Chow 122 :: VOTING :: Red Sonja

[daestwen]

FINALS ONLY
-=ROUND 122=-
-=RED SONJA=-

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http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii293/chowarchive/CHOW-LINES/CHOW-LINES-MEDUSA.jpg
NOT SURE ABOUT THE GUIDELINES? CLICK HERE! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=117390)
-------------------

DESCRIPTION

Classic Character Redux!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sonja

Do your homework! This round is similar in nature to the "John Carter of Mars" round, so if you're interested in what way to go with this, go check out that round.

Key Points:

Red Haired Conan-era Warrior Woman!

------------

ACCEPTANCE TO POLL WILL BE BASED ON THREE CRITERIA:
1: DID THE ARTIST FOLLOW THE BRIEF? (allowance for creative takes will be made).
2: IS THE PIECE ARTISTICALLY SOUND? (Is the illustration "finished?" - did the artist pay attention to anatomy, perspective, other fundamentals?).
3: IS THIS ILLUSTRATION THE BEST ONE? (reserved for rounds with a large amount of entries).

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SUBMITTING YOUR ENTRY:
1: You must submit ONE full sized image.
2: Make sure your name and CHOW # are EASILY READABLE on your entry.
3: Use the Standard format (Below);

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/frame.jpg
:right: PLACE THE IMAGE IN A FRAME WITH YOUR NAME/TOPIC
:right: SAVE YOUR FILE IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT:
Chow##_Nickname
example: "CHOW#100_Oregano.jpg"

THE REST IS EASY:
1: No comments before poll is set. They WILL be deleted with utmost malice and petty grumbling.
2: Sit back and enjoy the show. BYOPC (Bring your own popcorn)
3: Good luck to all.

[haroldfay]

Yay! First! I can't wait to see all the finals!

EDIT: changed my mind and went back for the original sketch...

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/7334/chow122haroldfaywx1.jpg

[newman]

second!

[Stoat]

Okay, we just had a power outage and I lost all my faffing around from this morning. Not sure I was making it better, so I think it's my cue to go with the girl that brung me.

[Wiggers]

Done.

[skorpi]

My final

[Xezor1324]

Might not be good enough for the poll, but what the heck...

[Eerin]

This round is gonna be great... :)

[madhatter106]

Fun round. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with...

[DanielC]

helloowwww thaaarr

438680

[Gadbury]

Here's mine, my first CHOW :)

[Vorace]

YaAAAAARH

[magichappens]

oy vey this one was harder then i thought... and i'm still not sure i got it right
but i don't have any time so i'm gonna put it up anyway... hope it fits the theme and all that... http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs31/i/2008/228/c/5/Red_Sonja_by_magichappens0306.jpg

[Nightblue]

So many awesome entries :) I really had fun doing this round. I wanted to do an action sidebar too but it doesn't look like I'll have time.

[Antne]

I haven't posted in awhile. Had to give this one a try.

[DeKal]

here we go

[sourgasm]

These are all so good. Vorace began as my favorite and, as of now, remains there. This one's going to be tough.

edit: whoop. wrong file :P

[Phaethon]

Final'd

http://www.emmaverse.com/images/Gen_Art/CHOW%23122_Phaethon.jpg

[JIVA*SOUL]

Fierce & vunerable...defending her family's honor...

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f304/jivasoul/jivasoul_chow121_redsonja.jpg

[DeathAndDisinfectant]

Did a pretty poor take on a modern day Red

Hope thats okay...

Won't be surprised if this don't make it.
439425

x

[jshamburger]

Thought I would try my hand at digital coloring.

[MJ_Alcazar]

Final, it's been fun!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/chow122_MJ_Alcazar.jpg

[Blueman]

NOOO! I ran out of time! Damn be to weekend work!

Oh well, I would be loathe not to post my first ever CHOW, so here's my sort-of-not-quite-half-finished attempt. Also, Stoat, I adore your style. It's so old school/awesome.

[Thujon]

Heres mine!
Really enjoyed this one!!! :rocker:
Regards

[cmalidore]

All done.

[Rezeroth]

Well, here's mine. Lots of great entries here... Good Luck to everyone!


MY Sketcbook (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=103329&page=6&highlight=rezeroth)
My DA (http://numioh.deviantart.com/)

[Buckster]

cheers all and good luck

[Rodimus25]

Dang big round.

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

Well, Here it is. Great round everyone. Good luck to all.

http://www.brendandeboy.com/sonjachow.jpg

[Elisca]

Hello. Here's my entry.

[Xaya]

What a Round!!!

439879

[boybalasa]

woah what a round. so many rockin entries

[kiwigarbage]

Amazing entries all!

Red holding the head of an unfortunate foe. Dare you to try her?

Here goes...

[/ev]

Good work everyone,

http://www.ecsdesignvfx.com/blog/CHOW%23122_ev.jpg

[tsujni]

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh319/tsujni/chow122_tsujni.jpg

[MarkWinters]

Awesome round. Great job everyone!

[The Whistler]

Ran out of time...

[Blaise]

Great work all around.

- edited to add Photobucket friendly version -

[inkbrushnme]

well here's mine.

[indus]

http://in2thepaper.cdn2.cafe24.com/chow/chow122_indus.jpg
She just cut off someones head... anyway great job everyone!

[tomwaits4noman]

great work everyone...

[Luthi]

http://www.bunnyrevolution.com/WIP/RedSonja/chow%23122_Luthi.jpg

[Seage]

Great topic this week. Amazing work guys!
440034

[Rustveld]

Awesome work everyone!

[CandyHead]

Here's my entry. this is my first time with painter!.

http://i514.photobucket.com/albums/t346/moonskinned/RedSonja1_CandyHead.jpg

[JakkaS]

I suck in drawing chicks...but here she is anyway :)
This was a good exercise (no refs used)

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a314/JakkaS/Red-Sonia-c-JakkaS.jpg

[Pixeltuner]

w00t, so much awesome stuff people.
Here's mine. I finally went for the severed head as well. It's almost a character trait. ;)

[smugbug]

Great work everybody!

Final....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/2771959061_458aabb146_o.jpg

[cakeypigdog]

top round chaps!

[Venger]

Done (barely, ran out of time in the end - ah well)
Great round everyone.

440185

[Shotgun Baby]

Hi
Didn't know if I was going to be able to do this one but its Red Sonja.. I had too. Started on this last night, ran out of time I wanted to finish her tattoos on her belly and down her leg , and some other stuff..
Ahh well ;)
Everyones work is TOP BANANA!!!!

[David-david]

Hell! Everyone's released their heaviest artillery!!!
Ok,this time I did my fucking best. I hope you enjoy mine like I enjoyed yours!
HONESTLY!

[dlgothv]

Ah, barbarian sword-wielding babes! My favorite subject. Hope you guys like! There were awesome ones!

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a212/dlgoth/fantasy%20wantasy/redsonja2.jpg

[zephyri]

This thread is full of awesome.. what a great round! here's my offering!

440259

bah... a curse on photobucket and it's anti nudity. Here's a photobucket safe version.

[DIMAGYAN]

my entry

440274

[septomin]

I can't believe how good these entries are.

[ikuru]

The amount of quality in this thread is massive.

[agnostes]

Hope this is not too late...

http://www.agnostes.myzen.co.uk/Chow122_Agnostes.png

[Jason Strutz]

Bit of a speed oil painting about 6 hours all told.

[rmygona]

Looking forward to seeing all the entries...

[vandalfish]

This is still pretty rough, but I'm kind of fond of messy paintings anyway.

[c@s]

My final

440450

[Harsh]

My last minute efforts. Also my first Wacom painting. Be gentle. ;)

[keyu6215]

final...for right now

[dabble]

Wow!! Top notch work this round everyone. Here's my final for now. Looking forward to tomorrow mornin' to see all the fab entries.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x18/dabble21/ConceptArt/CHOW/122_RedSonja.jpg

[Quinn Simoes]

My Final.

Very nice work everyone!

[Johann de Venecia]

So amazed at the quality of entries this round!

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l69/deceptant10/sonja_lukavichow122.jpg

[Villa]

aaaand done. phew! she devil with a sword eh?

[bumskee]

nice entries!

http://www.minart.net/temp/chow122_bumskee.jpg

[timothee]

wow, what a great turnout. Here's my take on Sonia:
http://img29.picoodle.com/data/img29/3/8/17/f_CHOW122Timom_1a718bd.jpg (http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/3/8/17/f_CHOW122Timom_1a718bd.jpg&srv=img29)

[CarolineBradley]

I don't think I'll make it to poll, due to the amount of totally awesome entries!!!

Goodluck everyone!! (heres my Trad watercolour entry)...

[feifeicreate]

There's just so many great pieces this week! I'm lucky if I could make it to the final poll...(keep my finger crossed)

General perception about Red Sonja is supposed to be this half naked barbarian warrior. But I just got sick and tired about female sex object with big boobs, big swards, and very little garment that doesn't really covers anything. According the the story, Sonja's family was murdered by some mercenary, and she's brutally raped. A goddess answered her call for revenge and granted her swards and strength. That's the scene I depict here, she had her revenge on the mercenary. This was probably her first kill, so it's messy and ugly. Well, hopefully this doesn't go too far away from the brief.

[ViDA]

Red Sonja. Good luck everyone, a whole lot of awesome entries.

[oddy]

im still in??

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x204/oddsbidikin/chow_122_oddy.jpg

[Splittingadams]

little bit of a differnt spin. and too much late night make jack a sleepy boy.

awsome work btw.

http://adamandhannah.com/chow122_splittingadams.jpg

[Timmy the Turtle]

Wish I had given this more time and attention.. Oh well.. :)

[cowboy surfer]

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l319/cowboy-surfer/chow122cowboysurfer.jpg

[daestwen]

NO ENTRIES PAST THIS POINT.

Thanks.

[daestwen]

Poll is up!

[timothee]

Hey Daestwen, just curious why my piece wasn't included in the poll?

[daestwen]

Hey Daestwen, just curious why my piece wasn't included in the poll?

? I didn't see yours in the final burning thread at all? Link me?

edit: Yeah, I just checked the whole thread, and I don't see a post by you at all - not even a deleted comment-only post. Did you maybe forget to post it? :/

[Nightblue]

awesome, awesome round. I would have voted for about 2/3 of the entires if I stuck to my usual voting standard. You guys totally rocked and raised the bar.

haroldfay: Nice sketch! Her hands look a bit small and her face is a tad flat. The pose is spot-on though.

newman: Great take on the character. The painting looks moody and bloody.

Stoat: nice entry, love the face! The design could afford to depart a bit more from the original settings though, being a remake and all.

Wiggers: solid rendering and good character design. Her chest piece and arm/leg guards are very interesting.

skorpi: love the nice, magical atmosphere. The painting might show better if it were brighter.

Xezor1324: nice colors and pose. The character looks a tad long.

Eerin: I like the nice and clean colors, and the design is chic.

madhatter106: good pose, but the character is a bit too tall. Try using brighter colors in some places too!

DanielC: love how 3-dimensional your painting is. It looks a bit unfinished for some reason. Sharper details in certain spots might help.

Mr. Gadbury: great sketch, would love to see it taken further.

Vorace: what can I say? awesome, awesome, awesome. She scares me. Completely different take from the original.

magichappens: nice colors, and the face is quite well-done. You might want to use reference for the body.

Antne: great rendering and energy. Not sure I like her facial make up, which makes her look a bit modern.

DeKal: Your work has so much attitude... it's cool :) Nice use of geometric shapes too.

sourgasm: good angle and motion. Her design is cool, but the arms and legs look a bit bare.

Phaethon: nice armor design. The perspective of her body looks a bit off - you are going for a difficult angle there!

JIVA*SOUL: Great entry. Shame it's missing red sonja's signature red hair. She looks less like a barbarian and more like a swimming athelete. Nevertheless, very nice rendering and pose. Her knife needs a bit more attention.

DeathAndDisinfectant: Nice start. You should consider sketching things more before taking it further, as well as find anatomy and pose references.

jshamburger: I like your style. Her design could be a bit more innovative though.

MJ_Alcazar: nice character outfit, dig the fur. It might help you if you use darker values on some places and lighter values on others. Right now the even shading is making the sketch flat. Don't try to capture all the details - let some disappear in lights or shadows.

Blueman: love the almost decorative style. She fits your screen name ;)

Thujon: she looks like she is falling over a bit. Draw a line through the center of her mass, straight down. If she is standing steadily, her legs should balance on different sides of the line in most cases.

cmalidore: very beastly, strong and scary. the visual weight is very nice. The painting could pop out more though if you just add a tad more detail in her outfits instead of going all black.

Rezeroth: nice design and colors. Her hair looks a bit too "done" for a barbarian woman though.

Buckster: cool take on medieval sonja. Love the armor.

Pod.Art: nice colors. A filler light or a second light source will help pop the character more.

Arthur 'Two Sheds': nice rendering in the upper body, her shoulder pad looks particularly great! The legs look a bit flat though.

Elisca: I'm not particularly familiar with your style, but a few things look kind of off. Maybe try for realistic proportions too?

Xaya: great rendering with a classical look. The bodies under her feet look less well-rendered though, and it kind of pops out because it's closer to the camera.

boybalasa: nice background treatment. The face and body needs work - finding references on things might help.

kiwigarbage: kind of gruesome :P Her head is a little big. The picture also doesn't look very finished.

/ev: well, I was blown away and floored when I saw your entry. Great job. Your painting is so rich yet elegant. I want to steal your mad style.

sujni: I've always liked your style. a little shading and coloring could take this piece further.

MarkWinters: she is really cool. Dig the long furs - makes her look chic yet still has a hint of wilderness. Not too sure about the highlights on her skin.

The Whistler: shaping up to be a solid entry, hope you get to finish it anyways!

Blaise: The colors are really nice. Her face looks a bit off, but I loved the piece nevertheless.

inkbrushnme: that's a really interesting style! Love your lines.

indus: the character design is cool, like the face, and the anatomy is very accurate. Her pose, however, looks a bit awkward. I kept looking for strings tying her hands up.

tomwaits4noman: your painting looks squashed, and there isn't much character design in there.

Luthi: nice color palette. The skintone looks a bit strange though.

Seage: I really like your colors. She looks elfy though, which is kind of the opposite side of the barbarian.

Rustveld: great facial expression! love the background too. Not sure about the latex treatment of her skin.

CandyHead: good start. Her stomach looks kind of deformed - reference photos!

JakkaS: love the color palette... it's so fresh! character design is tied together really well. The background is nice and airy.

Pixeltuner: great details and costume design. Her arm looks a bit tube-ish.

PatriciaS: wow, she looks totally crazy! nice work. Great rendering of the bodies in the background too.

cakeypigdog: the rendering is solid. The painting would look more finished with more touches of details.

Venger: great costume design and good rendering. instead of spreading the darkest values evenly across the figure, using it to highlight certain parts. The leg treatment is nice.

Shotgun Baby: nice start, nice tattoos. It looks a bit unfinished.

David-david: her body is really nice. Her eyes are huge though, and that bothers me for some reason.

dlgothv: the figure and the background are sticking together. Try using different values/colors/line quality to differentiate them.

zephyri: the motion is beautiful. Your piece is full of energy and I love it.

DIMAGYAN: I like the thing on her back. Putting some hotter colors on her and the foreground will help her pop.

septomin: I liked your wip better with darker, softer colors tenderly capturing her emotional state.

ikuru: her pose is a bit stiff, but your overall style is interesting.

agnostes: you are probably the only person who chose to paint her from behind. Nice anatomy and pose.

Jason Strutz: nice colors and good sense of space. I'd love to see the piece taken further.

rmygona: Her body is spot-on, but her face is a bit cartoony.

vandalfish: great pose there and nice rendering. Her mount looks a bit too small to carry her effectively though.

c@s: nice entry. Her face looks a bit small.

Harsh: nice and moody colors. The shadow or whatever around her breasts look weird.

keyu6215: love the character design. Would love to see it in color.

dabble: that's so ghostly. I love the colors and the motion.

Quinn Simoes: the render is solid and the colors are mature. Her otufit and her hair look a bit too tidy though.

lukavi: nice entry as usual with beautiful colors and cool costume design. Her head is really small - a bit too much so for my personal taste.

Villa: she literally knocked my breath out. It's AWESOME. I'm really glad you made it in.

bumskee: I love the head dress. The red combined with the cold gray makes the painting stand out.

timothee: lovely rendering. A bit highlight here and there would make the painting more 3d.

CarolineBradley: I really like the style and your energy. Watch out for the bold black lines on her belly and legs - they make the painting look unfinished.

feifeicreate: wow! Your painting turned out really nicely. Love the hot, emotional color and the dramatic light.

ViDA: That's beautiful. You made it look easy too, damn... :P

oddy: using more middle tone will help you shape the form more.

Splittingadams: the design is very cool. I'm not so sure about the color choice.

Timmy the Turtle: nice style and colors! her upper body is too short though, and it looks like her thighs started way too high.

cowboy surfer: The costume looks interesting, especially the trinkets. The pose looks a bit stiff.

==========

wow, that should cover everybody. I probably won't do this again for a while... took way too long!

Amazing round. So many "holy cow" pieces...

[Nightblue]

? I didn't see yours in the final burning thread at all? Link me?

edit: Yeah, I just checked the whole thread, and I don't see a post by you at all - not even a deleted comment-only post. Did you maybe forget to post it? :/

umm.. #70?

[Timmy the Turtle]

Did mine fail to qualify?

[Dan!]

I've never had to put down that many votes- if this was a red sonja tribute book i'd buy it- inspirational work here- D

[Pixeltuner]

holy crap, that's a lot of red haired women :D I'll vote later today when I've got the time to properly look at the entries.

[bumskee]

awsome round everyone! :D
struggled to keep my votes small, ev, enchating! vorace, lukavi & mark!
:) nice entries all

[NathanLong]

Crap. Didn't realize it was multiple choice. Only voted for one. Now I'm bummed.

[ikuru]

Voted; Blaise, Indus, CakeyPigDog, Zephyri and Bumskeeeeeee! :P

Blaise, cool colors, very Frazetta like.
Indus, expressive, very Vouge like pose, how did u come up with that?
CakeyPigDog, such a nice sweet (and hot) gurl.
Zephyri, the most dynamic of the lot, prob the best Ivé seen from u so far, The one with the nipple ring is far better than the "ur breast are satan" one. Love it.
Bumskee, Soooo nice to have u back here, and what a Piece, my god! It got to be One of your best ones so far I believe.

[The Whistler]

Wow, I made it to the poll!!! I consider that in itself a success being that there were so many entries! Yaaay! :bounce:

Nightblue - Thanks! It does need a bit more love...

Anyways, my votes go to

c@s - Her torso is a little odd on proportions but I love her clothing and the background. Great job on the coloring.

Blaise - She's somehow really captivating, must be because of the strong contrast between the hair and everything else. Love it.

Vorace - Wow. The detail...

Newman - I really love your work ever since I saw your avenging winter princess from last year's CHOW, this entry is awesome, she really looks tough.

bumskee - My absolute favorite this round. What I love about it is that she doesn't have this huge hair like the rest of the entries (including mine ;) ) and she still looks like Sonja. Awesome work!

Zephyri - I love the action in this one. Really great!

I think 6 is enough for this round, I'd vote for more but I think it'd be too much :)

[Wiggers]

voted for many, but my top 3 bumskee, vorace and Lev.

[newman]

I'm throwing votes all over the place! so many cool entries this round.
my faves are venger, night blue, wiggers and markwinters.

[/ev]

very cool round, good to see alot of contributions.

[Pixeltuner]

venger, newman, /ev and villa get my vote but there really is too much awesome stuff. :)

[Stoat]

If I had to pick just one, it would be /ev's -- just gorgeous. It suffers more than most in the down-sizing, though, because the composition is horizontal.

Happily, I didn't have to choose just one. I picked five. As usual, I didn't write down who they were, because I am a boo-boo. Anyhow, beatiful round!

[daestwen]

umm.. #70?

Wow, I'm blind. (How come I didn't see it?)

timothee, the decision on yours came down to anatomy - in particular the waist/torso, the awkward positioning of her right arm and her neck. All around her pose was very awkward to stand in (I know, I tried. :) ). If this round had less entries, you probably would have made the cut, but as it was I had to cut 1/3 of all entries to the poll.

[kischi]

I Voted for Lev, Vorace and Bumskee.
Lev:Because I like this kind of style and the picture it self is really atmospheric and the vibes are right ;)
Vorace:I like the focus on the character, great armour design and she herself is badass.
Bumskee:Most realistic and atmospheric, great suspense.

There are many more great pictures, but I always give only 3 votes

[keyu6215]

i voted for about five artist and looking at those who made the cut it is easy to see what the standard is dynamic, creative, complete, accurate (inreference anatomy) and Backgrounds. unfortunately i ran out of time to complete sonja for the judging but i will still of course complete later since i got so far. try again on this next on. good job everyone!

[MJ_Alcazar]

Wow, so many amazing entries this round. I don't remember who all I voted for, but I know I voted for a lot. Awesome work!

[DeKal]

whatever

[JL.Alfaro]

AWESOME! wonderful entries everyone...its too bad we cant (or shouldnt) vote for everyone cause, everyone and I mean everyone pushed themselves on this one. Congrats all, everyone is a winner on my book on this one! :)

I'll jump in on the next one ;)

-JL

[timothee]

Daestwen- Yo, I think that's some BS. I may have been a little off , but I don't think the the pose was that awkward. Just my 2c.

[JessiBean]

Timothee - I'm gonna have to back Daestwen up here and say that was a crappy response of you to make. She's busting ass to make sure this system works, she made a call on your piece (which, while nicely rendered, had some serious anatomical flaws) and that's that. As it is, she gave you a pretty honest and kind critique. If you have a problem, take it up with her privately and in a civil manner, or better yet, consider the feedback calmly and objectively, and work on improving for the next time.

Otherwise, kickass round all. Boobarians abound :teeth:

[timothee]

Jessi- ok, I understand where you're coming from. It's just that I had posted a WIP, and knowone had pointed out any anatomy issues , so I kept working on the final. I even showed it to a few artistic friends of mine, that did not think the anatomy was off(I see the neck area could have been worked out more now). I don't mean to step on anyone's toes here, just wanted to give my POV. No hard feelings.

[daestwen]

timothee - I am sorry no one pointed them out before. I haven't been making a lot of crits in the wip section lately simply because there are so many these days that I'm too busy to keep up! Your anatomy wasn't far off enough to normally get you disqualified - only the amount of entries was so huge that I had to be more harsh than usual.

If you want personal crits before hand, but I haven't been showing my face in the wip section, you're welcome to pm me with your image before the poll goes up. I can't promise that I'll get back to you, but I will be more likely to than in the main poll. I hope this helps.

[Antne]

Daestwen, Can I get a crit on mine if you got a chance? #15 I'd like to know why mine was cut so I can improve for next time. I know it's probably tough to justify your cut to every single person, especially when there is this many entries.

Blue Thanks for nice words and the crit. I totally see what you mean about the face make-up.

[chaosrocks]

daestwen darlin you have a tough road to plow. I've never had to cut in EOW but just concider the joyful bounty that is CHOW.... you're doin great
folks that want instant crits,,, possibly harsh... should hop over to IRC....
<3

all ya'll you did a great job. and dae is doing a great job managing... so...yeah

[Rodimus25]

Nightblue: wow, thanks for taking time to do feedbacks, alot to go through, yeh need to play more with my lighting, missing that pop.

I did end up doing some more touchups to it though thanks to coldrum, ie painting the blacks outta the neck area and fixing up the breast area, re-posted in my sketchbook:P

Alot of awesome stuff this round, favs were ev and bumskee (min u crazy bastard;)

[cowboy surfer]

Here's where my votes went to:

Dabble - a real 'devil woman'.
Lev - a winning contender, loose and epic, I love it.
Blaise - awesome colour choice, the red and green work so well together.
Vorace - her design is excellent and she comes accross as totally psycotic.
Venger - nice to see her on a battlefield, amazing armour.
Cakeypigdog - she is the calm before the storm.
Newman - what a warrior, design is perfectly prehistoric/conan, a winning contender.
Bumskee - another fantastic warrior, colour and costume excellent, a winning contender, do you photoshop or painter?
Splittingadams - love the south american take, it really suits her, not a fan of your background choice though, even plain white would have been better I feel.
Dekal - a brilliant image, my small crit would be that I think she is a bit too contemporary for a conan era brief.
Lukavi - sweet render, nice colours.
Villa - really energetic pose, a strong warrior.

Was going to crit everyone until I realised just how many entries there were this week... kudos to Nightblue for managing it, thanks.
Its been a while since I was last about these parts and I am determined to make more time.
Well done everyone who had a bash, its always a pity when all who tried cant make it to poll, but fantastic to see such a good turnout.

[daestwen]

Antne: Learning is what chow is all about, so I don't mind giving out crits, especially in a situation like this where I couldn't be as fair as I liked. As for yours, I felt that her anatomy got very strange in places. She's elongated pretty much everywhere, and her neck kind disappears behind her hair and makes her shoulder area very hard to make out - it also makes her head float a tad too high above her shoulders.

chaos makes a good point - everyone here can always find good crits in IRC. :P

[Ceyface]

Fantastic work all, I aspire to your collective level of skills! Thanks for the crits, I'll be back next week *grin

[DIMAGYAN]

thanks nightblue for the critique! very atmospheric your entry, i like that.

great entries! good work everyone...
if i had some time i will post some comments

cheers

[Pixeltuner]

Dear everyone, not going to poll should be even more a motivation to try harder on your art. At least it would be for me. And then again: I've made it to the poll but with (hooray! You are forever in my debt) 1 meager vote I can't really call it a succes either, regardless of the fact that I think that I made a kick-ass image. Big deal. I know a nice pat on the back every now and then helps you keep the feeling that you're actually doing this for a reason, but not getting it should equally be a motivation to get better. You'll keep doing this for yourself, and in time appreciation will come.
And to quote our beloved Posh, hooray Boobarians! With heads held up high on towards our next chow. And Daestwen: You (and Oreg) are doing a terrific job as ever. Cheers.

[Nerahla]

The first time I tried CHOW I made it to the Poll, the next time, I didn't... The most votes I've gotten was 7 -- and I tell you, when I had 7 votes I felt pretty damn good.

CHOW is a /wonderful/ barometer -- there are some issues with it, hell, it's a frickin subjective field we work in, but that's to be expected. Doing CHOW is just much much better than not doing it for worry or fear.


Daest, you're doing a kick ass job, and I'm glad you handle it all :)

[timothee]

Too many great entries to choose from, in the end I voted for:
MarkWinters- Really nice render, especially the fur( it looks so real, I can almost feel it.) You get first place in my book.
Bumskee- nice warrior feel, love the render.
/EV-what I like about your piece is that it has a classical oil paint feel to it. Nice dramatic lighting and great subdued color palette.

[sweatybuffalo]

Wow, I'm blind. (How come I didn't see it?)

timothee, the decision on yours came down to anatomy - in particular the waist/torso, the awkward positioning of her right arm and her neck. All around her pose was very awkward to stand in (I know, I tried. :) ). If this round had less entries, you probably would have made the cut, but as it was I had to cut 1/3 of all entries to the poll.

Daestwen- Yo, I think that's some BS. I may have been a little off , but I don't think the the pose was that awkward. Just my 2c.

Timothee - I'm gonna have to back Daestwen up here and say that was a crappy response of you to make. She's busting ass to make sure this system works, she made a call on your piece (which, while nicely rendered, had some serious anatomical flaws) and that's that. As it is, she gave you a pretty honest and kind critique. If you have a problem, take it up with her privately and in a civil manner, or better yet, consider the feedback calmly and objectively, and work on improving for the next time.

Otherwise, kickass round all. Boobarians abound :teeth:

I’m pretty new to this thread and I noticed the outburst of Timothee earlier today. In his defense I’m not understanding the reason of “serious anatomical flaws” when you have at least four or five others in the poll that have this same issue? To be fair to Timothee why not cut the other pieces that had anatomy problems? Maybe you just over looked his when you were making the poll.

[Splittingadams]

I’m pretty new to this thread and I noticed the outburst of Timothee earlier today. In his defense I’m not understanding the reason of “serious anatomical flaws” when you have at least four or five others in the poll that have this same issue? To be fair to Timothee why not cut the other pieces that had anatomy problems? Maybe you just over looked his when you were making the poll.


FUCK YEAH!

[Antne]

Dear everyone, not going to poll should be even more a motivation to try harder on your art.

You got that right! I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME, BITCHES!!! :confident

Daestwen Thanks so much. That makes a lot of sense. What's the IRC? Is it one of the forums here for Crits?

[Seage]

In other news, everyone should be quiet about the whole Timothee thing, because he seems to have gotten over it. Dont hate on daestwen for doing a good job,weekly, for free...o.o.

Anyways, I loved Vorace, Newman, Ev, Bumbskee, MarkWinters and Villas submissions the most (voted for).

Amazing pieces to all, regardless of who hit the poll. We all gotta keep going for the top and striving to get better regardless of if we get 100 votes or if we dont even get 1 in here. Just look at this like a tool with only one purpose, and that purpose is to get you to create!

[Splittingadams]

Fuck no!!!


In other news, everyone should be quiet about the whole Timothee thing, because he seems to have gotten over it. Dont hate on daestwen for doing a good job,weekly, for free...o.o.

Anyways, I loved Vorace, Newman, Ev, Bumbskee, MarkWinters and Villas submissions the most (voted for).

Amazing pieces to all, regardless of who hit the poll. We all gotta keep going for the top and striving to get better regardless of if we get 100 votes or if we dont even get 1 in here. Just look at this like a tool with only one purpose, and that purpose is to get you to create!

[sweatybuffalo]

In other news, everyone should be quiet about the whole Timothee thing, because he seems to have gotten over it. Dont hate on daestwen for doing a good job,weekly, for free...o.o.

Anyways, I loved Vorace, Newman, Ev, Bumbskee, MarkWinters and Villas submissions the most (voted for).

Amazing pieces to all, regardless of who hit the poll. We all gotta keep going for the top and striving to get better regardless of if we get 100 votes or if we dont even get 1 in here. Just look at this like a tool with only one purpose, and that purpose is to get you to create!

kind of ironic that you would respond to this.

[DanielC]

ah well... at least i had fun.. i think

[madhatter106]

In his defense I’m not understanding the reason of “serious anatomical flaws” when you have at least four or five others in the poll that have this same issue?

This is what had me thinking today - at what point do the flaws become "serious?" Where does "style" supercede general substance?

A quick perusal of the thread came up with these notes I had on anatomy...probably not all inclusive, but just a quick flash through...

Harold Fay - head looks too large, nearly the width of the full pelvis/shoulders.
Stoat - figure looks slightly too short, may be illusory due to stride pose.
Mr. Gadbury - Sonja's upper right arm (the one w/o axe) appears too long; if you removed the skull shoulder/deltoid piece, it appears too elongated.
Vorace - love the style, but she needs pupils - she has that "Children of the Damned" eye-glow look.
Jiva Soul - feet look like flat, square/rectangular toes?
cmalidore - if I didn't read the brief, I would have no idea that she's female - in attempting to avoid curvy and boobalicious with a sword, I think you've swung too far in the opposite direction. Much too mannish and masculine and German-swim-team.
Elisca - too stylized to properly critique anatomy. (Not that this is necessarily a bad thing.)
Indus - pose is a bit Bruce Weber/coffee table book glamour shot - I dare Daestwen to hold that pose for more than a second.
seage - awkward pose - leg/hip closest to the viewer looks broken or snapped in relation to the rest of the pelvis/torso; holding sword more like a fan or lightweight object, rather than steel - looks much too light for the postition of her hand.
lukavi - wow, those hands are damn big, when you compare them to how small her face/head is.
Caroline Bradley - head way too large, figure too short or cramped - unless you're doing Red Sonja the Midget, she looks squat and stunted, especially because of the head scale. Arm holding spear appears to grow out of her side/ribcage.

Only a few of the above give me pause when it comes to making it to the poll. And there are some which I felt should have been there in their places instead, but may have been excised for thematic or anatomical reasons. Perhaps this week it was because daestwen wanted to narrow it to 50 - when maybe 55 could have been acceptable. Why not 55 then? Or 40, or 20 or however many?

I don't know the solution to the "this one stays despite anatomy flaws and this one goes because of them" problem - if you go by quantitative means, then you have some weird algebraic formula which deducts two points for a missing toe or five points for an elongated torso. If you go by qualitative means, then it's much more subjective, and anyone can yell "but it's my style!" as justification for their final result. The guidelines state "if your forms or values are off, you're out" (or something to that effect), yet stuff with questionable forms or complete lack of values (line art?) can make it to poll. There's also mention of "finished" work, and yet some rougher or unpolished pieces can make it to poll. In many cases, it's a tricky call, and our opinions will never be in complete and total harmony with those who make the final choices.

In the end, I can understand and respect the mods' decisions, though I may not agree with them at all times, whether with regard to my own work or others. But I do think in popular rounds such as this, where there are so many entries, perhaps the rules need to be examined or clarified or revised or something to avoid any "gray areas." Either that or there's going to have to be an "all-inclusive" policy and you're going to have to accept everyone, like in normal or less active rounds. It would only seem fair.

[Phaethon]

Cool work, folks.

I voted for:
Blaise - Love the complementary colors and her facial expression.
Vorace - Excellent armor design.
Zephyri - Nice and dynamic, love the jump.
and
Nightblue - A good moment and nice costume design.

And, Daestwen, I'm curious as to why mine didn't make it to the poll, if you've got a moment. Was it content or execution?

[Seage]

kind of ironic that you would respond to this.

Look, Id rather not band together and pms about a contest that only rewards you with personal advancement. Im no pro, and im not claiming to be, and I know theres a lot of problems with my own piece, but Im not gonna sit around a cry about them, im gonna take it, suck it up and work harder next time. Im done replying to you people, you make me laugh.

[newman]

i think daestwen is doing a great job.
its much appreciated.

[Wiggers]

i agree with you newman!!

[ikuru]

i think daestwen is doing a great job.
its much appreciated.

I second that. :asskisser:

[dabble]

I third that, how about 2 ass pats :assspank: :assspank:. Keep doing a great job Daestwen. This is coming from someone who has failed to make the "cut" before and I'm sure it could happen again. I'm sure it stings a little, channel that energy into your next chow and kick some butt.

[dabble]

opps...sorry Daestwen, just realized those were spanks, meant to send these. :asspat: :asspat:

[daestwen]

madhatter: You may be right, and that the 'rules' may need to be re-examined, but please consider this:

It took me nearly four hours to decide who went to poll this week.

I'm bound to make mistakes, miss things, and fuck up. Sometimes people don't make it to poll who should have, and sometimes people get into poll when they shouldn't have.

It is absolutely impossible to have a strict, rigid criteria when trying to judge all the art that comes out of this - and I love that. I love that you guys are all so creative and different that it gets REALLY hard to judge one piece to the next.

Generally speaking, if I get a giant outcry about a particular piece not making it (for example, when we still had ranks, Carotello's genie not being in the advanced rank...) then I know I've fucked up royally. You guys are welcome to point out my mistakes to me, but please grant me a little bit of leeway and patience.

[Hideyoshi]

ev, Min
O_____O

[daestwen]

Phaethon: I had a hard time with yours because I couldn't decide whether or not the anatomical issues were intentional/stylistic or unintentional, and I ended up figuring on the latter. For example: her eyes are differing sizes, opposite for what they should be, one breast points up the other down, the arm widths vary drastically, her shoulders are too far out from her body (this is a common mistake when doing heavy shoulder armour), ect. So, I came to the conclusion that they were unintentional rather than intentional. Had it been any other round, though, it would have made it into the poll.

[tandynineK]

Bah humbug.

[cmalidore]

cmalidore - if I didn't read the brief, I would have no idea that she's female - in attempting to avoid curvy and boobalicious with a sword, I think you've swung too far in the opposite direction. Much too mannish and masculine and German-swim-team.


You're quite right - at the same time, this was my point - so while I agree, I can't say that it's a mistake in any way. It begun with a joke two years ago that somebody had made about how the real Red Sonja would look like a one eyed dwarf with a slab of metal. Some people apparently aren't turned on by the unscarred, young, unprotected, barbarian style girl with a sword that doesn't even fit the time frame..... so I shrugged and said "Why not?"

I actually dumbed it down from where they would have had me take it haha.

So yeah, you're right, but there was an alternative point in how the piece went as well. I appreciate the feedback none the less and in normal circumstances I'd be kicking myself for the picture ;)


And for what it's worth, if my piece were left out of the poll for that very reason, I would be completely fine with it. We have more crap to worry about in life than a poll. Learn from the challenges, and enjoy the company of your comrades in artistic arms. The moment we take this stuff too seriously is the moment we lose what's important in all of this. If this were a job, I'd understand - but we volunteered to be up against some of the best artists around CHOW, we understood the chance that we may not be up to par the moment we saw a bajillion works in progress over there all of which looked great.

On top of that we've NEARLY ALL made anatomical mistakes, lets not sound surprised when somebody finally points it out. Really now.

[Phuzion]

So, I don't know if it's been mentioned already, but I thought I'd say something:
I was stoked when I saw this topic, even though I knew I wouldn't have time to participate before the deadline... too much freelance work... And seeing the finals I can tell others were stoked for it too, but remember this is a "Character Design" thread. I see a lot of really nice illustrations, one spots, comic covers etc. but precious few redesigns of the character. A few didn't even bother redesigning at all and just went straight for an illustration. I know it's difficult to get past that because most people just vote for their favorite picture and forget that it really is supposed to be about the design... so hiding half the character doesn't add to that design, and neither does letting half the design melt away into brush strokes, as beautiful as the picture may be. If I were art directing this, I would say C@S, VORACE, DANIELC, VENGER, MARKWINTERS, WIGGERS, really nice reinterpretations!! MARKWINTERS and WIGGERS be careful of those pointy shoulder pads though!! It's a very common mistake and looks great in a still image, but as soon as she raises her arms she's going to puncture herself in the neck or face. So with minor adjustments, they would be right up there at the top with the others.

/EV, gorgeous gorgeous painting, but as a design, there is not much there for a costume designer or a modeler to work from, same with BUMSKEE. However! They succeed where many of the others do not, and that is establishing the MOOOOOD of the character, which is absolutely part of the design of the character. So props to you on that.

So, the whole metal bikini thing... she's been portrayed that way since the 70's or 80's. I was hoping we could move past it, but I guess not. BUMSKEE did a sort of bikini thing, but it has a different feel to it, and doesn't come off as gratuitous, so it works. Of course BUMSKEE also hit on functionality. His is the only one I would not mess with in battle, because she is the only Red Sonja that really feels like she can use her weapons. I'm not terribly scared of a 100 lb. girl with a massive broad sword as those things weigh in at a solid 20-50 lbs. and that little girl couldn't wield something like that with any skill. BUMSKEE gave her a light axe, and a polearm, both of which require skill over strength, so again, she's believable.

Some of the others, while having some nice designs, sometimes the poses detracted from it and turned into some semi-hot girl just standing around, which doesn't exactly wreak of danger to me. It looked more like a photo-op with Rose McGowen... wait... did I type that out loud? :P

At any rate, those are a few things to keep in mind for the future. Mood and functionality first, then design, then marrying the three elements together. And while her synopsis is available online, there is a lot of room for creating some elements of your own. For myself, before I design any character, I usually take an hour and just write a page about them, going as in depth into their personality and thought process as I can, as well as the events of their life, usually going back about ten years and writing up to the point that I am drawing them. It helps to understand what it is your designing towards. So that's it. My thoughts for the morning. Beautiful work everyone! Just keep the whole "Character Design" things in mind :P

Cheers,
~d

[madhatter106]

madhatter: You may be right, and that the 'rules' may need to be re-examined, but please consider this:

It took me nearly four hours to decide who went to poll this week.

I'm bound to make mistakes, miss things, and fuck up. Sometimes people don't make it to poll who should have, and sometimes people get into poll when they shouldn't have.

It is absolutely impossible to have a strict, rigid criteria when trying to judge all the art that comes out of this - and I love that. I love that you guys are all so creative and different that it gets REALLY hard to judge one piece to the next.

Generally speaking, if I get a giant outcry about a particular piece not making it (for example, when we still had ranks, Carotello's genie not being in the advanced rank...) then I know I've fucked up royally. You guys are welcome to point out my mistakes to me, but please grant me a little bit of leeway and patience.

Leeway and patience granted. :) And I appreciate each week's thought and effort on the mods' parts.

On the flipside, though, consider that the reason that the poll took you so long was because of this selection process - if there had been no reason to study and eliminate entries, the bulk of your time spent on the poll would have been building the poll itself, not separating things into the "goes" pile and the "stays" pile. On an all-inclusive policy, the vast majority of the time spent would be the generation of the poll once "no entries past this mark" is posted.

Ultimately this is rhetorical, I don't care either way, I'm just trying to reason through a way of preventing outcry for people just because they happened miss the poll in a very active CHOW round, when their work might have been accepted on a similar basis in a less active round. It would save a lot of "why isn't mine in the polls?" questions, and it might save daestwen and her PM box a lot of time and grief in giving justifications and reasons why...I'm just thinkin' out loud to better channel the mods' time and efforts. If it took an extra hour to make a poll with a lot of contestants, would it save three hours of having to sift through PMs and forum queries afterwards from people who didn't make it?

Like I said, just thinkin' out loud. :)

[DeKal]

Whateverrrrr (to everything but phuzion)

[ikuru]

Phuzion, insightful and educational, its a printout value. :)

[MarkWinters]

Thanks Phuzion. You bring up a lot of interesting points. When I started generating some ideas for this weeks CHOW I thought "I should really roughen this chick up. Make her a real tough bitch." But then I thought, that's not what I think of when I think of the character Red Sonja. So I focused on what I thought about the character and her essential Red Sonja-ness and started to work with that. I didn't do the metal bikini (I was close!) but I didn't mind those that did. It could be considered one of her tags. Like Superman's "S". You can't get rid of that! :) I dig the entries like Vorace's that went uber-barbarian bitch route but these are all different interps with different thoughts on the character.

I'll never do shoulder pads that'll gouge the eyes of the character again! :)

[daestwen]

madhatter: With this poll, I couldn't have taken everyone even if I wanted to. We've done double polls before (see round 099), and it is very very messy and unwieldy and actually ends up in double the work, though you wouldn't think so. Keeping it to fifty means I can keep it to one thread, that's the main reason. I know 50 is an arbitrary number, and that we've broken it before, but it's better to have a goal than to flail wildly in the dark every week.

When Oblio was around, he would cut a LOT more entries from the poll than Oreg or I do now. We're too soft on you guys. :P

[Splittingadams]

Leeway and patience granted. :) And I appreciate each week's thought and effort on the mods' parts.

On the flipside, though, consider that the reason that the poll took you so long was because of this selection process - if there had been no reason to study and eliminate entries, the bulk of your time spent on the poll would have been building the poll itself, not separating things into the "goes" pile and the "stays" pile. On an all-inclusive policy, the vast majority of the time spent would be the generation of the poll once "no entries past this mark" is posted.

Ultimately this is rhetorical, I don't care either way, I'm just trying to reason through a way of preventing outcry for people just because they happened miss the poll in a very active CHOW round, when their work might have been accepted on a similar basis in a less active round. It would save a lot of "why isn't mine in the polls?" questions, and it might save daestwen and her PM box a lot of time and grief in giving justifications and reasons why...I'm just thinkin' out loud to better channel the mods' time and efforts. If it took an extra hour to make a poll with a lot of contestants, would it save three hours of having to sift through PMs and forum queries afterwards from people who didn't make it?

Like I said, just thinkin' out loud. :)

Truth. And if i read the discription right i belive thre was no "historical time period" specified so to the futureists, i say unto you: you should have made it.

Concepting without bounds! and thats my bitch.

[MarkWinters]

Truth. And if i read the discription right i belive thre was no "historical time period" specified so to the futureists, i say unto you: you should have made it.

From the brief:

Key Points:

Red Haired Conan-era Warrior Woman!

[daestwen]

Truth. And if i read the discription right i belive thre was no "historical time period" specified so to the futureists, i say unto you: you should have made it.

Concepting without bounds! and thats my bitch.

Red Sonja has a very firm time period, but I would have let the futurists pass if I didn't have to cut so many, despite specifying time period.

Concepting without bounds is great, but that isn't the point of this contest. Here, you get a brief, and you stick to it. The best pieces push the boundaries of the brief, but they still RELATE to them. Otherwise why bother having a brief at all?

If you have no restrictions, then we'd have no contest, because how would we compare one piece to the next?

[Venger]

Can we sticky the important bits form Phuzions post :)

Something to stick at the top of every CHOW.

Nicely written Phuz.

[bluefooted]

My absolute favorite, by tsujni, didn't make it to the poll - love this piece! The stylization and the colors are really nice. It went right into my inspiration folder.

I ended up voting for a lot of folks. Great work, guys!

[Aly Fell]

I missed Tsujni too and Inkbrushnme amongst others, but I do not envy Daestwen's job here. This was an astoundingly difficult round to quantify and organise however you look at it. I'm still pondering over my vote as there are so many gorgeous pieces that I keep changing my mind...

Phuzion make heap big good points. We all fall in to the 'pretty picture' trap at times, but I've always thought ChOW should be about character first and foremost, (which is why I fundamentally think you should see features, as after all the eyes are the window to the soul... ahh...) So what I want to see is Phuzion comin' over here and kickin' our big bottoms! ;) So Daestwen, how about a girlie cowgirl character..? ;)

[Phaethon]

Phaethon: I had a hard time with yours because I couldn't decide whether or not the anatomical issues were intentional/stylistic or unintentional, and I ended up figuring on the latter. For example: her eyes are differing sizes, opposite for what they should be, one breast points up the other down, the arm widths vary drastically, her shoulders are too far out from her body (this is a common mistake when doing heavy shoulder armour), ect. So, I came to the conclusion that they were unintentional rather than intentional. Had it been any other round, though, it would have made it into the poll.

Aw, shoot. Serves me right for attempting a cartoon, I guess. :) Half of those were intentional and half weren't. Arm widths and shoulders were intentionally distorted, while breasts and eyes were unintentional. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[Splittingadams]

Red Sonja has a very firm time period, but I would have let the futurists pass if I didn't have to cut so many, despite specifying time period.

Concepting without bounds is great, but that isn't the point of this contest. Here, you get a brief, and you stick to it. The best pieces push the boundaries of the brief, but they still RELATE to them. Otherwise why bother having a brief at all?

If you have no restrictions, then we'd have no contest, because how would we compare one piece to the next?

nope.

[bluefooted]

nope.

Man, sometimes I wish we still had the groan button...

daestwen, thanks for the hard work you do for the forums.

[Pixeltuner]

I agree on Phuzions point(s). A nice illustration doesn't make a good character. Maybe there should be an external 'judging panel' which has a 25 to 50 % influence on the votes or something.. I don't know how something like that could be organized, but the fact that we're (as partcipants) all still learning the ropes doesn't make us excellent judges methinks.

[Stoat]

I don't think there's any way of handling the cut that's going to seem fair to everyone.

Every single time I've taken the poll, I've been amazed at the way other people vote. I mean, generally good pieces get lots of votes and less good get less votes; I'm not saying the process unsound. But I'm always, like, "you're kidding! Twice as many people liked X as Y? But only 5 people liked Z? But 60 people really thought W was the pick of the litter?" The top few pieces are always outstanding, but boy things get weird in the middle.

I wouldn't have Daestwin's job on a bet.

[ikuru]

save the cute animations for someone that cares.

~Oreg.

[Splittingadams]

I guess the issue really is this:

I care to much, all i wanted to see was a fox news type of judgement and thats what i got.

now flex those internet muscles :muscle: because utlimatly it matters not.

[MJ_Alcazar]

Thanks Phuzion that's good advice and a great point. I'll definitely try to keep all of it in mind on my future entries. And thank you Daestwen, for putting this on in the first place. It's an absolutely wonderful learning experience. I would never be able to do the job that you and Oregano do, and I wouldn't want to!!!! :)

[JessiBean]

Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but splittingadams -- I think you are FAILING TO GRASP here that the poll can only take 50 entries MAX. This means that with somewhere over 70 entries, mathematically about 20 had to be cut. If you would like to restructure the poll system for CA, I am SURE we can accommodate your need for every single entry to make the poll.

Also, a brief is your assignment as a concept artist. It is your JOB to follow it. If you want to be creative without bounds, feel free to do it on your own time, but the point of this challenge (and real world work) is to follow the brief you are given. As Phuzion rightly pointed out, we could all use to follow our briefs a little more closely.

Carry on, and kick ass, CHOWers.
:yayca:

[Splittingadams]

HA! you must have been reading someone elses posts!! Failing to grasp!!

i am pretty sure you have gleend the wrong information off my incoherent posts. limits are limits, admitting your wrong, priceless.

ohh yeah, I will carry on, with your premission!

[sve]

I think it id possible to allow all entries to be judged if you create a Final thread with images only and use "Thank you" system as sort of voting or giving a point/ approval for every entry you like.

The most voted entries will have the longest list of members. The leader of the activity can count the votes if participants want to hear the results.

In this case you don't need to waste your time trying to figure out who should be allowed, no need to judge art solely and it will be no mistakes when allowing entries to poll..

[S.C. Watson]

Couple of points:

Daestwen busted her ass handling this round for you guys while I've been away. You ALL owe her a big thanks (aimed at those that have complained the loudest).

Second, as Jessibean pointed out, the poll can handle a total maximum of 50 entries. Period. Any more than that and we have to do a second poll. Sorry - but NO. Not unless it was a special round.

Third - Entries get cut. It's subjective. I've explained this ad nosium. Deal with it. I'm tired of being nice about it. Don't like it? Go hang out in COW, EOW, IDW, or POW. You'll get cut there as well.

Fourth - it's a hell of a lot of work handling as many entries as we get in CHOW. We're not complaining - just pointing out the obvious. Sifting through all those entires - *especially* when you're doing it by yourself, is a bitch. You try to be nice, and fair, but you know what? People are going to complain no matter what you do.

Phuzion, I appreciate your opinions on the matter - and you're right. A nice illustration does not a good character make. However, a nice illustration is more likely to go to poll than a bad scribble, no matter how good the character is.

Bottom line: If someone wants to hit the poll, show us that you read the brief, did your homework, and pushed yourself in your art.

Poll is NOT an entitlement. It's something that is earned.

The standards are going up this week, as of now. There's other weeklies you can participate in if y'all don't like it.

My advice to *everyone* that participates: Sit back, enjoy the show. Do good work, share with friends, and help each other out. FORGET THE GODDAMN POLL. It's fluff. Something to oooh and ahhh over at the end of the day, but ultimately MEANINGLESS. It's there to have fun with, not to freak out about.

And THAT my friends, is the final word on the issue. Thread closed.