Team CHOW II: Doomsday Dream Clan

[Niva.]

This is the sketchbook thread for the Doomsday Dream Clan for Team CHOW II.
Request for team name and entry was made HERE (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2381082&posted=1#post2381082).

Team Members:
Swordhand - Mick, 13 years old
Clanlord - George, 16 years old, hails from Bulgaria
n1va - Nikolay, 33 years old, originally from Bulgaria

The main goal for us is to create some polished work and cater to the strengths of each one of our members. We're planning on using a methodical process where each finished drawing will have been done by all 3 artists at different stages. We're ready to kick butT and have fun, comments and critique are very much appreciated.

TEAM CHOW II: GOOD AND EVIL (http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=164934)

Inspiration piece provided at contest briefing, this is the look we will try to aim for.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=759421&d=1250995192

Remember folks, this challenge is asking for character designs which can be used in a game. It's supposed to be original stuff.

[Swordhand]

I'm in guys :teeth:
I am currently working on fleshing out an elf barbarian character (male) and a bugbear fighter (also male) I am less experienced in drawing women, so I think we should have a group of two female, four male. I agree with nick that we should avoid the female elf build.

[Niva.]

OK please post all work here guys, the following stuff was made by Clanlord. Some ideas on symbols we are planning on attaching to the images and the first elf character which IMO looks outstanding.

Right now our plan is for Swordhand to come out with the initial concepts, Clanlord will make full drawings and I will do most of the finishing touches and the writing.

[Niva.]

I'm confused on exactly how many drawings we must make to complete the contest. Reading the rules I understood that we must make a minimum of six finished images portraying 3 characters in both good an evil aspects.

Based on some of the messages which were exchanged I was confused because it seems we must make six characters so 12 finished drawings? If that's the case we're in trouble, I don't think I've finished 12 drawings all year :)

[clanlord]

Hello!
This is the Elf piece. I tried to fix the legs without much succes but the little problems are going to be corrected during the painting process by Nick.
I am not satisified with the pose a bit.

Thank you for visiting our thread (DDC). We would be very thankful if you decide to give us a crit or a helping tip. It was my pleasure.

[¿Dubious?]

hey just letting you guys know that after reading over the forums I am (nearly) positive that it is in fact 6 finished drawings not 12. But hey if you guys wanna do 12 go right ahead the sketches in this thread so far are awesome. Anyway just thought I would let you know hope this helps. Good luck.

[Niva.]

OK I started playing with the elf sketch. Reading over the rules it seems we need to create a light and a dark version of the elf. This is the light version. I didn't make as much headway as I'd hoped but hopefully more will follow soon.

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I might make some slight adjustments to the pose and positioning of the limbs. Also uncertain about the bow. However for now I've mostly left the sketch alone.

[daestwen]

hey just letting you guys know that after reading over the forums I am (nearly) positive that it is in fact 6 finished drawings not 12. But hey if you guys wanna do 12 go right ahead the sketches in this thread so far are awesome. Anyway just thought I would let you know hope this helps. Good luck.

This is the correct statement.

You have 3 team members, thus you must have 6 portraits (aka, 6 finished drawings). Three of those must be good, and three of those must be the same characters, but evil.

Thankee

[clanlord]

Ok thank you very much! The elf is going well. I like it :) Soon you'll see more from us! :) - G

[Swordhand]

Should I quit working on the elf barbarian? and we could use this elf instead? I personally think it is too stereotype for this 'high fantasy' topic.

[Niva.]

Swordhand why don't you post what you have thusfar? I'd like to see it.

While I really like this elf sketch I do agree that it's very stereotypical. We are way behind other teams though and need to get moving if we're going to successfully complete this challenge.

[Niva.]

OK a bit more progress on the elf, I think this was the original intent of Clanlord to have a glowing symbol below him. I don't have much time to work on this until the weekend though I really want to see ideas for the characters we want to push to a "finished" status.

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I've also made a couple of pencil concept sketches on an angelic warrior but I doubt I'll get around to scanning for the next few days.

Swordhand, I really like your ideas but I need to see sketches and more fleshed out concepts.

[clanlord]

Hello guys!

Here is a little update. Now It is Nick's turn to paint this. The old elf is going to be the light version or if we decide we ain't gonna use it.
We are still on a hold because Mick do not have a scanner available. We think soon we will renew the work with him and we will follow our initial plan. Nick and I hope that Mick will deal with this little problem.
For now on we will try to post more finished works as well.

Thank you for looking.

Best regarts,
George Arnaudov

[Swordhand]

I will have a scanner in two days I think. This last one is brilliant clanlord. I think that is the one we should go for. The longer spear looks like it should actually cross above the other one. Nice work guys, I'm sorry I can't help more at this time.

[clanlord]

HALLO GUYSS!!

NiCK and MiCK Why don't we do enviros.

I'll make some suggetsions about the faces of the characters and the portraits. Let's get bumping guys ;)

[clanlord]

Here are a few character faces!

[clanlord]

and a portrait

[Niva.]

Hey Clanlord,
I'm going to not be available until Friday night local time so don't expect much from me in the meantime. This weekend though we have to make a big push. I have an idea about the environment for the light elf but the updates won't be huge.

I like the other updates you've made thusfar, the last portrait is really twisted.

So we seem to have knocked out one of the characters thusfar. A good elven archer in a somewhat dark environment, and an evil elf barbarian character. Right now the elf barbarian looks a bit stiff to me, I'll probably make some adjustments to him if we're going to push him.

What do we have in mind for the other two characters? I'd like at least one of those to be a female.

I also would love to do a dwarf character, something with heavy bladed axes in the evil version and a ridiculous looking sword for the good version.

[Niva.]

Oh, I like the portrait of the berserker by the way Clanlord.

[Swordhand]

I have started work on another character. A human spellcaster, who shows some minor snake traits. I think it would be great to have a spellcaster of some sort. I think we should add a female, in the form of a cleric or other healer class.

[clanlord]

Ha OK! Guys no problem! I agree, we'll make some dwarfs and female healers :) . If you played Enclave (or if you didn't download it) you should know the bombandier. It is a kind of goblin who deals with the big bangs.

Nick I wanted to tell you to work with more sharp tools in photoshop. Nail the main colors and then deal with the highlights :) there are so many techniques. Look at that one http://villeart.com/temp/Finished/ or Marko Djurdjevics technique http://comics.ign.com/articles/854/854068p1.html

If you have any feedbacks do not get shy to tell them. We are here for the challenge - G

[clanlord]

Ok guys! Later today I'll try to do better variant (with the symbol at the bottom of the elf, and I will erase these nasty lines) and I am going to send Nick some bigger variants of these two, so he can paint them in bigger resolution!

I will do the briefing about the brawler! Whos on the elf???

P.S. - See this! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enclave_%28video_game%29#Non-player_characters_.28NPCs.29

[Swordhand]

Finally, getting some stuff up here. The first is just some brainstorming, but the second is a sort of idea for a spellcaster character. I'm not proud of the sketch, but I just wanted to get it down fast. I like the patterns on the forearms/hands, I originally envisioned them to be blue. Anyway:

[clanlord]

Very good! You will get better soon do not be worry fro that now! WOW you have catched the proportions good deal! I will try to transfrom this first-born idea to some brutalistico-amazing thing! To the weekend I must have sketched 3 more characters. - G

Good job Mick :)

[clanlord]

Swordhand - I got to safe that ugly guy on my PC!

So here is a little Buzoni the third character in the group! This time he is from the light side (if he is looking like scornful, weeell he is not). He is a good guy.

little Bio: Buzoni Malehandro D'ellavegga
In his early ages he has been a very liberty-loving kid with mischievous temper! When he tapped his 17's he became a priest. After 20 years of preching he fed up talking to the sinners like a friend giving them a useful advice and grabbed the sword. Nowadays he is happy because he gives out deservedly remission to the bad guys. (with the sword)

[Niva.]

nice job there clanlord, that last one looks like an illustration from the lord of the rings.

However, it's very stiff right now, I want some of these characters to be shown in action. Lets push something this way.

[Niva.]

Some extra updates on the first elf, I mean to finish him soon. I'll start on the berserker next, Clanlord I'll be on Skype so you can send me the higher res files.

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Swordhand, glad to see you're posting too by the way. Wha'ts up with that character? What is he exactly?

[Niva.]

Swordhand I took a stab at fleshing out your character a bit, not sure if this was what you were aiming for. He was very skewed by the way.

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What are his hands supposed to be like?

[Swordhand]

He was totally skewed, sorry
I was going for a spellcaster kind of warrior somewhat like that, yeah.
His hands I envisioned as normal bare hands with coloured tattoos/markings all along them. I like yours, but it would be nice to turn him a bit more 'magicky'

[clanlord]

Hello!

Here is a character!

[Niva.]

Clanlord, another nice sketch, but he looks puny, like he belongs on a circus rather than a battle, especially with those colors. The weapons are lost, I barely saw the axe in the detail of his costume. Give him a shield, again heavy. This guy needs to be able to walk up to that elf and cleave him in half unless the elf manages to get a bolt into his eye socket.

For the evil dwarf I want something imposing, heavy armor, possibly over a corpse? Here is a couple sketches to give a generic idea of where I'd like to go with this one if possible.

[clanlord]

Hello!

New charcater from the group!
Thanks to Mick's initial idea!

[Swordhand]

Yessss! That is what I'm talking about. Remember guys, we need three characters, a good and evil version of each. I think we should decide exactly who those three are so we can really get down to working on them. I like the idea of evil delamar, but I'm not sure how well he translates to good. The elf barbarian is pretty cool, and could swing easily in the direction of either good or evil. He would be a good choice I think, for one of three.

[Niva.]

Updte on the elf, jeez it takes me forever to post.

Here is an update on the elf, I'm starting on the elf barbarian next. Hope to make quicker pace.

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[clanlord]

Hello from me!

Guys, teamates first I want to tell that Nick have painted the Elf successfully and I am very happy with the final variant.

Remember the rules guys - they must be totally different. So these characters - Brawler(evil), Spellcaster(evil) must be accompanied by their good sides. I am now working on the Good Brawler which is going to be a very serious sketch. I am seriously thinking about puting him some mechanisms and creating his characteristics which will totally belong to a different era. It is going to be a serious sketch. Look very closely to this rule - it was mentioned in the rules (the characters can belong to a different age). I think the good Mech - Brawler will suprise some of the watchers and give us big advantage infront of other teams.
I will give a break to Nick and tomorrow I'll work only on the good Brawler. I'll also help him with the painting of the Delamar (the Spellcaster).
Mick this is a task specially for you. You are very good in English (not only for your age) so I think this task will fit you perfectly. You must do briefing for every character that will be included in the final week of the challenge. You must write a short story giving to the audience a very clear portray about each of them - Spellcaster (Dark), Brawler (Dark), and both Elfs. The story-telling belongs to you :)

Now about the Ozzo's comments that I cannot see at the moment. Has somebody deleted them? So Ozzo if you decided to turn out of Mick's first team you are carrying your consequences. Sorry but we have assigned our tasks in the team at the beginning. We must change our strategy if we allow you to join. I am very sorry maybe some other time in other CHOW contest we will make a team. I hope we will understand each other.

So guys here is a list about what is going on here:
Good - Elf (finished), Brawler (sketching in progress), Spellcaster (not yet started)
Evil - Elf (painting in progress), Brawler (painting in progress), Spellcaster (painting in progress)

So you can clearly see that Nick needs some help from me :D. Ok NICK no problem I'll call back. Let me paint Delamar.

[Niva.]

OK great, I'm sorry things haven't moved as fast as I've wanted them to but I'm still optimistic that we can finish this challenge on time. Swordhand we really need you to help out though because we've pretty much done this with the two of us only. You need to post many characters and concept ideas for us to succeed in making more finished sketches and final paintings out of. I see that you're a new artist but you have to push hard, art is learned through lots of practice and hard work. Anyways, I've learned a few things already from this challenge which I applied to the elf somewhat successfully. I hope the next painting will go quicker and more successfully, if there's time I'll go back to the elf and polish him up some more as he's definitely not perfect.

Clanlord as you can see I got rid of the symbol on the bottom - it was distracting to keep it there and glowing and it interfered with the shadow I was trying to cast. We will still keep the symbols somewhere on the drawing.

[Niva.]

Here is the first paint update on Fares the dark elf. I'm a bit uncertain on the colors so it's liable for change but I kind of like how this is starting.

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[clanlord]

Now I will quote Swordhand Yessss! That is what I'm talking about. These are the colors. I've imagined him just like this. Beautiful Nick. We are going to kick some ass.
The contrasting values are really good now. I like them a lot :)

Hei guys I think it is time to remember 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!


I am afraid that we have chosen figher type characters. 2 of them are fighers.

[Niva.]

Well I don't think an archer qualifies as a basic fighter in terms of classification, one is melee the other is a long range fighter so I think we're ok.

Which again brings us to the topic of the units we should be working on for the remainder of the challenge assuming we press the two elf versions to a completely finished state.

I can start hacking the spellcaster next until we resolve this issue. Clanlord can you contact the contest admin to make sure we understand the rules properly?

[Swordhand]

I do not believe the light and dark elf pieces we currently have interpret as the same character in any way. It is like a dark elf and a light elf standing beside each other, not two different embodiments of the same character.

[daestwen]

Hey guys, I was asked to weigh in, so here I am. :]

At the moment you guys are kind of on the line... while i'm okay with some class shifting, I think that the two versions should at least be fairly close, class wise... so a long range fighter should be that in both versions.

What you could do is give him a crossbow or some kind of other 'heavy' version of a long range weapon, to help tie them in better?

Hope this helps!

[Niva.]

Daestwen thanks a lot for commenting, we can definitely do that, I'll continue painting the evil guy but with a crossbow instead of the melee weapons. Thanks a lot once again!

[Niva.]

OK I did a very quick transformation of the last character with a bow, don't be thrown off by the rest of the image I'm just playing with diff environments. I tried a couple but this was the most successful one.

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Comments please!

[Swordhand]

Amazing! this looks really great nick. I think it needs a harder more penciled edge like the rest of the drawing, but this is a huge step in the right direction. I have a little sketch, here a little outdated now I suppose, but anyway:

[Swordhand]

I'm HOME! this means tons more participation on my part!
Now that I have photoshop available again, I did a quick paintover of nicks most recent post, and then laid it beside the original to show you guys what I mean by making the characters more similar: The first is the light version, the second is the dark version.

[clanlord]

Hello!

daestwen I want to thank you for the helping advice! Now the both elfs look like they are a same person but fighting for a different cause!

Mick I told Nick that now we will work on the angels and we both agreed. Actually Nick gave me the idea about the ANGELS- Good (Helaer,Cleric), Bad (Wizard, Magician). For now we will leave alone the Brawler.

Mick I have no idea why are you doing elf type character? The process have turned upside down. We have all tasks to follow. The sketch is really outdated. Sorry Mick but we have no reason to use it at the moment.
We are now working on the Good Spellcaster. I'll try to nail the original ideas of the angels today and make them main sketches ready for painting. We need someone to help us with the painting. Unfrotunately Mick is novice at painting I had a previous experience and will paint the evil spellcaster. We got to get cracking real fast so Mick we will be forced to invite someone who paints. It is the final week and it will be pity if we do not have moret han two finished works. Enought with the obvious things. Lets get cracking!

[Swordhand]

the elf sketch is from nearly a week ago, haven't had a scanner since. I did the paintover because I believe that our good elf is not close enough to the same character as our dark elf. We are in a rush I suppose, but I still think it is something we should fix. I'm working on our angels now.

[Swordhand]

Here are some really quick sketches for the angels. I think we need to get an assembly line going here,
so while clanlord is sketching I can be working on the next set of characters, and nick can be painting the one before it.

[clanlord]

Mick we have arranged the tasks in the beginning! We were thinking about some HEALER types of angels! And we have many men but not women?!?!? At the moment we cannot use any of this! I will paint the Spellcaster character. Now I am working on the Good Spellcaster. The both Brawlers are finished. And Nick has to work on a very big material. He finished the Elfs but there are 4 more characters to be painted. I will work on the both Spellcasters and maybe Headhunter will join to give us a helping hand. He is fresh out selection and he will work fast. He is also a bulgarian.

Mick the main purposeo f your task was to give the most of yourself to give the initial idea. But the effect of this has spent because we needed you to be faster. It is now your fault I understand because you hadn't have time to post. I think we do not have a reason to judge you. Do you understand! I have an idea for the Good Spellcaster. You can Give me idea for the good Dwarf because me and Nick have thrown the last idea. Nick gave me idea for the evil one. The Initial sketch on the top of the second page.

PSHIUU... why so much writing... anyways. I will update as soon as I can tomorrow. I had a little arrangements today. I will start painting the next day at the latest.

The last week is coming. - G

[Swordhand]

I need to know exactly what to work on, guys. I'm still a little unclear on that right now. I can paint as well if you guys need me to. Now that I'm home, I have plenty of time, but not any idea of what to work on.
Could you lay it out for me like
Evil human female healer
Good male human spellcaster,
etc?

[Niva.]

Hello Swordhand, I had stuff that kept me busy today but things are getting better, hopefully!!! I know I keep saying that.

Anyways, the elf character is good, it just needs to be finished which I can do in the next sitting, I need a couple more hours on the evil version.

Next we are going to do the spellcaster. Clanlord will paint over the evil version which is higher up on this page. Also we need sketches of a "good" spellcaster version of the same character.

To wrap things up with our third character we (clanlord and I) want to do a female. Mostly we want her to be a magician but perhaps the evil version can have a heavier weapon? The same character will exhibit angelic traits (white wings and halo) in the good version and demonic traits (batlike wings, maybe hooves?) in the evil version.

I'd love to see some roughs from you to help out clanlord with ideas and especially with poses.

Clanlord has made some awesome drawings thusfar, I'm really in awe as to how far his lineart has come. The main gripe I have against all the drawings so far is that the characters are floaters and don't belong to any environment. Not only that but they seem to float. Perhaps it's because we decided to do the symbols below them early on when I think for our finished pieces we'll just stick the symbols on there as icons to the side to designate the good from the evil versions. Also sometimes the poses appear stiff, like the good dwarf above. This type of problems can be easily discovered and discussed early on if we actually post sketches rather than mostly finished pieces. Clanlord and I were hoping this is where you could come in and help with this project. Unfortunately it took too long to get you onboard because you weren't at home and didn't have access to a computer. We basically had to get started and I think all of us are a bit frustrated now that you're actually online and want to contribute after we rushed past the stage you could've helped with per our initial agreement.

I hope we will be close to almost complete on 4 pieces by the end of this weekend. I do have some concerns that next week I might get slammed at work and have to work two weeks straight w/o breaks which will utterly destroy my last remaining weekend. However, I promise to bust my ass and get the six required pieces to an almost finished state, thankfully this month has 31 days!

I'm in linux right now and don't have access to my RAID, let me log into windows and I'll email you a link to a URL from which you can download the psd files of the two elf characters I have right now.

One more thing Swordhand, maybe you can't do this, but Clanlord suggested you can help with doing the writing for the characters. Perhaps explaining how the good character turned evil and vice versa... I haven't really read much about what other teams are doing in this regard. Even if you can't write the stuff for our characters then perhaps you can at least post some links to what other teams are doing so that we can take a look.

[Swordhand]

A write up is a bit of a chore, but I think I can handle that. after these initial ideas, I don't have much else, right?

Thanks for that post, it really clarified some things for me.

[Swordhand]

One female (angel) healer to go coming right up :wink:

The right hand should hold a staff perhaps.

[Swordhand]

aaand the evil version (not quite done yet, I'll add the wings and horns tommorow...)
not sure what to do with the head yet
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also, I turned fourteen a few days ago, would you mind changing the first post nick?

[Niva.]

Swordhand, can you make those smaller res, also why are they in the same pose? I want to draw many different poses. Actually I don't necessarily even like this pose, not sure why the arm is where it is (blocks view of face/body).

I made a bit of a push last night on the evil elf, will be done soon.

Looking for something to get cracking on soon.

[clanlord]

Hello TEAM!

Sorry for the late suprise. These 2 days I've finished 2 characters - The Good Brawler and the Good Spellcaster. I haven't started painting none of the Spellcasters but tomorrow if we decide not to do the Angels at this moment I'll start painting Delamar. SO I am suprised, Mick I like you sketches very good proportions but there are still mystakes - which is normal. Learning is hard process but when you do it with love you are going to increase your level quickly - like you at the moment.
Nick here are a few sketches for you to paint :) . I think you are not right - in this case, the pose of Mick's characters is not important. The idea about the suit is needed.
I hope you'll like these. Sorry for the big resolution but in this way you can see all the details in characters. I didn't included The Good Elf in the posters and these drawings because he is not graphically up to the standart (but the painting is very nice). Nick I'll send you the high-resolution files on SKYPE.

So the question that I am asking is - are we going to make angels or not? And if we make it is better for Nick to start painting the Brawlers because it's going to take some time for the main sketches.

Take care friends! The finish is coming!!!

http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo112/georgearnaudov/DoomsdayDreamClan-The-Dark.jpg

[Swordhand]

These are soo awesome! They really look like they are the same character as their evil version.

[clanlord]

Mick thank you :p

As I see we will be able to finish these drawings.
Mick now I am able to develop your idea about the angels! That was the thing that I needed for the second stage of work. Tomorrow I'll start painting Delamar.
And aaaa Mick you can give some ideas about the briefings of both Spellcasters, Good Brawler and Evil Elf. I sent Nick some briefings (Good Elf, Bad Brawler) and I'll send them to you too. To give you an idea about for what I am heading for!

[Swordhand]

Cool. I am doing the briefs/ backgrounds right?
Remember that the evil and good brawlers are supposed to be the same character, with different alignments. All the evil characters must have the same name as their good counterparts, unless otherwise explained in the background stories. I can certainly come up with some arcane reason for delamar to change his name when he turned evil, but we need the others to have the same name for both their evil and good versions.

We have nine days here to finish up, We should do the healers only if we have a wee bit of spare time, If you do a sketch of them george, I will be happy to paint them, because I have extra time now. That way it doesn't bog down nick anymore, and we don't even have to use them after. Nick is really the only one of us with tasks left right now, maybe me and george should help him with some painting? anyways

I quickly finished off the healer, so I can move into the briefs/ backgrounds, so here she is:

[Niva.]

OK lets forget about the female unless we have time. It will have to be a sausage fest because I see 3 character finished already. The brawler, the elf, and the spellcaster.

Clanlord, can you rework the good spellcaster. He does not look like a good version of the evil one. Much bulkier right now.

I'll start painting the brawlers tonight and this will be our entry.

[Swordhand]

Noo! please keep the good spellcaster, I think he makes a great counterpart. If you are going to rework any characters, it should be the good elf, I think. Do you need any help painting nick? I would like to paint a bit, if possible.

[Niva.]

By all means go ahead and paint, I'd like to see what you can accomplish with the elf if that's what you want to work on. I personally really like the way it turned out this far.

[Niva.]

OK here is what I think is the finished version of Fares (dark elf).

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[Niva.]

OK guys, I took a stab at reposing Wolfsbane our human brawler. We have to make more dynamic and accurate poses.

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I'm not sure about any of the characters currently up for grabs other than the evil spellcaster who looks ready for paint.

Clanlord I also really don't like the shields or the weapons for the brawlers.

[Niva.]

Well, since we were talking about the angel and devil female I decided to do something a bit different.

How about if you play as a baby when you're level 1?

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[clanlord]

Hello Nick!

Hahahahaaa nice angel baby and demonic baby! I love them haha. I've tried to finish with the first characters that we have chosen - Spellcasters, Brawlers and Elves. So all the sketches are finished. I do not want to lose any more time in creating sketches. We have only 2 (very well) painted pieces. I want time to learn how to use some techniques in painting. When I paint them I want to give them ideologically consistent look. The fast work is a shame for the artist. Now I'll help you with the painting - there are 4 characters left for painting! So I think this is acceptable for 9 days.
About the good spellcaster I want to say that not only the bad guys must look toughy. I've obtained inspiration from a film called Green Mile. It is one of my favourite films and there was a man called John Coffey. A black man that has been given the gift to heal people. The gift to safe lifes and he was sentenced to death because the people thought that he was a killer. I wanted to create a negrillo character. This will diversify the group of our characters which are all white - caucasian - european. So John Coffey is a good person and he is bulky, big, strong, massive, muscular and etc. So I think there is no problem with that.

The Dark Elf is just stunning peace! I can say honestly it is better than the first. I love the lightning and the colors. To stop advertising my teamate :D I'll say that we basically have no time to do another Dark Brawler! The weapons are good imo. Let's finish them in the way that they are. We have 9 days in which at the end we had to do a SUBMISSION THREAD! I don't actually know where we need to do that thread. It must include the sketches during the process and the final variants which must be in that size 469(wide)x709(high). And here is info about the last tasks that we are obliged to do if we want to participate:

- 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.

It is very important for us to follow these rules!
So Nick suggested posting some briefings that are up to standart! So here they are Good Elf, Wolfsbane (Dark Brawler).

Brawler

Brawlers are very aggressive and robust. Their streinght is close combat and their nature is to fight. The brawlers are group of mercenaries formed of ex - swashbucklers, sea-robbers and deserters from the army. The brawler parties are fromed only of men separated in clans or groups of 30. Eveyone who is accepted in their group has to cut his small finger on both feet which is their distinctive mark in a particular group. Brawlers usually kill without a reason and they avoid social relationships. The most dangerous and rude are prone to killing without a reason, robbing, raping and cannibalism.


Appearance: heroic (1.89metres - 2.20metres), massive muscular body, bony legs, long arms;
Face: short nose, bulging eyebrows, wide-bottomed eyes, thin lips, cheek bone;
Equipment: Shield, Body Vest, Mace, Helmet, Leg Pads, Shoulder Pads;
Hair: bald (N\A);


Elf

The nature of this mythical creatures talks that they have the olfaction of wolves, the sight of an eagle and the endurance of a bear. The Elves are very strange and not very talkative humanoids. The most significant difference between them and the humans is that their perfection is beyond the human comprehension. The task of these creatures is to preserve the balance in nature and Earth forces. Beside their inability of fighting great battles in close combat they are very accurate with their handmade bows. If they have a chance to stalk the enemy they use their cutting weapon the knife Majaira (Mahaira).
The word hunt in their language means art of killing. That’s why it is a great honor for them while they are preparing for hunting. Usually they put three or two feathers of the most beautiful bird called Eol on the top of their bows. They believe that the feathers will give them the strength to execute perfectly their tasks.
Let’s take a closer look to his clothing and the overall look of the armor. That tells us about his place in the hierarchy. The elves give a great honor to the well – earned place. His cloth on the belt gives us a big hint about in what tribe he is. His shiny and well carved figures and ornaments on the leg pads and arm pads can suitably fit into war defence armor too. But it also shows that this elf is reputable by his friends.

Appearance: slim, long legs, wide shoulders;
Face; long oval, pale;
Hair: long blonde;
Equipment: majaira, long bow, leather vest, leg pads, arm pads, leather belt, bag;



SORRY FOR THE LONG LETTER! :) - G

[clanlord]

A little update! :) It is showing the process in painting our first product. I cannot say it is fully finished maybe Nick is going to polish him more.

Thanks for looking :mod:

[Niva.]

Hey Clanlord, looking good, I think they just want our finished pieces in the burning thread and a link to this thread to show the WIP so we don't need to spend time making these.

I'm going to let you paint the spellcasters and brawlers, in the meantime I'm going to actually go forward and do the babies. First because it's funny and secondly because it's unique and none of the other teams are doing anything remotely close to this. Another reason is because I'm not comfortable with any of the other sketches except for the evil spellcaster to actually paint, unless I press from the step of the brawler that I painted above.

So here is the sculpt for the LEVEL 1 DEVIL.

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I'm going to try to finish both of these babies by the end of the weekend.

[clanlord]

Ok Nick! You are painting the Evil Spellcaster! I said that I am not so experienced in painting my SB is full of graphics. So the third stage is painting - you are the painter - I am the sketcher. I'll paint the good Spellcaster and the Evil Brawler. I do not say that I am unable to do it. I cannot say that this is impossible. I'll try to give the most of myself :) Sorry I haven't started the Dark Spellcaster. So do you want to paint it?

Here are some adjusted variants! We'll polish as much as we can until the end! Keep cracking boys! - G

[Niva.]

Wow those look awesome Clanlord, great finishing touches! Really impressive.

OK I'll start working on the evil spellcaster too, can you rework the good spellcaster though. I'm not saying to change the design of him but just the shape. His body is real thick and the pose is awkward. I do like the dynamics with the leaves though, not sure if you worked in ink or pencil, maybe if pencil you can erase a bit.

This is why it's so important to get many simple sketches down at the first stage, we really fucked up on that part of the contest.

OK here is a sculpted version of the baby angel, it still has a long ways to go but he's shaping up.

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[Swordhand]

hey george, I would like to do the brawlers, if you do the spellcasters. I really need the high res files for the brawlers, could you email them? I would also appreciate if Nick you could post all the high res non-baby files you have on the downloads section of your site, or get them to me somehow. I'm ready to do some PAINTING!

[Niva.]

OK, I'm putting up 2 more files there for you Swordhand.

I've also decided to post the inspiration piece which was provided at the start of this contest. Looking at this I think we definitely succeeded with our dark elf Fares.

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I was also reading in the Howling Boys thread that there's a very precise requirement to keep the pieces in a 2 by 3 aspect ratio.

I'm also starting on the evil spellcaster tonight and like I mentioned I will push the babies a bit more.

[Swordhand]

The babies seem really silly to me. Why not just finish off the spellcasters and brawlers and call it finished?

[Niva.]

Part of the brief was to do original stuff, everyone is doing knights, elves and wizards... nobody is doing anything even remotely original as a concept. Not only that but the babies are actually funny. We're not going to win this contest, the Howling Boys have it in the bag imo, so we might as well try something different.

That being said you're welcome to paint away on any of the concepts you've developed or the ones Clanlord has put together which do have promise. You seem to like the good spellcaster so why not take a stab at him at least?

[Swordhand]

I would love to, But I don't have the file. Could you send me the spellscaster (good) and the brawler files, george?

I see what your talking about, nick, but do they meet the 'high fantasy' requirement?:P

I guess, we are doing the others anyway, why not right? Lets just make sure we have enough illustrations to finish.

[clanlord]

Hello!

Nick I think it is riginal idea. You must stylize the rendering more. Are we heading to some perfection? The answer is yes. The babies are small characters withut any extra clothing, armor and weapons so they need to be perfect in their own way. The background too. I won't give you examples just advice.

Mick I'll handle the rest! You can do the briefings, the good elf (slightly finishing touches)!

[Swordhand]

I want to paint as well, anyways. Could you send me the files anyways please?

[Niva.]

Mick I want to see you paint, not just say that you'll do it.

Here is a hack at the spellcaster. What's odd about this is that unwittingly I came up with the same environment as the one in that motivation piece, even the trees are the same! I must've looked at that image really hard for that to happen.

759733

Anyways, I think I'll darken up the background a lot and bring up the orange lava light from the foreground.

[Niva.]

I told you I have the two files loaded for you. Clanlord seems to have went afk, just increase the size of one of the JPGs here and paint over it.

[Niva.]

Here is another step on Delmar - the Dark Spellcaster.

I like how the figure turned out, still a bit unsure about the environment.

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[clanlord]

He is really nice Nick! Here It is even more polished variant of the good elf!

[Niva.]

OK, I'm very sad to report that I made absolutely no headway on the babies and my weekend is over. However, here is a hack at the Spellcaster, I'm kind of burned out on him at this stage, hope you guys approve of what I did with him. He was looking good earlier but in no way magical, I wanted to make him bleed magic into the surrounding world.

760092

Well that's 3 for us, I'm still very concerned about managing to finish this.

Clanlord, there are good things you did with the elf archer.

[Swordhand]

That glowing blue.. Damn that's cool. He looks so much better than last post!

[clanlord]

Nick you do not even think to stop amazing me! This is stunning! I made the final variant with some adjustments! Say if he needs some changes! I am working on the good Spellcaster now! Hope to get finished it today!

[Niva.]

OK Clanlord, there are once again good things you did here but not all. I love the rim lighting on the the foot. Also the textures are a step in the right direction but too much. The ones on the trees in the background definitely distract as they bring the trees into focus, you want those to not show much detail and to be fainter.

Also I told you about this but the glowing green on the text is too much. Reduce the glow and it will look better.

[Swordhand]

Do we need to put those silly little copyright bars on guys? like seriously, what are they doing besides looking silly here.

[Niva.]

Yeah, you are right. I think simply having the light and dark symbols, names and perhaps a smaller bar of text saying DDC is good enough.

[Swordhand]

cool, agreed.

[Niva.]

OK guys, I can't paint this until I fix the issues with the underlying figure. Here's my first stab at it. It's not looking good at all but at least he's actually starting to look like a version of Delamar.

Also the hat is cute but I'm not sure about it.

760945

[Niva.]

And a step forward with the painting.

761108

I really wanted to make him look more like Dalamar and I believe this was definitely in the right direction.

[Niva.]

I'm burned out on this spellcaster. He's done as far as I'm concerned now. Wish we'd get some more comments in this thread though unfortunately other than listening to advice I'm not sure we can fix much at this stage.

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Honestly though, this turned out better than I thought it would. I really didn't like the initial figure. The first concept made by clanlord had some leaves flying around, if you're up for painting those in go for it guys.

[Swordhand]

cool! looks great! I'll start on the brawlers in the morning.

[clanlord]

Ok Nick very good! One thing is very wrong here about this drawing - the right arm looks out of proportion this means that I am saying it needs to be thinner. Good catch on the green light. I like it alot. And his belly I think it mustn't be so thin. Try to fix his face.

Splendid work. Show me your last variant and I'll se what can I do to polish it more!

I want to say that we are participating at first time in such a contest and we do not even know each other. Nick is from USA, I am from Bulgaria, Mick is from Canada and this is a very wide space between each of us and maybe it reflects here. I know Mick from 2 weeks Nick from year but I haven't seen your faces nor talked to you both. So cool down the things. There is time :) - G

[clanlord]

And aa here is the final burning thread http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=167194

[clanlord]

Hello guys!

Good evening! I like all the paintings at the moment and I think there is no doubt in Nick's skills. He is totally amazing painter. But the time is squeezing and we mustn't neglect that fact. Here are the ready ones for now. I am not saying that they are totally finished if I see some mistakes or things that may change the look of the characters to more attractive and polished look I'll do it. Nick you have done an amazing job.

Mick I am still waiting your briefing about Delamar. It is vital for all of us to have a strong plot behind these characters. I wrote the stories for Archer, Lorian, Wolfsbane and Fares. Delamar's and Gorge's stories are not finished yet. We must reconsider some details in them and show to these guys (if someone is looking here) that their competitor will kick asses.

The images are in size 709x469.

[clanlord]

Archer

The nature of this mythical creatures talks that they have the olfaction of wolves, the sight of an eagle and the endurance of a bear. The Elves are very strange and not very talkative humanoids. The most significant difference between them and the humans is that their perfection is beyond the human comprehension. The task of these creatures is to preserve the balance in nature and Earth forces. Beside their inability of fighting great battles in close combat they are very accurate with their handmade bows. If they have a chance to stalk the enemy they use their cutting weapon the knife Majaira (Mahaira).
The word hunt in their language means art of killing. That’s why it is a great honor for them while they are preparing for hunting. Usually they put three or two feathers of the most beautiful bird called Eol on the top of their bows. They believe that the feathers will give them the strength to execute perfectly their tasks.
Let’s take a closer look to his clothing and the overall look of the armor. That tells us about his place in the hierarchy. The elves give a great honor to the well – earned place. His cloth on the belt gives us a big hint about in what tribe he is. His shiny and well carved figures and ornaments on the leg pads and arm pads can suitably fit into war defence armor too. But it also shows that this elf is reputable by his friends.

Appearance: slim, tall, wide shoulders;
Face: long oval, pale;
Hair: long, blonde;
Armory and clothing: majaira, long bow, leather vest, leg pads, arm pads, leather belt, bag, leather bandages;

[clanlord]

Lorian

Lorian is the most powerful magician of all times. The mystery around his powers is hidden in the Bible of Light. The Mother Nature is his weapon against dark powers. Lorain’s most trustful attendants know that their master comes from the Far East where the mythical powers rule the vast grounds. Lorian is one of the few most powerful wizards in the world. Delamar his replica has been formed from the Dark ritual Chamber where Lorian has been sent by the sorcery of council. Then Delamar became his first enemy and now he rules the power of the night.
Lorian is best known for his abilities over all living creatures from small plant beans to enormous animals who rule the jungles. He is preserver of balance and keeper of the lost children. God endowed him with a great gift after his third year of living. He started controlling the lifeless nature like stones, sand and dust. His parents were the gods of nature – the goddess Nazara and his father Ezra. The people in the village believed that he is truly the keeper of the holy tomb where the emperor was kept for ten decades. The body of the mighty ruler has been buried with an amulet – The Symbol of Light. The first reason for the people to think that Lorian is the chosen one was his mark behind his ear – like a third eye. That was the symbol of light. They immediately took the boy from his parents and the most skillful masters of magic started instructing him. That was the beginning of his knowledge about his future. In young age he gained powers stronger than his old teachers. Then they sent him to the holy tomb of Light were the emperor was. The boy was the key to the opening of the sarcophagus. The most wrong thing that could have happened and his teachers feared most has been was that the Dark council will entangle the ritual and carry away the key. That happened and Lorian has been abducted from the Earth. Here the story ends where his journey through the Realms of Darkness lengthened up to 2 decades. People from his native place and the empire thought that Lorian has been fighting from the side of light. Here where Lorian met his most challenging period in his life and gained the powers to become immortal. The most people think that he is a myth a fable but Lorian exists and he is the only most powerful force worthy fighting the dark symbol and now he is our keeper.

Appearance: heroic (2.30 meters), bony, muscular and robust;
Face: Arabic lineament
Hair: no hair
Armory and clothing: holy root staff, kilt, hand bandages, round shaped hat, amulet, scroll (the last page of Bible of Light), massive boots;

[clanlord]

Fares

He is one of the best fighters in the elf clans. Fares is truly the master of fighting among the dark side warriors. With his deadly crossbow he fills his enemies with fear. He is known with his accuracy and combat abilities.
The Narayah syndicate choose special warriors born from a pure race of elves. After their first moments the Narayah priests send them to the Dark Ritual Chamber. From here their tuition begins. Nobody who preaches the Light symbols and the good religion knows what these creatures walk through during the dark ritual. Basically it is written in the Holy Bible Of Light that the pure elves race has been given the task to fill the place in the middle of evil and good. The Dark Side often takes advantage of that and the pure elves race has been suffering from decades. It is the omen of whole world.
Fares was once upon a time from the good side but know the dark seal has rammed into his heart and mind.

Appearance: slim, muscular, idealistic, wide shoulders, long arms;
Face: pale, long, long nose, dark eyes with red touch, rough shapes, long ears;
Hair: long, ginger;
Armory and clothing: crossbow, leg pads, arm pads, helmet, kilt, belt, bandages:

[clanlord]

Delamar

Delamar a dark magician capable of sowing destruction into his enemies. He is one of few wizards gained his powers by means of white power. He used the power of the mighty magician Lorian. The dark syndicate helped him to achieve his aim. He became the master of dark forces and the ruler over the deadliest grounds of Narayah. His traditional skills in making magic are joined with his abilities to summon demons from Hell. His religion is unknown for the most of the magic world. After he gained his powers he knew where the amulet of the emperor was. Delamar started his ominous journey to the Tomb of Light. The Dark syndicate wasn’t able to destroy Lorian because the light forces and his parents helped him break the chains of darkness. Delamar knew that and he tried as fast as he could to make his way to the amulet. After extinguishing all of the people in the Near East he made his way up to the Emperor. The world war started long before that. The light forces knew about Delamars’ intentions because of the prophecies that were predicted by the general council in the far West. The strongest, the most skillful, the bravest wizards united and made a special group which presented the forces of balance. They called it Light Balance. A group of three hundred and thirty-three people with special linkage between them. From now on the future of the world depended on their decisions. They allowed Delamar take the amulet. That way Delamars strength would be reduced because of his dark powers. The amulet could only be used by a humanoid that has the light sign in his aura. Delamar has both the good and evil symbols. The council knew that Delamar is capable of holding it and Lorian was alive. The balance is very fragile thing and it needs additional measurements. So all the participants in the council appeared and prevented the present emperor and his army to rush into the tomb while Delamar was taking the amulet. In the same time he was doing the magic that will let him gain the full strength of the symbol. In this case the council would be unable to stop Delamar. He immediately disappeared from the Tomb without leaving a trace. It wasn’t the magic of neither the amulet nor his own as the council thought. It was Lorain’s spell. He has been invisible for hundred years and now he took Delamar into the realm between the Earth and Narayah. The realm in which nothing is everything and no one is everybody. Now Lorian was able to erase his dark replica without losing his powers. This dimension allowed him to have a great advantage against Delamar and he obliterated the past. Delamar has been locked forever in the interstitial dimension.

Appearance: idealistic (1.86meters), elastic;
Face: pale, deep sockets of the eyes, sharp ears, black lips, pierced eyebrows\ears\nose, no eyebrows, tattooed body and silver touched eyes, earrings;
Hair: single tress;
Armory and clothing: pelvis plates, shoulder plates, kilt, boots with metal prickle on the thumb finger, staff formed in the end like an axe, belt;

[Niva.]

Both for Lorean and Dalamar you've added detail to the background trees which is bringing them into focus and extremely distracting. Either blur it so the detail is lost or reduce the opacity there to make it less obvious and contrasting.

The pixel count is not a precise requirement, only the 2x3 ratio (approximately) is required. That being said if we can fit our stuff on an exact canvas by all means.

[Niva.]

Here he is, lush green forest, heavenly blue light, and an arc angel in the making!

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There are so many quests and games out there based on leveling but rarely is the growth of the character actually visible. I've seen WOW and really can't tell the difference between the level 1 guy and the level 60 guy outside of equipment, inventory, and hit points.

I also remember playing the first Final Fantasy back in the 90s and being shocked and amazed when the units physically changed at one point in the game, the Fighter turned into a Knight, the Mage into a Wizard. This was cool, but it would be even cooler if in a game, gradual growth could be observed, maybe nothing drastic level by level, but if you step back 10 levels back you'd definitely be able to tell.

The angelic/demonic units IMO should be the most powerful units in any game. Require that they obtain 3 or 4 times of the experience per level as any other class of unit. Also perhaps these should be made as locked classes, only available after completing the game or after certain quests. It might also be cool to make it accidental, like someone signs up to play a human cleric and spawns as an angel baby instead.

Attributes of angelic units: diverse fighters can be melee or long range
Angels: absorb holy, immune to dark, specialize in nature magic and healing, weakness fire
Devils: absorb dark, immune to holy, damaged by standard healing magic, specialize in fire

When fighting each other obviously they'll rely on their specialties and exploit them.

When fighting on teams these units would have area of affect auras such that close by units would inherit the attributes mentioned above but only at 25% effectiveness. Also angelic auras would cause defense and speed on surrounding units to increase, demonic auras would increase strength and speed.

[clanlord]

Hoho. The baby is getting cooler than I thought. Your painting is getting better and better.
I think you are totally right about the babies. You have created them some sort of abilities. Very very original. Are the babies going to be the third characters? If not we will have 1 group of characters more than needed. Which will bring us bonus points, but be careful we must polish some works!
Sorry but I did not understand you about the trees on the Lorian and Delamar. Are they really distracting?

The Dark Ones

http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo112/georgearnaudov/TeamChow-DoomsdayDreamClan-The-Dark.jpg

The Light Ones

http://i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo112/georgearnaudov/TeamChow-DoomsdayDreamClan-The-Ligh.jpg

[Niva.]

I see the edits you've made Clanlord, these are definitely a step in the right direction. Prior to the updates I could see lots of detail in the background textures of the trees for example, this was causing the trees to move forward in the view and taking away some of the illusion of depth. The human eye is naturally drawn to the detail and what we want them to focus on is the actual characters, not the distant environment.

As discussed earlier I'll work on the baby devil next, I'm not sure I can get him done tonight as I have stuff to do, but we will see. The angel went real fast last night. I also have a good idea with what I want the devil baby to look like so it will go quicker as process but we'll see on the detailing and polishing.

I'm waiting for Swordhand to do the brawlers and depending on how they turn out we might use them as a final character. For now our characters will be the elven archers, the spellcasters and the babies.

I've been thinking of going back and making some updates to the good archer, he looks the worst of the bunch right now so maybe it will do him good. However, I'm not sure I'll have time so this may be it. Again, if time does open up, and I actually get a weekend between now and the deadline, I might be able to tackle the brawlers too. I did tell you that I'm not happy with the poses of those characters, also I'm unsure what the weapons are supposed to be. For such heavily armored guys they have some weak looking weapons.

[Swordhand]

never painted under lines before.. going a bit slower than expected. sorry I've been so slow guys.

[B-Man]

You guys are poushing yourself admirably, kudos! I like the postapocalyptic feel of your form even though I guess its fantasy.
I think all of them have to similar poses and bodytypes. Would be cool if you had played around with different compositions and stances for the character types. Now all of them resemble the same type of personality witch leaves you with a concept lacking in depth.
Hope any of this is helpful and that I dont come of as a duche. :)
Cheers guys and Good luck!:drinkup:

[clanlord]

B-Man - Thanks!

Mick you painting is better than mine :) whoa. I should have said it to you earlier. We are not going to use the evil brawler. And I am not quite sure if we will use brawlers at all. Time wil show. I am now doing different sketches, experimenting with the type of bodies, structures and foreshortening of the limbs which will lead to a different stage in my work. So here is re-design of Wolfsbane. I'll do redesign of Gorge.

Mick I am sure that you''ve gained a lot of experience painting this piece and it is not a lost job at all. Keep up. Ill try to hook up with Nick asap and send him the new variant. If he is up to peinting it!

[Swordhand]

Yess! I love this wolfsbane! I so can't wait to paint him even though I'm not supposed to :teeth:

[trevor]

you guys are pushing yourselves really hard and i think the results are coming out great guys!
and clanlord
wont be long before your pencils are messing up everyone!

[secret_science]

You guys have some really strong work here. Keep up the whoopin' sauce! I'm excited for the final presentation.

[Niva.]

OK guys I've been feeling like cr@p all day but I got some work done on the Devil Baby.

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I was aiming for a more painterly feel with this one and frankly the colors came out what I was aiming for. However, I'm unhappy because the figure isn't standing out right now so I'll work on bringing him out a bit. Also I think I'm going to modify the pitchfork.

[Niva.]

OK I think the babies are done now.

What I'd like to do next is work on the final presentation of the characters.

Swordhand feel free to keep painting the new guy too.

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[Niva.]

I decided to make some small animated GIFs, they're so small because they are BABY GIFs!

http://www.eternalseven.com/images/2009/DDC/Angel-WIP.gif http://www.eternalseven.com/images/2009/DDC/Devil-WIP.gif

[clanlord]

trevor - Thank you very much! I really appreciate your comment here in our thread! I am a big fan of your teams work too!
secret_science - Thank you man! Cheers :)

NICK THIS BABY IS SCARY! Huh take it easy because that is the way that it should be! Very very good!

My only question is Nick are you going to paint the Brawler?

[Niva.]

OK guys, I'm not going to be able to paint another character because that would mean 2 more paintings and I'm totally burned out. Overall I think we did a good job considering we went in late and really failed at the initial stage. If I could go back to the start of this challenge I would make sure we have clean communication. I've looked around at other threads and it seems we actually did good in this regard.

Also I'm unsure about what other people did but we actually did team drawings. If any other teams did this I missed it. The result is actually pretty impressive.

Here's a quick outline of our characters.

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Clanlord can you work on putting together a final presentation showing all 6 portraits in a strip like this? Check out the Howling Loveboys thread, I think Trevor posted a layout there for their submission.

I'm working on polishing up the paintings I made but there's no telling how much I can do in the next day. After that I'll be real busy at work.

Lets see what tomorrow brings! Only 2 more days before the deadline so lets wrap it up.

One more thing Clanlord, I don't think it is required to crop the images to a precise size. Being in portrait format 3x2 approximately is good enough, Daestwen confirmed this in a PM and in another thread. I'd say stack up the images by height but definitely don't crop too much.

[clanlord]

Nick here are the briefings of the babies. I will try to link up with you asap to consider the presentation. SO here are the briefings they are very humble. Hope to get some ideas from each other and nail some attractive plot to these characters!

Devil Baby Level 1

Most of the bravest and almighty warriors underestimate this small and obviously defenseless creature. But this is only a snare and it might sometimes look to us like a cute bashful baby without a reason to use his small trident. If you have already given you a thought like this so you are WRONG! Some of the fearless fighters have already got bitten by this living Tartarean creature. The devil babies are often a big scourge to the traders who travel a lot through forests at night. Even though they have invented a very cunning ways like small booby traps, clapnets and even some protective spells to catch this small devil it is almost impossible to put it under control. It has the dark gift to steal the good-natured forces from the people with his trident and then the people become very aggressive to each other and soon enough the scandal is raised. With his teleport abilities it can steal things under the nose of everyone who has not the special aura done by magic. It protects the man and the clothing itself. So it is a real plague to meet such a thing on your way if you do not have the magic.

Appearance: small, ugly (when it is irritated or doing something dad), pair of horns, devil tail, fat (but not like a big guy whose belly is full with liquor, it is like a newborn sweet baby)
Face: round, chubby, small nose and ears, black eyes (become greenish when it wants to stab you),
Hair: upright forelock;
Armory and clothing: pampers, trident;


Angel Baby Level 1

Beside his evil copy this is a pure angel from heaven. His weapon is nor for stabbing fighters or merchants nor stealing the peace from people. No it is for collecting the good moments in peoples’ lives. It is a pure love weapon but if something bad is happening at the moment when doing a magic and link two beloved hearts the one who tries to cancel his spell is strictly punished by his fathers’ powers. This creature is always a good friend to the people. The angel baby is not only one. On every side of the world there is baby that help people get two and two together. His ability is very special and he is able teleport itself when it is needed.

Appearance: small (1.00 – 1.20 meters), fluffy, short limbs, small wings;
Face: full in the face, red cheeks, small nose;
Hair: upright forelock;
Armory and clothing: spear, pampers, biberon;

[Niva.]

Aadfdaskljfsd;

Sorry I haven't posted guys but I've been busy looking at houses and I must work some crazy hours for the next couple weeks.

I did rewrite the story of the elves (the one written by Clanlord above) and also wrote a completely new story for the babies. I was also reading the story of the Spellcaster and there is a problem with this one as written, actually a couple problems: for one the stories are lenghty, too much imo, the bigger problem is that they describe two different characters, even to their height and so fourth. When I glanced through the story earlier it seemed the two characters were closer but they don't appear to be so now.

I'll finish editing and post in a bit. Also I'm going to create a frame for our entries. I was thinking of using 1 frame for each character - such that the good and evil image are shown on the same frame. I also want to keep it very simple and muted, let the images do the talking I say...

Anyways, I'll have updates tonight before I go to sleep. Tomorrow will be very painful for me. The end is almost upon us though guys, I think we did well.

[Niva.]

Ok guys, I'm going to showcase the stuff which IMO is almost ready for submission. I made some updates to Dalamar so I undid your updates Clanlord. Maybe you can stick some of that fancy text on there.

I'm also including the story updates I was able to make today. Unfortunately I didn't get around to making the updates for the spellcasters. I'll try to do those tomorrow or the day after. I just got ridiculously busy with the rest of my life so we might have to submit the Spellcaster stuff Clanlord put together above even though it doesn't read too well imo.

ALMOST FINAL Submission:

765280

Elven Archer Arthane (the golden healer)

The legend of the mythical elven archers states that they have the olfaction of wolves, the sight of an eagle and the endurance of a bear. The elves are a humanoid race and have a rigidly structured society which may appear very strange to unaccustomed observers. Usually elves keep to themselves and are not very talkative. The most significant difference between them and the humans is that their strive for perfection is beyond the human comprehension. Also the natural lifespan of the elves is on average three times longer than that of the humans, though tales of thousand year old elves are not so rare. The ultimate task of these creatures is to preserve the balance in nature and they were created by the Gods for this purpose alone.

While elves are not known for fighting great battles in close combat they are very accurate with their handmade bows. If they have a chance to stalk their enemy and sneak up on them they prefer to use their ritualistic knives Majaira (pronounced: Ma-hai-ra). These knives are quenched in poison to which the elves are somewhat immune, but to most enemies even a small scratch from a Majaira will lead to certain death. Disgraced elves also use the Majaira to commit suicide.

The word hunt in the elven language is commonly used to describe art of war and killing an enemy. Their society places great religious importance upon the preparation for hunting. Usually they put three or two feathers of the most beautiful bird called Eol on the top of their bows. They believe that the feathers will give them the strength to execute their tasks with absolute perfection.

The clothing and armor worn by elven archers also has great significance. To knowing observers there are many signs upon an archers outfit which tell about the warrior's place in the social hierarchy and tribe of origin.

Arthane, depicted in the image above is a famous Archer-Healer. While he endured lots of conflict in his life and suffered grievous losses as his family was killed in a war, his soul was saved by the Church of the Holy Sun and he is one of their most famed warriors now.

Appearance: slim, tall, medium width shoulders
Face: long oval, pale complexion
Hair: long, blonde
Armory and clothing: Majaira, long bow, leather vest, leg pads, arm pads, leather belt, bag, leather bandages


Fares – Corrupted Elven Archer

Even before his corruption Fares was one of the best fighters in the elf clans. World renown as a true master of the art of war he was well respected by his fellow hunters. With his deadly magical crossbow he fills his enemies with fear. He is known with his accuracy and close combat abilities, unlike most elves who prefer to fight at a distance Fares has been known to fight on the front lines and is proficient in the use of multiple heavy weapons.

The Narayah Priests noticed Fares due to his heroic feats, singled him out from his fellow warriors and placed a powerful curse upon him. As the curse ate away at Fares' life, his family and his town his soul bled and everything seemed lost. At first Fares turned to the powerful Church of the Holy Sun but the priests there would not help him and could not even remove the curse. Eventually, after promises were made, Fares turned to the Narayah Priests to be healed. The dark ritual to which Fares was subjected altered him forever. Once his tutelage at the Narayah church completed Fares emerged into the elven society and wreaked such havoc from within that the entire Elven Empire collapsed as internal wars wrecked their social and religious order.

Fares was once upon a time from the good side, but know the dark seal has been rammed into his heart, mind and soul.

Appearance: slim, muscular, idealistic, wide shoulders, long arms;
Face: pale, long, long nose, dark eyes with red touch, rough shapes, long ears;
Hair: long, ginger;
Armory and clothing: crossbow, leg pads, arm pads, helmet, kilt, belt, bandages

765278

Brief in progress...

765282

The Omen Twins

In a small fishing town on the bank of the Dunbar river a set of twins were born on a warm eve of the fall season. The two boys were the four and fifth child of a well respected human merchant who ran a small empire of fishing vessels down the Dunbar and into the ocean. However, this story does not have a happy ending, for the babies were extreme opposites of one another and clearly possessed by magic beyond the understanding of the humans inhabiting this town. Word spread like wildfire throughout the town about the babies and in two days riots erupted demanding the children's deaths.

It was not just the appearance of the newborns which incited the riots, but the very apparent magical essence of them. One of the children was born beautiful by human standards except for a pair of white feathered wings upon its back, always smiling and seemingly lit up by a glowing blue light. This baby radiated joy and calm throughout the household. The other child was born mutated, ugly and deformed. The bloodcurdling cries of this baby caused discord and fear to enter into the minds of everyone in the town and was perhaps the main reason for the riots which ensued. The housewife who delivered the baby wanted to destroy the child due to it's hideous appearance, the head of the child was adorned by horns, it had a pair of leathery wings and a wickedly powerful tail. Worst of all was the very anger which radiated from this child, it seemed to affect everyone around in a bad way. Amazingly the town was spared from having to euthanize the children as seven days after the birth, both babies disappeared mysteriously. As soon as the town hall reached the decision to have the children destroyed men were dispatched to carry out the orders. The men who were sent to kill the babies were found slain by magical powers, consumed by flames from the inside or found pinned and suffocated by the roots of trees which had sprung up from the ground in places where there were no trees at all!

The relief of tension in the town after the disappearance of the babies was the calm before the storm. As an all out war erupted which sent the entire countryside into chaos. Rumors from the battle fronts told of the mysterious magical toddlers actually joining the battles and sending entire crowds into frenzied warfare. The stories of heroism and self sacrifice were unbelievable at first, but eventually the tale of the magical twins and their incredible powers spread throughout the world.

[clanlord]

:lounge:

-- Браво майсторе! ---
Nick you have done a lot in these days. I have never doubted that you have a great talent my friend. This presentation is worthy fighting for one of the first places! I want to thank you that you have developed my initial ideas of the stories and they have turned out great. Hope to be in a same team next time. Because there will be great times I am sure!!! So I hope these stories are not long enough to fit our presentation. I have done a few finishing touches to the final images.

Mick I want to thank to you too because Delamar wasn't going to happen without your ideas and I think even if you hadn't had a chance to give the most of yourself you gave us a chance to create a team and that is important.

I am far from the thought that we are the best. No I think we must learn more and more from our mistakes and seal these moments. No I think some of us are very young and there is a lot of time to create a great knowladge and material to inspire the following offsprings. Here in CA there are very very good and inspiring artists (now I feel like I am so humble in my words because my knowladge in philosophy of art cannot express my feelings) who deserve to win the first prize. And the first prize is not the material benefit or what it needs to be given to the winner but no it must be the moments captured while doing this work and all mistakes that you have learned from during this period of time.

Now I thank to all of you teamates (Mick and Nick) to the people who wrote in our thread no matter how many were they. I am happy and you have done all that, don't be shy because we are doing this because we loved it. That is art.

Lorian

Lorian is the most powerful magician of all times. The mystery of his powers is hidden in the Bible of Light. Mother Nature is his weapon against dark powers. Lorain’s most trustful attendants know that their master comes from the Far East where the mythical powers rule the vast grounds. Lorian is best known for his abilities to take control over all living creatures from small plant beans to enormous animals.
God endowed him with a great gift after his third year of living. He started controlling the lifeless nature like stones, sand and dust. His parents were the gods of nature – the goddess Nazara and his father Ezra. The people in the village believed that he is truly the keeper of the holy tomb where the emperor was kept for ten decades. The body of the mighty ruler has been buried with an amulet – The Symbol of Light.
The most skillful masters of magic started teaching him and at the age of ten his baptism in light powers has begun. That was the beginning of his knowledge about the future of all living creatures. In young age he gained powers stronger than his old teachers. Then they sent him to the holy tomb of Light were the emperor was. Lorian was the key to the opening of the sarcophagus. His teacher’s fear was that the Dark Council will entangle the ritual and carry away the key. That happened and Lorian has been abducted from the Earth. Here the story is completely unknown for the world where his journey through the Realms of Darkness lengthened up to 2 decades. The empire thought that he has been fighting from the side of light for his survival. Lorian met his most challenging period in his life. Lorain’s only aim was to become the most powerful force worthy fighting the dark symbol. And he achieved it.

Appearance: heroic (2.30 meters), bony, muscular and robust;
Face: Arabic lineament;
Hair: no hair;
Armory and clothing: holy root staff, kilt, hand bandages, round shaped hat, amulet, scroll collar, massive boots, belt;


Delamar

Delamar a dark magician capable of sowing destruction into his enemies. He is one of the few wizards gained his powers by means of light power. He used the power of the mighty magician Lorian with the help of The Dark Syndicate. He became the master of dark forces and the ruler of the deadliest grounds of Narayah. His traditional skills in making magic are joined with his abilities to summon demons from Hell. After he gained his powers he knew where the amulet of the emperor was because he inherited the prophecy. Delamar started his ominous journey to the Tomb of Light. After extinguishing all of the people in the Near East he made his way up to the Emperor.
The world war started long before that. The strongest, the most skillful and the bravest wizards united and made a veiled group which presented the forces of balance. They called it Light Balance - a group of 333 people with special linkage between them. From now on the future of the world depended on their decisions.
The light forces knew about Delamars’ intentions because of the prophecies but they were unable to stop him. The balance is very fragile thing and it needs additional measurements. So all the participants in the council appeared in the Tomb and tried prevent Delamar taking the amulet. In the same time he was doing the magic that will let him gain the full strength of the symbol. He immediately disappeared from the Tomb without leaving a trace. It wasn’t the magic of neither the amulet nor the councils’ members. It was Lorain’s spell. He has been invisible for hundred years and now he took Delamar into the realm between the Earth and Narayah the Dark Grounds. Now Lorian was able to erase his dark replica without losing his powers. This dimension allowed him to have a great advantage against Delamar and he obliterated the past. Delamar has been locked forever in the interstitial dimension.

Appearance: idealistic (1.90 meters), elastic;
Face: pale, deep eye sockets, sharp ears, black lips, pierced eyebrows\ears\nose, no eyebrows, tattooed body and silver touched eyes, earrings;
Hair: single tress;
Armory and clothing: pelvis plates, lizard flake shoulder armor, kilt, boots with metal prickle on the thumb fingers, staff which can be used as an axe, belt;


Cheers and success to all participants!!!

[clanlord]

Hello!

Here are the rules about the final entry!

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.

[Niva.]

OK guys, only a day and a half to the deadline, my brain is fried today! However, I will work on updating the Spellcaster writeup, trying to tie them more together, and posting this before I crash for the day. Then I can submit the final entry tomorrow.

Please read the stuff I wrote carefully.

Team effort breakdown:

Swordhand organized the team - he did the initial groundwork in contacting Clanlord and n1va to get the team started.
Swordhand provided the initial sketch fot the Spellcaster concept
Clanlord developed the detailed drawings which were used for both elves and spellcaster finished characters
Clanlord also provided initial writeups for all 3 characters
n1va provided the initial idea for the Level 1 Angel/Devil character
n1va Painted all 3 characters
Clanlord provided finishing touches to the digital paintings which incuded effects and letters
Clanlord provided the symbols of good and evil which were used as a theme throughout all of the character drawings
n1va completed the frame design to showcase each character in both good and evil version
n1va edited the character descriptions provided by Clanlord and was in charge of making the finished character concepts


Please let me know if I missed anything.

[Niva.]

By the way, great updates on the finished images Clanlord, I'm loving the text styles/fonts.

[Niva.]

Lorian – The Spell Caster

Lorian is acknowledged as one of the most powerful magicians of all time. He is considered the supreme magical leader of the forces of the Church of the Holy Sun. He is also the most reviled enemy of the Narayah Faithful as he has personally slain hundreds of their priests over the centuries. Lorian's true age is unknown though written records of the Narayah Priests confirm his interference in their matters from over a thousand years ago. Other less known texts of the Church of the Holy Sun confirm Lorian was born over two thousand years ago and even at the age of 10 he had surpassed all of his teachers in the magical crafts. Many magicians have tested Lorian over the years and he has proven himself proficient in the use of every elemental magic, though he seems to prefer using the forces of Nature more often than not.
One thing is certain though, Lorian was not immune to the effects of greed and his lust for power led him into a trap a few months ago. Word had spread of a powerful magical artifact hidden in the Dark Emperor's Tomb. Lorian quested for the artifact and eventually broke into the Emperor's Sarcophagus, but before he could obtain the magical amulet he was ambushed by Narayah Priests and taken prisoner. Even though his imprisonment was short he was tortured and the evil Narayah Priests managed to extract a large portion of his soul and magical power.
Eventually Lorian did break free, no known force could hold him prisoner even as he had been weakened and diminished by his recent ordeals. As he fled from the Narayah Syndicate a new enemy trailed on his footsteps...

Appearance: heroic build, tall, bony, muscular
Face: Arabic lineament
Arms and clothing: holy root staff, kilt, hand bandages, round shaped hat, amulet, scroll collar, massive boots, belt;


Delamar – The Darkmage of Narayah

Delamar is a dark wizard and the arch nemesis to Lorian. As one of the most diligent acolytes of the Narayah Faith Dalamar climbed up the ranks of Priesthood in the span of just a few years. His control of the magical elements was so potent that his strength was the main factor in Lorian's imprisonment at the Dark Emperor's Tomb. Upon capturing Lorian it was Dalamar who took possession of the Emperor's Amulet which opened up his mind's eye to arcane rituals long forgotten by the mage clans. While it was Dalamar's idea to extract Lorian's power in order to destroy the Narayah's ancient enemy he could not pull of the feat by himself. But with the help of the most powerful wizards of the Narayah Priesthood the ritual was deemed possible, and a decision was made to attempt the destruction of Lorian. However, as Lorian's power was being forcibly removed from him something went hideously wrong. After days spent in fighting the magical torrents controlled by Lorian it became apparent that Lorian's power was simply too much to be removed all at once. As the head of the magical circle Dalamar became trapped in the magical maelstrom and unwillingly absorbed a large portion of Lorian's soul and power into himself. This not only damaged Dalamar's soul beyond recognition it altered his very physical appearance. The Surviving Priests thought he was Lorian and attacked him, even though Lorian had already fled the scene. Dalamar easily dispatched his attackers but his rage was not sated in the slayings of the priests. Within him two souls were fighting for power and neither could gain advantage, black madness descended upon him and he lost control of himself.

As Lorian fled from the Narayah Syndicate it was Dalamar who followed him and as his newly acquired powers uncontrollably bled into the world. Despite all the efforts Lorian took to hide his trail he could not shake the abomination which was inexplicably drawn to him. Death, chaos and destruction trailed behind Dalamar and his madness spread like a disease through the Narayah Priesthood and their followers. This was the prelude to, and the ultimate cause of, The Greatest War.

Appearance: tall, emaciated, elastic
Face: pale, deep eye sockets, sharp ears, black lips, pierced eyebrows\ears\nose, no eyebrows, tattooed body and silver touched eyes, earrings
Hair: single tress
Arms and clothing: pelvis plates, lizard flake shoulder armor, kilt, boots with metal prickle on the thumb fingers, staff which can be used as an axe, belt

[clanlord]

Yeah I want to add the deadline!

The deadline will be August 31st, at 11:59 pm GMT - 4, Eastern Daylight Time.

:) - G

[Niva.]

Huzzaaah! We're done guys, the final entry can be seen here, actually we're the first one to submit so everyone else must look at our crap whenever they submit :)

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2413936#post2413936

[Swordhand]

yeah! Go TEAM!!!
Thanks for everything guys. It was a totally sick chow!