Team CHOW II - Team Thundercats are GO!

[JessiBean]

Sketchbook thread for Team Thundercats!

Sentinel
MarkustheBarbarian
Hygami
JessiBean

WOOT!
:teeth: :teeth: :teeth:

[Mark Tarrisse]

Heeeelllll yeeaaa MamMMAAAaaa ! this is going to be sooo good :):)

[Sentinel.]

WOO HOO! Reporting for duty!! :yayca:

[Adrian Wilkins]

I know we haven'T decided the genere yet but I just wanted to through in a doodle for the case it's gonna be scifi ^^


EDIT: IMAGE REMOVED wasn't related to the topic

[Adrian Wilkins]

some sketches!

[Mat Kaminski]

Yowza!! <3

[JessiBean]

Those are some badass sketches, hygami :D

[JessiBean]

These are sort of shape/scene/mood boards to get the two ideas we more-or-less reached consensus on into visual format.

Late 18th Century, kind of French, inspired by "Perfume":

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1920s/30s Art Deco SciFi a la Bioshock:

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I have a TON more ref images I can throw together, too... these are my favorites, tho, as far as shape/idea... even the color... I like the idea of the 18th century world being very subdued with high intensity pops of color like red and gold. I think the art deco world should be kind of warm, full of woods and metals, so technology that is made of old looking pieces, very slick and clean design.
Does this take everybody to a good place, do we need to revisit ideas or would we like to run with something like these?

[Sentinel.]

Just so the information is handy in this thread, here's the condensed brief that daestwen posted:

TEAM CHOW II: GOOD AND EVIL

DESCRIPTION

This month's Team Chow is going to be a little different! This time, we are creating fantasy portraits for player characters - with good and evil versions! It's both a wide open brief and a very strict one! Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a random team from the options given to you below, and to create 4-8 fantasy portraits that read well together and still look awesome separately. Thus, as a team, you must create a compatible 'look' for your characters.

Here are the rules!

1. Teams of two MUST create at least 4 portraits, teams of three or four need 6 and teams of five need 8. You are perfectly welcome to create more images that the requirement if you feel your team is up to it.
2. You must take a random selection of the choices below. Please don't do 4 elven fighters, or only orcs, for example. Please take a randomized selection. If you would prefer me to give your team a specific assignment, I will generate the selection for you. If I see teams doing more select parties, then I will request you to change to something more random.
3. You must follow the format provided. See it below, please!
4. You must do a LIGHT and a DARK version for each character, please! This means that for each character you need two portraits.
5. You must submit a paragraph about each character. Do a short write up for each character you create. I want to see some interesting, stereotype-breaking stuff here, folks!

PLEASE SELECT ONE OF EACH CATEGORY FOR EACH CHARACTER.

Gender: Male / Female

Race: Human / Elf / Half-Elf / Dwarf / Orc - (and anything else you can think of!)

Class: Fighter (Barbarians, Knights, Dark Knights, Brawlers, etc) / Thief (Assasins, Rogues, etc)/ Spell Caster (Wizards, Sorcerers, Druids, etc) / Healer (Priest, Cleric, White Mage, Medic, etc) - (feel free to make up something for this, too)

Alignment: Good / Evil (please do both for each character)

YES, THESE LOOK LIKE STEREOTYPES. IT IS YOUR JOB TO BREAK THEM. I want to see some really interesting, kick ass stuff!

--------

SUBMISSION GUIDLINES

The Final Burning Thread will go up ONE WEEK before deadline. The deadline will be August 31st, at 11:59 pm GMT - 4, Eastern Daylight Time. I will accept submissions as long as it is August somewhere in the world, but after this I will close the thread. I am going to give myself 1-2 days to then sort out the poll and the voting, so please be patient.

1. One team member will be in charge of submitting the final entry. How the entry is presented will be up to you, but keep it consistent and coherent.
2. Remember that you will need to submit wips. If you decide to make a group sketchbook for this activity, a link to that will suffice.
3. Also sumbit a list of Team Activity. I want to see how well you worked as a team - who was in charge of what and what each member did.
4. All other ChoW rules apply. If you are not familiar with the usual chow rules, please read the guidlines thread sticked at the top of the subforum. Including, 3/4ths rule, no paint-overs, etc.
5. Please submit files with this naming convention: TeamChow_TeamName_Image001.jpg
6. Please keep to the format of the image below. We're gonna be a little bit more strict about presentation this time - each portrait should be portrait-aligned, like so, and the figure about as big as the one you see below. Full bodied figures, please.

--------------------------


Awesome! I think a lot of the research we did into the 18th century idea could conform really easily into this brief.

So, what kind of characters appeal to you guys? I'm already thinking we should branch out with the races and make a character or two a little more unique than the standard fantasy versions. Like a race of arctic yeti-type characters, or bird men. Or something :D

[JessiBean]

I REALLY like the idea of making our creatures based more on real-life creatures and not the standard elves/orcs/etc. I would like to see elves that look more like delicate insects or maybe deer or rabbits? Something based on a crow would be interesting... Yeti is an awesome idea... I think we should think about textures like feathers, fur, scales, and REALLY push the rendering on these things (cause we are some badass renderers, us 4 ;) ) I also think we should go big, aim for 6 characters, and see how close we can get.

Another thought... maybe see if we can tie in animal characteristics to the class of the character - don't crows like to collect shiny things? Maybe a good thief? A huge yeti monster makes sense as a warrior.

I think the 18th century idea works really well for this... I say we keep it dark and moody.

What if we included things line centuars, griffins, dragons, etc? Something that isn't a humanoid character? That may be too far off track, though...

[JessiBean]

K! I did a quick sketch of what I was thinking... I based her on a deer, and I think if we were to show an old, wise elf, they could have impressive antlers incorporated in the design... younger ones might have spots like a baby deer....

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[Adrian Wilkins]

omg love ya! Jessi!!

[Sentinel.]

You mean like this?

Apparently you and I think a LOT alike :P Though he has horns, more than antlers. Easily changed! :wink:

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Edit: I think going with more dramatic antlers was the right decision! Also started fleshing in some costume. :D

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[Adrian Wilkins]

omg love it Sentinel just love it! <3

So I went with the Animal stufftoo great idea!

[Sentinel.]

That looks wicked, Hygami!! Man, if we keep this momentum up we are going to have one kickass product :teeth:

Your theme suggestion and sketch are perfect, Jessi! I'm collecting refs of animals and materials to make an additional mood board :D

[JessiBean]

OMG, you guise rock my face off :D Hygami, that pose is SO dynamic, I really like this... And Sentinel, WOW! You guys are so fast. Both of these work perfectly for me, and even look kind of similar, based on goats kinda(?) I think we should consider how to classify this character group so we can expound on the idea... maybe some kind of elf/satyr wizard class? I can see sentinel's being the beginning of a "good" version and hygami's being our "evil" one. Or would we like these to be our "elves"? Should we invent a new race? I also LOVE pushing the features more animalistic, I say we keep moving that direction...

I love both of these!

How about something orc or goblin-like based on crows? I think that is what I want to try and flesh out next... will post sketches ASAP.

We need at least 2 more races to tackle... I think sentinel's mood boards will totally help solidify these choices. I just want to do something with feathers, the rest I am completely open to anything and everything. GO TEAM GO!!!
:heart:


PS - Oh yes! I want to write our world's story, too. To give us all a better sense of the characters. What I am thinking now is that while the characters and magic is classic high fantasy, I would like to see our world more realistic - obv keeping with the laat 18th century revolutionary France theme, so more of an urban setting, with vast poverty and a rather bleak climate (always good for a power struggle, good vs. evil rather than the masses vs. the monarchy)... So I think it is seedy, and dirty. Maybe one of our classes is the ruling elite and oppressive in some way, and the rest are the people who serve them (courtiers, servants) and the poor huddled masses... or something like that. Thoughts?

[Sentinel.]

I think that's a great idea Jessi! - it'll unify all the characters and designs if we have a really solid background to base them on.

For the division of classes... I'm inclined to say that the deer/satyr elf types would likely be in the upper classes somewhere. Maybe not top dog, but around there. I can see them as being fairly opulent. If we go with the yeti-type of creature as a sort of warrior class, maybe we could use them as the army or guards? And maybe the evil version can be a mercenary or bandit.

Here's the first set of materials! I tried to find a bunch of feathers for you Jessi! :wink: I'll edit later with some animal refs and additional materials, like velvet, leather, etc. :D

Edit: a set of animal refs. I included several crow and deer ones since I know we're doing characters based on those. I also tried to hunt around for some unusual looking animals and some from a winter habitat, for the yeti.

[LostFayth]

Hey Team Thundercats! I've found something that might be able to help you. Lots of animal photo's. (http://animalphotos.info/a/) Keep it up. I like the way this is headed :D

[Sentinel.]

I'm supposed to be sleeping, but I just had a thought - Dae's brief in the main topic thread mentions that it was inspired by game design. I think we could really run with that! Most games these days let the player pick between the male and female versions of a race; we also want to make as many characters as possible. I say that if time permits, we should make a male and female character of each race we come up with. This way we can really explore the race and represent more of the different classes (ie warrior, mage, necromancer, etc.). It would make for a great character line up. But it is so much more work, haha :D

[JessiBean]

OH MY GOSH, the Hobbits/short people need to be the little animal in the upper right of the 2nd image, Sentinel. Great reference... working on some more sketches. How about we brainstorm for the next 2-ish days, and then from there we can whittle down the concept and divide up the work - I'd like to get ontop of the drawing/rendering so we have plenty of time to make it suuuuuuuper polished, and so we can sneak in some extra touches, if possible.

OH! and that update to the character is EXCELLENT, Sentinel! I love the idea of the deer/elf species being wise and somewhat powerful... I think the humans should be the ruling/oppresser type class, maybe they are hoarding the money/power, making for resentment in the "lower" species... maybe the species go in rank according to attractiveness of the animals we're associating them with. The deer/elves are connected with a sense of something serene and beautiful and wise, so they are kinda up there where as crows or something insect like would be more of a pest and looked down on.... Still musing out loud...

I like the idea of epic unrest and revolt + magic. :teeth:

And lots of thanks for the tip, LostFayth! :teeth:

[Sentinel.]

It's called a Fennec Fox! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennec_Fox

Anything with huge ears like that = win, in my book :D

[Mark Tarrisse]

No need to say how awesome you all are !
Anyway I tried to do something but I'm not sure of it at all,
I'll try something totally new tomorrow another animal an other class probably, but after seeing what you three have done, I thought maybe I should do something else than a mamal, so I thought of reptiles-snakes, but unfortunately what I tried was horrible !
After I went for the spider/assassin idea, so here's lets say first try :

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But I have NO idea of which race this would be in the classical fantasy stuff :S
I was more thinking about the animal and they're specific things
(spider : silent, poison, scary, quick, can go nearly where ever they want = assassin ! :))

[JessiBean]

Markus! I love this... I was thinking we needed to incorporate some insect, this is fab. Maybe some kind of goblin/spider combo would make sense? Crafty and kind of icky all at once :teeth:

I tried to scribble soemthing orc/crow like - I think maybe I am playing it too "human", need to get more... creature-y:

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OBV, he is a Priest. :P

[jdeegz]

your thread is too good, im scared :)

[Liffey]

your thread is too good, im scared :)

I agree. :|

[JailHouseRock2]

This threads going to be so much fun to watch!

[JessiBean]

Just oooooooone more for the night... playing off of Markus' awesome spider assassin idea...

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[Sirkenneth]

awwwww! I hate ugly things with big nice boobs! This thread is looking great thus far!

[Adrian Wilkins]

Jessi you must be freakin crazy I love the designes specially the last one !! <3 omg!
Markus I love how you combine the character of a thief in the a spider ver well into one figure! he looks dirty and stealthy thats what I reaaly like! greatgreat job!!
I lREALLY dig the update of your elf christina O_O!!!! let us se more stuff!

So heres A Lynx Version of A Battle Mage, the lynx cat is for me a bit like an dark elf, bt they don't have to be evil.. well the book is called
"The Compendium Of Lexx'Jiing" she will be carrying it at her hips with a belt crossing her body up around her shoulder. The Sphere is a "Chza'Lexx Elemental Sphere" created by the Lynx especially for battlemages and got popular throuoght the decades and is now used by most of the of battle mages.

sry for the little story I will erase it if it annoys anyone

Edit: rendered it a bit and cropped the image

[Sentinel.]

These sketches are fantastic! :teeth: Yours is to die for Jessi!! Love the pose and design on both of the spider assassins, we are DEFINITELY going to have to use these characters for final.

And there's nothing wrong with a little backstory, Hygami! Awesome lynx battlemage, and I think her book and sphere are a great idea! That knife is kick-ass, too :D

I tried to sketch up a female version of your crow priest Jessi, but mine is kind of boring. :/ I also feel like she's still too human... I think I'm going try a few different head variations that are much more bird like and aggressive looking. And her anatomy itself should probably be less human. I think at least one or two characters should be more animal than anything, so we have a broader range of design.

[Adrian Wilkins]

So this is a sketch of a Mantis Warlock or something...isn't worked out yet

[JessiBean]

Hygami - the lynx is an excellent idea, I REALLY like where this could go, and the backstory is FAB, just what we need for each of these guys.

And Sentinel - this is GORGEOUS, I love how you handled the eyes and the hair, it's perfect. I really like her the way she is, but perhaps you are right, we should explore something more animal with them... I was struggling with how to incorporate the beak. I think I might have gotten an idea last night, so let me see if I can sketch it out quickly...

So to recap, we have...

Spider/Goblin - probably a sweet assassin
Deer/Elves - I like this chatacter being something wise like a druid/sorcerer
Lynx/Dark Elves - battle mage (so cool) - very noble, alot like our deer, which is perfect
Crow/Orc - I had made mine a priest, but in the spirit of variation this should maybe shake up... I think crows covet shiny things and mostly hang around waiting for things to die, so maybe a thief/scavenger

I think we should maybe see if we can get a human into the mix - possibly as a warrior? It would be nice to show how they are our oppressor ruling class, too, if we want to go that route. And I might like to turn the fennec fox into a gnome/troll/hobbit kind of creature.

But that is mostly extra credit at this point, we have met the brief's requirements so far. I asked for clarification, and it seems our good and evil versions need to be the exact same character, but I thought it might be fun to show both the male and female of the species... might be too much, but we can cross that bridge when we get there, obv we aim to get the brief's requirements tacked first, then we go further.

Are there any substitutions or changes we want to make to the current lineup?
If not, I say we REALLY hammer out the particulars of what the creatures we have look like and how they would behave (write up our character descriptions, I suppose) cause I know we can push these and make them super awesome sauce.

GOSH, we've been so productive.
:heart: Go thundercats!

Edit: ooo, nice mantis creature, Hygami!

[Adrian Wilkins]

great thoughts and Jessi! but from my side we could create creatures like for a week lol and look what comes out. I'm really enjoying this stage :)

really want to imply human? D: haha jsut joking well we coud :)

and with the fennec fox..well I gave it a try
was tinking of a hobbit as you said too

so Fennec Fox/Hobbit

EDIT: was thinking the same thing Sentinel
I'd suggest these being the smartest of all: let me try a bit of storytelling about the character.
These creatures spend most of their time studying and gaining knowledge, though their spells are basically weaker then those of others they compensate it throughout hard work, they don't have any so called talent but still, they are the most wise and spell-skilled creatures existing because of their never ending endurance and the ability to memorize the most complex spells. thanks to them a lot of good spells are elaborated to their full extend of power. Unfortunately they aren't able to control battlespells and if they are in life-threatening sitation they tend to use battle spells very distructive though unconcsiously. Because of this reason these usually peacefull creatures refuse to lernbattlespells, they'd rather die then hurting companions.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2082/1577506262_03177b0e0f.jpg

[Sentinel.]

Good lynx, meet pissed off evil lynx! Just wanted to take a stab at making Hygami's character look mean :D It's really rough but I wanted to show you all before I went to sleep. The book is totally off, it's more a placeholder than anything - I figure it can be levitating in front of her while she's casting spells from her orb. Still need to figure out some sinister looking clothing tho :P

I agree with Hygami, this stage is really really fun! I think we could keep this up forever :teeth: I'd still like to see the yeti visualized so we have a good selection of final characters to choose from (and maybe some humans, or even another insect or reptile like race). With the rate we've been working we can probably get that by tomorrow evening. Then we can tighten up the best designs for the next couple of days and have a solid three weeks to do our entries. I'm really hoping we can do full backgrounds and polished rendering.

The fox looks perfect! He looks scholarly, like a librarian or book keeper or something!

[Adrian Wilkins]

Christian!! great great wonderful job!! just keep it comin' I'm really excited *_*!!! the expression is kickass!

edited the previous post and wrote a little story to the fennec :) so if you're interested, hope you like it..

ooh I'd like to sketch some enviros like these I studied from Gaser

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/6871/environmentstudy.jpg

but that would be too much wouldn't it?

btw random boooks are totally win! uber awesome!

[JessiBean]

:heart: :heart: :heart:
You guys! Those are SO AWESOME... the lynx has to be in for sure. I think you've nailed the evil version, sentinel, her expression is brilliant. And those enviros are stunning, hygami! I wonder if you could tackle some late 18th century looking city scenes (like the old house in the top right of the Perfume inspiration board), to go with our sort-of theme? Oh, these gave me goosebumps, they are just lovely! (can you teach me how to do that?!)

And I am sorry I kinda jumped the gun, I just fret about having enough time (not a you guys thing, a me thing... I like to fret :P ) I am totally cool with working out a schedule where we keep fleshing out ideas for a week and then dive into rendering after - I'm just glad to be setting a schedule so we can really give this tons of polish.

And since Hygami threw down the gauntlet, I say we go into full on world design mode and name the city where they live, and write a back history, a little history and a name for each character, etc. etc., to really round the whole presentation out. I have a feeling we can handle the extra credit work ;)

Oh man, I have to go draw moar.... :heart:

PS: Oh yeah, Hygami, that little fox dude is just what I was hoping he would be... very cool!

[Jason Rainville]

I really didn't want to comment, and I'm sorry for the interruption but.... everyone is watching this thread ;)

[Aaron Death]

oh............you guys are too....................awesome...............

[Shadow Stalker]

I don't know if I'm suppose to post in here, so I'm sorry if I'm not.... but... holy shit.

[ticktocker]

Sorry for the asspats, but this is so awesome you guys! So many great ideas already, can't wait to see where you end up :) Keep going!

[¿Dubious?]

hey guys Im a huge fan of all of your work and this thread is looking really really nice so far and its only cause I honestly like your work so much that I say this. Having looked over the main thread Daestwen posted some really specific stuff about this being "high fantasy" and hence late dark ages/early middle ages. This was written specifically in reference to someone's question about early firearms. In any case middle ages ended around the 16th century which would make your 18th century setting a bit too late. I hate to nitpick but it would be a real shame if you guys didnt win or whatever because of the time period. Anyway best of luck. You guys are tearing this chow up so far.

[JessiBean]

Thanks for the heads up, dubious... I've asked for clarification, but I did read the wiki before hand and it says high fantasy is everything from LOTR to CS Lewis to His Dark Materials, and those are all in wildly different time frames. So based on the definition of High Fantasy I think we're kosher, and the brief doesn't specify a time period.

I will let you Thundercats know what I hear back about this...
:/

[Mark Tarrisse]

Hey guys you are all doing awesomeee work ! Sentinel the crow and the lynx are ACE ! And hygami just looovee that fox ! ^^
Anyway, I didn't posted anything, cause I'm still searching. I tried to start a crow thing yesterday, but well it wasnt good at all, now I'm kind of stuck, I dont know what to do, you guys are so quick !! I think I will try to find something for humans.

[JessiBean]

No rush, Markus... just scribble and see if anything comes to you. The crows are proving to be a challenge for us, all, we will work them out. Tackling humans would be awesome... or maybe thinking about the kinds of ways magic is used in this world - maybe it is used to power weapons, light houses, maybe some people control other creatures to control their powers (this could explain why humans are on top of the food chain, as it were...?)

I had a kind of slow sketching day yesterday (Sundays are so busy!) Will see if I can wrap these things up and post them later today...

[daestwen]

Hey guys, just to clear up, I posted in the main thread but I might have been kind of vague, so.

Team Thundercats is in the clear for this.

Just try to keep the modern weaponry to a minimum. :] Thankee kindly.

[Adrian Wilkins]

So here is something new
was thinking of a bat/troll
gave her some rasta hair :)
tried to work out a bit of subsurface scattering on the ears though its B/W
hope its ok

edit: sorry for the boobs was rushing cuz I wanted to post D: will rework them
http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/bats/images/virginia_big-eared_bat2.jpghttp://www.wildlifeextra.com/images/fruit-bat_new.JPG

[Sentinel.]

OMG, that is amazing Hygami!! <3 Her face is gorgeous! We HAVE to use this character- what kind of class did you have in mind for her?

[Mark Tarrisse]

Ok guyssssssssss !! we are doing reallyyy fine ! :) Hygami, the bat is really good but you already know that ;)
Well here's my try to the yeti/barbarian class (just a start !!):).
Hygami suggested to me to put some horns on it, so I did 3 different horns, you tell me what is better with horn ? without horn ? with hair ? without ha... :P

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[JessiBean]

Markus - The first set of horns is totally win! They look VERY impressive and imposing. What if they curled down on either side of the face, more ram-like? Might give us another wise, sagey kind of race of beings...? I love his face!

Hygami - I am with everyone else, the bat species is totally inspired. I think we should run with it more...

So while I am working out some sketches and since you guys are totally running with creature/species creation, I decided to tackle a little more of the world aesthetic, specifically costume and the costume shape language. I went ahead and scanned a TON of costume ref from one of my favorite costume reference books (this one here: http://www.amazon.com/Fashion-History-18th-20th-Century/dp/3822812064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249319335&sr=1-1 ) and from a book that covers military tech - tried to find something contemporary to the late 18th c. so we can think about designing weapons with this era's kind of materials and shapes in mind...

(these are huge to show detail, but if I am spamming the thread too much I can resize them... I also have the original res if anyone wants these for ref.)

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[Adrian Wilkins]

waahaaha Jessi thanks ALOT for the refs! <3
Uhm I'm not sure yet about the class of the Bat but Markus gave me the idea of a scout!
So uhm... Since we had some problems illustrating the crow...I gave it a try

Crow/Goblin

[Sentinel.]

First I want to say that I took one look at those pictures and bought the book. These references are AMAZING, thank you so much for sharing! I can't wait to get it in the mail and look at it in person!

I was feeling a little stuck but these really got me inspired. I finally decided that rather than looking evil, the fox/hobbit could simply use his intelligence and cunning in a sinister way!

What better than the Royal Tax Collector, or maybe head of the Treasury? He's an expert at devising ways to cheat people out of their money and get away with it. He's wealthy beyond imagination and paranoid about losing it - which has lead to the demise of many potential threats either real or imagined. Perhaps he's a regular employer of our spider/assassin :D He publicly acts subservient to the ruling classes but often plays them against each other and is the mastermind behind many political scandals. He may appear small and defenseless, but cross him at your own risk.

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Markus - Awesome yeti! I agree with Jessi about the horns. The first set is the best out of the three, but I think it would be cool to see what he looks like with ram horns too.

Hygami - I love what you did with his legs and how you incorporated his wings! The legs I think will be especially cool to include in the final illustration.

[Adrian Wilkins]

haha Sentinel you totally brought me into the mood :D!! Really dig the the sinister Fennec :D!!!
so I did a Bat sketch

nothing finished just a mood how she might look in 18th century clothing :)
-the rasta hair is catched together an throwen over her shoulder to give her a more elegant look
-the ears are leaned back, since it isn't necessary to be on guard in cities and nearby civilization

[JessiBean]

HOLY CRAP, Hygami... Sentinel! These things you do to me...
:heart: :heart: :heart:

So much awesome.
Sorry for being quiet, super busy. Will post goodness, soon, I am working on things for youuuuuuuuuu! :heart:

[Adrian Wilkins]

thanks jessi!!!!!!!!!!!! :heart:

well I've created an attack board thing...hope I'm not going overboard with this idea

I really want to illustrate how she fight so here goes!:

She mainly works with two attacks. First would be the Ultrasonic Waves and the secound her wings which she uses to impale her enemies

The Ultrasonic Waves Irritates enemies, bring therir ears to bleed, and extremly thick material like metall and stone can even burst...so she uses the ultrasonic waves to burst open the gear of her enemies and uses her Mortal Strike to impale the weekend enemy

this attack combination takes about 3 secounds to pull off

[daestwen]

Guys, you are inspirational, seriously. :] This is such a kick ass thread!

I like Sentinel's linx a lot, especially, and the deer sketches you were doing on the first page, nice work.

Lemme know if you guys want crits or not, I'd love to give a few. :]

[Sentinel.]

EXCELLENT work, Hygami! I really love how you've thought her fighting abilities through - that will make for a really bad ass evil version! :teeth:

No rush, Jessi! Your stuff is always amazing and well worth the wait! :heart:

daestwen - Hells to the yeah! I would love to hear your thoughts!! Must I beg? :P


To recap again, so far it looks like we're all in agreement about these character archetypes:

Spider/assassin
Fennec Fox/hobbit scholar
Lynx/battlemage
Crow/thief or scavenger
Deer/elf mage
Bat/scout (ooh, or maybe a necromancer type?)
Yeti/warrior or sage
Human/?? (oppressor)

And possibly more, we keep coming up with great ones :D

If we attempt all of these characters and don't create one of each gender, we're still looking at 16 full portraits. I think if we really buckle down and work we can get it done, but I don't know if we'll have time for more than that. Especially considering that we want to design and paint their world as well.

We'll have to work at a pace of a minimum four-five portraits finished each week, which is obtainable since any one of us can finish a solid chow entry in a week solo... but just to be on the safe side, we should prioritize the characters so we know we'll get the most important ones finished first. It would also be wise to do the good and evil versions at the same time so they remain recognizably the same character.

I've been up for 24 hours and I tend to get really wordy. Let me know if I'm not making sense O_O

[Sublimus]

Holy tits this team is intense!!

[DIMAGYAN]

Same as Daestwen, really interesting to see the process of your team.
Interesting also how all the characters work well together.

[GriNGo]

looking awesome guys! inspiring team work!!

[AhChu]

nice work guys, very cool idea....gotta stop drooling over ya renders :)

[Adrian Wilkins]

thanks for te heads up guys!!! :mod:

I hope you like my idea with the attack board stuff/concept, not that I'm going over board or something...

well here another concept

the Ultrasonic Waves, if used by aprox an amount of 15-20 Bat/Trolls at the same time can be able to destroy a whole building

[Mark Tarrisse]

<3<3<3<3<3 LOVE YOU GUYS !

Well I'm slow, I really had some difficulties with this yeti, my main problem was to give a yeti, a 18th century barbarian style... :)
I tried different kind of things but I think I will try to keep the design simple, maybe I'll add some small rusty plates on the boots. Dont know if anyone have any suggestions ^^

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Sentinel : Like a lot that last one :)
Hygami : Awesome concepts, really love the direction of the bat !
Jessi : Thanks a TON for the reference pictures ! :)

[Adrian Wilkins]

DAMN markus really digging that yeti/barbarian!!!!

well I'm working on the Overall world mood
just a quick sketch...will work it out

[Troubadour]

this is lookin sexy :P

[Adrian Wilkins]

thanks Troubadour!

well gonna work it out a bit more and start with new enviro sketches

EDIT: Update!

I'll probably do 4 of these and line them up beside the written story that Jessi Markus Christina and I will be working on!

[Adrian Wilkins]

btw. are we going to redraw the characters for the final? I'd have no problem with that :) since these are more or less concepts

[Kimbee]

holy crap! You guys are all so awesome! I love all your concepts! Definitely intimidating and inspirational at the same time :P

EDIT: BTW, JessiBean watching your art on DA is what made me decide to do CHOW ;D

[Pixeltuner]

Jessi: You should do these things more often. Seeing you draw something else than women shows a whole other side of you which probably kicks even more ass than your 'regular' work :)

[Aly Fell]

Oooh... very nice work. I think I'm in love... with it all!

[JessiBean]

Yeah, Hygami... I think we should refine the concepts in the work we are doing now, but perhaps do a new piece for the final - considering dynamic pose/composition, etc. where as in the sketches, I haven't been worried so much about those things. I think I also want to write up who everyone is and what they do (for reals for reals ;) ) before we dive into the finals, so that we have a nice, solid sense of character in the pieces. I want us to kick serious ass and take many names.

I don't, however, think anything here is throwaway - everything will be used to pull together the finished piece. :D

Also, thinking format... Do we want to present all of the characters in one image, or make something more like a character card? Or can we think of something else entirely that hasn't been done? They could be formal painted portraits to mimic the time period. We could present it like it was bound in a book... Just something to mull over while we push forward.

I'm putting Perfume on my netflix today, will take many hi-res screencaps for us as soon as it comes in - I am more and more into using that film's palettes in our project, make it nice and moody.

And thanks, Kimbee! So glad you came over! :teeth:

Edit - Aww, thanks Pixeltuner. And Posh - thanks for stopping in! We love you, too :heart:

[Adrian Wilkins]

yeah Markus and I had something similar in mind :D

so we could do all of these

1. We take our crayscale paintings and make the cards so that our concepts don't get lost and you have a good face closeup
please pleas please forgive the crappyness!! just for the idea!!
EDIT: Markus gave it a more "booky" style :D !!!!!! thanks mate!!
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7212/cardorbookpage1bla.jpg



2. We create a book: we take in our environments and the way they behave and such (the attack board concepts I did)

the good thing is these are reaaly fast not a big thing to pull off since we have everything byproducing concepts :D

and last but not least the lineup
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/7266/thundercats.jpg


so here we have a cleric monkey
EDIT:
well if you think the monkey doesn't fit in, read this little story (which will be extended)
The revotion against the humans has begun. They even ask their friend from abroad (east asia) to ccome fight for freedome
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/781/chowchimp4.jpg

[Adrian Wilkins]

A collab with Markus! :D

Hope the girls are okay with this !

So the first was the district of the poor
and this is the crafting and forging district

[Beelow]

Wow this thread is really taking off! Nice stuff everyone. I love what I am seeing.

[Sirkenneth]

Great work!

[Adrian Wilkins]

thanks guys!

So this is going to be the attackboard of the Barbarian
It's called Ultimate Devastation

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1385/attackboard3.jpg

[Adrian Wilkins]

so here is the second attck of the barbarian...its called

Uppercut-Takedown

Uppercut
I.Views the enemy
II. Throw Axe
III. Critical Damage

Takedown
IV. Snatch the Axe (in air) + Grab Enemy
V. Final Hit

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/1453/attackboard4.jpg

[Sentinel.]

I absolutely LOVE the idea of doing it like book pages! Not only would it unify the presentation, but none of our material would go wasted.

I loved the idea so much, I made a quick set from our sketches to show you what I had in mind! :teeth: I think we could go nuts with the script and maybe even put some aged gilding on the pages. I like this format better than the lineup because it gives each individual character their chance to shine, while still staying true to the overall style. It would also give us a perfect opportunity to incorporate the character's description with their portrait!

RAD idea, everyone! :heart::heart::heart:

[Vorace]

wow great!

[Adrian Wilkins]

omg!! just how I wanted it to be :D!!! Awesome!!!

and haven't we forgot someting?

Y-sOaUAgbB4


our themesong!!

[JessiBean]

That is, of course, the MOST important part, Hygami. ;)

Sentinel - what they said, it is PERFECT!
Markus' badass Yeti looks fab there...

I bet we could do (just lineart) some character turnarounds to include on the pages... That would he mighty impressive.

[Dark_Eyes]

HOT DAMN! I like you guys! :D

[morgalahan]

All of you are truly inspirational and I LOVE your character designs no end. I may be part of team chow myself, but I really hope you all win!

[Chijts]

Hey guys stellar work. I was thinking that if you have an evil crow thief or whatever then maybe its good side could be something like a dove? Could be too cheesy though... Good luck with the CHOW!

[Adrian Wilkins]

so here is the turnaround
I'd suggest that the pages are done in this stil

troll discription will follow

others turnarounds to come

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/5508/chowbatturnaround.jpg

[nimzicki]

Been following this thread since you started, awesome stuff guys :)

[JessiBean]

Hygami, you ARE a machine!

Some costume ideas for the Lynx (battle mage) - I think I went a little overboard on sticking to the era, we can scale it back and find a happy medium, more like Markus' yeti :teeth:

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[AvisNocturna]

Uahhh! You guys rock so much! and your styles work so good together! Keep it up :D

[MarkWinters]

*drooool*

Great job all of yous!!

[zephyri]

Good lord. I've not been this speechless about a thread since i saw hurri's Viking concept thread. You guys are going to wipe the floor if you keep up at this rate!

Loving all of it, especially the very exotic looking lynx a page or so back. The sheer amount of work you've done so far is staggering given the quality and the fact I'd bet you all have day jobs too! I don't really have much feedback, other than it'd be nice to see a sleekier, sexier male in there somewhere too... I think there was a bat fellow somewhere in here who was looking pretty suave, and maybe you could do something like that with the crow concept, rather than going down the ugly route with them?

Love Hygami's concept for the barbarian's attack though, the sheer force of movement is palpable. Awesome, awesome stuff, will be coming back here often!

[JessiBean]

RECAP!! ... Per our MSN talk the last few days. I've tried to flesh these out into some sort of character (personality) traits belong to our species -- changes and suggestion welcome.

We also still need to name:
The world (possibly broken into 5-7 regions)
A Capital City
A few other towns (maybe 4-8)

Our Characters (species) and their Classes:

1) Arachnea -- Assassin. This is a goblin creature based on spider characteristics, with multiple arms, great strength, speed and dexterity. With a tendancy to lean towards evil, they have a crabby and mischievous temperment. The creature is a little grotesquely formed for human tastes, making their race a target for scorn and mistreatment from the humans in power over (name of world). They are gnome-like phantoms, that may range in height from that of a dwarf to that of a human.

This character is Female - good version is a rogue assassin sometimes assisting the animal cause, the bad version is in the employ of the Humans.

2) Cervus -- Mage/Wizard. These tall, graceful, wise creatures resemble deer in some features, such as the male's majestic antlers - a cultivated symbol of wisdom and age in the Cervus culture, especially as their life span is exceptionally long compared to that of a Human. They are keepers of history and knowledge, the only race that still keeps the flame of the past's traditions alive. They are highly respected by the humans for their abilities and smooth, calm demeanor. They are also respected for the great power they can wield, based on an ancient, earthly magic only the Cervus understand. They are peace loving and diplomatic.

This character is Male - good version is a wise sage, bad version is ???.

3) Indomitus Bestia -- Barbarian. These creatures originated in the cold, barren north and were originally one of the greatest conquerers of (name of world), as they were powerful warriors and great explorers over the arctic seas and frozen landscapes because of their thick fur and surdy builds. Now, the world is not so cold, and their race has dwindled, pushed further and further into the barren nothern mountains by Humans who fear that these beasts might rise against them, despite the fact that the yeti are a largely peace-loving race. They are huge, standing more than 2.5 meters tall.

This character is Male - good version is ???, the bad version is in the employ of the Humans in their vast army.

4) Vulpes -- Cleric/Mage. These creatures are largely very short, usually getting to be no taller than about a meter. They have a kind, gentle demeanor for the most part, are exceptional gossips and are exceptionally astute - they listen very, very closely at all times. They are incredibly social and live in very close knit communities, loved by most other groups and rarely seen as a threat. Any power or force they possess is often used in the assistance of others.

This character is Male - good version is a cleric/priest in the capitol city doing charity/aid work, the bad version is ???.

5) Chiroptera -- Thief/Scout. These are one of the stranger creatures the Humans encountered in (name of world). They often live in large colonies, underground, in high up places where they are assured of safety - they are very suspicious and distrustful of those not of their kind. Because they can fly and possess exceptional sensory (especially their sight and hearing) they are excellent detectors. They are wily, quick, and skittish and because of their smaller size, they can often sneak into places unnoticed and sometimes work as spies. Humans find them grotesque, and have long been known to mistreat them openly, while secretly employing them to carry out their agendas.

This character is Female - good version is a thief in the capitol city, bad version is a scout for the Human army.

6) Monachus -- Mercenary. These creatures are playful and wild, very difficult to control, but immensely talented when it comes to feats of athleticism, especially acrobatics and one-on-one combat. They hail from a far distant, exotic corner of the world, known for exception spices and brutal ways, an area the Humans never quite conquered, and instead controls with trade and money. These creatures are nomadic, restless, they tend to be small and agile. They can also be exceptionally deadly.

This character is Male - good version is ???, the bad version is in the employ of the Humans as a mercenary (though he may turn on them, too).

7) Human -- Knight. In the year (xxxx) the Humans invaded. No one in (name of world) could now remember the details, but it was said the sky turned to ash and the rivers all reversed their course for 2 days before the great tear opened in the fabric of the universe. Through this great rift came invading armies, with technology and weapons the creatures of (name of world) had never experienced before - great magic they could not understand. Brute force couldn't hold the world forever, and through subtle manipulations, the Humans established a class structure and built a new society where the creatures were used to keep them in power, grow their power, but to always be subjugated. Not all humans are so cold, however. Many hundreds of years living among these people has made some of them crusaders against the ruling class, defenders of the subjugated peoples of (name of world). All of this is leading toward revolution...

This character is Male - good version is a knight lobbying the king for clemency and trying to defent the animals, bad version is the evil knight who overthrew (murdered) the last king to take his place.

8 ) Ferus Lynx -- Battle Mage. Mysterious, and somewhat dangerous, due to a fickle, cat-like nature. These creatures possess great cunning and physical dexterity, as well as being the keepers of a sort of dark magic - one that only their species can understand and tap into, and one that the Humans greatly covet. They are often in the employ of humans, being solitary and opportunistic, they will be careful to look out for themselves, no matter what they must do. Even a kind, sociable Ferus Lynx is not exactly your friend, and it is best to always be on guard when in contact with one.

This character is Female - good version is a battle mage who is unaffiliated with any group, the bad version is a general in the Human army.

WHEW! So that is where we are... next is thumbnails for these characters' portraits, naming the characters, and filling in any holes.
Go THUNDERCATS!!!

[Adrian Wilkins]

now thi is starting to get exciting! :D
THANKS jessi!! for summing up all the characters!!! I don't think you missed anything but some minor things that addditionally came to my mind after we ha d our EPIC COUNCIL MEETING!


so here is the bad version of the troll/bat also called Chiroptera (read characterdiscription)
just a quick sketch

EDIT
why can she stab someone with the skin part of the wing flutting in her way?!? :
the wing is quite simple to explain
look at the turnaround
when it is extended
the skin is going along the bone
so she has no problem stabbing the enemy

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/952/chowbatevil.jpg

[Carnifex]

oh my god,you guys are killing it.

[Mark Tarrisse]

Great work everyone ! <3
Thanks for that awesome sum up jessi ! :)

So here's my try for the evil version of the human knight, hope you guys like it, still got a lot to do, I'll add some details, Hygami gave me some ideas on msn :)

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Any critic or comment is of course very welcomed ! :)

GO THUNDERCATS ! :mod:

[Adrian Wilkins]

Markus digging the concept!! but there is something..I can'T put my finger on it, we'll talk on msn :D

yeti/barbarian turnaround
others to come
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/1403/chowbarbarianturnaround.jpg

[CKLamb]

Great stuff so far guys and girls. Kind of intimidating to see the speed with which you all seem to be working at, but quite inspiring. Hopefully, it'll rub off on us!

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[Mark Tarrisse]

Ok soo we talked over msn with hygami, and he game me plenty of ideas for some extra details, so here's our evil human knight, don't know what you all think about it, if you want, I can start a new one, it's not a problem :)

745413

[Inca]

love the design (loving the whole sketch book and theme ideas in fact guys :)) buuut the metal foot is too long, I like the interesting shape, but at the moment it looks a bit clown like. Also the angle looks a tad off, the direction of the ankle looks to be about maybe 130 degrees whereas the foot is about 90 degrees. Small changes but I think they'd help, hope my comments are cool :)

[JessiBean]

Markus, that is plain BADASS
Excellent work, sir! :teeth:

[Adrian Wilkins]

some rather qucik thumbs

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/3556/wipo.jpg
markus came up with the shadow idea, thanks!
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/178/chowbatportraitgoodwith.jpg
http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/4389/chowbatportraitgoodd.jpg

[JessiBean]

Hygami, I LOVE the cast of light in the 2nd one... and I love the post in the 3rd one. Keep rocking it out!!!

More costume tinkering, I suppose... this is the "good" battle mage Ferus Lynx - one of the story's heroes, possibly, and a leader of the resistance in our world (alongside our Human Knight)

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[Sentinel.]

HOLY CRAP, everybody!! You guys are kicking ass!!

I'm seriously amazed each time I check the thread.

Gorgeous sketches Hygami! -the one with the shadow is my favorite, love the color scheme! :D

Markus - fantastic work on the human knight, I can't wait to see what you do with his good version!

Jessi - she is PERFECT!! You do the most amazing job with textiles... I'm jealous :wink:

I love this team :heart:

I didn't make much progress on the evil yeti since I showed you all this morning, but I've got to get some sleep before work. Let me know if you have any ideas or want me to change anything!

745724

[JessiBean]

Sentinel... you rule. Period. :teeth:
I ADORE his expression...

Quick riff on Hygami's AWESOME thumbnail with the cool lighting...

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[LostFayth]

Oh god, it just gets better and better. Will you guys adopt me? :( *puppydogeyes*

[Adrian Wilkins]

got sticks in her mouth pretending she's a clishe vampire :D
isnpired by and for sentinel! desperately trying to keep pace with her awesome barbarian

this is going to be for the individual character discription I think, but she got no name yet
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/1241/lookimavampire.jpg
values to come

[Mark Tarrisse]

Jessi, Sentinel, Hygami I had an eyegasm <3 :)

Well, here's were I got so far for our good human :

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[Adrian Wilkins]

markus I already told you how kickass the good version i, lovem' <3

well here's some stuff :D

yes she still got sticks in her mouth pretening she's a vamp D: !!
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/1526/chowlookimavampire6.jpg
if you think batman was an invention of the 21st century...
well a new cityscape for the story that wil lbe told later on
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/34/chowsityscape2.jpg

[Mark Tarrisse]

Hygami really love the point of view, although maybe the town seems a bit to medieval, maybe it could have a more 18th century look. No need to say how awesome is the bat ^^

So here's the good knight, I think it's pretty much finished, maybe we can add him details later don't know if anyone has ideas.
I'll try to start doing the final thumbs today, but I'm not sure I'll have time, so maybe tomorrow :)

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[Sentinel.]

<3 Beautiful, beautiful work everyone!!

I'm going to be a little scarce online for the next day or two - I'm getting the start of a carpal tunnel flare up, and I don't want to push it and end up with permenant problems. So I'm going to have to lay off typing and drawing until it eases up :(

Here's what I was working on! It's the start of a potential final sketch for the evil lynx. I based it primarily on your pose Jessi and tried to inject some aggression into her posture and face, almost like she was in mid-fight like we had discussed. Her other arm was pointing up holding a sword like she was about to lead a charge, but I didn't like it so I erased it :D I'll have to get that resolved.

746433

I only made a few slight changes to the costume design, based on a painting I found. I really liked how the scabbard was attatched to the belt and the way his sash was tied.

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Let me know what you think! If you all like it, I'll keep going :D

[JessiBean]

You guys! These are perfect!! :heart:

[fluorine]

I love the color scheme, very warm and rich and romanticism-ish. I guess you guys don't need me to tell you how great you are...but I'm going to say it anyway~~~

You guys are great~

[Adrian Wilkins]

thanks alot jessi!
markus... 0o fan-fucking-tastic!
Sentinel: gawd what you guys did created out of my crapppy lynx sketch, just wow really! really proud! I also love how you and jessi take my elemtal spehere that she holds in hand so serious!

uhm..well I gave the elfs/deer a stab
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/2231/chowdeer7.jpg

[Liffey]

Wow... great stuff! You guys are killing it.

[Adrian Wilkins]

another part of the world!
Elven Forest for the storytelling

btw: sentinel, hope you'll be better soon :( !!!!!

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/7593/chowelvenforestsmall.jpg
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1159/chowelvenforest.jpg

[Mark Tarrisse]

The elf/deer are fantastic ! and really nice mood Adrian ^^
Sentinel : love it ! :)

So here's a thumb for maybe the final spider assassin.

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[RBeek]

wow guys,, i went trought this whole thread im amazed :D and also so inspired.. and happy .. u people made my day :D its all so pretty! and cool ! and blah! Keep it up!

[The Whistler]

Just wanted to drop by and say you guys are awesome! :D

Keep on rockin' and good luck (not like you need it ;))

[Chate Noire]

You guys are crazy =)
Such wonderful designs, and it seems like you're doing dozens of sketches and designs for each character! Maybe I'm just confused by the diversity, richness and update speed...but it's still a fantastic and inspiring thread. Keep updating!

[Adrian Wilkins]

thanks for the heads up guys :)

Markus I want to see that finished!! :D

here another part of the world
its not reallly finished but I wanted to post it

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/8996/chowgameenviro4.jpg

[Sentinel.]

Badass work, gentlemen!! :heart:

Mark- awesome thumb for the spider assassin, that lighting is killer!

And fantastic enviros Adrian! You know how much I love the forest one but I'll say it again XD


Here's my first set of thumbnails for the evil deer/elf! Jessi and I briefly discussed what kind of magic he used, and came up with a bowl of trapped souls - that he uses to make himself more powerful, perhaps?

I think it's obvious which one is my favorite. :wink: What's not to love about a pair of marble slave girl statues with soul-spewing action!

Edit: Forgot to add the chain that linked them.

[Adrian Wilkins]

wohow O_o REALLY difg the middle and the one at the top left! I isntant stolen your bowl idea really awesome!

gave it a shot..
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/1672/chowevildeer.jpg

[JessiBean]

Adrian... I need your speed, you MACHINE :heart: I love some of the clothing pattern detail you are incorporating, let's be sure to get that into the finals, too.

Sentinel, I said so on MSN, but I also think the top left is PERFECT, the composition is stellar. Excited to see how you work out the rest of this.

My thoughts on composition for the Evil Human Knight (the King) based on traditional royal portraiture (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Louis_XV_France_by_Louis-Michel_van_Loo_002.jpg). His robe would be all trimmed in animal furs and his throne will have various skulls and monsters carved into it and a deer head mounted on the top. And the Good Arachnea Assassin... in a church! The evil clergy doods will have a bound lynx or some other animal they are about to molest, and the spider assassin is coming to the rescue all quiet and stealthy-like.

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[Pixeltuner]

F**k me, you guys (& gal ;)) are on fire :mod: Shit's gonna be awesome!

[Adrian Wilkins]

damn!! thats uber awesome jessi!!

here is the attackboard of the evil deer elf
Soul Raid
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/8200/attackboardelf.jpg

[Carnifex]

waooahoahoahhh!
i love those attack boards.
jessi,who'd have thought spiders could be so sexy. infact this is the first time i've found a whole sketch sexy.
next time i wanna be on your team!
:D
*indulging in inspiration*

[Adrian Wilkins]

haha thanks carnifex :D !

Second attackboard of the evil elf
description
I. let the enemy float
II. smack the enemy through the wall
III. if the enemy isn't dead yet, pull them down to the ground

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7573/attackboardelf2.jpg

[Mat Kaminski]

Epic overload!

[MoHog]

kewl, i love this sb.
your making a whole world! please form a studio together and make this into a book or movie or game or something
keep on going for the win

[Sentinel.]

Jessi - those are PERFECT! The one of the Arachnea assassin is going to be so badass with all that stained glass and how it casts light. And on the one of the evil Knight - from your sketch, it gives me the impression his cape is a quilted material. I don't know if that's what you were going for, but I think it could look really lush if done right. Super excited to move on with these! :teeth:

Awesome attack boards Adrian!! That second one is especially vicious - and would be a really cool move if we ever got to see this turned into a game :D I also agree with Jessi about the detail in the evil elf's costume, we seriously need to do some embroidery and elaborate fabric patterns.

I'm currently working on some thumbs for the good and evil version of the Fennec Fox, but I took a short break to try out some lighting on the evil elf thumb. I know you were going to try working from the sketch Jessi, so I didn't get too elaborate. Was just trying to figure out how the bowl as the primary light source would affect his face since I'm not 100% comfortable with this set up, and I'm all about the faces :P

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[smokenmirrors]

yowza..... you guys are a production powerhouse...... fantastic characters! :)

[Mark Tarrisse]

:( I'm a shame of working so little, I'll do my best to work more !

Adrian : You already know that but these attackboards are awesome ! :)
Sentinel : Must see that finished ! <3
Jessi : Love the assassin ! But not sureee of the king.

Here's my try to a sketch for the barbarian yeti, I'll try to do some more soon I hope ^^

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[RBeek]

you guys are rly sick XD awsome work peeps! very inspirational! :D

[Troubadour]

ahem, excuse me i need to go change my pants.

[Moai]

Very impressive and elegant work, guys and girls!

[JessiBean]

Mark - you have NOTHING to apologize for, this is AWESOME! He looks VERY menacing.

Adrian - I REALLY like these attacks, I think you have the character of the deer mage perfectly incorporated in his powers. I love the glowy fingertips, too... good addition.

Sentinel - Sorry for slowness! I did a little doodle, to give him a place to be in, but I didn't change much, I love the values/position you have going on. I had a brain wave that our evil Elf/deer was making evil magiv out of souls in an old temple with occult-ish banners and dead things hanging around him. That is a broken stained glass ceiling at the top, if it didn't make sense. In the alternative, it could be overgrown with dead vines, too... to symbolize how he has taken his nature-magic and used it to kill/for evil purposes...?

749400

You guys are rocking SO hard... I think we have a few more thumbnails we need to tackle -- Making a quick list of inventory so we know where to fill in still...

Lynx - Good: I did the one pose of her a few pages back, I think she needs a more dynamic composition. I will knock out some thumbs, anyone else who wants to tackle her, she needs some sketch love. Evil: I really liked the pose Sentinel drew up based on the painting of Napoleon, I'm cool to move forward on this one if you guys are. we need to flesh out the scene she exists in, first, tho.
Deer - Good: I liked the sketch Hygami had with the fawn helpers... maybe a variation or two where we can see him performing a good/helpful deed; Evil: I think Sentinel has this one sewn up.
Bat - Good: I liked the rooftop pose idea, maybe we need to do a couple more variations to get this right?; and Evil: I think Adrian had an awesome pose of the bat sticking her wing through someone's throat that worked for me on this one, do we have others?
Yeti - Good: I dunno, have we done this one? Evil: I think Mark did a great job on this one (it is the evil one, right? he looks menacing), I think it works for me for a final with minor tweaks- make sure 3/4 of his figure is in the image make sure he looks like he is a bad man (like the kickass facial expression Sentinel had a ways back)
Spider - Good: I kinda tried to tackle this one with the church thing up there, need to tweak it some. Anyone have any other options? Evil: I think Mark was working on this one on the last page, and I like it lots. Maybe try some variations to make her look like she is doing evil deeds/killing innocents/making mayhem.
Humans - Good: This is one of the ones I don't think we have tried at all... I am going to give it a whirl, I would encourage anyone who feels inspired to try him out, cause I think we forgot him so far. I've been thinking about him like he is the story's hero, leading out intrepid band of rebels :) ; Evil: I added the thumb at the top of this page, has anyone worked on other options for this one?
Fennic Fox - this is the other one I don't think we have concepted out at all for final poses. Sentinel said she was going to try it out, anyone else want to give it a shot? Both good and evil. Sentinel and I talked on MSN about him a little, how the good version is kind of like a short, round, jovial fellow, who maybe likes good beer and goes around to people offering herbs and magic remedies... maybe this sets off some ideas? The bad guy was going to be a bureaucrat type, I think...?

AAAAAAAND, once we have at least an option or two for each one, we can pick and get on to the finals! Can we do that in the next day or so? When is good to meet up and make sure we are all on the same page?

GO TEAM, GO!!!
:heart:

[daestwen]

Since sentinel asked about fullbody/etc in the thread, I wanted to come in and say they all look fine to me except maybe the assassin, who looks a little too crunched up.

[Adrian Wilkins]

thanks for the sum up Jessi! omfg where do you get such epic reference the idea and all is awesome!!!

and thanks for clearing us up Daestwen!


uhm, sketch for the final.. shes gonna be diving towards the king who's going to stand on the balcony
http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/764/dive.jpg

[Sentinel.]

Thanks for taking the time to look through and let us know, Dae!

Mark - that looks amazing! His face and pose are perfect, and your values are spot on!

Adrian - Great start! The only thing I notice is that she looks less like she's diving/landing and more like she's jumping backwards off the balcony. The position of her body itself is fine, but I think her arms and wings would have more of a backward motion than they have now, like so:

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That could be your intention anyway, so if that's already what you were planning ignore me :P



Jessi - it looks so much more kickass with that background!! I absolutely love all the ideas for it, we can cross this thumb off the to do list. Thanks also for the summary, I'll try to tackle any holes we have.


I ended up getting sidetracked most of yesterday, so I didn't get nearly what I wanted done. I was also having a really hard time coming up with anything for the fox, even after we had talked about it. I'll keep plugging away at it and post a few good versions before I have to go to work tonight so we have some to choose from.

Here's the only evil version that came out halfway decent yesterday, inspired by the following paintings. It still needs some work and feels a little cramped, but I think it gets the general idea across. Let me know if you'd like to see a few more options and I'll see what I can come up with.

I'll also try to pick up the pace and generate thumbs for all the remaing characters by the end of tomorrow. We should have all the final compositions squared away before the weekend hits so we can get going on the rendering.

Keep up the awesome work, team!! :heart:

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[JessiBean]

Sentinel, I think the fox is just awesome... I told you this earlier, but I really like the basis in classical paintings, it helps reinforce the time period subtly, which is great. One thing that jumps out is from our earlier talk about how this character is greedy and conniving (in contrast to the gentle, jovial, helpful nature of his good counterpart) perhaps we should show more of his ill gotten wealth around him (sacks of money, or something kinda like that) And we can be sure to keep the fabrics and furnishings looking really rich and lush in contrast to the grittiness of our "good guys"... awesome stuff.

Adrian - I really like the idea of her mid-air about to attack, and I can see where Sentinel is coming from about being backwards maybe making it awkward. Maybe if she was twisting, with a weapon out? Or maybe a view from below the balcony looking up at her? Oh, and I would maybe cut off some of the canvas on the left and right sides, keep it more vertical since most of the other pieces we have seem to be that way, we might as well go for continuity in these "main" images... GREAT work... keeep going :^^:

I scribbled some on the Evil Human Knight after Sentinel pointed me to some awesome portrait reference from the period. I think this is getting closer... and I would be keeping the metal hand and leg that Mark added, and incorporating them into the armor in this kind of design, cause those were cool and I didn't want to lose them. The chair would have tortured looking animals and dead things carved into it, the dead head mounted on top (maybe dripping blood from the neck, like it was placed up there on a pike?) And a latin inscription about Humans ruling everyone....

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And I got two more coming for the good lynx and the good human knight. woot!

edit: brain wave! What if I step the king back a hair and show the painting (maybe the painter?) he is posing for in the compositon too? To show he is vain, as well as evil...?

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[Sentinel.]

Love the portrait idea Jessi! Like I said on MSN, I think it would be really exciting :D

I'd comment more, but I've got to make this fast since there's a bad storm brewing over my house, and I don't want to risk my computer getting shorted out from a power surge (damn Florida weather!)

Here's my current progress on the evil Arachnea assassin. Jessi gave me awesome advice on moving one of the left arms to hold the tip of the knife blade to her mouth, kind of mischievous like, and also gave me the idea of her holding a decapitated head in her other hand. Awesome XD If you guys like it, I'll try to have this more or less ready to render by tomorrow morning.

I've also learned that I struggle with doing thumbnails and should just stick to what I do best, diving right in :teeth:

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[Studio Colrouphobia]

Best. Sketchbook. Ever.

Love the ideas behind it all, quite refreshing to have fantasy/animal mix. Wish I would have seen this from the get go...

Elephant/Artisan that's all I got to say.


Bookmarked topic.

[Quike Garcia]

I follow most of your sb separatedly... but to be honest, seeing you all working together is a bliss..

[Sentinel.]

More fun with the evil assassin! I don't think this arm position is exactly what you meant Jessi, but it's just kinda came out that way. :D I could fix the blade so it's closer to her mouth pretty easily, so if you think it would look better that way let me know.

I need to change up her costume so it looks like she's the evil version, not just the same girl on a mean streak. I'm thinking about adding a "trophy" belt with pieces of antler, yeti horn, lynx teeth, etc. all dangling from it, as well as a few additional weapons and maybe an armored glove on her knife hand. I'll try a bunch of stuff until I find the right combo, but if you guys have any suggestions I would love to hear them! That goes for the background too :D

GO TEAM! :heart:

Edit: When I stepped back and looked at it, the blade tip was too close to her eye. Changed! :wink:

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[JessiBean]

Sentinel - you are my hero! Seriously, everything you're making here is top notch, and I especially love this spider.
I mentioned I was gonna take a stab at some costume stuff, so here goes...

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My fave is the big one... the bottom edges of her coat could be scalloped and pleated, like the bottom of the corset in this image (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=741726&d=1249319868). Maybe some jewels, rich fabrics, a tricorner hat to make her look like she has gotten rich and powerful from being someone's deadly assassin... Leather pants? I like shiny leather pants... :P Top right is more like this one (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=741721&d=1249319764), with the buttons, but maybe see if making it out of leather could edge it up some, make her evil... there are some nice leathery/stud/gritty looking things here (http://www.erntefashionsystems.com/sections/imageArchive/index.html) that might inspire. The bottom right is more based on the corset in this image (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=741714&d=1249319617) with black lace (maybe to look like spiderwebs? maybe that is too hokey)

Maybe this will inspire something?
Still working on me thumbs, got distracted last night... Will post them ASAP!!!

[Earendil]

:jawdrop:

Wow! That Fennec mage is sexy! Spiderwoman pirate? Y'guyz are soooo gud.

I feel it...wait..argh...aieee!

*turns into a fanboy*:xpld::drool:

[fluorine]

Guys, your works are as good as always~~~~and I don't think I'm in any position to offer critique...but just one thing, and it's really bothering me and I just have to say it.

Sentinel, your spider girl is great, but I think it might work better if you could figure out her anatomy first, from the bone structure to muscle to skin. This is actually a problem I had for all those fantasy figures with more than 2 arms and 2 legs (so please don't take this personally). It's not like these extra arms just some how "stacked" on the other two arms. If you add two extra arms, they have to attached to something. How the clavicle works, maybe there's two extra set of clavicle either beneath or behind the normal ones? how the scapula works? how the rib cage changes because she has two extra arms? I believe if you could figure that out first, the figure will look a lot more realistic and believable.

it's just a personal obsession, feel free to ignore me~

[JessiBean]

Quick recap of MSN discussion:

Final Piece Assignments...
Sentinel - Evil Deer, Evil Lynx, Good Fox, Evil Spider
Adrian - Good Bat, Evil Bat, Good Deer
Mark - Good Human Knight, Evil Yeti, Good Yeti
Me - Evil Fox, Good Lynx, Evil Human Knight, Good Spider

Progress to be posted here in the thread. I am going to be editing this post with some color targets/mood ref momentarily. We will swap on Wednesday.

GO, Team, GO!!!

[AUG]

Mark- I'm loving the barbarian design and composition. Beautiful rendering on the good human pieces, too.

Adrian- Your elf-deer designs are great. The characters have such strong personalities.

Sentinel- The Arachnea and Fennec Fox characters look as if they could step off of the page. Just wonderful works.

Jessi- Your subjects always have a strong appeal to them. The way you incorporate the costumes with the characters is beyond me.

I can see all of these works gelling into a sweet looking presentation in the end.

Go team!

[LostFayth]

Feed me please. I'm hungry for more art...
...or could it be?... :O

Team Thundercars are GONE!?

[0zz0]

NOOO we want more good art !

[JessiBean]

Deepest apologies for the quiet... I am SWAMPED with work.
The screens I promised are below, with the mood/color target. Mostly, desaturated and moody, lots of ochre, gray, brown and reds, a few high pops of color. Working on finals. More from me soon.

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[danlambert]

Jessie do you per chance know the name of the actress in that 1st image, shes absolutely beautiful and I must draw more of her!

[sourgasm]

ah, perfume is such a well shot movie. nearly every scene is a work of art.

[Undeadartist]

love your guys work huge fan can wait to see it all rendered and finished good luck on the competition dudes and just cause i can:mod:

[CrookedHorn]

impressed! very very impressed!
just overwhelmed with the amount of awesome that is in this thread!
i am very very excited to see you guys and girl in the finals thread
well done :smile:

[Mark Tarrisse]

Well here's the good knight so far, I'll add some details, and work more on some parts, still has a lot of work before the final version.

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GO TEAM GO GO GO !

[Teundeboer]

Love this thread. Thought I'd try to help, in the last picture I love the composition and the effect of the rain. The only thing that's bothering me is that the good knight doesn't seem to be wet. I think what could really help is his hair. Some wet strands of hair across his face instead of his perfect coupe should stimulate the mood.
Hope this helps even the slightest. Keep it up.
GO THUNDERCATS

[Dished]

daaamn you guys! :D awesome! lookin forward to seeing your finals!

[midknight523]

what movie are those stills from in post #150?

[daestwen]

Daym, guys, you disappeared. :(

You have no idea how sad I am!

[SunRoamer]

*poke*

Nothing? :(
*joins daestwen in being sad*

[Tetrodotoxin]

I was on vacation for one week and was excited to come back and visit this Teambook the whole week... When I came back, everything still looked the same :(

This is not meant to be an accusation but a compliment. I want to thank you for the stuff you showed us on the last 5 pages and for making me all excited about this Team Chow. Your Team was one of my favourites from the beginning! :bow:

*sniff*

[Mark Tarrisse]

Ok everyone,
Sorry for the lack of update, but we had some serious problems, well at least my team mates had serious problems,

Adrian had a serious injury with his shoulder, Sentinel had some technical problems with her house (serious water problems!), Jessi had a lot of work to do, and finaly, I had too some work to do

But I personaly had an awesome experience from this team chow ! I worked in a wonderfull team, all very talented artists ! and awesome people !
Thank you Christina, Jessi and Adrian :)
Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful comments, critics, and the great support !
I really do hope we will participate again to a new team chow, and this time do it to the finals !

Just one last thing I think everyone is a winner in this challenge, because I'm sure everyone has learned a lotttttttt from TeamCHOW ! my only advice is that everyone that couldnt participate or didnt participate to it, should try it next time ! :)

Regards,

Mark

[yoitisi]

Aw that sucks. Hope y'all are doing okay though! Would be cool to see what you guys pull off in the next team chow :)

[morgalahan]

Aww bugger, I was really really looking forwards to the finals. I don't suppose you guys will finish the images when you can? I really really REALLLLLLLLLY love the work you guys did. I've been looking since you started and your pictures inspired me no end. I love what you've already done and I so really want to see the completed images. *sigh* You guys rock and you've had my vote from page 1 of this thread.

[CrookedHorn]

unofficial vote for team thundercats
even your value pieces are stronger than most of the finished posts
you guys rocked out some killer designs

[SunRoamer]

Well, that's really sad TT.TT

Anyway, I really enjoyed following your sketchbook and you were so motivated right from the beginning! Really inspired all the other teams, I think ;) (I guess that's what made it even more dissappointing when you suddenly disappeared :( But well, obviously there was hardly anything you guys could have done about that, so thank you for what you were able to do!)

[GriNGo]

Dang I really wanted to see these finished pieces! I really hope you release them even if the deadline is way in the past. Please show us your teams finished artwork :)