SUPER Stylised Challenge - March 2009 - Centaur

[miss.lynette]

SUPER Stylised Challenge - March 2009 - Centaur

Welcome to the SUPER Stylised Monthly Challenge – Sponsored by 3DTotal.com and 2DArtist Magazine (http://www.2dartistmag.com). Please post all images & questions in this thread.

IMPORTANT: By entering this challenge you give 3DTotal.com Ltd. permissions to reproduce the submitted material in 2DArtist Magazine and all subsequent editions of the Work (by which we mean 2DArtist), its ancillaries, and other derivative works, in any form or medium, whether now known or hereafter developed, in all languages, for distribution throughout the world. 3DTotal.com Ltd will credit each artist accordingly, providing they email lynette@3dtotal.com with their full name, conceptart.org name, email address and website (if applicable).

Please avoid going down the route of the Chronicles of Narnia Centaur characters, or any other existing Centaur characters - please go for something new and original to avoid any issues with copyrights!

So what is this challenge all about?
Each month we will select a title for the Super Stylised Challenge, and we'll post some images for you to use as reference. The title is there to be interpreted as and how you wish. All you have to do then is to think up your concept, paint it, and create a final 2D image of this in your own way!

This regular monthly challenge is designed to bring in some great content for 2DArtist Magazine – in the form of final images from the Top Ten and Making Ofs from the top 3 winners – as well as some great prizes and exposure just for you!

What are we looking for?
Funny and humorous entries which interpret the title of the Super Stylised Challenge however you see fit. We’re pretty much leaving everything open for your interpretation and stylisation!! All we ask is that the title of the Super Stylised Challange is instantly recognisable in your final image! All you have to do then is to render your stylised/abstract/cartoon masterpiece and you’re away!

What are the timeframes and requirements?
The rules are pretty laid back: please submit 1 x 2D Final Image. If you want to have a background or include some graphical elements or text on your image, it's entirely up to you. Image posts should be around 800 pixels across, but please work at a much higher res as the top 10 will be featured in 2DArtist Magazine (http://www.2DArtistmag.com) and we'd like the winner's image to be used as the article cover!

NEW: Please aim to create your final images, and save your WIPS, at resolutions of around 2000 pixels upwards, to ensure that when you images are published they are high quality. Any screebshots are understandably going to be screen resolution (72dpi), so simply capture those as large as you can when saving out your WIP stages.

There will be 1 challenge per month, with the deadline being the end of the month GMT. A 'VOTING' thread will be created at the end of the month.

For a valid entry, you must make sure your final image is posted in both the WIP thread before the end of the month - 31st March 11:59PM GMT - and then in the 'VOTING' thread before the 8th April 2009. Voting will take place from the 8th April to the 15th April 2009, when the winners will be announced!

We require the top 3 winners to submit 'Making Of' overview articles that will be shown on either 3DTotal or in 2DArtist Magazine (http://www.2DArtistmag.com); these need to show the stages of your creation, different elements and some brief explanation text of why, and how, you did what you did. We will format this into some nice-looking pages to give you some great exposure, and us some quality content. This will serve as some great exposure for you which, along with your prizes, is a pretty cool incentive to get involved!

Everyone has to post their FINAL image in the WIP thread before the end of the month deadline (31st March 11:59PM GMT), as well as their WIPs during the month. You then have to post it (exactly the same final image) again in the VOTING thread. This means there is a very clear deadline: no-one can work after the end of the month and the VOTING thread still exists as before, as this is a nice clean thread with final images only which is used for the judging!

Posting Works in Progress
Each challenge will have one thread that starts with this info and the brief at the top. This is where all entrants post all WIPs, give feedback, and generally laugh at the crazy ideas that are emerging each month!

Please don't start any new threads – just reply to this one already set up!

Prizes!!
1st Place Any 3 items from the 3DTotal Shop (http://shop.3DTotal.com). We sell lots of items these days, such as our book (http://www.3DTotal.com/book/), Design Studio Press books (http://www.3DTotal.com/design%5Fstudio%5Fpress/), textureCDs (http://www.3DTotal.com/textures/), Shorts DVDs (http://www.3DTotal.com/shorts/), lots of training DVDs (http://www.3DTotal.com/training/), and 12 month subscriptions to 2DArtist Magazine (http://www.2DArtistmag.com) and 2DArtist Magazine (http://www.2dartistmag.com).

2nd Place
Any 2 items from the 3DTotal Shop (http://shop.3DTotal.com).

3rd Place
Any 1 item from the 3DTotal Shop (http://shop.3DTotal.com).

We do unfortunately have to limit prizes to 1 book per winner per challenge, due to high postage costs for heavier items. Please note that we cannot offer the 3D Printed models as prizes!

Judging
New Voting Rules and Restrictions
1. In order for your vote to be valid, your post count must be 50 or above AND you must have been registered on the ConceptArt.org forums for at least 6 months. The ONLY exception to this rule is if you have contributed an entry yourself to the challenge.
2. If you want to vote but are not a contributor of the challenge, you need to have been registered on the ConceptArt.org Forums for at least the last six months, AS WELL AS have 50 posts already to your name.
3. It goes without saying that all voters MUST look through each of the entries before posting their score.
4. Finally, don't vote for yourself or get your friends to vote for you in an attempt to influence votes, it's not an attractive quality.
5. The 3DTotal team are all able to vote from their CA.org accounts some of us have fewer than 50 posts but we know who we are!

We will award 3pts for a 1st place vote, 2 for 2nd and 1 for 3rd. Then we will add them up and ship out your prizes!


This month we have chosen Centaur!
Please avoid going down the route of the Chronicles of Narnia Centaurs or any other existing Centaur characters - please go for something new and original to avoid any issues with copyrights!

http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/main-small.jpg
©iStockphoto.com/Loren File

Here is a selection of Images from a simple Google search to give you some good references for this month’s brief!
Centaur 01 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/01.jpg) -- *contains female nudity*
Centaur 02 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/02.jpg)
Centaur 03 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/03.jpg)
Centaur 04 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/04.jpg)
Centaur 05 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/05.jpg)
Centaur 06 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/06.jpg)
Centaur 07 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/07.jpg)
Centaur 08 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/08.jpg)
Centaur 09 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/09.jpg)
Centaur 10 (http://www.2dartistmag.com/challenge_resources/28_mar09_Centaur/references/10.jpg)

Please don't start new threads: all design sketches, WIPs, feedback should go in this thread! Final Images should be posted in the 'VOTING' thread, which will be created at the end of the month.

Enjoy! :)



Lynette - 2DArtist (http://www.2dartistmag.com)

[Macaruba]

Centaurs, Cool, I used to love the old Greek mythology books in the school library when I was a teenager many years ago.

I'm looking forward to this one now too.


Cheers
Macaruba
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3129555287_10c4a40b56_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)

[dmarshallarts]

Nice one!...Centaur 01 image stood out to me for some reason!! lol

[miss.lynette]

Nice one!...Centaur 01 image stood out to me for some reason!! lol


Haha, I bet! ;) Looking forward to what everyone comes up with :)

[RenéK]

first sketches!

[cocou]

first sketch - a samurai centaur :}

[Cookiedough]

Miss.Lynette:
Are we limited to horses or are other animals (giraffes, zebras etc) also allowed (so humanoid and animal bodies)? And, is interpreting horse as iron horse (motorcycle, car, bike) allowed?

[Viridis]

I was just doing some centaur sketches. Definitely one of my favorite mythical creatures. :D I'm in.

[Oritey]

Hi again!)
I decided to participate too)
here are my ideas of centaur.

610412
610414

[Oritey]

i tried to detail last one..and it appeared that some people don't see the clear picture of a double centaurus...my idea is to show DEMON AND ANGEAL at one body of centaur - she likes to fly and he fears...what do you think? is it clear here?
610748

[MurdokX]

nice start! love the energy oritey

[Joey-b]

little sketchup

[marcuswelbey]

Hi people!
I have some ideas to this new challenge, there are two roughs that I like.
Nice works this month.

marcuswelbey

II Lions -WILD GRAPHICS-
http://www.2lions.blogspot.com

[albertocubatas]

http://i40.tinypic.com/j15wlc.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/i2jak0.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/t845ee.jpg

[bstsk]

Nice Job, MarcusWelbey!, I like both of them, tough desition!
Count me in, good luck everyone!

[ruth2m]

I like soo much your sketches marcus ^^
the child are so dinamic and diferent

there are lot of good jobs!! nice topic!!

Here you are my sketches
I´m not sure about which of them choose :P
maybe I could draw some kind of monsters that can be trapped her using ropes and she is attacking them to defend herself

[The Antarctican]

Renék Great centaur. Love the pose on the first one.

Oritey The idea of Devil and Angel Centaurs is excellent. I've not seen that done before.

MarcusWelbey Lovely pencil work great sense of muscle on your centaurs.

Not sure if I'm allowed to go for a kind of Cyborg Centaur? I was kind of imagining what the 'Machines' would do from Terminator had they used human historical references for types of battle strategy. Still early stages.

[liransz]

great start people! marcuswelbey i like the child, ruth nice one wait to see it finish, antartican i like the feet of the horse very much.
i think ill participate in this one

[MurdokX]

Alberto- love the 3rd one, If the sword is a more stronger angle line,
not curving, it will help have the sense of strenght compositionally.

Ruth2m- Compositionally the 3rd one is the best, a little larger will help

The antartican- i like the shapes, the right leg and the left front leg should intersect, it just seems a tangent.


What you guys think, maybe its a not a centaur ;/

[Oritey]

MurdokX - i think the idea with ....a human in a mouth rather creative)
The Antarctican - the shape of yours horse part is my favorite style)
albertocubatas - why if you chose this one with HUGE hands and exagerate it more? smth like a very huge man part and small horse body - this can be funny)))

i've now realise why artists like to draw horses - they are really beautifull! starting to learn horse anatomy ...this is awasome animal!

[miss.lynette]

great concepts from all - fantastic!! looking forward to this challenge even more so now - keep it up everyone :)

[Urih_pta2]

the antarctican nice start

[albertocubatas]

http://i39.tinypic.com/2s99jpy.jpg

[marcuswelbey]

Hi there!
Good starting, nice works. ruth, so dinamic ladys. And good anatomy work in your sketches, oritey.

good challenge everyone!

marcuswelbey

http://www.2lions.blogspot.com/
http://two2lions.deviantart.com/

[Enosh B]

Here's my piece. :)

[rvdtor]

some starting sketches
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3221/cent.jpg

[Chuck,mate.]

what a great topic...!
and some really nice roughs so far.

though I`m still not sure everyone here knows what "stylized" means...
ho well. :)

good luck to all.


P.

[Urih_pta2]

I don't have time this moth but if I can, I make this "centaur". Basketballplayergirafe :P jejej

[soniatka]

:steph: sketch a more

[MurdokX]

heres almost done...wip wat u think

[MurdokX]

here is an update...

[Oritey]

somebody - shoot me!:davi:
i tried to keep real horse anatomy...but i broke my mind to keeping it in the right way and decided not to do real anatomy now...ah.may be will do another design..
Urih_pta2 - giraffe - is smth unusual! great idea))
MurdokX - i can't sleep now)))
615059

[leuparaleu]

Hi guys. First sketch. I'm thinking centaur-jockey-racer-victorian kinda guy. What do you think ?

615099

[miss.lynette]

Stunning sketches, rvdtor! :)

[Urih_pta2]

I have liked the idea and I have not been able to wait to have time for making it jejeje :afroboy:

[bstsk]

Great Idea, Love the color scheme, UrihPta2 :)

[liransz]

murdokx like yours very much
urihpta2 like the legs a lot

[the_original_sean]

i like the giraffe the best. here's where i'm at. it's gonna look like a logo.

[Oritey]

Urih_pta2 - that is the best of the best of the bestest centaur!

[the_original_sean]

this is my first time using illustrator. hard.

i'm gonna have something in the crest where it's grey. any advice on anything?

[freddydark]

hello, a greeting to all, especially people direla, jeje ... this month is all very cool and I like the subject leave my WIP

[MurdokX]

freddy love the mood and you have an environment! ah
might do a finishing move tommorow morning...

[The Antarctican]

MudokX - I really love what you've done with your Centaur. It really feels Tribal and ancient and with the idea of being monstrous! Fantastic. Some of your shading and colouring is really giving it life. Brilliant stuff.

Urih_pta2 As ever you're characterization is superb. That guy feels like we know him already. Love the headband. I like your rendering too.

(2nd concept)

[albertocubatas]

http://i41.tinypic.com/2dr7tj6.jpg

[Chate Noire]

ReneK - it's a nice start, but not really stylized. Looks like it's going in a pretty straight, realistic direction. I'd watch out for the white highlights and black shadows - they give a muddy feeling to the image; try using light, warm colors for lighting and some cold colors like blue or purple for shadows.

cocou - cool direction. Horses are an inseparable part of the Samurai look, and here they actually are...inseparable. Pose is nice, but here too I feel this is going in a pretty realistic direction with no real stylization.

Joey-b - I like the idea (I'm helpless against My Little Pony), and the pose is is really nice, only his right arm should maybe turn slightly more away from us. If you're going for that contrast between strong and feminine, think about taking his horse body to either direction - make it more masculine and let only the pink and hearts suggest otherwise, or make it even softer and more Pony-like so the difference between the human body and horse body is stronger.

ruth2m - the 3rd pose is quite dynamic, although I'd make the horse part a little bigger (or human part - smaller). I hope you continue this.

marcuswelbey - a really cute centaur :) The sketchy version had really goodlooking lines, I hope you maintain that flowing quality in the final piece. Judging by the WIP, I think you should tone down the background a little so it doesn't collide with the character (especially that orange patch) and make the white haze a lot more subtle. I also liked your first centaur; he has a nice combination of manly-and-cool with young-and-inexperienced.

Enosh - hey, nice to see you here :) It's a cute piece, the contrast between the heavy armor and the silly horse making it quite amusing. I'd work a little more on the front legs, since they're somewhere between "silly" horse anatomy and human legs with hooves. I hope you color this one.

rvdtor - I'm not sure if you meant it, but the slim, elongated look of the centaur on the right works wonderfully in my opinion. It's a refreshing take on the bulky war horse that is your everyday centaur, and with the right stylization could make an aweomse character.

soniatka - Really nice, flowing lines. The contrast between the sweet and pretty female centaur and the violent act is interesting. Looking forward to the final work.

Oritey - It's very dynamic and dramatic pose, but I'm not sure I understand what's going on. Is it a centaur with 2 human bodies? While the rendering seems to be going rather well, I really liked the lines you showed on page 1. The girl's expression is also better in that version in my opinion. It makes the illustration less confusing and more amusing.

leuparaleu - It's a cute idea, but since you're still in sketch phase, don't forget this is a *stylized* challenge. I usually think about it like this: can this character fit into a Disney/Pixar/Cartoon Network feature? Animation usually has great stylization because you simply can't draw a realistic human or animal and have it show emotion and move realistically at 24 frames per second. You have to find the essence of that character and convey it with exactly the right lines. That's stylization as far as I understand it.

Urih pta2 - awesome character :) The combination of human and giraffe works wonderully, up to the point where I can't tell for sure if the face is a slightly human giraffe or a somewhat giraffe-like human. Also lovely colors. And I just noticed the number :) Cute touch.

the original sean - nice, very graphic. I know it's supposed to be like a coat-of-arms design, but I wish we could see more of the centaur. Nice lines anyway.

freddydark - very pretty illustration, and well done for the effort! The anatomy on both horse and human bodies looks great, and you rendered it really nicely, especially the male. There might be a little too much saturated purple on their bodies, so much that it doesn't look like shadow-purple but rather like their skin is actually that color. And once again, as nice as it is as an illustration, I don't feel it's very stylized.

MurdokX - interesting idea, and the robotic (?) part has a cool look. Not sure it's what I would call a "stylized centaur", but I guess thsi challenge is quite open for interpretation.

Antarctican - very cute concept and nice stylization. I love how elegant his horse part is, and the pose is great. I'm thinking maybe he could get some more focus, seeing as he's the main subject.

albertocubatas - Nice lines, and good sense of movement. It's a difficult angle and you're pulling it off quite well. The cutting of his legs is a little too harsh in my opinion; maybe if you showed his front hooves, the hind legs would be ok as they are. I also think it could be a good idea to stretch the canvas a little to the right, since that's where they're heading.

Here's my go, and if I don't finish this by the deadline I'm going to kick myself.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y131/chatenoire/super_stylized_centaur_1.jpg

[Chuck,mate.]

Chate Noire - ha! now this is what I called a Stylized Centaur... :)
the design is fantastic. great pose.
I love her face and her overall attitude very much.
can`t wait to see where you take this one.



P.

[Enosh B]

Here's my piece, again. Now with more color. :sungod:

[soniatka]

Chate Noire thanks for your coment:steph:

[soniatka]

:steph:

[The Antarctican]

Chate Noire Thank you for the comments. You're absolutely right I do have to focus more on the Centaur. Cheers.
In reference to your sketch, might I by so bold as to say the Centaur's left front leg looks a little basic compared to the other legs. That would be my only minor quibble. Otherwise it's looking freeking awesome though. I hope you finish it. I was looking forward to your Cyclops but I see you didn't include it in the final voting. Pity - you had my vote.
Cheers again for the comments.

[Urih_pta2]

Thank you very much for the comments. Happiness from some works that there are for here.
Chate Noire - really beautiful character, I have desires to see the color, thanks for the comment.
Fredydark - de puta madre el color ;)
Oritey - the way is so cool, I like the scene
MurdokX - I Like the concept, nice colors
rvdtor - I like see more of your work, the first sketches are really good
Soniatka - nice style and color
...

sorry for no comment more, I don't have more time, tomorrow I upload my wip. Thanks!

(sorry for my english)

[albertocubatas]

Chate Noire

Thanks The centaur it will draw any point what in a4 I still have me a small xD

[ruth2m]

oooh thanks so much for your comments chate noire
I really like your character, can't wait to see the color!!

[erik-jan v/d schuur]

Time to compete at a contest
here are the centaur sketches

[ruth2m]

another sketch a bit more advanced
I finally decided for the front view because I could give more detail in that

[liransz]

i was nor going to take part on this one as im seen a lot of great looking concepts... but finally i decided.
here is my wip... a very fat hindu centaur.
618245

[rvdtor]

thanks! Chate Noire but you mean the sketched out one? i though it was a bit too realistic maybe the horse anatomy and such...so i tried to go a bit more stylized...does it work? or no?

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/5581/centaur.jpg

[Lior Schiller]

I wanted to ask, what exactly does stylized means?

[ruth2m]

mmm I like so much yours rvdtor
it seems like a fashion centaur ^^

[erik-jan v/d schuur]

`Tipa i think, it means how you design a character what clothing does it
wear? what attitude has it? whats he doing? etc.

[bstsk]

Great work everyone!

Urih pta2: Great stylization, nice color scheme.
Ruth2m: I like it a lot. I liked the third one you presented best though.
Renek: Can´t make myself an opinion yet, hoe you finish it!
cocou: I think your centaur lacks armor in his horse part, I mean, as it is now, it´s like he didn´t care enough for half of his body to wear armor. But again, it´s on it´s early stages, so it could develope in lots of directions yet.
Oritey: I love your rendering, yet I can´t understand the subject. From what you tell us, it´s a mix of creatures, yet it´s very confusing, since it looks like a mèlee. It´s a very hard subject you tackled, I´m waiting to see it finished!
Joey-b You could make him a little more stylized.
Marcuswelbey: Nice sketches, let´s see the colored version!
Anctartican: Nice anatomy, like coucou, I think you´re separing too much his two body parts. I guess with this one, we all tend to think in two separate beings attached, like they could be stitched one to the other, and I think a centaur would be a different being, just with a different shape. He´d manufacture centaur armor, not just use the human parts that fitted.
But then again, that´s just my viewpoint in the subjects. By the way, I like better your first sketch.
MurdokX: It´s a little static for my taste, but the Idea is good.
leuparaleu: I don´t have an opinion yet... still sketch stage.
the original sean: I think you´re a little off target, since yours looks more like a logotype than a illustration. I like the coloring.
freddydark: Great to see you here! You improved a lot your rendering since last time. Colour scheme seems a little recurrent for you, maybe you could explore other gammas. The "centauress?" face is a little inexpressive for the situation, maybe some sweat on her would improve the storytelling?
albertocubatas: Hard perspective, the girl seems about to fall.
Chate Noire: She´s got attitude, (and maybe a newage shop in the woods?) Love it!
Enosh b: There´s difference in the treatment you gave to the background and the character, and the illustration suffers, but I know it´s not finished yet, so that comment doesn´t really matter.
Soniatka: Maybe there´s too much noise in the background. I like the character though. By the way, what did she cut the head with?
rvdtor: Nice! you took the stylized concept to almost streamlined concept, hahaha. Is she a proffesional centaur modell?
liransz: In one word: Bizarre :)

http://www.ffilustracion.com/centauro8.jpg

[The Antarctican]

Great work everyone!
Anctartican: Nice anatomy, like coucou, I think you´re separing too much his two body parts. I guess with this one, we all tend to think in two separate beings attached, like they could be stitched one to the other, and I think a centaur would be a different being, just with a different shape. He´d manufacture centaur armor, not just use the human parts that fitted.
But then again, that´s just my viewpoint in the subjects. By the way, I like better your first sketch.


bstsk Thank you for such a concise breakdown. Very good of you to do so. In part I agree with what you've said, which is why I chose to move away from the cyborg centaur, the horse part, in the cyborg 'style' would just disappear when trying to capture the 'metal' aspect of it's construction. So I opted for something different and far more stylized.

Your piece is stellar! Nice rich colours and beautifully stylized by the way. His face is great. One thing though with the colours the way they are at the moment it's feeling like the rear left leg is missing. I think the tones on the muscle between right leg and left leg are too similar - any chance of maybe a subtle highlight on the right rear leg to bring it forward a little more... Regardless it's very impressive and I love the anatomy. Great work.

[The Antarctican]

I wanted to ask, what exactly does stylized means?

Tipa. It's a difficult thing to pin down into any particular formula, however really a stylized drawing is very often a refinement of an image. Both in line work and colour. Strickly speaking many of the submissions here perhaps go beyond the stylized mantra however it is open to interpretation, so you really can't enforce any one particular approach.

So for an example if you're drawing a mouse you perhaps take the very 'visual' aspects of the mouse and exaggerate them for a stlylized drawing. So the ears are maybe larger and rounder, the nose becomes more 'buttony' and shiny, and the eyes extra large with highlights. Now within that when you draw it you'd maybe refine the line work too. So you'd omit all the fur that a mouse has and just represent the basic mouse shape instead down to it's very core element.

It's really a way to convey your subject matter in as little amount of work load as possible. Mickey Mouse's head is very stylized: it's essentially three circles - two small ones on top of one larger one. Now you know it represents a mouse, but if you were to actually place mickey mouse next to a picture of a real mouse you'd see it's grossly inaccurate. Yet somehow works.

This is my take on it, but I'm sure others have a different viewpoint.

Anyway hope that helps.

[rvdtor]

ruth2m that was the effect i was going for :)
bstk hehe yea that was the idea, i like your take on it tho.. the cougar/lion half.

here's a quick update, still more work to be done on the flat background but i couldnl't wait to start on the figure.. so will flesh the rest out the next few chances i get off from schoolwork.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3038/centaur5.jpg

[liransz]

lets see waths happens...
i really would apreciatte any criticism or coments.
619062

[albertocubatas]

http://i43.tinypic.com/344cacp.jpg

[Cookiedough]

Some gorgeous entries this round. Here's mine. Process shots are a bit skewed, sorry about that:
http://home.casema.nl/dabjai/art/120centaur.jpg

http://home.casema.nl/dabjai/art/120centaurprcs.jpg

[Chate Noire]

Thanks for the kind words people :)

bstsk - that's an awesome character, and the lighting is fierce!
rvdtor - I think you took a really cool approach. The body is rocking, and maybe she can just use a little more of the same style in her face.
liransz - interesting character. Notice that right now the figure kinda blends into the background with all the light blues, patterns and texture. Try to make her pop out, whether by adding some stronger or warmer colors to her, or making the background darker for example.
Cookiedough - Very lovely palette (maybe a little too colorful?). I really like the style of the background. All the fleeing animals draw the eye away from the center of the image, mainly to the left (the tree helps too), and it takes a while to understand why they're running. Maybe one or two of them can stay around the center and cover their ears or something. I'd also consider working on the centaur's body a little to separate it from the grass and tree trunk.
Tipa - I think Antarctican's explanation is pretty much it: stylization is finding the essence of a character, creature or even object in a simplified way, one that would make it possible for say, an animator, to bring that character into life.

[Lior Schiller]

Ok, thank you for the explanations!

[liransz]

chate noir, yep you are absolutly rigth i need to work on that. thanks

[P]

Heres WIP from me, hope to finish this. I do it right?
619525

[marcuswelbey]

Hi there
great expectations in this contest, so many cool characters.
rvdtor: very nice stylized characters.
Urih: cool rude guy, great bad boy expresion.
murdokx: i like so much your tribal centaurs. So original concept of the guy in the mouth.
Chat Noire: great work of character design, anatomy, weight and balance
Btsk: I like very much the idea of the feline centaur, a composition very centred in the character stands out.
Ruth: I liked very much the complements that you her put, though the look of the character would be better looking at the aim.
Personally I am going to centre on the first design for which I'm tbecoming mad with the child centaur.
Thanks for all the coments. I expect to make prompt some more advanced sample of the work.

See you people.

[P]

Step 2, crits are very welcome
619687

[Lior Schiller]

Centaur is basically just part horse and part human:

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/9615/horsemandone0.jpg (http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=horsemandone0.jpg)

[P]

lol, tipa, great idea :D

awesome pictures all,
bstsk, urs my favorite :D

[tolgatanyel]

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i314/tolgatanyel/condeptartmays.jpg
my work

[Newman101]

hmm.. Just found this contest thingie, and Ive decided that I might like to try my hand. This is just a quick sketch that I did right after finding the challenge. Im playing around with the idea of a bison/bull centaur.

crits always appreciated. :)

[jpedro]

some awwesome work people.

bstsk, that dude is really cool :)


ChateNoir, love the pose, specially how her left hoof at the front is resting.

here's some stuff i did this week end, think i'll add some detail to her and change some stuff here and there, hope you like so far.:

[Chate Noire]

jpedro - really cute. I like the massive horse body against the feminine top. The front leg that's slightly hidden could work better if it stretched outwards a little more, kinda like the other front leg. It would create a much better silhouette for the entire character.

tolgatanyel - Nice stylization...crazy pose and lines. I feel the back arm creates a little too much of a straight angle, and the lower front leg seems smaller in comparison to the other one, and is curled towards the body in a slightly weird way. I like the colors and the concentrated lighting.

Here's a little update.

[Urih_pta2]

Awesome! very good works! nice nice nice!
I lend you my drawing more finished and with a new colleague. I would like to manage to make two teams of basket, African hervivors against predators. Although here I only believe that it presents the Giraffe.

[Newman101]

an update on mine.

[Newman101]

the third, and, for today, final. Just messing with colors at this point. probly some stuff I still need to fix/touch up but I'll come to that later :)

[Oritey]

jpedro - AWASOME work! i sooooo like such lines!!!mmmmm...
Chate Noire - Very nice horselady too!

about my previous concept - TO HELL!)))
this is new one)

620541

[Chate Noire]

Newman - I recommend you make your canvas bigger so the character has some more breathing space, and also start thinking about some value work on the background so the dark parts of the centaur don't vanish into it.

Regarding the character: the lower body seems too small in comparison with the upper body, espceially since the top is so muscular. The arm holding the axe is held very close to the body, creating a mass without any defining countour; if it was slightly away from the body it would make a better silhouette to the creature.

The axe is currently the brightest and biggest area of color, and it attracts more attention than the character. You could maybe make it smaller or less dominant. Also notice the rendering of the edge of the blade makes it look like it's a thick 3d object instead of a thin, sharp (almost flat) blade.

[Catatafish]

holy....awesome entries!



chate noire it works perfectly, pose hair and all the details O.o wow

rvdtor love your concept of the skinny model-centaur, awesome style

bstsk loving yours too, nice to see someone not taking a horse body, looks so cool


i wanted to give the topic a try too, still at the scetch ^^

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4862/stylizede.jpg

[daldbaatar]

my entry...wip...8 legged horse warrior

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/3672/centaurcopy.jpg
By Daldbaatar (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/Daldbaatar) at 2009-03-16

[bstsk]

Wow, Oritey... I wonder how he manages to eat enough for such a small body :). I guess that would be his main problem, what makes him thick... eating enough calories... kind of vampirelike, but without the elegance :).
Great twist!

[waffleKoan]

This looked like a lot of fun to me, thought I'd give it a shot! Here's a sketch and some line art - Now that I'm looking at them, I feel like the changes I made in the line art have taken away some of the dynamic pose in the sketch... maybe I'll chop it up a little. Anyway, comments certainly welcome!

Lots of nice pieces so far! bstsk - very striking, strong contrast! daldbaatar - nice touch w. the perspective, makes the figure look impressive

[Urih_pta2]

Bstsk : I expect not to cause any problem to your pumaman, friends OK jejej, very good design and the colour is brutal.
Rvdtor : I like the elegance and the colour of your centaur, she is prepared to the NY FASHION Week.
liransz : I can not say that she is beautiful jejeje perhaps one lifting, very good posture, I like the detail of the reflection.
Cookiedough : Nice ilustration, but personally, I like the pencil more. It is only my opinion;)
pijus : I like the idea, is a Chinese centaur? I have desires to see the end.
Tipa : Good idea;)
tolgatanyel :very good comb.
jpedro : who could be centaur to be able to court with your creation. I prefer this than the trol jejej. Very good the lighting! I'm loving it
Chate Noire : ifI love the posture and the look of passivity with the small sensual touch of this on his hair. I'm loving it too
Newman101 I have desires to see the result final, tea good comb.
Oritey : Brutal design, I need see the final, congratulations for the last challenge.
Catatafish jejejeje brilliant, I love the idea, you make the nuts? Jejeje great
daldbaatar a very elegant posture

sorry for my English

[Chate Noire]

Wafflekoan - Your lines are beautiful. I agree with you though, the original pose had some crazy dynamism that was really awesome.

I think this will be my final.

[Oritey]

bstsk -then i will make him eating something - to show his abilities ))
Urih_pta2 - wow! thanks! i forgot about that challenge =*)
Chate Noire - add more details and i will post it to my desktop!

[The Antarctican]

Chate Noire. Beautiful finish to your Centaur. I particularly like the fact she's pulling a curl on her hair. Great touch.

[albertocubatas]

Chate Noire Very nice the centaur, and the very handsome(pretty) colors

http://i39.tinypic.com/16iabdc.jpg

[Nadiamoon]

Here is my progress:
http://i44.tinypic.com/qxa39e.jpg

[rvdtor]

wow Chate Noire i like all your colors! the grass next to her front hooves is a bit messy but i guess thats how grass is and the hair is awesome.

Catatafish thats hilarious!

just a bit of progress from me i'm almost done

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/2497/centaur8.jpg

[ruth2m]

my english isn't very good, but I try to comment your drawings too ^^

Chate Noire. I really love your character, the colour scheme in centaur is so pretty, and the pose and details...I like it!!
Tipa. so original hehe
tolgatanyel. Great pose!!! I specially love her face
jpedro. I like so much your character, so cute and so strong..cool combination!!
rvdtor. ooh I see, so original... I like so much the lighting on horse body
albertocubatas. uauuu so details in your draw
Oritey. I love your new character, so original, different of the others...can`t wait to see the progress

There are many awesome jobs!!

There's my WIP. Hope you like it

[marcuswelbey]

Hi there!
Incredible contest, the works have a very high level, it will be difficult to distribute the points.
Jpedro, I'm charmed with your character, with this expression of innocence. And the range of colors gives her many warmth to the draw.
Catatafish, that good, you have put a smile in my face with your sketch, he is using the two simultaneously?
Daldbataar, good poses to present the character, with a light low-angle shot to accentuate his height.
Wafflekoan, very cool sketch, had a more powerful or fearsome aspect, I believe that he got lost a bit on having cleaned the line.
Chate Noire, seems to me that on having detailed the drawing has won so much, and the lighting has a few very moderate shades.
Rvdtor, your drawing has improved a heap, I am charmed with the face of the centaur and the effect stylized of the body.
Hey Ruth! The centaur is advancing step by step, I encourage! It goes for good way, I like this wild touch that has.
Personally, I have left child centaur and have been working with the idea of my first sketch, still there stays a lot of work, lighting, composition, detail ... I hope to finish it at time.

[Macaruba]

Some really great stuff this month so far.
Bit of a late start from me but I'll have a good go before the deadline.

Sketchy ideas first.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3594/3367673398_ce074cc294_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)


Cheers
Macaruba
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3129555287_10c4a40b56_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)

[The Antarctican]

Macaruba - I like the idea of the last design. It's alot of work, but it's funny.

[jpedro]

wow, so much happening in here, i dont get why my e-mail notifaction for this thread isnt working...anyways, glad i checked back.

thanks to all you good people who took the time to comment on my pic, i'm going to try and give back a bit:

MurdokX- this is quite crazy, and a little scary actually, which is a very different take, but it's also why i like it a lot. i'd just refine the anatomy of the horse body slightly, i think the back of the horse could use a bit more definition, cut in slightly at it's "shoulders" and towards the butt, that way the butt gets a bit more muscular and the line of the back going towards the hind legs is a little less straight, which i think will make it more interesting. and the front left leg is bent slightly awkwardly.

uri ptah- love the ballers, i played a bit myself back in the days hehe, ...the giraffe reminds me a lot of the "Shawn Bradley turned Alien" in Spacejam for some reason. cool stuff!

the original shawn- looks almost like logo. the crop is really tight though, and i think the index finger is a bit big.

freddydark, nice atmospheric setting you chose. i think the image would really gain if you used a bit of atmospheric perspective and with that tried to seperate fore, middle and background a bit more.

soniatka, cool design elements in there, i think her right breast is either a tad too big or going off from her body to the left a little too much, or a combo of both.

ruth2m, it's coming along great, the only mini crit i'd have is the left hoof in the front, i'd angle it backwards a bit more, and maybe make it slightly bigger as well. hope you can finish!

rvdtor, you're the Dali of the kentaur people here :)

pijus, me thinks that animal chest/belly is hanging down quite far, i'd either reduce that volume or think of a stronger design for the legs.

tolgatanyel, really like the pose, cool mohican, i'd say be careful that his biceps/upper arm which is behind the body, is not visually coming to the front too much, i hope you can finish it.

newman, i like that buffalo thing, maybe the silhouette is a bit tight because the axe is so close to the body? not sure....

oritey, cool proportions :)

Catatafish, maybe turn his head and give us an expression of relief?

waffleCoan, this looks cool, the silhouette reads a bit better in sketch1, but the clean version looks really promising as well!

ChateNoire, tahnks for your comment, i see what you mean about the fore leg, i played some with the lighting today and i think it helped making the whole read a bit better even in the old pose, but i think i'll reassess that issue before posting another progress shot.
cool to see you put in those dots on her fur again, i really loved that in your sketch. the shift of color on her back towards the violet is really beautiful.

marcuswelbey, good choice of sketch, lovely character, specially like the hair, keep going :)

oh blast...3 in the morning...hope that may have been of help,

good night folks ;) !

Jan

[ruth2m]

Thanks a lot jpedro!!
I try to fixed the body's horse and some details
thank you very much for your good advice ^^

[freddydark]

hello to all, the illustrations are incredible this month, many levels ...
thank you very much for the comments, helps me a lot to improve. I think that's why I am tired of my picture and if I get time try to change it, the 2 colgadashaber leave here if I get time to finish ... a new greeting

[miss.lynette]

WOW! Just stopped by to see how things are going - and wow! I'm so impressed! Really great work everyone, keep it up! ... Hope everyone can finish on time, I'm really looking forward to seeing these altogether at the end of the challenge - it's gonna be a close one, I imagine! Have a good weekend all :)

[albertocubatas]

freddydark Yeaa!! pedazo de trio que se va a "montar" tu minotauro jajaja

(Este si que podra decir k va a montar a caballo)

[freddydark]

albertocubatas jejeje, tienes razon es el, "descanso"? del guerreo , bueno ya se sabe los sementales y sus yeguas...jeje

[bstsk]

A bit more refinement on it, I could call it final, if not for the lack of background treatment


http://www.ffilustracion.com/centauro9.jpg

[bstsk]

Liransz: The head and arm don´t separate enough, they seem the same volume, the hair is also contributing to make that zone volumeless.
Color scheme and character design are great!

Cookiedough: Sweet idea, It lacks volume and contrast though, you could make the shadows stronger.

pijus: Can´t tell much yet, chest seems disproportionate, but then again, I don´t know what´s your final idea, too early to criticize yet.

tolgatanyel: Great picture, his right arm´s giving you some trouble, I think if you cast some hard shadow to separe it from the chest, the base colors are great, can´t wait to see it finished.

jpedro: Great! the only thing I see, is what Chate Noir told you... My favorite so far.

Chate Noire: What can I say? -gorgeous!

Newman: I like it, it seems a little small, though, being so stocky and muscular, and with the axe, reminds me of a dwarf.

Catatafish: Hilarious, Can´t wait to see your colored version!

daldbataar: Cool idea, let´s see how it takes shape.

Wafflekoan: I agree with jpedro, besides, it´s to early in it´s developement to critisize.

Albertocubatas: Your sketch improved a lot!, Maybe there are too many elements for a centaur centered image. I guess the clarity of your final illustration will depend on your use of colour, can´t wait to see it.

Nadiamoon: I think it´s understandable they´re centaurs, but I don´t really feel you´ve designed a centaur character, since you show so little of them.

rvdtor: Excellent! I love your rendering on the character! Her expression`s great!

Ruth: Looks good, dinamic pose, I have some trouble with her right arm, seems too short to me, or I can´t quite grasp the perspective. Keep going!

MarcusWelbey: Ronin Centaur? He has attitude.

Freddydark: Like it, the pink haired centaur´s right foreleg is a little strange.

Keep on everyone!

[Troubadour]

figured id put my thoughts in. im doing an Odin/Sleipnir centaur. Sleipnir was an 8 legged horse Odin rode. :B i need to think of a better pose i think

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/Punkerpirate/centaur2wip.jpg

[The Antarctican]

Just debating how much background detail to consider. Superb work from folks this month, amazing in fact. Jpedro - very impressive, wonderful hues

[rvdtor]

thanks btsk and jpedro :P
a LOT of great entries so far i see glad i decided to take part in this one.
this is the final i think if there's anything else i can work on please let me know...

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4796/centaur9.jpg

[MurdokX]

rvdtor- so surreal! love it

[blackcherry]

I haven't had time to work on anything for this months challenge sadly, but i've been watching the forum and there's some great entries here :) It's going to be a tough one to chose from. That's if i'm eligible to vote.

The_Antarcian: Love yours! The idea and design are great. I really like your characters, especially the expression on the girl. I wouldn't put too much detail into the background so the attention stays focused on the character design.

bstsk: Nice design. I like the dark feel to it and the lighting effects works well.

ruth2m: I like your female centaur, she looks kind of like a decorative statue at the moment with the grey tones (I don't mean this in a bad way). I also like the line work, the shading of her figure and the way you've painted the background so far.

rvdtor: A very skinny centaur, hehe! I like the design though. Her pose is great and I really like the horse body. Nice background too, good detail which doesn't take the attention away from your character. I also like your initial sketches.

Chate_Noire: Love the expression and pose of your character, she's great! Nice colours and background too.

Oritey: Interesting design idea with the massive lower body and little upperbody. Be cool to see where it goes. I also liked your other design with the flying centaur.

Urih_pta2: Love your ball player designs, especially the giraffe. The expression and pose are awesome and I like the bright colours.

Jpedro: I really love this, it's one of my favourites so far! Your design has such a warm, happy feel to it. I love the colours and design. She's great!

Cookiedough: A really nice illustration! I love the colours and textures in the piece. A random observation, but i think the beak of the bird on the left, where you have the dark bit could be made a bit lighter as its quite striking and could take your eye away from the central focus of the piece, the centaur. Could just be me.

Liransz: I like the colours used and the decorations on her figure. I also like the sshading of the piece and it has a nice texture to it.

soniatka: Like the design of your victorious female centaur. I like the decorations on the shield and in the background.

MurdokX: A different take on the theme, and quite dark. Has a kind of futuristic feel to it.

I don't think i've got time to comment on anymore. Great work though everyone! I look forward to seeing them all finished! :)

[Enosh B]

Here's my piece again. I'll be happy to hear ideas about the background.

[Troubadour]

Nadiamoon: i love your style and the saturated colors, i hope you continue this :P

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/Punkerpirate/centaurwip4.jpg

take two

update:

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/Punkerpirate/centaurwip5.jpg

[daldbaatar]

Sorry for being late guys. been busy a little. Will comment soon.
Here stage 2
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/3672/centaurcopy.jpg
By daldbaatar (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/daldbaatar) at 2009-03-23

[nuotatori]

im late..sorry, i made this sketch and i would like to know what u think about the stile, must be more cartoon?
thanks, sorry for my inglish,

[Macaruba]

Ones I'm really liking at the moment are

Urih_pta2 - basketball
Chate Noire - curl girl
bstsk - magic lion
tolgatanyel - elf centuar
jpedro - happy girl
waffleKoan - elephant warrior
The Antarctican - caroselle

all equally excellent so far

I'm trying to give take this theme a slightly unusual angle and keep away from too many clichés. WIP.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3460/3379558548_fe50ff1130_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)


Cheers
Macaruba
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3129555287_10c4a40b56_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)

[The Antarctican]

Macaruba It's excellent. I wasn't expecting that from your sketches, but I'm very impressed. I still think it's very funny too :D

Nice work. Very nice work.

[liransz]

thanks blackcherry and btsk for the comments. are very usefull!

[artina]

Hey everyone,
This round is great. Lots of unique interpretations. I'm sure the judging will be hard for this one. Here is an update to show a bit of what I'm working on.

[acb]

great work everyone ^_^ i wish i would have discovered this community activities thread earlier T_T well ill join the next one i guess :D

[waffleKoan]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. I tried to recapture some of the dynamic feel of my first sketch without abandoning all the time-consuming linework. Haven't had much free time this week, hopefully I'll be able to finish! There are lots of great entries, jpedro and the antarctican - yours really stood out, very polished; I'll have to go back and look at all of these when I have a moment!

[Troubadour]

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/Punkerpirate/centaurwip7.jpg

another update.

[Macaruba]

WIP with a bit of background
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3468/3378742755_cb7b29a0ba_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)


Cheers
Macaruba
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3129555287_10c4a40b56_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)

[Urih_pta2]

nice work macaruba

[the_original_sean]

well i figured out how to use illustrator without throwing my computer across the room. still can't figure out a lot of stuff. frustrating. ANYWAY the idea was to make some logos for a fictional hockey team. will drop pants for crits.

[waffleKoan]

macaruba - great stuff, I love all the detail in the wood grain and the cloth. Awesome texture!

original sean - your lines are super strong, translates super well to tattoo work, I'm sure! The color scheme is great, and really lends itself well to a bold logo-type graphic. I think the star graphics in the shield might detract a little bit from the cleanliness of the character - maybe just a simple swoosh or chevron would clean it up? Also, the guy's left hand (the one holding the hockey stick) and forearm look a bit small. Great piece, though, Illustrator really amplifies all the things I like about your style!

[Chate Noire]

artina - excellent character. Love the pose and expression, but the horse part looks a little off anatomy-wise.

Macaruba - very nice style and character design. The tree behind the centaur's head makes a mess of his silouhette...maybe you should remove it or make it much lighter.

[Machuca]

Hi
My final work.

http://www.machuca.biz/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/centauro2.png

[The Antarctican]

well i figured out how to use illustrator without throwing my computer across the room. still can't figure out a lot of stuff. frustrating. ANYWAY the idea was to make some logos for a fictional hockey team. will drop pants for crits.

The Original Sean Hi. I use Illustrator a great deal for work, if there is anything I can help you with please don't hesitate to ask. It's a great package but yes, can be frustrating when just starting out. I don't have the latest version of CS4? is it now, but I'm well versed in CS2 if you need anything.

However that said I think what you've done is solid so perhaps you've cracked it anyway.

[Tommoy]

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t19/Tommoy/Mino10sk.jpg

[Macaruba]

Here is one of my little Ani-wips

Thanks for the comment Chate Noire true praise coming from someone I consider a pier.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3475/3381875549_f8467c9ba4_o.gif (http://www.macaruba.com)


Cheers
Macaruba
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3129555287_10c4a40b56_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)

[Macaruba]

...and some detail clips

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3655/3381863031_d76ae3ff1c_o.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3609/3381862787_f0b0904219_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)



Cheers
Macaruba
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3129555287_10c4a40b56_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)

[the_original_sean]

antarctican and wafflekoan thanks for the feedback. the arm does seem small now that you mention it. the last time i went in to edit it (add centurion stuff) it took longer than it did to make the original! the layers palette is quite a mess on that one. i will most definitely take you up on the illustrator advice antarctican.

[The Antarctican]

The Original Sean. PM or email me when you want. Cheers.

Macaruba - It's brilliant! It's nice to see the details to. Great piece.

I'm about done. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

[Macaruba]

Thanks for your comment Antarctican Yours is lovely as usual,
one small crit is that I expected the background to be a bit more colourful.

Cheers
Macaruba
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3129555287_10c4a40b56_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)

[rvdtor]

waffleKoan that's an awesome elephant centaur ; the mask and limited color palette really fits.

Troubadour i like the idea different take on the 8 leg arrangement than dalbaataar. just the expression is confusing but its still wip can't wait to see the final.

the_original_sean i'm impressed you did all that in illustrator, i personally don't like that program cause its really hard heh, but awesome color scheme on both pieces.

Machuca i like the serene feeling but i think the head is a bit big in comparison to the body and the added big hair feels like she's about to fall forward.

Tommoy .. nice! typical warrior type centaur just lost the perspective a bit on the sword.

Macaruba thats awesome! i like the sketchy line-work and your coloring, the halos around the heads look a bit odd but sure brings them in to focus, funny idea too and their expressions.

The Antartican your coloring is awesome! i like all the details on the saddle and their expressions too...the only thing is that the pole looks very flat and like segments of razors... it might be the lighting, the three segments right under the centaur look nice and round compared to the brighter ones on top.

[nuotatori]

i keep working on the same line,

some critics will be fine.

[The Antarctican]

...the only thing is that the pole looks very flat and like segments of razors... it might be the lighting, the three segments right under the centaur look nice and round compared to the brighter ones on top.

RVDTOR - Thanks you are absolutely right. I must admit I just didn't spot that. Thank you. I'll sort this out before the deadline I hope. Love your shading on your centaur's body and the sense of depth with your background is excellent. She creeps me out though :D which is good.

MACARUBA - Cheers again. I did try several backgrounds some with lights added to the merry-go-round but it just took the focus away. So I've gone for a very simply background in the end. Cheers. By the way I meant to mention how I love the animated works in progress you do.

[Tommoy]

Pretty basic. Hope the perspective of the sword is okay now.

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t19/Tommoy/MinoD6k.jpg

[Troubadour]

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/Punkerpirate/centaurwip11.jpg

getting there?

[waffleKoan]

troubador - You've posed a difficult problem for yourself, with that many legs! Looks like you are doing a pretty good job of handling it, though.

tommoy - A tough problem for you as well, with that extreme perspective. I can see that his arm is flung backward, but at this point it's difficult to tell whether the sword is pointing forward towards the viewer, or backwards away from them. I'm enjoying the textural quality of your brush strokes.

macaruba - Great animation! Your lines are very tight. The whole thing looks a little flat to me, as there's so much detailed line in the background as well as the characters. Of course, that may not be the effect you're after! Regardless, great job.

Added some color and a background, getting close now. Comments certainly welcome!

[The Antarctican]

waffleKoan - Very impressive! Now the colour is in there I can read it a lot better. Great dynamism to the character. Unusual design, but excellent nonetheless. Nice colours and superb sense of weight to it too. Ace!

[Tommoy]

Troubadour, somehow the eight legs don't work for me. And you certainly don't make it easy on yourself, four legs is hard enough;)
Wafflecoan, very nice design, I like that helmet a lot.
The Antartican, great cartoonstyle, you are getting better and better with every drawing.
Macaruba, nice line work, and you certainly kept away from cliches. For me it all feels a bit too 'full' though.
Machuca, the arm behind here head looks okay but still I have the feeling there is something missing. Maybe the hand of the other arm showing above the hair or the elbow could fix that.
Daldbaatar, phew thats a lot of legs again. The pose is okay I think and I wonder where you are going with that armor, could be very interesting.
Nuotatori, Personally I like these kind of drawings with a painterly feel, although you lose a part of the stylized effect. Anatomically there are some issues with the length of her arms, the size of her head and the front right shoulder/elbow of the horse.
The_original_sean, more of a graphic design but executed very well. Illustrator can be frustrating I know but you pulled it off.

[Macaruba]

I've had a go at tweaking the colours and shading to see if I could address some of your comments.
But this is now my final submission.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3389293189_74c0d69e9f_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)


Cheers
Macaruba
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3129555287_10c4a40b56_o.jpg (http://www.macaruba.com)

[waffleKoan]

tommoy, antarctican - thanks!

macaruba - good call on those final tweaks, it reads really strong now. I love the expression on the seated man's face, cracks me up!

[Ostrander]

You ALL have done some really awesome work this challenge. I'm really impressed. Lot's a different takes on the subject and some amazing finished pieces. Bravo!:yayca:
Little doodle. I doub't I'll be able to do much else with this...maybe next round.
630945

[Troubadour]

Wafflekoan : Thanks :D
Tommoy : aw, thanks for noticing though lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir Its based this guy and odin.
i just added a contrasting background atm..

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/Punkerpirate/centaurwip12.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d146/Punkerpirate/centaurwip14.jpg

[cocou]

samurai centaur 2

[nuotatori]

last one before the final render.
thanks tomoy for the advise..

[Angel Intheuk]

jumping in this a bit late -

1 + 2 - Initial Sketches

3 - Latest Colour Sketch - new face and right arm

4 - New Outline

[Chate Noire]

Antarctican - nice finish. I actually like the soft background, which doesn't steal attention away from the main characters.

Ostrander - that's adorable :) The face, the pose, all the girly details. Not too sure about the legs - 3 of them are hanging in the air in a silly skipping or pirouetting pose, but the 4th kinda breaks that. Then again, maybe it'd be too stiff for all 4 legs to be in the same straight position.

Angel Intheuk - not bad. I like the choice of angle, and the hind legs work nicely. Is she meant to have just 3 legs, or am I missing one?...The face was better in the sketch, in my opinion; its style was a big more together, while the new one the different lines and features don't really relate to each other, especially the mouth. The human body pose is pretty nice, but the lower hand connects to the horse front in a weird way, as if she has a pocket on her horse body or something. Hope you finish it in time.

I've made a few small changes, and since the final in both threads should be identical, I'm posting the definite-final.

[blackcherry]

Thought i'd see how everyones pieces are coming along since I last posted.

Chate Noire: Great character design and a great finish!

Angel IntheUK: Nice sketches. For your chosen design I think you should maybe lower her right front leg a bit as it's a bit hard to identify it from the main body in the coloured piece.

nuotatori: A very detailed realistic looking piece. Great colouring! I like the painterly feel to it and I think you've captured the water really well.

Ostrander: hehe! I love your quick drawing, :) it's simple and fun! Love his expression and t-shirt. I also like your line work.

Marcaruba: I like your take on the theme. Nice characters and the tweaks you made are a definite improvement.

waffleKoan: I like the perspective of your piece and the bright colours really set it off now.

Tommoy: Tricky perspective in yours but I think you've done a good job of it! I think i preferred your first design in some ways though with the bold lines. It felt more dynamic to me.

The Antartician: I love your final!! :) It's awesome! Your background is just what it needed. I think limiting the colour to just blue, really sets off your characters. Also i really like the clean polished look of your final designs. It's illustrator you use right? I've only recently got my hands on it, maybe i could ask you for some tips sometime if your ok with that?

the original sean: I know what you mean about Illustrator. I've only recently started using it as well. I think i'm starting to get the hang of it now though. I think your centaur design would make a great logo. I really like the bold colours and linework.

Troubadour: I think you've made quite a lot of work for yourself with all them legs O_O Looks difficult! Hope you manage to get your design done!

Good luck to everyone! I'm looking forward to the next round so i can join in again!

[bstsk]

Great pieces so far, hope I had time to comment :(
I´ve made some colour tweaking, and added some details. Guess this is going to be my final.
http://www.ffilustracion.com/centauro10.jpg

[rolox]

WOOOOW!!! This challenge's hot.:^^:
You're working very hard here. There're fantastic pics!!!
Actually I'm very busy with work, really I missed to take a walk around over here. It's a pity that I can't yet vote.
Congrats and good luck!!! :teeth:

[The Antarctican]

Also i really like the clean polished look of your final designs. It's illustrator you use right? I've only recently got my hands on it, maybe i could ask you for some tips sometime if your ok with that?

Hi BlackCherry. Thanks very much for the kind words. Yes I used illustrator for the girl and the centaur, the background I put through photoshop to soften it. I'd be more than happy to offer any tips or suggestions with illustrator, if I'm able. Which version are you using?

[waffleKoan]

Ze final image I guess. (Do we do frames and captions and stuff here?)

bstsk, Chate Noire - excellent draftsmanship, both of you! And great examples of 'stylised' pieces

[jpedro]

i'm going to call this one my final for now i guess. i tried to incorporate the suggestions made with the leg, which i feel have helped both in terms of silhouette and also made it a bit more dynamic, so ChateNoire, thanks for the hint ;) !

also touched up some stuff here and there, hope you guys like it.

gonna try and comment on some of the great work that came up since i last checked, sweet stuff people!

best,
Jan

[nuotatori]

i think thats gona be my final image, i dont have any more time, maeby the next will have a better final render.
thanks for the coment blackcherry.

i must to post it into another thetre????

bstsk: i realy like ur panter fusion.
chate noire:greate stile,grate pose!
Jpedro: i love the red hears ones.

good luck to every one! i realy happy to finde this contest,hope to have time to get inoto the next one.

and really sorry for my english...i know, its terrific...

[The Antarctican]

nuotatori - That's a very dramatic looking image. I like the choice of colours and nice rendering of the liquid too. Very energetic indeed.


Sorry to put this up again, but thanks to rvdtor who realised the pole was a little flat in look, I felt obliged to tweak it a little.

[jpedro]

bstsk, i really like that last detail pass on the rock you put in, well done!

angelintheuk, i was wondering about the missing front leg, i think the image will really gain a lot if you clarifiy that. looking at your pencil sketch, i think she is meant to hold up that front hoof really high so that we see a bit of the part where the horseshoe would be, but that was hard to call in the pencil already and gets even a bit more lost in the colored version. i like the setting you put her in though, and i hope you can finish it :)

nuotatori, cool kentaur, i think the muscles on the horse part front legs and towards the horse torso look a little too much like two parallell streams going up, and i would also personally make the hands slightly bigger. also, the she's standing there, i would expect her left leg to be further back in space rather than being closest to the viewer. i really like the body paints and the equipment though, cool stuff!

the antarctican, i just love the expression of that little girl, also i think you have really good overlaps in your image, the girls sweets overlapping the BG roundabout-ceiling element and the kentaur face overlapping the center piece, and then his hand overlapping that little line on the center piece going up....makes the whole image very clear. well done dood :)

waffleKoan, even if i still like yours a lot, the monochrome version worked a bit better for me. it just went really well with those super sweet inks. however, this is still a really cool image! one easy thing to tweak i guess would be his knuckles, which look a little like coins sitting under his skin at them moment, i think it would look better if you placed the highlights in the center part of each round shape, kindof along where the form reaches its highest part of each knuckle.

[bstsk]

Thanks a lot, jpedro!
Hope I´ve time to comment too, since this month is coming along great!

[albertocubatas]

Ufff here this one my final centaur

http://i44.tinypic.com/r08n44.jpg

Good luck for all

[waffleKoan]

jpedro - thanks for the crit! You're right about the knuckles, they do seem a little flat. I need to remind myself that 'stylised' doesn't necessarily mean anatomy rules don't apply! I liked the grayscale version myself, but this was a good exercise for me to push something all the way from sketch to colors. Your piece is great, the color palette is exciting and harmonious. You have a great understanding of how light wraps around the form. The hair that appears behind her torso seems to be moving with a momentum of it's own, apart from the rest of the hair - but it still works well stylistically.

nuotatori - very nice color scheme, and beautifully rendered! Some minor stuff: her neck seems a little long, and the left (rear) leg almost seems to come in front of the right, as if they were crossed. Very well done, though - I especially enjoyed your water treatments.

antarctican - Beautifully done, very 'finished'. I can't stare at it too long though, the thought of that metal pole impaling your friendly centaur makes me squirm a little!

albertocubatas - wow, what a great progression from the initial sketch to this version. The super-saturated colors and busyness of the entire piece don't necessarily lead my eye in any one direction, but I enjoyed looking at all the elements you've placed throughout the frame. Nice job, looks like it belongs on a video game box!

[artina]

Hey everyone,
here's an update of my POLO centaur. Hope you like it.
I can see it's gonna be hard for me to pick my top 3 with all the great entries this month. Great work everyone.

[CUBICcube]

Holy crap Rvdtor that is the best! haha

[rvdtor]

WOW the final entries are awesome...
artina great update the horse form and expression was one of my favorites. great rendering on the grass and the bushes back there. the character is looking schweet great pose and expression.
albertocubatas wow big leap from the initial sketch lost of rich colors ..which kind of takes away from it its hard to focus on the main character which should be the main image.
the Antartican you fixed the pole! awesome looks more 3d now.
nuotatori whoa...nooo sucks you dont have enough time its looking awesome.
jpedro i like your warm colors and the big hollow looking hooves.
waffleKoan massive! and the colors and hard edge rendering is nice.
bstsk looks really polished and sharp i like the face the most, good lighting too... the sharp highlighting contrasting the blend rendering looks a bit odd in parts but overall its my favorite so far
Chate Noire nicely done and the grass looks comfy.
Angel Intheuk there's something odd or charming about yours hmm.
cocousamurai centaur!! nice idea but overkill with the blur and/or round brush.

here is my final i changed the character to be more central to the background..

[miss.lynette]

Hello everyone, this has been one of my favourite challenges to watch - thanks to all who've taken part and welcome to those of you who are new to the stylised challenges!

Just a quick reminder: please post your final image in this thread by 11:59 PM BST tonight
(for more info on British Summer Time please see: http://wwp.britishsummertime.co.uk/)

Cheers and best of luck to those who still need to post their finals - not long to go, but there's still time! ;)

:)

[Angel Intheuk]

Cheers for the CC's
Chate Noir, Black Cherry + Jpedro - I agree about the leg, it's been giving me a bit of bother. I just can't find the right ref so having to try and piece it together, not ideal really but I like the pose as well and too late to change (hm) - keeping your crits in mind I changed the design of the crossbow and tweaked her face about a bit, gonna try and redo her mouth again so it's not as bee stung.
rvdtor - he he - either is fine :D - like your design too, her hooves are so cool.

Brilliant work from everyone. great to be involved in this thread :D x

here's what I did last night...(leg still not right, gonna try and move it back today)

[Romero]

Hi everyone, this is my final image. Hope you like it. :)

[Urih_pta2]

showtime!!! jejeje this month is amazing... really really congratulations to everybody. BIG UP!!! Is a pity only to be able to vote 3 works.

[marcuswelbey]

Hi there,
here's my final. This month the contest is to a very high level, all of you have given the best.
good luck for all.

[Angel Intheuk]

Damn my internet connection...oh well, it's late but here it is anyway.

Good luck everyone :)

[the_original_sean]

oh my god the awesomeness of albertocubatas entry just turned my brain to shit.

[artina]

Hey everyone,
This is my final. Good luck to all.

[tolgatanyel]

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i314/tolgatanyel/condeptartmays-1.jpg

my final work

[miss.lynette]

Angel Intheuk, Artina and tolgatanyel - you posted a little late, but as things have been a little confusing with this challenge since daylight savings time, it's understandable (basically we're on GMT+1 now, which is BST: British Summer Time. Nice and confusing, I know!). Be sure to post your finals in the new Voting thread (coming soon) before the deadline in order to secure your place in the Voting stage :)

Voting thread coming soon - keep your eyes peeled! ;)

Oh yes, and posting of finals in this thread has now ended. Back soon with more info! Thanks everyone!

[miss.lynette]

SUPER Stylised Challenge - March 2009 - Centaur - VOTING!

Hello All! The new VOTING thread for the Centaur SUPER STYLISED CHALLENGE, has now been created for your final entries, here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154381

IMPORTANT: Now has come the time for the following artists to post their fantastic final images in the Voting thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154381).

Tolgatanyel
Artina
Angel Intheuk
Marcuswelbey
Urih_pta2
Romero
Rvdtor
Albertocubatas
The Antarctican
Nuatatori
Jpedro
Wafflekoan
Bstsk
Chate Noire
Cocou
Ostrander
Macaruba
Tommoy
Machua
The_original_Sean
Enosh B
Freddydark (please submit only one)
Oritey
Cookiedough
Liransz
Soniatka
Murdokx
(If I've missed anyone out, please email me at lynette@3dtotal.com and I'll sort it out! Cheers.:))

800 or 1024 sized images are fine for this Voting stage, but please remember that high-res versions are great for 2DArtist magazine, so if you come in the top 10 we'd love it if you could email accross your high-res versions.

Please post all entries in the Voting thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154381) before 8th April 2009 10:30AM GMT+1.00 (British Summer Time: http://wwp.britishsummertime.co.uk/).

Only entries posted in the SUPER Stylised Challenge - March 2009 - Centaur - VOTING! thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154381) before this date will be eligible for Voting!

Voting will then start immediately afterwards and will run until 15th April 2009 10:30AM GMT+1.00 (British Summer Time: http://wwp.britishsummertime.co.uk/)

We will post to commence the Voting on the 8th April.

New Voting Rules and Restrictions

In order for your vote to be valid, your post count must be 50 or above AND you must have been registered on the ConceptArt.org forums for at least 6 months. The ONLY exception to this rule is if you have contributed an entry yourself to the challenge.
If you want to vote but are not a contributor of the challenge, you need to have been registered on the ConceptArt.org Forums for at least the last six months, AS WELL AS have 50 posts already to your name.
It goes without saying that all voters MUST look through each of the entries before posting their score.
Finally, don't vote for yourself or get your friends to vote for you in an attempt to influence votes, it's not an attractive quality.
The 3DTotal team are all able to vote from their CA.org accounts some of us have fewer than 50 posts but we know who we are!

We will award 3pts for a 1st place vote, 2 for 2nd and 1 for 3rd. Then we will add them up and ship out your prizes!
Please feel free to give reasons for your selection, as it will be good feedback for everyone!

Thanks again for the great work that you have all put in. We look forward to this month's entries! Good luck, everyone!

Many thanks for all your hard work!


Remember: Voting thread is here - this is for your final images: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154381


Lynette-2dartistmag.com (http://www.2dartistmag.com)

[miss.lynette]

In the name of April Fools, the new challenge has just kicked off - here's the thread: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154387

Enjoy! :)