop so i hope you like it.. :)

[Legato]

we still have like a day right...? or is it two days?

[yoitisi]

Dekus: Seeing as that there is still at least a day before this round closes, I think it'd pay off if you would spent a little more time on the actual carriage itself. Right now it is the least detailed part of your image, and it looks a bit rushed.

Legato: Make that 2 days, as I'm away tomorrow until late, just as the day after that.

[grenogs]

2 more days? thanks yoitisi, its been a rush week so i havent got anywhere since me first idea:(

[Legato]

another day, another "FINAL UPDATE!!!" -__-

with that time extension im getting rather ballsy and thinking about shopping off the spear, turning around the footmen, and changing the smoke direction... or rather, by ballsy i mean thats all that is separating me from getting at least the 'carriage' part right for the topic...

*grumble grumble grumble*

in that regard i wish this was over already!

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/legato/IDotW/IDotW052-FinalREDUCED.jpg

sorry its so wide, it will be compressed for the poll thread, just wanted to show off all the nitty gritty for critique

[form2function]

Legato, already left ya some crit elsewhere, but if you're thinking of losing the spear and making any other adjustments I'd say go for it. It's a tad off the mark in it's war-like appearance and function, though not too far that it couldn't compete with the rest. Especially with the look that hallo's has. And what's the worse the can happpen, really. You already have a damn good final, so if you don't finish the changes in time you can always submit the previous one. ;)

[Dekus]

yoitisi Yeah.. the carriage was one of the last things i did.. What do you think i should add to it.? Or rather, what it lacks.?

Edit: So heres an updated version of it.. This is the Final version.. cuz i must take my little brother to swimming and i dont have time to do any of this anymore today..

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d76/Dekus/IDW_2_forDA.jpg

A bigger version is found on my CGTalk portfolio: http://dekus.cgsociety.org/gallery/

[nutkin]

dekus, very cool looking work.

this may or may not sound good to you:
the brush strokes on the main elements are good. the brushes and textures on the background are also good. do the two styles marry together? i'm not so sure. Maybe try to add some of the 'swooshing' style to the clouds, lights, buildings, mountains.

that said, this is an industrial design execise, and background and scenery will have very little bearing on my vote

from an industrial design perspective, those wheels would not work- fact
also, could it loose some weight somewhere? is it solid metal?

but as i said in the first line - very cool looking work!

[Dekus]

dekus, very cool looking work.

this may or may not sound good to you:
the brush strokes on the main elements are good. the brushes and textures on the background are also good. do the two styles marry together? i'm not so sure. Maybe try to add some of the 'swooshing' style to the clouds, lights, buildings, mountains.

that said, this is an industrial design execise, and background and scenery will have very little bearing on my vote

from an industrial design perspective, those wheels would not work- fact
also, could it loose some weight somewhere? is it solid metal?

but as i said in the first line - very cool looking work!

First of all, Thank you for your comment.. yeah, this is strong critique but i understand what you mean.. i expected something like this..

I know what you mean... its because i did the flames, clouds and nearly everything else with different brushes.. also, i must confess, i didnt really concentrate that much on the design of the carriage.. but on the whole painting itself.. thats why its not so focused..

you mean the wheels wont work because theyr tilted like that and have a bit too big spikes.. right? The carriage is made of strong wood i guess..

I dont expect to win or anything.. i did this just for fun.. i never did anything of this kind.. fantasy and undead is just not my theme..

[Legato]

final image up, resized and will not be touched further X_X

[Lynus]

Finalhttp://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff270/Artfiend14/undeadchariot3-1.jpg

great entries everybody, hallo, yours is really great!

[grenogs]

Does anyone know what time this one actually closes?

[Zutaiola]

Friday 14, 0:00 Australia time? :[ or Canberra? I think it use to be something like that. Anyway yoitisi has the last word :blahblah:

[Legato]

we really should find some sort of flash clock or countdown site that is updated once a week, and just clicks down to an estimated time... yoitisi could obviously change it mid week or whatever, but i think that would be most awesome!

[Zutaiola]

That's a nice idea!
Legato have you ever tried to do smoke with diffuse brushes at low opacity and different sizes? That's how I get my best results with smoke, fog, clouds...:D

[yoitisi]

Grenogs, Zutaiola, Legato: It closes when it closes :D No seriously, when I took on this IDW-mod business I had loads of time and so I could really keep it tight, but at the moment I'm rather busy with both work and my study. This makes it hard for me to plan anywhere further ahead than just a couple of days, so I might let the deadline slip a little because of that. I'm thinking of finding a better way of keeping the deadline tight, like keeping it weekly by always have the deadline on (my) sunday afternoon (which might be somewhere at monday night in Australia or Saturday night elsewhere, but this way at least I have time to get the poll up on a regular time). Any input is welcome, but take it to the discussion thread please. For this round, I'll close it in a couple of hours.

[grenogs]

i should get mine done in a bit, but i think i went a little over board on the glowy part, the whole pumpkin has literely disapeard, lol

[nutkin]

i'm just starting now, i must admit, i don't expect to get it in on time, but if i do... bonus

[grenogs]

So everyone knows the story of Cinderella, with the carriage, the ball, and prince and that everyone lives happily ever after. But i think the ending was actually changed in order to have the happy ended, i think it should actualy have been more this way: when Cindarella left the ball she was already late, there is no way she would have got home in time before her carriage turned back to a pumping. Actualy she was so late that in fact her carriage changed back soon after she left the ball, whilst the carriage would have been going at high speed. Which would have killed her instantly. So now Cindarella, because she was not ready to die and still had much things in her life she wanted, she still is searching for her prince amongst the living. Only real difference now however is that after midnight she must return to her natural state where she belongs, amongst her own kind, the undead.
The End

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x279/grenogs/cinders-carriage1.jpg

Wished i could have spent more time on this, so its been pretty rushed. but this week has been pretty hectic, if i get time in the fure i may redo this, id like to do a whole series. could be interestic

[form2function]

i should get mine done in a bit, but i think i went a little over board on the glowy part, the whole pumpkin has literely disapeard, lol

You weren't kidding. ;)

[Legato]

the ecstasy of the glow brush wins again :p

[grenogs]

'i must learn not to do things in the last hour" - one hundred lines ;)

[nutkin]

give me 10mins

[nutkin]

ok here it is. now this is the first time i've used my tablet for anything structured, so i'm fairly delighted with how it came out.

The concept is simple. the undead need fun too! the beasts pulls the lightweight racing carriage round an oval track, just like our horse racing. the carrriage is made from a 'mermaids purse' type of seaweed with the big bubble acting as the riding compartment. the markings on the beast and the carriage differentiate it from competitors. What do you all think?

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s100/nutkin_images/carriage.jpg

[yoitisi]

Allright, I'm going to close this round now I think. I'll put up the poll tomorrow as I'm in dire need of sleep, but I'll post a new topic so you guys got something to chew on already :)

Edit: Poll is up: IDW #52: Undead Carriage - Voting (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=113450)