Chow 124 :: VOTING :: 24th Century Space Smuggler

[S.C. Watson]

FINALS ONLY
-=ROUND 124=-
-=24TH CENTURY SPACE SMUGGLER=-

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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

Bahati ("Bad Bones") Lawrence is a Near Future (2400's) Jamaican-Japanese female ship pilot of a run-down merchant/smuggling/mercenary vessel for hire. She plows the space lanes with her alien co-pilot, a being from the Rim Worlds, looking for the next deal or Black Market shipment she can get to help make ends meet.

Off beat and punky with a penchant for bright colours, shiny things, fuzzy dice, and little statues of Hawaiin girls that shake in those dresses, plus all the other detritus of living for long periods of time between ports and avoiding the authorities, Bahati is an okay shot, but much better at high-tailing it out of a tight squeeze.

Her copilot is a non-human/non-terrestrial something. Be creative if you choose to include it, but it's not necessary.

Notes:
Bahati is female and Jamacian-Japanese.
Her co-pilot is alien. If you include it and it looks like a human in a goon suit, you'll be automatically disqualified from the round.

Reference: Blade Runner, Alien, Tank Girl and Firefly.

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

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).

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

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.

[S.C. Watson]

I will be posting this at the beginning of each round for the next few weeks until I am convinced that it has sunk in and that everyone understands this.
The original posting is located in the CHOW DISCUSSION thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=123393). Please direct your comments (both snide and supportive) there. Thank you.


-----------------------------------
As of August 24, we're tightening the reigns on the CHOW Poll. What this means in practical terms is that not everyone is going to get a cookie anymore.

Admission to poll will be based on the artists' skill and their ability to handle their subject matter: meaning we will keep a wide spread of work from beginners to professionals in the poll based on that particular week's submissions, but we will be far more picky on who actually ends up in poll.

EXPECT TO GET CUT. If you come into this with guns blazing expecting to get to poll and win, you're coming at it backwards.

There will be generalized reasons on why an entry has been eliminated from poll. When we're dealing with the numbers that we often do in CHOW, it's the best we can do and still hope to have a life for ourselves, not to mention hold down day jobs (no, we don't get paid for this, what were you thinking?).

Other points to keep in mind:

The poll is subjective. Surprise. The entries that go to poll are the ones that either I like, or Deastwen likes, or that we both like. We did not ask your opinion.
Poll is not the end all be all of CHOW, CA, my life or yours, so get over it. Enjoy the entries, and the process and keep in mind that we bust our butts for you so you can have an enjoyable experience, but ultimately in the great lay of things, it's meaningless.
We make mistakes. We leave people out, we put people in who probably should not be in. We do our best, but at the end of the day, we're human. Deal with with it.
We also on occasion take someone to poll who otherwise wouldn't be there. This is done purposefully to help someone get some extra attention for their work and to get them some decent crits. It's not done so you can have a hissy fit about it. Get with the program and help people instead of bitching about the poll.


More as I think about it.

All the best,
~Oreg.

[Hideyoshi]

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd97/HideyoshiR/CHOW124_Hideyoshi.jpg

[dirkvandulmen]

enjoy.

[Vorace]

wont have more time to work on it, so here it comes

[Nadiamoon]

450148

[WTFsteph]

Lame sidekick but i wont have time to work on it this weekend. :\

[Sequential76]

Good Round :7up:

[Main Loop]

Been a long time since I've done one of these...

[DecayingLolita]

Ended it before I killed myself!

[marioucci]

go!!!

[sanstream]

Liked doing this..

http://sanstream.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/chow124_sanstream1.jpg

[NicHolS]

.....

[edujante]

Mine!

[JakkaS]

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a314/JakkaS/CHOW124-JAKKAS.jpg

[zhiao]

Here is mine...

[GodOfWar]

Don't have anymore time to spend on this :[

[septomin]

Might not get a chance to upload this later, so here we go.

[Miles_]

Some sick entries guys, good luck:)

[Eon]

Awesome work in here!

[Chate Noire]

My Bahati.
Such an awesome round.

[mr. m]

awesome finals guys!

not really how I wanted, but heres mine...

[Matteo'89]

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z34/Mateo-89/BahatiFinalCHOW.jpg
Bahati & Gundrel

Background
Bahati is 25 years old gal and she is half japanese and half european. Her father was European, her mother was Japanese.
They died in the work camp, when aliens attacked earth and sent them to hard work.
Bahati escaped from there and joined to a rebel organization where she is working as weapon smuggler.

Her friend and co-pilot of her spaceship is Gundrel.
He is from Kynthia, this planet is in peace with earth since 2316. Aliens at Kynthia have special hole in their corpse, where the hand is hidden, but they can also use their legs as hands.
Gundrel and his parents have came on our planet in 2324, five years after Bahati’s born.
When Gundrel was 14 he joined to the same rebel org. like girl. He started to work as a second pilot at Bahati’s spaceship.
They became friends very fast, maybe ‘cause they have the same interests and they love old school rock band – ‘The Police’. To a tribute for this band they called their spaceship – ‘Sting’ – same as band leader.
They also like old western, phew… Very old westerns and films about pirates, because from the first half of XX century. Maybe this is the main reason, why Bahati’s using old Colts…
___________________________
I see nobody posted story, but I think it's not bad to do it :P. I like to write it. :) Nice WIP section, so the 'Final Entry Thread' is going to be full of awesome stuff!

[Xaya]

Finally done!

451405

[gabahadatta]

. . .

[The Whistler]

My final :)

[tsujni]

final

[markey2d]

nice stuff guys!

Here's mine, the Jamaican influences are obvious, however the Japanese have been subtly stated in the technology.

[Shotgun Baby]

Tried a cartoon style ;) Look forward to voting as there is a lot of excellent stuff up.Good Luck to one and ALL!!

[revenebo]

I think I need more practice with character...


http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q150/revenebo/ChoW124_Revenebo.jpg

[UCT]

err, for the sake of getting cut?

[cmalidore]

This sooo didn't tighten up the way I wanted it to. Oh well.

[xgabo]

http://web.me.com/gabrielfrizzera/Gabriel_Frizzera/Blogfolio/Entries/2008/9/2_24th_Century_Space_Smuggler_files/xgabo_chow124.jpg

[MJ_Alcazar]

My final, I did my best.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/chow124_MJ_Alcazar.jpg

[kontur]

Came home from holiday yesterday and checked out this weeks topic, and with a urgent need to swing my pencils after a bit of a holiday-break this is what I managed to come up with (in time, 23:51, heh). Hope you like it as much as I already like some of the above entered pieces.

Cheers,
k.

[agnostes]

Got sick of faffing with it...posted it anyway.
http://www.agnostes.myzen.co.uk/Chow124_agnostes.png

[Glenter]

My entry!

[leuparaleu]

First character of the week. This is good clean fun :teeth:

451810

[mimer]

another learning experience..

[cowboy surfer]

Cutting it fine but I hope it reads well enough to ge tto poll!

If not, at least I got a concept done... idea to this: 2 hours.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l319/cowboy-surfer/chow124cowboysurfer.jpg

[meeatu]

My final.

Bahati uses her buddy alien as a helmet, enhancing her reflexes.

[Rodimus25]

Out of time, so here is my final. I dedicate this one to my friend ian, who was in a plane accident yesterday. You will be missed.

[wiltekirra]

Couldn't figure out her skin color so just went with the (sortof)monochrome.

http://pics.livejournal.com/wiltekirra/pic/0008a6d7.jpg

[Fjooner]

Ran out of time, so this is my final. :]

Rune

[ikuru]

Me no time for a solid render, but this will do fine...
Here me final:

http://www.ikuru.se/2/space.jpg

[Scribbs]

Hi all! This is my first post at Concept Art so hopefully I've done this right. First let me say that there is some INCREDIBLE artwork in here!! My meager offering was done in watercolors on watercolor paper. I have GOT to get me one of those Wacom tablets because scanning artwork sucks!!

[Kreegz85]

Here's the final! Great job to everyone who participated, you all did a great job!:yayca:

[southilbily]

this is it

[magichappens]

hope i'm not too late... here she is in her ship... http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs36/i/2008/244/0/3/Captain_by_magichappens0306.jpg enjoy

[DSAzeppelin]

Here goes my first CHOW entry...

Didn't have the time to take it into photoshop to color it, so hopefully my B&W version does allright with the horrible quality scan :)


And a quick disclaimer since there was some confusion:


The "Gun" isn't a big nasty gun. The little barrel on top is infact a gun, for defense, but the big rocket launcher looking thing is actually a device that helps her with smuggling larger cargo. The bottom part of the gun shoots the projectile, when then opens into 3 claws. The claws wrap, which are attached to another unit, latch onto the cargo. Once it is lached on, the device turns on and starts manipulating all the particles and actually sucks the cargo into the device, down the tubes and into those power cells attached to the gun. This allows her to contain more goods and store them in those small cells. This helps her smuggle thing with more ease through her gun, or on her backpack.

There is a limit to the size of cargo that can be shrunk down...you wont see her shrinking a big gun ship or anything like that. The cells can be used for both storage, and for energy output. For instance, a cell can provide ammo...or energy, such as for her boots. Her boots, powered by the cells, gives off an energy field. These fields work as a gravitational, or anti-gravitional field. This either secures her (such as when using her storage gun, which gives off a lot of kick & resistance)...or it propels her to run faster, or even jump higher.

Hope you like her! :bashful:

[trevor]

great stuff all around people!
good luck to everyone
and heres the final sorry for the lame border
and the lack of orthos
i really wanted to do em but time is short

[Spooky Roller Disco!]

Second time ive tried for chow i think, hopefully ill make it to poll this time :)

Her co-pilot is a symbiotic being that lives on her left hand. It feeds off her sweat and in return he does all of her sharp-shooting (which isnt her speciality).
She calls him "Mr.Socky". People tell her she's crazy to form an attatchment to it, but she knows not to listen to them. Mr Socky tells her so, and he's always right.

edit: fixed the image a bit, i wasnt pleased with it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/mogri1901/Chow124_SpookyRollerDisco-1.jpg

[threeeyesworm]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v21/ThreeEyesWorm/ChoW124_ThreeEyesWorm.jpg

[Jeremy Hoffman]

Hi,

I've finished my first character within the time that i had left. There are still a few things i would like to change... but time's up. Next character will be better (and i will learn from the things i did wrong in this character). But i enjoyed creating the Space Smuggler!!! Bring on the new chalange :-)

Greetings Jeremy

[Vargo]

Hope you all like.
,Vargo

[timothee]

Some real nice entries so far. This is as far as I went with it:
http://img27.picoodle.com/data/img27/3/8/31/f_CHOW124Timom_fe9dd5b.jpg (http://www.picoodle.com/view.php?img=/3/8/31/f_CHOW124Timom_fe9dd5b.jpg&srv=img27)

[D@niel]

Wow, some stunning stuff!!

Almost forgot to post mine!

[crimson_shape]

initially i wanted to include a backview, but ran out of time ...

http://i463.photobucket.com/albums/qq356/flesh_dog/Chow124_24thcenturyspacesmuggler.jpg

[yoitisi]

Finished! Thanks for all the IRC peoples for the great crits :)

452321

[TheCheet]

Re posted as per request of the queen :mod:

http://www.chrischeetham.co.uk/chow_124_gogo.jpg

[gtgauvin]

OK, it's a long way from being done. Can't help that. Been caught up with a wedding for my wife's college friends, and I'm getting ready to fly back to Japan as we speak. Will finish later. PLZ dn't ban me, Oregano, KTHX!
452330

[Markito]

I ended up doing this greyscale ..one day ill do this one in color.
Space smuggler gal and Co pilot on their lunch break eating tentincle ball creature snakcs:yum:

[kiwigarbage]

Well, I know it's Monday, but I hope this still counts! I really worked hard on implementing everyone's crits :)

My goal is to keep improving! Thanks everyone, and good luck with all of your amazing entries. (awesome character description!)

[Larriva Art]

Down to the wire. I could spend days more on this.
452498

[Jtho]

I think this is my first CHOW final :0

I wish I started earlier so I could have polished it up and maybe slapped some color on, but oh well. Had fun on this topic, and can't wait to get reamed by the other awesome entries at the polls.

[indus]

http://in2thepaper.cdn2.cafe24.com/chow/chow124_indus.jpg
"Shit...red alert again!"
hope not too late

[daestwen]

well, ugh, here. :P

452705

[REKLAS]

Lots of good entries this round. I had a lot of fun with this character. Enjoy.

[BludHund]

452738

Oh God, behind Daestwen...still not to late? Pretty pretty pretty please...its my first CHOW...I know this is really weak...

[S.C. Watson]

No more entries past this mark.

[S.C. Watson]

JUST A REMINDER PEOPLE:

YOUR FILE NAME ABSOLUTELY *MUST* READ AS FOLLOWS:
"CHOW#000_YOURNAMEHERE.jpg"

There are far too many named "Bahati" this round, AND someone got overwritten when I was downloading someone else's image.

Please name your files correctly - it's in the first post, or you'll be automatically disqualified. This is the last week I'm doing this.

Thanks,
~Oreg.

[S.C. Watson]

POLL IS UP!

Off Topic/Brief
Matteo'89 - too drab, not jamaican/japanse (at least doesn't look it :[ )
Fjooner - not jamaican/japanse
cowboy surfer

Failed quality check (sloppy/rushed/unfinished artwork and/or insufficient artistic quality)
jtho
spookyrollerdisco
Zhiao -too dark.
DSAzepplin
geisha
kiwigarbage
sanstream
tsujni
markey2d
UCT
MJ_Alcazar
kontur
agnostes
Glenter
mimer
wiltekirra
magichappens
gtgauvin
BludHund

Good, but just not quite there
Vargo
WTFsteph
threeEyesworm

Too much style, not enough focus
Jeremy Hoffman

Almost made it, but... we had reservations
uccimaru
gogo

Anatomical Issues
godofwar
revenebo
eon
leuparaleu
southilbily

special notes:
none.

*PS - thank you to Fozzy for coming up with this idea for COW originally.

[DSAzeppelin]

Good work everyone!




Just a quick question to the judges...but I was listed under :
Failed quality check (sloppy/rushed/unfinished artwork and/or insufficient artistic quality). Could you guys please go into it a bit deeper for me? What were the parts that I was either sloppy/rushed/unfinished or just not enough quality? I'm curious because I felt I did pretty good to my current skills and would like to work on the parts that I am lacking. Any crits would be much appreciated. Hopefully I can apply them and get better with my future drawings.

Thanks!

[zenichi]

JUST A REMINDER PEOPLE:

YOUR FILE NAME ABSOLUTELY *MUST* READ AS FOLLOWS:
"CHOW#000_YOURNAMEHERE.jpg"

There are far too many named "Bahati" this round, AND someone got overwritten when I was downloading someone else's image.

Please name your files correctly - it's in the first post, or you'll be automatically disqualified. This is the last week I'm doing this.

Thanks,
~Oreg.

oops, will take note.

[Ceyface]

Lots of good work, 'specially liked Markito and Reklas. I saw my own mental picture when looking at Markitos. Nice job all :)

[edujante]

i have to take notes too

[NicHolS]

POLL IS UP!

Off Topic/Brief
Matteo'89 - too drab, not jamaican/japanse (at least doesn't look it :[ )
Fjooner - not jamaican/japanse
cowboy surfer

Failed quality check (sloppy/rushed/unfinished artwork and/or insufficient artistic quality)
jtho
spookyrollerdisco
Zhiao -too dark.
DSAzepplin
geisha
kiwigarbage
sanstream
tsujni
markey2d
UCT
MJ_Alcazar
kontur
agnostes
Glenter
mimer
wiltekirra
magichappens
gtgauvin
BludHund

Good, but just not quite there
Vargo
WTFsteph
threeEyesworm

Too much style, not enough focus
Jeremy Hoffman

Almost made it, but... we had reservations
uccimaru
gogo

Anatomical Issues
godofwar
revenebo
eon
leuparaleu
southilbily

special notes:
none.

*PS - thank you to Fozzy for coming up with this idea for COW originally.

hmm just curious why i didnt make the list, i also wasnt on this list here either. considering its my 2nd chow and both times i havnt made poll maybe im doing something wrong? any suggestions would be great : )

thanks guys, better luck next week i guess ;p

[yoitisi]

Voted Trevor and Chate Noire. Trevors is just great and conveys the topic as a whole and works really well as an illustration. Designwise I think it could've used some more work maybe. I really liked Chate Noires because of the extra views and studies of the same character.

Oregano: Guilty as charged, in the rush to deliver on time I totally forgot about renaming it. Apologies, I'll better my life :P

I might try to crit everyone, but I need some coffee first...3 pages of entries...

[Markito]

Thanks Ceyface,

I really wish i had more time to color it in. When i do ill post it up on me sketch book. Looking at other's entires i noted there's alot of awesome color usage.

[Aly Fell]

Lots of truly fab work this time round. Voted for:

Gabahadatta
D@niel
Shotgun Baby
Trevor
Chate Noire
JakkaS

despite the fact I only wanted to do 3 again!

All for different reasons, upon which I shall elaborate latuh! But Chate Noire's is my overall fav, mainly because of the enormous personality in the sketches.

[ikuru]

voted Jakkas, Crimson Shape and TRevorrrrrrr Yarrr!!!

Oregano, I'd love to hear why I didn't make the cut (Im not the list).

[DecayingLolita]

Yay! I made the list... thats good enough for me (this time...) Voted for about... 6, they'er all so good - especially trevor, so much to learn here from these guys.

[Jeremy Hoffman]

Hi,

Too bad i didn't make it to the last few. More luck next time.
But were did i go wrong with: Too much style, not enough focus... i'm trying to understand, what does it mean? I hope you can explane a litlle bit, so that i won't make the same mistake next time. Thanks for your judgment.

Greetings Jeremy

[Chate Noire]

Yoitisi and Poshsipce, many thanks! :)

I usually try to limit my votes to 1 or 2, but I had to vote for trevor, D@niel and JakkaS here. Trevor's piece blew me away with dynamic composition and poses and an awesome use of tones, color and brushwork. It may not focus on the character's design per se, but it says a lot about Bahati's personality, the way she moves and her relationship with the copilot. D@niel's and JakkaS are equally great in my opinion. Different styles, different designs, different color schemes, but I'm getting a strong sense of who those characters are from both, and they're both exceptionally done.

I also really like Markito's (cute characters, really nice layout) and Reklas' (cool design and kudos on the attention to details. I like her color scheme, and I think it would make a much stronger piece if you worked a little more on the tones here to make Bahati pop out instead of fade into the background).

Some thoughts on other poll entries (this came out ridiculously long):

CMalidore - Showing her in her pilot's seat is cool, and I like the outfit design, especially the jacket. Nice work on the red suit, I like the purple shades you used there. I feel that her pose is somewhat forced (probably a perspective issue) and her expression blank, which makes it hard to read the character. Her copilot looks interesting, but he's so hidden in the shadows it looks as though he's outside the ship.

Decaying Lolita - the surrounding gadgets and electronic stuff immediately set us in the 24th century (give or take a few hundred years :)) which is good. I think your design is pretty cool, but unfortunately it's very hard to see because of all the blacks around and on Bahati. The contrast is very high and makes it hard to look at it for too long or to make out details. For example, I hardly noticed the alien on her chair or where the lower part of her leg goes.

gabahadatta - She's really cute. I can definitely see her in a sci-fi movie as a punky smuggler. However, here too the blacks take over the image and parts of her that could be really awesome looking fade into the background. I also kinda miss an expression; since her eyes are almost blacked out it's harder to know who she is.

Miles - cool design, nice color scheme, and I like all the little shiny things. Maybe the moon and the floor take focus away from the character, being the brightest areas in the image. Also, I feel her head is resting a little awkwardly on her shoulders, not really fitting the rest of the pose. A more comfortable, fun posing of the head could really work nicely with this character.

mr.m - I like the expression and pose. She looks like she means business, even though it's a little too serious for my understanding of the brief. Biggest issue for me here is again the blacks. Her body, bag, hair and background mesh together into a big dark patch, which makes it very hard to make out the character and to enjoy the piece.

Scribbs - Pretty crazy interpretation. Interesting design and good pose. The make-up is a little too much for me personally, but that's a question of taste.

The Whistler - The entire image is dark and consists of almost exactly the same tones, so my eyes can't find a point to focus on and all the nice details get lost. If you made the background or the character brighter it would immediately be easier to look at, and then if you created areas of different tones within the character, she'd be a much more interesting design, without having to change any of the lines.


Xaya - love the fun and colorful design, and the framing of the image with the ship's door. Since everything is so full of details her head gets kinda lost, but I think if you made that round thing behind it a little bit bigger it would give her head a nice framing and create a small focal point for the whole painting.

Yoitisi - really like her outfit, pose and expression. SHe's a cool character. Only thing that bothers me is that the colors feel a little muddy and grey.


Kreegz85 - Fun design. I think my favorite part is her alien =) Cool concept and execution on that little guy. Her coloring feels a little flat, but maybe it's just a feeling caused by the strong white outline and dark aura around her. It definitely separates her from the background, but it could be done more subtly I think.

Crimson_Shape - Really nice layout and pose, and sweet style. The arms and legs look great, but the hair feels a little too "unfinished" for me, even if it's part of the image's look.

Main loop - Nice touch with the gumball machine =) I wish it had some sort of background, though, so it would feel more like a scene than a cutout from somewhere. The alien looks like a cool dude from up close, but his tones are almost the same so when you take a step back he turns into a dark blob.

Septomin - I really like her clothes and all the accessories. The pose, especially the feet, looks a little strange, and it's a shame the background's so dark, because a lot of her disappears into it.

Sequential76 - Niiiiice. Kudos for going for that pose in that perspective, and for the realistic rendering. I only wish something in her face or body was strong enough to pop out from between those two luminous objects which kinda steal focus right now.

Shotgun Baby - I loved the lineart you showed in the progress thread, but something is lost in the final. Your lines are great, but when it comes to color it's like there are 3 different styles of coloring and 2 different color schemes, which makes the piece fall apart a little in my opinion. Try uniting your colors (not monochrome, just gently sharing a common shade). I also don't see why her breasts should be nearly exposed, but I guess that's a matter of taste.

VampireHungerStrike - The design of the ship's balcony (for lack of a better word) and the background is lovely, and the color scheme is warm and fun. I like the fact that you put the characters in an everyday scene to give us a peek into their lives, but I'm kinda missing Bahati in her pilot clothes, which in my opinion should be the focus here.

xgabo - really interesting take, I love her half-kimono. It's hard to see what's going on, however, with all the details and strong color. Maybe for such a colorful dynamic character, a more subdued layout for the background would've worked better.

Vorace - Well done for all the detail! I'm a big fan of paintings and characters with tons of stuff to look at it, but here it feels overwhelming, whether because of too many colors or the greyish shading that makes the character look very messy.

Hideyoshi - Nice composition and color scheme, but the character is very dark and hard to get a good look at. The alien looks cool =)

Indus - nice rendering on her upper body (is it your own work, or a paintover?). The rest of the piece is very grey and the alien behind her is almost invisible except for its blue lights. I'm also not a big fan of the bra-and-panties fashion style in heroines, but that's just me I guess. The checkered pants could've been nice, but they're very hard to see.

[edujante]

im not in the poll Oregano, you dont mention it.off topic, quality,?

[newman]

so many fantastic entries this round! i think i ended up voting for nearly everyone...
favourites are d@niel, trevor and chate noire.

[zenichi]

my voting process went as follow, pick up those that i find convincing about the etchnicity, usually the Jamaican feature will dominate the Japanese features (in afro-asian mix) and what i felt makes me feel- "yeah! this captures the brief", or the image is compelling enough to make me vote irrationally- ended up with 9 (mr. m; Yoitisi; Reklas; Sequential76; VampireHungerStrike; xgabo; Vorace; chate noire & indus [for the compelling imagery part]), in order to reduce the vote to 3, i had to go back to the image again, and reading the brief again- i felt that the trinket bit can be interpreted as a "calourful" person, be in in clothing/ accessories or colourful/ flamboyant character that would easily flirt with hte port officials as well as danger. so ended up with me final 3- Yoitisi; Sequential76; & VampireHungerStrike
Yoitisi: Kamekaze spirit and composure, i read that as "flirt with danger enough times to give me a calm exterior but still retain my flambouyant ancestral outfits)
Sequential76: apart from the great perspective angle, the flirtatious stare and gingerly dangling "UNIVERSE" in a glass ball bad-assness
VampireHS: says everything about the brief (run-down, make ends meet fast food), flirting with danger and cute slippers!) alien could be more comical or sinister looking- maybe even grumpy from lack of resources! really enjoyed this piece!

ok here's 2 hours for the rest of the finals, wont c&c so much on the artistic sides, more on ideas & concepts...

Hideyoshi: co-pilot not doing much co-piloting in a cockpit/ dock setting, the suite is too polished and custome made to capture the run-down part of the brief, which was a big thing for me (of course run-down could mean differently in 24th century hahaha)

dirkvandulmen: not sure what's the concepts, cos cant read much from the image...


Vorace: my king of fashion accessories! the back thruster would work better if has a more foreign design language than the rest of the trinkets? also wish the ethnicity part's stronger.

Nadiamoon : the co-pilot is the alien, her chest looks either alien... or some job(s)... doesnt help to have that co-pilot in the image as it doesnt add to the story of the character, others things that doesnt add-up (to me anyway) are the hairstyle, the gun, but the jacket is ok.

WTFsteph : she puts a smile on my face, adorable character, the same cant be said of the pac-man ghost alien. also need to look how her giant feet would squeezed into that tight leathery pants!!!

Main Loop: loads of trinkets, more tourist than a smuggler, also the alien creature on the vending machine could be mistaken as the co-pilot, which would be too human form and might get you disqualification, but i guess the mod is interpreting that as the port official or local denizen.

DecayingLolita : arghh.. the sketch promises so much more, the octopus is just blehh, that's not co-pilot! maybe a lower angle of viewing with her looking down from a reclining- leg spread position would be a more effective way of presenting this character with that kind of bad-ass attitude?

marioucci : great characterization!!! glad you loose the co-pilot, her intense look is humorous and yet capturing the brief as well! the rendering of both the knees are not consistent with the rest of the rendering, they look rather flat and doesnt look cylindrical enough? would the extended arms also cast some shadows on the leg? some how the off-beat character did not get thru... although the clothing suggested it...

sanstream: more economical to just show the cigar puffing hdea, the other doesnt contribute positively to the characterizaion of the main figure. also great attempt at contrasting character to the alien in terms of menacing exterior and teddy bear hugging. wish the contrast applies to the main character and her co-pilot- e.g. such a sweet teddy bear hugging girl would hire or team up with such a menacing creature from the outer rim world?

NicHolS : anatomy issues aside, her posture is not cute as what was intended, or she's not saluting but trying to look further? costume is great.

edujante : cute, was expecting to see some take on a bareback full tattooed character, but i'll take a tattooed leg! in this case, loose the alien.


JakkaS : great great rendering, i wonder why i didnt vote for ya.... her feature was spot on...hmmmm need to spend more time on voting next time...

zhiao : great costume (or great costume reference) but the not the hairstyle or ethnicity

GodOfWar : samurai sword (?) needs to use reference for its proportion and shape. not sure but seems like the eyes (& brows) would use a few mm's shift upwards? which also would help in sorting out the glasses resting at the moment on the hair when i should be more on the forehead?

septomin : the shoes seems out of place here... i dont know why. side note; any reason the gun is place in that direction? any gunslinger ergonomics?


Miles_ : same crit as in WIP, she looks like another ethnic group- native americans? but that's not a major issue. enjoyed your WIP and the setting is great too!

Eon : brief wise she doesnt seems to be someone who would don an uniform or a designer clothing.

Chate Noire : great character design, i felt just short of one attribute- mischievous. the thumb showing the cockpit also captures the brief greatly!

mr. m : bad to the bones!!! if she was listening to an ipod or something, give her more depth than the expression, e.g. still just a young lady, eccentric taste in music etc.

Matteo'89 : hmm not so sure about the western theme, plus the ethnicity part is not apparent. nice to have a story, just hope it adds to or revolve around the brief not formulate a different brief...

Xaya : ethnicity, but i think you did it by design, but that still doesnt explain her jamaican ancestral roots?

gabahadatta : hehe great dark tone to it, wish to see more jamaican influence on her.

The Whistler : the guns look too much like a drill.... she looks like posing for a photo shot of smuggler illustrated, alpha centurion issue :P plus... the ab armour... reminds me of a dark knight dialogue "what makes you different from us? i dont wear a h........... "

tsujni :is that a fantasy island thingy? i love that!!! hawaii-japanese/ jamaican influence. not enough on the pose, expression for the character to shine thru!

markey2d : hahah taking the olympic tight thing a bit too extreme :P cant tell which is the contraband and which is the co-pilot? the globe under the arm? the rice bowl in palm or the mechanical terminal on the feet?

Shotgun Baby: hahaha great story telling, if not for the anime style, would have voted for ya, showing (partially) the nipples tells about the character! "cute" alien :)

revenebo : jamaican wearing japanese apparel... large illus showing the face would help, the eyes are not obvious enough and facial anatomy wise weird looking too...

UCT : for ur rendering style, facial rendering is crucial.

cmalidore : the taped gun, body suit, jacket captures the brief nicely. if putting up makeup, would she put on a more extreme make up? enjoyed its development. thanks

xgabo : like the costume, almost unnecessary to see the face (would be interesting thou :P) but her hiding/ reclusive pose just doesnt jive with the brief's more out going/ flambouyant character.

MJ_Alcazar : you've almost put in the sweat, touch pad or mouse aint no matter, i've a mouse but i felt the same as you as i dont have an tablet yet? shouldnt let that stop you. can always render it in the traditional medium, scan or take photo of it. hope you enjoy & had as much fun as i watch you develop the ideas behind.

kontur : the weird background rendering actually works (for me anyway) but the left robotic arms and mechanical legs doesnt...

agnostes : saw your WIP, like the earlier ones better, but the design and thought process was a joy to watch, thanks for sharing. with the new rules on WIP, i guess we can all expect to see more appetite wetting WIP in future!!!

Glenter : opps... who's the main character, who's the alien and who's the binocular welding robot in the background?

leuparaleu : whistle!!! she's too feminine/ lady like to fit the brief hahaha

mimer : nicely developed idea and concept, just didnt execute only, keep improving! note: more effective to draw a convincing 24th century air lock release instead of labeling it.

cowboy surfer : nice illus, too lady-like & well dressed for me liking to fit the brief :P


meeatu : hahaha, the helmet idea is nice, co-piloting using the same pilot! would have been fun to see if the alien double as a reflex enhancing suit, that way can still show face and less neuro/ meta physical enhancing and more mechanical?

Pod.Art : bald, hand sign and a.... filtered cigarette?? a cigar, oversize one would do the job better? loose the alien too :P

wiltekirra : no "bad-assness"

Fjooner : almost, the jamaica side is not coming thru. also too native american.

ikuru: nice entry and facial expression, onlything weird is the left leg, the alien could be any alien, doesnt have the co-pilot thing, or maybe it's just a passer by alien?

Scribbs : kabuki idea works! the flare light on the upper right corner is distracting?

Kreegz85 : only complain is the ethnicity :)

southilbily : doesnt look like a seasoned space smuggler... more like convention cosplay. need more functional bits, maybe guns, maybe bar code tatoo (not very functional other than passing thru space port secutiry :P), maybe leg booster etc. hold-on... that thing on the left arm is that the co-pilot? it would serve the characterization better if its a arm armour

magichappens : heihei, magic! traditional medium! so no mouse, tablets etc. are not an excuse!!!! i think you'll be dropped from the poll for reason the mods will let you know. but great participation from traditional medium, so refreshing.

DSAzeppelin : nice tattoo of the sun on the arm, since u requested, i'm sure the mods will give you an extensive review!

trevor : great background ship!!! great great rendering! wish she still look compose and even a little bit mischievous even when being shot by blaster! her seriousness gave me an illusion that she wanted to head bash the alien with the stick in her hand, lucky for the brief, i shook myself out of it! i have to refrain from voting for you in this round, cos will need to be more unforgiving and critical when it comes to appreciation of your work.

Spooky Roller Disco! : hahaha symbiotic alien co pilot, i think the brief is flexible enough for this, not? explore more pose and expression.

threeeyesworm : woa!!! booster blades!!!

Jeremy Hoffman : another kabuki face paint but the ethnicity is still very clear!

Vargo : yes, female han solo! only the ethnicity issue!

timothee : maybe the alien could serve as a premonition being that warn her of danger in front? maybe she should be staring at the blood? wish you had explored other poses like shimmering or side stepping to approach the opening etc. maybe fix on the pose too early? time constrain is another problem...

D@niel : almost done it for me :P wish the alien co-pilot is more... alien.

crimson_shape : great pose, great angle, only thing missing, the outrageous flamboyant wide eye smuggler?

yoitisi : her physical built is unquestionably jamaican! kamekaze undertone also captures the brief. that almost smirk on her face is nice at it is now, but would make her character jump out if exaggerated ever so slightly?

TheCheet : hahahah cute and great angle to capture this scene, too bad the panda drug lord/ port authority dropped from the ceiling/ above has to die!! ethnicity- jamaican missing a bit.

gtgauvin : hehehehe you did made it to the finals!

Markito: cant help but compared yours to chate noire's, chate's is a more robust design but somehow gut feel wise, yours capture the brief better? hmm... weird.

kiwigarbage : doesnt dressed for the occasion, unless is smuggler annual party. unless she is pulling out the contraband from her empty/ prosthetic eye ball!

VampireHungerStrike: my fav for this round!!!

Jtho : ethnicity missing and jar jar binks...

indus: Fxxxxx, lost my rationality for a second and almost voted for you hahaha great piece of illustration, great alien co-pilot, just cant convince myself on the ethnicity and rose embroider hat?

daestwen : who's she winking at? i wish it was me :P the pose (especially the head) could be more winking like?

REKLAS :almost voted too, just sick rendering of the boots!!! i just wish her expression were more mischievous, even when self reflecting at space port!! hahah

BludHund : more a mountain/ rock climbing than a space smuggler

ok.... exhausted. need coffee now to make up lost working hours to company hahaha...cheers

[cowboy surfer]

Well done everyone lots of awesomeness this week!

Oreg - would really appreciate it if you had the time to give me some pointers on how I was off topic and how to improve.
I genuinely thought I had nailed her with the design. Even reading the brief again: jamacain - japanese, female, near future, much better at high-tailing it out of a tight squeeze, not necessary to include co-pilot... I think she ticks all those boxes as these were the points most in my mind whilst designing her.

For me this was her get-away from a deal gone bad... speeding back to the ship as the co-pilot starts the take-off sequence etc (more time and this story could have been my background but does the lack of it detract from her look and design?)

On another note thanks for another great week that inspires me and many others to up our games, and to just practice and improve... would be far less fun without you and Daest.

Will try to crit all entries this week but I need to go and stretch my typing muscles first!

[Wiggers]

Great round again, really wish i could of joined in.
Voted for many again, decaying lolita, xaya, crimson shape, D@niel, Shotgun baby, trevor, jakkas, chate noire, and vampire hungerstrike.

[Studio Colrouphobia]

For the first time ever in a CHOW/COW I have voted for more then one entry.
D@niel and Trevor got my votes. Apart from being very well rendered, they both give a vibe that I just like. The Aliens are inspiring and the chicks are hot!

Everyone else- I really liked the entries this round. Higher standard then in a while it seems...

[cowboy surfer]

First off thanks to Zenichi for the crit. I've been trying to figure how I was off topic, really helpful, thanks.

My votes this week went to:

Yoitisi - Good look, good design, good colour choice , though I agree that maybe a bit muddy.
Crimson Shape - I just like the 'feel' of her. Nice angle, love the handbag and shotgun (though technology may have moved on somewhat in the weapons dept). Could be brighter though for the brief.
Trevor - Right up there on the wow factor. I would love to have seen the orthos you would have done of her. Those and the accompanying illo are surely what an art director would want for a good character design. I love your co-pilot, although I read someones comment that the mouth didnt look like it would close properly and I have to agree, its been niggling me since I noticed.
Chate noire - Fantastic collection of images that really tell the viewer a lot about her - a lesson for us all. It is for this reason combined with a good render and design that you are my #1 this week. My small grit would be to ad more dangles/nick-nacks etc as per the brief.
Jakkas - great render and the co-pilot is a winner. Small crit would be that I get lots of japanese from her but no feeling of jamaican.

More to come for the rest of you.

[marioucci]

It was great this time indeed. I went from the sloppy category last time to almost made this time. which to me is a hell of an evolution. Im really proud of myself.

The render quality of some of the entries is astonishing and Im not really sure who to vote to yet.

I do think its a shame that an entry like gogo's didnt make it. And I think thats part of a particular CA profile or standard that makes most of the really good guys over here look the same. Sometimes I cant pick apart styles, it becomes all one big same concept arty style, which could be a flaw but surely will get those guys hired by any games companies in the world. So its not.

My worry is that sometimes, the guys getting good but not there yet might just drop any hint of personal style and become very good in the pasteurized style instead.

its a silly 2 cents and definitely not a good moment to bring it up but what the hell eh?

Cheerios

mario

[The Whistler]

Thanks a lot Chate Noire and zenichi for your crits, I'll keep those in mind for the next CHOW. I had no Idea my entry has no focal point. And the pose is a bit cheesy... Practice practice I guess :)

My votes go to

gabahadatta
Trevor
Chate Noire
Jakkas - my fav this round, the alien is awesome :)

[Saturns Gate]

Great work, quite a few top notch works here :

D@aniel: I think what makes this different is the fact you warped his middle section to come up behind the girl. Without that little twist I dont think it would have had such an impact compositionaly. Well done, colors are great being subtle and anatomy is good. The girls clothing I think could have had something added to them to make it a bit more interesting but I can see you were going for a more realistic design in that area, which works anyway. Nice one!

Main Loop: I think the idea is great, and overall design of her clothing is cool. The only thing I dont like is the pose, its a bit stiff looking.

Trevor: Class! Best action shot out of them, and done in such little time too! Colors are nice without being too over the top. Obviously with something like this (the dynamic posing) we get to see less of the clothing design but still, the pure power of this piece stands on its own.

Vorace: I LOVE the detail you have put into the clothing. So much to see and looks interesting silhouette wise. The coloring makes some of those details lose themself and confuse me but only in small areas. Great stuff Overall! :)

Chate Noir: I admire the amount of work you put into showing this character. The cartoony style works well, you got a good grasp on that. Would have liked to see her alien co pilot a bit more but thats just being nit picky. hehe

Jakkas: I liked this from the start, solid alien design, really got that personality in there and the girl is ace. Some parts of her clothing look a bit mushy in places, but it dont detract from the overall piece so great stuff!

Some who nearly got my vote:

Decaying Lolita: Great design but I think the contrast could be set lower overall and the pose is a little stiff in places.

Sequential 76: Cool perspective and design, rendering is nice, but the pose kinda looks off to me, cant put my finger on it exactly. Think maybe the abdomen should be in more and less sticking out?

Anyway, great stuff from everyone, I would go on but I gotta go. Cya!

[Chate Noire]

Thanks guys =)

marioucci - this is just my opinion, but I don't think gogo's piece was left out of the poll because of a different style, but because the character didn't match the brief well enough. I think it's an awesome painting with really cool character, angle and design, but there's just not enough there that says "Jamaican-Japanese 24th century space smuggler".

And on a more general note, I don't feel this challenge or any other spot in CA discriminates art based on style. Most artists here who take the time to comment on other's work are professional enough to know how to separate quality from style and know when something is AWESOME or needs improvement, no matter what style it's in. In fact, the really good artists who stand out and really impress are the ones with a unique style.

(Again, I'm not refering to gogo's piece here, which I think is really great and believe it was not included based on brief-relevance alone.)

[UCT]

Reklas and Jakkas.

Reklas - really think you developed this well, great change with the background and extra subtle values on the character.
Jakkas - thats impressive, really like your work in the cow's aswell. You have got a more painterly style going on now to, i like it.

Get stuff all round. I really liked images from Tevor and Vorace aswell.

[Carnifex]

my votes went to:
scribbs
chate noire
main loop and
sequential 76.
where i would rank main loop on 1st place(you really nailed it for me) and sequential on second (fantastic use of perspective,damn sexy aswell).

had quite a hard time deciding,could have voted for almost the whole poll,but in the end i had to go with gut feeling again: which one of these does represent a character i think of when i hear that name?
brownie points to indus, markito, xgabo and vorace, which stood out through either really good designs,or very expressive characters, but didn't quite catch it for me by brief.
the rest of the entries are really nice in their own right,but again made me think more of soldiers,headhunters or simply adventurers. yeah,i know,it's a very fine line to balance.
awesome round on the whole. :)

[daestwen]

Dammit. Guys, for those of you who aren't in the list, and didn't make the poll, it's because you were SUPPOSED to. (I'm not on either, though I thought Oreg was planning to take mine, as I left it up to him.)

edujante, ikuru, you were both supposed to be in the poll. I'm really sorry. I'll ask Oreg as soon as he comes online - this is probably a silly mistake to do with shifting stuff around in the photobucket account, but we discussed both your pieces and they were supposed to go into poll, so...

I can't edit the poll, but as soon as I can get a hold of Oreg I'll sort something out for you guys.

[S.C. Watson]

Okay. Looks like we lost some pieces last night somehow.

My apologies on that. I'm looking into it right now and will have this fixed ASAP.

~Oreg.

[S.C. Watson]

Okay, poll is adjusted, and I comped everyone that was unintentionally left out five votes.

If you have already voted and you wish to place a vote for any of the following,
please PM me and I will ad it to their respective vote:

Ikiru
Daestwen
Meeeatu
Nichols
Pod.Art
Timothee
Edujante

Again, my sincere apologies about that. Poll is an imperfect science at best, and all too easy to nerf up.

Thanks for your understanding.
~Oreg.

[MJ_Alcazar]

zenichi - thanks for taking the time out to crit. I appreciate it! Hmmm, taking a picture, eh? There's an idea, I never have liked how the scanner rapes my colored drawings, but a picture would probably work. Mwhahahah, now I have ideas!!! :)

Some really great entries here guys! I ended up voting for half of them. Mostly it was on gut feeling on who I thought hit the brief the best, and the ones I thought looked the most jamaican/japanese. But again, really great works to all!

[edujante]

dont worry oregano!!!
Many thanks for the invisible and hard work that you and daestwen do as moderators...sorry 4 my english!

[S.C. Watson]

Any crits would be much appreciated. Hopefully I can apply them and get better with my future drawings.

For your skill level, your piece was good. Occasionally, we run into a piece that would do better to listed under a couple of categories, but ends up in the default "Quality" listing.

That said, I think the biggest issue for me on this piece is that it is stiff. The idea is good, the rendering is fairly well executed (explore using a range of pencils if you are going to continue using them - a #2 pencil can only take you so far - pick up a set of Berol Turquise and a kneaded eraser. Use a mechanical pencil with an HB .05 lead for initial sketching and outlining, and detail work). Your tones, and shadowing need some work, and I think a more interesting angle would do wonders. (I suffer from this as well, so.) When shading your piece, don't be afraid to "lose" edges - not everything has to be in hard sharp focus - but learning which ones to keep and which to lose is important :)
Hope that helps!

But were did i go wrong with: Too much style, not enough focus...
One of the principles of CHOW is being able to "read" the character - the viewer needs to be able to tell what the character is without a written explanation. In this light, neither Daestwen nor myself could really tell what your character was supposed to be. It's very stylistically done, which is not a bad thing, and I kind of like it in that regard, but I honestly can't tell what she is. So, for us, the style completely overpowered the character herself.

Cowboy_Surfer Yours fell into the Off Topic section because she looked more like a 70's Biker Disco Queen to us than a smuggler. The hover bike didn't read all that well - I would recommend doing a thicker outline around the character to help "pop" elements a bit more.

okay, I think that's it for the time being :)

All the best,
~Oreg.

[cowboy surfer]

Ok here goes:

Hideyoshi - I like your loose style and the cool to warm colours across the piece. For me too japanese not enough jamaican.

Dirkvandulman - I like your colours although I think too much pink. It felt a bit too wispy around the edges especially in the bottom left.

Vorace - loving the detail you put in, it really hits the brief from that perspective. I think you loose a lot of the charm in the colour process though, it kind of hides the bits and pieces dotted about her. Maybe some brighter colours too.

Nadiamoon - An unusual take which is no bad thing, but I am not getting any japan or jamaica from her.

WTFsteph - Cutting it close on the 3/4 rule, try to show more of her. the face reads well but the hand holding the gun needs some work anatomically.

Sequential76 - really good angle to go for (brave too!) and a good render. Her skin is a bit too green for my liking and she is a bit slutty for how I imagined the character but that is just a niggle.

Main Loop - love the accessories. Not really getting the reason for the candy machine though. Co-pilot a bit tooo monkey as well.

Decaying Lolita - great pose and setting, all a bit dark for my tastes though.

Marioucci - I just dont get what the white bit between her legs is all about. Perspective on the legs looks a bit off whereas on the arms it looks good.

Sanstream - i like the han-solo belt and holster but other than that she is lacking in details. Also if youre going to do a close up of the head try to frame it better or you risk it looking like its just been ripped off her body!

Nichols - really great colour choice i think it suits her. She just seems to be in a very awkward pose - her feet are facing a very different direction to her shoulders, it doesnt quite read right. I also think she would benefit from being a bit taller, she is a bit child like in her proportions.

Edujante - I really like your style and colour choices. Good details too. I must remember to pm Oreg to give you a vote from me!(If I forgot and he reads this maybe you could oblige?)

Zhiao - just wayyyy too dark for her to read well. The strapping on her legs is a good idea.

Godofwar - she is a bit too static for me. A bit of research would help with her sword if its supposed to be a wakazashi as well. Really like th skirt.

Septomin - she has a good look going on. Her gun seems to be holstered backwards and her sword is being worn upsidedown. Would like to have seen a brighter colour pallate.

Miles - a very good render. small crit would be that her feet are too small and dont read right and her facial expression is a bit odd. Good lighting.

Eon - very nice design. Pose too static though.

Mr M - nicely done face and background. Too dark as we go down thogh. Brighter colors somewhere would have suited her more.

Mateo89 - like your original take. She reminds me of a witch or a pilgrim somehow wich detracts from her smugglerishness.

Xaya - great render. It was nice watching you progress through your updates as well.Not feeling her jamaicanness though.

Gabahadatta - spot on design wise. Feel she is too drab for her description though.

The Whistler - Facially she reads jamaican but I am not seeing any japanese. As with many others brighter colours would have improved her IMO.

Tsujni - I like your unusual approach but I dont see much of the brief in your image.

Markey2d - A few anatomy issues, her left leg below the knee is too short for example. A few more nick-nacks and bit and pieces would have added to her.

Shotgun baby - an interesting take. Well drawn, although I am not sure it would be too useful to an art director needing concept art.

Revenebo - I particularly love her trousers/boilersuit, really futurefied. Lacking in any other details though.

Phew! My typing slaves are complaining so it seems only fair to let them have 20 seconds to themselves.
They will be back later to continue the crits.

PS I hope my comments prove usefull as opposed to insulting! They are not designed to offend.

[S.C. Watson]

CS - got it.

[kiwigarbage]

kiwigarbage : doesnt dressed for the occasion, unless is smuggler annual party. unless she is pulling out the contraband from her empty/ prosthetic eye ball!


Ouch...And here I was thinking her outfit perfectly matched the description. I suppose I'll work on that.

Also, I noticed that my piece went into the same category...Was it due to sloppiness, or the artistic ability? How can I improve this?

Thanks, and great job everyone!

[S.C. Watson]

Also, I noticed that my piece went into the same category...Was it due to sloppiness, or the artistic ability? How can I improve this?

Okay, we had a number of issues here. The first was the colouring - there's ways of handling contrasts that don't, well, don't contrast as much. As it stands right now, your background entirely overpowers your character. The black squares are hard on the eyes and visually pull you all over the map. Once we work past that and actually see the character, you have a number of anatomy issues (Everyone: beware - Daestwen is on a rampage about proportion, pay close attention to that. She's brutal and is taking no prisoners!) Your arms were different lengths, head is off, legs were wonky. Over all colouring was rather sloppy and unfinished. Line work is too hatchy for the illustration - that needs to be smoother. Hatchwork is fine, if that's what you're doing with a piece. But when you're doing the outline, it doesn't read well.

Hope that helps!
All the best,
~Oreg.

[DSAzeppelin]

For your skill level, your piece was good. Occasionally, we run into a piece that would do better to listed under a couple of categories, but ends up in the default "Quality" listing.

That said, I think the biggest issue for me on this piece is that it is stiff. The idea is good, the rendering is fairly well executed (explore using a range of pencils if you are going to continue using them - a #2 pencil can only take you so far - pick up a set of Berol Turquise and a kneaded eraser. Use a mechanical pencil with an HB .05 lead for initial sketching and outlining, and detail work). Your tones, and shadowing need some work, and I think a more interesting angle would do wonders. (I suffer from this as well, so.) When shading your piece, don't be afraid to "lose" edges - not everything has to be in hard sharp focus - but learning which ones to keep and which to lose is important :)
Hope that helps!


~Oreg.

Haha...yeah...you're onto me with the whole #2 pencil thing. I'll pick up that stuff asap and give it a go.

Thanks for the crits Oreg...I apprecaite it! :yayca:

[daestwen]

(Everyone: beware - Daestwen is on a rampage about proportion, pay close attention to that. She's brutal and is taking no prisoners!)

Oh noes, you got me started.

OKAY HERE'S THE THING.

ARM LENGTHS.

Seriously. Pay attention to it! There were a bunch where the elbows were different distances to the shoulders! And it was just laaazziiiness!

It's a really, really easy mistake (I'm sure I've made it dozens of times) but I just kept noticing it this round. Yes, in real life, our arms differ in size, but only by centimeters!! Not by four-six inches! Please look at your image and make sure that her arms are the same length! Sometimes this is a foreshortening issue - that you meant to show depth and it just didn't work, but there were many where it was just being lazy and not looking at the distance right.

I'm sorry to bitch about this, but it is my personal pet peeve for this round. :P

[MJ_Alcazar]

Daestwen, I'll be sure to pay attention to my porportions now too. :)

Oh, and I noticed a lot of people were giving me crits on my perspective. I thought I was improving, but I'm thinking that maybe I am not understanding the meaning of the word. If someone would give me a good definition or tell me on my drawings what I usually do wrong, I would greatly appreciate it. :)

[JakkaS]

Hey Guys.. thank you for all comments and crits.
I had problems with my Internet connection and now it's late, so I will post my comments Tomorrow.

Cheers
Kuba

[revelarts]

xgabo:
I Thought your piece was great!
Others got my votes too but in many ways yours stood out to me.

peace

[Jeremy Hoffman]

OREGANO, thanks for your explanation! Now i understand what went wrong, so that i can improve myself.
Yours and everybody else's criticts are always welcom and helpful!

Greetings Jeremy

[Spooky Roller Disco!]

Great stuff from everyone! My votes went to:
Indus, because i thought your design concept was awethum,
and Xgabo because i loved your illustrative-designy-ness.
Great stuff guys! :D
Ill hopefully one day be good enough to get into the polls :)
practice! practice! practice!

ps: i like your new avatar daestwen

[mr. m]

mine vote goes to Trevor this time - amazing tones and brushwork and I just love the dynamism of your work!

chate noir, cowboy surfer: thanks for the crits dudes! yeah, you are damn right... actually a huge problem for me that I am working on my laptop at home and there is a tricky thing in the diversity of the dark gray tones... heh - no excuse of course - I will try to keep the next one more bright and more rich in colors.

[Hideyoshi]

Lol, I suck quite a bit at characters, huh..? :P
Ah, need lots more practice.
Went past the brief I think. But there seems to be some other reason that my characters always score so low... any pointers?

voted for:

Trevor
JakkaS
D@niel
Crimson Shape

[Saturns Gate]

I think it was her expression for me Hideyoshi, there does not seem to be much feeling to her there. The skin could definently use some work, I like the overall rough look to the piece but I think you should have a contrast there somewhere, especially with that skin. Probably less hard edged brushes there.

The proportions look good, though I think some parts look kinda wooden, namely the hand to the lower arm, kinda look straight on. I would curve those parts and experiment with more smoother join areas. I love your stuff though man, some awesome work in your gallery. :)

[xgabo]

Thanks for the comments and votes guys :)

[REKLAS]

But there seems to be some other reason that my characters always score so low... any pointers?
I was wondering the same thing about my character. I thought it turned out pretty well but apparently not as well as I thought. Anyone got some pointers on how I could improve for next time? I guess she blends into the background a bit too much and could use brighter highlights and more contrast to stand out a bit more. Is that a correct assumption? Any other suggestions?

[BludHund]

Sorry about the filename Oregano. Also I see I made the image way too small. Next time I'll try to participate more and not be such a lurker.


Oh yes, and my vote went to Sequential76. The dynamic pose and viewpoint really set it off for me, plus it was clean and readable, and I loved the alien...very extra-dimensional / non-humanoid...a little to 'pet-like' though maybe...

Props to CrimsonShape for the subtler approach...love the bubbly cyber-eye. The shotgun kinda ruined it for me though...the form of it is too soft and vague.

[cowboy surfer]

And now the continuation:

UCT - Although I like the way you have painted her and the good action pose I cant really find any jamaican or japanese as requested in the brief.

Cmalidore - She has a good look. She doesnt seem to fit quite right into her chair, like her bum is maybe hovering a little above the seat.

ML Alcazar - You have some ideas there although I think the colouring is letting you down (elsewhere in this thread people are talking about colouring over black and white so maybe get some tips there) and making the pic look muddy. I can see your drawings improving so try to work on getting the proportions of the body more accurate.

Kontur - You seem to have a kind of digi-painterly style thing going on which I like but I makes seeing the overall details of your design tricky.

Agnostes - She looks mean, hard and futuristic which is good. The colouring is rather muddy though and the dark bits a bit blotchy.

Glenter - She is very much in silhouete which makes it hard to read her very well. The design is all important for these chow's as practice for becoming a concept artist. And is the co-pilot sketching?

Leuparaleu - Welcome to chow. I like her suit, bright and futuristic. Not sure what she has on her back? She has a strange twist in her torso though that doesnt quite read right to me.

Mimer - I like her cheeky expression. Small crit would be that her right hand looks odd, and surely she will kill erself if she presses the button?

Cowboy surfer - less disco more smuggle please.

Meeatu - love the crazy expression and the co-pilot idea. Her rigt hand is a bit flat and the colours a little dulled. Realy fun.

Pod.Art - Very nice rendering. Particularly the glows. She looks good and futuristic but I feel she lacks 'quirky'.

Wiltekirra - nice design, quirky which I think is good and coy. Colour would have finished it off nicely. I would question what is happening though, there is no story to your image.

Fjooner - awesome render, spot on. She just has no jamaican and no japanese so misses the brief for me. But still a great image.

Ikuru - nicely rendered if not as tight as you would have liked. Like the co-pilot although he is quite pet-like but very alien. Her design is a bit to high school in summer than space age smuggler though.

Scribbs - I really like her design, a good interpretation of the brief. Colours are lacking 'pop' and a bit muddy.

Kreegz85 - I love you alien design and the painting is good. Anatomy could do with some tweaking - left arm in particular.

Southilbily - Definatley getting the jamaican from her. Maybe look at how fabric hangs for her skirt to make it more realistic.

Magichappens - try to focus on her design fisrt and foremost to get her to fit the brief and what is required from our 'art director' Oegano/Daestwen. Well done getting the dice in though!

DSAzeppelin - You've got a nice amount of detail into this, nice. Although you explained the gun it initially looks agressive. The hight of her hair and her bottom lip jump out at me as being not quite right.

Spooky roller disco - love the co-pilot, hillarious. Her eye seems a bit large, torso too long and her long sword is straight, should be curving downwards.

Threeeyesworm - some great future design in there, the boots are too much for me though. I like the idea its just the drawing that doesnt read right.

Jeremy Hoffman - very quirky and fun. My crit would be that it doesnt really tel me the story of the brief though.

Vargo - I like her outfit and its a good action shot. Her skin seems a bit too yellow to me though. A couple of little niggles are the green lazer not leaving the barrel striaght and the fact that she is on tip-toes.

Timothee - design wise she looks good. Love the hula girl on the gun. The rest of her outfit seems a bit drab though.

D@niel - Awesome paint job and love the co-pilot. I just dont see jamaican or japanese very clearly. Brighter colours would be good too.

TheCheet - Love your style, lines and composition, but I dont know what is going on or how it meets the brief.

Gtgauvin - obviously its not finished which is a pity as it looks really promising.

Markito - good lines and composition here. She would benefit from more dangles/nick-nacks and some bright colours.

Kiwigarbage - Looks like we had the same idea with the 'fro and the lips! I think your background choice is very distracting from the image though.

VampireHungerStrike - great illo and lots of nice details, particularly the co-pilots glasses, nice touch. Small crit would be that the scene is a little boring.

Jtho - I really like her expression and the co-pilot. I would say she needs more details to accentuate her personality.

Indus - I really dig the shine on the aliens carapace, awesome. She is a bit too pin-up for how I imagined her from the brief. Very well rendered though.

Daestwen - good design and colours. Woulsd say her face is a little scrunched and her legs in a slightly awkward stance.

Reklas - fantastic illo, great design, great render, great background. My only crit is the lack of any jamaican influence.

BludHund - welcome to chow. its hard to say much as your image is very small, I can tell that her torso is too long though, keep working on that anatomy! liking the green hot-pants.

Wow, I think that does it. I hope I got you all in one post or another!

PS thanks for the feedback Oreg. Will keep trying.

[gabahadatta]

Lol, I suck quite a bit at characters, huh..? :P
Ah, need lots more practice.
Went past the brief I think. But there seems to be some other reason that my characters always score so low... any pointers?
for me you did it too fast and it ended with character with no memorable atributes - nothing that will give her some indididual character, style, personality. everything, from left to right and top to bottom, is very sketchy, equally highlighted, with no particular detail that would catch attention for some more time. her pose is somewhat not very fit to description of character - distinguished rather than punky, expressive.

I was wondering the same thing about my character. I thought it turned out pretty well but apparently not as well as I thought. Anyone got some pointers on how I could improve for next time? I guess she blends into the background a bit too much and could use brighter highlights and more contrast to stand out a bit more. Is that a correct assumption? Any other suggestions?

maybe you pay too much attention to this kind of details? ;) in my opinion your concept lacks a little "overall approach" - for exaple: her proportions (legs, arms etc) are ok but her pose is unnatural - one thing is that her legs are too far away from each other, second one is pose - very rigid, unnatural, like in not-top fashion photos. also there is a lot detail put in equipement that contrasts with very simplified, comic- or doll-like face. in not good way. slightly different pose/composition and more practice in faces will do the trick, i think. then you could try working on saturation/contrast, and "hot spots" and then on something else. there is always something that can be improved ;)


sorry if i offended you in any way - thats not my intention. just trying to be helpul.

[Scribbs]

Thanks to everyone that commented/critiqued my pic! I would do one of those "thank you" thingies after your posts, but being a newb here (this was my first post) I don't have a clue how to yet. This was only my second time painting, so hopefully with practice, and the tips I pick up here at CA, improvement will come. There is some incredible artwork here and I feel honored to of made it into the poll! I found things I liked in all the entries, but I narrowed my votes down to the three I found myself looking at the most:

Xgabo - I just kept coming back to yours! I'm a sucker for the illustrative look; the bright colors and the stork kamono put it over the top for me.
Jakkas - Awesome work! Cool alien and sharp colors. Very nice indeed.
Trevor - WOW! Incredible work sir! It looks like it could be a book cover. Outstanding.

My first foray into CA was fun and I hope do more than just troll the boards from now on!

-Scribbs

[kiwigarbage]

Thanks Oregano, I need to learn what works in color, and what doesn't (to the point of being an eyesore in this case). I'll also work on making my final product more polished. Should I paint directly over my lines (obliterate them?) instead of inside them? I'd been trying to retain a somewhat stylized outline, so perhaps it would be better to lose the outline altogether?

Daestwen, I'm so sorry! haha, I'm sure you have to deal with so many pieces where the anatomy is terribly incongruous and it drives you nuts. It didn't even register to my mind because I'd been working on it for so long. I'll start flipping my images- hopefully that will help to improve my proportions. Thanks for the note on the elbows, I'll watch out for that in the future!

Again, great entries all, and thanks for the helpful feedback! I really appreciate it :)

[REKLAS]

Thanks for the crit, it was indeed helpful. You're so right about the face which I started noticing too after now having looked at it for awhile. Her pose is a bit ridged too, good call.

Reklas - fantastic illo, great design, great render, great background. My only crit is the lack of any jamaican influence.
Thanks. Yeah, I decided to make her prominently Japanese, but I wouldn't say there's a lack of any Jamaican influence. Notice the Jamaican flag designed into her main outfit, huh, huh? lol. Just felt like pointing that out.




Random comments/ponderings about random pieces:

Vorace How is she suppose to be quick on her feet if she's carrying everything she's ever owned on her back? just kidding. Really nice details though.

Sequential76 The object she's holding looks like a magical Christmas ornament. ...with a universe inside. Cool overall angle.

gabahadtta I really like yours, some nice effects, cool character, I just wish the barrel of her gun wasn't a large cylinder, it looks a bit awkward and would be shooting huge bullets and the gun appears to have a 'normal' sized magazine.

NicHolS Love the outfit. She looks a bit sad. I wish she have a few more futuristic elements to her other than just the shoes and weapon.

Shotgun Baby Cool style. Very cute. the pulled legging is great. the copilot makes me think of Stitch from Lilo & Stitch. Probably just because the colors. I'm just wondering where the shot went that she just fired cause there doesn't seem to be any evidence of it on the creature.

CMalidore Her expression seems like "What? you looking at me?". lol at 'Boom Candy', nice touch.

Pod.Art love the floor lights along with the 'fog'. The orange and green seem a bit too saturated though.

crimson_shape lol at the 'shotgun' in the 'purse'. I love it.

VampireHungerStrike I like the squid logo on the box in the back.

trevor It looks like they're both running away while being attacked and Bahati looks like she's about to bash her copilots head open with a lead pipe. The copilot (who's awesome btw) seems more like an unexpecting enemy to me. The overall composition/colors/rendering/poses are awesome. Almost had my vote.

indus she seems so out of place. Great rendering on her face/torso. I like the skull & crossbones.

REKLAS Work on it.

daestwen Looks like she's acting like she has a gun in her right hand, and then she's like "C'mon, you don't believe me? ...What?"

Jakkas I was very unsure of who to vote for this round and it was a bit difficult to decide on one but I ended up going with you. Good job. I just wish she was a bit more punk.

[CarolineBradley]

Only voted for two this round (I had to eventually limit myself!)

Chate noire -because of the set up of the image too, the character was explored in every angle, the ethnic look was address and the little scene in the corner really reflected the brief with regards to her co-pilot and her tendency to high tail it out of bad situations. She is very bright but I would have loved to have seen more punky influences. then it would have been perfect!

The other was Meeato- again the majority of the brief was addressed, great punk look and the idea behind the co-pilot was very clever... he REALLY is a co-pilot!

[Vorace]

thanks to everyone who took the time to crit the work of everyone

I tried to vote for only 3 persons :

Crimson_Shape : because she have a lot of attitude, I love the style, it fits the brief, except maybe for the ethnicity that is not clearly recognizable

Jakkas : top notch quality, graet job. But, the real reason I voted for you, is because of the alien sidekick : he has tons of character, and an original design

Chate noire : woaaah love it, I like a lot the fact that you show other concepts for the same character, it really helps to get the personality of Bahati

[cowboy surfer]

Thanks. Yeah, I decided to make her prominently Japanese, but I wouldn't say there's a lack of any Jamaican influence. Notice the Jamaican flag designed into her main outfit, huh, huh? lol. Just felt like pointing that out.


Fair point. I must admit to not noticing that initially but it is a nice touch. I had intended to mean lacking jamaican in her features/hair/skin colour etc

I agree with the legs too far appart comment already made, and I love the textures you have going on in the wall she is leaning on.

[The Whistler]

cowboy surfer - thanks a bunch. Gotta work on that color, I guess I was just afraid she'd be too out there if I made her lighter... WRONG! ;)

[Rodimus25]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Wasn't not too happy with the end results, and there are some stuff i'd like to go back and change, so ll repost on sketchbook when its done. I'm glad i made it into the polls though, although nearly missing out:p thanks for the fix oregano. Great round, awesome work, nice entries all round:)

[Mydrim]

I am so sorry I didn't vote properly- some browser issues or what, maybe my fault, but haven't spotted many entries before clicking on "vote". For example, I'd vote for Trevor also, for sure.. sorry again

[wiltekirra]

A

Wiltekirra - nice design, quirky which I think is good and coy. Colour would have finished it off nicely. I would question what is happening though, there is no story to your image. .

Thanks! I meant for her to be contemplating the gun since the description implied she wasn't too efficient with them (I have similar feelings about Photoshop).

[DSAzeppelin]

DSAzeppelin - You've got a nice amount of detail into this, nice. Although you explained the gun it initially looks agressive. The hight of her hair and her bottom lip jump out at me as being not quite right.



cool, thanks for the crit. I see what you mean about the gun looking aggressive...and not in a good way. I wanted it to be kind of bulky, but I think I focused too much on an actual rifle/gun look rather than going off on a different tangent to show it's actual use/capacity. Will need to pay attention to that in the future.