EOW 137 Opium Den

[chaosrocks]

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/EOW2.jpg

EOW 137 Opium Den

Brief
Opium dens were hidden places to partake ad dream.... those of you with an inclination towards Steam Punk....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_den


DUE march22nd, 2010
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[wiegetie]

ooh awesome, i think i'll try this one :D

[vibhas_virwani]

ill try this one for sure , crazy topic !! :D

[JanJager]

Had to do a wip.

[DieHard]

Thanks for share with us, very interesting post thanks a lot.

[chaosrocks]

Jan--Sweet!wonderful kick off

[android411]

here is mine for this round

JanJager - great colors and atmosphere

[ZuluSplitter]

nice entries :-)

here is my sketch

http://view.zulusplitter.com/paintings/opium-den.jpg

[sakuna]

I really like how yours is turning out JanJagar :)

OK, I'm going to give this one a shot! My second time on this challenge thread. Hopefully it will boost my confidence in environmental art ^^

[android411]

my final, tried my best :)

[chaosrocks]

Android 411 you still have most of a week to work on this
it's really loose to be calling final, you might want to take another look at that composition. The central pillar is cuttingthe frame precisly in half, blocking the eyse ability to flow form side to side or around the image. essentially it cuts the image into two pieces of un equal importance.

[hilding]

Here´s a WIP on this excellent EOW.. trying to get color & composition in place, my goal is to make it a horrible place.. I´ll see how it goes, gotta aim high right? Nice posts so far, don´t loose the intensity on those beautiful colors Janjager :teeth:

[Sharkcellar]

Here is a thumb of the idea I'm working on. This can be futuristic right? I was thinking of Frank Herbert's 'Dune' and the idea of a spice bar where the air is maybe saturated with the dust of the drug or something lending everything an orangish tint.

[Sean McClain]

wow I really like What I see so far.

Hilding well it looks good so far, I am curious to see what your doing to make it horrible:).

Janjager nice mood so far I hope you keep it.

sharkceller Dune is awesome I look foward to seeing what you come up with.

androi411its nice as a speedpainting, if you spend time on a focal area like
some rocks in the foreground and polish them up I think it would help.

zulusplitternice sketch, is the opium comming out of that giant statue thing?

[goocher]

Early stages still, lots of placeholder, trying to work out composition/level of detail... any tips appreciated...

[Jager]

http://www.torjager.se/temp/opium04.jpg
Hi guys, very nice entries. my first EWO. Being a total beginner at environments, crits and comments are most welcome. Don’t have a method for enviros and not really sure what am doing at this stage :) but i have some ideas where i want to take it.

JanJager Nice idea with the curtains , makes one wonder whats going on behind there.
Hilding Beautiful light and reflections and a very oriental look
Sharkcellarcool thumb and interesting idea.looking, forward to your update
goocher stunning !

[Paolo13]

I am going for an SF style...drugs in space!!! FLY HIGH!!!!http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v616/paolo13/EOWprogres1.jpg
Updated
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v616/paolo13/EOWprogres2.jpg

Jager: You are going places!!! I am scared to see it finished!
Goocher: You can have my sister!!! U make it look so simple.
Android: The updates are looking good!!!
Hilding: Like the mood!

I would like do add some critics or suggestions, but...what would I know!!!!

Ciao

[Sharkcellar]

...worked on it a little last night. Constructive criticism most welcome.

[chaosrocks]

futuristic is perfectly ok
cool stuff... love the bright saturated colors
sort of ...dare I say it
hallucinatory

[android411]

alright you convinced me guys :), worked a bit more on it and experimented with textures and stuff, hope you like it...

wonderful stuff everyone

[Sharkcellar]

Thank Chaos!

Android,

Are they smokin' rocks?

[android411]

Android,

Are they smokin' rocks?

maybe they think they can smoke rocks :), no actually they are smoking long pipes full of opium but maybe I should draw this a bit better, what do you think?

Nice image by the way, hope you keep at it...

[Sharkcellar]

Android,

Thanks for the compliment! I'm working at it. I've never done one of these and it's a bit overwhelming.

Yeah, maybe hookahs or something. Also, I've always thought that an opium den would be a cozy place, shabby maybe, but cozy. Your cave doesn't strike me as cozy. The fires definitely do though. Perhaps you can have hanging rugs or something behind them or on the ground, something that helps delineate a space for them to lose themselves in. Last place I'd want to be when I'm blasted out of my gourd is in a damp cave.

[android411]

well, I remember a story of Margerite Durat called "the lover" where she describes opium dens as caves on the ceylon river during the opium war. Well I read this book many years ago but I can remember those caves as shelters rather than cozy places where this people retreaded to take their doses without being penalized. Didn´t really think about it, so thanks anyways for your constructive critic, I will think about it for sure :), it´s late now... see you

[Sharkcellar]

Haha. Yeah, that sounds more like a crackhouse, a place of opportunity, not an establishment. I suppose opium dens had their extremes in coziness considering their illicitness.

[annarepp]

Wow - great theme and great entries!

JanJager: great start, can't wait to see it finished!
Hilding: I, too, am interested to see how you will make it horrible! Right now it seems dreamy and inviting :)
Goocher: love the design and the details of the place and the colors, too!

Oh, I wish I had time this week, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to do anything... I'll try my best!

[android411]

Haha. Yeah, that sounds more like a crackhouse, a place of opportunity, not an establishment. I suppose opium dens had their extremes in coziness considering their illicitness.

I still defend my choice :), found this image on google, though in most cases you are right of course

[merl1n]

Nice jobs so far!

Here is my wip

[Sharkcellar]

Yeah, that looks pretty desperate Android. LOL.

That's really cool merl1n.

I did a little more last night...

[Ragnj]

Nothing desperate with varying the concept a little, by the looks of it everyone doing the very classic oriental opium den (wich is fine aswell) besides android and paolo.

Great work so far all!

[ZuluSplitter]

My next step:

http://view.zulusplitter.com/paintings/opium-den-colored.jpg

- you see a master and his steampunk machine between some buildings, it's 6 am and the sun grow up. It's a pretty popular gathering place for mavericks and opium dependents


@merl1n: nice work, I like the composition
@goocher & hilding: I want to see your finish piece :-)


all the best
ZS

[chaosrocks]

Android411. A cave is a fine place.... especially if you take the word "den" literally

DEN
# lair: the habitation of wild animals
# hideout: a hiding place; usually a remote place used by outlaws
# a unit of 8 to 10 cub scouts (well one doesn't USUALLY, equate opium with cub scouts....)
# a room that is comfortable and secluded

ok end of discussion.
Android you are still having compositional difficulties with this piece the way the eye travels through the page is chaotic. the bright rivers lead away from the den. If the den is the focal point you might want to lead the eye to it better. the warm cool contrast at that saturation and intensity does make the den a focal point but the bright contrast of the rivers are equally intense . so your value composition is at war with your intensity composition. if you flip this image into grey scale perhaps you can see what I'm saying a little better. I wouldn't be so picky but this image is powerful and very vibrant, and if you can get all the factors working together you might be able to create a really outstanding piece.

[Benedikt]

Interesting to see that the majority of you have chosen rather warm colours for your composition. My immediate impression upon reading the topic was that of a cold, desolate house, filled with thick, heavy smoke, formed almost like a being/cretaure of sorts.

A lot of veeery nice pieces here, I'm going to comment in detail tomorrow- no time right now. I'll just shove my finished piece in your faces ;)
I'm not particularily proud of it, but well, one has to stop working at some point...

/edit on second thought, there's one thing that I'm still going to work on, the floor- not nearly enough dirt there. Will update tomorrow.

http://poli.oppono.de/opiumicon.jpg

[android411]

Benedikt - looks great, very creepy, like your characters and mood

chaosrocks - thanks so much for the indepth crit, I really apreciate it and I´m really happy that you like the image, I tried to make the modifications that you mentionened but it´s really getting tough to give it that last kick that you spoke of, so I toned down some parts in order to get a stronger focal point

here is another update then, probably the last one :)

[Zirngibism]

Cool stuff so far!

Too bad I just saw this, 'cuz my time is certainly gonna be limited! I might give it a whack anyway...

[Benedikt]

- JanJager; beautiful colours. Looking foward to see the finished piece very much!
- hilding; great composition (as always), wish I'd spent more time on composition myself. Love your brushstrokes.
- goocher; Yay. LOVE it. Escpecially the ornaments/windows in the BG an the curtains. Very promising!
- Jager; difficult to comment on this since it's a very early stage. Keep it coming!
- paolo; like the idea, but I think both the composition and the colours could use a bit of work, some athomspheric perspective would do ver nicely, too!
- sharkcellar; Looks fine so far. My suggestions would be: - more smoke! - more variation in hue/colour!
- merl1n; It looks great so far, I'm missing the "dense", smokey athmosphere of an opium den though. Looks a little to "airy" to me, hope u know what I mean.
- zulu; still pretty early to comment, keep going! the concept looks promising.
- android; I ike the detail on the rocks, perhaps a little more detail in the BG so we can really feel the athomspheric perspective? But you've improved it very much up to now, so you probably needn't bother with any more changes. It turned out nicely.

---

So, here's my final final ;) Worked on the characters and the floor.

http://poli.oppono.de/opiumicon.jpg

[Sean McClain]

Here is mine still some polishing to do. Good Round so far:).
936150

[JanJager]

ZuluSplitter
Great start. Inventive interpretation.

Sharkcellar
I like the colours and composition

merl1n
Wonderful light and atmosphere.
Perhaps you could add some people lying smoking pipes or something opium den attributes.

Paolo13
Very nice. Great interpretation.

Jager
Looks like the start of a really strong piece.

goocher
Very nice. I love the smoke. Maybe just ad some details in the persons.

hilding
Great looking forward to see it finished with the smokers.

darknight
Nice epic. I like the curved steps.

android411
Very crisp light. Wonderful atmosphere. I like the red light from the right fire. The other fires does not seem to cast as much red light.

Benedikt
Very nice. Great atmosphere, perspective and details.
Perhaps you can add some highlights or something to make the right persons in the foreground a bit more three dimensional.
Now his much a silhouette in opposite to the sounding.

[chaosrocks]

final burning posted
here
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2681952#post2681952

you know what to do...and if you don't please refer tothe first post of this thread the instructions are all there

outside hosted icons please

[chaosrocks]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2686002#post2686002 new topic posted
go wild!