Chow 148 :: E. G. Brownstone, P.I.

[Stephan_R]

I mean there were already some great ones, but I had never seen FAST ART's stuff before! You've really motivated me to try and sketch something up on the ol' commute.

*CSSSSSS* FRESH!

Lovely Blobs, Vorace... I'm also happy to see some new culture in Sentinels

[masque]

The Unnatural Redhead
An E. G. Brownstone Mystery

599122

Chapter One

My client's late and probably not lamented husband had given his heart to the wrong woman. Literally.

Skewered to a pentagram drawn in his own blood, he looked like he hadn't ended his affair happily. The blade was of a type I didn't recognize, maybe a custom job. Leave that for the cops to track down. I was more interested in the glossy strand left behind. Crimson it was, no natural shade, and not one out of any bottle you'd pick up at the five 'n' dime, either.

It didn't take long to get a reading. Tall, lithe, with eyes so dark they could drink a man's soul and a figure to die for (and many have, I thought), she was in the midst of a conjuration. I wondered how someone with that kind of power could be careless enough to leave behind such a telltale. Then the faint smirk on her scarlet lips gave me the answer -- it was a calling card, left for me, and only me, to find. I doubt if the crime lab ran its DNA it would even test human.

Looked to be an interesting case...

[shannanigan]

The Unnatural Redhead
An E. G. Brownstone Mystery

598741

Chapter One




Show Off! LOL! :D

[masque]

Show Off! LOL! :DAren't we all, my dear, aren't we all? ;)

[-HAWK-]

throwing in some colors, I'm working on a few other projects so this is it for today, I'll try to finish it up by tomorrow though. I need to find some reference to color and light the figures and I'll try to give him more "character" too but I'm still new to this so any suggestions would be great ^^

[Flipnastywebby]

DecayingLolita:: you keep getting better and better. looking forward to the finish. I also like how you are showing your characters hands more and more. they are an integral part of any character as the compliment the facial expression, and when you cant see that they can convey the entire emotion of the piece with just the hand position. keep rockin it cause youre almost there. this is a compliment; it is very Jason Chan looking....and thats awesome!!!!!!


:pirate:

[Jason Snair]

Getting close now. Switched up the collage elements some.

[FAST ART]

agenda-b: i first not realize what happens on the picture that the guy hold in the hand.. :D very cool idea
kaikai: thanks :)
blobs: thats a realy nice peace.. but i think the texture at the end of the pic could be used more decent ..
Stephan R: great when i can inspire some one :)

so here is the next step.. will take some more creatures and ghosts or something into this.. i think i´m on the right way..

[daestwen]

Jason: really cute chow labeling. :P

Fast Art: Oh my god i luuuurve it.

[GeistDel]

Well, here goes my attempt. I hope I can see this one all the way through, time permitting. On the upside I am seeing some pretty interesting concepts.

[DynamiteDill]

Cool stuff, I'm loving everybody's contributions. Can't wait to see finals...

On my side of things, here's flats and color tests:

[skekTek]

Poshspice – Absolutely amazing as usual! The only thing I can say is, I don’t see the P.I. aspect so far. Or am I just being silly?
Mulm – Great concept! Hope to see more!
rushwolf – I really like the char here! I hope you find time to finish this.
pepps – Liking the char so far!
DIMAGYAN – Nice sketch!
doomstagg – Nice sketch. One thing I could suggest, reguarding anatomy, is to get it down and figured out before any details go into the figure. That’s something I had to overcome myself. Getting stuck in the details.
vineris – Nice concept here! Can’t wait to see more! Thanks for the crits!
Bryno – Nice sketch!
D@niel – Beautiful work! He reminds me of a series of books of a vampire P.I. I can’t for the life of me remember the title though, I hate that!
bevis – Great sketch! Like the gadgets a lot!
dan liimatta – So far so good with the sketches. Can’t wait to what comes of this.
davidherd – I love the fact there’s a lot going on with this char! Thanks for the crits too!
dwinbotp – Awesome work! Love the third eye and rough personality! Thanks for the crits (and I love zombies as well)!
Eleventy – Nice start with very dramatic lighting!
Ajene – Nice sketch. Not finished enough to crit though.
Zilrion – Great char and atmosphere. Reference is not such a bad thing especialy for a pose as difficult as this one.
AhChu – Good start here.
KPMcCard – Good start but I don’t see the “investigator” aspect yet.
ferrousJack – Nice work! Looks like he’s coming down with a bad case of Cthulhuitis. Nothing a bowl of soup and an exorcism wont cure. Thanks for the crits!
Nikola Marinkovic – Your char is looking good so far. I like the bird’s eye view.
Mimer – Good work so far. Simple yet precise.
Mara644 – Man! If he walked in like that I’d have the same reation as the ghosts! Nice dramatic pose just watch the hand sizes.
Inkfish – Stunning work! This char has real…um character. Love the details involved.
NateShaw – So far so good!
MJ Alcazar – Nice work so far! Watch out breaking the boarder with the gun. Thanks for the comments!
ChaoticKnight – Beautifully done! Love the textures and that (gulp!) eye!
fury03 – Nice atmosphere and char work. Well done!
shannanigan – Love the comic theme you got going! Can’t wait to see this finished! Thanks for the crits too!
Pixeltuner – Great color and energy here! The hands look a little big but I’m guessing that’s part of the style your going for.
Joey-b – Looking good! Almost there! One thing I noticed is his fingers are out of proportion to each other.
skorpi – Lookin good so far.
ARRGH! – Nice work so far. Not sure whats going on yet.
Markusthebarbarian – The setting and mood is briliant! Love your attention to detail. Looks like a historical piece. Paranormal P.I.s of the past, only on A&E.
Angel Intheuk – I love it! She looks like she’s truly annoyed by her gift. Good work!
/ev – This is beautiful. Great work so far.
Jason Snair – How did Alen Lee get in this ChoW? Great concept here! I like the postcard/photo boarder myself.
The Whistler – I agree with others in saying I love his expression. The bg is really nice! I do like the arms in the other position though.
IanLlanas – I really love your rendering and lighting of this hard-boiled P.I.! Personaly, you could add the tattoos and such just don’t overdo it. Thanks for the crits!
Sulk-Sal – Nice char design! Can’t wait for the coloring to begin!
smokenmirrors – Nice sketch so far!
Vorace – Love this char! Great details! He looks like an escapee of the Tunderdome LOL!
Adam Schumpert – Very actiony action! Nice lighting effects and bg textures!
Sentinel13 – This is a great piece! The addition of the second dragon was the right move (you can NEVER have too many dragons).
Wolfentir – Nice drama! I’m with you on the percentage. The b/w looks more dramatic to me. Thanks for the crits as well!
DynamiteDill – So far so good!
Crowsrock – Nice piece. The only thing I’ve noticed is that the creature seems to be floating. I know its on the ceiling but I can’t tell if it’s in a corner or against a beam. Maybe you can firm up the bg to support it’s location.
Antne – Love your style! The sketchy coloring and your lighting is awesome!
-HAWK- - Good sketch so far. Not enough to crit yet. Keep at it!
Wiggers – Somebody needs some skin cream. Nice char!
Deon – Nice work so far! The shoulders are a little off but it can be easily fixed. Move the book arm towards his chest and the thumb can be rectified with a look-see in a mirror. That should do it.
Delmar – I love this! Your pic makes me chuckle every time.
Artofinca – Great char! Love the little imp (he’s so cute…unless that’s a bad thing…Ok, he looks mean, yeah, that’s it!)
Nether – I hope you get to it too! Nice texturing work here. Thanks for the comments!
FAST ART – Love the style and painterly quality. The plump pipe poltergiest is a great idea!
blobs – This is one of those pics that make me want to curl up in the corner and cry. Stellar artwork!
agenda-b – The first thing I said when I saw this pic was,”Dangit! He used a phantom arm like I was going to!” This is a great pic!
Tommoy – Great work! Jacket looks a little big but that’s just me.
DecayingLolita – Really nice start! Love the attitude!
danielablanco – lookin good so far. The thing that jumps out at me is the lines of the wall. It dosen’t match the worm’s eye view of the char.
Felida – One thing that helps me with perspective is the old “flip the pic” trick. Other than that, a solid char piece.
Radost – Nice char! One crit would be to define the smokemaker a little more, maybe give us a sence of how it works. Other than that it’s a great pic!
DauDau – Your on the right track there. Good job!
masque – WOW!...Just WOW! I love the composition, storytelling, palette…again WOW!
GeistDel – Great sketch so far!

I hope thats everyone! If not, I appologize now.

Well, here is my latest WIP. I know the picture got away from me and turned into an illustration as opposed to a concept artwork. Oh well, whatryagonnado right?

[Joey-b]

Hey Masque u got the same as me lol, the perspective on the ground is way off, or u should creat a bench where he is sitting on, otherwise it looks kinda weird, other than that, nice man

[shannanigan]

Well... poking along here. I'm going to have to bust my butt over the weekend!

I was playing around with halftones for color but it wasn't coming out they way I wanted, so might just keep it simple color instead.

[FerrousJack]

And I'm spent. Thanks for the comments, ladies and gentlemen.

[Delmar]

Fast Art....Man that's tight!

Thr last Wip for me.....almost done. I tuned down the big monster in the bg...i think this works better.

[Tommoy]

Skektek, your right about the big jacket, but underneath he's wearing an armor for extra protection, see final;)

[Mark Tarrisse]

Thanks for the comments guys, here's my nearly final, I'll maybe add some more details, I've add some colors, don't know if it's good :S well here it is...

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y192/markus_the_barbarian/EG_Brownstone_WIP05b.jpg

[Desero]

Been watching CA for a while never posted or joined till now. Be gentle this is my first time.
Here is my Brown Stone guy, person, dude. Gee, I hope this thing worked....

[DauDau]

Desero, it works really well, I think. Granted, I'm a n00b. Only thing, I'd tweak, is the eyes. I feel like he should see better or have clearer eyes. But that may only be me.

[Sentinel.]

Thanks for the comments everyone! I'm still thinking it doesn't really fit with the topic - I'm not quite sure how to bring it around so he actually looks like a private investigator. But it's fun, so... :D

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z78/sentinel13_7/sentinel13chow148wip4.jpg

Still lots to do!

[masque]

I'm not quite sure how to bring it around so he actually looks like a private investigator.It's tough to do without either embracing at least some of the cliches (valid way to go if it's done with wit and style, imo), or by assuming the role is a given and doesn't necessarily require portrayal, which can be risky in terms of fulfilling the brief.

Nice image going, btw, very Fu Manchu.


@ Joey-b -- not the same, really, but some similar concepts, great minds running in parallel tracks, eh? :D This happens a fair amount in ChOW, where so many folks are dealing with the same basic subject. The fun part is seeing all the different treatments.

[skorpi]

Fast technique WIP

[DauDau]

Updating. I'm grasping at straws with the ghost ideas. Got a bit silly. Still tough w the body.

EDIT: Moved the nailbiting ghost forward and removed halo's. Works better.

EDIT 2: Added a simple background with a little color. Keeping everything simple, right now.

EDIT 3: Sunday: Long way to go. Thank you for the crit. :-) Still working on basic color.

EDIT 4: Sunday. Used distinctive brushes for the circles. Not sure if that's okay. Hope so. (From Obsidian Dawn) Still struggling. Hope to get to at least a half decent stage before deadline.

EDIT 5: Deleting and replacing again. Another WIP.

EDIT 6: Brain starting to feel fried... Not sure what is best ... Ed 5 or 6. Leaving both color versions up for now.... Still have a ton of details to do etc.

[NateShaw]

nearly there.

[Pixeltuner]

update. expanded canvas, changed the foreshortening on the arm. trying some things with texture.

[mimer]

the sleuth, updated, not sure if ill manage a final, but its still fun :)

[dwinbotp]

almost forgot about posting. Great stuff from everyone:) GL to all too!

[Deon]

skekTek - thanks, bud, crits noted!
Still going...WIP:

[masque]

Looking good, dwinbotp, cool touches on his trenchcoat and the she-ghost. Don't forget about posting in the Final Burning, too! :D

Deon, I like your PI (and his dawg) a lot, but it looks a bit like the lens frame is empty, maybe add a reflection/highlight?

[Desero]

Desero, it works really well, I think. Granted, I'm a n00b. Only thing, I'd tweak, is the eyes. I feel like he should see better or have clearer eyes. But that may only be me.

DauDua, thank you for the coment. Beginner or not it is quite valuable to me.
Yeah, I was concerned about that too. Little did I know that a purple/orange pallete turns into mud and I couldn't find a good contrast balance in the face so ended up going with a quick fix and outlining parts of the face with black. (I was loath to do this since I hate using pure black in a painting) That helped deliniate the features of the face with the unfortunate sacrafice of the strenght in the eyes. Do you think I should've kept the eyebrow over the left eye?

[MJ_Alcazar]

Deon - love your PI and all his equipment. And his dog!
Pixeltuner - I think his right arm should be smaller.
Sentinel13 - loving your image. I'm not really sure what you could do to bring into looking like a PI. To me, his pose and expression are enough.

Hope I can get this one done. Is the head still too large? I was already painting it so I just warped it down.

Really cool stuff on here.

[IIKII]

Here's my unfinished chow & i am not going to submit it. Time for learning instead.

599589

[Daniela Blanco]

I don;t know if I'm really going to have time for finishing it.....
So for now I'm considering it as my almost final..........
It was really fun.....and I learnt alot of things in this chow....

[Sulk-Sal]

Looks like this round is going to be another quite a something! Here's my final, though I have to think the background may end up hurting it. I want to go for something subdued and simple as to not detract from the character, but... any crits would be greatly appreciated (and those who have already have my thanks ^.^)

[Wolfentir]

uppppppppdate

not sure if i wanna go with the color or b&w. im leaning more towards the color now.

599748
599749

[-HAWK-]

Don't know if I'll finish this by the deadline, it's still sketchy and I'm still not sure if it's "interesting" enough. Either way I'll finish it up since it's been good practice.

Love everyone's pieces so far!!!

[DauDau]

DauDua, thank you for the coment. Beginner or not it is quite valuable to me.
Yeah, I was concerned about that too. Little did I know that a purple/orange pallete turns into mud and I couldn't find a good contrast balance in the face so ended up going with a quick fix and outlining parts of the face with black. (I was loath to do this since I hate using pure black in a painting) That helped deliniate the features of the face with the unfortunate sacrafice of the strenght in the eyes. Do you think I should've kept the eyebrow over the left eye?

Both work. As it is now, you have added extreme light to that side, and he looks a little like he might be scarred. In my opinion. I tested what it would look like, by painting in an eyebrow and making the eye colors (irises) more alike. That would look good too.

It all depends on what story you want to tell. What you want to show. I'm really out of my depth on this, because color and shadow is a huge weakness of mine. I still have a lot to learn, and you are better than me.

Best of luck.

[skorpi]

Sentinel13: Looks very promising. You're right, he dosn't look like the cliche private investigator, but, does he have to? He's analysing an evidence, so he's doing private invetigator activity.
DauDau I love this balloons
NateShaw Cool, it looks a bit like a mysterious painting.
Pixeltuner I like your colors and the pose, but your pic looks chaotic, I don't know where to look first.
mimer Like his facial expression.
dwinbotp Great pic, he's so good looking
Deon He seems to tilt on the right but else great pic. I love the details.
MJ_Alcazar Nice design, take a looks on his left hand, the fingers look a bit strange.
IIKII Like his face
danielablanco The moon is to sharp, looks like he's direct behind Your detctiv. Try to smoothen the border.
Sulk-Sal Nice design but I had some seconds to understand it. Pherharps you can make the crime scene clearer or the lines hehind fairer.
Wolfentir The colorversion looks better
-HAWK- I think, the girl is to eye catching for CHOW but else interesting pic.

Mine is almost done. Any critic before I post m final?

[blackrobin]

FAST ART : wow!

[daestwen]

Sulk-Sal: right now his 'projection' thing looks like it's printed on his shirt. You might want to fiddle with this.

[DauDau]

Question about brushes. Ready made ones, that I didn't create. Is it okay to use them for other than backgrounds?

I update my wip's further up on this page. Used some circles for effect.

[bumskee]

nice work all! :)
i am going for more realistic approach.. 0_o

600204

600206

[Jason Snair]

Final & Wips

[Sulk-Sal]

Thanks skorpi and daestwen! I played with it a bit and hopefully this is more clear.

skorpi - I like the highlights the neon sign puts on the characters, but you may want to tweak it a bit more. It's very strong and I feel that my eye is drawn to it.

Jason Snair That is a great way to post wips. Not much else I can say about it.

[DeeLock]

My WIP, probably won't finish it...:(

Wanted him to look a litte...off, but i think i lost that feel from the drawing to the painting.

Good practice though.

[-HAWK-]

skorpi - thanks! ^^ I'll keep that in mind next time, I've never really done a composition with multiple characters in it before so I guess I'll have to start experimenting with ways to create focus on individuals in a group. Thanks again for the critique, I'm off to practice some more but I'll be back for one of the coming CHOW's, hopefully a little better for it :)

[MJ_Alcazar]

I'm just about done. I wanted to put it here first though. Any last minute changes you see would help. I tried to fix the hand, hopefully it looks a lot less weird now. Also, I tried to set it up like a lot of the old Pulp Fiction novel covers I've seen. If the lettering is too distracting, please tell me so I can go and correct it. I'm not sure about it.

[Deon]

masque - thanks! - glass inserted! :)
MJ Alcazar - hehe - thanks - a good PI needs a dog! - I like that your guy is beat up - not sure about the type either - I think maybe it doesn't feel like it fits the design at this point.
skorpi - good spot - too late though, I think:(

[MJ_Alcazar]

Thanks Deon, I'll play around with different type and see if I can get it to work out. If not, I'll just go with a normal border.

skorpi - i'm really liking your image, and the red highlights from the sign look great. But, right now, I feel like your eye immediately goes to the light and leads off.

[shannanigan]

Also, I tried to set it up like a lot of the old Pulp Fiction novel covers I've seen. If the lettering is too distracting, please tell me so I can go and correct it. I'm not sure about it.


MJ... I have a few suggestions to finish off your piece here.

Fonts... Times New Roman is a little mundane for the subject. You should check out the link Jason gave me earlier, http://www.dafont.com. Lots of interesting fonts there, maybe a cool 1970's font. I would also put "EG Brownstone" on one line, and PI underneath in a larger size, different font just to be more dynamic... and move your name to the bottom right corner.

Font Colors... instead of introducing a new, bright color use some of the colors in the character... the faded blue denim, dark orange shirt, purple in the scarf. So it blends better.

The background is rather plain for a book cover... maybe some simple misty ghosts swirling around... simple and quick, yet effective to make it look complete.


EDIT: Super sloppy paint over... I know yours will be way better. :D

[DauDau]

I'm beat. I won't be able to do any more on my guy. I doubt it's good enough to make the cut, but at least it's not just a sketch anymore. I do feel good about that.

To avoid double posting the image, I guess, I should just add it to the Finals thread. Hope it's not too late.

[ErikStorstein]

Wont bother submitting mine as I failed terribly at the anatomy part :P and I don't have time to fix it up now :) but I'll share it for fun.

[eth777]

Would like to get some feedback if possible.
I keep doing challenges, but never manage to turn them in :)
this one was the closest I've gotten to complete, figured it was worth a drop in here to see how I did.

Thanks, hopefully I'll get one finished up in time next week.

Eth

[daestwen]

Hey guys, just a reminder note, but like I said at the beginning of the week, all deadlines are now monday afternoon, eastern pacific (aka GMT - 5) around 3 pm. Thanks!

[Zaxser]

Hey guys, just a reminder note, but like I said at the beginning of the week, all deadlines are now monday afternoon, eastern pacific (aka GMT - 5) around 3 pm. Thanks!

Lies!

DEADLINE
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22nd, 2009
Deadline is Sunday, at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5).

From the first post.

[daestwen]

You didn't even bother reading the whole first page.

From there:

Hey guys, Quick Announcement!


As you may have noticed, Oregano decided to phase himself out of Chow in early December. He isn't gone forever, he just needs a break from this place for a while. I've been running it by myself for the last few months, but boy, you guys sure aren't making it easy! The last few weeks Chow has been ridiculously popular. :]

So, I'm enlisting a small amount of official help, from someone you know very well.

Poshspice has agreed to help me out around Chow.

I will still be doing most of it, but Posh will be helping me with doing the selection for poll, as well as helping me reply to PMs and the like (I'm starting to not be able to reply to all of them).

So please say Thank You to Posh for agreeing to help out, and treat him well! :]


THIS ALSO MEANS ALL DEADLINES ARE PUSHED TO MONDAY AT 3:00 pm, [GMT -5/Eastern Standard]

At least do your homework before calling me a liar.

[Zaxser]

You didn't even bother reading the whole first page.

From there:



At least do your homework before calling me a liar.

I didn't mean it seriously. My apologies.

Why didn't you edit the first post?

[daestwen]

I didn't mean it seriously. My apologies.

Why didn't you edit the first post?

Because it happens almost every week and most people are used to it. :P

The round i just posted has the adjustment in the original post.

[Nikola Marinkovic]

I didn't made it. :(
I was too busy these days...
Hope I'll manage to do next one.
Great entries evryone. :)

[DauDau]

I actually read that post with the new deadline and managed NOT to read the part IN BOLD. Ugh. Yes, I am finding it hard to focus...

I would love to add the tattoo's on my guy. They're the whole reason that he's bare chested. If I make it in time, I will remove the pic in the Finals thread and replace it. I hope that is okay.

[vineris]

Looks like I won't get this one done in time -- too many things were going on this past week, and the extension isn't going to help me 'cause I'm going to work now.

601087

I think I'll keep working on it, though, so crits are still appreciated. :)

And good job everyone else! There's always so much neat work posted in the CHOWS.

[Sean McClain]

I still did'nt finish but thought I would show it :)

[Deon]

Whoa - Darknight - I think that's awesome - maybe one of the best ideas here - it would've been cool to see it finished. It's so "Name of the Rose" - Love it. It should probably be a bit more tight on the character, though :)

[The Whistler]

Dammit. Didn't get to finish after all, had to work for my exam I had yesterday. Well, you guys did an awesome job!

[Sean McClain]

Deon. thanks man yeah I do these to compete with other artists to get better
so I am not sure if I will finish it or not. I like your style btw:)