E.O.W. Round 155: Alternate History Week: Late Discovery of the Americas

[Vulgar`]

E.O.W. Round 155 - Alternate History Week: Late Discovery of the Americas


http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/EOW.jpg

Round 155:

Topic suggested by noche:
Late Discovery of the Americas




Briefing:

Christopher Columbus never set foot on America. It was never discovered! 350 years pass from the year it should have been discovered. It is the year 1842, and a new voyage is finally successful... but what does this new world reveal?

Illustrate a fictional take of the New World at it's moment of discovery. Mayans, Native Americans, Aztecs and Incas were prolific cultures in science, astronomy, math, etc. Envison what their world could have evolved into. Vast architecture/cities, wild inventions, complex society, ancient alien visitation? Be bold and go wild since there's no need to be historically accurate in your representation!

This can be any part of America, not just North America alone. Also keep in mind that it doesnt need to be a coastal setting - they can be arriving into the heart of the continent. Backround stories are optional this week, but a captain or explorer's diary would provide an interesting outlook on your envisionment.

See Alternate History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_history_(fiction)




Deadline:
Sunday, January 16th, 2011


Hope everyone had a great new year and cheers to the EOW activity in 2011!!!

-V

[buka]

great idea noche!

[Benza]

sweet.. know what i´ll do with my day's off from work this week..

[ismo]

Great topic! Definately taking part in this one. Here's the thumbnail I'm probably going to finish, New Tenochtitlan. :)

[noche]

thx guys - was wondering if i can join
too? lol

[Lyno]

Sure Noche, the activities are open for everyone :) !

[Electricleash]

Really interesting idea! off to find refrences.

[Banvivirie]

Been lurking through these contests for awhile, I'll try to join in on this one~

[pluto]

sounds intressting

[TSonline]

Damn this sounds good!

[snatti]

sounds awsome, gonne try to get some thumbs running

[SIME]

Great Brief, think Im gunna have a go at this one

[SIME]

OK....... this is what im going for, trying to get a dynamic shot and strong colour pallet, once ive managed that ill start to add more detail to the architecture which will hopefully show a more epic scale.

[noche]

woa SIME thats looking amazing so far!!!!...
maybe a bit of contrast and a subtle overlay layer with touches of yellows will help that visual strength.. unless youre going for a more cloudy

[ajv/.]

Heres a quick sketch.

[SIME]

Thanks for the paint over noche (don't mind at all) I completely agree with your comments but the image is deliberately lacking contrast at this stage. Im guilty of using way too much contrast way too early in my images so i deliberately hold off until the image is resolved, i then slowly select where i want those contrasting areas to be, I find I have more control this way.

[noche]

yeah i completely understand you man. want me to remove it so your eyes dont tempt on contrast?, then :)

[ismo]

SIME: Cool perspective. Hope to see that one finished.

ajv/: Nice start.

Update. The perspective is probably still way off. Hope to get some pointers at this stage.

[SIME]

Update, palette is nearly there now but architecture really needs working out.

ismo :- Looking good, the lights add a really nice atmosphere to the image. I feel the shot could have been a bit more adventurous and dynamic.

[noche]

ajv nice start man, i love that pit down there. keep it up!

ismo i love how this is evolving! beautifully lit. i think maybe the eye wanders a bit around the open sky? again, those lights are great.

SIME like i said before, dig your concept a lot. Woa.
only crit right now is i feel maybe the pyramid looks a bit enclosed into the picture? maybe give some more canvas around it?

[Electricleash]

SIME: looking really nice to start, liking the ambience and ditto on the perspective and colours.

Ismo: Lovely colours, going for a real depiction of an expanding cityscape?

ajv/.: Nice sketch, looking forward to see where you take it.

A couple of tonal studies, going initially with the Mayan/Aztec and an ET refuelling pad theme, kind of an alien 'truck stop'...
...may run with it but feel like exploring a bit further, painting all those stairs and levels in perspective is going to be a b**ch indeed!

http://attachments.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1137963&d=1294367540

E

[snatti]

@ismo i think it gives a nice and calm feeling but personally i really like your intinal sketch

@sime looking good, i took a look at your blogg and you got some great stuff going on, all so sharp and clear and wait to see how this turns out

@ajv it's a good start you got, gonne go traditional or digital?

@Eletricleash i truly like the whole background story your going with, are you gonne colour all of those? or just create one big mix of all 4?


i will go the one most to the right i think

[SIME]

Hi guys,

@snatti, great looking thumbnails and agree with your choice its definitely the most dynamic composition.
@electricleash, nice design sheet I can imagine that main image as a more vertical composition showing the pyramids towering above the city and the the alien ships extending from there up into the clouds.
@noche, I might try extending the canvas later in the painting but I did want to make the structure feel like it was cramped into this tight valley. I will probably experiment abit once I have sorted the building out.

Update.......... been working on the building really and tried to give the scene a warm golden glow from the sun just coming through the mountains.

[LA²]

You guys are amazing!

[JanJager]

SIME
Very nice. Wonderful colours and light. Have no crit. Perhaps have some people on the building.
snatti
Great thumbnails. I like all of them. Most right is very nice. The piece of ground shows the perspective and size of the constructions.
Electricleash
Nice to show the whole concept. Perhaps enlarge one picture and have colour on and keep the other in black and white.
ismo
Great! very beautiful. I love the mood. I like our first entry very much to. I detail the the upper side of the handrail has a large diminution from left to right according to the perspective.
the gaps under has a bit less diminution. Perhaps that's just me. Overall its wonderful.
ajv/.
You have some nice architecture there. Keep on render it out. Also workout where the light comes from to help you with light and shadows.

[JanJager]

Great topic
It starts so much imagination.

[Electricleash]

JanJager: Liking the cable-car idea, and it would make sense too, what with their pyramids getting taller and taller, and the great and the powerful getting lazier, not wanting to walk up all those stairs!
Snatti: Going to go with just one image at some point, using lots of russets yellow/gold and blues, much as the aztecs painted onto their stonework. Possibly add a bunch of marble-esque/metallic reflections, due to the use of alien tech merging with the native architecture.
Sime: nice idea with the vertical... will have a play-test see how it might look.

Went to the British museum yesterday (stupidly forgot my camera), they have the most awesome 'turquoise mosaic' masks there, as well as statuettes and stone panel carvings. hugely inspirational, Plan to go down again tomorrow, get some sketches and photos, will likely upload them to my Flickr or photobucket gallery should anyone wish to check them out.

[hyjaxe]

some rough ideas

[android411]

great stuff everyone,

here are some thumbs from me too, wanna go with some alien kind of worlds

@ismo, very nice mood and colors, maybe some more variation in the buildings would be beneficial imo

@jan jager, great thumbs, they look all quite interesting, hard to tell which one to go

@snatty, great thumbs too, I like the first and the last most

@electricleash - nice thumbs I think the first and last have lots of potential, maybe in the first sketch, the foreground buildings on the left and right are too similiar in value and size, it´s hard to tell which one is in the front and which one not

@sime, very nice, maybe you could add some texture overlay to give it some teeth

@ajv/. - nice sketch, maybe some variation in the buildings would be good

[JanJager]

hyjaxe
Great thumbnail. I like both of them. First is a bit more interesting but second is cleaner.
android411
Nice I think first is my favorite. Second interesting to.

[android411]

so here is an update

[wiredgear]

whoa rlly nice guys! I rlly like this weeks enviro so I thought I should give it a try. I hope I can finish it in time.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r92/wiredgear/aztec-societysmall.jpg

[snatti]

@android411 it's looking good i think if you pop in some orange or dark red it can melt toghere niceley but that's just a personal opinion looking foward to the end resault

@Janjager i like your set of thumbs, all diffrent feeling and deffntly looking forward to your end product looks great so far

i'm out this weeks eow, got to much to do, next week l'll plan my hours better :)

[android411]

thanks snatty, changed a couple of things, worked mostly on the structure and hope it reads better now, maybe I will try to clean this up a little bit

@wiredgear - great start, looking forward to your progress

[android411]

so here is my final, still a bit messy

[Vulgar`]

Couple more days?

[SIME]

that would be pretty cool if you can manage it?

[Vulgar`]

I don't really do anything around here SIME, I'm just a student to the artistry you all provide for my eyes to enjoy and survey. How many days would you like?

[Electricleash]

Yeah, I could do with a couple more days, wrestling with vanishing points in photoshop... :)

[agitpop]

i am snowed (iced) in here in atlanta, so thought i would try to tackle this one. i have been lurking a while. i could use more time or not, whatever people want, but wanted to see if i can even get a sketch up here! this is a prelim sketch if this works: needs a focus and a lot more noodling. http://agitpop.daportfolio.com/gallery/273395#12

[agitpop]

another try, i thought you had to host images elsewhere, but looks like this works?

[Electricleash]

Agitpop: Looking nice, a good sense of scale, as well as a feeling of hazy heat with your choice of brush and colour.

E

[android411]

I take also the opportunity of the time prolungation and played a bit with the lighting, vulgar please take the next one :)

[JanJager]

android411
Very nice. I like the futuristic mystic feeling.You have a field of blue colour in the top of the picture right of the main construction.
Why not have all behind the main construction in that colour to separate the background from the main motive. Perhaps add some native America stuff. some figures with Indian feathers or something like that.
agitpop
Great start. Looking forward to see you render it out.

[JanJager]

Some uppdates

[android411]

thanks Jan, good idea with the blue and I also added a native indian symbol to my structure, so it´s maybe a post indian futuristic setting, hope that makes sense

@JanJager - great concept, wonderful use of perspective and very original too

[Electricleash]

JanJager: Industrial steampunk, Mayan Llama Farmers!?

Love it! :O

[Vertigo5]

Hi, I want to be as good of an artist as you guys here one day. So, I will try my best do enter these on a regular basis.

My first entry is a depiction of a gentleman explorer and his faithful mule as they first gaze upon the Navajo Nation, who have used the protection of the mesas as their capitol. Moored to one of the mesas is the great dirigible warship of the Navajo chief, Vulture.

[android411]

@Vertigo5 - looks great so far, very nice colors and composition, love the use of horizontals vs. horizontals which gives it solid appearance imo

@agitpop - great start, maybe try add some variation in the pyramids

[.empyrean.]

Vertigo5: I like yours the most!

[agitpop]

sorry to be a noob, but is there a deadline for this? do we just put our final here or somewhere else? thanks.

[Sean McClain]

agitpop hehe kinda trollin this thread to see when the next one will start, you just post your work in this thread and they just get bumped to a finals thread,
btw I am diggin post 41, nice brushes.

[Vulgar`]

New week is up! I'll be leaving this open momentarily for stragglers.

[agitpop]

OK, my first EOW! I been watching a while and have seen some amazing stuff here! glad to be a part of it. Great topic this round, btw.

[Electricleash]

Ello! I haven't managed to get mine to finished status this week; frustrated by job applications and other things admin. :(
Really lovely creations this week though.
E

[cegan]

Here's what I managed to get done..

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8475/latediscoveryoftheameri.jpg

[JanJager]

Great round evrybody

[cegan]

updated it because I wasn't happy with it

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/8475/latediscoveryoftheameri.jpg