Team CHOW WWTDD

[Adam Schumpert]

Team What Would Tyler Durden Do? GroupCHOW challenge sketchbook

Team members
NoShot
Adam Schumpert

The challenge:
TEAM CHOW (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=154488)

We've decided to go with a post :gasmask: :uzi: :xpld: :uzi2: :gasmask: apocalyptic theme.
We are both going to do some quick sketches for the characters and pick the elements we like for the final pictures.

Here is my quick start on the Heroine
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We will post more soon.
Later,
Adam

[NoShot]

I'm going to start gettin my purty pictures on this sketchbook soon. Here's one for starters. Pose study for the Hero character.

[NoShot]

Some more sketches. These were mostly from an earlier setting idea, but what the heck, might as well post 'em.

[Adam Schumpert]

Ok well we thought we where going to go with a post-apocalyptic theme but we have decided to change it up because I couldn't get vikings out of my head for some reason.

So we are going with a Norse Dark Fantasy type theme. :muscle:

Here are some new wips the Hero and Protector (with helm and without).

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Later,

Adam

[NoShot]

sketch of the protector

[NoShot]

another sage sketch

Edit: I think this WIP is taking it in a much better direction; still the same general feel though. The final will have pretty dramatic lighting (or at least I will attempt to render dramatic lighting).

Edit: updated

[NoShot]

Here's a WIP of the technician. I am finally working on a character that I think is shaping up to be pretty decent. I am going to go back and totally rework the last sage WIP, cause it's looking just awful. Though the pose and mood of the sage will likely remain pretty similar. (Edit: the newer version of the sage is posted above, I just got rid of the other version entirely)

Update: I blocked in a quick background. Adam, in your discussion with me you mentioned the technician as a shipwright. I thought I would create a setting specific to her background. Would you rather have a common backdrop for all characters? Also, the arm behind the back thing is looking a bit awkward to me. Any suggestions to fix that? Thanks!

[NoShot]

Adam, I'm thinkin I may make the sage Indian with a much darker skin tone and the usual red dot on the forhead (though faded). Did you have some other ethnicity in mind for this character?

[NoShot]

Pose study for the rabble rouser. Costume and colors will most definitely change. He looks like he stepped out of a WWII bomber :)

EDIT: I wanted to ask anyone who may come across this, does he look like he is flipping a coin to the viewer (my original intent)? Or does he look like he is giving some cheeseball thumbs up to the viewer? I did intend for this pose to be pretty cheesy, with the character putting out a vibe of inflated self-confidence.

Update: I may have fixed the perspective weirdness going on with the previous version. I think he looks like he's leaning on the stool more now too, though his right leg still bugs me...something's off.

[NoShot]

Adam, after reading the story/background you developed for this setting, I decided I will focus on the sage, technician and rabble rouser as they are less central to the plot. That way you can develop the hero, protector and shadow according to what you had in mind. I may still bust out some quick studies of your characters just to give you something to compare/contrast to. Please feel free to do the same for the characters I am working on. In fact, I would really find it helpful if you did some quick, rough sketches to give me a new angle on things. I find a new perspective always helps to make things better. Thanks.

[Adam Schumpert]

Ok these are very very rough but I think you can kind of get where I am going with them. The Tech's pose is too different from everyone else's but I wanted to show her steering the longboat. Which was done with a rutter and by using ropes tied to the ends of top of the cross beam that the sail is attached to. I thought it would make for an interesting picture, but its too different from the other poses I've done. For the sage I thought she could be a priestes of one of Loki's children Jormungandr (the world serpent who's poison kills Thor in Ragnarok) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6rmungandr

Sorry these are so rough but I will post up cleaner more complete sketches tonight or tomorrow.
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Later

[NoShot]

Your sketches are looking good! I kinda like the idea of the sage being older and of completely different ethnicity. There is a sub-deity in Hinduism that at least superficially mirrors Jormungandr, and that would allow me to keep the sage as an old Indian woman. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_worship (Ananta). I will start to incorporate some snake iconography into my sketches of the sage.

[Adam Schumpert]

I like the idea of using Ananta and making the sage more Indian in appearance. As far as her being old or young I was thinking it would be neat to try to make it difficult to figure out how old she is.

Making her look like maybe she is young and has been prematurely aged like someone who smokes a lot and tans to much looks kind of like their skin is a crumpled paper bag or she is really old but has some how kept more of her muscle tone under her skin?
Of coarse what might be kind of interesting to think about maybe she sheds her skin like a snake and changes her appearance?

[Adam Schumpert]

Just thought I would let you know, I am getting Peter to pull a few books on Norse mythology and Serpent worship around the world also that we might be able use for reference. He is going to try to get them to me either today or tomorrow.

[Mat Kaminski]

You guys have a very good start! I'm diggin the sketches.

[NoShot]

Here's another concept sketch of the protector. I went for a more stylized comic sketch to try something new. It's pretty rough, but I actually really like the "ram" hammer. If nothing else from this sketch gets used, lets use that hammer somewhere :)

[NoShot]

Sketch for the Shadow. I had to take your furry boots idea :) They're just too cool lol. I didnt bother with the eye patch cause it makes him look a lot meaner.

[Adam Schumpert]

Did a little more on the protector changed the armor and such. I like the ram hammer, made it into a 1handed hammer atm so that I could play with the prot having a shield but I dunno. Anyway sleepy now I'll do more later.

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Talk to ya Lat...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz :zzz:

[destinyapocalypse]

yeaahh thera are good characters you are doing good character designs i like your characters moves

i follow this pages keep your posts

[NoShot]

Adam, I have been thinking about your protector WIP for a while. Something was nagging at me this whole time and I may have figured it out. I think if his head was turned less it would help out a lot. Anatomically speaking, I think the angle of his head would work as is. However, if it was turned about half of what is is now, and then you used eye position (have them looking out of the corners) I think it would read a lot better.

By the way, I think your rendering and armor design on that one is looking great.

[Adam Schumpert]

yeah I think you are right. While I do think anatomically a person could get their head to that position it would be very uncomfortable and a unnatural strain on their neck. I'll see what I can do about turning his head a bit. Thanks.

[Adam Schumpert]

I've been working on a few different poses/costumes for the hero. I think I like number 3 the best out of these.

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[Adam Schumpert]

Been working on a face shot for the shadow to get a little more detail in what I'm thinking about his look. I tried without the patch for now for a little extra creepy. Since the story idea is that the shadow is Odin in disguise, I also thought it might be neat to hint at Odin's two ravens Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory) in the necklace he is wearing. (I still need to make the heads a bit more raven like but you get the idea)
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I'm also working on poses pages for the rest of the characters that I will hopefully have done this weekend so we can start on the finals as soon as possible.

Later,
Adam

[Adam Schumpert]

ok I haven't gotten much further but here are some poses for the Protector. I like number 5 the best I think. I want to keep the detail and armor style the same as number 2 though.

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Others coming soon.

[Adam Schumpert]

Ok so I was playing around with my old group shot idea and decided to take your rabblerouser design and run with it for a little bit. I'm going to do the same for the tech and sage and see where they take me. Let me know what you think.

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his teeth still need some work but... anyway...

I think I like this configuration for the group shot atm.
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[Adam Schumpert]

Changed the idea I had for a groupshot I think this setup will be better, more dynamic, more interesting.

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I know the sage looks really curvy atm but that is because when I drew that fig. I was thinking it might be neat to
have a ghost image of the hero as a Valkyrie as the background of the image but I couldn't get the scale/pose to
fit right in the background. However, I think it will be a neat position for the sage so its standing in for the moment.

Later,
Adam

[Adam Schumpert]

Ok yet another very rough version still trying to push the amount of action in the composition.

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[Adam Schumpert]

update :P
:updated again
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Later

[trevor]

ADAM DUDE!!!!!
you have improved far too much in the month since i have seen you!
these are looking awesome!

[Adam Schumpert]

Wow Trevor thanks! That means a lot coming from you!

Reverie helped me a lot as far as learning better technique. Not to sound like to much of an ass kiss but I actually give a lot of the credit
to the time I spent watching over your shoulder. I learned so much watching artists like you who actually know what they are doing.

So thank you very much for the complement! :teeth:

oh yeah and also...

here is another update fixed a lot of problems I was having with the face of the shadow and blocked in his body better.

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Take care,
Adam

[Adam Schumpert]

updated image got some work done on the Rabblerouser and Techy now off to work ugh :P

[Adam Schumpert]

Steady as she goes I guess. ;P

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[Adam Schumpert]

Playing around with color... probably to much and I'm taking to long... hope I can get this finished...

Anyway
update I guess
updated again

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[Mischeviouslittleelf]

Kind of a cool thing you got going there, looking foreward to seeing some colour on it, some more, that is^^

-E

[Pseudocognition]

Your team's rabble rouser is seeexyyy :V

[Katanasoul]

I hope so, too! :)
Even if unfinished, I still think it looks better than some other fantasy artists finished works. The character with the short sword and the coin is the one I like most, maybe because you can see his personality pretty good. You got his facial expression quite good. At the moment, I do not like the girl on the right that much. Could it be that her head is too big?
Still it looks cool, keep on working!

[Adam Schumpert]

Mischeviouslittleelf - Thanks :teeth: I can't wait to see more color either :wink:

Pseudocognition - I'm glad you like him

Katanasoul - Thanks for the comment about the techy's head I do have a tendency to draw head a little to large so I'll be sure to go back and check that. :confident:

(Updated image above)
Worked up a little more detail on the shadow and such fixed the shield arm of the protector. I need to work on the Sage a bit she is looking a bit neglected. Anyway thanks a lot for the comments :D

Take care,
Adam

[Adam Schumpert]

ok this isn't good... I'm far from finished, I'm letting myself get to distracted by ideas I'm having for the background, and
I'm not even happy with where the distraction has led me. (I like the portrait of Odin in the background, the guy on the
right, but there isn't anything to tell who Loki, the guy on the left, is. So right now the background isn't working. I really
might just scrap the background entirely it is distracting from the characters which is the main point after all)

So atm its an all around fail.
I really need to pull it together if I hope to get this done on time.

Anyway I'm probably going to scrap everything in this update but here it is all the same.

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Later,
Adam

[Adam Schumpert]

Ok we have a sage now Yay!

Just ditched the background I like the white for the moment.

I have no idea if I will get this done on time at this point but eh... If I do I do if I don't I'll finish it up anyway. :teeth:

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Later

[Adam Schumpert]

One down 5 more to go... I Know I'm going to have to keep this black and white but I'm just hoping I can get it done on time.

Crap taking to long... one more
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[Teundeboer]

This is very impressive, especially since I haven't seen your partner update in a while. I wouldn't leave it all white tho. If you're still around I think you should smack some quick shit in the background and edit your post in the team chow. That's my thought.

[Adam Schumpert]

Teundeboer - Thanks for the advice but Daestwen already had closed the thread before I could add anything else plus after pulling an all nighter to finish on time I think I'm going to take a break from this image for a bit.

As for my friend Daniel (NoShot) life has a way of interrupting things... so since he was busy with more important things he missed the last week or so of the CHOW but I was able to get it finished enough for now. :confident

It was a fun challenge for me. I learned a lot about the necessity of learning to pace myself better. (sleep is good... learning to be able to work on my art and sleep is something I need to figure out before next time) :teeth:

Anyway here are some closeups on the faces (the only parts of the images I felt like got the attention that they should have)

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Thanks for stopping by our sketchbook and thanks for all the comments.

Take care,
Adam