Chow 133 :: VOTING :: Spike, The Dragon Dentist

[daestwen]

FINALS ONLY
-=ROUND 133=-
-=Spike, The Dragon Dentist=-

-------------
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)
-------------------

ROUND #133 :: SPIKE, THE DRAGON DENTIST

DESCRIPTION

Ike goes by "Spike" and he's a Dragon Dentist. So you dread getting your wisdom teeth pulled? Spike offers wisdom while pulling your teeth! Many used to gossip that Spike was a dragon "slayer" based on the tools in his possession. A wanderer by nature, he's never had or needed an office.

-Spike is a Dragon Dentist without an office, he travels the lands answering house calls (carries the tools he needs with him at all times) No pictures of a dentist in an room with a dragon in his chair please

-Spike is old and wise, something of an ancient legend himself

-Time period could vary from ancient fantasy to modern day, but nothing about Spike is ordinary.

-Spike is human.

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

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?

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

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.

[daestwen]

Please review these helpful reminders if you have not done so already.

:right:ON GETTING TO POLL (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1891823&postcount=15)
-------------------------
:right:NEW ROUND RULE: WIPS PLEASE! (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1910999&postcount=27)
-------------------------
:right:SUBMISSION FORMAT REMINDER (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1911002&postcount=28)

[Clochette]

First!

Here is my entry : wip and final! :)

[Relic]

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/Reliczhi/ca/CHOW133_Relic.jpg

WIPs
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/Reliczhi/ca/133WIPS.jpg

[Giorge]

So here's my idea of Spike the Dragon Dentist .
Hi's weird dressed , i doesn't seem to be from around , anywhere , his a traveler (that's why hi has a tan :) ,he walks all day in the sun ) from land to land, wise , making use of his vast knowledge of herbs and medicine. Many people call him the Dragon dentist , maybe because of his weird tools, or the way he's doing his job.
He induces his patients into a trance, by blowing the smoke of his Hookah , and singing dragon ballads. When the patient wakes , he's long gone with the pain of the tooth.
So that's the little story that i made up as i was working along on him. Hope you like it ^^.

Entry
507289
Wips
507293
For those of you who what to see some closeups and details, you can find them in my sketchbook.

Good luck to the rest.
Giörge

[crisis]

Open wide

[madhatter106]

I added an upper set of braces to my dragon - not only does my Spike do dental, he's also an amateur orthodontist, too. :)

Here's a link to the earlier discarded design WIPs (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1988877&postcount=56), before I settled on the fellow below...

[Simon Boxer]

Really enjoyed this one.

[Ortheza]

My final :-)
good luck to all

[GodOfWar]

Final and WIPs:

[Artofinca]

Wip and final :)

[Gatts]

Here's my final and two WIP's. Great subject, whoever came up with it!

[Maduera]

Here's my WIP's and final. Magic Spike on a nightly, flying, ward round fixing dragons broken tooth. :)

Good luck to everyone!

[MJ_Alcazar]

My Final. Very fun topic!
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/chow133_mj_alcazar.jpg

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/scan0002-4-1.jpghttp://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/scan0003-5-1.jpghttp://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk153/Seloh_Eft/scan0004-3-2.jpg

[amaliax]

All I can say is thank you to everyone that helped me, and this was really fun. I hope I'm better than I was. ^^

[Shard]

great round by everyone..amazing entries!!

[skinny]

508715

[Stephan_R]

http://www.steveroyer.com/sketching/chow133_final.jpg

[zweiDee]

burned Spike with the big pincer.

[Sforza]

Thanks for the great topic!

[Verehin]

Spike

[YIIT]

Porcelain Knight
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3230/3000783408_f55c6c51b7_o.jpg

WIP>>>http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/2994162033_839271fb97_m.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3001/2994467981_df62c34ea5_m.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/2998327691_e13ce83c72.jpg

[Hideyoshi]

major surgery...

[pepps]

cheers

[WunderDark]

It's a risky business...

508871
508872

[hungryan]

508900
508902
It was a bit of a struggle for me, but I try not to give up easily.
That thingy in his hand is used to keep the dragon's mouth open, his helmet is for safety reasons, to make the dragon think about it twice before biting on him. (And his name is Spike, so why not make his helmet very spiky?)
And he has a very loyal pet baby dragon as a mount he travels on.

[Buckster]

some very interesting designs, I kind of took the "nothing is ordinary" about the dentist a tad far o_O

[ArtAdonis]

Good Luck Everyone!

http://www.artadonis.com/Uploads/CHOW/CHOW133_ArtAdonis.jpg

http://www.artadonis.com/Uploads/CHOW/CHOW133_ArtAdonis_wip.jpg

[k i l l a r t]

Wip
509241
Final
509243

[Goog]

my entry...

[kuroart]

well, done enough i guess.

http://www.sketchtivity.com/sketchbook/chow133_spike.jpg

[armando]

.........

[S.C. Watson]

No further entries past this mark.

~Oreg.

[S.C. Watson]

GENERAL NOTES:

Sorry for the delay – had some challenges with Photobucket this week.

Okay, we had some issues with the naming convention again – please review the reminders at the beginning of the thread – second post. Doing so will keep Oregano happy and un-grumpy. We had several of these and I renamed a few. Please pay attention to this, because in larger rounds, it absolutely positively will matter and you will get cut for not following it.

We also had a couple of people with no wips or reference images (Kuroart, Crisis and Skinny). If you don’t have any wips (I often don’t) showing discarded ideas is acceptable as well and sometimes even more interesting! Same applies here with getting cut in larger rounds - show us your thought process!

Off Topic/Brief

Crisis – See below. Your character looks more like a swordsman of some sort instead of a “Dragon Dentist” – please pay closer attention to the brief next time!
Buckster – See below. you went the opposite direction with yours and gave us a wizard! Not a bad idea, but the character really needs to say “Dentist” as well.
Armando – see below. Yours struck me as a “Hippy Swordsman” instead of a “Dragon Dentist.”
Kuroart – See below. Yours looks like a … dentist with a really big pick. I couldn’t tell what he was sitting on right off. Perhaps instead of a child, swap in a dragonette?

:right: Remember – we need to be able to identify the character as to who or what they are without the CHOW tag of “Dragon Dentist,” or whatever the description happens to be that week. Focus on telling the story visually and describing your character with visuals instead of words – tools, knickknacks, clothing, dragon in for dental work … you get the idea…

All the best,
~Oreg.

[Simon Boxer]

Voted for:

Buckster: I can really see this guy as a fantasy dragon dentist. Cool interpretation, I dig the bone ornamentation. Only crit would be the anatomy looks unnatural around the chest area. In the original sketch you had the pecs there but they seem to have been lost.

Clochette: Classic lovable doctor type - you totally nailed the kind of dentist that has great rapport with his clients.

Stephan R: Another great entry, chalk it up. It's all the little details that make your work superior.

[Buckster]

Hey there and nice work everyone.
Oregano: Cheers man! I agree with the comment.
Cognition.sb: Thanks a bundle mate, I appreciate and agree with the comment.

stephan_r: beautiful concept and rendering, you really nailed it. I would like him to be more extraordinary in his appearance since nothing is normal about him. You have my vote!

[hungryan]

Voted for:
Maxim Verehin: It is much different idea than the rest
Zweidee: nicely detailed, for me very believable character
Wunderdark: nice design ideas
Armando: also original compared to the others, nice subtle execution
Yiit: the porcelaine armour is a really good idea, how is he operating his glove tools?
Sforza: Cant explain why, but I like it :)
Clochette and Stephan R: you are clearly the best in this round, joyous all around
MJ Alcazar: You clearly work a lot to be better, do you have a Wacom? If you don't you could try some other classic materials, like charcoal, you could draw much more painterly with that. And other paper sizes, different techniques, don't stop at using color pencils only. And try to look at all kinds of other people's, like comic artists and such's artwork and think about what makes them good.

[zweiDee]

great work all, my vote goes to Stephan. Lovely Concept, great Design. Fav!

[Stephan_R]

Gatts: When I first saw this idea I was like "WHOA", to have elephants stuck in his teeth was awesome and halarious. Now it appears he is carving them though which is interesting but a little distracting to the character's role I guess. I think if you were to simply blur your background it would immediately focus more on your character, also having a huge open mouth like that it could be nice to include saliva :)

Hideyoshi: I honestly liked your first rough sketch a tad more, the colors were rich and the character wasn't as stiff. The DUNE style is really a neat design too, ultimately I thought the contrast on the dragon versus the character were very similar which flattens the image a bit for me. Some fog/smoke that is picking up sun beams behind your Spike might make his darker shape pop and add some more atmosphere to the scene?

Hungryan: I was browsing through all these submissions with my wife and I kept laughing at this guy, he reminds me of something straight outta spongebob for some reason. I think the rim lighting on the chainmail makes it feel like a rubber suit with a chain mail image on it. His straight legs make him feel a bit lifeless/stiff and unbalanced though. The simplicity of this scene just won my heart and smiles!

Maxim Verehin: This guy looks like he wants to strike for some more hazard pay :) I'd watch your colors, mixing green pants with a green jaw on the dragon flattens the character a bit along with the purple belt and purple mouth as well. Also play around with desaturating clothing in areas where it would wear out more (around the knees for instance?)

cognition: Hey again :) I thought this one was really close and inspired! I tend to feel like so many hard edges makes it hard for my eyes to relax and soak in the image. Perhaps a brighter background would make your character feel like he and the jaw are really in the foreground more and pop? Overall I enjoyed the realistic take, and wish the rest was as rendered as the face and tools.

killart: Spike feels a little off balance in his stance, and not really comfortable. Otherwise the design and rendering is nice, I'd love to see this guy with less focus and rendering on the pants or glove and keep all that nice detail around his face... also blackening out the dragon behind his lower body would really make him pop out ! cheerS :)

Ortheza: Your rendering is really great, with a thick rich texture to it! This Spike however feels more like the igor that is bringing the dentist his tools. The rock seems to have the same matte texture on it that the dirt does which takes away from it's feeling of being stone. Love the tools!

Pepps: the linework is superb. This guy is tough to make out as a dentist but he fits many criteriea on the topic. The only thing that stands out as odd to me is the size of the head and legs are really extreme... but fun nonetheless. Wish he was colored! Great stuff.

zweidee: The dragon is SICK! Also love the face and pose. The wrinkles are the most distracting thing, as they're all the same thickness and there's so many of them it feels busy. Sometimes rendering out wrinkles and muscles just complicates the overall delivery of the character. I thought this was very strong overall, and balancing some of the lighting and details to focus on key elements would really make him sing!

Flamable: I couldn't get dentist from looking at Spike at a glance. The blue background is very distracting. Again rendering out complex wrinkles or muscle structure can sometimes be overkill, and you put some serious time and craftsmanship into these wrinkles but the lighting is a bit irregular across the whole body and flattens him a bit. I really love the outfit design and the dragons are awesome too! Pretty strong rendering skills, keep it up.

Goog: Really cool chracter and great rendering! Having Spike and the dragon with red tones really flattens the image for me. Red is a tough color on the eyes when there's so much of it. A slight shift away from red and a contrasting background could really plant this guy into the scene more. If he had a more natural or relaxed pose it would have really been a total package. Picture yourself as a photographer, and you take 100 pics by the end of the day you pick the strongest pose you can of the bunch... this pose feels in between movements. Can't wait to see more ;)

Crisis: This looks like you had fun, drawing on things you like and making the character your own. He feels a little young and not necessarily a dentist. I appreciate the rendering and you have such potential, but I couldn't figure out the "character or personality" on this one. With a strong pose and relaxed face it sends a slightly conflicting feel for me. Also taking some of the color saturation out of the background could help the focus stay on Spike.

Skinny: Looks like you were rushed and couldn't color him :( I love the giant toothbrush lol. The straight line up his legs make him feel a bit unnatural and stiff. His right leg could be pushed up a bit to make it feel like it's more underneath his body holding up all his weight. Also, rendering out so many intricate details is a huge temptation for artists... and sometimes you can pick your battles and focus on areas that matter the most to deliver the character. He comes off a bit busy, but man keep at it I can totally see your thought process and can enjoy how much thought you put into his gear.

..must sleep, more comments tomorrow :O thanks for my feedback!

[ikuru]

Stephan dude, u got my vote all the way, amazing subject and gr8 execution!
True innovation and ferry-tale storytelling! Hats off!

[hungryan]

Stephan R: Thanks for the kind and useful words, you are absolutely right about the pose and everything. This sketch happened after trying different stuffs and I just thought, what the hell, let's go for something stupid looking. I just don't want to skip any of these challenges just because I'm not completely in sync with the theme. I'm glad I've succeeded in making someone laugh at least hehe.

[Sforza]

I voted for:

Gatts: I simply love the idea of him carving things out of dragon teeth while they're still attached to the dragon, a very original spin on the idea of a dragon dentist.

cognition.sb: Beautiful style, and extremely believable character.

Buckster: Close call, because he doesn't really scream "dentist" to me, but I can see the design working in a high-fantasy-setting.

Clochette: My absolute favourite. Great style, wonderful colours.

Stephan_R: Lots of personality, great picture! (And I hope for the little dragons that this is a walking stick and not a club for stunning them ;))

[HareTrinity]

Maybe it's because I popped over from COW, but Goog was easily my favourite.

The feet are a bit of a mess, but I like the threatening yet fatherly look Spike's been given, and that dragons trust him. Also, the blood stains make me think of bursting abcesses and the like, so an apron-like jacket is well placed!

Clothing also looks heavy enough to deal with a bit of flame, though I might question the beard and un-singed arms for this reason... But I'm nitpicking, it's good stuff!

I also like the equipment handles where two-handed sword hilts are often shown on warriors, and the teeth trophies worn like bullets. ACTION DENTIST!

[YIIT]

Hungryan: "Yiit: the porcelaine armour is a really good idea, how is he operating his glove tools?"

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3005/3001646873_eb51f9462d_o.jpg

[zephyri]

Voted firstly for Stephan R.. one of my favourite Chow entries in aaages, he just has SO much personality and I adore the style. Also voted for cognition sb cause it's instantly recognisable what he is and I love the technique, Pepps because I thought you managed to design a character who was totally self contained and I'm a sucker for clean inkwork. Clochette too for a wonderful children's book style that takes me back to the books I read and loved with Quentin Blake's illustrations.

[pepps]

Stefan R. and zephyri, thanks a lot for the kind words, i focused a lot on getting good lines and a contained character, so i´m really happy that it showed! I agree that the proportions and the design are a bit weak, so i´ll focus more on that next time =)

i think there are a lot of very nice entries, i chose the ones that followed the topic more according to my understanding, but also some i found fun =)

Gatts i think the idea of him sculpting the teeth like elephants is really funny, and to a certain degree it makes him pop like a tough guy...i mean i wouldn´t dare to sculpt a dragon´s tooth...=)

Cognition_sb very nice rendering and camera angle, i also like the design, very contemporary, and the idea is well developed.

zweiDee i love it, i love the strenght and power that comes from the design, he is really tough, effective, limitless. I love the colors, one of my favourites. really superb!

shardana nice rendering and design, fits the topic perfectly i think. I like how you managed to make him wear lot´s of equipment but still look realistic.

Stephan_R wow! amazing rendering, and concept. Very delicate and fun. Love the colors and the mood, and the little dragons are too cute! Maybe the background is too empty? just a thought...i really love it, great work!!

cheers!

[Clochette]

Voted Stephan R and Hideyoshi. :)
Thanks for comments and votes!

[madhatter106]

I voted for Cognition sb and Maxim Verehin (I think I spelled that right).

Though I did love the approaches for Clochette and Stephan R, I felt that both of them looked just a tad unfinished, but that was probably because of the stylistic approach for both. I just wanted a little more texture and "crunchy" goodness... ;)

Will hopefully sit down soon a crit-out the rest...

[Jazz]

This one was pretty tough for me to vote for! I was actually looking to see which pieces would make me think "dragon dentist" without having to think too hard through the imagery. For instance, a lot of the pictures had an old man and then an image nearby of a dragon--those ones didn't seem to show enough of a connection between the dentist and dragon, at least to me. However, I could tell better (in SOME cases), whenever the old man was interracting with the dragon! :)

In some pictures, there wasn't enough of the dragon showing to tell what Spike was up to--even fangs were missing. In others, it appeared as though Spike was about to attack the dragon (or something else).

Even with ones I voted, I had issues with some of them. Anyway, here we go!!

cognition.sb: Yours is one favourite of mine. Spike looks brave and necessarily strong. And the dragon's mouth looks, to me, most realistic. I mean, to find plenty of crap lodged between its fangs makes sense to me!! I love the gritty feel of the piece, too! Can't help but wonder about that pouch o' poison... o_o

Clochette: I adore your idea!! Whimsical, with Spike, friendly looking dragon dentist. :) That's how I want my dentist to smile at me. ;) Anyway, the dragon appears to be so eager to get Spike working on it. Looks in such pain. :( (little deformed smoky heart! Was that intentional?? I love it!) Interesting how you used a shadow for the utensil Spike is holding! Nifty idea!

Stephen_R: Very nicely done!! Carefully Spike does his thing, and how cute that he makes the little dragon pop out some flames!! Those dragons are quite trusting (and brave!) to stick around! I like how the picture definitely shows Spike as a serious dragon dentist, yet it's so simplistic and humorous!!

Sforza: I can see it: dragon wails, "Ohhhh, why ME!?!?" and Spike snaps, "Shaddup!" Yeah, looks like he's begrudgingly doing the dragon this service. I do like this one very much, too! Especially now that I see it so close-up! Spike...I can't explain how much he cracks me up! ;) Though it's pretty obvious what Spike's up to, I also get this, "Yeah, you better spit me out" look from Spike. I think it's funny though. ;)

--

These ones I had more issues with, but hey, I still liked 'em enough to vote. :D

madhatter106: Hee hee!! I love the expression on Spike's face. Ready to work!! I like the dragon beside him. What a good sport! At the same time, it kinda looks like his pet. I guess that could make me think, "Dragon dentist or dentist with dragon?" The utensils overal are pretty easy to connect to dental work, too. Nice! :D

wunderdark: Definitely a risky business... Ouch!! I think I'd have liked to see Spike in action, given his situation there! But he really deserves a break AWAY from the beasts, so it works out! Again, I can pretty much tell that he does some kind of work on dragons--if not dental, definitely medical. I like the details you put in! He looks weary enough as if about to really retire, but strong from all that crazy experience he had!

Maduera: I think I like how this old man looks. Just enough muscle, too! It's not as obvious to me that he's doing dental work, but at the same time, I COULD see it as that. I can tell he's doing something with the tooth, at least!

MJ_Alcazar: Pretty straight-forward to me! And neat restraining device for the dragon!! I wonder what he'd do with a big one. o_o To me though, the picture looks a bit busy in colour. So that threw me off, but the overall shapes brought me back. :D

Relic: Lovely details you have! The light is a great touch. :) I can kinda tell that he's inside a dragon's mouth, but I admit, the teeth throw me off! I keep thinking "giant...SOMETHING!" I wouldn't know what the man was doing if I didn't already know the subject matter, but I can tell he's doing it with care.

Goog: Once more I can sorta tell that he's done some dragon work--can't quite tell what, but at least the dragon's happy! I think showing more dental instruments might've helped some, but I still liked the interaction.

amaliax: I think I like how the cute dragon (that reminds me a character I made way WAY back! Hee hee) is nervously waiting for Spike to do his thing. Spike looks a bit suspicious...mmmm... o_o I think harder strokes would help make this picture more clear and in focus. Good expressions, though!

[Simon Boxer]

Thanks for the comments/crits, all!

JazzW: lol, I threw in the pouch of poison for a bit of ambiguity. Maybe it's for Spike if a dragon becomes uncooperative, maybe it's for a dragon beyond help. heh, it's cool that you pointed it out.


A few hopefully helpful crits (unfortunately I don't have time to do many):

Hideyoshi: Cool char, I like his getup, but it looks like his legs are too long for him, and his forearm may be a touch short. Would've also been nice to see some muscle definition in his arm, too.

zweiDee: Love the burnt face and your dragon design. The folds in the pants and gloves strike me as a bit abstract but it was nicely done in general.

pepps: Thanks for the comment. I really like your caricature type style of drawing. Lent itself very well to a self-sufficient dentist and the amount of thought you've put into it is quite evident from all the details.

[Gatts]

So yeah, this was my first CHOW and I must say it was a blast. Very exciting entries and an amazing winner! Seriously Stephan_r that picture is very near perfect.

Thanks for the comments everyone, I havent had a lot of time to comment myself, but I'll definitely join in again when I like the subject and do my part on commenting then.