Eow 163: WINGED FORTRESS

[Vulgar`]

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

EOW 163: Winged Fortress
topic suggested by kingkostas


Brief:

"I remember a story, a story an old man told me on his deathbed. He spoke of a fortress hidden in the clouds, a glorious winged structure which traveled above the ground. The dawn revealed it; the sunset hid it away."



- Please specify which image is final when you post your final in this thread!

Deadline: Thursday, May 5th 2011

[Corrick]

WIP, but probably final, considering...

http://williamwerk.com/art/fortress2.jpg

[Urötskidoji]

Wow, Corrick, great work! I love the colors and the lightning so much, really inspirational!

[Brammy]

Gonna give this one a shot, I could use it afterwards for a small animation I'm working on too which would be handy

EDIT: Here's my first WIP, any advice would be welcomed.

[Misplacedhippos]

Awesome topic...
must do...

[FootstepsBeckon]

corrick that is totally mesmerising o_O

[Urötskidoji]

My WIP:

[Misplacedhippos]

This is my basic idea so far.
I'm not sure if I will end up doing it traditionally or just continue digitally.

[Sean McClain]

awesome topic, blocked in my composition, now for some rendering.
cheers!1218144

[hunchback]

:asslick:

[sBritcher]

My first entry ever into the weekly challenges, liked the concept brief.

Blocking in the composition and rough values right now.

Any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

[Penpoint]

Great entires so far.
Here's my WIP

[hunchback]

putting all my love into this piece

[hyjaxe]

my wip

[Penpoint]

digggin it hunchback!
very interested in what you come up with for the color pass

[Vulgar`]

Very nice work so far everyone.

[SoufMeng]

Corrick: Sweet but a little too obviously bull's-eyed in terms of edges, chroma and drawing. Just because the center of interest is the center of interest doesn't mean the rest of the canvas should become flat dead space. Like everything in painting, this strategy could be made to work sometime but here it leaves me hungry for a little more.

Brammy: You need to give the viewer something real to relate to. If you can't draw realism from your memory (aka imagination) you have to look at reference or the image will remain nothing but made up visual lies.

Urötskidoji: Very concept-art-ish view, like the front shot of a turnaround. So a rather stiff, descriptive pose that highlights the creature-like aspect that a winged fortress would have but goes on a slight tangent from the epic dreamlike qualities of the topic.

Misplacedhippos: Both is also an option. Digital often lacks texture to create interest beyond the basic narrative of the image. In your blog there's a lot more to see in the last watercolour than just a submarine.

Sean McClain: Make it more "winged + fortress" and less "knight vs dragon". Making the topic read visually as best as you can is one of the biggest challenge of theses activities.

hunchback: :asspat:

sBritcher: Your piece is very blurry. It comes from the brushes you're using. There's a place and time for those brushes but you should stick to more opaque ones for now and focus on the drawing of your piece. I.e, make things read better.

Penpoint: The fortress looks hostile, the topic said 'glorious' but oh well... Perhaps just look at some reference for the wings and give them more cohesion with the fortress and separate the whole more clearly from the ground. I'm rather confused by what's going on under the fortress.

hyjaxe: Looks like a combination of Corrick's and Hunchback's pieces but the result is new. Not much to crit, you just need to flesh out your idea a little more (and ref is always a good idea to do that).

SouMeng: Here we go again for another cloudfest, haven't you had enough of them clouds yet? Not sure where the wings are coming from but it could work I guess, like some huge creature is lifting the building from up there behind or something? The buildings at the bottom need more cleaning and regularity so they don't look like ruins about to collapse and distract from the center of interest. Also I think I see what you're going for with the curvilinear perspective but perhaps you should take it down a little so things that are supposed to be straight still look straight. Not sure what to think of the hand...

[Penpoint]

an update.

not sure how im going to isolate the fortress from the ground plane. trying for something soft, not so obvious. clouds cover, dust, smoke. etc
maybe just confusing though?

think i like the wings like this too. magic flying fortress, magic spindly wings. why not :p

[Urötskidoji]

hunchback: Wow, I really like where yours is going. Love the atmosphere and the epic scale of it all.

hijaxe: Really nice design of the fortress!

SouMeng: Thanks, I´ll take that into account for this or the next EOW!
Yours is just awesome, The sort of "fish-eye" view and the colors are just extrordinary cool.
Inspiring! :D

Penpoint: Reallt cool fantasy vibe to this, although I would prefer if the focus was even more
put to the fortress, right now my eyes wants to look at the fortress and the character 50/50,
if you get what I´m saying. Keep up the good work!

[hunchback]

tinkerin with colours

[Velocity Kendall]

wow this stuff is amazing boys, theres three or four that normally youd bet on to be dead certs to win. Heavy!

[millz]

Some really nice stuff as you would expect from an awesome brief like this, wish i took a look at this thread/forum earlier cause cause i doubt i can get mine completed in time. I know some poeple are still working in grayscale but just a heads up on my opinion, I would love to see poeple take a different approach to their colour pallets considering that the story behind the brief tells of a 'glorious' winged structure and that it would be quite unique and interesting compared to the normal grungy/industrial look most people seem to go for with these kinds of things.


Heres my general sketch, i tried to go with a different approach to all the cloud+industrial flying ship pieces and went for a combination of fantasy/magic and gunpowder age technology.

[banedox]

man I really want to participate in this but I have on idea what to make or to how to go about this -_-

But everything looks amazing

[Penpoint]

a strange color pass done tonight.
I think there were mushrooms in my dinner :)
going to sleep on this and try something a little less…loud tomorrow.

I decided to lift the castle off the ground a bit to make it more clear…unsure about this still, but at least its in flight now.

[Ragnj]

Good stuff yal.

Penpoint: I think your piece is stronger in B&W, I espc like how the mist works in the bw version. Id go back to it even if you spent alot of time on the colour version. Nice details.

Millz: Nice start, makes me think of Memories: Cannon Fodder altho I understand you want to give it a more colourfull and glorius look. Maybe take a look at Porko Rosso for some colour inspiration, it might be a little bit of what your after.

Hunchback: Nice stuff. Only crit would be that the large city underneath feels divided by the colours it shifts in in a strange way. I understand its the flying fortress bringing in storm clouds, making the clouds clash but I think it should be done clearer, maybe by drawing some lights and thunder where the different weather hit eachother. For me it is unclear as why it changes from warm to cold as of now.

SouMeng: Great pic, very Brazilish.

Sean: Nice start, but I think the rider at front takes up too much focus, maybe bring it more to the side and make it a little bit smaller. Really like the dragon idea.

[millz]

Good stuff yal.


Millz: Nice start, makes me think of Memories: Cannon Fodder altho I understand you want to give it a more colourfull and glorius look. Maybe take a look at Porko Rosso for some colour inspiration, it might be a little bit of what your after.


Haha, your close, i was actually looking at Howl's moving castle and Nausicaa of the valley of wind as my inspiration. Something like this...

CLICK ME!! (http://evansheline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/howls-moving-castle.jpg)


EDIT: Also posting another WIP, god i need to learn to do rockfaces/cliffs better...

[matt kohr]

looks awesome, everyone! here's my thumbnails... anyone have a favorite one?

http://www.mattkohr.com/storage/ca/mKohr_EOW_163_wip01.jpg

[Sean McClain]

matt kohr I like c

[Penpoint]

@matt
Id say C and D really stand out well.
Although, B is a very unique perspective. Id personally go with that one for the originality.

Great tutorials by the way on the ctrl-P site! Ive been on it all night.
Also slick portfolio site! Displays your work very nicely.

[Si_Swe]

Matt, I'd say that D has the best overall composition. Not a fan of the symmetry of C. F is probably my second choice, and I'm sort of neutral on A, B and E.

[Snafu]

E is awesome

[APW]

Yea so i pretty much just messed around in photoshop for a good half an hour :P

[friendlycat]

OK, well, first time entry ever on CA for me.
Trying to get that massive feel to my fortress and it's definitely got wings. Probably being used as a tool of diplomacy in this scene, as in, talk softly and carry a big stick.

[Partisan]

friendlycat cool attempt but it reminds me of :

http://www.jedipedia.de/wiki/images/C9979.jpg

from Star Wars, the form and placement of your wings is almost identical, buts just a thing I see nevertheless looks good

[friendlycat]

Well, I've not seen that before. I guess there's a similarity in both having wings.

[Flame_Unquenchable]

Well, I've not seen that before. I guess there's a similarity in both having wings.

That's a Droid army landing craft from Star Wars Episode I, I'm almost positive. :) HAH well I guess I'm right, I didn't read the bottom part where Partisan explained it before typing that.

Yours looks more like it was intended to have a bi-plane-esque shape, is that correct, or am I reading the image wrong?

[Sean McClain]

o.k. I felt like starting over, my origional was cool yet a bit off from the
brief. Oh Thank you everyone who left me a comment, maybe I will do some comments after this is done.

[RedOwl]

So, this is my first time posting on CA (been reading for a while though).

I really admire the other entries for this contest. Incredible work!! I've been enjoying seeing all the unique takes on this idea. I think penpoint and hunchback's entries are especially awesome. penpoint, I like the crazy colors. It makes it so dramatic and epic. hunchback, I really like that composition and the rendering style so far. I'm looking forward to seeing your final version!

Here's my process so far:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a243/Lilly_An/fortressWIP-1.png

And this is where I'm currently at (may or may not be my final version):

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a243/Lilly_An/wingedfortress.png

cropped:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a243/Lilly_An/wingedfortress2.png

And yeah, this is heavily influenced by miyazaki and anime in general. :P

Do you guys think the cropped version is better? Or not? Any general comments/criticism would be much appreciated as well. :)

[friendlycat]

That's a Droid army landing craft from Star Wars Episode I, I'm almost positive. :) HAH well I guess I'm right, I didn't read the bottom part where Partisan explained it before typing that.

Yours looks more like it was intended to have a bi-plane-esque shape, is that correct, or am I reading the image wrong?

Yes, I too read only the first part originally so I suppose I probably have seen the spaceship that he was kind enough to post at some point having seen all the star wars films.
And, yes, you are indeed correct, I was going for a more bi-plane wingy overlap kind of look.
cheers

[Eiki]

wow, great entries so far!

i see: i am not the first one thinking about a dragon-related concept ..... :D

here is my try. wips

[SoufMeng]

Thanks, Ragnj. And what do you mean by "very Brazilish"?


Final

[Saurabhinator]

Edit: to matt
I think all the compositions are good except for C. I'm like minded with Si_Swe in that im not a fan of symmetry.

D looks the coolest in my opinion.

[friendlycat]

So, this is my first time posting on CA (been reading for a while though).

I really admire the other entries for this contest. Incredible work!! I've been enjoying seeing all the unique takes on this idea. I think penpoint and hunchback's entries are especially awesome. penpoint, I like the crazy colors. It makes it so dramatic and epic. hunchback, I really like that composition and the rendering style so far. I'm looking forward to seeing your final version!

Here's my process so far:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a243/Lilly_An/fortressWIP-1.png

And this is where I'm currently at (may or may not be my final version):

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a243/Lilly_An/wingedfortress.png

cropped:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a243/Lilly_An/wingedfortress2.png

And yeah, this is heavily influenced by miyazaki and anime in general. :P

Do you guys think the cropped version is better? Or not? Any general comments/criticism would be much appreciated as well. :)

Hi Red Owl,
I think the uncropped version is more satisfying. Also the people you've added don't do your fortress any favours since they reduce the scale of it, i.e. if you placed them on flying ship you can see it's not so big.
Without the people on the ground, you're more likely to see it as a larger object.

[RedOwl]

Thanks for the advice, friendlycat. I see what you mean.

[Ragnj]

Thanks, Ragnj. And what do you mean by "very Brazilish"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkpDdA2EITQ

[philzero]

Initial WIP

[Dayle]

I've been watching this one develop all week... some really great concepts. I wanted to show what I've been working on, hopefully I can get the time to finish it.

[Urötskidoji]

Final:

Great work everybody!

[themonet]

A few comments, take them or leave them.

@APW, Nice start, too saturated though. Your tiny fortress gets lost in a sea of pink. I think that's a cool color for sunset lit clouds, just a little too intense without much to balance out the brightness.

@ FriendlyCat, I like the look of your fortress, but I would push the contrast on that ALOT more. Right now the city at the bottom left corner is the focal point because the contrast is so much higher than your fortress.

@ RedOwl, Keep in mind that as you add more detail, it automatically suggests to the viewer that its closer to them. The fact that the wings on your fortress have way more "tightness" and detail to them than the rest of the image really messes with your scale. Remember its an environment we're designing, so the area surrounding the winged fortress is just as important (if not more so) as the fortress itself.

Nice work everybody. My first time painting an environment. Fun stuff. Pretty addicting. The idea is a winged fortress rolling through the Australian outback with an aborigine medicine man looking on. The fortress is so big it changes weather patterns and has brought the wet season on 6 months early. The medicine man is trying to decide if its a curse or a blessing.

Still going to give the fortress ALOT more love, I just wanted to get the environment semi dialed before I tried to do details on the ship.

http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc446/themonet/wingedfortress.jpg

[RedOwl]

Final:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a243/Lilly_An/wingedfortressfinal.png

"The mage's fortress usually nestles deep within forests, where no commoners wander. But in cases of dire emergency, it has the capability to wrench itself free from the earth, revealing its transluscent, yet surprisingly strong wings, usually hidden underground. Here the fortress floats above a wide expanse of rice fields. It is springtime, and having escaped from the threat, it searches for the right place to ground itself once again."

Thanks, themonet, for the tip about the wings. I tried toning them down a bit to match the rest of the scene.

[Sean McClain]

1224127

[neilpa77]

Here is my first attempt and first ever post (on any forum)!! Only just starting out in Photoshop illustration/Concept art, so would love any feedback or constructive criticism. This is still WIP at mo.

1224297

[coool_brain]

here we go... guys. My FINAL.

1224943

I know its not the place for suggestions and opinions, but just wanna say that may be we are being influenced too much by movies, games etc.. Most of the posts are not close to topic (sorry to say) except that they have fortress with wings. Guys please clear your brains off of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars :)

I hope its about the concept and not a painting skill competition.

Bring in some originality.

I still remember kingkostas from EOW 159: Symplegades
That's the strength of originality. Most of 'em put two cliffs and a boat.

http://attachments.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1186605&stc=1&d=1299708907

Anyway, I am not a pro to teach anybody. But I am one of those guys who are trying to get away from LOTR and Star Wars. Inspiration is good but too much influence is not. Hope you guys are with me.

I am sorry if I hurt anybody.

[themonet]

I know its not the place for suggestions and opinions, but just wanna say that may be we are being influenced too much by movies, games etc.. Most of the posts are not close to topic (sorry to say) except that they have fortress with wings. Guys please clear your brains off of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars :)

I hope its about the concept and not a painting skill competition.

Bring in some originality.

Anyway, I am not a pro to teach anybody. But I am one of those guys who are trying to get away from LOTR and Star Wars. Inspiration is good, but too much influence is not. Hope you guys are with me.

I am sorry if I hurt anybody.


"Good artists borrow, Great artists steal."

-Pablo Picasso

I disagree, on several levels, and its not even because I'm butt hurt. I'm a product designer by trade, and I've found that out in the real world ideas are a dime a dozen, its how you execute them that gives them their value. There has been so much stuff done in human history that its IMPOSSIBLE to have a completely original concept and still be relevant. I could say to you that yours comes from the movie stardust, basically a flying sailing barge.

The best is to have an original idea well executed, but I can tell you that in the real world, an overdone idea well executed will win out over a good idea poorly executed every time.

[themonet]

WIP, Getting closer. I feel like the scale is off. Any help would be great.

http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc446/themonet/wingedfortress2-1.jpg

[coool_brain]

@themonet: I absolutely agree with you.
I am a visual effects artist by profession.
In a commercial line, at work, we obviously do what we think works, irrespective of whether an idea is borrowed or stolen.

But that need not be necessarily applied here. I believe this is a place to explore :yayca:

By the way I am not trying to say that my idea is original. The foundation is The Black Pearl (from Pirates of the Caribbean). I tried to make it fly. By the way I saw STARDUST long time back and don't remember a flying sailing barge from it, but again, may be I had it at the back of my head all the time :shrug:

:rolleyes: Okay. No more suggestions from me on EOW or any CA COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES again.

[friendlycat]

WIP, Getting closer. I feel like the scale is off. Any help would be great.


My twopenneth - you ain't got no atmospheric perspective going on there. Your fortress is meant to be huge and in the midground whilst your person and rock they're stood upon is nearest the viewer.
So... the effect of the atmosphere (for one thing) would come into play on that which is further away. Easiest way to do this if working digitally is simply create a new layer and spray some white over the object/s in the distance, then, rub out where it may have gone over that which is in the foreground.
On my own entry, I may have gone a bit too far with this effect, as someone has pointed out, but I feel it does lend an agreeable scale to the piece.

[Ragnj]

Final.

"The Dark Tower of Nazri. Often called the "flying fortress" because of the illusion of soaring the wild clouds surrounding it creates. Theres a myth that theres a passage on the clifwall leading all the way to the top, but it was forgotten ages ago and none been brave enough to rediscover it. Nowdays the only known way to get to the Dark Tower is by balloon or the trendy floatserpent."

[themonet]

@Coool_Brain,

Sorry man, I didn't mean to sound like I was jumping down your throat, Just thought I'd share my point of view.

But that need not be necessarily applied here. I believe this is a place to explore

I totally agree with that, and I guess I hadn't thought of it that way.

Also, I didn't bring up Stardust to say that YOU"RE COPYING TOO!, just to prove a point.

I don't think you should stop bringing up opinions in these forums, I think this is the perfect place to discuss, as well as explore more in our art, as you pointed out.

[neilpa77]

1224781

Heres my final piece as I have now run out of spare time to paint before Thursday. Since my previous post I have adjusted the levels slightly to deepen the colours and generally neatened everything up. I imagine the backstory to be about a mystical race of people who have an eternal bond with the sun, neither existing without the other, both relying on each other for their very existence. At the end of each day, both disappear into the clouds.

[themonet]

Sorry to be blowing up this forum. I'm just having too much fun with this one. Thanks for the help with the scale friendlycat. I tried to fix that, and made some small detail changes to the ship. Getting pretty close to final I think. Any crit is welcome.

EDIT: FINAL! I have no more time today.

http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc446/themonet/wingedfortress3.jpg

[Dayle]

Here's mine.

Combination of sketchup, photoshop and artrage. Would've 6 more hours to properly render the fortress but have no more time. The idea was to have a ship rising out of the misty mountain peaks in the morning with the sun catching the metallic edges and glass. Didn't want to not post anything so this is the final.

[Penpoint]

shazam!

[Leysan]

I guess I'm too late to really participate, but I'll give it a try just for the sake of exercise.

[Khalo]

I'm not sure if the deadline of Thursday, May 5th means the end of the day or the beginning of the day (I figured it was the former, but Leysan's got me questioning everything now). But I figure I'll post this here anyways.

This is my final. ...Totally going to redo the foreground silhouettes for myself, though. :x

I don't even know what the fuck this is anymore. What is that dragon even doing? WHY IS HE THERE.

[friendlycat]

Final...
And so it was that I was lucky enough to be in the small, but not unattractive, city of Alfbakefurbelow in the tiny country of Murunbuchstansengar along with my aunt (with whom I lived) and was witness to that which many have talked of but few have set eyes upon.
At first we were terrified by the sheer scale and noise, testament to the mighty enignes that kept her aloft, but, once we grew used to these astonishing proportions we could do no other than admire, mouths agape, the majesty and power of this leviathan that had never once been used in anger.
I got jelly and icecream too, which was a bonus...

[Tomahawk Monkey]

Here's my entry for EOW 163 Winged Fortress. This was a lot of fun and I learned a lot from it.

[Penpoint]

Final

From the Memoirs of Count Coconut, B.F.D. 3339:

"I was herding some nerfs, when over Mt. Lucas came the most incredulous sight! A wing-ed castle in the sky fluffs! It roared and belched a terrible sulfurous stank. We gathered the village folk and watched it slowly flub and flutter its mass through the countryside. When it reach-ed the sea it lay down with a delightful fart and it was no more. Me thinks it was a dying sky squirt…"

[philzero]

Final

[KarylGilbertson]

Didn't finish this by the deadline (obviously) but I thought I would post what I have so far, because I plan on finishing it and wanted to see if anyone felt nice enough to give me some feedback/pointers.

[Sean McClain]

1226178

[Urötskidoji]

Sooo... voting, sometime?

[coool_brain]

check this out. this guy went into 100 times more detail than my entry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqqtMQzD7jI&feature=related