EOW 143 Lothlorien (literary Challenge)

[chaosrocks]

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

EOW 143 Lothlorien

From J.R.R.Tolkien
LOTHLORIEN

During the Second and Third Age of the Sun, the Elf-realm in the Golden Wood to the East of the Misty Mountains, was often called Lorien, but its true name was Lothlorien, and its history is told under that name.

The fairest Elf kingdom remaining on Middle-earth in the Third Age of the Sun was to be found in the Golden Wood just to the east of the Misty Mountains beyond the Gates of Moria. It was called Lothlorien, the "land of blossoms dreaming", which was also called Lorien, "dream land", and Laurelindorinan, "land of the valley of signing gold". In this wooded realm the golden-leaved, silver-barked Mallorn trees grew. They were the tallest and fairest trees of Middle-earth and upon their high branches the Elves of Lothlorien, who were called the Galadhrim, or "tree people", made their homes on platforms called telain of flets. For the most part of the Galadhrim were all but invisible, for they moved about among the high limbs and wore Grey-Elf cloaks possessed of magical chameleon-like qualities. Here the Noldor Queen, Galadriel, and the Sindar King, Celeborn, ruled; and some part of the brilliance of the Eldar-kingdoms of ancient times could be glimpsed in this realm. Lothlorien had one great-palace called Caras Galadhon, the "city of trees". It was a royal hall built on the crest of a high hill where stood the tallest trees in the wood. This hill was walled and gated and then encircled with other great trees. Modelled on the Grey-Elf kingdom of Doriath in the lost Berleriand, Lothlorien was similarily protected by the powerful enchantment. Galadriel was the highest ranking Eldar remaining upon Middle-earth and by the power of Nenya, her Ring of Adamant and of Water, she cast a spell of protection around Lothlorien, so enemies might not be able to enter and making it visible to the Eye of Sauron. For nearly all years of Third Age, Lothlorien remained apart from the struggles of the other peoples of Middle-earth, but during the last years of the Age, the Fellowship of the Ring entered the Realm. Fleeing the servants of Sauron, they found rest and shelter, and by Queen Galadriel they were granted magical gifts that renewed their strength and will.



DUE June 6th 2010
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[zimfin]

Nice challenge Chaos. Hope I have time to jump in!

[vrt]

You might want to spell Tolkien's name right. :p

(edit: oops..and thanks for pointing that out.. all fixed.CRX)

[skyline]

i have never done an EOW, but i dont think i will be able to resist..... the doodles are coming!

[android411]

cool topic, probably don´t have much time this week, but don´t want to miss this one, so here is what I got so far

[Zapp!]

looks cool android411

I'll give this a go. First WIP pic

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt86/ryan_johnston/EOW143.jpg

[Sean McClain]

I'm in , :)....

android don't forget objects in the foreground have crispier edges do to less atmosphere between you and the object. hope you have enough time:).

zap nice start! good long lens style ay. I'll keep up with your progress:).

[android411]

thanks zapp! and darknight,
looks cool too zapp!, very nice silhuettes
new update, worked on the edges a bit more as darknight suggested

[Ionpainter]

Lothlorien, a nice topic! : )
I must hurry up with ChoW to start here, too.

Zapp!: android411 said it already, nice promising silhuettes : )

Android411: great atmosphere : ), but i have a little critique when you want, the four/three big trees in the background are placed too consistent (it echos a plantet character), or is it on your purpose? (when forget what i said)

[zimfin]

Okay, I made a start. I really hope I can get this finished.
Here is the basic idea so far. A lot could change since I have not decided on time of day or night yet.

Android and Zapp: Nice start folks!

[Truepinkas]

As I get closer to my moving date I become less and less sure I'll have time to work on images, but I am doing some pen sketche thumbnails on my lunch break. I think I might be doing a whole forest from afar type image, as none of my thumbs of forest interiors look all that promising.

[Truepinkas]

Yeah, i have no idea what I'm doing... enviros are a weak point for me, which is why I'm doing this. Any tips comments or crits are appreciated. I'm not really even sure what my work flow will be form this point.

Edit: Added the forest interior sketch I was playing with as well.

[Pinback]

Tolkien EOW? Resistance is futile!

EDIT) I'm pretty close to finishing now I guess, put in a few days in a row as I wanna get my CHOW finished soon too. Changed most of the stuff on the left as it felt a little crowded, one of my biggest problems is crowding my scenery I think. I'll probably try to get the light a little warmer too and chuck in some more foliage.

[Ceridwynne]

Hi, I just joined this forum (obviously) and I have a question--do you have to already be a really good artist to participate in this? o.-

[bartdeco]

@Ceridwynne: Nope. Just do your best. We all started off less than great, this place is a wonderful resource to improve ourselves. Be open to suggestions, have fun.

bart

[Jon Gibbons]

Hi all, I've been a lurker for ages and have finally decided to take part in my first community Activity.
Heres my first WIP shot.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q302/jongibbons/LothlorienWIP1.jpg

[Juki]

Thought I'd post a thumb in here also, not quite sure where to go with this but it's a start atleast.

988356

[timothee]

It's been a good while since doing an EOW, but this week's topic sucked me in. Here's a WIP i'm playing around with. Lots of great starts in this thread, can't wait to see what develops...

http://img40.imagefra.me/img/img40/6/5/30/timdeplace/f_xauvgm_72f15f8.jpg (http://imagefra.me/)

[Lightmode108]

heres my wip

[M0RS]

nice work guys, here's my bleh wip, crits welcome

[thescala]

Hey guys, finally had some time to work on an EoW. I think I might have to play with the curves in Ps, when I get back to school, my computer has slightly different settings than the one at school, which I trust more when it comes to brightness/ contrast.

Mors, really great start, nice atmosphere going on, props for adding in people.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm105/thescala/portfoliopiece.jpg

[zimfin]

Next w.i.p. Man, I'm finding this one tough. Started in PS but trying to get to grips with painter for a change so I switched. :(

Pinback: Loving that. Good job!

[st.s]

Hello good people! This is my first EOW.
I am still just playing with some forms and composition.

[Noah Bradley]

A few grayscale thumbs.

988921

988922

988924

988925

[zimfin]

Well, despite the fact that we have several days left, I will be very busy for the near future and so I had to rush ahead with this image. I actually quite like it now, though as always, I am open to advice and crits. I won't call this done yet in case I need to make a few adjustments later.

[Zapp!]

Wow, lots of interesting ideas so far ideas so far.

Noah - awesome thumbs, love them all, my favourite is the first one closely followed by the third.

zimfin - great colours and design on the treehouse, and I like the feathery look that the branch has.


Didn't get to work on this over the weekend but here's where I'm at now.

http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt86/ryan_johnston/Lothlorien.jpg

[chaosrocks]

really narrow value scale there Zapp

[Mephistoau]

Well here's my first WIP, playing with perspective

[Sean McClain]

Chaosrocks ya know whistler did this successfully,...low value range.
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/japonisme/images/15.374_542.jpg

[M0RS]

slogging through, trying to make this image work and keep it from turning kinkaide on me... ew.

sick thumbs noah, dig the building silhouettes on the 4th one and the perspective in the 3rd.

thanks thescala - nice mood and shapes (very dave mckean) but you could push the story

that could be pretty epic zappa, once you figure out your focal point, could be the entrance or the tree temple i guess. good overlaps too.

nicely rendered zimfin, but your overall design and tonal arrangement are hurting the read.

not sure how you guys roll but crits welcome

[thescala]

That's a really strong start Mors/ Mephistoau. Both really great camera positions.

Finished mine up earlier, me likey.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm105/thescala/eow143.jpg

[Juki]

Looking good in here, nice work people.

Here's my first weekly challenge, hopefully I get to do plenty more..

990140


I didn't quite get how the thumb is supposed to be added so I posted without it, hope it's ok?

[Noah Bradley]

Love those colors, M0RS.

Some more progress on mine. Gotta find some way to spice it up... I'll think of something.

990254

[st.s]

Noah Bradley — Awesome :D Great colours/textures/composition... Pretty much everything...
M0RS — Nice atmosphere. Maybe you have too much details on the left side but maybe that's what you want ;) Keep up...
zimfin — I like that bark texture. You could throw in some elf silhouettes... You now, for proportions and stuff.
Pinback — Great style! I agree on more foliage stuff :^^:

And here is my progress. Critiques are more than welcome...

[ashton]

http://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo7/ashtonsimmonds/eow_2010-June6_bak.png

http://i356.photobucket.com/albums/oo7/ashtonsimmonds/eow-143.jpg

[Mephistoau]

Just an update - got some tweaking to do yet, but here are some colours

**Edit: Oh and thanks thescala :) Pretty trippy landscape you got goin there :D Very dream-like

[zimfin]

Mors: Could you be more specific about how my overall design and tonal arrangement are hurting the read? If you give me some pointers I might be able to fix some issues.
Thanks.

[Kreator]

man....i havn't done one of these in ages..bit rusty.
good fun...
chaosrocks- good topic
http://www.anthonycarriero.com/images/elfforrest.jpg

[chaosrocks]

poll is up on Interstellar LIghthouse. please go vote...it is multivote.
Thx
CRX

[zimfin]

Okay, tried to organise my values a bit and added the female Elf for perspective's sake.
Kreator: Looking good there.

[NilTrace]

Hey all, 1st time poster here.

I`ve been wanting to get involved with one of these for a while....i figured nows as good a time as any.

I`m hoping to get involved with quite a few of these down the line in a bid to loosen up my painting style and work on my speed.

Some great entries so far...

Not quite finished with mine just yet. Crits welcome.

[Emokun]

Great work guys! and great topic.

This is my Lothlorien :), I think that will be the final image.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/7950/eow143emokun.jpg (http://img33.imageshack.us/i/eow143emokun.jpg/)

[JanJager]

NilTrace
Beautiful picture. Perhaps you can do some variations in the piked trees in the foreground and some small highlights under the nearest most right branch.
zimfin
Great. I like the colours and style. Nice design. Perhaps highlight the elf a bit more. And perhaps some elf's on the branch in the background behind the spherical form . I think the spherical shape is the part that draws most attention.
Kreator
Very nice. You don't seem rusty to me.
Mephistoau
Good. Perhaps you can let one of the roots creep against the viewer and increase according to the perspective.
ashton
Nice mode. Perhaps render out a bit more on the stocks and ground vegetation.
st.s
Nice design and light.
Noah Bradley
Beautiful Your thumbnails also great.
Juki
I like the atmosphere and design. The only thing whom annoys me a bit is that the moon seem almost darker than the ski it lights.
thescala
Beautiful lights and forms.
M0RS
Great. I like the reflections, light and silhouettes. In my opinion you could just render out the branches and buildings a bit more.
darknight
I like it. its stands out from the rest of the entries.
Zapp!
Good Looking forward to see more.
Lightmode108
A bit angular forms but it gives the picture a specific mood. Nice.
timothee
Good start.
Jon Gibbons
Good WIP
Pinback
Great very nice.
Truepinkas
I like the second sketch best.
android411
Beatiful
Perhaps the trees in the background is a bit symmetric at this point.
Emokun
Great very nice. Looking forward to see it finished. My eyes can really wandering around in the picture.

[thescala]

Id first like to thank chaos rocks and ca.org for having these weekly challengies. Earlier today I got the OK from my school to graduate. The bulk of my portfolio is built around the EoW's and the various topics.

Noah, Mephistoau, Kreator- great pieces. the colors on all these are wonderful. They each feel very unique in their own rights.

Niltrace- for your first post this is pretty epic. reminds me alot of the last prince of persia game, feels very arabian nights.

Emokun- reminds me of the movie The Brothers Grim. My only suggestion, you might want to either lighten up, or add some sort of complimentary color to the people. I can recognize them as people as others in here will, but outsiders might lose them as they blend in alot. Maybe a red scarf, or something would help?

Jan Jager- thanks. Im having a hard time determining where the sky ends/ ground begins. It seems sorta garbled together. Id have more to say but i must get some chicken.

[Jon Gibbons]

Some stunning images folks, Here's my finished piece, great topic Chaos rocks.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3324/eow143jongibbons.jpg

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/7496/lothlorienwips.jpg

[chaosrocks]

Final Burning posted, Move em over folks. I'm gonna try to be more timely with this one, so get em in and don't expect a lot of slack. These are exciting and rather marvelous, good work!

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2763729#post2763729

don't forget that outside hosted Icon

[chaosrocks]

Final Burning posted, Move em over folks. I'm gonna try to be more timely with this one, so get em in and don't expect a lot of slack. These are exciting and rather marvelous, good work!

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2763729#post2763729

don't forget that outside hosted Icon

[Emokun]

-thescala thanks for the suggestion, I think that I will to illuminate more the elfs are inside the forest.

-Thanks JanJager, your Lothlorien is curious, very difficult to arrive to homes jeje.

-Jon Gibbons good work, beautiful tree.

[twentyone]

awesome environments from everyone.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6871/environment.jpg