Chow 119 :: John Carter Of Mars

[S.C. Watson]

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii293/chowarchive/CHOW-LINES/CHOW-LINES-MEDUSA.jpg

ROUND #119 :: JOHN CARTER OF MARS


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DESCRIPTION
Resources:
John Carter of Mars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_of_Mars) on Wikipedia - stick as close as possible to the character description provided there-in.

Pulp Science fiction book cover (http://blogs.amctv.com/scifi-scanner/jcblbmar.jpg)

Frazetta (http://www.tarzan.org/art/ffddpm.jpg)

You can go retro, or dystopian or whichever way, but keep it SCI-FI :geekg:
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:right: FOLLOW THE TOPIC.

:right: POST YOUR FINAL IN THE FINALS THREAD.


:right: SAVE YOUR FILES IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT. Chow##_Nickname
example: "CHOW#100_Oblio.jpg" ;)

:right: PLACE THE IMAGE IN A FRAME WITH YOUR NAME/TOPIC

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/frame.jpg
(you can add CA logo, etc).

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DEADLINE
SUNDAY, July 28th, 2008
The way the deadline works: if deadline is on a Sunday and your image is posted on that Sunday 23:59 your local time it's a good entry.
In fact - as long there is Sunday somewhere on the planet your entry is ok. I will make the poll sometimes Monday evening my time (GMT - 8 ) yet I'll have a look at the last entries.
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POST YOUR FINALS IN THE FINALS THREAD!

Remember to include your nickname in the filename.

About quality - as general rule: if your shapes and values are not decent - you are out. Watch proportions, perspective etc. we need perfectly readable shapes and coherent, consistent values.

_____________

BE PROFESSIONAL - only finished and good quality entries will be taken to the poll. Oregano and Daestwen (yay!) will make the selection.
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[luverly_marie]

I will try to see what I can do :). I like how you carried on the fantasy/sci-fi theme from the previous ex-CHOW though, thanks for that!

[Lyconeus]

Sweet! Edgar Rice Burroughs classic!

[DeathAndDisinfectant]

I may actually try and horribly fail on this one...

but try none-the-less

YEAH BOI!

[Asatira]

Hmmm, this could be fun. And I've actually read the first book.

[thesaint]

I am sad about the last topic being canceled :nohope: But I'll try this one

[DeKal]

that really blows big donkey dick about the prior chow.. at least this next one is a decent topic.

[John Doe]

Sucks that the last one had to be cancelled. Some great art...

This one seems fun though. Time to work.

[thesaint]

yeah, time to work.

***
I just realised that Edgar Rice books are in public domain. Here are some resources:
A Princess of Mars (book) (http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/People/rgs/pmars-table.html)
A Princess of Mars (audiobook) (http://librivox.org/a-princess-of-mars-by-edgar-rice-burroughs/)

I am hearing the first chapters, It's very cool =D

[VulgarDragon]

Yay! I loved those Mars books...E.R.B. is one of my favorite writers. There used to be a comic book series by Marvel Comics back in the '70s...they were pretty good. He looked a lot like Tarzan, though.

(Although I am disappointed that the other chow got canned)

[Pixeltuner]

Well I'm still going to finish my rogue gal, because I wasn't in it for the dough anyway AND I was finally at a point where I thought my character was going somewhere :p

But this one looks cool as well, so here we go again :)

[jhgoforth]

doing research for this CHOW (had barely dipped into silouhettes for previous one, oh well, tis the way ;) ), and came up one this nugget from a 1930s animation test that never got off the ground. (would have been revolutionary for animation in the mid 30's too....good lord...Bob Clampett is a gawd....)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H2ZdSbyHhQ

Edit: before i got to bed, thought i'd drop this link for the PDF and other formats for the first John Carter of Mars book by Burroughs, just in case those who've not read are curious: http://www.archive.org/details/princessofmars00burriala (i'll admit to having seen more of the frazetta and comic type stuff... /sheepish and now proceed to catch up again on the book version)

[Wiggers]

Can we have a bit more information on why the last CHOW was dropped?

And why can't you just keep it going? Fantasy female aventurer why does it need to have anything to do with that game company? just run it as a normal CHOW!! people put a lot of effort into this.

[Wiggers]

Cool Chow by the way, I'm 100% in.

[Pixeltuner]

by the way, do we want the tarzan-ish look of yore outfit-wise, or is can we for instance give our John a bulky Martian space suit while retaining his recognizability (i.e:his tight black haircut and steelgray eyes)

[The Whistler]

Such a shame about CHOW#118...

I'll try and do this one but I doubt it'll be any good. And I just CAN'T draw him half naked...

[Rist]

Oh great, we have a Frazetta to compete with!

[Aly Fell]

Bum about ChOW 118! I'm in for this I think, or I might just finish off my Elf instead... However John Carter is ripe for Steampunking up! ;)

[S.C. Watson]

Can we have a bit more information on why the last CHOW was dropped?

And why can't you just keep it going? Fantasy female aventurer why does it need to have anything to do with that game company? just run it as a normal CHOW!! people put a lot of effort into this.

In short, it was a miscommunication between myself and jason/davi.

Bottom line is that I blew it, and I do sincerely apologize to all of you. There was some fantastic work being cranked out for that!

If you are still interested in working on it, the thread was moved to the non-paying jobs section of the site, found here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131208).

by the way, do we want the tarzan-ish look of yore outfit-wise, or is can we for instance give our John a bulky Martian space suit while retaining his recognizability (i.e:his tight black haircut and steelgray eyes)

It's really up to you however you wish to protray him - so long as you've got his "John Carter-ness" the sky is the limit on how you window dress him :)

All the best,
~Oreg.

[Venger]

Can I just say - don't beat yourself up about it Oreg - mistakes happen, I don't think anyone's taking it personally. Just keep doing the great job that you're doing :D

[Wiggers]

Hey don't worry Oregano, i know you put a lot of effort into running Chow each each week, I'm not going get upset with you. I think i'll finish my piece anyway is was enjoying it.

[grenogs]

pity about the last chow, but hey, shit happens, and anyone whos ever freelanced knows its part of the business we're in :)

[MJ_Alcazar]

Yeah, I'm just glad there's someone out there with enough patience and everything to run these things. You're doing great Oregano! It's a pity about the last one, but things happen and there is no sense worrying about it. :)
I think I might do this one, sounds fun.

[S.C. Watson]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the kind words and understanding. No worries though.

Let's get on with this CHOW! Posh is right - John Carter of Mars Steam Punked out would just rock!

All the best,
~Oreg.

[VulgarDragon]

doing research for this CHOW (had barely dipped into silouhettes for previous one, oh well, tis the way ;) ), and came up one this nugget from a 1930s animation test that never got off the ground. (would have been revolutionary for animation in the mid 30's too....good lord...Bob Clampett is a gawd....)

Wow, what a find. Reminds me very much of Fleischer's Superman cartoons from the same era. Too bad they never got realized. I hear that they might make a movie, but the last rumor is that it will be an animated film by Disney/Pixar...bleh. A live action film would be better.

I have a question...can we include other characters in the final picture, like Dejah Thoris or Tars Tarkas? Or the native mounts or monsters?

[S.C. Watson]

I have a question...can we include other characters in the final picture, like Dejah Thoris or Tars Tarkas? Or the native mounts or monsters?

absolutely :)

[ManaBurn]

Just started looking at Frazetta last CHOW, too cool.

[Pixeltuner]

I'm already rolling again. Continued basically where I left off with last CHOW, cranking out a lot of abstract random shapes and building a silhouette from those. WIP soon.

And Oreg: You were doing last chow with the best intentions, we all know that, so you can't be too hard on yourself methinks. You're doing a great job :)

[jhgoforth]

Wow, what a find. Reminds me very much of Fleischer's Superman cartoons from the same era. Too bad they never got realized. I hear that they might make a movie, but the last rumor is that it will be an animated film by Disney/Pixar...bleh. A live action film would be better.

I have a question...can we include other characters in the final picture, like Dejah Thoris or Tars Tarkas? Or the native mounts or monsters?

Actually the rumour is confirmed that Andrew Stanton (Wall-E and almost all other pixar movies) is writing a script for John Carter of Mars. The rumour part now is that it might be live action mixed with animation (i'd wager the martian landscape and outlandish creatures will be animated or some variation of that idea). The Pixar Blog: Stanton writing John Carter of Mars (http://pixarblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/exclusive-andrew-stanton-confirms-john.html).

[Verastegui]

Here's my sketch. Too fantasy?

[MJ_Alcazar]

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/johncarterofmarsandprincess.jpg

quick sketch.

[S.C. Watson]

Here's my sketch. Too fantasy?

Nah - it's fine, though you may want to ad something a little more indicative of the era in which he comes from. Also, your canvas looks a little dark to me, but that just may be because you are working dark to light? Not sure.

MJ_Alcazar - some good costume design, but I want to see you slow down a little bit and focus in on your anatomy. Carter is an iconic heroic figure, so he's going to at least 9 heads high (see: Andrew Loomis, Standards of Proportion : Male (http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=898), also, another for male (http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=896) here, and one for female here (http://www.fineart.sk/show.php?w=897). And more here (http://www.fineart.sk/index.php?s=8&cat=12). (I'd recommend to anyone downloading the entire book, actually).

Other notes: I like your weapon design, but I'd lengthen it so that the blade section is higher than his head - pole arms and halberds are loooong weapons. (See here (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=E4h&resnum=0&q=Halberd&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1)).

Last note: slow down on your drawing and don't scribble. Your outline should be one long continuous line, not broken unless for lighting or shadow purposes, but for now, I want you to focus on getting that smoother line.

If you're going to be working in pencil, I also want you to pick up some decent tools, see here (http://www.dickblick.com/zz204/69/) & here (http://www.dickblick.com/zz228/87/). If you've got a mechanical pencil, make sure that it's at least a 0.5 HB.

Anyway, hope that helps :)

All the best,
~Oreg.

[Zaxser]

John Carter, eh? Sounds an awful lot like Den (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_%28comics%29).

[luverly_marie]

John Carter, eh? Sounds an awful lot like Den (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den_%28comics%29).

Well, the "John Carter" stories were published starting in 1912 :geekg:

Wow two sketches up already, I got to get going.

[jhgoforth]

Eh considering that Burroughs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs#Barsoom_series) wrote John Carter stories in 1912-1948, I'd say Den resembles his stories. ;P

Edit: hahah Luverly marie beat me. ;P damn me and my 1minute slowness.....

[MJ_Alcazar]

Oregano thank you so much! I've been sort of shooting in the dark here as you can tell. :) Okay, I'm actually going to go and pick up some descent pencils that are actually SUPPOSED to be used for drawing and study those links you gave me. Hopefully, next time I enter something on this site, I'll be better. :)

[John Doe]

Den came after and from what the article says sounds more like a parody to the genre and era John Carter came from. He's more like those old pulp heroes akin to Flash Gordon.

Anyhow, having trouble deciding compositions, going for a classical heroic feel. A la Greek sculptures and Renaissance...

[Pixeltuner]

well, here's my first wip. I'm not really happy with it , but you have to start somewhere eh?

[Deon]

Ok I'm in - A princess of Mars was one of my favourite books!
Barsoom is such a colourfull place!
This is an awesome topic!

[Pixeltuner]

damn, I never took a really good look at Frazetta's work but man...he's a master of movement and dynamics.

[Rist]

damn, I never took a really good look at Frazetta's work but man...he's a master of movement and dynamics.

This is my favourite Frazetta. (http://www.craice.com.br/Frazetta/Frazetta_Conan_the_Usurper.jpg)You should look into buying his ICON book if you want to see more of his work.

[Pixeltuner]

This is my favourite Frazetta. (http://www.craice.com.br/Frazetta/Frazetta_Conan_the_Usurper.jpg)You should look into buying his ICON book if you want to see more of his work.

I found this: http://frankfrazetta.org/ the unoffcial art gallery. It contains a lot of his work, but I'll check out that book anyway. It's always nicer flipping through pages :)

[Aly Fell]

This is my favourite Frazetta. (http://www.craice.com.br/Frazetta/Frazetta_Conan_the_Usurper.jpg)You should look into buying his ICON book if you want to see more of his work.
Yeah, I like that one too! Loads of energy in it... nothing Freudian about that image at all! ;)

[Mon Chat]

Shock horror, im not that much of a fan of frazetta, i respect the skill behind the work, its very awesome, but a little... blunt.

maybe im missing the point.

i really liked this one (http://frankfrazetta.org/images/frank_frazetta_madamederringer.jpg) though!

dont know if i'll take this chow... might finish the other one :/

[Pixeltuner]

Well, the whole theme with muscular barbarian dudes and voluptuous pretty much naked heroines isn't my favourite thing to watch either but as I said: the whole energy in almost all his pieces is amazing. Everything seems to run, jump, crawl and generally being tense.

[keyu6215]

didn't know this guy existed until now. seems pretty interesting though. i will attempt a stab at it.

[Wiggers]

Lol, @Posh

[Aly Fell]

Reminded me of the poster for The Gauntlet... not very original really... but I'll make him more steampunkified!

Edit: A bit of tone and I flipped it. Don't know which is better... Open to crits! I will try to do some myself.

Edit03: Final tone stuff. I don't really know what I'm doing as I working up from tone to colour is still something I'm not sure about.

Edit again: it's not finished, but for now here it is. Haven't really got on to the bottom half of the image properly yet, but this was an experiment in working in greyscale and putting down digital washes and working into them.

[chaosrocks]

heheh, I have a first edition of "Princess of Mars"
Posh ....moar clock work, bigger codpiece :P
maybe I should do a Barsoomian Landscape for the next EOW....

[Stoat]

Whoa -- the brief is an iconic Frazetta character? I just felt my testicles shrivel. And I'm a woman!

It's been a thousand years since I read Princess of Mars. Was the muscley barbarian thing pure Frazetta, or was it appropriate to the character? I read the Wikipedia entry and am none the wiser. Both the illos there show sword-swingers, but there should be more of a hint of steampunk? Or what?

[Stoat]

w00t! The whole book is up (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/pmars-table.html) on Project Gutenberg! Ummm...I don't have any deadlines today, do I?

[Stoat]

Hm.

I noted that each was armed with several other weapons in addition to the huge spear which I have described. The weapon which caused me to decide against an attempt at escape by flight was what was evidently a rifle of some description, and which I felt, for some reason, they were peculiarly efficient in handling.

These rifles were of a white metal stocked with wood, which I learned later was a very light and intensely hard growth much prized on Mars, and entirely unknown to us denizens of Earth. The metal of the barrel is an alloy composed principally of aluminum and steel which they have learned to temper to a hardness far exceeding that of the steel with which we are familiar. The weight of these rifles is comparatively little, and with the small caliber, explosive, radium projectiles which they use, and the great length of the barrel, they are deadly in the extreme and at ranges which would be unthinkable on Earth. The theoretic effective radius of this rifle is three hundred miles, but the best they can do in actual service when equipped with their wireless finders and sighters is but a trifle over two hundred miles.


Okay, "hm" is apparently too short a message, and the quote doesn't count. So "hm, that's interesting."

[Aly Fell]

Hmmm... thanks Stoat... looks like that sword should be rifle... more codpiece too!

I noted that each was armed with several other weapons in addition to the huge spear which I have described. The weapon which caused me to decide against an attempt at escape by flight was what was evidently a rifle of some description, and which I felt, for some reason, they were peculiarly efficient in handling.

These rifles were of a white metal stocked with wood, which I learned later was a very light and intensely hard growth much prized on Mars, and entirely unknown to us denizens of Earth. The metal of the barrel is an alloy composed principally of aluminum and steel which they have learned to temper to a hardness far exceeding that of the steel with which we are familiar. The weight of these rifles is comparatively little, and with the small caliber, explosive, radium projectiles which they use, and the great length of the barrel, they are deadly in the extreme and at ranges which would be unthinkable on Earth. The theoretic effective radius of this rifle is three hundred miles, but the best they can do in actual service when equipped with their wireless finders and sighters is but a trifle over two hundred miles.

[Rachel Pierce]

This will be my first chow entry (if i finish it), John Carter of Mars is hard to resist, its so old school! XD

My WIP - im going for sci-fi egyptian/aztec costume, so lots of gold, leather, feathers and warpaint. Still deciding on the pose and colour scheme tho.

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc217/icybluerae/Artwork/johncarterwip.jpg
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc217/icybluerae/Artwork/johncarterwip4.jpg

I'm a forum newb, if I posted this wrong...I do apologise.

[chaosrocks]

nope you're good. be carefull of the 3/4 rule though...

[Rachel Pierce]

You reckon I should stretch it so you can see his knees? Or do the whole thing inc. feet just to be safe?

[Pixeltuner]

At least 3/4 is the rule. I would show a bit more just to be sure. :)

Here's another one from me, post-apocalyptic cyber-punkish John Carter. I think got a bit carried away, unless all you guys start screaming that it's cool and stuff but I doubt it :p

[S.C. Watson]

Rachel - that's fine. That's actually more along the lines of what I had in mind when I established the 3/4 rule. Not necessarily a "3/4" view (i.e. turned), but being able to see about three quarters of the character. That's close enough to slip by in my opinion.

I need to clarify that in the rules :[

~Oreg.

[Phaethon]

So I went and read the book yesterday - if you haven't, do it. The writing is horrendous but it's a quick, entertaining read and it'll give you a ton of design ideas. And now I'm definitely pumped for this topic. There's some nice work up so far! I started off with some design thumbnails:

[Rist]

Oregano: How close to the original are we supposed to achieve? I have ideas but do not know whether they would break the brief or not.

[Stoat]

I'm about halfway through (it is a light, quick read). So far, he's mentioned rifles, pistols and heavy artillery (all using "wireless finders and sighters"(!)), short swords, big spears for weaponry. For clothing, fur and silk capes, feathers and "ornaments". He arrived naked and all of their stuff had to be cut down to fit him.

LOTS of room for interpretation, I'd say.

[Rachel Pierce]

Oregano- Thanks for the clarification, I was worried I would have to redo his whole body. :S

Pixeltuner - I love the completely sci-fi John Carter, It would be a better story i think if Mars was incredibly futuristic. Great Job!

Phaethon I want a blind date with number 2 plz!

I am feeling this incredible urge to watch 300 for the...er...research of male anatomy! ;)

[Aly Fell]

Rachel - you could open up the composition a bit. The borders of the image are almost touching him. Just a fraction...

[Deon]

Maybe I'm old school, but I love retro sci-fi!
Phaethon - Hey I like the writing:) Yours is so far the most accurate (but I am a purist!) - good job on number 1!:)
I am also halfway through a re-read and other than a cape, some metal decorations, clasps and belts, John Carter and Thuvia are totally starkers and so are the martians!
So what are the rules on nudity, Oregano? :)

[Rachel Pierce]

Poshspice - No worries, i will extend the canvas once the figure is finished. Thanks for the tip. :)

[Hybrid_75]

Maybe I'm old school, but I love retro sci-fi!
Phaethon - Hey I like the writing:) Yours is so far the most accurate (but I am a purist!) - good job on number 1!:)
I am also halfway through a re-read and other than a cape, some metal decorations, clasps and belts, John Carter and Thuvia are totally starkers and so are the martians!
So what are the rules on nudity, Oregano? :)

Really!? not even tighty whiteys! it must be fairly warm on mars, imagine the shrinkage other wise sheesh....
I'm off to read the story.

[jhgoforth]

Yeah I'm working on Warlord of Mars (3rd in series) and there's a lot of nekkid time going on on Mars apparently (damn Mars rovers..where's the pron?)

And to Oregano...damn you...now i'm reading these books. I'd not really read much of the originals as I'd seen more of the comic side. At first I thought, god what is with all these cliches in the stories...then I realized...Burroughs Probably invented all the damn sci fi cliches we have now. *sigh* good old days I suppose. ;P

[S.C. Watson]

Oregano: How close to the original are we supposed to achieve? I have ideas but do not know whether they would break the brief or not.
Not sure exactly what you are meaning here ... This one is a pretty wide open topic, so long as the character is identifiably John Carter of Mars, we're good. So, you're going to want to follow his physical description pretty closely, however the costuming is really up to you.

So what are the rules on nudity?
I don't have a problem with it so long as it is "tasteful". Photobucket, where the voting thumbs are hosted, on the other hand seems to be rather prudish, so.

And to Oregano...damn you...now i'm reading these books ...

You're welcome :geekg:

[thesaint]

Here is my WIP :dead: I'll try to finish it tomorrow

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=418305&stc=1&d=1216701028


Verastegui: I like it, but i think you should put some ornaments on him, he used some strange stuff on the books. Maybe you could work on the torso muscles too.

MJ_Alcazar: I think oregano covered up everything :D it's very creative, I like it.

Pixeltuner's: It's very cool, I just don't know if it is concistent with the books...

Rachel Pierce: :D It's looking really cool

Phaethon: I liked the second one, but with the foot-ring :)

[Hybrid_75]

well, i got a little sidetracked drawing gorillas but i eventually got some ideas down.

[Pixeltuner]

Pixeltuner's: It's very cool, I just don't know if it is concistent with the books...



Yeah, I was afraid of that :p And I'm even more afraid of him being not recognizable as a John Carter but I'll work on that :)

[Stoat]

Remember, gravity is a lot lower there; implication for fabrics, hair.

Yeah, that's right. I could've drawn a princess, but I went with the big warty frog thing. Don't know if I'll finish. I got a couple of hours into a rendering yesterday and PS just closed up on me. No warning, no saving (and no, I hadn't saved). It's when I do a keyboard shortcut -- ctrl-something -- but it isn't always the same one. What the hell is this? Anybody had this happen?

This composition is better than the one I had going yesterday, but I still have the rats about it.

[Hybrid_75]

Stoat: haha love that thing! a good choice. I think it shows an important part of his character too, i like it. i have no idea on the photoshop probeblem, I only ever have the no pressure from the wacom sometimes.

[Rachel Pierce]

the saint Thanks, I did some more rendering yesterday, and i think this will be by far the best piece of work i've ever done! :D

Stoat you are not alone! My photoshop crashes approx once every day, sometimes more. I save ritualisticly every five/ten mins Ctrl-S My wacom tablet is also pretty old so sometimes turns off. I just wanna scream and throw my computer out my window! :S

[jread]

ctrl-S religiously every time your flow stops...unless thats whats crashing your machine! do you have an old version of PS? I have CS3 with vista64 and intuos 3 and only get wacom driver dying every now and then (usually after waking the pc up from hibernation)...a restart always fixes it.

But a computer is a computer at the end of the day, so save at EVERY opportunity ;)

if your running vista, make sure you run it as admin, and try and set lots of virtual RAM to your system...just google for your specs recommendation. also make sure settings in PS are set to use plenty of actual RAM and use other HDs as scratch drives if you have them.

last note....sometimes things like flash objects or movies (or similar, e.g. avi movies etc) that run at the same time as PS can crash it I have found. just a heads up...

[Rachel Pierce]

Yeah i've learned not to have any other programmes running while i paint, because that causes the crashes more than anything. I do use hibernation a lot so that would explain the wacom dying every now and then. I've learned to live with it. I use CS2 with intuos3.

[Stoat]

Yes, I'm using CS2 with an Intuous3 and XP at work -- and it's just the work machine that does it. (I'm drawing John Carter at work? Yes. Yes, I am).

It's always when I hit some keyboard shortcut that includes a CTRL (though, of course, that might be coincidence). Yesterday, it was CTRL-B. A couple of weeks ago, it did it several times with CTRL-Shift-N. It's gotten so I'm reluctant to use the shortcuts, which is bad because I believe internalizing shortcuts is very important.

I'll just have to get used to saving often. Of course, what happens then is that I save it under a new name, just in case I want to go back to a previous state, and I end up with a zillion files when I'm done.

[Pixeltuner]

I've got a 2.0 ghz core2duo, 2 gigs ram Macbook and I haven't had a single CS3 crash ever. Hooray for Apple. :) Nevertheless I save pretty much every 5minutes.

[Deon]

Hybrid_75 - Your John Carter looks like someone from an old western movie - I like it!
Well, here's my first WIP - John and Woola galloping across low gravity mars. I hope the composition is not too top heavy?

Second WIP - fixed up some leg issues, I hope.

[Aly Fell]

To be honest, Carter probably would have a 'tache, being an ex Confederate soldier. Nice one Hybrid!

[Stoat]

I know. And maybe one of those little Colonel Sanders beards.

I thought about it. But I have a bad habit of using facial hair to avoid having to paint mouths :)

[Phaethon]

I'm torn between giving him an 1860s mustache or going for a 1910s clean-shaven heroic thing. Hybrid_75 - I think your mustache definitely works.

Deon - Sorry, I'm a snooty English major. The narration is passable, but you've got to admit the dialogue is pretty awful. Don't get me wrong, though, it was incredibly entertaining! Anyway, I like the action pose in yours, and I think you can probably balance Woola with some kind of diagonal terrain feature along the bottom - maybe form a right-pointing triangle with John, Woola, and the ground as the sides?

thesaint - I like the helmet.

Pixeltuner - The second one is cool design-wise, but it definitely doesn't say 'John Carter' to me. Maybe there's some way to keep that general aesthetic, though. I like it because it reminds me of Bioshock.

[Pixeltuner]

Phaethon: Yeah, I'm gonna tone it down a little so that his face is at least recognizable as being John Carter and put the cyber-punkish elements in other details. Maybe going for a more Frazetta-ish composition would also help. Or incorporating the martian princess or a frog dude.

[Rachel Pierce]

Hybrid - Loving the western colonel style with the tash.

Deon - I like the dynamic pose very much with john in the centre, i wouldn't crop it. The sketch looks top heavy only because the planet surface isnt detailed. Once its all coloured i think it will work really well.


I was going for thick manly stubble...its hot on mars.

[Wiggers]

Don't think i will do this one, looking a bit stiff, need to do some more roughs.

[MJ_Alcazar]

thesaint - thanks! I'm working out my anatomical problems. Hopefully it will look better once I'm done. I like your helmet. :)
Wiggers - it's looking great, I like the design.
Hybrid_75 - LOVE the idea. He's looking great.
Deon - I really like the pose. I agree with a few others, once you get the ground in, it probably won't be so top heavy.
Poshspice - good job, I like the poses and the whole posterlike atmosphere you have going. :)
Stoat - hope you don't mind me saying, but I think it looks cute. :)

[Stoat]

Oh, god, I know. I know. I've spent all afternoon trying to de-cute it a little, but it's the eyes. It's like Woola painted by Gig.

For those of you who are too young, this is Gig:

[Stoat]

Do you think snot would work?

[Pixeltuner]

Stoat: make the eyes more reptilian might be an idea, even if a frog isn't one. Or lose the pupil/iris and go for a beady eye.


New wip for me. Still cyberpunkish sci-fi, but now with more John Carter thrown in the mix. :)

edit: bg idea + lighting and a few details.

[Hybrid_75]

Do you think snot would work?

what about more visible tusks? i kinda like it, its probebly a bit of the pose making him cuter and the shape of his mouth as well. like he's smiling.

[Deon]

Stoat - I actually really like your Woola. In A Princess of Mars, John Carter repeatedly mentions that Woola is the single most affectionate creature on Mars. Woola also only acts in this domicile and "cute" way around John Carter, whom he becomes entirely loyal to. I love how that shows through in your drawing. I need to show a bit more of that joy that Woola shares with John in my drawing. I would'nt de-cutify him at all, the poor mutt has suffered enough with the martians:)

Phaethon, Rachel Pierce, MJ_Alcazar - I am a bit confused about my drawing, though, I never intended to show any ground or landscape, yet everyone assumes that I will, and that it will bring balance to my composition. Do you guys mean that it would seem top heavy without a landscape?
I figured it would be cool to put everything in the air to give it a free, flight type feeling. Maybe it's not working?

[mackerman]

having switched to graphic design, i haven't touched my sketchbook in ages.

oh well, gotta start somewhere to get back into it. i took some liberties below... as John's from Virginia, I doubt he was a Yankee. Maybe he lived in NY first.

extremely rough wip just to put my ideas down... going to work on molding a helmet that reminiscent of Civil War era caps.
http://www.moodge.net/images/wip.jpg

[Stoat]

Thank you, Deon. Actually, slits are working pretty well (thank you Pixeltuner). I tried horizontal frog-style, and vertical reptile-style and both retain personality, but turn down the vomitously cute.

Deon, I can see your composition working fine without a landscape, if you get the values right. Make Woola a mostly dark shape against a mostly dark sky and Carter light against both, and it could have a neat, floaty feeling.

Makes me think of Totoro :)

[jhgoforth]

Hybrid_75: I really dig the 'twirling me 'stache and gutting you' style going on but even though Carter lived through the civil war, he was noted on mars for being "Light skinned with dark hair and no beard" by all whom liked and hated him. That was the core of how everyone on Barsoom (mars) recognizes him and why his lame ass disguises fool everyone on Barsoom including the love of his life. lmao...superman syndrome going on upon that planet.

[Kian]

I think I'm gonna make mine a contemplation on Immortality. Everything dies, but he remains.

[Rachel Pierce]

kain Thats beautiful, i love the pose and his expression. Beautifully rendered and still only a wip!

Deon I had presumed that the larger sphere *or quarter of it thats visible* bottom right was the distant planet's surface. (Did I explain that right?) If it isnt, i still wouldn't crop it yet anyway until the figures are rendered, that way you can see what looks best.

[JIVA*SOUL]

So I think I'm done with this one...it was a huge learning experience...
I'm trying to switch up my style from coloring behind a line drawing.
Suggestions and comments are definitely welcome!

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f304/jivasoul/john-mars.png

[Decepticon217]

where is the finals thread?

[Aly Fell]

Quick observations. I'm at work right now so can't spend too long. Hope I've not missed anyone!

Verastegui – Love the expression. At the moment he’s a bit stiff. Perhaps try relaxing his shoulders somewhat, and maybe lean him onto that knee rather than just resting his hand there.

MJ_Alcazar – Kudos for doing two characters in a very dramatic pose. I like the design of John Carters outfit, very ‘period’. Watch your proportions, particularly the relationship of the heads to the body. Perhaps work up the expressions a bit to appear more in keeping with the drama.

Pixeltuner – How many are you going to do?! Try and get the pose sorted out before rendering up. Each one of the three you started has some fab stuff in it, but you aren’t developing it. Personally I really liked the old school sci-fi look of your first one with the bubble helmet. The idea of sci-fi and swords just seems cool.

Rachel Pierce – There’s a bit of Gladiator in this to me, which is no bad thing. Cool expression and I think the colours are going well. Shoulders perhaps a bit hunched up..? Having the arms so high as they are crossed makes him look a bit petulant!

Phaethon – Thumbs look good. I actually like the one on the left, but cloaks always look good. Maybe combine that with the crossed belts from two?

The Saint - Looking very Flash Gordon right now, which is great. Not sold on the pose. Why’s he lifting his leg like that?

Hybrid_75 – Fab character sheet. He’s genuinely looking like someone from the 19 century. Looking forward to more of this.

Stoat – Great sketch! Lots of personality in both of them. Maybe open the composition a bit? (I’m more a Louis Wain cat person I think!)

Deon – Top heavy? Don’t think so. Smashing sketch. Woola looks like he’s galloping, but John Carter looks like he needs more doing with his legs, rather than hunching them up. Is he going to have an outfit?

Wiggers – Top work! A full blown illustration here I feel. The only thing I can say is to perhaps do a bit more with the expressions. They are both a bit impassive right now. This is looking very good...

Mackerman – I love the idea of incorporating civil war themes in the design. I really like this proportionally. The helmet he’s holding (!) doesn’t look big enough to go over his head though.

Kian – Looking great Jon. Good pose and Martian colour scheme. I have to ask why he is examining his hand so intently though?

Jiva*Soul – Love the dynamism in this one, and the energy. The foreshortening on John Carters leg is a bit off, but some of the design elements like taking the cloak right off ‘screen’ are great. Perhaps make it a bit clearer what he is standing on...

TTFN

[Wiggers]

Thanks Posh!

[Stoat]

Posh, my 2D teacher told me thirty years ago my sense of composition was a train wreck. Somehow, I don't see that getting any better.

You know Louis Wain went crazy as a shit-house rat? His cats started out fairly realistic and then got cartoony and finally downright trippy.

[Kian]

Cheers Aly. :hatsoff:
Yeah sorry, I think I should've elaborated more.
He's studying his forever youthful hand, pondering why everything around him dies, while he doesn't age or decay.

[Pixeltuner]

Posh: Thx and: I don't know, I just can't stoooooooooooooop :p But seriously, I've got a serious attention-span problem when it comes to drawing, so I tend to start over again a lot trying new stuff without really much thinking or planning. And because of that never finish anything. Which is bad. Need to work on that.

[Rachel Pierce]

Posh Thanks for the advice, I shall experiment with those arms and try make them look more relaxed and less aggressive.

[Hybrid_75]

jhgoforth: You're probably right, but I'm far too attached to the stache now:) I guess I'm really just trying to have fun with this, I think he's a fantastic character.

Poshspice:Thanks, hopefully I will be able to get over the technical side of things which get in my way at times.

Well still mucking around with ideas, mainly with composition. forgive the boxy mannequins every where, I'm still figuring out how to draw! I had thought of attaching a giant spike to his cod piece which, coupled with his fantastic leaping ability he could use with deadly effect I'm sure. that would impress the chicks huh!

[Deon]

Stoat - Yep - it is a bit Tottoro inspired:)
Poshspice - Thanks - I have re-positioned the legs (WIP update), I think it works better, and yea- hes going to have an outfit:), I just want to sort out the composition first.

[Stoat]

Wonderful. Just wonderful. I should have the Gay Alien Bestiality market all sewn up. >:{

A boy and his frog:

[Wiggers]

Not sure if i will time to do this, my wife got to go into hospital on friday for a small op, not going to leave me much time.

Hey stoat, they look very friendly.:)

[Shotgun Baby]

Hi
I have decided to go cartoony with this I hope that is still inside the criteria for this image.
Love the topic
;)

[Stoat]

Oooo! I like it. I don't see why it wouldn't be.

You know, whatever else Burroughs was, he wasn't an illustrator. Okay, six-armed apes I can take. But somewhere, he says Woola is five-armed (which I presume to be an error) with three rows of teeth. Dude! Even numbers! Where's that odd thing supposed to go?

[Shotgun Baby]

Ooooppppsss I forgot to mention that I will be painting this ;) silly me!

[Wiggers]

Shotgun Baby, i love it!

[Shotgun Baby]

He he Stoat I like it!! you should give him one of those little elephant willie warmers or the zebra one..
MINT!!

[Stoat]

How about a kicky little red silk purse?

Oh, god, I am such a girl!

[englishduke]

Some really nice stuff this week again.

Shotgun baby _ you wouldnt even have to paint that and I'd vote for it. its great!

Stoat_ it might be a bit homo-erotic for my taste but still nicely done. nice bannana hammock in the last one lol.

I had a little fun with this. I hope he doesnt have to be a white guy though. This is JC with his generations of women.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r180/englishduke/CHOW120brownbgflat.jpg

[Decepticon217]

Kian, i love the work so far!
reminds me of jim lee

[Shotgun Baby]

Cheers English Duke you are too kind , I love the montage its really wacky - the composition works really well. ;)

[Pixeltuner]

Shotgun: Cool, you'll get my vote for style :p
Kian: Looks pretty neat, maybe you could enhance the drama and make him watch over something. A desolate town, field of skulls etc. i.e.: show more hints in the surroundings :)
Wiggers: Looks epic! Hope you can finish it and good luck to the misses of course.
Stoat: Go for it! John Carter as gay frog lover = Win


update on my last one: Changed leg, sword, cape, mask (I tried the glass bubble again but it didn't work out with his respirator and I didn't want to remove that.), added stairs, more background stuff. I might zoom out a little for an attacker on the stairs or something like that. I'll be finishing this one but it has to be done on saturday because sunday I'm leaving for holiday.

[Phaethon]

Deon - Sorry, I was confused by the first sketch. It looked like the planet and moon were construction lines, so I didn't think there was anything at the bottom of the frame. The second WIP clears it up and is lookin' good!

mackerman - I dig the Civil War uniform influence. What's going on with his feet, though?

Kian - This looks great! I like the moody atmosphere and how you form a diagonal with the cape and the mountains.

JIVA*SOUL - I like the "construction paper cutout" feel you've got going on. I'm not sure whether the neon alien blood is distracting or not. It might be fine.

Stoat - I think you've struck a good balance between ugly and cute with Woola in this one.

Shotgun Baby - Awesome. I think the cartoon style is great. The gun is a little ridiculous.

Me - Here's my pose. I've got the basic figure sketch and a second one with his costume outlined. I think, from my thumbnails (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=418083&stc=1&d=1216673158), I'm going to go with the left overall design, but make the ornaments a little more like the middle design. Any comments would be very helpful (and thanks to the folks who gave me some feedback on those thumbnails :) )

[Deon]

Stoat and Phaethon -kudos on the nudity!
John Carter proudly bounced around mars in his b-day suit for 10 years.
I think it's about time we let him give Den a run for his money! :)
So no banana hammocks! Let Pixar cover the man up.

[S.C. Watson]

I went for the slightly updated (clothed - sorry) stoic heroic look. I was thinking about the possible impending movie, and thinking that they're probably going to update him - make him something like a space marine or something and totally screw thing the whole thing up, which I hope they don't do. I did want to sort of "modernize" him some, but I also wanted to keep a little of the original flavor. So.

Spent a couple of hours on this, may take it further, may not.

[MJ_Alcazar]

Poshspice - thanks! I changed the pose though :( I was so concentrating on the porportions that I forgot the pose. Hopefully it still work though. ::looks around nervously::
Kian - I LOVE the mood of this one, it's awesome. And so beautiful.
Stout - I did not mean that as an insult or anything. I loved the frog thing, and I still do. :) It's looking good. :)
Shotgunbaby - loving the style, good job. I might shrink the gun just a bit though. :)
Oregano - I'm liking the feel of this one. :)

Okay, hopefully, this one's a little better with the porportions. ::crosses fingers::
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/scan0012-1.jpg

[thelefthand]

Here is my WIP. http://www.templararts.com/conceptartsketches/jcwm1screen.jpg

[thelefthand]

This is my first post here working on a Character of the Week. There is a lot of really good work here. It's great seeing the process unfold with different perspectives. Looking forward to seeing finals on this CHOW.

Poshspice - I really like your composition.

Hybrid - Those are some nice sketches. I am looking forward to your final piece.

Pixeltuner - I like your most recent wip the most.

Kian - That's awesome! I love that pose.

Wiggers - That is slick!

Shotgun Baby - It's different, but I like it. Looking forward to seeing this finished.

Oregano - Great composition. I really like the design of his sword.

[ccsears]

blah blah blah... i'm obviously biting the styles of frazetta and vallejo. you know, back during the 80's when showing off your oiled up torso and flexing was more heterosexual...

props to Stoat for her sense of humor.

419907

WIP. don't know if i'll finish before comicon.

[Chate Noire]

Shotgun_Baby, this is excellent. It's different from the stuff you usually see in CHOW, very refreshing and well done. I'd love to see the final.

Oregano, I really dig what you're doing with the sky and cliff there. Awesome colors and brushwork.

[Kian]

Another update. Some crits

CCSears: Great colour pallete, very vibrant. I'd suggest taking the intense saturation down in some places like the skin. Which should balance the image more as he's getting a bit lost in the BG at the mo.

theLeftHand: Nice design and attention to detail! Try being more confident in drawing his body. Theres alot of 'feathering' going on there right now. One crisp line would be all you need.

MJ Alcazar: You managed to get a good sci-fi feel already with this one. I think some stonger lineweight in places would help alot.

Oregano: I love the colours in this pic :) John looks good too. As the rocks are so dominant in this piece, I'd recommend getting some ref and painting some interesting rock formations.

Phaeton: I'm liking the gesture this guy has. And nice oldy worldy design. About the face, I'd look at how the nose and mouth area protrude from the face. At the moment, they look simply overlayed onto a spherical form.

Pixeltuner: Cheers from the comment you're totally right. If you look, he already has a field of skulls behind him. But I think i'll push it more.
Yours has a very interesting design, and I'm really liking your confident values and contrasts. I think you should look at his right arm though. His hand seems to be in an unnatural position. Also, I'd suggest making the creatures tentacles clearer, but I assume you already plan to do that.

EnglishDuke: I love this take on John Carter. The shadows are a bit washed out at the moment I'd say. Maybe push their contrast more. Add a multiply layer at the top of the image and experiment with strong shadows and colours.

Shotgun Baby: ....Love it

Wiggers: Great drawing. You've achieved a strong powerful feeling there. Compositionally, you have both characters facing out of the frame which doesnt work very well for dynamic tension. If the girls body was facing in, it would keep my eye inside the image, and contrast with John's outward facing body.

Stoat: I really like the vintage feel this image has. And yeah, if you want his cock out, go for it.

Hybrid75: Great dev sheets. I look forward to seeing how you combine them in an image.

Jiva soul: I really love this image. The colours and style are great. My crit is in his face. I think this could be developed alot more to really make this image kick ass. Id recommend looking at gezfry's work.

Mackerman: I really like the retro styling. I think some strong lineweight would really help.

Deon: I love the energy in this image. I think I'd explore his left foot a bit more tho.

The saint: I love his retro gun and overall style. Very nice presentation too although I'd suggest holding off on it till the end though. Presentation should compliment the image, not the other way round.

Rachel Pierce: I really like the attention to the rendering. I look forward to the finished piece.

Aly: Quality as per there mate. Cant wait for the finish.


Ok so from my crits, I thought it best to really push the death theme more. So more skulls. Also, a little parody on big breasted models clutching to the heroes.

[MrAnimation]

Hello everyone

I was toled about this sight and what you guys do here, This is awesome!
Heres the start of my piece for the "John Carter of Mars" topic. Feel free to rip it to shreds with progressive criticism.420092

[Stoat]

If anybody's looking for me? I'll be around back. Breaking my own fingers, one by one.

[Wiggers]

Thanks kian, some good points well made. Your is looking great!

[Rist]

Kian: That looks nothing like mars. I know the landscape could be a similar visual, but having those planets in the sky throws it all off. Assuming these people are breathing air, I am thinking the planet has a better atmosphere than it currently does. And then there is the fact that earth would not ever be that big in the sky; I guess I know this by my own sky, I cannot see a planet that big!

I really like the painting that is why I mentioned the above. Keep tweaking!

On a note on design. The descriptions say he was an officer in the American war on indipenance; a nice thing could be to look at officers swords back then. They had a hand guard like a basket. The blade was quite narrow too.

I see you are from huddersfield. Might be good to take a train ride to leeds and got to the armoury. They have a large collection of officers swords from that period. Really worth checking out!

[Stoat]

You're a hundred or so years off: the American Civil War, 1861-1865. And the book talks about the two moons and how visible they are, so that's what I assumed was going on there.

[Kian]

Cheers Rist. I'm glad you like the image. I'll take that into consideration. And yeah, believe me, I know it doesnt look anything like mars. I have a fair few ref images of mars, and my image is miles off from reality. But thats not the point. I want a classic sci-fi feel, and I think most people could accept that my environment is Mars. Look at Frazetta's image. Looks nothing like mars, but it doesnt really matter.
http://www.tarzan.org/art/ffddpm.jpg

And cheers Stoat :hatsoff:

[Pixeltuner]

Kian: Thx :) Yeah, that hand is still bugging me. I was trying to think of something else yesterday but it didn't really work out, but I'll fix it somehow ;) And those 'tentacles' were just some shapes blocked in which could be anything from Martian mountain peaks to a giant monster :p

[S.C. Watson]

Thanks for the comments guys :)

Finals thread is up! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=132068)

All the best,
~Oreg.

[Shotgun Baby]

Hi guys
Here is my rough colour I hope to get it tied down tomorrow night.
I originaly had it in blues and purple untol a friend of mine came up with the idea of the green planet and the red background. I have to say a stroke of genius from him as it works much better now.
I am loving everyones stuff at the moment ;)

[S.C. Watson]

Hey Posh - just saw your updates (missed those somehow ... :er: ) looking really good! Not sure which direction you're taking JC there expression wise, but he strikes me as looking a little confused/surprised ... ? I'm guessing that's intentional? I think, actually, he's mirroring your uncertainty on which way you want to go with the piece :P

I'll try to post comments later today for everyone! Gotta scoot for teh werks!

All the best,
~Oreg.

[Shotgun Baby]

Hi Posh ;)
The approach is cool -very old school going from the greys and then detailing them up. YOU HAVE TO PAINT IT!! it would be a crime not too..

[Shotgun Baby]

Hi
I wanted to put up my final clean up composition before I do my final paint ,if anyone has any feed back on the new shapes like tentacles etc that would be great!

;)

[ccsears]

kian yep. you were right.

420294

shotgunbaby i would change the overlaps in the background. the big moon and the tentacle are almost tangential.

[Phaethon]

The final drawing - I still need to figure out designs for his sword and spear. Also, he needs a head. Kian - you're completely right about the face. It's pretty much just a placeholder at this point.

Edit: Added a version with a face. I don't really like the hair though.

Edit: Fixed the position of the head and neck, added the sword.

Edit: All right, John Carter's got a spear. I'm not sure what to do with it now. Do I paint over it or color it or what? Any advice would be helpful.

http://www.emmaverse.com/images/Gen_Art/John-Carter2.jpg

[MJ_Alcazar]

Phaethon - Nice design so far. Can't wait to see it finished. :)
ShotgunBaby - I'm liking the colors. Can't wait to see it.
Kian - thank you, I'll try it. :) And, I like your parody going on their. It's a nice touch. I love the whole thing. :)
ccsears - very super hero like, I'm liking it. :)
Thelefthand - good job. I like the design. I agree with Kian though.

[MrAnimation]

O.k. I think I'm going to go a completely different way, now that i read the John Crater summery... my first idea's not working out. but, will, progress. GOOD LUCK ALL!!!

[MrAnimation]

Kain: Man! That's looking cool! so much power coming out of that picture, Good job!

ShotGunBaby: I LOVE your style, the first thing it reminded me of was the epic game "Escape from Monkey island" Keep it going! \M/ -_- \M/

[Phaethon]

Comments, comments.

ccsears - God, those colors. I know what you're going for, but it's like, the tie-dye version of John Carter. At least you toned it down from the first one :). Other than that, I like it. It's got good energy.

Shotgun Baby - I agree with ccsears about that tentacle - the large one bends right where it hits the largest background moon, and it creates a weird tangency. I'd move it into the circle rather than out of it.

Stoat - Don't get too discouraged! It still looks good. I liked it better when Woola had his head tilted and was looking up at Carter. And - don't take this the wrong way - but do you remember what the Beast looked like when he was human in Beauty and the Beast? Your Carter kind of looks like that now. Maybe ditch the long hair? Major props for rocking the narrative-accurate nudity though.

Kian - Still looks awesome. I love your takeoff on the princess clinging to Carter's leg.

thelefthand - Cool armor design and attention to detail. The face is looking slightly flat, and his eyes are a smidge too close together, in my opinion.

[Shotgun Baby]

Cheers ccsears,
I just saw this after you said it , it has a mickey mouse feel.. Looks like the 3 circles of Disney.
Cheers everyone for your comments it will spur me on to finish it.
:)

[Aly Fell]

Thanks for saying stuff guys, like the Shotgun fellah, it'll motivate me!

Shane - Lol! His expression is a bit more refined now. But it was a bit 'I don't know what' really! Yours is fabulous, although I really don't think you need all the space toward the bottom. You could crop it about a third up and it'd still work compositionally.

Stoat - Yours is looking great! Don't give up on it! (there's a song in there somewhere)

Kian - Looking top! Push the planets back a bit. That Frazetta image of John Carter is great but the small moon look like it's just under his arm. They need a fade to give some depth.

Shotgun Baybee - More pink boss! ;)

Phaethon - The face is looking fab, as is the metalwork design.

ccsears - Excellent pose and colour scheme: green and red! Popular this round, oh yeah Mars... duh...

Englishduke - Great image, and I'm glad you've gone for different 'take' on the subject matter. Hell, why not!

Thelefthand - That outfit is top! The armoured arm looks a bit stiff. Perhaps a slight relaxation at he elbow would help.

MrAnimation - He's a cowboy! A smaller image would be better, but watch the composition doesn't become to fractured. The beasties head is excellent.

MJAlcazar - Proportions are much better, but I still think you could push their expressions a bit.

TTFN

[Stoat]

Oof! I caught him singing showtunes this morning. I shot him dead.

We'll see if I get any time tomorrow to retry the figure. I've got an actual piece of work to do, so maybe not. I'm only in it for Woola...

[englishduke]

Everyones is looking great so far.

ccsears- I love the picture it has a great feel to it (it reminds me of my childhood days of wearing out my Flash Gordon movie.) Love it.

Shotgun- The tentacles look great, the color schemes gonna be tight as well. lookin forward to sein it.

Phaethon- your linewrok on the last piece is awesome and so clean, cant wait to see it colored. (even though feel bad for the guy, you must have drawn that picture right after he got out of freezing cold shower lol.)

I spent some time trying to render my JC in a differant way, I would love to know if it has made an improvment.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r180/englishduke/justJCnewcopy.jpg

[ccsears]

a little more work... i was thinking that without a prop or some kind of setting, a guy in a cape with a sword could be kind of bland. i haven't read any of burrough's stories, so i just made up some random stuff. JC goes on a quest to recover the Martian Moon Glyphs... or something like that.

420560

hold on a second, i have to open another window to organize my comments...

Oregano Probably the place to start is value... He's silhouetted against the turquoise, but lost against the orange-red, and then lost against the cliff, which lightens up as it goes down. i've heard teachers complain to me over and over...value value value!!! That said, you did use the greatest saturation to draw the eye to your intended focal point. Just organize your values to do the same.

MJ_Alcazar It's coming along... I think the length of your proportions is improving, but you have a tendency to taper the arms and legs a little. by the time you get to the wrist or ankle, the limbs are a little thin. To make it read clearer, I'd beef up my linework a little to organize it. not ALL the lines, but certain ones.

thelefthandLots of stuff going on here... you're much more creative costume-wise than i am, that's for sure. but now i think it's a matter of organization, probably with value again. I don't know if you're intending to paint it or not, but your values go from dark-dark to light-light in his armor, the same way they do on his skin. the highlights (on his boots for example) won't show up unless you organize the values and drop the whole armor a little darker, i think.

Kian interesting take. pretty existential too. i agree with what poshspice said about knocking those moons back a bit, but after looking at your sketchbook, i know that you know that. great sketchbook by the way.

MrAnimation Cowboy JC. nice. By the time you get this far, you should throw down some indication of background perspective. This doesn't mean create a fully-rendered background, but you should throw down some perspective lines for a ground plane or some shadows on the ground. it's a minimal adjustment, but it gives your characters a sense of weight and solidity. something you can bounce ideas off of when you start rendering.

Stoat ummm. you don't need my $0.02 you've been around the block and know what's what. (probably been down that alley too, from the looks of this one) I love the way you can tweak the attitude like that, very subtle changes and it effeminizes him in such a hilarious way. cock is probably necessary just to make sure that people read it as intended humor. (that's probably one of the strangest things i've ever typed. my homophobia mandates that i state for the record that i'm straight.)

ShotgunBaby except for the tangencies, everything's fine. flatter styles like animation really rely on rhythm and overlaps to convey depth and you've done a good job here.

Phaethon Very neoclassical. I like that. The placement of his head is too far to the right of the image though. check it by drawing a line up from the abs and sternum. very greek though. nice.
englishduke Thanks. can't tell how your rendering has changed from before. I haven't done CHOW for a long time. If you were using real paint, I'd say you're mixing too much white into your colors when you turn form. It will make everything look "chalky." That said, your overall skin tone here is kind of cold. It should be a more saturated "very dark orange" probably. As you come into the light it turns a slightly more ruddy-orange. this acrylic painting of mine isn't great, but you get the idea:
420559
black skin is just the same orangey-pinkish colors as white people, but without the white mixed in. the highlights on black people are different too, sometimes a lot colder than on white people.

alright. not gonna dig through the entire thread. that's my humble crit quota for today. hope it helps.

[Hybrid_75]

I gotta say though Stoat my man don't give up on him. I think he's great!
And I love that someone said "maybe a bit homo-erotic for me". Sheesh! you draw a naked man showing affection and this is what you get.... LOL Reading the second book 'The Gods of Mars' and there are a few times where E.R.Burroughs uses the term fagged as meaning knackered/tired, made me think of your pic, funny that.

Well I'm a little behind as usual, and there is allot of cool stuff that everyone is doing. hopefully this will work out.

[S.C. Watson]

Oregano Probably the place to start is value... He's silhouetted against the turquoise, but lost against the orange-red, and then lost against the cliff, which lightens up as it goes down. i've heard teachers complain to me over and over...value value value!!! That said, you did use the greatest saturation to draw the eye to your intended focal point. Just organize your values to do the same.

Hey ccsears - thanks for the great crit there on the values. Yeah, I'm kind of shooting from the hip on this one and it shows :er: so. I'll see about going in and playing with it again. The mid section is the part that bothers me the most, not too concerned about the legs fading into the cliff some as that was intentional - I wanted to give the feeling that he was firmly planted on Mars - a part of it, you could say, but at the same time, he's high above the horizon and therefore in a position of control metaphorically and literally speaking.

But, um. Yeah. Values.

<<
>>

*LOOK* Isn't that THOMAS KINKADE??

:P

<snip> ...my homophobia mandates that i state for the record that i'm straight.)

I don't mean to play Moral Majority here, and I know that is meant humorously (and I took it as such, so), but it makes about as much sense as saying that "my fear of Asians mandates that I state I'm white." Just something to think about :) Remember; we have people of all backgrounds and lifestyles here on the CA, so what is funny to some, won't be to others.

All the best,
~Oreg.

[dabble]

Did someone say Frazetta? Oh man! He's one of my faves when it comes to fantasy illustrators. Haven't been here in while and I'm glad that I stopped by this round. I hope I can get enough color on piece to get close to a finished look. Went ol' school on this one and started drawing with a pencil. They are falling off a cliff and there will be some kind of Martian landscape behind them.

Wow!! some nice wips so far, can't wait to see all of them in the final round. I feel a bit behind so I'll just crit from page 5 so I can get to work. Good luck everyone.

Oregeno- Love the complementary colors of your sky. Nice start, I can start to imagine a wasteland in the background.
MJ Alcazar- I like the set up and story beginning here. Keep working on those proportions and construction of the human form, you get it with enough practice.
theleft hand- Nice costume design, Love to see how you develop the color.
ccsears- Nice colorful sketch and shapes so far. Good start to the anatomy, keep working it. The eye sockets look a little deep a black, makes it look almost like a mask. bring his eye lids out into the light.
Kian- Cool...Obviously you know what you are doing. Looking forward to seeing it completed.
MrAnimation- Like the loose sketch so far. Keep working that construction of your figures. Also overlapping objects or figures are a great way to show what's in front and what's behind.
Stoat- Nice wip going on here. Banana hammock or not I'm sure your final will rock.
Shotgun Baby- Great animation style. Looks awesome so far.
Phaethon- Love the classical pose. However his vertical center line of gravity looks a little off to me. I believe his right heel should be under his pit of the neck so that you feel his weight pushed through the trocantor. Beautiful costume design.
englishduke- Not sure it matches the brief? Like the ideal of a urban JC though.
Hybrid_75- Loved your investigative studies. Looking forward seeing what you develop. JC's chest looks a bit thin compared to his arms and legs.


http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x18/dabble21/ConceptArt/CHOW/JC_pencil.jpg

[ccsears]

apologies if anyone's offended...

for the record, my uncle was gay and died of AIDS while in the service of the us army abroad--never coming out of the closet for fear of losing his job. denying himself medical treatment that may have extended his life, living apart from the military base in a foreign country, and suppressing the grief of losing his partner of over ten years from the disease too.

my family and i have paid the price in tears for a few laughs now and again.

the gay angel on my shoulder was laughing, and it seemed like there was some discussion going on about it way before i showed up in this thread.

[Johann de Venecia]

Hey guys, haven't been here in a while. I'm joining in the fun! Final for now, I'll add borders and maybe tweak colors later on.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l69/deceptant10/chow119_lukavi.jpg

Posh, always fab-o. Some crits and comments to follow. Cheers, everyone!

[davidherd]

Well I huvnae been around here for a while but I've been watching this topic develop and after seeing Lukavi's beautiful entry (wow) I'm finally inspired to put pen to tablet. Nice work Lukavi. Hybrid_75 your intial head studies have been an inspiration also and Kian's painting hits the spot for me. Good luck y'all. [edit: wip removed]:

[Stoat]

Beautiful stuff showing up on this thread; voting will be tough. Again.

I wasn't being deliberately ironic with mine, alas. It just got away from me. I think I look at too much classic art: a pose that works just fine for an Assumption of Christ looks really, really wrong for John Carter of Mars.

[Wiggers]

Not sure i'll finish this, not happy with it, should had spent more time on the initial sketch, too many underline problems the anatomy all over the place:[

[Wiggers]

lukavi, looks beautiful.

[The Whistler]

Great work guys!

I made a sketch just yesterday and I hope I'll make it... I think this is the first time I actually drew a male...

[indus]

Hi I'm new in CHOW and nice to meet you.

My ideation about John Carter is more of 21c trendy hero who has iron lung for the breathing in mars.
Here is my rough sketch.

http://in2thepaper.cdn2.cafe24.com/chow/jc.jpg

[S.C. Watson]

apologies if anyone's offended...

Hey Chris,

No worries mate. It's all good I didn't mean to single you out really. My apologies - my comments should have been a more generalized.

*gives stink eye to CHOW crowed* :geekg:

All the best,
~Oreg.

[MJ_Alcazar]

Poshspice, Ccsears, dabble, thank you all so much for the comments. And everyone who has given me comments for that matter. It really keeps me from getting to frustrated with myself when I'm messing up. :) But, I'll get there! :)

Wonderful work by all!

Indus - I like the initial sketches, and the costume design looks pretty cool.
Hybrid_75 - I'm loving the pose, and the direction your going with the whole stache thing. I can't figure out about the sword in his left hand, but it's a rough sketch, so I'll wait until you get it done to see. :)
Englishduke - nice take, although, I'm not sure it'll pass the brief.
Lukavi - very nice, it's beautiful. It reminds me of the Norse myths of the valkries and superhuman men. :)
Davidherd - like the sketch, hope you finish. :)
The Whistler - nice pose and I'm liking the costume design. There's something wrong with his right hand that I can't quite place. Maybe too stiff?
Dabble - Awesome! all the characters look great and nice action.
I hope I got everyone I haven't already commented on. ::looks worried:: If I didn't, I'm terribly sorry. There's so much great work on here!

[ccsears]

oregano no harm no foul. if you think this is bad you should've seen my last job--laser and optical engineer for a major missile defense program. when we were up in silicon valley, i'd take shit all the time about life drawing in san francisco. you can only imagine...
(...and if you think that's bad, you should see what the process is like to get a security clearance and background investigation...)

hybrid composition. if you draw a big X from corner to corner, JC's head is practically in the middle. 50-50 is always the most boring proportion there is, unless you're doing something formal and symbolic like religious painting. you should adjust it one way or the other--more sky and make him feel small (which i don't recommend since it's a character piece), or crop it to make the figures larger. e.g. if you want to make mountains look tall in a painting, you leave little room for sky at the top.

Lukavi love it. some of the anatomy is a little bubbly, but only very slightly. probably could be adjusted with the rendering or using a few more overlaps. the flowing drapery is beautiful. and i love the mood of it. this piece and a lot of your other work (i snooped your SB last night) reminds me of arthur rackham:
421083
which is pretty damn awesome.

dabble i like the different camera angle. things are floating a little bit too much though, so indicate a ground plane to keep things in the same perspective.

davidherd can't tell yet. interesting that you started over a green background though...

stoat apologies if i was pissing you off. contraposto itself has been co-opted these days... which makes doing a piece like this very difficult.
think siegfried and roy. just make sure JC doesn't get bitten in the neck by that thing.

Wiggers Nice. this has the classic fantasy feel to it. the problems i think you're having are color. the underlying black is dulling your colors in strange ways. just like mixing too much white can be a bad thing, mixing too much black can be too.

whistler Nice start. Keep an eye on that horizon line. you don't want it exactly in the exact middle of the page.

Indus Good that you're ideating, the scan is a little hard for me to see much though. Scan them at a higher resolution.

MJ_Alcazar thx. most people don't leave too many comments in sketchbooks because they want the freedom to browse quickly, quietly and anonymously. this is different though, no reason not to try to help someone out.

[Stoat]

Good heavens, no, chris! You weren't pissing me off. I was mad at myself for having a drawing I liked and screwing it up in the finishing. I think part of joining in a community project is being a good sport about it and letting others see your work when it goes wrong. It pains me, but...you know...taking my medicine and all that. We'll see if I have time to...ummm...straighten it out before Sunday.

*Love* that glowy fist effect you have going in your final. I'm going to have to figure out how you did that and totally steal it.

[MrAnimation]

Wow! so many awesome crits. Thanx PoshSpice - Yeah I did over do the Image size a bit but this next one's smaller and a little better planed, Thanx for the big, emo, lizard's head complement. :) Thanx Ccsears - This next piece has ALOT more shadow. I hope your all having as much fun with this stuff as i am? Cheers!

[MrAnimation]

Dabble - Ill keep that in mined of this next piece. Wow that's looking beautiful! I have NO idea how you guyz can do this sort of thing sooOOOooo fast?!?! its really a sweet super-power!

[Wiggers]

Hey ccseras, thanks for the imput, your right in what you say, but i don't think i would have left too much black in in the final piece i would of toned it down a little bit.

[Pixeltuner]

damn, you guys are in overdrive. I don't think I'll be able to finish mine though... I have lots of preparations to do for my week off and I'm already leaving on Sunday. Damn those vacations :p I'll see what I can do though. :)

[daestwen]

Some awesome stuff in here, peoples. :) I'll check back in tonight and get some crits up, but just in general I'd like to say I'm impressed with the showing so far!

[jhgoforth]

i'm having a heck of a time with this one, been rushed with work so this is going slow, try to get some sort of WiP up tonight I hope. good stuff so far, everyone.

[Johann de Venecia]

Hey guys, here are a few comments and crits. My anatomy is spotty so I feel under-qualified to do a critique where the human form is concerned, so consider the source and take it with a grain of salt, hehehe.

Hybrid75: Looking epic so far. Your backdrop palette is gorgeous. Watch the tangent where the left foot meets the girl’s elbow. Hope to see more.

Ccsears: Nice choice of colors. Strange and alien, fits the setting quite well. I saw your finished pic in the FB thread. Lovin’ the effects, it gave the dynamic shot an even more dynamic finish. I don’t really have a crit, more of a preference but I wish I saw more playfulness in his costume.

Posh: I always look forward to your stuff. Always solid and consistent, never breaking off of the Posh Standard of Excellence. But I’ll give you a crit, because I love you… You mentioned you were going for a steam-punk look. While I see that in his aviator goggles, I don’t see much of it in the rest of his/her stuff. Perhaps you will take it there in color and your finishing details, in which case I will promptly eat my words ;) Looking forward to your finished piece.

Kian: One of my faves. Love the darker mood you offered. Angle, form all solid, as is the palette. Good job!

MJAlcazar: You were creative with the costume, with both of them sharing some kind of common theme. Your’e doing a good job so far. Just be sure to keep a more solid grip on the anatomy. Their limbs look independent from their body, so try to think of the form first before going into details. I struggle with anatomy as well, but one book that really give me direction (in a clear and quick manner) is the book by Loomis. Its an old book so I doubt that you’ll find one in stores, but its probably floating around the internet in digital form. I highly recommend it. Another critique, is to be more fluid with your strokes. I notice that you do a lot of skips and hops with your graphite, which is fine, when doing your small details. But for the outline, it helps to do wide, sweeping strokes. Don’t be afraid to miss a corner or skip a beat. Your’e doing great, hope to see more.

Indus: Welcome to CA.org. Lovin your orthos so far. You have great control over your pencils, I really admire your lines. Being this early on, its hard to find crits. Perhaps, a reminder, to bear in mind the essence of the character, John Carter, as you give him your own spin. Hope to see more.

Wiggers: Your piece really feels like a tribute to the novel and the classic image as immortalized by Frazetta, which is very cool and fitting. You mentioned some anatomy issues, although I think generally your characters are well grounded in form and structure… Perhaps some ambiguity in the right arm holding the gun and a high-placed right knee just below the female’s hand. Easily fixable with manipulating the cast shadow perhaps. Hope you finish this, it’s a strong image.

Davidherd: The top portion of your character’s body looks great so far. Good idea to block in that light source. Looking forward to see more.

Dabble: That’s a nice dynamic composition. Reminds me of a classic painting, of the Angel Gabriel defeating Lucifer. Really like the classic feel of their poses. Minor crit on the girl’s boob. It looks intentional, but it seems somewhat too solid for the way it hangs away from her chest area. Perhaps move up the nipple considerably and round out the base some more, to give a more supple look? Geez, I’m not really sure if I make any sense at all, I don’t have breasts, so I may not be explaining it right…>.<

Oregano: I read some comments about your values and choice of color. While definitely valid, I see what your trying to do with your palette. You are trying to give that sensation of being in an alien landscape. I think the issue of the character melting into the bg will correct itself as you go along, as you add more highlights and shadows on him. I also like that you gave us an eye rest at the bottom of the image with the transition to a more pastel horizon.


That’s it for now, I’ll do another run later perhaps. Just wanted to say thank you for the kind words and insightful critiques. Really appreciate it. And thank god for this topic or I would have never learned of this historically significant novel and author. So Thanks, CHOW! With that, I better shut up and draw. Cheers!

[tsujni]

wip

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh319/tsujni/chow119-2-1copy.jpg

[The Whistler]

MJ Alcazar - thanks :) Yeah, something is wonky about the muscles so the hand looks stiff... I'll hopefully fix that when I color...

[Kian]

My final
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/6884/johncartermi1.jpg

[dabble]

Thanks to everyone for your comments, I appreciate it. Here's my wip, still working up the values with the figures and will be adding small bits of appropriate clothing for Mars climate. I think I'll simplify my background a little it's a bit getting busy for me. Good luck to you all.

Wiggers- I'm glad to see you were able to get further along with some color. Hope your wife's operation went well.


http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x18/dabble21/ConceptArt/CHOW/JC_14.jpg

[naroken]

hey wow there is some freaking awesome stuff in here.

Oregano: i really like that look love the colors in the back ground. cant wait to see what the finish will be.

CCsears: Those color just wow really pop. I am totally captured by the brush stokes or whatever was done that gave it some real texture an depth nice work.

Kian: i think that route you took was totally different then i would have ever thought... an it is looking amazing. great idea

Mr. Animation: i am liking the initial wips... love to see them composed together.

Shotgun dude: wow i cant say much more, but awesome that you went that way... as said before its refreshing to see a range or art. And yours is very well done, hopefully fixing those little kinks love to see the finish

these are just my thought really great work out there... really pushes me to bring it up a notch. Oh i have just my line work right now. But I would love to hear what you all think. totally am here and can take all the critism and help thank

http://i36.tinypic.com/2054mqc.jpg

[Wiggers]

Thanks dabbles, my wife fine thank you. Your piece is looking really good i like it a lot, well done!

[thesaint]

I still don't like it :nohope: but I am almost done

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=422186&stc=1&d=1217148645

[Kian]

Hey Dabble, thats looking fantastic mate :hatsoff:

[The Whistler]

Here's my crappy final. Not content at all.

[Stoat]

Man, there's some beautiful stuff in the finals thread.

I'm not going to get the lower half of my guy done in time to make a 3/4 figure (stupid feet! I hate feet). But just to show where it went:

[MJ_Alcazar]

I agree, beautiful final work.
Stoat - I like it. :) Nice work on it. Isn't the guy 3/4 finished though?

[Shotgun Baby]

Finished this eventually - I could have, like everyone, gone on forever tweaking it but had to stop for my sanity.
I changed the composition quite a bit from the clean up ;)
I have to agree there is great stuff on the finals page .

[Hybrid_75]

I'm not gonna be able to finish mine, somethings come up. good luck too all the finals stuff is looking great!

[Deon]

Mine's up - somehow the facial expression did not work out the way I wanted to - wow - there's some really good stuff in the finals thread - good job, and good luck to all!
Stoat- loving the wink:), he's like:"great, another naked guy who think hes my best bud..." , but I think I preferred the first John pose.
Posh - that looks amazing, but I think the sword worked better.

[VulgarDragon]

Had too much to do this week...wasn't able to find the time to work on mine. Lots of great entries here...good luck to everyone.

[Phaethon]

My final, more or less. I wanted to get some feedback before I post it to the finals thread. The blank background is going to be a map of "Barsoom." As always, any critiques or comments would be incredibly helpful :)

http://www.emmaverse.com/images/Gen_Art/John-Carter3.jpg

Stoat - Nooooo. If you don't finish, my Carter will be the only one with his pork sword unsheathed! Incidentally, I like this second one a lot, particularly Carter's face. And Woola's expression is priceless.

Lukavi - That's beautiful. The fabric is fantastic!

Wiggers - I'm not a huge fan of the colors here. I can't put my finger on it, but something about the color combinations feel off to me. I'd liked the initial sketch quite a lot, though.

Kian - Looks great! The cape fringe is a nice addition. I'd ditch the title though. I like the lettering, but it doesn't fit the mood of the piece at all, imo.

[Kian]

gaaahhh Phaeton! As soon as I read that, I couldnt stop thinking about what you said lol. But I have to agree. It didnt fit the mood and what I was aiming for at all, I snapped into a Jeff Wayne musical styling almost automatically. SO! I've taken it out, you happy now!?!?

:P

[S.C. Watson]

NOTICE
Those of you who have full nudes - please include a "censored" version for the poll with your final - it can be smaller - the reason is that thumbnails are hosted on Photobucket and they have a nasty, nasty little habit of removing any image they deem porn (read: nude) regardless of context.

I just don't want anyone's thumb getting dropped form poll. If you forget to do this, I'll go ahead and do it for you this time around.

All the best,
~Oreg.

[Phaethon]

Grrr, argh. Is it okay if I just crop it? I'd really rather not put a black bar in there...

And Kian, sorry. I think it looks a whole lot better now, though! :)

Wait! I have had a better idea.

[dustinner]

Hi all, Sorry about the size of my image in the finals post. This is the first challenge i have done on here so im kinda finding my feet. Did my pic in one night so please excuse the simplicity of the thing. Anyway. Would greatly appreciate any crit you all might have.
Sorry again ...
Laters

[jhgoforth]

Nice job everyone. Hopefully I'll have more time for the next project. :\ work got too busy this past week. Oh well, least i'm reading through the carter stories on breaks. ;P

[Zarquino]

I can't find any way to do it in "real" so I've done it superdeformed... I like it... it is my first chow :)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e47/Zarquino/Wacomix/CHOW119_0.jpg

I still don't know what I am going to add :)

[S.C. Watson]

POLL IS UP! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=132068)

CHOW 120 IS ON!!! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=132492)