Chow 152 :: Mary of the Blue lights

[Aly Fell]

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii293/chowarchive/CHOW-LINES/CHOW-LINES-MEDUSA.jpg

ROUND #152 :: MARY of the BLUE LIGHTS

DESCRIPTION

MARY of the BLUE LIGHTS

No one is quite sure where Mary comes from, or how she manages to survive. Twelve years old, she lives on the city streets, despite many attempts to move her to a stable habitat. Somehow she manages to survive despite adversity, giving credit only to what she calls the 'blue lights'. Strange, glowing lights that she speaks to and that help take care of her. Only she can see them. Some people see her as crazy; maybe she is, or maybe she is in touch with forces that speak only directly to her.

---------------------------------------------------------
DEADLINE
MONDAY, MARCH 23rd, 2009
Deadline is Monday, at 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time (GMT -4).
---------------------------------------------------------
:right: FOLLOW THE TOPIC.

:right: POST YOUR FINAL IN THE FINALS THREAD.

:right: SAVE YOUR FILES IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT. Chow##_Nickname
example: "CHOW#100_Oblio.jpg" ;)

:right: PLACE THE IMAGE IN A FRAME WITH YOUR NAME/TOPIC

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/frame.jpg
(you can add CA logo, etc).


POST YOUR FINALS IN THE FINALS THREAD!
Remember to include your nickname in the file name.

About quality - as general rule: if your shapes and values are not decent - you are out. Watch proportions, perspective etc. we need perfectly readable shapes and coherent, consistent values.

_____________

BE PROFESSIONAL - only finished and good quality entries will be taken to the poll. Daestwen and Poshspice will make the selection.

[Aly Fell]

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

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



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

[Pseudocognition]

This sounds reeeeeeeeeeeally interesting. *0*

[amaliax]

yay! really hope I have time to play with this idea.

[a la bapsi]

i'll give it a go

[Sulk-Sal]

Should be interesting. Gives me a chance to try out a new old style too.

[Viridis]

Very interesting! I'll have to start looking around for references and ideas...

[Desero]

SWEET!! Now thats what I'm talking about!!! I can't wait to play with this one.

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

Sounds a little outta the comfort zone, which I guess is a great reason to participate. Decisions, decisions... :thinking:

[Raydiant]

Sounds like a really cool topic!

[KleeWyck]

sketched a quick idea...

[Asatira]

This sounds cool. I'll try and give it a shot.

[DIMAGYAN]

what a great topic!

not sure if i can finish it but i wanted to join this round.

i give her an old men jacket, but not sure if its read like that...i realise also that the pose and point of view of my character is very similar to KleeWyck's! (casuality i guess...but probably is due to the iconic information of a frontal view when one try to make a character look strong ) ... so i would have to try other aproach

620257
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edit01b

i change the head size(too small on the first drawing)

620277

------------------------------------------------------------------
edit01a

other aproach

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edit02

another sketch. i kind of like this above the previous one. not sure still about the lights and the box...

620860
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edit03

worked a bit more on the third sketch. i don't know sitll if i would make this in colour or not(i kind i like the grey scale treatment) let's see...

624948

[Mydrim]

sounds like yes!

[joyproject]

different ;]

[Pixeltuner]

sounds like a girl who could fit straight into Coro's Transient. :)

[AhChu]

Playing with the background first for this one, though I would try things the other way round to what I normally do. Planning on setting it in WW2, with Mary trying to survive with the war going on around her, luckly she has a couple of blue little friend that help her out finding food and keeping her out of to much trouble. hopefully this will work :P

[St. Ginger]

Once again I completely failed to finish the last CHOW. It is physically impossible to do 4x A1 sheets worth of project development AND a ChOW in one week. But once again I'm giving this one a go. Hopefully i'll get further than Sketches this time :D

[Autumnal Dream]

Yay! Just got a bunch of ideas!
This would be my first chow.. thats so exciting :D:D

[Desmayado]

Too much time doing nothing...
Lets see if i finish this CHOW

wip at work

[St. Ginger]

I'm doing better than last week already!! Here's my first couple of sketches for Mary's character. Sorry bout the crappy scan quality.

I was thinking of a character along the lines of Fray, from Joss Whedon's comic series, but i figured she had a bit too much attitude for a 12 yearold.

Now I'm imagining a little Waif of a girl, very quiet, very timid, but who has no qualms about kicking you in the shins, nicking your sandwich and scarpering...if thats what the blue lights say to do ;)

No one knows where she goes, but everyone recognises her, and the street vendors are always on the look out.


The Big coat was her fathers, who was a monster hunter, and it's the only thing she has left that links her to her parents. I don't think i'll use this idea.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/St-Ginger/LucyBlue1.jpg

Her little puppy that she found and has raised. He can see the lights as well and chases them when he's bored.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/St-Ginger/LucyBlue3.jpg

The other ones were too boring. like DIMAGYAN said, a full frontal image is too stark for such an understated character. So here is an action shot. It was the work of about 40 seconds, so it REALLY dosen't work, but i'll edit it and see what comes out
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/St-Ginger/Lucyrunningfromvendor.jpg

Once again sorry bout the bad quality. Crits welcome :D

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

Here's a WIP. I trashed my first sketch but I'm prety happy with this. Glad I could get an early start, I rarely finish these things.

http://www.brendandeboy.com/marywip.jpg

Crits welcome should you feel so inclined.

[Sir Bret]

Hey, Ginger!

I've decided on a particular style - something like the warped and colourful Fable style, but a little darker.

[Daray]

Arthur 'Two Sheds' - I like the approach you've taken so far, but in a personal opinion she seems to come across a little older than 12. More about 16-ish. I think if you can work into her face some more to make her appear younger it could work. Lovely lighting there though!

[Dan Valkar]

maybe ill give it a go too

[JaneM]

Alright, got an idea here...

[daldbaatar]

my entry stage1
http://img365.imageshack.us/img365/2720/maryofthebluecopy.jpg
By daldbaatar (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/daldbaatar) at 2009-03-16

[ianruff]

Very cool topic. Let's see if I get further along on this one. . .
about 30 minutes sketching in Photoshop.
I can't seem to separate "living on the streets" from an Oliver Twist type character. . .

I'm curious if she's coming off as too old or too young? Can't really make a good call myself, seems about right to me but I could be wrong. Anyone?

[humboldt squid]

Here's a WIP. I trashed my first sketch but I'm prety happy with this. Glad I could get an early start, I rarely finish these things.

http://www.brendandeboy.com/marywip.jpg

Crits welcome should you feel so inclined.

She's supposed to be 12, but she looks about 30. Maybe try rounding out her facial features more?

[shannanigan]

my entry stage1


I love the little guy holding her hand... Very cute! :D

[Giorge]

nice one , remember kids , she's 12 so watch those boobs , i already saw some :))

[AvisNocturna]

Haha, looks like I'm not the only one who thought of boots and parka :D

I couldn't resist, and now I cannot stop! o___O

[Daniela Blanco]

Really nice topic........and I'm loving your entrys so far......you people work fast and do a great work!!

About the doubts about her age......I think it's really difficult to define how old or young she looks......as we know well that a 12 year girl can seem like a child and also can seem like a young woman ..........it depends on how fast each girls develops......the challenge is to make Mary be in the middle of it.....Good luck to all.........and hope I can do that too! :]

Here's mine.............
My Mary is just a sad young girl who knows too much about our sad world........as the "blue lights....balls...or whatever" travel around the world really fast and always come back to tell Mary what it saw......
Maybe when she grows up she can learn how to deal with such onerous power.....and do something to help out the world......

Critics are always welcomed!

[Ostrander]

Just a really rough sketch so far. I'm not too sure if it will stay this way or not.
620773

[Aly Fell]

Some roughs. I'm undecided whether to make her contemporary or like a Victorian waif. Perhaps right now she's a bit too old, or maybe not, so I'll have a look at that.

Edit01: New one making her look younger. Feet are a bit poo...
Edit02: Try again!
Edit03: Some colour!
Edit04: More colour...
Edit05: Final...

[dwinbotp]

delightfully tragic...

[Viridis]

Hm, seems like almost everybody is going with the rainy/umbrella theme... looks like I'll have to do something a bit different. ;)

[Pseudocognition]

Ostrander: I really love the little blobby dudes! Kinda like Princess Mononoke, eh?

I think I'm going to do some spaced out fifties style girl with clunky cat-eye glasses or whatever they're called, running through allies with old soda and wine bottles, trying to capture her blue lights in them.

[AvisNocturna]

Ostrander: aw, cute interpretation of the blue light!

dwinbotp: I somehow like the mood and the pose looks great, too!

And I cannot decide whether I want her to wear a cap or not

[dirkvandulmen]

here's a wip.

[Ostrander]

Pseudocognition Ostrander: I really love the little blobby dudes! Kinda like Princess Mononoke, eh?
AvisNocturna Ostrander: aw, cute interpretation of the blue light!

Thanks! Yeah I have a special place in my heart for those little guys. I just need to stay a comfortable distance away from them in the final without stepping on toes. I keep hearing Dora telling me "Swiper no Swiping"! Errr...

Here's another rough little doodle, again, not sure about the direction, but I like the little dudes.
620866

[daestwen]

dwinbotp I freaking LOVE it.

Also, Ostrander I love the little mononoke-esque dudes too :P

[KleeWyck]

i'm currently working on an animation for school where the main character owns a possessed umbrella and i'm thinking that the idea would lend itself well to this week's CHOW so i'm gonna be changing mine so my character is holding an umbrella with the spirit within it manifesting itself as blue lights.

oh and Arthur 'Two Sheds', your entry looks amazing. there isn't much to point out other than what others have said about the ambiguity of her age. but i love what you're doing with the blue lights looking like eyes in the darkness.

Ostrander, those little guys look awesome. especially the one on top of her head, that one looks pretty maniacal.

[FAST ART]

here is my idea..

[Tommoy]

Living on the streets I don't think she is too happy.

[bara]

great topic
gonna go with this one i think... the idea is the floating fellas are kind of virtual entities projected to her vision by some sort of implant in her brain. so they all have an AI and personality. She lives in some high tech society and her virtual buddies can hack anywhere and provide her pretty much anything.

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

Thankyou KleeWyk, Daray, Squid. I'll be trying to make her look younger next chance I get to work on it. Thanks for the feedback :).

AvisNocturna - That is looking great - cap on! :hatsoff:

[Adrian Wilkins]

Woaa some great ideas here 0_o


so here are my lines and a rough background color suggestion!
she's gonna be falling from a building
the thing is, if they're real, she'll be fine..but if their only in her head...well...
tried to get the feeling as if she would be falling slowmotion due to the speeding cars...gonna post some later progress

dwinbotp: lovely girl...and gorgeous lines an nice perpective you've got going on
bara: you little critters are too sweat! but your girl doesn't look to homeless in those clothes
Fast Art: fantastic style!
dirvandulem: I really like the illustrative feel, the image warms my heart!
just picked out those trhat striked me the most, hope to see some great stuff on the furthere progress of the others!

[Lolip]

First post
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/vertigokingtut/CHOW152_Lolip.jpg
):
I'll probably start over on it.

[Aly Fell]

Lolip - I edited your post as the image wasn't displaying. :)

[Sorknes]

Hm. I dunno. I hoped to get that last one working, but I might have to start all over again, it feels wonky....

[erinel]

here's my super rough idea
I thought of drugs and hallucinations
and to me, when I think of mushrooms, I think of them as whitish blue and glowing

[masque]

621081

St. Mary's Hospital
Pediatrics
Dr. Lois Halson, Consulting Psychologist
Private Notes on Patient Admission

Patient: Mary Jane Doe, aka Mary Bluelights
Age(s): Physical: approx 12 years; Cognitive: unknown (tests indeterminate); Emotional/affective: Late teen
Diagnosis (tentative): Aphasic autism with possible latent schizophrenia (visionary delusions)
Functionality: highest

Mary Bluelights is back. The foster mother brought her in last shift, nearly hysterical, claiming that Mary had cut her own hair without using scissors or any other sharp instrument. It's a safe home, with a long and positive history of fostering functional autistic children, so there's no reason to doubt her, but to look at Mary, you'd think she'd been to boot camp. That lovely waist-length hair, just gone. Mrs. Franco said there wasn't even anything to clean up. She left with her rosary in hand, repeatedly crossing herself. Yet I know her to be a very level-headed and rational woman!

We're running out of foster home options -- they've all gotten to know our Mary, either by direct experience or the grapevine. Everyone agrees she's a lovely kid, never an overt behavioral problem, never aggressive, never acting out (at least not within anyone's perception), always participative, even occasionally buddying up with a lower-functioning patient during game sessions. But she's undeniably an odd case. I'd even go so far as to call her strange, given her treatment history here at St. Mary's... meds that have no effect, diagnostic instruments that don't work on her, even the damn MRI glitching whenever she's slated for a scan. It's almost as if she's hiding from us.

Someday I'll solve this lovely little mystery, and then maybe we'll understand her mantra, her prayer, her... whatever... the only worlds she's ever said, since she first arrived here nine years ago: "Blue lights pretty, blue lights. Pretty!"
__________________________________________________ _______________

I figure little Mary would have more than one encounter with our institutionalized system of child welfare, so...

[Daniela Blanco]

masque: great work......I loved her expression.....
There are really good works in this topic......looking forward to see all finished...
I'll try to find sometime tomorrow for commenting.....

Here is my wip.....I'm kind of liking this direction....I just can not decide wich one to continue with.....Any critics?????

[Demo]

Daniel I like the bottom one best it leads the eye around better I think with out wasting interest on the lights and centering the figure better.

Masque thats a great start on the figure cant wait for more.

[ianruff]

Wanted to jump in go Whaaat? This site has buckets of talent.
Ostrander, great stuff and can't wait to see more. Do you always do ten awesome sketches before really getting going??

Posh Spice, love them all but the second ones look closer to age. Wow.

dwinbotp, I really really like yours great angle and pose. Do you do more than one challenge every week? Aren't you over at Game Artisans too?

Tommoy, I agree with you on the sadness and you're pulling it off with the sketch.

Masque, really like where its going and I'd vote for you right now just on the backstory.

I guess I'll post an update. I still have a long way to go just with the values but I couldn't resist adding in some blue orbs. . What do they call those on Ghost Hunters??

[Asatira]

First post. Not sure where to go with her, so right now she's kind of generic. Working on overall look before the lights and composition.

621189

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

Update.

Hopefully she looks a bit younger now :[

Feedback would be awesome. Cheers.

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk198/Arthur_Two_Sheds/mary-1.jpg

[Sen Holiday]

http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr95/VolveteOrbem/maryofblue.jpg
Quick sketch! Great topic peoples. I especially like this because we have to draw from nothing.

[Dan Valkar]

this is what i got so far, really hard to think out of the box with this one...so still wonderin' what to do

[bluki]

quick doodle on designs, not really sure going to which direction....

i hope i can finish this

[Sulk-Sal]

Lots of good looking pieces here. Thinking about this though, I think if I were in her shoes, with little magical friends that take care of me, I'd be pretty happy :P The fun part will be tying to not kill myself taking reference of a tree branch someone could sit on.

[KleeWyck]

i think i'll be coloring this sketch for the final. problem is i can't seem to depict her age accurately enough.

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

KleeWyk - I think she looks young enough, just remember to eliminate most of those lines on her face when you paint it in. I think your sketchy guidelines are reading as facial wrinkles and making her look older at the moment.

[Viridis]

For those having issues with age, remember that kids' faces are only divided into halves instead of thirds like the traditional adult model, and their heads are bigger too in proportion to their bodies. A 12 year old isn't precisely a little kid, but their features still won't be quite as spread out as an adult's.

[nirudafat]

wowee....awesome stuff u ppl......
well here's my first try at chow....... hmm...still dunno what's wrong....
help!!!!

[Mephistoau]

Here's the first :)

[jread]

here is a quick idea...I want people to be walking past her and giving wierd looks...lets be honest this girl would look nuts IRL :)
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/6069/chow152marybluelights.jpg

[Mephistoau]

Quick update, started on some colour. Just working bits and pieces

[K-Mo]

WOW!!! i can see that this is going to be an intense round. amazing work so far...

here's a sketch i did on the tram today (i'm trying so hard to find time to cram this in!). for some reason i imagined mary as being quite an angry little lady... anyways. it's just an idea..

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1352/marysketchsml001.jpg

[3vil]

LOVE THIS ONE!!!!
Definitively getting into this 1!And actually finishing it!
Think I'm gonna go both traditional,and if there's time,digital...

KUDOS 4 scary little girls!

[3vil]

Here's my entry,I'm going for an anachronous scary little girl in a weird SF setting to give the picture more eerie atmosphere...

[bleupencil]

Progress...

[3vil]

Here are my updates...As much as I could do before I go to my classes... xD

One's done in digital,and the other one is in watercolor :D

[Autumnal Dream]

Wahhh... that drug-idea was mine too v.v

621523

[ThabisoMhlaba]

My first CHOW =\...here's what i've got so far..need to work the BG and make her more interesting

[ianruff]

Wow, that one is looking very good ThabisoMhlaba!

[dariocoelho]

Some good ideas, folks! Can't wait to see the final results.

I like the topic, so I decided to join the Party. Was thinking of a more twisted version, something not necessarily evil, but dark. She keeps the blue fairy-like creatures inside the glass-cage, so she can eat them when she's getting hungry. Beside the light guides her through the darkness... and whatever... I know, pretty lame. Gotta get some more background info. ;)

So here's my w.i.p. of the concept. Initially I wanted to make a full illustration, but let's see how much time I can spare to finish this.

http://www.dariocoelho.com/gallery/wip/bluegirlwip1.jpg

[Delmar]

Lovely topic!
Here's a sketch from today...dunno what should be happening around her.

[MJ_Alcazar]

Initial sketch. She had an umbrella at first and then I saw how many people thought of the exact same thing! :)

[dwinbotp]

dwinbotp, I really really like yours great angle and pose. Do you do more than one challenge every week? Aren't you over at Game Artisans too?



Hello ianruff, yup, I usually hang out at GA, and if there's a mini comp, I do my best to join in, and i'm making it a habit of doing the weekly COWs and CHOWs here to improve and draw something different for a nice change. Tough but I'm getting the hang of it. practice, practice, practice:D

Daestwen Glad you like my Mary, your comment made my day:D

I think I'm done with my piece so far unless there's anything anyone would like to add just to help improve on it. C&C always welcome:)

[masque]

Nice, dwinbotp, interesting angle and "effects." But her hair doesn't look in the least bit wet, sort of breaks the sense of the scene for me.

[Pseudocognition]

Happy-go-lucky Fifties runaway Mary 8D A bit of an homage to my mom, who was maybe a bit younger than Mary in the fifties. She didn't see blue lights, though, thank goodness >_>;

[skekTek]

This is a rather interesting challenge. To leave my comfort zone and paint someone without wings, fangs or battlements...OK! :teeth:

dwinbotp Beautiful work...again!

:wink:

[Daniela Blanco]

dwinbotp: I love yours!!!!! really love it.....don't have any critics......

Pseudocognition: I love your drawings........I've seen your skecthbook this week........and I only can say Congratulations!!!! keep up with the good work!

Here is my wip 3.........any critics????

[N-man]

didnt end up getting my puss in boots one in cause i got busy and wasnt able to work on it, but here is one for this week.

w.i.p

621759

[Dani Duck]

I don't know how far I'll get on this one, but here's my rough draft. It's really messy...but hey rough draft here! Totally done in photoshop (on grey), but when I messed with the levels it almost looks like I did it on paper, weird.

[Dani Duck]

Happy-go-lucky Fifties runaway Mary 8D A bit of an homage to my mom, who was maybe a bit younger than Mary in the fifties. She didn't see blue lights, though, thank goodness >_>;

She's going to look really cute when she's done, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.


I think I'm done with my piece so far unless there's anything anyone would like to add just to help improve on it. C&C always welcome:)

The only thing that I might add is a little more shadowing on the face. She's quite lovely!

Initial sketch. She had an umbrella at first and then I saw how many people thought of the exact same thing! :)

I think she's looking really good. She seems a little old to be pulling a wagon, though (but if you think she should have it, then convince me!

Here are my updates...As much as I could do before I go to my classes... xD

One's done in digital,and the other one is in watercolor :D
Don't forget the dark circles under her eyes, she needs those.

quick doodle on designs, not really sure going to which direction....

i hope i can finish this
The one on the left has the most personality!

[daldbaatar]

Stage2

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3666/maryofthebluecopyg.jpg
By daldbaatar (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/daldbaatar) at 2009-03-17

[skorpi]

really nice topic, I'll start tomorow

[dirkvandulmen]

Wip ...

[Dani Duck]

Wip ...

OMG I love her! I want to take her home with me.

[Tea Drinker]

Been lurking a while but this really sounds like a fun subject. Heres my idea sketch so far.

[masque]

Progress in Work:

622018

Lots more to do, maybe I'll skip color this round, really dive deep into the hatch rendering

[bleupencil]

dirkvandulmen, I am loving yours it's so sweet and the bond you've illustrated between those two makes me think of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

[daestwen]

masque: maybe keep it b/w except for the blue?

[Lammashta]

i just starting doodling shapes and this came out of it.

[masque]

masque: maybe keep it b/w except for the blue?Readin' my mind, d'. :D Nice talent to have ;)

[Dani Duck]

Sooo, here's my second draft. I just bought my tablet so I'm still working on speed. Yeah, spent a pretty long time on this, oh well. I'll get faster after I do a few. Anyways I upped the contrast on this so you can see it better. Also drew some white lines so you can make out the figure. Mostly not sure about proportions. If anyone could help me out that would be great. Edit: I guess I didn't need the white lines because the drawing is big enough to see. ^-^

[dariocoelho]

-Pseudocognition: Very cool sketches! The character is alive yet. :)

One more wip of my Mary.

http://www.dariocoelho.com/gallery/wip/bluegirlwip2.jpg

[Demo]

O dang so much good stuff this round. this is getting crazy. only one thing to do now throw my hat in the ring.

[rushwolf]

Wow writing C&C to even less than half of everyone is... a chore!

I'll be entering, finally done with work so I got time to give this a real go.

Uhm, tiny paintoverish thing for AvisNocturna
And a lil half-assed hight-head chart on a 12 year old girl.

DIMAGYAN - I like the feel of yours. I especially like the drawing in edit01a on the left side. Almost looks like she belongs in an animation. I got no crits for now!

AvisNocturna - Looking nice man. Some things feel a bit off to me [age-wise]. Her head size makes her kinda seem around 14 or 15. I know not all 12 year olds are the same hight and proportion. Also careful about her hand when you finalize it. Girls, especially itty bitty ones have thin, long hands. Right now they seem more teenage boy hands.

Ostrander - Sweet, I like the simplicity of the lines. I'd suggest maybe some more movement in her body [design wise] right now everything is kinda flat and vertical. But that's opinion. Looking nifty either way.

Poshspice - Nice nice, hope to see some sexy rendering action by the final.

dwinbotp - Nice work. One thing that kinda gets me if that the colors look rather muddy. Might be a bit of a pain, but I think it could improve if the highlights/mainly the hair, weren't just "add white." Looks good though.

K-Mo - Lots of attitude. She already looks pretty iconic. Nice.

Pseudocognition - Love the line work. The design is solid and iconic. I'd watch out for her proportions a bit, they don't seem too "off" but her head feels a bit small to me.

[Lammashta]

thats it for the night, added some highlights and shadowing for a background. going to try and put a real background for once. a allyway more than likely.

[Sen Holiday]

http://i473.photobucket.com/albums/rr95/VolveteOrbem/maryofblue-1.jpg

She's too plain. I don't know how much I want to add, though, 'cause I figure she can't get her hands on too much. I'll prob'ly add more stuff like what's on her wrist (it's a shower curtain ring), and I might play with the blue lights a bit more.

[bluki]

decided to take the tomboyish character direction, and i wanted to make a contrast to the blue light so i took red color scheme for Mary, and for the blue light design, the inspiration comes from two things, first the genie, because it take cares / guarding Mary, also the shape is from the light bulb, because it's a blue light (lol me and my poor imagination)

Dani Duck thanks for your comment, but i'm too late to see it, so i took a different direction.

[NoShot]

Here's a quick WIP with some of the basic colors I think I will build from. I think of the blue lights as sort of imaginary portals to a better place, protecting her from reality.

Edit: - more rendering on lights and Mary. Butterflies are gone...for now lol.

[Sen Holiday]

Going to attempt some critiques--I can only manage this page! I'm not going to try to tackle more right now... Here goes!
dirk-Adorable. I really like the cartoon-y style. She does look a bit too young, but she might be too cute for me to complain!
tea-I really like the sketch so far. The only problem I have is the angle of the back leg is...a bit off, I think. What it seems to be is that the viewer seems to be seeing the back of her leg, when it should be more of the side, if that makes sense? Your sketch even has good line quality thus far! I'm jealous of good sketchers.
masque-I adore the cross hatching. And I do like it in black and white (though I have to agree, I think the blue lights should be blue). Only other critique is I think the closer foot should be a bit more turned towards the "camera"?
dani-nice pose, and speeds are difficult! Using a reference for a child might help, she looks a tad too old.
dari-I adore your design and set up of it. I have no critique just now. I just like it. :D
rush-I think the colored sketches could use more expression. As for the black and white, I'm likin' the expression and sketchiness a lot.
lam-neat style--you might want to start with references, 'cause that can help a lot. She looks too loose just now.

Great jobs, everyone!

[rushwolf]

the color are not mine :p Was a "paintover"

[DHTenshi]

Well, i'm in, really like the theme, so...

Great ideas guys, I really like how all the ppl participating have their own unique idea, keep it up!

Thumbs up for dwinbotp,really really like yours, and I loved the first sketch, but
i agree with masque, her hair doesn't look wet... and! all of the picture in
general, seems too rushed, but maybe it's just me.

And for masque, great great way to see it, and, I dunno, I just love the folds... keep it up!

dariocoelho: really like the lighting, keep it going
rushwolf: great start, seems quick but good!

Imma start with my sketches, gonna stick with the 2nd one

and I will finish this one, not "hope i will" :P

[septomin]

Wow, I don't think I've ever drawn a child in my life. I'm pretty confused!

[JARhead]

Im in on this one for sure! It'll be my first and already looking at the masses that are already posting on this subject. i think Im already intimidated by you guys. I think it'll be fun...

Off I go to sketch :lifedrawing: !!

[skekTek]

WOW! A lot of really smashing ideas here!

masque - Just absolutley stunning! I love the expression on her face!

Well, here's mine so far. I'm going with a spirit-talker type.The Blue Lights are good spirits that have attatched themselves to her because she is in need. They know who will be good to her, who to avoid, where food will be available from giving people, etc.

The only thing I need to change so far is her face. Does that smirk remind anyone of a certain feline in footwear I did earlier?
Please, C&Cs welcome!

[rushwolf]

Little girls... deceptively difficult for someone who typically paints demons and scaries to draw. 0.0

[3vil]

Tried an alternate approach to the digital one,taking it more like a single burst of light rather than a bunch of blue fireflies :D
I tried observing it more like a concept and a storyboard panel,than an illustration,this is what I got...After all,this IS concept-art :)

But I think it might not be enough to fit the reqs :D

[Mephistoau]

Smallish update, just starting to refine some things... got a lot of work to do though

[rushwolf]

The rest will most likely be in color too. Just wanted to see how the lights would look. These lights be stand-ins... as be most of the rest of the picture.

[Tommoy]

I also concentrate on the light first. Its getting quite depressing.

[JaneM]

Oh ho, there's much good arising here! :)

It seems I can't go on with this weeks theme, as I need to focus on my illustration assignment. Good luck to you guys though! :)

[XTN]

Work in progress

[Mr.Wittmann]

my first entry for chow XD!

havent drawn a girl in years :P
so this was fun and good practice
but had some problems with the age...

c&c are welcome, im new here so that would help a lot.

EDIT: fixed some small white spots

[JaneM]

Mr.Wittmann: I love the smooth colouring, and the colours themselves! About the age; maybe if you didn't emphasize her cheekbones so much, and made her thighs skinnier, she would look younger?

[AhChu]

TOMMY - That is such a cool pic, reminds me of a bad acid trip :p

POSH - holy S#*!t, that would make aaaawesome poster

JREAD - Will be looking forward to your next post

MASQUE - very striking

Here is my next WIP, having a ass of a time rendering out cloth, always drives me up the wall..oh well back to looking for some refs and of course still got to add in her glowing blue friends

So many cool entries, you guys have some awesome skills

[WunderDark]

Looking good everyone! I haven't posted in a while
but I thoght i give this a try... heres a WIP
Crits are welcome...
622258

[blobs]

Progress in Work:

622018


Masque, that is a seriously great piece of work :)

[Eleventy]

Mr.Wittmann: I love the blue lights, they remind me of 'turkish eye' jewelery.

Wow, I'm loving how varied the entries are on this one, a real range of interpretations & emotions.

Anyway, here's my quick scribbling of an idea. c&c welcome, of course.
(Oh & I cheated & copy/pasted the smaller imp, just trying to feel out the composition some more)

[Pseudocognition]

Eeeehhhh I dunno. Composition needs some serious plastic surgery all up ins.

[FAST ART]

wow dario, so long don´t saw anything from you.. great character and nice creature .. :)

[Dizon]

Here's what I have so far. I hope I get around to finishing this.

Update: Added color and refined it further. Almost finished I think.

[Carnifex]

not sure if i'll be able to finish this,but i'll throw it out anyway.
my try is to not show the blue lights directly,only their reflection and light effect they have.
and i can clearly hear charming little mary laugh: "you don't understand. they are with me...always."

[shannanigan]

The rest will most likely be in color too. Just wanted to see how the lights would look. These lights be stand-ins... as be most of the rest of the picture.


Have you seen "From Beyond"? Its a Lovecraft based movie with Jeffery Combs (of course!)... the creatures in it look a lot like your blue lights. I love that movie.... its a "B" all the way! :D

[MJ_Alcazar]

Here's an update.

[fersteger]

Cool cool cool, here's my quick take. Probably won't be able to do much more work on it, do you think it's too unfinished to put in the poll? Wish I had time to comment on the rest but lunch ends in 1 minute lol.

[Daniela Blanco]

MJ_Alcazar: great skecth so far.....I really like your style.....but I would try to fix the handcart's perspective... it doesn't look in concordance with the street's perspective........other than that.....I'm looking forward to see it finished! :]
fersteger: wow.....if that's what you got in just the lunch time.....thanks god you won't do much more on it.......:P.....kidding!! it's really great and would love to see what you culd do with more time.....!!

Here is my wip............I fixed her proportion trying to make her look more a 12 year old......added the blue lights and worked on light and shadow......
I'm little confused with my lighting.....it's to complicated....too much lights sources.............so I tried to make one main source coming from the left bottom.......but of course the blue lights must affect her too..........what do you guys think???

[Demo]

Remember guys theirs a lot more to this character then just a 12 year old with blue lights. Dig deeper in to this character, show her struggles and mind set from living on the streets alone. Shes not going to have the nicest clothes and other accesories of a normal girl

Heres some work from me
little planing and a closer to finle choice, had some problems working around my poses so i just droped all the dynamic stuff and just going to work on the character.

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[N-man]

good job so far guys:)
heres my update.

622723

[masque]

622673

Updated.

Dunno about other people's towns/cities/countries, but in my experience there'd be few pre-pubescent girls actually growing up on the streets "full-time," much more likely to be spending years in and out of institutional and foster care, acquiring a record with Child Welfare agencies. So this is that side of Mary's life, the other side of the brief, perhaps. Most girls that age would likely prefer the safety and comfort of even an ersatz family. Is she compelled to street life by her pretty lights?

__________________________________

@ fersteger: I like her expression and pose, but she seems very well-developed for a 12-year-old -- maybe it's just the costume?

[dirkvandulmen]

Wip ...

[Demo]

Just wana post a quick color ver to see if any one has any tips or for-thought


edit...lol forgot the pic
622795

[daestwen]

Demo: Watch her anatomy. what's sticking out for me is her neck (it's shaped like a cone) and her arms.

[gerezon]

Wip..

"Just as she's hitting rock bottom and about to give up, the mysterious blue light appears again. With all of its force it pulls her back up from the dark void. Its not her time yet."

c&c welcome.

@dirkvandulmen - Really nice, love it. My only crit would be that she looks a bit a younger than twelve.

[thepaddedcell]

Came to this a little late, but heres my initial pass...

[mimer]

mary, in an alley, rain coming down. lights all around. trying out some different poses for her arms. this will be a challenge in anatomy and perspecive for me if i go with this one :P

edit 1. some ideas with the lights, and the pose.

all comments and crits much appreciated.

[Pixeltuner]

I'm in as well. The blue creature thingie is a bit temp, have to design that one a bit more. Going for the tried and trusted streetwise gal.

[Tea Drinker]

some progress. Still working out on the outfit colors. wanna do something collective. layers and what not.

[DeKal]

poshspice - so sick. the level of realism between the last wip and the one before it is drastic. do you really have that lighting and anatomy memorized or did you glance at some ref?
fast art - suuper sick approach. nice technique but i think the second wip works better than the third. i dont think you need as much contrast and the shadowed anatomy next to her nose and mouth doesnt look as pleasing to me as in the second version. just my 2 cents.
dirk - tight work!

lots of other great ones too.
ill try to do somethin soon

[K-Mo]

@ MJ_Alcazar - your sketch is looking really nice but there is one major issue that has jumped out at me. its her right leg. the way it's bent makes it look like it would be a lot longer than her left leg. you could remedy this by swivelling her hips so that they are dipped to her right, so that it looks like most of her weight is being supported by her left leg. at the moment, because her hips are leaning slightly to her left, it should really be her left leg that is bent... do you get what i mean? (i realise her right foot is rolled up, which would cause the bend, but it looks a little extreme to me.. maybe if you make it slightly less bent?). err.. sorry i suck at explaining things. anyway apart from that it's looking really good!

[daldbaatar]

Cool cool cool, here's my quick take. Probably won't be able to do much more work on it, do you think it's too unfinished to put in the poll? Wish I had time to comment on the rest but lunch ends in 1 minute lol.

hey man. hi. i think you should take it little further by working on and making her face area more refined and center of the drawing, more focused...thats what i think...

[Mephistoau]

Again just adding small bits and pieces :P I think im fiddling too much lol

[shannanigan]

Well I finally had an idea for this tonight... not sure if I'll get it done since its so late in the week (I'm sloooow. LOL!)

But anyway heres a super rough sketch... just to get the idea out of my head.
I'm planning on this being a dark scene with the blue lights brightening things up for Mary. :D

[amianna]

Here is my entry for Mary, this is the first time I'm going to try to enter one of these I wish I could spend more time on it but I don't think I'll be able to , however the idea really appealed to me and I couldnt help but draw out a little idea.
The blue lights take over souls of the animals in the area and they help mary out all the time, they could be aliens or just a force in nature for children who need themD: it's very rough idea :< i apologize for the crappiness

[rushwolf]

Took a big turn in a different direction.

Basing the world of the concept on my dormant Magnus project. Kinda fantasy, fantastical steam-genre world.

The lantern is empty, a lil home she has for her favorite lights.

Need to rework the composition to fit in with the blue lights once I decide how they'll look.

[amianna]

Whoa, That is really amazing, rushwolf. It's so epic and awesome. Great job , I cant wait to see it finished :)

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

Last WIP before finals:

http://www.brendandeboy.com/maryfinalwip.jpg

[bleupencil]

Tommoy, XTN, rushwolf - all looking fantastic so far.
Shanannigan, hope you finish yours, cos I love it already!

It's Thursday and I'm still sketching :\
Think I'd just better run with the idea I like most, cliche as it may be.

[nirudafat]

wow...amazing stuff ppl....really......
here's mine... scrapped the previous idea.....wanted to go for a more darker evil look....and that mary has some sort of control over the blue lights......hmm.....still dunno how on earth to finish it

getting bogged with the technical parts...shud i blow up the pixel count...like very high and then work on the details? but will the image look tooo sharp when the size is brought down?

[daldbaatar]

worked on the background

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6494/maryofthebluecopy1.jpg
By daldbaatar (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/daldbaatar) at 2009-03-19

[St. Ginger]

Everyone's stuff looks so awesome. Masque, I love it. I just have a thing for print style art, but its awesome. And two sheds, what a great composition. there's alot of blue floating tennis balls about (including in mine!), and your idea is really interesting. and as usual rushwolf is amazing. Little else to say! I can't wait to see what this ends up with in the finals.

I'm having trouble with my computer so i can't upload any pics atm. Plus, my Wacom isn't working at college, for no apparent reason, so i can't even work on it. Guess I'll just crack out the oils :D not that it'll do me much good with only 3 days left. lol ho hum

Keep up the good work guys!

[bleupencil]

Started tonal work... http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=623376&stc=1&d=1237468896

[St. Ginger]

Irony. 5 minutes after complaining about it, my picture finally uploads. Ah well, 12th time lucky i guess. gotta do this quick, i'm meant to be in a Philosophy lecture :geekg:

Just the compositional layout. It's still a little on the narrow side. Needs to be stretched out. Gonna go for a quite dark, warm palette, focusing on the bright red apple she's holding (dunno if u can see that) and the blue lights whizzing after her. (i forgot to add them in, but they're there) c&c welcome.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/St-Ginger/Lucyrunningfromvendor-final.jpg

I feel so insignificant compared to everyone else. U guys are awesome!
:yayca:

[Aram]

This is my try on the subject. I like the blue lights to be blob-like creatures living in an spectrum of light only mary can see. :-) c&c are welcome.

[N-man]

heres an update before i have to run out.
623468

[B-zilla]

wah! I'm late and i've been inactive for so long!!

Great topic this week and some fantastic concepts about! Here are a few comments and compliments. So sorry if i've missed anyone out!!

avisnocturna- Love it. The outfit, tones, expression, everything.

poshspice- phenomenal as always. I think I might prefer her feet turned a little, like in the third sketch. As if she's in the act of turning to face you.. in mid-air. that's pretty creepy.

dirkvandulmen- so, so sweet :)

ostrander- to reiterate someone elses comment, I really like the mononoke-esque spirits too!

hygami- I like the approach and I love your line art!

fast art- love the style and textures you've used!

jread- I really like the idea of the different sized imaginery creatures! They're so cute and innocent. I wouldn't mind being insane and having them for friends.

3vil- I liked the moodiness you've gave her in your first few sketches. The new silhouette version seems a lot more "super-hero/villian" esque- imo

Thambisomhalba- fantastic rendering. Her face and pose seem so realistic and innocent. love it.

dwinbotp- awesome angle you've chosen. and nice touch with the puppy and broken umbrella. great stuff all in all!!

pseudocognition - Love your sketches. Great expressions.

daniela blanco - I really like the face and tones you've chosen. Maybe the legs look a little flat though.

n-man- Nice whimsical idea you have for her there. One thing though, is her left arm intentionally short?

masque- great back story and fantastic image!

XTN - The values are spot on and I love the environment you've put her in. It seems so magical! Awesome stuff!

fersteger - wow.. great outfit and colours. Very fantasy-esque.

Memphistoau - Love her expression. Very haunting.

Rushwolf - wow...can't wait to see it in colour.

Arthur 'two sheds' - Nice stuff! the colours and tones are great. However, the blue lights look like they're part of the background, or part of the clouds.

Aram - Nice start!

[MJ_Alcazar]

k-mo - thank you so much for catching that!

EDIT: hope this looks better.

[B-zilla]

Here's my WIP. Hopefully i'll find time to work on this over the weekend, there's still sooo much to do. I had a lot of fun starting this though :)
http://fc23.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/078/7/8/mary_of_the_blue_lights_WIP_by_Belindi.jpg

[Dani Duck]

Well I finally had an idea for this tonight... not sure if I'll get it done since its so late in the week (I'm sloooow. LOL!)

But anyway heres a super rough sketch... just to get the idea out of my head.
I'm planning on this being a dark scene with the blue lights brightening things up for Mary. :D

I really love your drawing so far shannanigan. Can't wait to see it done!
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is yet another draft. I had the day off yesterday, but I was too sick (seems to be the story of my life right now) to do a
lot of work on it. When I was working on it before I had done the measurements wrong in two ways:
1. I was going by an average teen age proportions, which is fine for 14-16year olds, but not really great for 12 year olds
(except maybe the ones who have reached puberty?). Also I shrunk her head without shrinking her body.

I'm sure I still have lots to change, but it will probably be tonight before I can work on it again. Any comments would be nice!
EDIT: Yes I know her calves are a bit fat, but I was planning to shrink them. :/

[Anubis523]

Here it is I haven't been on for a while hope I can get some feedback. Bash it if you like.

[dwinbotp]

Thanks to masque, rushwolf and DHTenshi for the crits, I tried to fix whatever I thought would make the piece better, hope it's working more now, don't have much spare time for it these days though, thanks for the encouragement!

[Tea Drinker]

wip so far. spent alot more time fixing up that face. still a ways to go though i think. Gonna try and work on background and lights more tonight.

[gerezon]

My old one wasnt going anywhere so here's a new take.

WIP.


http://jonas.grapefrukt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/mary_new_wip4-copy.jpg

[Daniela Blanco]

amianna : I love your character's expression and the cute animals around her.....keep up

rushwolf : really great entry.....one of my favourites concepts so far....But I see some problems there......look out her chin an lips area.....it looks a little strange...also her right arm looks smaller than the left one....other than that I'm looking forward to see it finished....:]

Arthur 'Two Sheds' : I like the colors you choose....it's much better now.......she looks younger than before....I just see something wrong with her shoulders and neck (even not seing her neck :P) her left shoulder is to high.....maybe if you fix that you could see what's wrong with her neck..........good luck!

nirudafat: look out for her pose........she looks like almost falling to her right side......good start!

daldbaatar : great work so far......don't have any critics right now.....I'm looking forward to see it finished...

St. Ginger : good start.....watch out her antomy and pose......she is almost falling......maybe make her less inclined?

Aram: I'm liking yours so far........just her head's position looks a little out of place...like she has no neck.....keep up!

N-man: I like yours.....I just think she is a little older than she should be....:P.....maybe enlarge her head?

MJ_Alcazar : looks much better now........lookin forward to see what you will come up with colors...

Belindi: great start..........a love the way the buildings are inclined to her.....it makes the scene creepy :P.......ina good way....
Thanks for the comments on mine...... where really useful

Dani Duck: looks much more like 12 year girl now......keep up!

Anubis523: I like yours.......her face is great and I'm curious to see your "blue lights" painted..........buther legs looks too short....

dwinbotp: If I didn't have any critics before....now even less....:P.....it's beautiful.....

Tea Drinker : loving yours......her clothes are great.......but you should work more the light and shadow....it's too flatten right now.......Looking forward to see it finished...

gerezon: Loved the idea of the little lights spread all around........keep up!

well.........I thought this comments just on the last page would be fast.......but it really wasn't :P

Enough of writing....
Here is my wip.........don't know if the color is messing up everything or making it better.....

[Dani Duck]

Daniela Blanco: At least I know I'm getting closer! (now to rewrite everything I just wrote and lost :/)

I like the colours in your painting; they work really well together. Her left eye seems a little big, and her right eye is a little too far from the nose. I would reduce her cheeks so they look less full. This will help her look more emaciated. Something bothers me about her right arm. Keep up the good work!

[dirkvandulmen]

Wip ...
and tried to work on some comments
Belindi - Trying to make it sweeter ;-)
Dekal- It's not as tight as I would like it to be ;-)
Gerezon- Tried to make her more 12-ish, don't know if she is now. Good point.

Rushwolf- That is looking really promising!

[Bolo]

Hey Guys,

This is just a quick sketch I did.
I just wanted get some C & C's before I did any more.

Thanks.

[Dani Duck]

Bolo: Her Lower body looks a lot larger than her upper body. The hands especially appear to0 small. Her hair is neat, but it doesn't make much sense that it's sticking straight up.

[JessiBean]

Bolo - While I dig where you are trying to go with the expression, I would seek out some anatomy reference - the underside of the chin is awkward and the face tilt looks too smushed, the out stretched arm is very short compared to the rest of her and the hand feels very small and stubby. The feet both pointing off to the right makes her feel like she is listing to the left, also.

[MJ_Alcazar]

Daniela Blanco - thanks. :) Her left arm is wrong. If her upper arm came down like it is, her lower arm would never be able to reach her leg. Now, if it came up and reached over, then it would be able to. Try doing the pose and you'll see what I mean. :)

Tea Drinker - I really love her face and the mexican vibe I'm getting from her.

Dani Duck - I think her right leg could come back a little. It looks like she might be falling backward a bit. Like the dancing pose though.

[xgabo]

My work so far... my idea is about an indian street girl who finds an alien machine that secrets a glowing blue substance she uses to make henna tattoos. Needless to say something goes wrong. More details later.

[Dani Duck]

Dani Duck - I think her right leg could come back a little. It looks like she might be falling backward a bit. Like the dancing pose though.

Edit... It must be to the right, so edit! hee hee

[rushwolf]

Was considering the Mononoke thing... ridiculously happy glowies made me grin as i drank mah coffee.

But I scrapped that-- moving on to color [kinda experimentin] and massive creatures that ... have lights, still not sure where/how they emit it.

My idea is that in this world, where many forms of magic exist. There are many forms on energy from which it draws it power. A few rare beings can vividly sense the this parallel plane where theses sentient constructs, of ethereal mana, live. Mary is soo attuned to this plane that the creatures of light are also aware of her, and in so their planes of existence overlap around her.


Or something... like that. I swear Im not high.

[DIMAGYAN]

rushwolf: i liked the movment and the lights designs for the first wip, but the second wip with her as the focal point it works much better. the painting is coming great.the only constructive thing to say is that even i like the gesture and expression of the girl there is somenthing a bit strange with the proportions(i don't know if it is the head size or the upper body length) anyway maybe is just me...take this as grain of sand. waiting or the final.

masque:i love the final result of your image. however there is somenthing with her posture, specially with her back. it looks too rigid for that kind of position in my opinion, it seems to me that the body in that position would have a more significant curvature in the back.take this as an opinion. anyway looking really good.

MJ Alcazar:i really like your character and the face is looking very good. nice creature on the "car"(sorry, i don`t have a clue how to say "carrito" in english!)
not to sure about the perspective alignment though but maybe is just me. waiting for the final.

really good works and variety of aproach on this thread. with more time i would make more comments.

cheers

[DeKal]

rushwolf - fuckin sick dude

so i sat down and started drawing for a little while before bed. heres where i got. not very far.

[prelude2tragedy]

This is my first post here though I've been lurking for quite some time. I'm still new to all this and I try to use my spare time to learn the basics. So I thought CHOW would be an excellent way to practice (and actually finish something before a deadline).

I wanted to turn away from a delusional, crazy kid... and instead blame it on small creatures hiding in shadows. They are puppeteering her through whispered suggestions and manipulative guidance. They keep her alive and safe, but their true intentions are unknown.

http://www.prelude2tragedy.com/uploaded_images/wip_prev01.jpg

Rushed it in a day, still a lot of work to do. Critiques are appreciated.
It's getting rather late and I have classes tomorrow morning so I'll comment on the other entries after all that, ok? Sorry.

[masque]

thanks for the C&C, DIMAGYAN, now you call it to my attention the apparent line of her back does seem very straight, but I think that's mainly a consequence of the pose ref and view angle:

623961

I sometimes use a 3D model I've built to help figure out more complex poses (as opposed to hiring a 12-year-old ;) ), and the back does have a fair amount of curvature when seen in profile, but the body's curves and the view angle sort of conspired to disguise it. Adding the clothing added to the disguise as it hides most of the curves from shoulder to butt.

I did want her to look very "pulled inward," but maybe exaggerated the tightness of the pose too much, also adding to the perception.

Why is hindsight always 20/20 or better? :dad: :tihi:

[Sekino]

Awesome entries so far!

I didn't think I'd have time this week, but I suddenly got inspired. I think I might finish by tomorrow (depending when I decide to go to bed...).

623993

[no_name_brand]

Haven't posted here in about 2 years but this was way to good to pass up.

initial sketch, and the work in progress

cheers any feed back much appreciated.

[jread]

dwinbotp...amazing work! looks very natural. I would like to see a bit more of the city picked out in the BG though...even if its just a few lights, just so it looks a bit more 'city'. :)

[reme]

still wip, found my composition but still trying to figure out how my colors will work any suggestions?.... rushing against time >_>

[bleupencil]

Latest.... http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=624103&stc=1&d=1237544635

[rushwolf]

Ow, tired. Done for the night [morning].

[St. Ginger]

Daniela Blanco, thanks for the crit. much appreciated.

I was going for a 'barreling down the street, head first' effect, but i agree it was a bit too much.

I've been playing around in photoshop (with the wonderment that is the transform tool!) and i prefer her pose now. Her proportions are also a little better too.

I'm gonna have this printed out and use it as a reference to paint it in oils, so i'm not too worried about the details atm.

Well, heres the update:

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/St-Ginger/Lucyrunningfromvendor-final-edit-sm.jpg

I'd better start painting this soon, or it'll still be wet and smear my scanner. lol

Rushwolf, You are a machine! I love the colours. the beastie behind her obviously looks part of the blue lights, but whats he up to? I'm intrigued!!

[Mephistoau]

Gah rushwolf you have an amazing painting style. Grr. :D It's looking awesome man

[lwhuang]

noob question but is there a skill level required to join the activity? :) ^_^"

[St. Ginger]

I officially hate computers!!!

I am never touching photoshop again. the program here at college is awful cos the computers are so slow.

I did this little colour sketch to try it out, don't really like it though. I'm gonna just print it and start painting.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk131/St-Ginger/Lucyrunningfromvendor-colour.jpg
(note: My wacom is still dicking about, so this was done entirely with a mouse.)

[Aly Fell]

noob question but is there a skill level required to join the activity? :) ^_^"

Welcome lwhuang. No not at all, but have a look at the first two posts in the thread to see if any questions you have are answered there or in the links within them.

[masque]

A quick thanks to all who've commented on my piece, very much appreciated, and particularly again to DIMAGYAN for the astute crit. I went back to my earlier sketches and made a few small tweaks to a few places where the rendering had gotten too far from the original pose. Hopefully helps some, looks more natural to me, anyway. Posted in the Final Burning thread.

rushwolf, your rendering's coming along well and the story is interesting but she looks like she's posing on a stage setting, very formal and portrait-like to my eyes, reminds me of some of the poses seen in early photos where they had to stay still forever because of long exposure times. I think the "lights" aspect is getting muted kind of heavily also, with the creature taking greater importance than the lights, they seem like simple decoration to me.

xgabo, that's spooky-sweet, very body-snatchers in a cool way, the colors work in spite of their huge contrast, kudos on that. The alley seems to me to be more New York than Calcutta, though, the brickwork and type of garbage can looking very western (assuming that you meant the setting to be India, that is).

[Artofinca]

here is my wip

[xgabo]

masque - Actually, I thought the scene is supposed to be set in a generic modern city, east or west, and the girl is a kind of a refugee/immigrant. But you're right, I didn't pay too much attention to the details in the background so it looks a little generic. I'll fix it before finals. Thanks for pointing that out!

[Clochette]

Dumdumdumdum, here is mine !

624289

624291

Loved this subject so far !

[no_name_brand]

Late night, can't sleep, best time to paint.

Still figuring out the Character, but the lighting is off to a good start I think. I'll play with the scale of the character a bit more. The composition feels a bit dull, which has me a bit worried . I'll have to add in surrounding elements and find a solution.


cheers

[Dani Duck]

Eh, I didn't get a chance to work on mine last night, so I'll be working on it this weekend. I'd like to put shame on my gimp, though. It kept crashing every time I tried to load my picture the other day, so I was stuck using photoshop 5.5 (the horror). 25 megs should not be too much for gimp to handle. Edit: I hope gimp will work for me this weekend.

[Aly Fell]

Love it Clochette!

[Sekino]

I think I'm done. I'm rather happy with it because this was pretty much what I had in mind from the get go in terms of feel. Usually, I start off with one idea and it morphs into something else along the way.

624397

A few comments so far:

Dwinbotp- Beeeautiful! I love how she looks both aware of the rain and distracted by the lights (the wonders of body language!). My only crit would be that her feet aren't very detailed considering they are almost our focal point. Then again, they could be blurry because of the water so it doesn't take anything away from the rest.

Tea Drinker- I can't nail why(the lankiness? The oddball accessorizing?), but you have the most 12-year-old-girl-looking 12 year-old girl in this run, IMO. 12-y-o's vary wildly even in real life, but yours definitely isn't 10 or 14. And the image is gorgeous so far :)
My second award for absolute 12-year-old-ness goes to Daldbaatar.

Daniela Blanco- I like the composition so far (and the 'orby' lights). Her face seems somewhat old to me however. I think it's because her lips look thin- usually, younger people have plumper lips.

xgabo- Whoa! I love the extreme lighting and creepiness. Really cool interpretation!

rushwolf- Gorgeous and lavish! I gotta say really liked the little Miyazaki-esque blobs, mostly because they interracted with the lantern more than the large creature and seemed more 'light-like' (?)... But the creature- and overall image- look very cool as well, so I'll trust where you're going with it :)

masque- I've said it before, but I love your hatching/line style. I always know it's yours :) This one definitely feels less whimsical and more of a 'mental illness' explanation for the lights. I think the black and white does a great job establishing the feeling that it is reality and not fantasy... although the blue lights keep a tiny possibility for magic and hope... Whoa, It makes me think! Great image! :D

prelude2tragedy- Welcome! And way to go breaking the ice with an entry :) Looking good! My main critique is that I don't get any '12-year-old-ness' from her. I think her legs are too shapely and strong. Usually, tweens have lanky, awkward limbs because they've lost their baby-fat but didn't grow into their frame yet (unless they are overweight but it is not her case;)). Her face also looks very womanly. It might help to make it a bit rounder (smaller chin/jaw, rounder forehead, arched eyebrows) to get a bit of childishness back in there. Hope it helps!

Krytos- Be careful that your main character isn't too small (there is a rule about that). Righ now, she seems a bit lost in the greater image.

Artofinca- Very beautiful and nice fairy-tale feel so far. Looking forward to seeing more!

Clochette- It's so pretty! I really dig how you can keep your illustrations looking like... well, illustrations and not get your lines lost under too many colours. I love the little lightning bugs (and her shoes, for some reason!) :D

(Note: I need to use less emoticons... my post has acne :()

[masque]

...the girl is a kind of a refugee/immigrant. ...Ah, yes, knowing this does make it work better, though the idea of her being on the streets in an Indian city also makes good sense -- I suppose it may be more of a problem in really dense populations, with perhaps fewer institutional solutions to child homelessness.

... it is reality and not fantasy... although the blue lights keep a tiny possibility for magic and hope... Whoa, It makes me think!Thank you! You really got the heart of what I wanted to portray, a touch of magic in an otherwise impersonal & clinical world (no matter how humane the people might be), so I guess maybe that's one for the plus side :D Good you see a little hope, too, since that can be in such short supply for the homeless.

[shannanigan]

Looking good everybody! :D

Me... I'm poking along. The lines are done just need to work out the coloring...
and the "lights"... they are lookin' like sperm right now. LOL!

[rushwolf]

masque - Thanks for the feedback. Her pose does feel very formal/strained to me. I'm not sure if its bugging me or not yet. I plan to mess with at least her head position. As for the creature. I'm bouncing around the image a lot, my idea for the creature is to have it be massive but not stand out except for the lights. I still have some way to go on it. I keep reminding myself that his is CHOW not COW though.

[AvisNocturna]

I'm really impressed by the amount of different creative Marys, I can't stop browsing through the thread XD

Sekino: I really like the way she's sitting there in the corner of the house.

clochette: this is just too cute!

Artofinca: I like the mood your going for, her expressoin looks so calm and peaceful.

rushwolf: Wuah! First, did I say thank you for the critique? If not: Thanks :D And your picture's just.. woah... I love the whole style and design of your Mary.

prelude2tragedy: I like the design of the lights a lot. Those evil little things >:) She looks a little odd, though, her head doesn't seem to belong to her body. Maybe it's gonna be fixed when you rendered the dress.



Well... I think I'm almost finished. C&C very welcome
Ah, and I should get used to sketch my background first... perspective is off again, argh

[h2rra]

Great work everyone!

Started this couple of hours ago, but don't know if i will finish it. I like how the face turned out but thats about it...

[Rambozo]

Well, I was gonna do this pic of « Mary » slumped over huggin’ her legs in a cardboard box in a back alley with the « lights » bein’ the eyes of some demon who’s body’s ghosted out and you can barely see (other than the eyes that is)… Started sketchin’, figurin’ hey this is gonna be cool…

And then I came ‘round the forum and saw the pose a few times ; Arthur To Sheds eyes in the sky ; and spotted Tommoy’s pic and figured screw this : I liked his much better than what I had in mind, and plus he added the rain and the light in the background and all that and I figured he’d caught the mood and his WIP was already better as it was so…

Back to the drawin’ board…

Which was a good thing in the end I reckon, made me go with somethin’ else than my first impulse. More ludicrous, not my style but that’s the point right ?

The street urchins I knew and used to hang out with were all pan-handlers. And then I remembered : _I_ know some chick who I’m convinced “saw lights”. She was a real space-cadet, right out retarded, phased-out all day long, always used to hang out my bassist’s neighbourhood back in the day. A coke- really, which is sad seein’ as how she musta been something like 15 or 16…

Anyway, so I went in that direction in stead. Well… Went for the less RAUNCHY and more for the FrootLoops heheh.

The blue lights are bubbling outa her head (nose) and she’s tryin’ to poke at their home world.

Any suggestions for colouring ? (I’ll be gettin’ to that later hopefully, first the details, the squeegee and tooth-faery-queen trophies ;) )

[masque]

whoa, Rambozo, twistedly tragicomic, but man, that's some big ol' booger, yuch. :D Excellent handling of the pose and view angle.

[Sekino]

Rambozo, you just redefined the term 'snot-nosed brat' for me ;)

[courtyard]

Hi there--this topic is so fabulous, I thought I'd give it a try for my first CHOW. I haven't had a chance to check out the other entries here yet, but I can't wait to see what you all have come up with! I thought it would be interesting showing Mary from an outside perspective, and play with the idea that she actually is insane...her blue lights are just ordinary lights on a subway car (at least, they *look* ordinary ;) ).

The thumbnail is extremely rough since I've got to hurry to make the deadline, but she's going to be wearing broken glasses (one lens) and be quite dirty, esp. her bare feet. And taller...she looks too young here. Posting my progress so far. This is my first environment--totally out of my element here, so comments are more than welcome. I'm going to add a blue focused light on Mary near the end, and make the rest of the car around her quite a bit darker and less saturated (I think). I would love to add a commuter glancing over at her if I have time, but I'm so slow it will even be a miracle if I finish Mary.

Huge thanks to Posh and Daestwen for organizing these.

[Daniela Blanco]

Thanks for all the comments.....Dani Duck.....I fixed her eyes and and cheeks.....MJ_Alcazar........really thanks.....I wasn't seeing it anymore..but now I think I could fix her arm...Sekino .....I fixed her lips....but don't really know if she's looking younger now....hope so........very much appreciated .... :D

Rambozo: wow :D ....I couldn't resist commenting on yours........it's incredible already........The concept is great and different .....also love how you managed her perspective and pose.....I'm so looking forward to see it in colors......


And here is my wip.....or final?? don;t know.......I really need to sleep.....and tomorrow I'll decide it......

[shannanigan]

Started coloring... this is the last WIP I'll torture you all with. Maybe... :D


EDIT: Ok I lied! LOL! Here is another color update... fiddled with the shading so its not so black and added in the sparkly blue lights. I'm detailing "Mary" last, want to make sure I have all my light sources in place!!

[Sung-jae Kim]

Hello hello, I'm hoping to do something for this CHOW.

Meh, I started rendering the face before I finished drawing cause I'm stupid :(
I'll have to finish designing the clothes and the more important stuff now...

ANY critiques and comments would be highly appreciated.
Thanks.

[ChemX]

Alrighty, this will be my first foray into CHOW, though I've been marveling at everyone's work from the shadows for a couple years now. I know it will be a tight squeeze to get this piece finish by Sunday night, but it's a start and the input will force me to be committed.

[DIMAGYAN]

glad you find my comment useful masque. thanks for sharing your process and thoughs.it is true what tou say, the clothing, pose and view angle conspired to disguise the figure curves.the gesture idea is very effective for the scenario type you choose. as i sayed before the image is great and the final looks very good.

shannanigan:i love yours.i really like the pose and the playful attitude of the girl in relation to the lights. the only constructive thing to say is that the shadows are a bit black(this is probably a personal preference though)...maybe putting some colours for the darker areas? anyway very good image.

[B-zilla]

here's another WIP- added colour and cropped the image. trying to squeeze as much time out to work on this. Still got highlights and bkg textures to work on... i wish there were more hours in day...

Comment and crits most welcome!!

Keep up the good work everyone! I really like all the different takes on mary :)

http://fc98.deviantart.com/fs44/f/2009/080/b/e/mary_of_the_blue_lights_WIP2_by_Belindi.jpg

[Auren]

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7972/15142335.jpg (http://img18.imageshack.us/my.php?image=15142335.jpg)

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9148/72257924.jpg (http://img18.imageshack.us/my.php?image=72257924.jpg)

I think I will actually finish this.

[MJ_Alcazar]

Whew, another update. I've been trying to mess with the perspective. Shannanigan - love her face!

[Demo]

still workin gona have to work straight through the weekedn just to keep up with all this talent commin in.

625341

[G@m]

My wip, hope i can finish it in time
for the little blue light i tried to take inspiration from elcoro monsters, but i think i failed.
Updated with colors, crits would be appreciated since its the second char i color :\

625446
625625

[prelude2tragedy]

It's a little bit intimidating being among all this talent. I'm such a newbie. :\

DIMAGYAN - I like what you have so far. My only concern is the perspective of the box she's holding. Looks a bit wonky.

Ostrander - You blow me away everytime you post. Damn.

dirkvandulmen - Adorable, to say the least! I agree, it reminds of Foster's!

Tommoy - Excelent mood, I love your piece to bits!

masque - Believable backstory and awesome rendition.

jread - Please finish it? :) The creatures are delicious. I like how playful Mary looks.

K-Mo - Lots of attitude, I like your style.

dariocoelho - As crazy as it is, the concept works for me. I would make her eyes bigger - but that may be just a matter of taste.

Pseudocognition - Lovely linework!!!

N-man - Interesting take on the subject... Care to explain it further?

Artofinca - Her face shows so much depth, staring with mournful eyes... I love it.

h2rra - Great colours, the pose is very stiff though.

Rambozo - That's bizarre! The good kind of bizarre! There are some lines from the sidewalk going across her face, though. I don't think that's intentional, lol.

AvisNocturna - Thank you a lot for the comment. I really like how yours is shaping up. I love the boots! I don't know if it is just me but she seems a bit bulky on the lower half of the body...

Sekino - Thank you for the pointers, I agree she looks a bit older - I guess I see lots of overdeveloped 12 year-olds where I live, lol. I tried to round her features more. It isn't perfect but I don't want to go crazy with that right now...

Should I edit my previous post or just put it here? Hmm.

http://prelude2tragedy.com/uploaded_images/wip_prev04.jpg

I couldn't work on it the whole day because I don't have my pc with me. I think I'm finished with Mary, just need to work on the background more (and her hair!).

[MJ_Alcazar]

prelude2tragedy - I think her feet may be a tad too small.

DIMAGYAN - liking your sketch so far. Can't wait to see the final.

[DeKal]

a little bit further

[Johann de Venecia]

Hi, guys, haven't been here in a while. Here's mine. I liked it enough while I was sketching, but I feel less for it more and more. Maybe I will make a new one if I have time tomorrow. Cheers.

http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/johanndevenecia/mary_devenecia.jpg

[Raydiant]

Just started mine... :P
Kinda generic, still pondering about what to do with the blue lights, so I can make mine more unique.

[ChemX]

Okay, here's an update! I'm feeling a little more comfortable now, though I think I've got a long way to go to meet the deadline. Hopefully I can devote most of tomorrow.

[Dani Duck]

Here's my update. I haven't had much time to work on this, but I've found some ways to make my work go faster. I'm not sure about the background yet. I was thinking about going more realistic with it, but I keep thinking I should go more abstract, like she's all drugged out and this is the world she's seeing. Maybe with the time constraints I have I should just clean things up, start on colour, and remove the background altogether. What do you guys think?

I would appreciate any C&C you can give me. I'm heading to bed now! Have fun drawing everyone!

[Rodimus25]

Heres what i got so far.

[daestwen]

Johann: You changed your name! Do you want me to update the winner's list with the new one?

[AUG]

Great looking round everyone!

Started this last night. Hoping to finish by the deadline.

[no_name_brand]

So when I first came across this challenge I was so into the theme I started painting with out research, without focus, and without a goal. So sitting looking at my original on Sunday afternoon I decided I wasn't going to fix it. And spend the rest of my time trying to make a bad composition work, and a boring character look interesting. So I decided, I m just going to start again.

I think this out worked out a lot better. One sitting 6 hours got to love it.

[N-man]

heres the last update before i finish it and put up a final one.

@prelude2tragedy: its suppose to be like she made herself armor and weaponry to help defend herself on the streets of the city. idk just liked the idea lol:)

626262

[DeKal]

AUG - sick style!


gettin there

[jread]

jread - Please finish it? :) The creatures are delicious. I like how playful Mary looks.

thanks for the comment :) unfortunately I left me wacom pen at work on friday so havnt had the chance to work on it, bummer :( I wont be able to finish it for the final thread but i will definitely finish it soon as i get the opportunity.

[flashrabbit]

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p97/DkJunior/flashrabbit_wip1.jpg

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p97/DkJunior/flashrabbit_wip.jpg

Some thumbs, a color/valuetest (that wasn't supposed to be this detailed) and the start on the gouache painting.
Dont know if I will have time to finish it before the deadline, but we'll see.

[DHTenshi]

flashrabbit: I really like yours, really cool style, and your rendering seems real solid ;)

Johann de Venecia is cheating, lol, I AM kidding, just to say that, his sketch is the one I most like...

prelude2tragedy: I think she still looks older than 12... but maybe is just me, but, other than that, it looks really good, but I don't think the lighting in her, is the same as the bg

Rodimus25: Love that one =), really cool style

no_name_brand: I really like her face! but I think the blue reflections on her should be more strong, to make the lights more alive...

DeKal: she looks really good, but doesn't seem 12 year old...

ok so, here's what i got, so far... please crits, they are appreciated, this is my real first try at Painter X, and I'm really liking it, hope i finish this in time o.o

[Johann de Venecia]

DHTenshi: Thanks! Yours is shaping up really well. Hope we can finish in time.

Daestwen: Its ok, I'll let the old name keep its history. Thank you though, hope your'e well.

I haven't seen everyone's entries yet. I'll do proper CCs later. I did a new one this morning, I wasn't feeling the first one too much. Hopefully I'll have time to clean this up by tonight. I wanted to make her look more street hardened and butch, but I think I made her look to androgynous so I hope I can fix that along with the BG later. Cheers all.

http://i615.photobucket.com/albums/tt237/johanndevenecia/marybutch_devenecia.jpg

[♦♦Jackdaw♦♦]

AUG - How anyone can work like that is baffling - great piece tho!

Dekal - Looking good. Remember that the brief said 12 years old tho. At the moment she looks a lot older.

Rodimus25 - Nice work Roddy! You guys are all over these forums ;)

flashrabbit - Looks nice. Very moody.

Johan de Venecia - Looking good so far, again i'd say watch her age. Apart from that it's coming along well. You're gonna hate me for saying this but i really liked your initial sketch :D.

prelude2tragedy - Really nice rendering so far.

[erinel]

There are too many good ones here for me to list all my favorites, but my top two are clochette and rambozo!

here's another of my WIPs. I really don't feel comfortable in digital yet, I'm still trying to find a technique I like, so this was good practice.

[Papier mâché]

And here is mine.

:yayca:

[Rambozo]

Alright, my second and final WIP post. I’ve just kept goin’ really. I sorta like the whole B&W / Sepia thing, it fits I think. So I don’t think I’m gonna go with colours… Mistake ?

What else. Ah the hair, still unsure what I’m gonna do with it now… I still have to add dangly things offa the wheel-crown. I’m pretty sure I’m gonna drop the multi-pony-tail thing I first started off with.

Ok now, if this can help out anyone at all : this is gona be my first run at CCs :

Prelude2tragedy : Bizarre ?! hehe hey thanks and ya for the lines well it was just the skeleton for my background that was showin’ through my “girl” layer in photoshop. So I guess it was sorta voluntary in the sense that it was meant to disappear ;)

I like how the details are startin’ to come in on your piece ; the contrast especially, around the hand, the ear and such. The thigh-knee junction seems to be just slightly off though, not much but just enough to draw the eye.

No_Name_Brand : dude, if you can pull that off in six straight hours : you need to give me pointers ‘cause I’m ALWAYS so friggin’ slow at anything I draw…:)

I’ld watch out for her left hand (the one at the right of the screen) though, the bone structure is a little off - but I’m sure that’s already been corrected as I write this.

DeKal : I really liked your first draft. Now with the car in the BG I find it sorta gives the painting a “nightlife” publicity feel to it (like for the Mitsubishi eclipse with techno in the background or something). Personal taste maybe, or just not matchin' up with what I originally got from the draft. It felt like she was more in a haze the first time ‘round and now things have cleaned up, like she’s walked into the good part of town hehe Maybe that’s what you’re goin’ for ? I’ll be lookin’ for your final submission !

Shannanigan : I’ld make the settings a lot darker : bring out the light from the lamp and it’s reflection on Mary, the car, etc. Should give it a more intimate, secret feel I think :) Plus I can see the stream of lights flash all the way through the car on their way to the lamp right ? Well makin’ the surroundings darker would help bring that out quite a bit, give you a chance to illuminate the wrecks innards and all.

Daniela Blanco : Thanks very much ! I think you’ll be disappointed with my colours though : I’m leaning towards keepin’ it sepia-ish at the moment :( I dunno… We’ll see how it goes.

I like the light reflections in your background (the red part with the street lamps) but I’ld say you might want to sharpen the light reflection/shadows somewhat in the foreground (the blue part around Mary) in order for the eye to really see the foreground/background relationship (defined vs. less defined). Plus there seems to be water on the ground : that’s usually a really cool way to exploit light reflection :)

Courtyard : I don’t know why but she reminds me so much of my niece in that sketch hehe

Sekino : If I can alter someone’s view of the world, even ever so slightly, then I’m happy hehehe Cheers

Arthur Two Sheds : regarding your CHOW Discussion post, I disagree : I like getting to know the characters a little more with some short texts sometimes. There are certain things you won’t always be able to sum up in a single pic for a well rounded character. Like you said : this is concept art, so a little background is important.

I’m with you when you say the pic should tell a story on it’s own, absolutely (again, concept ART right ?). But I think an art director for instance’ld be happy to have that little extra story info along with a pic in order to develop the idea right ? Is it necessary? Not really, but hey it does give you that extra flavour to the whole. Well that’s the way I look at it at any rate.

Great pic by the way.

AUG : I like your WIP02 much better than the first : nothing much but just the change in hair style makes her look so much younger in the second version.

Masque : Cheers ! I can’t remember who said this unfortunately, but here’s the quote : “The world is a tragedy to those of us who feel, and a comedy to those of us who think” (you’ll have to excuse me if I’ve butchered the wording on this one :( ).

AvisNocturna : I think this will turn out quite nice. The only thing I’ld point out is that the first few times I glanced at your WIP it didn’t click for me right away that the blue sphere had a “pixie” in it. It looked more like a blue-magic-fireball type thing. I’ld give it a go and have the figure pronounced a little more so as to not have it overlooked by distracted-folk such as myself hehe

WOW ok, this post is taking a LOT more time than I reckoned hahaha There are so many participants yet again this round ! I’ll keep it at that this time ‘round then :)

My two cents !

[Carnifex]

sorry,i'm out. not liking my idea enough to pursue it till deadline.
too many awesome entries to comment.

[courtyard]

Hi again...*racing* to meet the deadline. This poor girl has gone through so many face lifts...at one point I couldn't stop laughing because she looked so much like Ozzy Osbourne, which wasn't really what I was going for. Here's where I'm at right now...

I want this to be the antithesis of fantasy...stark, fluorescent reality. I'm adding another commuter character to emphasize that outside perspective.

I can't believe the other incredible entries--looking forward to spending time with each of them. :)

[Sekino]

I wish I could comment on every entry I love so far, but it's getting overwhelming (and CA is lagging quite a bit for me today). Off the top of my head, kudos to XTN, Rodimus25, Shannanigan, Rambozo and no_name_brand (along with the ones I already fawned over in my other post ;)).

[Dani Duck]

Yeah, I'm going to drop out now. I had a bad day today (bad weekend actually). Been sick, went to work out, and it completely drained me. I am happy that I got a good start on my drawing and I plan on finishing it in my free time. I also learned a few things while drawing so that's a good thing. Good luck to everyone!

[DigitalShade]

Would liked to have worked on this more, but got pretty sick this week.

[courtyard]

Nearly there...

Gorgeous, DigitalShade! And just saw your post, Rambozo...brilliant! I hope she doesn't anymore. ;)

[blackrobin]

Made this fun piece, but i forgot to save my WIPs... Doh! So i cant post it in the final burning thread

Decided to go the manga style, lots lots lots of ermm... reference *cough* for 12 y/o girl manga style art...

[Raydiant]

Phew I got it done. ^^ T'was quite the fun CHOW. Anyway, here's my final.