Chow 147 :: VOTING :: Baba Yaga - IDW Crossover

[daestwen]

FINALS ONLY
-=ROUND 147=-
-=BAGA YAGA=-

-------------
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 #147 :: BABA YAGA

DESCRIPTION

Baba Yaga, notoriously evil witch of legend.

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

For recent renditions, I suggest 'Hellboy' and 'Fables'.

Again, like Titania, free to interpret, though a sci-fi baba yaga might be a little out of place. :]

IDW is running a tandem event - here's the link, so be sure to check it out: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=149872

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

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)



PLEASE REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR COPYRIGHT INFORMATION UNDER THE IMAGE SO I DON'T HAVE TO HUNT YOU DOWN LATER!

[dan liimatta]

here's to not having a working computer at home; I'll see you on Monday ~~

592417

Some WIPS.
592418

[Joey-b]

Here is mine, Im pretty proud of this, dunno why but i like it. Hope i make it to the poll hehe.

[Mark Tarrisse]

Here's my final
592760

and here are the WIPS
592429

[fersteger]

This is gonna be another good round, can't wait to see the rest. Here's mine, I messed with cropping it differently but just went back to what I had, and ran out of time haha.

[sticmann]

The hideous witch Baba Yaga decked out with the skulls from some of the children she's eaten.

Joshua Marchlewski
Concept art
fantasy
character
other... Gimp

[sony]

Great round everyone!

[Jeremy Hoffman]

Here is my final version. I've tried to do something new.

[Nikola Marinkovic]

My final and wips.

[masque]

592838

Copyright: Karl G. Nyman; Concept Art; Characters; Fantasy; Photoshop

__________________________________________________ ____________

592839

[Artofinca]

:tihi: Steam powered...
©Artofinca

[artina]

Hey everyone,
This is my entry.
Arturo Aguirre - concept art - character - fantasy - Photoshop

[The Kiminator!]

Hey all, haven't posted for a very long time. I thought this would be a decent opportunity to jump back into the game. I enjoy depicting the more subtle nature of the character. I liked the idea of her floating through clouds and covering her tracks with her broom. Someone who may invoke curiosity out of children instead of fear to entice them into her clutches.

[Inkfish]

Final and wips, hope the image isn't too large :O

[Sekino]

I'm done.

The story behind mine is my perception of witches in general. Since historically, witches were most often loners or weirdoes who got accused of evil doings out of superstition or spite, I figured maybe mythological witches suffered the same fate ;)

So here's my Baba Yaga: She might tell you to get off her lawn but she won't eat your kids :)

[Boyo]

This was a real great exercise, especially as a first jump into CA. I look forward to participating in more! : )

[doomstagg]

I realize my concept is off the wall as far as witches go, so I felt an explanation was necessary:

Old Lady Baba lives on the outskirts of one of humanity's last cities. She sees humanity as a bane to the earth, and she longs to wipe it from the earth if it takes doing it one child at a time. She is protected by elemental magic and her three guardians Night, Dawn and Day. Night, Dawn and Day are more than guardians they are a scale on which Baba weighs one's soul. If the guardians do not attack at Baba's command then she knows that the person is one with the world.

[Tommoy]

Phew.

[dwinbotp]

Had fun with this :) So much good stuff, really inspiring!!! :)

[AsurA]

Well I picked a tough week to try and stand with the crowd.. Anywho It's my first attempt at a digital piece. No real formal training when it comes to charcters and very little drawing skill.. I'm just here to learn and get better.. And I'm sure I will with the crowd that frequents here.. :)

My piece was more of a experiment to see how far i could comfortably take an idea in digital painting. I was planning on taking the piece into colour but the cardinal rule of art prevented me from doing this.. " always have fun, first and for most" ! :)

Next time I promise to focus more on concept and not so much on techique. ;)

Amazingly inspirational work from everyone BTW.

I look forward to more people cc my work. ;P

[MrAnimation]

Here is my one

[Antne]

So many good ideas in here. Here mine!

[darkly]

Here's mine...

593553

and the WIPs

593556

[deadred]

Copyright info: Michele Chang (deadred-art.blogspot.com), ConceptArt, Characters, Horror, Photoshop

very fun round, great entries everyone :D

[benu]

final:
593697

wips:
593698593699593700593701

[LPeters]

Copyright: Liam Peters; Concept Art; Characters; Fantasy; Photoshop

[Adam Hunter Peck]

Final & WIPs

[NateShaw]

great work everyone!

[revenebo]

Still not complete but I have no time to work on it more...

593789

593790

[mike_rorschach_]

Hey first entry, only found out this was on this morning, so a bit rushed, but I'm happy with it, thanks.

[dirkvandulmen]

Here's my final, straight out of the HuisHoudBeurs!
Didn't quite finish it as I wanted to, but I thought I should upload it anyway.
Again, great round!

[Kan Muftić]

Great work, guys!

Here is mine, hope you like it.
Kind regards,
Khan

[wrdls]

Finaly finished :)

[Bugmeyer]

Throwing some more sag on the pile.

[Mitze]

Ran out of time.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/mekese2000/smaple251.jpg

[Pixeltuner]

Finallll. Another swell round. :)

Copyright blah: Lennart Verhoeff, Concept Art, Characters, Fantasy, Photoshop

[John Bridges]

Some damn fine work from everyone this week!

Here's my entry:

[Kian]

http://www.jonmccoyart.com/work/BadaYagafnl.jpg

wip1 (http://www.jonmccoyart.com/work/BabyYaga.jpg)
wip2 (http://www.jonmccoyart.com/work/BadaYaga.jpg)

[k a y a]

Here's my shot at it:

[Brushcommander]

Hmm, she somewhat reminds me of my old math teacher I had in elementary school.
Awesome entries so far, damn..

593980
593981593982

[anamirela]

Here she comes!

[Sulk-Sal]

Great work everyone!

Copyright Jason Licht 2009

[WunderDark]

I'm calling this done...
Good luck eveyone!
594070
594073

[septomin]

I think I lost something when I added color...

[Josh_Chodorow]

Was fighting a cold this week so never made it to the illustration. But here's the concept.

[IanLlanas]

Yay! I finished my first CHOW. I'll probably keep working on this, there's a lot of things that I want to change but didn't have time. I wanted to capture a very scary dynamic scene, one that captured the essence of my impressions I had from hearing these stories when I was little. I don't imagine that Baba Yaga always looks like this, normally she looks like a fairly scary old crone, but her face contorts horribly when she unhinges her jaw to accommodate children... whole. The color scheme is meant to make the scene look barren and cold. I only used reference for the screaming baby's expression. Congrats to everyone took part!
Copyright: Ian Llanas - Concept Art - Characters - Fantasy - Painter
594194
594195

[bumskee]

awesome work all!
might fiddle with it a little more if I get some time...

[MJ_Alcazar]

Awesome round everyone.

I approached mine a little differently this week, wanted to try out some different techniques.

I wanted to go for something between the times she's out terrorizing people. I often hear her associated with mother nature and everything, so I wanted to incorporate some of that into her without her looking to inhuman.

Mashea Johnson-ConceptArt-Characters-Fantasy-Other

[Venger]

Done, but could still work on it.
Lots of good stuff so far, great CHOW everyone.
Went for a 'Rackham' feel, kind of a Grimm's fairy-tales (lost the feel on the way though!)
Ended up more Brian Froud - but that's good too!

"This way my Prettiesss!" :D

©Des Hanley (Venger)/Illustration/Children's/Fantasy/Photoshop
594274

WIP and close up's (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2133073&postcount=387)

[Ionic]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_c.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_d.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_e.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_f.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_g.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_h.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_i.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v736/Jagrello/chow_147_j.jpg

Great job all! was almost a buzzer beater for me.

[Wolfentir]

Copyright _ Matt Marblo, ConceptArt, Characters, Fantasy, Photoshop


594329

594324594325

[Chelette]

come a little closer

[Vorace]

.....

[Faxtar]

Awesome work everyone!

[cubesoflard]

Here she is.

[VegasMike]

I'm a CHOW virgin no more....ahhhhh. And how could I forget my first? A witch who eats children, what a gal!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v52/Vegasmike/babayagacopy.jpg

[Wingedchime]

Here's my submission for this week. I'm looking forward to see all the other ones!

[Poojipoo]

Here's mine! Came out kind of boring, though, compared to a bunch of the others I see here. :D

[Adam Schumpert]

Such a great round good luck to everyone. :teeth:

Copyright info:
Adam Schumpert/ConceptArt/Characters/Horror/Photoshop
594473

WIPs
594463

[FerrousJack]

I did not budget my time appropriately... might work on this more later. Good job everybody.

Copyright Ron Smith, Concept art, Characters, Fantasy, Photoshop

[Aly Fell]

Unable to access CA all weekend till this morning... dunno what's going on! Here's mine:

[D@niel]

Awesome Posh!!

Great work every one:)

[Rusty]

It's nowhere near finished but had a go anyway, real late attempt.

Well done fellas :)

...Jase

[IIKII]

Mime.

594649

WIP
594652

594653

594654

[daestwen]

NO ENTRIES PAST THIS POINT.

Half an hour grace period. Thanks!

[yoitisi]

Soooorry posted it in the wrong thread out of hurrying stuff...gaaaah

595107

Copyright info:
Guido Kuip
Concept Art
Character
Horror
Photoshoppe

595110595111595112

Guess I might as well post my stuff I did for IDW, since it's for the same topic and all :)

595126

[daestwen]

Tons of really great entries guys, the average quality of the work submitted was amazing! Made the selection real hard to do, but with Posh's help managed to get tiny crits out to those that didn't make it.


Some Cuts this week:


No Wips:
MrAnimation – also Incorrectly named
Josh Chodorow

Named Incorrectly:
Kian – also not attached
VegasMike – also not attached

Not attached:
see above

Quality Check/Rough/Unfinished Work:
Doomstagg – anatomy, perspective and rendering issues.
AsurA - for someone that says they have 'no real drawing skill' it looks pretty good! Just too rough, especially in the rendering and in the trees.
Mike_Rorschach – not finished/too rough, perspetive and anatomy issues
FerrousJack - unfinished/too rough
Rusty – awesome, but unfinished
IIKII – too flat, perspective issues
Sony – Anatomy Issues
Nikola Marinkovitc – kind of rough, and not a lot of the character to show the design of it
darkly – the lighting totally doesn't match – she should be back-lit from the moon! Also still feels kind of rough.
Benu – still really rough and there are some perspective issues
nateshaw - Still a little rough, also some anatomy issues, esp with wherever the hip joint is supposed to be
Mitz – Kind of hard to read Baba's face... probably because of the shadows, but.
Sulk-Sal - The original shading is making the shadows read very muddy, and the image is kind of flat, over all
MJ Alcazar – reading a tad rough and a bit flat
Wolfentir – reading flat and some anatomy and perspective issues


Notes: yah, i saw you in the other thread, no worries yoi. :P

[fersteger]

Bumskee, Boyo, Tommoy, and Dreadred go my votes. So cool man, bumskeeeeeeeeee!

[Ionic]

Grats on the "V" Bumskee!

Great work all around some creepy hags floatin' around this thread!

[doomstagg]

Mine was cut for what reason?
Can you please site whats wrong with her anatomy and rendering?

[Sulk-Sal]

Congrats to everyone, Really some amazing work. I don't think I can really offer any crits besides that :P

[The Kiminator!]

Bumskee - Absolutely love your entry. Beautiful layout and lighting...an all around wonderful illustration with an intriguing story to tell! My absolute favorite in this round!

[Stephan_R]

Bumskee, Fersteger & Dan got my votes... just inspired me the most creatively. Fersteger was my hands down favorite, and I immediately saved and threw on my background! Really great show CA!

Posh, Daniel, Rusty, Sekino, Faxtar, Boyo all impressed me as art and made me stare happily as well :)

[Vorace]

great job everyone... :yayca: :yayca:
too much good entries to name them all... It's really nice to see all these witch hehe, but I stared the most at bumskee's... wow

[FerrousJack]

FerrousJack - unfinished/too rough


No argument here!

I voted for fersteger, tommoy and ionic-i-i-the chronic.

[Stacybean]

Wow what a great round thanks to everyone's hard work. As a fan of the stories I voted for those with a more traditional grammy, with a bonus for taking childeren and/or incorporating something russiany.

the 5 I voted for with this in mind: John Bridges, Adam Hunter Peck (love the Yuu-baba ness) , Boyo (too cute not to) , Sekino, and Venger (just awsome, love the smoke trail especially).

Who I should have voted for: D@niel and Poshspice, these two frigging rock also!

[daestwen]

Added: VegasMike. Thank you for renaming and attaching.

[sony]

Artofinca,
tommoy,
wingedchime,
ionic,
poshspice,
bumskee,
deadred (must say creepy)........................................... ...................

Every one did their best, and it really turned out a really nice/nice/nice round.

CHEERS :)

[bumskee]

so many good entries! Yikes.. :)
tough trying not to vote on everything..
my fav is BoYO! love it. and d@n, posh, fersteger!
:D
great job everyone.

[Windsrock]

Bumskee: yours reminds a lot of Akseli Gallen-Kallela's works of Kalevala. Do you know his work?


http://www.gallen-kallela.fi/europeoftales/imgtaitsut/Lemmik%E4isen%20%E4iti%201897%20foto%20Douglas%20S iv%E9n.jpg

[darkly]

Okay so I didn't make it to the vote. Little bummed out. Read the short crit; thanks daestwen and Posh for the input. Hopefully next time.

Also had a hard time not voting for nearly everyone, everyone who made it that is (quietly whimpers in corner :davi: ). Had to lean towards d@niel's. Every time I'd scroll through the entries, his stood out the most to me. But props to everyone for a well done round!

[Antne]

I voted for Boyo, Bumskee, Poshspice and Jeremy Hoffman. All really awesome designs and Illos but if I had only voted for one it would have been for Deadred. His really surprised me and really tickled me the most. Nice work all around though.

[Aly Fell]

Thanks Daestwen for sorting this out. Despite being involved, my input was minimal this round. I've had severe internet problems at home which as yet are unsorted. My access is limited to mornings, lunchtimes and evenings at work until this is resolved.

I have to say this was an outstanding round! Everyone has pulled something special out of the bag. As a newcomer to selecting images that go to poll, let me say that it is a VERY difficult task.

Nice one guys!

[Mark Tarrisse]

Woww ! I think I past like half an hour to choose who I was going to vote for ! I was going to vote for more than 10 but limited my self to 4 :)
voted for :
D@niel : Mann you know I love your style, plus really nice motion.
Venger : Really like it, nice colors, composition, concept.
Fersteger : Love your style, the way you thought of baba yaga, and colors lights... everything ! it's great ! :)
Bumskee : ... what can I say :)

weeelllll like I sayed wanted to vote for more but limited my self, I'll try to do some small comments for those I nearly voted for but didn't because of...
Ionic : When I first saw your WIP, I sayed to my self this is going to be a killer round, and I really love your image, but I think the only thing you may have add is some textures, maybe on her clothes, I think everything looks to smooth.
Tugelbend : man awesome image but, (it will sound weird to you) she really looks like a witch but maybe not baba yaga.
Posh : as usual wonderfull illustration, but maybe could have tried to work more on the concept.
Tommoy : I liked soo much that little girl you did, very original concept of baba yaga, but it could have been slightly better.
Deadred : !! I couldn't sleep because of you ! that's why I didn't voted for you ! :P hehehe... no only kidding, reeeally nice but you went to far on the concept for me, I think the big mouth is too exaggerated.
Faxtar : Nice image, nice mood but I would have like to see her a little more.
Rusty : One of my favorite, if you had made it to the pool I would have voted for you.

[lennon]

Hey, I noted that some people voted for their own image, is that fair?

[Wiggers]

Voted for Bumskee, Fersteger and Poshspice, didn't get to post my piece bloody PC went haywire on me, oh well nevermind!

[Artofinca]

So many pro Babas!

[Cookiedough]

Went for Deadred. Loved how she pushed the concept.

[NateShaw]

I voted for too many but my two favorites were Poshspice and fersteger.

daestwn: Thanks for taking the time to crit those that didn't make it to poll. Generally they are the least commented on and in the most need of it.

[IIKII]

I do agree that my perspective looks weird but i don't really understand about my painting being too flat. Is it the value of my background or something else?

[Nerahla]

I do agree that my perspective looks weird but i don't really understand about my painting being too flat. Is it the value of my background or something else?



I think she means that you're using close to 100% saturation in all your colors -- and this means you're not using atmospheric perspective. When things are farther away, the hazier and grayer they become. This is art 101 :)

But bravo for joining in the CHOW, it's a lot of work!


I took your image and just fiddled with it a little tiny bit to show you what I was talking about. I only added layer masks and messed with the saturation/colors in photoshop... but you get the idea.

[daestwen]

Hey, I noted that some people voted for their own image, is that fair?

Um, no, this is not allowed. I will go through and see who voted for themselves, and remove a vote each. Thanks for letting me know.

Edit:

adam hunter peck and Ionic, shame on you, you should know better. :P

Please no voting for yourself, peoples, it just don't make sense!

[JoeX]

picking jaw up from the floor - absolutely amazing entries this CHOW!

I had a difficult time voting - all of them were so good! I had six I really liked a lot.

I finally voted for deadred

bumskee - captured seduction, alluring, spell casting to the T - so close to getting my vote!!!

Fersteger - your painting is creepy - pure chills - most inventive character design! incredible job!!!! wow! if I saw that in the woods - holly $#!+!!!

Poshspice -details, colors, design = amazing.

Boyo - great style, colors etc...your image caught my eye first scrolling down. I voted for a more realistic style painting, but man, I really like
your use of brushes etc. the flow is great!!

over all most images were very well done! after seeing these entries I official packed my Wacom up! I have a better chance at being a body builder, than a concept artist... :nohope: :rolleyes: :confident :P

[strych9ine]

Same with: Poshspice and Bumskee. They don't need my vote, they have plenty of fans already. And once again, particularly with bumskee, they just didn't actually /do/ anything. They just sail by with their pretty colors and excellent technical ability.

Bumskee, I could barely tell yours had a /thing/ to do with Baba Yaga at all. Shame on you ;)


You serious, Clark?

http://www.codytilson.com/9ine/Funny/cousineddie.jpg

[deadred]

Honorable Mention:

Deadred. I almost voted for you, but the damn eyeballs in the nipples thing has been overused by another artist I know and it flippin creeps me the shit out. I actually didn't vote for it because of that ><

haha thanks, i guess i really drew something of true horror :D which artist is it that you mentioned? sounds interesting if you have a link handy to share.

i was drawing the mouth over her belly cos i once read somewhere that she eats kids in one gulp and always hungry, then i was thinking of what to do with her boobies, and so.. lolz

thanks for all the feedback so far, i'll vote and comment when i have more time to sit down and write a longer reply

[fersteger]

How bout some crits then...

Dan Liimatta- Very cool concept and very freaky, that body and legs are nasty. The way you painted it looks very cool too, tight and finished in the right spots, loose in the unfocused areas. I don't like those brown strokes on the bottom, not sure what they are supposed to be, if it isn't important to the pic or story leave it out I say.

Joey B- Nice job, again very freaky. To punch up the composition you probably could have put a little angle on the hanging chicken to show her slight forward motion and put her to the side of the pic more. She's right in the middle of the image which makes her looks static, but from her leaning angle it looks like she's floating forward so it's a bit unharmonious.

MarkustheBarbarian- I really like this one. The textures and lighting is great. Though to nitpick, that branch on the right that catches the light is too bright. It's glowing and drags me away from the character, it's distracting.

Stricman- Cool concept and different, the graphical treatment of the trees and the BG is great, maybe if you incorporated some of that flowing organic graphic linework into the character it would bring some style to her. Like the dangling ropes on her back could have more gnarliness rather than smooth even lines.

Sony- I like her face especially her black eyes. Whats up with the playstation lol. It feels like her props are added on her and not in the same space. Some correctly placed shadows would bring it all to one level I think. The shadow from the playstation is not dark at all but the shadow from her upper arm is nearly black. I think it needed some accents.

Jeremy Hoffman- Very cool, I love the style and colors. All that graphic shit everywhere is dope. Those squiggles with the cast shadow really draw me in lol. I think a little less texture and more graphicness to her face would have unified the pic a bit more.

Nikola- Nice work, Keep at it man. It feels a bit crowded with the crow, house, face all in one triangle in the middle with so much black space around and below. Too much solid black, the staff is totally lost below her hand, a little atmosphere to push the BG back would help. Though it's not a dark midnight pic the first WIP is stronger than the final I think, because of the strong character silhouette .

Masque- Cool, that kid is dead meat. The bits and strokes of saturated color all around is very nice. Gives a very thick painty feel. I think the composition could be stronger. Like Joey B, it seems she is moving but the way she's placed in the pic kills the motion that would be amplified by good placement. Her head is just about dead center. Look at D@niel's, she's really cruising there. Same with Boyo. Their character's are probably moving faster, but by placing them to the side that movement is implied and amplified .

Artofinca- coolness, I like the linework, scratchy look, but it still has great depth from her head to the back of her costume. The subtle branches and foliage are great, just barely implied but there, not distracting but they hhold the piece together. The texture old page look is perfect for this pic.

Artina- Great, very solid. She feels very real, the limbs all go forward or back in space. Handled very well. The cloth pattern and lighting is great. I just don't like the lava color scheme around her. I like WIP 3 or 4 much more in terms of overall color, but the way it's finished is great.

Kiminator- Cool, cool, cool. So subtle and mysterious, looks great. the clouds and composition and spirals are perfect. Maybe if that foremost cloud spiral was a touch sharper it would pop, but I like this one a lot. I think she conveys the different not scary but wise version of Baba which is nice.

Inkfish- Freaky deaky. Very nice lighting effects and handling of different materials. She got shiny, matte, dirty, clean. It's all there and done well but that might be detracting from the pic. Too many different handlings makes it feel incohesive. But her eyes are great, piercing and very believable.

Sekino- great, lines, compostion, color, it's all good. The different textures are there but work with eachother. The design on her clothes are cool, that fur she is wearing and the slight shadow cast by it really pop and looks so cool. I really like this one.

Boyo- What can I say, you know what you're doing. Let's see some more of your work man! So many good things about this, I'm not gonna asspat too much, but everything is spot on, even just that white un-outlined skull at the bottom, the color and the shape so smooth and frickin dope.

Doomstagg- Concept and idea is cool. I don't know if the glowing bone is the only light source, but if it is I think you coulda punched it up some more. Doesn't seem saturated enough to be glowing. The BG bothers me, it seems the pic is handled a bit illustrative and less of a character design, which warrants some kinda BG even if very subtle, Where if there was less apparent narrative going on a flat BG would be fine.

Ok, I have to work, I'll spew more nonsense later.

[Nerahla]

haha thanks, i guess i really drew something of true horror :D which artist is it that you mentioned? sounds interesting if you have a link handy to share.

i was drawing the mouth over her belly cos i once read somewhere that she eats kids in one gulp and always hungry, then i was thinking of what to do with her boobies, and so.. lolz

thanks for all the feedback so far, i'll vote and comment when i have more time to sit down and write a longer reply



Deadred -- he's on here as Cannibalcandy - but on deviant art he's Ariokh. He's /awesomely/ fantastically great.. I love him -- but he does the eyeball-nipple thing a LOT! lol!! Bleeding ones, too.. GAH anyway. He's one of my absolute faves of all time anyway. But I find it hard to look at all the same. O.o

[Aly Fell]

And Strychnine. I'm dead serious. I've been watching them in CHOW for years now. It's all the same. Its gorgeous, it's technically brilliant, but meh - same shit different day. Tired of seeing all the same people pukesuckup over them all the time. we /know/ they're good already.

Nehrala – Thank you, but I’m here to learn too, as (without taking his name in vain or speaking for him) is Bumskee. I never enter this to win or make fans. Would you prefer it if we didn't take part? I do it because every Monday morning I check the ChOW and think ‘ooh, that sounds cool, I can have fun with that’. And Bumskee will have put as much thought and creativity into his image as anyone else here, and I doubt just 'sailed by' and bunged a few colours down. Because someone reaches a certain ability level does not disqualify them from being treated like others. He’s entering this to expand his abilities and inspiration as is everyone. Ignoring him because he’s good seems... a bit odd really and is making an exception.

[bluefooted]

Dammit, Posh! You beat me to it ;)

(and all you fans can yell at me all you want, it falls on deaf ears, I'm quite immune)

Feel free to ignore this then :)

All that being said, I left out votes on purpose for several of the "popular" artists because they rest on their laurels, and this is easy for them. In fact, I didn't vote at all for D@niel because it's so clear how good he is, and he really didn't use much of his ability at all... at least, it doesn't look like he did. It looks like he just threw it together and hoped his excellent strokes and color would do the rest. Well I'm not swayed :P It's gorgeous, but I didn't vote for it.

Same with: Poshspice and Bumskee. They don't need my vote, they have plenty of fans already. And once again, particularly with bumskee, they just didn't actually /do/ anything. They just sail by with their pretty colors and excellent technical ability.

Obviously, everyone can vote however they want and our personal likes and dislikes come into it, but I think this is a terrible attitude. How do you think these artists got so good? They weren't born this good. You know it takes work, right? Why do you think they enter ChoW? So they can 'rest on their laurels'?

If you think they can do better, why don't you make a constructive crit that the artist can actually use?

[Wingedchime]

So firstly, I'd like to say that I'm really enjoying working on these weeklies! I feel like they really allowed me to push myself, and to apply some prior learned skills that I had no chance to apply earlier. I will need to take a break from them since I'll be out of town (getting married) but I will return full speed afterward, and hopefully prove myself to you guys! I would also like to thank for all the votes my picture received so far, it means i must have done something right!

I had a really hard time deciding on whom to vote this round, since there's so many great images. My votes went to Boyo, Fersteger, John Bridges, Bugmeyer, Poojipoo, Poshspice, Bumskee, and Deadred. It was few more votes than I was hoping to cast, but I really couldn't make up my mind on some.

Yoitisi: from the first moment I saw the sketch for this, I really liked her design. She looks very pretty to me- too pretty in a way. It is definitely one of my favorites here, and I think if it were only in color, it probably would have tipped the voting scale for me.

Fersteger: I absolutely love the atmosphere and lightng in yours. If I was able to step into any of these paintings, it would have been yours! I was a bit disappointed though, that you did not take wassermelone's recommendation to expand the canvas.

John Bridges: I feel silly for missing this first time around, especially since you do have your name on it! I really like the storybook feel in your image, and the fox is a nice touch.

Deadred: you really surprised me with your entry. It has caught my eye in as a wip already, but I really like the direction you took it in. I love the focus that you have created with your lighting, and Baba Yaga's expression. I also like her 'second face' I think that it is funny and clever at the same time (and cute in some weird and twisted way)

[MJ_Alcazar]

I try not to get involved with this. And, this isn't about votes Nerahla.

Personally, I'm insulted by the pucksuckup comments and the idea that everyone votes for popularity. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, I'm sure there are people who vote because of a name.

But, the thing is, these people, all of these people that go to finals, work hard. And, if you think about it. All of their works as you say, "look alike", because of the way they draw, what the artist likes, the little bits of personality that go into the drawing.

The poll is not about winning, at least to me, it's more about enjoying the hard work at the end of the day. We give nods to those who we think captured what we saw of the character best. Everyone has different voting techniques, and yours is to be respected. Just please don't insult their hard work, or those who would compliment their work.

This is the internet, we have no reason to suck up to each other because more than likely we will never know the person on the other end. However, in order to keep peace, we do need to realize what are words may sound like to those reading them.

Maybe you didn't mean to insult them, and us. But, that's what you have done.

[nicolas]

so, in other words Nerahla, you pity-voted for people? wow, they must feel good now.

[daestwen]

It's not like I've just looked at the past two CHOWs and figured this out. I've been checking out CHOW for years now... it's just my observation. Really really good stuff gets totally blown over if you guys participate.... because you're popular.

Um, i'm sorry Nerahla, but I'm going to have to agree that this is a terrible attitude to take. :/ And it just isn't true. Both Posh and Bumskee have entered many more times than they've won, for starters.

Chow has a huge range of ability, all the way up from amateur to professional, so obviously it ends up seeming a little scewed towards the professionals.

However, their participation is partly what makes chow such a good place *for* beginners, students, or early-professionals like me who still have a really long way to go - we get to see how a professional would handle the same brief that we would.

I don't know about anyone else, but even though I am quite a fan of Posh's or bumskee's work, i don't vote for them every round they participate. For both of these guys, I am very capable of going back to show you rounds where their work just didn't hit a chord with the voters (sorry boys, but you know it's true!).

Same goes with some of the others here who's work I love, but doesn't always work. The Titania round is a good example of this - we had a huge amount of professional entries, by people who had won chow several times before, but the winner (Ciaee) was a participant who had never even tried Chow before!

Most people who vote here are people who participate in the contest, or watch it regularly, and thus have a vested interest, and most of those (I hope) wouldn't sabotage the system by turning it into a popularity contest - you can hardly blame professionals if their work is good enough to appeal to more people!

In conclusion, obviously you can vote for who you like, for the reasons you like. No one is arguing that. But claiming that these guys don't put any work in is degrading and a little insulting, and since I appreciate their involvement, I would appreciate it if you would restrain the attitude a little bit, it doesn't have a place here.

[Nerahla]

(and all you fans can yell at me all you want, it falls on deaf ears, I'm quite immune)





I meant that.



@Daestwen: No problem. I am sorry I fussed up the carpet in your house. I'll clean up my mess and won't come back for awhile.

[DavePalumbo]

Why do you think they enter ChoW?

well obviously for the bountiful financial compensation, why else would they do it when they could be doing other paid work? oh wait...

[bumskee]

Nerahla, respect your opinion, but I think you could have worded it a little better. a little harsh with your words there.

I am sure posh, d@n, me and many others agree, that we don't take this as a popularity contest.
I actually think you see ChOW as a popularity contest... you seem awfully attached to this popularity contest idea..

And not to bust your bubbles but we don't just click a button that creates ChOW entries.. it's the truth!!

[Joey-b]

hmm Nerahla, I dont think most of us enter CHOW to win,

Im probably the most poplular guy here and I havent got a vote ;) :yayca:

[Kan Muftić]

Guys.. Amazing entries.. I obviously didn't hit the spot with mine but my other friends have. Big time.
Great work everyone.

And btw.. Peace and love.. This is just a fun little contest between friends.

[Mock]

Really really good stuff gets totally blown over if you guys participate.... because you're popular. *shrug*

At the moment Posh is at 40, D@niel is at 33, and Bumskee is at 61.

Boyo, first time ChoW entry and first time posting on CA, is at 45. Hmmmm.

We're not voting on popularity, we're voting on artwork. Taking the hard work of other artists and boiling it all down to popularity is a terrible attitude and doesn't belong on CA. This isn't DeviantArt, and there's little room for artists to ride on the coattails of popularity.

Saying that D@niel didn't seem to use all of his skills in his entry is fine. That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. However, assuming that he did so because he was lazy and hoped it would be enough is ridiculous. People have work outside of ChoW. Artists have other things to do. Saying that he's just breezing through because you don't think he put in 100% is presumptuous. I think your wording there is what has some of us a little bent.

Lastly, congratulating another artist on making great work is not "pukesuckup". It's understanding the work it takes to get there and giving them some acknowledgment. Saying that any of the artists here vote for an entry because of popularity is insulting to both the voters and the artists.

Since I'm just saying all of this out of fandom anyways, please excuse me so I can get back to humping Bumskee's leg. Ohsogooooood.

[strych9ine]

but I don't ignore the people who are good. I'm not voting for the people that do the same sort of thing /every single time/ and win hand-over-fist because of a popularity game.

You simply didn't /need/ my vote, because there are people that are gonna vote for you every time, because you /are/ good. I'm simply stating that 90% of the time, your guy's work looks... the same. Like you're massaging that same bag of tricks and sorry but it seems like sailing to me.

It's not like I've just looked at the past two CHOWs and figured this out. I've been checking out CHOW for years now... it's just my observation. Really really good stuff gets totally blown over if you guys participate.... because you're popular. *shrug*

I'm not saying you don't deserve the votes at all! I'm saying that you don't need mine, so I put mine elsewhere.

It's /apparent/ you need some attention, so I'll go against my initial impulse and feed your troll hole. Also, I hope you don't mind that I made fun of your unique accent system. That was admittedly rude of me, but it felt good to type.

When you say this:

I'm simply stating that 90% of the time, your guy's work looks... the same. Like you're massaging that same bag of tricks and sorry but it seems like sailing to me.

Do you mean that you'd prefer them to paint in a way completely uncharacteristic of them? Like, instead of utilizing the technique they've built up over years of work, they abandon them and paint with bacon grease and caterpillar shit? That would be completely new bag of tricks!

What I'm saying is, why would any of these artists want to paint any other way than what comes naturally to them? These contests are about technique, they are about execution, they are about ideas. At the risk of sounding like I've slept with both Min and Aly (and yes, I have in the most uncomfortable of ways) it's obvious to most of us casual bystanders that they simply don't come up short on those three requirements.

I understand your need to "go against the grain" and withhold your very much sought after votes from the artists who probably deserve them. It just makes you look like an idiot, that's all.

[The Whistler]

Oooh pretty entries!

Votes go to:

Faxtar, D@niel, Venger, Tommoy, Ionic and Bumskee

Unfortunately, can't crit this round either, gotta study.

[yoitisi]

Uhm I think it's pretty clear that most of us do not really agree with Nerahla, can we just let it rest and get on with commenting and critiquing? Much more useful I think.

Mind you, if I always had this amount of quality in the IDW rounds, I'd be rather happy :D Having a few big cannons doing them continously makes the competition level up so much faster!

[dan liimatta]

A lovely first for me seeing all the surrounding pieces - in the end I voted for Boyo, Chupacabra, fersteger, and last but not least Bumskee (tasty)

just below that cut, but quite tasty either way - Adam HP, D@niel, Tommoy, ionic, Poshspice & deadred. :yum:


fersteger
I had to abandon it early - but the brown things was going to be rendered as bowels and things ~ in general it suffered from it, but yes - they also left a foul taste to me ~ and thanks!

Nerahla - Pity voting is annoying, & I'd should probably be happy that I didn't get your vote ~


~ time to try to make the next one before Friday :zzz:

[Christoffer]

Damn! Sweet round everyone. I wish I was faster with my own entry but oh dear. Better luck next time.

My votes. 5 in total.

Adam Schumpert - Witch: [check] Mortar with pestle: [check] House on chicken legs: [check] Children running scared: [check] Good job!

Ian LIanas - Yours is probably the only one showing Baba about to devour her catch which I like.

Tommoy - Great design and well crafted.

dwinbotp - That design is pure evil. Love it.

anamirela - Love this design as well. The beak-like face is perfect and the blood dripping from the mortar is a nice touch to the black&white.


deadred - This one just creeps me out and I love it, but I didn't vote for it. The rendering on her face and on her boobs is very nice, it's a shame the rest of her didn't recieve as much attention.

[smugbug]

This was one mighty CHOW.

I voted. A bit about some of who I voted for:

deadred: You took "get in my belly" to a whole new height of "ewwww". I love it.

Bumskee: Yours is now on my desktop.

Posh: Dark but with just the right amount of eery lighting. Always luscious.

Boyo: I can feel the wind in yours. I love where you took this. I must ask, are you a Gris Grimley fan?


Overall, I love watching the development of everyone who continually participates in the CHOWs. And I learn from those who are technically more adept who also participate.

[kelly x]

Because I feel I do have friends and personal favorite's as far as artists, I make myself vote on piece's with out reading the names so I make a pure vote for myself, just a personal thing for me so I don't taint my own vote...
Voted for: Pixel Tuner, John Bridges, Poshspice and Dreaded. All pieces had merit but these were my choice's,

[Sekino]

I almost broke my 4-votes-only rule again.

I voted for:

Boyo- Lively and cartoony, and the colours are beautiful. I just find it great fun to look at.

Fersteger- I knew I'd probably vote for it the minute I saw the first coloured draft. It reminds me of Jim Henson movies. I don't know to find this Baba Yaga scary or whimsical, which is interesting. And I like the subdued, sparse colours.

John Bridges- I like how it looks like a hand-drawn illustration or painting. I also love the wilderness elements. It makes me think of Baba as a somewhat feral human being, wild and close to nature.

Poshspice- To me, this is the image of the quintessential witch. The gypsy feel, the mystery... Potentially ominous figure however clearly still a woman. Beautiful fairy-tale book feeling to the image.

Kudos:

Faxtar-The little outfit lying in the snow and the overall quiet feeling were striking. I had to stick with my boundaries for voting, but bravo on that one.

Wingedchime- I want that robo-chicken!! :D The image is lovely and I like how your elements frame themselves and don't reach the end of the canvas (hope that makes sense). Initially, I think it didn't strike me as Baba Yaga because she had no mortar. But then again, her house fits the bill, so I think it is a very worthy interpretation of the concept.

Bumskee- Honestly, this is a gorgeous image (I really love the 'flat' background effect). I was just divided between too many potential choices again.

I'll try to critique more people later because I'm running out of break time. I just think it's awesome and helpful when people take the time to go over everyone's work and comment... So I'll try hard to contribute :)

[cubesoflard]

Cool job all around guys. Its been awhile since I hit this thread up and damn. I've been missing out. This was hell a fun to see everyones stuff develop. Here's me votes:

[Bugmeyer]

For starters, I voted for more people but the ones I liked the most were:

Adam Hunter Peck: The level of personality in this design goes far and above the standard fare and boarders on "Miyazaki" quality. There is a dichotomy between her elegant stature and her withered features that adds a huge amount of interest to the character that leaves me wanting to see more.

Bumskee: I am feeling more narrative from your piece than any of the others, and in my mind that makes it superior to all the other entries. The strong interaction and the remarkably focused composition really drives this one home.

Boyo: Screw you coming in here with your fun and unique style. I was going to a cartoony entry but after seeing yours I just felt bad about myself. I'm going to break your fingers when I see you in Dallas.

On the stinky side of things:
I'm kind of a newbie to the CHoW scene, but I've already gotten a whiff of what Nerahla is complaining about. Though, it's disheartening to see these ideas presented in such a unproductive way. Personally, it seems less like the forerunners are sailing and more like people behind them are just trying to draft in their wake. I would love to see less established artists experiment and innovate more. The votes seem to skew toward the most creative pieces anyways, so it would seem like a potential advantage to ignore popular trends. I'm going to continue to vote for creativity over technique every round. But that is just my preference.

[darkly]

Okay, call me selfish, but I want input darn it! You see this whole painting thing can be really difficult (duh) and I want to know where I'm f-ing up. So I took the crit I was given (thanks again Dae and Posh) and tried to fix my piece. The one on the left is my original entry and the one on the right I added more rim lighting, a bit of atmosphere, and a darker core shadow. I must admit I think it looks better, but it was done pretty quick, so I don't expect a bunch of crits on how it could be polished. I was mostly interested in, is this what daestwen and Posh meant with their crit. I'm all ears open ..er eyes; Let em rip! Thanks in advance!
:mod:
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3548/bobbayagarimlghtcoreshdwd0.jpg

Hey isn't this what ca.org's all about? A lot less of this :blahblah: and a lot more of this :lifedrawing: . Love ya all! :yayca:

[Joey-b]

Hi Guys, no more winning about voting and stuff

Thought I'd Crit all submission (not just entries but all submissions)

Dan Liimatta - Well its clearly not finished, but i like the looks of it, the skelleton
feet dont seem to fit the body very well

Joey-b - start studying dude, nice try she looks like a male though

Markusthebarbarian- I like this one a lot, I like the detail u put in the Background,
also the lighting is pretty well done , 2 nit picks, she looks a lot like a male, and i cant
see what that thing at the bottom of the mortal.

fersterger - Lovely work, although there arent many things that tell us its Baba Yaga
its still a very strong piece. maybe next time u could detail it out a bit more?

Sticmann - Hmm i like the skulls u painted but im missing the link to Baba Yaga in this
drawing completly

Sony - Good effort, but like whats been said before. the anatomy is lacking (i shouldnt
be the one to speak cause i suck at it), Also i think the texturing on the dress isnt working
at all. Maybe next time try a bit collored background instead of the Harsh white (the white
ruined your flames). U should Visit www.posemaniacs.com for good reference

Jeremy Hoffman - Hey, your New style isnt really workin for me, think thats just a
personal prefference, but i think ur not using all of your skills with this style, its well
executed though


Nikola Marinkovic - Very little of the character is showing, also u forgot to include
any of Baba Jaba's Features, The sigarette is pointless and doesnt add, I like how u did the
background though

Masque - I love the colors u used, its so nice to see all those brushstrokes in all
sorts of colors.. almost like Vincent Van Gogh. nice one!

Artofinca - Nice work, what can i say about it, well painted!

Artina - Good work on the glow and texturing of the skin and clothing, the anatomy on
the right arm is way of though, the underarm is way to long

The Kiminator - I think in this drawing the coloring is lacking the drawing is self is
pretty well done, but the coloring seems rushed and uninspired, also the placement of her
lefthand is awkward, i think we should be seeing the back of the hand

Inkfish - I like the mutated face, the Hat isnt really workin for me. I would like to
know whats in that bottle though, seems important. also very good job on texturing little bits
of the clothing, seems like everything is made out of different fabric

Sekino - One of few people who made her friendly, Nice traditional style look, one thing
that bothers me is that the rug on her back has no outlines and the rest of the drawing does

Boyo - Hehe this one made me laugh, I love the style and the expression of the child is
priceless

Doomstagg - Hmm she looks more like an angry american farmer (male). also the background
is way to dark and texturless, and your using cellshading and normal shading mixed, wich doesnt
really work

Tommoy - You've really improved over the last year (I've been away for a while), and
this drawing is showing your skills. Awesome work. one crit the girl could use a bit more
colourfull shading maybe? its very grayish now.

Dwinbotp - Great piece, i think a green background or maybe less saturized background
would work better, and i think u should spend less time on detailing cause half of it isnt
showing in the final piece ( u mentioned something similair in the WIP thread :)).

Asura - Its a bit hard to read, cause of muddy shading and little contrast, i like the
house u dud thoug. seems like a fun place

MrAnimation - To be honoust, The colouring doesnt look very good, its to bad u didnt
post wips cause the sketch seems to look pretty good.

Atne - Thats one awesome drawing, and im glad u posted the detail in the drawing itself
cause it looks great, I like the look of the background, makes me focus on the character, and
thats what CHOW is about

Darkly - Like MrAnimation, The Pencil looked way better than the final result,
combination of outlines and no outlines doesnt seem to work, try to create a bit of harmony in
your colors

Deadred - To bad u didnt use my road sign (if u didnt see it, its in the WIP thread)
Nice work, i think u kinda overdid the nipple eyes, their to distracting, cause the face is so
wonderfully rendered. The way she's holding the skull seens kind of weird

Benu - Original take on the subject, good work also. could use a whole lot more
detailing

Lpeters - The character seems Pasted in a photo, wich doesnt look good, Try to get some
harmony in your colors, The skull make it seem like there is some orange light while the Mortal
n pestal look like their in more of a blue light, all objects seem like painted seperatly. I
like the effect of the blowing leaves a lot, good work on that

Adam Hunter Peck - That is great. Looks traditional done, The stars in the background
are a bit lame.. try spending some more time on those little things

NateShaw - Watch out with all those dark colors, the painting is a bit hard to read
cause of all the dark colors, I do like the illustrative look of it

Revenebo - Yeah its clear u didnt get to finish it, Has potential. Almost looks like a
flying gargoyle. That frog is hilarious haha. Nicely rendered

Mike Rorschach - AAAAGGHHHHHH , damn that drawing is screaming. STEP AWAY FROM THE
WHITE. U've used way to much white. Next time try to finish the drawing before submitting, this
is clearly not finished

Dirkvandulmen - Cool Illustrative drawing, I think its a bit to dark wich makes it hard
to read, I do enjoy all the little details u've put into it, that little kiddie head made me
chucle (sick me :S)

Chupacabra - Nice, it doesnt really look like a woman though, i love how u mixed the
white background with the highlights on the body, seems rushed for your standard though

wrdls - Nice spooky mood in the drawing, love all the detailing in the drawing, think u
overdone it a bit on her chin, almost looks like a robot chin hehe, the background seems to be
in a different perspective than the charcter

Bugmeyer - very weird peacefull mood in this drawing, good work, dont really get the red
on the nose though

Mitze - The Almost traditional style is very appealing, The face of Baba Yaga has way to
strong highlights on them, also the little kid seems a bit pasted in.

Pixeltuner - Seems we both went a different way :), nice work on ageing her, Although u
could've gotten rid of those silicon boobs ;). The Character doesnt really have a whole lot of
Baba stuff going on, well rendered though.

JohnBridges - Nice work here, love the sketchy style, its workin very well on this
forest scene, is she wearing baseball cap???

Kian - Damn nice work here, i do think the pose is a bit wonky, seems to be falling
over, maybe if you would've placed the walking stick on the right side of her body it would
look better?

Kaya - Good job on rendering that skull, makes me look at it all the time hehe, pretty
simple design but seems to work well. I do miss a lot of baba yaga features

Tugelbend - nicely executed action packed painting, My first sketch was kinda similair
to this, would've never made it so good though. uuhh crits.. cant think of any.. maybe her
right boob should swing back more.. but looks okey like this

Anamirela - Cool pose, looks a bit rushed though. but the pose itself is awesome. I love
all the Limbs coming out of the bucket hehe

Sulksal - Try to get ur anatomy better, It kinda ruines the drawing, also the fact that
we can still see ur pencil shading trough the colors. it isnt really a problem, but u've added
a perfect crystal clear background, that makes the pencil shading look muddy

Wunderdark - I didnt realize untill i looked for a while that she was sitting , i though
the bucket was her dress haha. i do like this, although the fact that the kid looks scarier
than baba makes me wonder...

Septomin - I love the colors in this one, although it does look a bit unfinished and it
doesnt have a whole lot of baba yaga features. The anatomy is a bit weird but that could be
stylized

Josh Chodorow - I like the design but like u said its not finished

IanLlanas - Nice composition, this one scared me the most out of all of them, and the
little kiddie finished the drawing. great great stuff.. looks russian also, could use some more
color variation though, I thought she had sleaves but now that i look at it she doesnt, its way
to brown there


Bumskee - Damn that looks almost like a 3d render.. but than better haha, the hair is
done amazingly, i do think the right side of the painting is a bit hard to read, and im not
really fond of all those green little details in there ( think its some kind of texturing, but
its not really working for me), also it would've been cooler if u would've added a little kid
instead of a hot babe (not that i dont like that ;))

MJalcazar - Hmm very nice original design, but im not really gettin the background, with
those flying arms.., also im not very fond of the style.. but thats personal

Venger - Thats awesome, I love those little kiddies in there, i think it would be better
if u would've left the green fairy out of there. but that doesnt make me think less of this..
one of the best

Ionic - Nice work, To bad the back ground is a bit unfinished - would be cool to see the
riders in full detail, I think here arm could use a bit more saturization if i look at her
face.

Wolfentir - Looks a bit, simple.. the Lettering on the mortal n pestal looks out of
place, and it there isnt any perspective in the letters

Chelette - That face is cool!, missing baba yaga stuff in this drawing and her fingers
seem to disappear in the staff, also she has not thumb there, the skin parts seem very well
rendered whilst the rest is a bit blurry and unfinnished, thats to bad, could've been a great
piece now its only a good piece

Vorace - Damn the colors in this are awesome, i think u could've done without the red
flow from the eyes. I love the defformed shape of her body and the nose looks razor sharp hehe

Faxtar - Nice mood in this piece, nothing to crit really. its all good and that teddy
bear is a good touch :)

subesoflard - I like this one a lot, nice work on the face and those "nightmare before
christmas-like" skulls are sweet, crits - the fabric looks a bit flat, specially on her legs,
and (like many other) has little baba yaga features. ow and for god sake, finish those feet

VegasMike - Nice one, your sketches always remind me of murals.. dont know why, u did
great as ussual, love the comic like style u got, to bad the child seems a bit unfinished

Wingedchime - Great, a bit of topic but well rendered, looks like something out of final
fantasy Chrystal Chronicles, i like how u did the background, i try to do something similair
sometimes but i never get the effect i want, and u seem to do it perfect

Poojipoo - I like the sky u did there, cant really read the tongue/hand bit of the
drawing, looks like the tongue is going thru the teeth, the rest of the drawing is nicely done
though

Adam SChumpert - Nice action packed drawing and u included the house as well, i think u
could post it a little smaller next time cause now we can see u should've detailed it more ;),
I love the kids in it, nice expressions and good poses

FerrousJack - Its a bit rough and unfinnished (like u said), the female figure in it
looks kinda stiff, almost like a barbie doll, i like the face on baba though

Poshspice - When i first saw the sketch i thought u would make her look to young, but it
looks great in the end, a bit like a gipsy :), to bad u didnt include more Baba features, the
background looks a bit to dark and muddy IMO, other than that, great rendering and as ussual i
saved it ti my HD :)

Daniel - Nice work, im glad u got rid of the head band haha, good job with the little
signs on the pot

Rusty - Wow lovely scene, i think this could be among the best, if u'd only finished it,
the kiddies in it look so great, and the witch just seems to wait for the right time

IIKII - well most of the crits have been said in the paint over, try to focus more on
the character next time and get that right first. Keep trying!

Yoitisi -Yohetismij, duurde ff voor dat ik dat door had haha, Great work, i think the
hair of skulls look a bit flat. but the design itself is very good, maybe the knees and body
could use a bit more highlights?? The house u did, im just speechless, that is awesome.

Pff finnaly done, took me 1,5 hour :S crazy me :yayca:

[Joey-b]

Darkly - get ur colors to work to getter a bit better
just a 1 minute paint over

some extra lighting, some extra back light and a color overlay

[davidherd]

That was a tough vote and an inspirational round! Outstanding work everyone.

[Mara644]

it's nearly impossible to reduce the number of votes to a reasonable amount. there are just too many great entries!

here are my favourites nevertheless:
D@niel - great colours and energetic arrangement
dwinbotp - watching this, i feel i'm the next to be devoured... rrreally creepy!
ionic - stunning artwork! and including a plot.

[FerrousJack]

Thanks everybody, I really enjoyed this round and all the previous rounds I've been in on. My first was #145 and I've been trying to participate each week because I think this is the best source of motivation I've ever had. If I didn't have a day job I would be here doing EOW, COW, CHOW, POW and daily sketch every week, all day, every day!

As for Nehrala's comments: I understand the frustration and the sentiment at times, but we have to make a decision about what we want to take away from these exercises. The unfortunate truth is that exquisitely rendered pieces (regardless of the merit of the design) will always get more votes than ones that are just so-so. There are two aspects to character design: good design and good communication of that design. If you fail at either, then the whole effort has failed (tho a nice drawing of a bad design is more pleasant to look at than a bad drawing of an awesome design). It doesn't bother me really see awesome renderings get lots of well-deserved votes, since I know my primary goal here is to become a better artist/illustrator and I hope to attain the level of Posh and D@n and Deadred, etc, eventually. I know how hard it is to get there guys!

My only (minor!) annoyance with how the CHOW is run, is that sometimes a really top notch piece ends up in the final burning, but the WIPs and sketches associated with the piece are not posted in the main CHOW thread. So it feels like someone just swoops in at the last second to kick our asses (even tho I know this isn't true... those pieces take just as long to develop as any other). This only bugs me because I want greater insight into everyone's working processes, and not being able to see the WIPs and the progressions denies us all a great learning opportunity.

[MJ_Alcazar]

Joey-B - thanks so much for your input. I appreciate it. It's funny you should mention the background, towards the end, I was thinking it might have been a bit much and I should've focused on my initial nature idea. :)

Really awesome entries everyone, loved the different takes of Baba Yaga.

[dirkvandulmen]

Wooaaaahhh great round everyone! Lovely pieces, scary pieces, great rendered pieces, ingenius idea pieces and the list goes on, there's some for everyone!

... and Ferrousjack , i agree ! well spoken.

Great stuff, great inspiration and still a lot to learn.

[Ionic]

daestwen: Hey D... I didn't know that rule... hell I just figured out you could vote for multiple people after Chow146. Sorry for the confusion.

I'm not to bright when it comes to paying attention.

[shannanigan]

I'm with Bugmeyer.... damn you Boyo!! How dare you force your uniqueness upon us... visually assaulting CHOW with something fantasic that is clearly not the hyper-realism expected. The NERVE!! :D

So yes I voted for Boyo... and VegasMike (glad you got in finally!) both for the more stylized, cartoon elements and great character design they brought to the challenge.

I also voted for:

Artofinca - for its Steamy'ness and awesome house, and actually being a character design, not just a pretty picture... but I'll get to that in a minute.

Antne - This is the closest to Baba Yaga in my mind... how I personally envision her. I love it!

Deadred - WTF??!! I'm going to have nightmares about this one for weeks. Great job! LOL!



As to the little snafu going on here... I agree a little bit. It is supposed to be "Character Design of the Week" right? Not illustration... so perspective, composition, environment, etc shouldn't be a factor. Some of the most beautifully rendered aren't the most interesting character designs. For instance... and I'm really sorry but... Bumskee's entry this week. Gorgeous image, no question, but how is it character design when her back is turned and you can't see her face?

I was told that people don't enter if they have to do actual stripped-down character design, which is too bad. And I do see a trend of passing over some less skilled but very creative or innovative ideas in favor of a pretty picture. Would be nice if creativity won over beautiful a little more often. But as they say... life imitates art... and vice-versa. XD

[Chelette]

Witches galore, there are quite a few just awesome entries congrats everyone!

These stuck out to me to have some great storytelling. Going straight down the line.

IanLlanas: I went to sleep with that image of an old lady about to swallow a child whole....or biting his face off....but snacky none the less. You've captured a predatory moment.

D@niel: Like a bat out of hell, love the movement, almost looks like she's bringing the storm.

Tommy: I loved the sketches of this, the idea of her being almost a creature, but with a wisdom to her i'd probably follow her advice....but she'd still be able to eat me. And I :heart: the juxtaposition of the simplified little girl and her colors.

fersteger: Her presence wow, like she ~is~ the forest...swallowing whole children like bonbon's .....or your step siblings....

dwinbotp: I really like the execution of this one, her posture....even though those kids keep asking questions that age her another year, she's powered by something otherworldly. From the looks of her I don't think very many people make it home.

Bugmeyer: Love the idea of her, i also like the quiet moment of she possibly just had some kids for dinner and it's time to sit and relax.

anamirela: I really like the impact of this one, the look on her face....she's got something to do and it's going to get done.

Joey-b~ Thanks for the crit, it's what i'm looking for ;) Yeah, i struggled with the edges, they were originally sharp, put purposely blurred to direct the focus....but it looks like i need to find another way.

[deadred]

ok i'm gonna make an effort to comment on every entry, polled or not. this is only right for all the kind feedback i've been getting for my chows lately :heart:


dan liimatta: very interesting concept, those skeleton legs are wild hehe, the lighting could be better to help make it read clearer in a thumbnail, maybe a top-down or frontal lighting, given how intricate the design is.

Joey-b: it looks good but seems abit generic in the zombie look, but maybe i've seen too many zombies lolz, love the way you rendered the chicken, some lighting issues on the skull, overall fun piece either way.

Markusthebarbarian: good atmosphere, great color scheme too, but maybe moe of her body should get the light so she reads better in a composition way, as the first thing i noticed was the ground instead of the character o.o

fersteger: one of my favs this round, i like her design and scale, very instantly-interesting :D

sticmann: not quite human enough for me to think of her as a baba yaga but looks good as a creature on its own merit

sony: you really put in effort for the design and your hard work shows, but something about the overall pose make her look disjointed and her hair doesnt look natural on her head. that playstation on her belt is a cute touch, but it doesnt seem to hang on her naturally. cool weapon and pet bucket hehe

Jeremy Hoffman: interesting composition, and looks fun. abit on the wild toon side, which is always cool

Nikola Marinkovic: your rendering puts her between the land of toon and illustration and it's abit lost in limbo there in my opinion, and it hurts the overall feel of the piece. good concept but presentation/rendering could use more push.

masque: haha so nasty, love that expression! something about the kid's anatomy looks off, but maybe its just the lighting on him that doesnt jive with the rest of the image.

Artofinca: good designs especially on the house, but i wish i can see more of baba yaga's clothing, abit lost in shadows there

artina: very striking piece, but needs abit more on the concept i think, her overall character is abit plain. nice pot tho

The Kiminator: this looks like a good start of a wip but needs love on details, such as a less bored expression, some textures and extra lighting to play with composition perhaps

Inkfish: i like her best in the first WIP pic, before you gave her that warped mouth. it doesnt seem to fit in very well somehow, but maybe that's just me. something about the saturated colors in the final hurt the image, mostly the composition i think. the first wip focused on the character in a more intense atmosphere and more muted colors on her dress would work better.

Sekino: very nice traditional look, no crits from me :D

Boyo: fun and vibrant, i love the movement in the image and the lil touches like the bolts and hair stuffs

doomstagg: you have good ideas in the piece, but i think anatomy studies will help make your ideas get presented in a more believable way. overall proportions of things really look off.

Tommoy: as i've said in wip thread, cool entry! no crits.

dwinbotp: something about the perspective/foreshortening is off in the final, giving a weird sort of vertigo feeling that feels more trippy than menacing.. she also looks more intense to me in the early wips where she is viewed more top-down and also the flying curtains and veil looked better than the stuff in the final, but this is all just personal preference :) good piece either way.

AsurA: the chicken house looks far more interesting than the character heh, she looks abit generic, but the house is great

MrAnimation: good effort, not much to see in a design sense, abit plain, but her ride sure looks cool

Antne: her pot looks abit warped/bendy, but other than that, it's good, tho i wish i could see more of her body to show her character.

darkly: weird that this didnt make it to poll.. i like it and would have voted for it. it's a very fun design overall, only rendering/lighting is abit flat and could use more love on detailing her, but that's a great face and love her hair hehe

deadred: get out, you're obscene

benu: cool characters! coloring really sells the piece but anatomy, composition and lighting could use some work. everything's too centralized and non-dynamic and there's no central focus, everything's everywhere o.o the lighting/compo in the third wip piece works much better.

LPeters: she looks very dangerous, and those peg legs! good compo but the rendering on her hair and face could use more love. nice nails btw

Adam Hunter Peck: hm abit plain, but very illustrative. good hand gestures

NateShaw: overall, the image doesnt read very clearly until i look closer and only notice she's pouncing instead of pretending to be a tree (lol). lighting could use a push too. is she invisible to the girl?

revenebo: looks rad, tho some lighting isues make her look less solid, especially on her thigh and boob. finger anatomy issues too. i want a pet frog..

mike_rorschach: looks really rushed, and rendering is super flat, but you have some good ideas going

dirkvandulmen: hard to read your composition overall, maybe making the colors more organized and brighter lighting on the figure herself could help

Chupacabra: the first thought that came to me when i saw your entry was "i wish i could think up something so simple and yet so cool" :D i like her face and anatomy.

wrdls: that bottom of her pot is very eyecatching, and i like how you render her like a rock golem lol good pic, but something about her clothing make me wish you added as much detail there as you did her ride.

Bugmeyer: very interesting design, i like her profile, and that touch with the dripping blood from her basket.

Mitze: i like your WIPs better than your final somehow.. i think it's cos of the colors and values are more muted and rich. the darks in the final seems abit too much.

Pixeltuner: interesting dress, but her anatomy looks like she was created in spore creature creator o.o not enough human i guess? heh, and something about her overall design doesnt read very well to me, it's a matter of proportions, doesnt make her look believable

John Bridges: really good illustration, no crits.

Kian: wtf? :P gigglicious ribbons! your wip was better tho

k a y a: simple and cool, no crits, maybe slight anatomy issue on her free hand

Tugelbend: scary boobies! nice work, colors seem to not sit well together tho, maybe it's a matter of saturation

anamirela: great profile, kinda needs color to look more finished but that's just my personal pref

Sulk-Sal: very nice etched effect/style you have going, but some anatomy and proportion issues, especially with the kid and her hands, but good ideas on her head dress especially.

WunderDark: cool costume details, perhaps thinner outlines would make the piece look more refined, given the style. i like the way you rendered her bucket, and good color handling too.

septomin: maybe a lower saturation and limited palette would give a more ominous feel like in your black and white wips. currently she looks very.. cuddly.. to me anyway lol

Josh_Chodorow: would've been a good illustration if you had more time to work on it. she looks fun

IanLlanas: the rubbery rendering of the skin was the first thing i noticed, and it sorta kills the atmosphere of menace.. perhaps play around with subtle pinks and greens for skin color, to make it look more organic some anatomy issues with the hands too. that lurking chicken house is a nice touch.

bumskee: my top fav in this epic round! always a pleasure to see you post a chow, this piece is so good, especially in the storytelling sense where you sorta merge their hair and make it hint that she's feeding off life energy or something from the girl, so genius! those trees in the background took me awhile to figure out they were trees tho o.o

MJ_Alcazar: i'm sad this didnt make it to poll, one of your best work yet! there's some perspective issues with the pot and with the foreground tree.

Venger: your image is all sorts of fun, love it, no crits

Ionic: dude, your piece was looking great until you added bloom to it :P i dunno, it suddenly made it less intense and more .. disney, and i was hoping you'd detail the horsemen but perhaps you ran out of time? cool witch either way, you sexyface

Wolfentir: looks abit unfinished as far as detailing and colors go, and her head dont seem to be put on too right on her shoulders. needs more love!

Chelette: i really like the way you drew her face and the color scheme. her body looks abit fuzzy and proportions seem weird on her belly area, like you rushed through the bottom half of the pic.

Vorace: she's so cuddly like a roasted blue chicken served in a spikey pot!

Faxtar: amazing piece! good atmosphere and style. love it, no crits

cubesoflard: something about the lighting doesnt wrap around her form too well to show good solid mass, so the entire piece looks sorta flat despite the interesting colors and lighting setup

VegasMike: she looks half-chicken! silly and fun style

Wingedchime: hey! that chimney came out great :D very cute and creative design, tho the background kinda hurts the piece, maybe fade it more off to the white so it doesnt fight for attention with your witch and birdy house


Poojipoo: it seems you rendered her face and forgot to detail the rest of her. good work on the colors/atmosphere but she needs more love.

Adam Schumpert: one of my favs this round, i like those expressions on your witch and kiddies, pity you dont have time to render everything out like you did your supervillain sp, would've been epic then :D got my vote either way cos i like your concept very much

FerrousJack: you should keep working on it, looks fun :P

Poshspice: i always greatly admire your work and this is no exception! not crits that i can think of, this is gorgeous, looks like something that'll be on a huge poster in a library section for folktales or something cool like that

D@niel: technically awesome painting, but the actual witch concept seems abit plain. i like how you added that chicken house in the background, nice touch

Rusty: great illustration, keep working on it! i really like your pudgey baba yaga.

IIKII: others have given better crits than i ever could, heh :)

yoitisi: this is your best character yet, love all the symbolism and render style. i'm gonna be your rabid fangurl if you keep this up :P


(omg my fingers..)

i try to limit my votes to very top personal favs, so it's bumskee, fersteger, yoitisi, Adam Schumpert. very epic round!

[daestwen]

I've already stated my piece about the previous argument, so I will not be addressing that again. However, since this seemed to directly reference me ("how CHOW is run") I felt i should address it.


My only (minor!) annoyance with how the CHOW is run, is that sometimes a really top notch piece ends up in the final burning, but the WIPs and sketches associated with the piece are not posted in the main CHOW thread. So it feels like someone just swoops in at the last second to kick our asses (even tho I know this isn't true... those pieces take just as long to develop as any other). This only bugs me because I want greater insight into everyone's working processes, and not being able to see the WIPs and the progressions denies us all a great learning opportunity.

There isn't really a way around this, and this is why the WIP rule is now in existence. Some people don't even see the topic until the day before, so forcing people to participate at an earlier stage only leaves some people out.

Most people still do post in the thread, but this way even the people who didn't have a chance to, or were too shy to post in the main thread, can still participate in the activity, and still show the progress on their work. :]

[IanLlanas]

Cool, I guess other's have the same idea (Deadred and Joey-B)

Great entries from all! Really hard to vote. In general I think that a few people would benefit from multiple thumbnails at the start of the process, it helps to not be so attached to any one idea and then end up trying to polish a turd in the end. Besides, it’s what you’d be doing in the professional world (bouncing ideas off of an AD), so might as well get used to it now. A quick strike to all with my Critique Staff of Equanimity (+5 to fragile egos). Insert “I really like your work! Great job, but IMHO” before each sentence. I’m not trying to hurt feelings or discourage anyone, please don’t take it that way and if it makes you feel any better, I got kicked out of art school :/

Dan Liimatta – Cool style, reminds me of a wood cut print. A little hard to critique ‘cause it’s so stylized, but overall the forms look solid. You lost a lot of contrast and depth when going to color, the afterthought of adding a cooler color to add depth is not focused enough, keep the warmer colors in the foreground and the cooler colors in the background in general.

Joey-b – Nice colors, lighting is pretty accurate. Your anatomy needs work. I’ve only seen 2 of your pieces, but it looks to me like you’re relying too much on being gross to carry your pieces. I don’t have a problem with the grotesque (love it actually) but you should concentrate on composiotion, rhythm and anatomy more as well.

Markusthebarbarian – The light filtering through the canopy and lighting the trees, ground, etc look really cool. It looks like you spent the least amount of time on the witch though, I just want to look at the environment and she’s just getting in the way. Also, the pose isn’t doing anything for me, I feel like I walked in on her taking a dump.

fersterger – Really nice colors, such a nice mood. Probably the most unique take. Reminds me of the Never-ending Story or Labyrinth. I think some of the light from her eye-light should be cast on the child and her hands.

Sticmann – Interesting style, I love the watercolor wash look to the background. The grey/white fog against the warm background is hurting the depth.

Sony – It looks like you used reference for the PS3, use it for the rest of the piece. The mortar design is rad. Don’t like the white background. Her pose is really awkward, feet pointing right, arms to the left. Quick gesture drawings help with this. People recommend using posemaniacs.com, I guess that helps, if you want to learn how to do gestures of posed 3D models (maybe it has merit?). I watch movies and hit pause at random times for 30/60/120 seconds and sketch that.

Jeremy Hoffman – This is a cool experiment in style. Someone around here once said that your style will find you.

Nikola Marinkovic – That staff looks cool, but it looks like it’s going behind her hand, it needs more light on it near the hand.

Masque – Wicked colors, very impressionistic. Her hair and sleeves are blowing forward? The perspective of the kid isn’t jiving with the ground. If you just look at the kid and block out everything else it looks like he is running on a surface almost parallel to the bottom of the frame.

Artofinca – Sweet designs, I hope you entered the IDW with this as well.

Artina – There’s some lighting inconsistencies, especially noticeable on her face. The lighting appears to be directly behind her, but it’s showing up all over.

The Kiminator – This is a great idea. The reason it’s reading flat is that you’re letting your lines do all the work value-wise. Try to chisel in with darks and pull out with lights, if that makes any sense.

Inkfish – I really liked the initial concept, with just the lighting drawing you to the face. I think in the final everything looks too glossy. The background became distracting in the final step too, it’s so bright.

Sekino – I love the illustrative storybook feel and that bear and cat are adorable. My only crit is that the snow is just a mass of white, it looks flat.

Boyo – FUN! Great color scheme. Got my vote.

Doomstagg – It seems like something is getting lost in your process, I can’t tell what ‘cause you went from line drawing to finished in one step. The only thing I can think to suggest is that you start from the largest forms and work your way down to the details. For example don’t add stitches and seams till wrinkles read well, and no wrinkles until the shape of her torso reads well. I’m sure someone else can explain that better. Help.

Tommoy – The contrast between the blonde girl in the white dress and the big, dark witch is wicked. The trees in the background perfectly frame her body, not sure if that works.

Dwinbotp – Arg, freaky! You were so close to getting my vote. For me the face killed it, I loved the initial face you had, so much more expression than the pierced gross one. Anyway great job, I’m a fan.

This is taking more time than I thought, I'll do the rest later.

[IanLlanas]

It is supposed to be "Character Design of the Week" right? Not illustration... so perspective, composition, environment, etc shouldn't be a factor. Some of the most beautifully rendered aren't the most interesting character designs. For instance... and I'm really sorry but... Bumskee's entry this week. Gorgeous image, no question, but how is it character design when her back is turned and you can't see her face?

I was told that people don't enter if they have to do actual stripped-down character design, which is too bad. And I do see a trend of passing over some less skilled but very creative or innovative ideas in favor of a pretty picture. Would be nice if creativity won over beautiful a little more often. But as they say... life imitates art... and vice-versa. XD

You may have a point here, but I don't think that perspective, composition, beauty, etc can ever be excused from a picture, unless we are supposed to be doing strict isometric character drawings. Also the character's environment speaks as much about them as their costumes, gadgets, etc. Maybe there should be an illustration of the week challenge too?

[Sorknes]

Voted, lots of awsome entries. :)

Daestwen... Maybe you could make it so that whatever side of the picture that's longest get a set pixelwidth instead of only doing it on width only? So that let's say 300 pixels is the limit, and on the pictures widers than high it sets 300 width and for the pictures taller than wide it's 300 height?

I actually threw one vote wrong this time because I confused two of the pictures, after I went through the submissions I voted, and didn't realise before the votes went through that the thumbs of two pictures were so small and somewhat alike that I'd given mine to the wrong person......

Also, it would make it somewhat fairer for the people in the poll, as all thumbs would get the exact same exposure.

It might be too much work though, I dunno, I know there's a lot of work just to keep this challenge going. :)

[daestwen]

Sork: I keep meaning to fix this, but not have time to do it. The way it's set up I can do all the images in about 30 seconds, which is why it's set up the way that it is, and I haven't yet found a fast way to do both, but i've been meaning to at least work something out, even if it is slower. I'm just a little lazy, heh.

But if it's causing issues with voting, I'll put more work into it next week.

[Joey-b]

IanLlanas - thanks man, as for the gore thing.. well i actually never do that.. just these 2 haha.. weird huh?

Deidred - thank you, yeah i went overboard on the zombie

[Tommoy]

Compliments to all participants in this crazy round, the quality from beginner to pro is outstanding. At first I wasn't going to join but after seeing the first sketches my wacom pen flew into my hand like the lightsaber into Luke's. And thats the power of CA, it inspires you and makes you want to join and draw. Looking at other peoples work, getting comments and crits is very useful and help you getting the best out of yourself. Besides that, I had never heard of Baba Yaga, and now she's in my head forever, thanks.

Voting actually was easy this time, almost everyone deserves one but I've chosen the one that imo is the very best, bumskee. First of all the colors are so well balanced, its a lust for the eye. The bleu/white skintone is perfectly contrasting with the background, the colors of her dress and hair, it pops out but not to much. I'm no expert, but I bet every muscle and bone under that skin are on the right spot and so clearly readable. The wrinkles in her skirt are so darn subtle, just compare it to any of the others. Her clawlike hand almost motherlike under the child's chin I think is more powerful then 20 chopped of heads (although I like that as well) The hair, I want to know what shampoo she is using.
Thinking of a witch, specially the face, immediately several elements come to mind, glowing eyes, sharp nose, gaping mouth with bad teeth, pointy chin. Automatically you want to show these elements as clearly as you can. Bumskee shows the head almost from behind, leaving us, viewers, with our own thoughts, and thats more scary then anything else.

[anamirela]

Awesome entries everyone!
Voted for three, like usual.
Tommoy , Venger, k a y a
No crits and comments this time.
Peace!

[Sulk-Sal]

Thanks deadred daestwen and Joey-b for the crits! I guess this piece kinda turned into a failure, but at least I learned a lot form it. I guess priority 1 is to find a good anatomy book to study (no live models around here, and I really need a refresher), priority 2 is to really think about the limits of my style and how to refine it, especially with lights, darks, colors and the background. I really should have started doing CHOW after I graduated. That brings me to priority 3. Stop wasting time.

[Naomi Ningishzidda]

after some consideration i voted for poshspice over bumskee

I liked them both i just went with my gut. baba yaga is one of my favorite faery tale characters I prefer her with both power, dignity and definately a crone feel. i think of baba yaga as a grandmother and not so much a monster so that's why I felt poshspice nailed it. i did like how she was more human. fersteger was a cool alternate take as well but more troll-like. well enough said.


all of them were just really impressive

Of all the alternate visions wingedchime was my favorite.

Naomi

[Sekino]

Okay, here are my personal impressions on all the other great entries.

Dan Liimatta- I liked the character a lot: The bone-legs and the crown gave a very mythological feel to me. I would have liked the background, or the colours, to make the figure stand out more. It seemed a bit dark, overall.

Joey-b- Very creepy and interesting Baba Yaga. Maybe more drama (like a more detailed background) or movement would have carried off this scary-looking hag a bit better...

Markusthebarbarian- The realism is awesome. The sun reflections on the trees are striking. I felt that Baba Yaga was a bit too passive, though; like only striking a pose for the camera as opposed to showing her in action and defining her character.

Sticmann- The drawing is awesome; beautiful technique. The character seems a bit alien to me however. I don't get an especially 'witchy' feel from it; more like a Jedi feel.

sony- I liked the idea of the anachronisms, like the Playstation hanging from her belt. She reminded me a bit of a bag-lady (the way she pushed her mortar around, filled with skulls). I think it would have brought the point home better if she, herself, looked more modern,maybe, more post-apocalyptic like wearing a mohawk or boots, etc... It's just a bit hard to pinpoint her exact attitude or era right now.

Jeremy Hoffman- I really loved the style and colours the minute I saw it. But I had some trouble interpreting her actions or position: Is she standing, lying down, flying...? Maybe I'm just used to more representational images. So it's my bad ;)

Nicola Marinkovik- Nice, sinister approach. But I find there was a bit too much black and dark values. I don't feel I could see the character enough.

masque- I liked the movement and the red reflections: it provided nice contrast with the other colours. I would have liked to see more hints of Baba's personality, though (Tools? Adornments? Weapons?); just to further appreciate her character aside from chasing kids.

Artofinca- I truly enjoyed this one, with the steampunk feel and the sketching style. The house was so detailed and cool that it outshines Baba Yaga a bit.

Artina- Overall, very nice character (I would definitely recognize her as Baba Yaga). Even though I liked the vibrant colours, the background reminded me too much of flames or an explosion and was a bit distracting.

The Kiminator- Loved the quiet, mysterious feel. The colours seemed somewhat flat, though. A bit more contrast would have made the elements pop out some more.

Inkfish- Very creepy and nice technique. I think I felt a bit too much 'zombie-ness' as opposed to some old witch.

Doomstagg- I liked the interpretation (the hunter feel), but I felt it looked unfinished. There could have been more definition to make the image 'crisper'.

Tommoy- That looks awesome! It looks like some dance between Baba and the little hypnotized kid.

Dwinbotp- Very nightmare-inducing! The character looks great, but I was confused with the setting: I can't tell if she's outside or inside and what is the source of the red light...

AsurA- I liked the illustration overall, but it looked unfinished. I didn't mind the monochromatic scheme, but some elements were lost with not enough contrast (the kid's features are very washed out and the little critter on the tree is easy to miss).

Antne- I like the layout and the very 'character design' feel with the portrait. It was in my personal runner-ups for votes.

Whew! So many! I'll do my best to cover everyone, but gotta go back to work for now.

[CCThrom]

There were so many to choose... so many I really like... but I limited myself to 5. And those are...

D@niel - Now that's the feeling I was shooting for and missed on my first sketches
dwinbotp - too magnificently horrible not to vote for
Poshspice - so classic and beautiful colors
Anamirela - l love the characterization and the creepy vibe
Bumskee - just... wow... looks like one of the great masters of ninteenth century illustration reborn

My runners-up (not voted for, sorry but 5 was an arbitary limit)
Venger - another classic illustration vibe
Fersteger - great painting but feels a little unfinished as compared to many others... I'll say it again, very D'aulaire
Tommoy - like the painting a lot and loose-yet-polished feel
Antne - as you can see, I like the classic interperetations
John Bridges - This was really close to my top 5... it feels a lot like a 50's era book cover... I could almost see the Hardy Boys chasing 'Yaga in this. I also love the museum matte / naturalist vibe you've got going.

[Clockwork Bunny]

limited myself to 2 this time

Sekino - I love the style and delicateness ( is that a real word?!) of the picture, I feel it captures the folk tale it would have started from
Kiminator - After reading up on Baba Yaga the thing I thought was wonderfully mysterious was the silver birch broom sweeping away any evidence of her being there and you caught it, its a silent and eerie image

There were some other top entries some are beautifully drawn, fantastic ideas and some are just damn creepy.

[Main Loop]

Nerahla, respect your opinion, but I think you could have worded it a little better. a little harsh with your words there.

I am sure posh, d@n, me and many others agree, that we don't take this as a popularity contest.
I actually think you see ChOW as a popularity contest... you seem awfully attached to this popularity contest idea..

And not to bust your bubbles but we don't just click a button that creates ChOW entries.. it's the truth!!

Dude I have a bunch of Chow-Entry-creator photoshop custom brushes that I can share with you if you like!

[Nutter]

Great entries once again. It just keeps getting better and better.

All the ones I voted for just made me feel warm and fuzzy. I can't really explain it better than that. Particularly deadred's image, what the fuck is wrong with you! :wtf: I love it.<3

Honorable mention to Tugelbend for best saggy boobs.:drool:

[Mr. P Show.]

Alot of amazing entries. My votes are:


Anamirela - Mmmmmm, sagging boobs.
Poshspice - I can almost smell this piece.
Wingedchime - Your style is really colorful. I like.
Sekino - I could see this one hanging in Baba Yaga's own house.
dwinbotp - I love the settings you create for your characters.
fersteger - Marvelous.
aoyo - Cool flow and style
Daniel - Love the cinematic composition.
Faxtar - atmospheric.
bumskee - Great characterization and composition as well as fluid lines from their wardrobe to their hair. Amazing job:).

[Sekino]

Part 2:

darkly- Nice character and details. I liked the very stony aspect of the mortar. The issues with the lighting have been already mentioned but they did affect the atmosphere and the colours.

deadred- Definitely in the top 2 or 3 creepiest entries! Very nicely done!

benu- I liked the colours and the original sketches, but Baba Yaga got somewhat overshadowed by the other characters.

LPeters- She's looking evil! I like the bloody hand print detail. The background seems to clash a bit though: It doesn't match the lighting.

Adam Hunter Peck- Another favorite of mine (I should maybe increase my voting limit...). Love the cartoony style and colour. This Baba seems quite likeable to me; maybe it's the tea...

NateShaw- Nice book-illustration look. The colours could have supported the linework better, but overall I like the style and characters.

Revenebo- Love the engraved mortar and very 'trollish' Baba Yaga. You did mention you got pressed by time which shows in the background; but nice image nonetheless.

mike rorschach- I like the style. Too bad you didn't have much time to polish it. Next time :)

dirkmandulmen- Great, funny cartoon! Horrible thing to say but she reminds me a bit of someone I worked with (weird, I know) :D. My only crit is that I found the colours a bit dark so it took me time to appreciate all the details.

Chupacabra- I actually love the simplicity of it and the blue skin. Creepy ogrish look.

wrdls- Nice texture and details (the metal parts are very convincing!).

Bugmeyer- Not the most gory, but I find it very creepy anyways. I like the style of the character. It took me a while to make out the house and chicken feet clearly though.

Mitze- I love the colours and overall image. I'm only wondering how the kid isn't losing his mind with terror: That 'Grandma' is scary (the bonnet makes it much worse, too!)!

Pixeltuner- Really great technique! My only crit really is that I didn't get a Baba Yaga feel... Even though I do believe she could eat my kids!

Kian- Great style: I like the brushstrokes. I'm quite distracted by the ribbons though (the one at the front is especially heavy). She doesn't strike me as the coquettish type...;)

I'm really trying to cover everyone, but I'm limited with time this week. Also if I skip anyone, it is totally unintentional.

And BTW, Mr P. Show:

I could see this one hanging in Baba Yaga's own house.

Thanks!! I can see the caption: "Winter 1507; Sergei annoying Puska again"

[chaosrocks]

not that a late opinion matters much, butthis was a truly stunning round nearly all the entries could easy graces the pages of a book of fairy tales , and there seems to have been an outbreak of the kinda of excellence that I think of in term of turn of the century illustrators (who I collect and adore). The over all quality of chow is amazing at this point. I would like to see more personal variation in style it is seeming to develope a collective style , which although it is lovely seems almost stilted. LLike it might become the "CA LOok" I know it is hard to leave something that is working, but I urge you if you are adapting to what is popular, and suppressing something way of working that you might like to try... this is actaully a good place to try it.
that being said, I could not limit myself to my usual three votes. so I felt that I needed justify my choices... the are fairly stream of consciousness:

yoitisi- I love tht yours has th e glint off chance of being benevolent, because she sometimes would actually help. She actually alos looks like she might once have ben beautiful. I find thathis makes her very much moreinteresting than a straight horror

Artofinea- the style and beautifully design layout of yours along withthe wonderfully quirky steampunkyness got my vote

Tommoy- definitely has the Brian Froud quality I could totally see this illustrationin one of those beautiful kids books. It would have to have a touch or quirky humour to achieve rackhamesqueness

wingedchime- beautifull colours annd style, and the design of the chicken hut is unique and quite wonderful

POshspice. Lovoely , It is really interesting that you portrayed her as a plausible old woman, anggry at the world. the colouring is reminding me of the darker Wyeths....(NC not andrew or Jamie)

anamirela- simple, straight forward and elegant

Bumskee- wow just wow. have you ever seen the work of Bosschere? ( I may have spelled it wrong it's french. He wrote a book called "The City Curious" and there is somethign about this illustration that reminds me of it

once again Lovely work

[Rockman!]

Hey darkly: I'm not the greatest at this whole "art" thing, I'm gonna give you input, darn it : 3

After a quick glance, there a couple things that seem to be working against you.
My first thought is that the baby she is holding doesn't stand out very much. The baby is the one of the main storytelling points of your picture. It might strengthen your picture to make the baby larger (It's kinda small anyways, regardless of story reasons) and maybe rosy and cute, to make Baba Yaga look more icky and skeletal.

Also, the value seems to kinda be everywhere.
If you squint at it, your eyes kinda go everywhere. Giving a gradient to her hair helped, but overall there should probably be less contrast everywhere except the focal point (the face and baby, I assume)

[Pixeltuner]

@ suckup popularity vote discussion:

We're all here to learn right? The fact that big guns enter these rounds attracts a lot of people and makes up for an unbelievably low-cost (ie free) learning environment for all of us. The fact that pro's like Posh & Bumskee can put out HQ images in a short amount of time doesn't mean they just do something? Or brush something up in 30 minutes?
So ok, maybe Bumskee's image isn't really a Baba Yaga per se. I personally get a more Japanese feel from it and it makes me think of Kubiriri Basara from Samurai Shodown (or Spirits) 3. But it's still beautiful and delicate and it still looks like a lot of time has been invested in it. So as an illustration in itself it deserves every vote.
Same for Aly, (can I say Aly? And have your autograph? :p) he went for the Archetypical old slavic witch, but the whole image is brooding with atmosphere and it hardly looks like an afterthought. Everything that's there looks the point, and even if its not my favourite (I didn't vote vor it) I recognize the quality in it.
And what would we rather have? That they hone their skills at home and never show us anything of their thumbs, line-art, or colouring processes? We need our 'jocks' at these rounds to level us all up :) And they're here to learn too. I bet they've come here multiple times seeing things which they wouldn't have thought of themselves, even if it's less technically accomplished.
Anyhoot, the whole poll thing is fun, but that's not what we're here for. I would be lying if I'd say that I didn't care. I sure would like to win a CHOW one day, but it's not a 'goal'. I'm here to learn, and if the popstars steal my votes every week, then my work isn't good enough and I've got to try again next round :)

So uhm, yeah. I'd better be finishing my P.I. then.
Thanks for listening, you've been great! :yayca:

[FAST ART]

it´s absolutly incredible how much great artist entered this challenge. it was a really hard decision.

[Cyr]

Looking over the entries, I found myself most attracted by those which had strong diagonal elements, giving a sense of movement and action. Entries that used mostly vertical elements seemed more portraiture than illustration.

(Baba Yaga's a witch! She flies! She lives in a mobile home! Movement seems an important part of defining her character.)

The more dynamic entries also gave a better sense of being "in the story", that we're seeing a snapshot of a scene that began before the actual image shown, and that will continue afterwards.

Some images that didn't work for me included:

Adam Schumbert: I actually liked the image from the WIP thread that was cropped to focus in on the characters more than this one. The chicken hut in the background seemed more of a distraction than an integral part of the illustration. Also, the color palette was, I thought, too limited; Baba Yaga and the running children seemed flat.

dirkvandulmen and Boyo: Both of these versions of Baba Yaga seemed too cartoonish, too comedic for this particular CHOW. Baba Yaga eats children!; I have trouble buying into a humorous interpretation of the character. (Compare and contrast with VegasMike's entry, which manages to be both cartoonish and menacing at the same time.)

Kaya: I love the technical skill shown in this. Although the character is a mostly vertical element, the line of the skull on the staff leads the eye down into the flying crow, giving a strong dynamic to the overall image. There's a strong sense of "story" to this image. My problem was that the story it illustrated came across as "battlefield ghoul" rather than "Baba Yaga".

Wingedchime: I really, really wanted to adore this without reservation. The technical skill is wonderful, and I'm glad to see people taking interpretations and styles in new directions and stretching the limits. But, in the end, "Steampunk" and "Baba Yaga" just wasn't a combination that worked for me.

Antne: Two points: 1) This would have worked better with a bigger, brighter color palette. The sepia-tone colors used here left it feeling a bit flat. 2) The "floating head". Yes, it gives a more diagonal, more dynamic feel to the overall image. But it's a false dynamic, because it doesn't add anything to the "sense of story" I'm looking for. Also, "floating head" designs in general... oy. Back nearly twenty years ago, I had the opportunity to edit an illustrated anthology, and when it came to choosing the actual illustrations to include, I found I eventually had to ask prospective artists to please avoid "floating head" illustrations; they were just too common, too (oh, dear) cliched. (Sort of the artistic version of all the "He was really a... cannibal! stories I found in the fiction submissions. What is it with cannibals? I had my share of "He was really a... vampire!" and "He was really a... werewolf!" stories in the slush pile, but those cannibals? Those suckers were everywhere!)

Poshspice: Why, yes, I am astonished to find myself saying a piece by Posh didn't work for me. But this particular one was 1) too static, 2) too lacking in that "sense of story", and 3) too dark and shadowy.

Some pieces that DID work for me:

yoitisi: The opposing diagonals of the staff and the hair give this a strong dynamic. And the fall of hair turning into a river of skulls is a wonderfully symbolic representation of the character.

faxtar: The mostly vertical design of this piece would seem to work against the sense of movement and action I'm looking for. But that forlorn little teddy bear lying in the snow, and baba Yaga looking down at it, establishes a subtle yet powerful diagonal element, and a strong sense of story. The piece makes one wonder: Is Baba Yaga hunting the teddy bear's owner? Or is the teddy bear lying there because Baba Yaga is done with the teddy bear's owner?

IanLlanas: The technical skill here isn't as strong as in some pieces by more polished artists, but WOW! does this entry ever have that "in the story" sense! It makes you want to close your eyes against what you know is going to happen in the next few seconds.

masque: Another piece that, while not as polished as some, puts you straight into the middle of a story.

Adam Hunter Peck: Like faxtar's entry, this uses predominantly vertical elements. But it's saved from being straight (boring) portraiture by a number of elements that create a tension and dynamic to the entry: The teacup in one hand, the wand in the other, the richness of the fur collar against the cloud of brittle-looking white hair, and especially that glaring Eye of Doom that says to the viewer, "You... yes, I'm looking at you... are in Deep Shit, buddy."

Venger: Horizontal orientation, which would seem to work against a sense of movement, but for two factors: 1) all the windblown elements pointing to the left side of the image, and 2) by tilting the background, the sense of speed and motion is seriously increased. The characters seem to be in a headlong pell-mell rush.

John Bridges: I liked the sketchier, drawn-as-opposed-to painted style on this piece. It reminded me of illustrations in old sporting magazines like FIELD & STREAM, particularly with the onlooking fox included. ("HUNTER OF THE YEAR: BABA YAGA" ; yeah, that works for me.)

Ionic and anamirela both supplied images with a very strong
sense of motion and speed.

bumskee: Other people have noted that the character isn't as "Baba-Yaga-ish" as others here. But, in addition to the technical skill in composition and lighting shown here, I like the ambiguity in the situation, the story, represented here. The power of the image comes from the tension shown here, rather than any actual physical action. Looking at this image, I ask myself, "Is this Baba Yaga grooming a victim? Or is it Baba Yaga grooming a protege?" And that's a story I'd like to read.

VegasMike: As mentioned above, this managed to combine a cartoonish style with a sense of menace. Good job.


And one comment on an outlier:

Artina: This used a radically different color palette from almost all the other entries. What it reminded me of was the gilded icons of Catholic saints. The idea of Baba Yaga as a saint... the mind reels. I don't think it worked for this character, but I think it was a really interesting experiment.


Final votes were for: faxtar, IanLlanas, Adam Hunter Peck, Venger, John Bridges, bumskee, and VegasMike.

Another strong CHOW. I may never get to a skill level where I'd feel comfortable submitting something of my own to CHOW (I'd be happy just to get up to "semi-skilled" someday), but following the CHOWs is definitely giving me a better idea of what works in a piece of art, and why.

[TRog]

So many really, really great entries this time!

Voted for the following:

Yoitisi: Eyes and face exude age-old wisdom and malice. Very earthy and gnarly.
Tommoy: Quite 'Dark Crystal'-ish, which I adore. Very spooky overall concept.
fersteger: The combination of moonlight and snow works very well; the troll-like appearance is appropriately frightening.
Wingedchime: Very nicely rendered. Has what I like to call a very high 'action figure potential' - it feels complete in itself and solid, in a very good way. I could imagine putting one of these on a shelf :)
Poshspice: The dark end of autumn is here and the swirling leaves sting the face. Conveys the sense of many layers of clothing, thick and mysterious, very well.
bumskee: Great choice of skin tones for the witch. It may sound strange, but the single ray of light is perfect for suggesting a vast, dark forest.