Team CHOW II: Team Facepalm

[~baxter]

This is the sketchbook thread for Team Facepalm.

Team Members:
NoodleDoodle - Carnifex - ~baxter


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.

ConceptArt.Org is going to be running game design activities and it is our hope that some of these characters could really inspire people doing activities on the other parts of the site too! Fuel for their fire so to speak. :]

Also, Jason has allowed me to offer you some fabulous prizes!

The winning team will get four downloads of their choice each and a pass to an upcoming live streaming course right here on conceptart.org!

Also, individuals within teams are also up for a prize! These will be given for leadership, and for extra effort in making great characters. This prize will consist of four downloads and the pass to attend ca live streaming event.

On to the nitty-gritty:

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!

Okay, NOW GO!


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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.


Let's get to it guys!

[Carnifex]

ALRIGHT! this should be fun. :)
i thought to break away from stereotypes and stereotypic races,maybe we could base our characters on seafront characters,including seabirds,crabs etc. all but cthulhu :D (and possibly stay away from "pure" humans at all)
so i did a first sketch of a moray thingy. the question is whether it can operate on land aswell or not.

[~baxter]

Nice start man!

I definitely agree with you on breaking some barriers, but lets explore some options before we commit to the seafront idea (as awesome as it is :D).

I like the idea of having non-stereotypical races, but I think we should have something close to them/variants of them, rather than monsters (aka aquatic elves, merfolk, Abe Sapien like folk, etc.), but thats just me. I think it would keep it close to the nature of the challenge and away from being a COW.

If this helps at all, I'm an avid D&D player/DM, so I'm pretty fluent in fantasy races and whatnot.

Some ideas I had brewing around were:

-Illithid Priest
http://www.iwozhere.com/SRD/images/MM35_PG188.jpg
^^Illithid/Mind Flayer^^

-Dwarf Assassin (dont see too many stealthy dwarves)

-Orc/Ogre primitive spellcaster/shaman

[Carnifex]

hm,well the challenge would be to keep them from being monsters and more characters. :)
hmm,if we were to mix the dwarf assassin with a crab?
http://www.coconutcrab.co.uk/Pictures%20Used/crab%20on%20tree.jpg
there's also one awesome crab that uses his claws to blast away foes with soundwaves. we could incorporate that.
edit: i'm probably so much into the idea because i really want to stay away from the stereotypic fantasy races. alas i'd love to mix things. :)

[~baxter]

hmm,if we were to mix the dwarf assassin with a crab?

yes.yes. I like it. :D Reminds me of a Davy Jones crew kinda design. Perhaps we could emphasize the piericing claw as a dagger and the crusher claw as a more forceful weapon. The real challenge with that one is gonna be having that bizzare monstrosity appear good, lol.

[Carnifex]

yeah,i figure it's neutral at best :D
and ohh i like the davy jones-y idea...cause it gives us a timeframe and costuming ideas too.
edit: so,right now we have dwarfcrab-(evil)assassin, and i keep thinking moraythingy-(evil)raider/bandit,(good)scout or something.
edit2: although,no,scout should be seagull or something.
edit3: octupus for necromancer? (soulsucker?)

[~baxter]

Yeh going through this in my head, it shouldn't be super hard portraying these in a positive light. Just give them an adventurer and whatnot like feel like you said with the scout.

As for the octopus caster, hes good version could be like a cleric of a sea god or something of the sorts. Just changing his costume and give him a non menacing pose and he should be in good shape.

We should see what Noodle thinks of all this before we get too heavy on it. Gotta make sure everyone's on board for the idea.

In the meantime I'm going to brainstorm a few more themes/ideas/etc.

[Carnifex]

heh,yeah just remembered "where is our third member actually?" :)
in the meantime i tried that dwarfcrab...not happy with it. i'm probably thinking too much monster yet.

[~baxter]

Did a quick crabdwarf. Im thinking it may be too Davy Jones crew like.

Rather than a pure aquatic theme, maybe we could do an elemental kinda deal to bring them together? (fire, water, lightning, ice, earth, etc) That way were not stuck in one kinda niche and can explore a bit, get some character variation there.

Some races and ideas for that-

Fire Giants/Dwarfs
Lightning themed Caster (maybe an elf of some sort)
Rock like dwarf (with various jagged rock-like protrusions all over his body)
Cold/Frost themed Necromancer/Cleric

[Parsakoira]

Great ideas all! Sorry guys i was out for a while, but heres my idea: A nature druid who heals the earth after a terrible war has plagued it! I like the davy joneyish dwarf a lot! it really stands out :P Maybe you should move his left leg a bit towards us to create a sense of perspective?

[Parsakoira]

An update, dunno if this will be any good though :O

[Carnifex]

ohhh,i like that dwarf very much,yes.
i thought about that element question more,and i do like the idea,but i think we should limit ourselves to two opposing forces. again,breaking with conventions,how about we go with water and forest/plants. water being good though,an elder nation that has existed for thousands of years with spiralled towers and rocky shores,who are now being invaded by the forest and plantlife that sucks up all the water. i figure forest will be like woodelves and satyrs. also,they could totally ride dinosaurs :D
opposing water forces have their octopusses or giant crabs,so we have good and evil beastmasters with their respective element, conjurers or druids, and golem-like figures. then dwarfcrab assassin/scout on one side,and some arachnoid similar on forest side.
in summary: golem/barbarian, assassin/scout, beastmaster, druid/elemental wizard.
what you guys think?


edit: doodled abit on what i think could be a forestian beastmaster.

[~baxter]

Carnifex: I like the theme, and I think it defintely fuels the characters and gives us something to work with for their short bios. Im all for it.

Noodle: I like it so far. The character seems a bit plain, but most druids are pretty much no frills kinda folk. The environment doesn't really read war torn, just kinda empty.

Keep it up guys! I'm gonna start working on crabdwarf's actual pic. Prolly gonna change some parts up but nothin too crazy.

[Carnifex]

keep in mind the dwarfcrab is the good guy ;)

[~baxter]

Yep, well we gotta do a good and evil for each one.

4. You must do a LIGHT and a DARK version for each character, please! This means that for each character you need two portraits.

For his good, Im probably gonna have him underwater swimming looking all chill. And for the evil Im going to have him coming out of the water at the shore at night or something like that.

[Carnifex]

hmm,i actually thought (i dunno if it works), that the evil version is the forest version,and that that one is more of spiderthing.
...
but on the other hand,that is probably more interesting...have some good and bad characters on both sides...some guys trying to stop the war,and some leading it further.
yeah,that sounds good. stay with whatever you're doing now :)
gotta see which character i'll be doing...

edit: on second thought...think about what character he is,evil is the assassin,so that should be reinforced in some way through the picture. i think this can easily be fixed by having him return to the sea at night,with some trophy (prob a severed head or piece of skin). i dunno,is the good version just a spy then? you could have him sit above some war-room then,coming out of a small tunnel... just throwing out ideas.

edit2: to keep all the characters together,do we agree that their costumes are "pirates of the carribean" based? (around 1800?)

[Parsakoira]

I scrapped the previous idea, coz it wasnt in line with your ideas, and i was thinking how dumb the idea was in the first place :D I was thinking of something like a merfolk priestess or something.. ill post my sketches soon

[Carnifex]

i just thought that maybe despite the war there is already a mixed race from the two adversaries? (wood elves and water nymphs respectively) these wouldn't have too high social status,but used for battle nevertheless...so they can train both forest and water side creatures,and can be used for good and evil versions.
i'm gonna tackle the beastmaster character (mixed race in general would be some water-looking elven thingy with satyr horns and blue-green colouring i think), who'll have some amphibian creatures as good guy,and some raptor-like lizards as evil guy.(or rather gal,in this case).
noodle,maybe you wanna tackle the conjurer? as good guy,he'd probably have some water/tree spirits in his aid,and as bad guy (necromancer?) some bigass golems made up of dead trees/seashells, rocks and skeletons. (i'd say)

edit: btw,i figure for final presentation we could do something like this,just with a more ornamental border,and different colours probably.

[Parsakoira]

Good job all :P Im a bit confused right now, If we make two opposing forces, water, and forest, then how can we tell which one is the evil one, and which one is the good one? They both feel too neutral.. I dont know if I even got this right :P But however, here is the result of intense painting from today. A some sort of conjurer, suppose shes good

[~baxter]

Yeh I'm starting to get a bit confused at what were shooting at too.In my opinion, I think we maybe getting too swept up in whats what in the backstory. Heres the premise and details (from what I am gathering).

-Two Factions at war: Water vs Earth/Nature
-As you guys said, I don't think either faction as a whole would be good or evil. I see a mix of alignment within the factions themselves.
-18th Century/Light Fantasy theme clothing. Loose pirate theme for water faction.


-We're doing a good and evil version of each character. The whole thing with this challenge that I see is "what if this good character was evil" and vice versa.
So no changing the faction/species/anatomy/gender of the character other than minor corruptions and whatnot, since they are the same being.


As far as whats on the plate as far as character.

-Water Faction Dwarf-crab Assassin
-Forest Faction Satyr Beastmaster
-Summoner Character (I cant tell what race or faction you mean Carni =/)

We need to get concrete ideas down first for what we plan do to so we dont have any wasted work and so its all cohesive. We should also post up since nice references for each other (clothing,equipment, races and whatnot.) :D

[Slash]

752587



With that out of the way, keep going guys! Looking forward to see what you can come up with! Carni, watch your saturation on these last versions. You don't want to end up with super sat areas. Also, make sure to go grayscale every now and then to keep your values in check!

[Carnifex]

alright,yeah,i got caught up in definitions myself.
i'd say you've got all the facts down baxter,aaand summoner character is forest nation. noodle got that right too. i'll probably go with a female beastmaster though.

[Parsakoira]

0zz0 if you ask me, youre more than welcome!

Heres a major update of the summoner. The giant rock golem on the back and the girl in the front seemed to blend too much, because of the similiar values and saturations, now its changed. It was also difficult to figure which one was the focal point. I'm starting to work with the evil version now, some kind of necromancer i suppose

[Parsakoira]

So everyone, as far as i know, we all have to do at least 2 characters, with their evil/good versions of course? So we all do one of waterfolk, and one of forestwolk, right? It would keep the whole thing more consistent!

[Parsakoira]

K heres the sketch of the evil version, gonna add some nasty grimy... things later.

OzzO maybe you should start by reading everything for the second time, and making some ideas, designs, quick sketches and thumbnails perhaps?

[Parsakoira]

Hey guys where are you! post some wips!! :P

Okay, so heres another update for the evil version, dunno if its too dark... Give me your opinions!

[Carnifex]

sorry,sunday-restday...but looking good. i'd scale up the evil golems though.
0zz0 - i'm not sure whether you're able to present your work at the same level as the rest of the group. i'll wait for baxter's input.

[0zz0]

bwa its ok i will ook for a other team then

[Parsakoira]

Thousand damns!!! It seems like the motherboard of my PC has exploded, it just crashes every two minutes and makes working almost impossible!! If i wont be able to get this fixed i wont be able to continue with this anymore :( sorry guys

[~baxter]

OzzO-Sry, but Im going to have to agree with Carnifex.

Noodle-Lookin awesome so far! Hopefully your comp pulls through =(

Continuing work on Dwarf Crab bit by bit. Had some plans thrown on me during the week so I've been a bit hindered.

[Carnifex]

tried to have a go at the evil beastmaster today,but just got fucking frustrated.
aeruhg...fucking awful goddamn day! garh

[Carnifex]

guys,i won't be able to finish this. :(
some damn virus corrupted my photoshop files, and i have too much going on already this week to start a new pic and finish on time.
i'm really sorry. i hope i can remedy myself when the next team chow comes up. :(

[~baxter]

Yeh I think Team Facepalm is down and out for this one. I havent had time to get any solid work done the past few weeks myself.

[Parsakoira]

Damn, it seems like its taking still like a month to get my PC fixd, so im out of this one too D: maybe next time guys!!