TEAM CHOW - Team DarkYellowGhostRobot = darkly,Sung-jae Kim,Ghostbrush,dwinbotp

[dwinbotp]

Since we're joining in this fun Team Chow thingy, might as well put this up for my other team mates to update our stuff and progress. Basically, we're all here for several reasons and learning from one another is topmost on the list. That's why four complete strangers will try to see if they can come up with 6 different characters within the month w/o killing each other.

We're going to post some initial ideas and sketches and vote on amongst the team which genre to work on, and hopefully with lots of hard work, creativity and bucketloads of sheer luck and moral support, we might actually come up with something worth noticing, haha :D


My initial concept for a post apocalyptic setting... others will soon follow.

[Sung-jae Kim]

eek, not sure if it's post-apocalyptic either....and there's not even much to the design :|
I think I'll try not to erase and just put out ideas so I don't end up with 1 crappy img the whole day.

technician >_<;;

[Izer]

Hey keep at is sung-jae kim, maybe redine it more then decide to scrap it, nice start. @dwinbotp, nice start as well, like your hero, her face is nice.

[darkly]

Okay so I'm thinking more along the World of Warcraft/Fantasy type stuff, but I also like the post apocalyptic idea. I'm kind of thinking why can't we merge those and make some realm totally new. Something along the lines of Lord of the Wrings meets Mad Max. Anyway I'm going to be working up some sketches/concepts tomorrow/saturday. So I should have something to visualize what I'm thinking hopefully tomorrow nightish.

dwinbotp: Oh awesome leader. A suggestion, or thought on who does what (delegation stuff). I'm thinking we've got a whole month and we should definitely use our time wisely, but it might be good to just brainstorm, decide on a realm/world, and get some good concepts out there at first. As far as time frame, maybe a week (or less) of just pumpin' out some cool characters. Then (after that "week") deciding on what ones to keep and which ones to toss and who's going to finish what. Then everyone does their assigned work accordingly and we take over Team Chow! :yayca:
With that being said I am now taking a vow to not post again until I've got some artwork to contribute.

[Ghostbrush]

yo

just some quick sketches i did of some of the characters yesterday, i guess post apocalyptic, although there is not really much design in these at all.

In fact I dont realy like them past the poses ha ha, but hey 1st sketch!

going to work on this today and do some better sketches in different timezones etc
:yayca:

[Ghostbrush]

just trying some different costumes and ting

[Ghostbrush]

starting to mess with sci fi theme

terrible 5 min sketch

ha ha

[darkly]

Here's a few profile sketches I got done.

638180

More to come soon!

[darkly]

Okay so I was checking out the competition and came across this piece of gold. Which is all yoitisi's (link to original http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154605), but hey he's an admin and an all around badass and I figured it might give us an idea as to how we might want to structure our work load.

"Planning & Deadlines

Monday April 5: Section A: Topic/Timeframe/Style done and updated.

Sunday April 12: Section B: Ideas done and updated.
Monday April 13: Selection made of best ideas so far, start with working them out into more finished concepts.

Sunday April 19: Section C: Concepts done and updated.
Monday April 20: Selection of concepts, finishing them to final design and start on final rendering.

Tuesday April 30: Section D: Finals done and updated, as well as posted in the finals thread.

Process & Steps

A: Topic/Timeframe/Style:

This section will contain several parts that will help us to stay focused as a group and to inspire ourselves.

1. The choice we made for the style and timeframe our characters will operate in: Arabian Pilgrimage/Caravan - Futuristic

2. Visual style guide: Moodboards, collages, inspiring art, colorcharts and the like.

3. Additional write up to explore the characters as given in the brief a bit more in depth, linking them together with each other and the world they walk around in.

B: Ideas

1. After finishing the initial style guides and write up, it's time to get some ideas out there. Thumbnails, doodles and sketches, anything to put our minds on paper goes.

2. Choice of the most promising and/or popular ones. The style guides will be used to judge the ideas too, so if all your ideas fall outside this range you haven't paid enough attention, but if all your ideas fall safely inside this range you might not have looked far enough.

3. Before moving on we'll evaluate on any changes and on cohesiveness of the whole range.

C: Concepts

1. After the evaluation, our next step is to combine the earlier ideas into more finalized concepts. Adding new ideas might be necessary too though. Again, starting out with rough sketches at first might be a good idea.

2. End result of this phase might be ortho's for each character and maybe a start at the final rendering of the characters.

3. Evaluating concepts to check if they all match up with each other. Only small changes are made at this point, before going into making a rendering out of each of them.

D: Finals

1. Start on the final rendering of each character. This is where it gets tricky, since we’re all working in a different style as artists, and also on a different level, so we might have to figure something out for this. On all the previous steps I don’t think painting skill doesn’t really matter (in fact, I think it’ll benefit us that we’re working in different styles since it means more inspiration and ideas for us all), but for the final rendering we might need to figure something out.

2. Posting of the WIPs and Finals in the finals thread of the team ChOW.

Who does what

Sunday April 5 - Yoitisi: Additional write-up of the characters, more in depth story and link with our chosen background/world.
Monday April 6 - All: Moodboards and inspiration that forms the visual guide and backbone of our style, as well as the first sketches to explore the topic."

[dwinbotp]

That yoitisi, so neat! :D
Timetable will be set fersher soon, we're going post apocalyptic/cyberstuff but not steampunkish:) just have to assign who does who. we'll work out the designs while posting wips and have enough input to finalize everything for final renders too. Final tweaking also to make the pieces cohesive look-wise and style-wise:) Keep it up team mates!!!

[Sung-jae Kim]

eeeek!
Working on the sage.
Erased waaaay more than I should
tomorrow, I'm gonna make copies and just try to put clothes on her :|

[Ghostbrush]

Sung-jae Kim: looking good already dude! love the face, has that distant look about it which really fit the the brief! keep it up!

I am away for a couple of days now, got an art school interview further down the Uk, will be taking a sketchbook and my laptop so will be doing lots of drawings for this while i am there, just letting you all know in case you thought i was being lazy ha ha ha

be back wednesday with some sketches to upload

All the best


Alex

[Ghostbrush]

erm so been playing around with this sketch i started the other day, useable? not sure who it could be, hero maybe?

let me know what u think so far though

i will keep messing with it in the meantime

[Sung-jae Kim]

I think we need to start from scratch to get a much better idea of what our setting/genre is. (with those mood boards and whatnot)
Let's try to post moodboard/basic thumbnails by sunday or so? :|

[Ghostbrush]

yeah ok, will get mah google on :)

[darkly]

So here's my 2 cents. dwinbotp says we're rollin' with the "post apocalyptic/cyberstuff" setting. Now I'm not to partial with the whole "cyberstuff" idea, but (and I'm sure we all agree) we need to get going on this quickly if we're going to make the deadline with some bad ass art. To establish a setting and a look/mood for the characters is vital at this stage. My suggestion would be to post some images of things that would be similar to the setting that we've already established "post apocalyptic/cyberstuff." Now mind you these are just for inspiration and a visual guide to how we would like are setting/characters to portray. Once we've come to a definite conclusion on the look then we should start thumbnailing/working out the characters assigned us be dwinbotp. This should be quick and rough (obviously varying with experience and skill level). dwinbotp's intial sketches are a great example of this. I am currently working on The Protector and am hoping to have some rough variations of this character done by tomorrow night. I will post some images that portray the look of the setting that I'm thinking soon.

Also, I think everyone's work is looking good, we're just lacking in the "similar view of the setting/characters" department. Once we get a grasp on that I think it'll all go a lot easier.

[dwinbotp]

I apologize guys for not showing up these past few days, I'm still battling a terrible flu right now. as for mood and atmosphere settings, here's a sample or two of it. and more sand on everything as well. as for people and attire, it's more like MAD Max :). keep it up guys, I'll get back to good form in a few.

[darkly]

Okay here's some google reference images of stuff knocking around in my head.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/natedogler/MADMAX.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/natedogler/RESIDENTEVELEXTINCTION.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e178/natedogler/FALLOUT3.jpg

I also was thinking of the Judge Dredd Movie (especially the part where he's out in the waist land). Hope this helps guys! :yayca:

[dwinbotp]

yup darkly, that's it, here's another rough sketch up of the previous designs, really rough but i hope it helps, now it's high time for us to make them better! see you guys in a few when my flu lets up! :)

[Ghostbrush]

badass! Ghost reporting for duty

[dwinbotp]

:assspank: Can't sleep, this is going to kill me LOL.
Did some head studies, I'm doing the heroine so I happen to add more details into her. The others will follow.

[Ghostbrush]

*shrugs and hides* really like the protector and the sage! think the shadow looks too clean tbh, does not look very experienced or weathered ya know, still good image though. I like the heroine, I think that playing up the fact she could have a dark history is an interesting concept to play with, like the mark on her head thats a good direction, I thought about the sage and the hero having similar marks, as in the brief it mentions a a connection tha sage has with her, maybe they are of the same race or family before "the accident"

awesome update from ur death bed dwin, get well soon :)

[Sung-jae Kim]

EEek, thanks for these, I think I have a better idea of what to do.
Hope you feel better dwinbotp

[Sung-jae Kim]

sage wip?

[Ciaee]

Just wanted to drop by and say good luck guys! C:

[Ghostbrush]

Thank you Ciaee :)

[Sung-jae Kim]

Thanks Ciaee <3 :D

Hey guys, this is what I have so far, let me know which parts you like and which parts you don't so i can further develop them
I think I'll try out the rabble rouser eeeeeek. Expect something on Thursday.

[UCT]

looking good here dark yellow ghost robot.

gelling well, good continuity of scene, looks like all the wips and ideas do relate within your world.

that yoitsi eh, such organisational prowess.

looking forward to seeing more peeps

[Sung-jae Kim]

Thanks UCT

Er, forgot to post this yesterday, A LOT of work to be done, doesn't really fit the description at the moment, I'll work on it some more.
Would like to hear feedback and see what you guys are up to :P

[LostFayth]

Great work so far guys. I really like what you're designing. Nice and clean design and a great setting. Keep it up :D

[daestwen]

just wanted to say, dwinbotp, your shadow portrait is my favourite so far.

He looks like an actual character! I think people are missing the point when they draw him as an *actual* shadow thing....

[Sung-jae Kim]

Hmm...same clothes, changed/rendered face a bit.

[Ghostbrush]

shadow wip

[Ghostbrush]

meh meh meh wip wip wip

[darkly]

Hey,
sorry guys for not being around. I've had some crazy stuff come up.

Sung, I like 3, 4 and 6, but definitely leaning towards 4 for my personal favorite. Liking the rabble rouser. Great colour!

Ghostbrush, looking good! A couple crits would be that the gun on the back looks a bit off balance. It looks like its just hanging from its barrel. And although they look pretty good the hands appear odd to me like he's cringing. Maybe he could be holding a knife, or something. I like the face/mask!

So after a few different takes this is the basic, and I stress basic, concept for The protector. I WILL have some garb on him tomorrow night so we can pick from the best concept before fleshing him out.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8878/theprotector5.jpg

[dwinbotp]

great stuff guys, keep em' coming! Got some time to fiddle with the heroine, one more week left, who knew so much stuff can happen in a month eh?
BTW, Thanks for the sweet drop by Ciaee

[darkly]

Okay so here's what I got so far.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7489/theprotector7.jpg

[Ghostbrush]

Hey hey, wow heroine looks great so far Dwinbotp, looking forward to seeing more :D

Darkly also looking great dude, I prefer 2 and 3 the most, But I think 2 is my favourite, I like the schmag scarf, its seems to be something that all the chracaters seem to have in one form or another, good for the "group" establishment, also handy for sand storms :D

Sung: hows it going dude? hope all is well, I am liking the colouring so far on the WIP above, wanna see moreeeee!

Guys so far all this stuff is looking really good, and I would say it all looks rather coherent in terms of them being a group, Think they will all look great in a final illustration together!

Ok small update here, just shifted the colors from warm to cool, while i really like the cooler light source, I understand that it is in a desert type scenario so the warmer light source is better and necessary.

Need to work some more on the daggers, they look shite atm.

Left his hands resting in his gun strap and on his ammo pouch, thought it suggested a calm but calculated man, ready to go any second but not really frightened or nervous about it, tell me what you think.

Also, this is bugging the hell out of me, is there a way of me changing the gun perspective without a full re paint? :(

All the best

Alex

[darkly]

Thanks Ghost! Your character's looking even better, especially those knives (really I mean it) :donk: ! Here's what I do when I have to deal with things such as the gun:

1: Use the lasso tool and select the gun. You do this by selecting your lasso tool from your tool menu/bar. Then as if you were painting use it to encompass one part of the gun. There now part of the gun is selected. Then hold down the shift key and encircle the other part of the gun. Now both parts of the gun should be selected without any of the character being selected.

2: Now that the gun is selected copy and paste it to a new layer. This layer should now just be the two parts of the gun.

3: What I would do then is turn off/hide the "gun layer" and go to my main layer/Character layer and erase the gun altogether. (you can also just use the lasso tool again to select the gun then go to the edit menu and select clear). Either way the point is to get rid of the gun on this layer.

4: Now you can show the "gun layer" again and be free to manipulate it how you wish. For example move it erase parts of it add to it etc, all without effecting the main layer.

These are Photoshop techniques so if you're using something else ie Painter I'm not sure how you would go about doing this, but my assumption is that it could be done somewhat similarly.

Hope that helps. Also I think if you were to rotate your character slightly to the right (clockwise) he would look more balanced. Again those knives are looking badass!

[darkly]

Hey Ghost,
I did this mostly on a fun impulse, but I played around with your character a bit (although I probably should be doing more to mine) :hugsmile: . Check it...

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5913/picture22a.jpg

[Sung-jae Kim]

Only about an hr til Thursday's over! :|
I'll post the rabble rouser after I worked it out some more (hopefully before thursdays over), give me some feedbacks about this one before I start to render :)

[Sung-jae Kim]

darkly - Ah, cool revisions on Shadow's gesture
this isn't really a critique or anything, but just so you know your character is about 7.5 heads tall since heel is where it ends. (I think you might have been going for 8 heads?) If you do decide to go for 8 heads, make the pelvis area taller, since it's a little small right now.

Looking good so far guys, and it seems that my designs feel quite out of place and I'm not sure how to approach it, so any suggestions would be appreciated :|

[darkly]

sung: Thanks for the advice! Any particular one that you like, cause I'm kind of in the same boat as far as receiving feedback prior to finishing. I think your Sage character fits just fine and I think your chosen one is going to look great. Maybe you'll want to give her a bit more desert, "unkempt" look.? As far as your Rabble Rouser, I think he's to skinny. Not so much in stature, but compositionaly, if that makes any sense.

[darkly]

here's this just to get an idea of where we're at so far...

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8557/lineup2.jpg

looks like mine's the shittiest. I'd better fix that...

[Ghostbrush]

Wow! cheers for the re work darkly, the gun especially looks better in the new position, not sure about the arm movement though, But its cool anyway :)

As far as crits go for rendering, well I guess keep going and block out all the values, then just go crazy on the texturing to give that weathered look, I used a lot of spatter brushes and photo textures of concrete etc to give that desert/worn/tired/distressed looked to the clothing, I add them using overlay and soft light layer modes in pshop.

I was given this piece of advice not so long ago, but, I have been tryng to work on it and it so far has worked great for me, edge control, i will post the link below, but basically using the techniques and rules outlined, really does give characters and materials a really realistic look and depth, check out the link anyway, I found it more than useful :)

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913

[Ghostbrush]

Oh BTW, these characters are looking sweet! I like the initial line up u did darkly, they look great together, cant wait to see it all done!

What are everyones thoughts, wish to stay together and participate in next months as well?

Personally i would love too, I have learnt a lot this month and wish to continue that, plus its nice to get to know some people on here a little better ya know.

Anyway all the best Team!


Alex

[sandeepbarot]

Nice work.

[dwinbotp]

Great stuff guys! a lot of stuff happening for a few of us during the past few weeks left us all groping at finding the right look, the right etc etc. but i must say that this has been a really worthwhile endeavour :) We still have a few more days till we put them all in a more polished lineup, so let's just make the most out of it and render away, here's a few more comments on the current stuff.

Ghostbrush: add some more color in there man, looking great so far, and yes, if there's a round 2, why not take another stab at this, this is the best piece i've seen from you so far! good job!:)

darkly: Thanks for lining them up, looks great don't you think? style wise, there will always be something different on each of our take on the brief but this is what we're here for, to better learn each one's work processes and i'm liking the stuff we have so far so go, go go man, can't wait for the final Protector piece:)

Sung-jae Kim: Love the rendering you have so far man, I would love to see how you take the RR's costume and getup to the next level, also try to incorporate more "mam" into him, right now, he seems very pretty in my eyes:D I'll post more of the heroine and the techie later.

I actually never thought we'd make it this far since we all have our sudden schedules rearranged somewhat along the way, leaving little room for direct chats and such, but due to a similar direction we had from the start made things cohesive for us to work as a team, whether or not it's perfect or not, I feel good about the team chow, a big thanks to Daestwen and Poshspice for being this creative and generous:) :yayca:

[Sung-jae Kim]

Thanks for the input guys,
darkly - can you elaborate on the rr being too skinny? I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that.
Dwin - I'm thinking of incorporating some metal plates on the rr right now, I'll let you know how it works out. What I'm having real troubles w/ is probably trying to get him to look more manly, I think I'm a little stuck on the idea that he's more of a char w/ a hidden agenda or something and not sure if a more manly face would support that. (I'm probably just being stubborn though, so feel free to do a paint over or something)

little update on RR

[darkly]

sung: I'm not sure quite how to explain it. He just seems vertically stretched out at least in the torso/hip area. Idk. The paintings coming along nicely though!

[darkly]

Well here's pretty much my protector final. thought about adding some background, but wasn't sure if we wanted to do a line up with all the characters and a unified bg.?

660180

[darkly]

...or the black Brotha.

660186

[darkly]

Here's a new line up...

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/4516/teamchowlineup2.jpg

and a smaller one to get a better idea of scale...

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/7889/teamchowlineup22.jpg

[Mischeviouslittleelf]

Hey man, those later sketches are looking quite mighty fine to me. Only problem is that some of them are kinda hard to guess, role wise. Like the dude with the white outlines, I would have picked him for the sage, but what is that crazy lady far right, in that case:P Still, good work here:)

-E

[Vorace]

nice!!!

[Dribble]

Just dropping by to let you know my vote was on you guys.
Seems like the polls are leaning a different way at this second but, I really enjoy what you did with each character. Great great work.