E.O.W Round #175: Inside the Maze

[Vulgar`]

E.O.W Round #175: Inside the Maze
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/chaosrocks/EOW2.jpg



TOPIC = Inside the Maze
suggested by albino-Z


Brief:

This topic is open-ended. Use your imagination! :}



- Please specify which image is final in this thread!


DEADLINE: Wednesday, November 2nd

[albino-Z]

Thank you for accepting my suggestion! Now to the hard part...:yum:

[Ardescoere]

I love this idea.

[OchreHand]

oh i love open ended subjects and i love mazes

!

[Sean McClain]

hey guys! I'm gonna try to do this today.:)

[android411]

cool topic, reminds of the film the labyrinth with david bowie in the eighies. here is a sketch so far but I will work on this more this week

[Sean McClain]

wow 175 I did this for the first time with 101 I believe I have done about over 30 since ...well this fun to work on very moody:)

Android, you get better every time I look man!:).
1346706

[SGoodson]

android411 Solid perspective. nah it reminds me of NIN's perfect drug music video (way cooler than mr. stardust :P )
Sean McClain im seeing hands reaching in the walls of the maze which would be a cool purgatorial touch, the only thing i can say is that so far it doesnt really seem like a maze-more like a canyon with a tower in the distance. thats my 2 cents, use it/don't use it.

[Incinerated]

Im gonna wait a bit with the crits in the mean time

Rubber duck?
1347005

[daflom]

here is my start, the idea is based on a board game called "das verrückte labyrinth"(dont know the english title, if one exists..) which i loved to play as a child. in the game (and in my entry) the maze has moving parts and changes all the time..

[android411]

thanks for the comments, here´s an update, tried to refine some areas

@SeanMcClain - looks really cool and eerie, I agree with SGoodson to make it look more like a maze maybe

@daflom, very nice

@Incinarated, funny approach, looking forward to your progress

[AdrianNagorski]

Love this topic!!!!! got a great idea with verticals and an anti gravity sort of maze . . . . . . .

[Corrick]

First crack at this one...

http://williamwerk.com/art/citymaze2.jpg

[Lightpunk]

Wow, great starts all!

[OchreHand]

Corrick.. dude..woah.

[Mila]

Brilliant 'turn' you took there Corrick :)

[AdrianNagorski]

Corrick: Dammit man you just took all the wind out of my sails! Sweet idea

[daflom]

update:

[Sebastian Hampen]

corrick and daflom, i really like what im seein! gogogo

[Incinerated]

Daflom- very nice render, you need something to catch the interest tho IMO, not a duck but just something with in the maze. :) maybe a huge machine that moves the walls or something.

Corrick- I've noticed you do nice work consistently. The man in your picture concider coloring his pants or shirt, he might differentiate better from the asfalt, i feel that he sorta blends into it a tiny bit.

android411- Thanks dude yours looks like a good idea, the sense of distance in your pick would probably be helped if you make the peope in front larger. I did a very quick paint over, just mainly take into concideration thinks people know when placing people into the picture, like trees and windows when scaling :)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4246120/paint-over%20%282%29.jpg


Sean McClain- looks awesome and im guessing you're getting close to posting an update, Im gonna check what you do with that, that said I agree with SGoodson it doesnt have that maze feel yet.

Vulgar Hey, man thanks for dropping by my sketchbook, I appreciate it :)

All- I might drop out or redo, im not totally convinced my duck based pic will be successful, and since I just got notice today, I have to move out of my appartment next week... anyway good drawing guys

[MagicPrincess]

I've got a fun idea for this one! New to environments so feel free to critique the crap out of it :D

[MagicPrincess]

5char

[Panshi]

Hi everyone, it's my first participation to an EoW challenge, I can see a lot of cool concepts! It's kind of hard to come up with an original idea with such an archetypal subject, but some are really doing great!

So here is today's wip, it's about a hidden valley, far into the Amazonian Rainforest, that once was a titanic orchard, cultivated by proud and ambitious giants.

It's beauty made the gods jealous : they cut down every tree and, with vengeful magic, melted the bodies of the giant gardeners with the dead logs, sentencing the orchard and its creators to a long and repentent agony...

The abandoned grove has now turned into a gigantic maze, which was left unviolated for thousands of years.

Thanks for watching, feel free to coment!

All the best,

Panshi.

[JeiWo]

Here's my start: Got a lot more I need to figure out, so any suggestions would be appreciated :P

[JeiWo]

Here's an update. Gonna have to look at it tomorrow with fresh eyes.

[Panshi]

Hi everyone, here is yesterday's work. Except for the general composition, I worked on basically aspect of this concept, such as contrasts, details, render, and colors. I tried to make the clouds and the giant sculptures look as dramatic as possible, so that the scenary looks a bit interesting and dynamic.

JeiWo, it's a good start, I suggest you add more elements in the far background, as a goal for your characters to achieve, that would deepen your narrative.
Also, since it's an environment design, you could make your characters more "secondary": without changing any detail to your composition, you can just hide the light of your lantern by painting some kind of masking plate on it's back, then make the characters more dark blue like the rest of the landscape, and finally cast the light further in front of the characters, on the surrounding walls, so we can see more details, such as creepy fresques, or indications..
That would make any viewer look straight to those details, instead of the girl's red dress and the lantern.

Keep it up, man

Panshi.

[Panshi]

Here's today's work, I made more effort on the trees, and the foreground. I'm slowly approaching final version..

Thanks for watching, crits are welcome !

[GEB]

Panshi: Wow that's a really interesting take on it! I love the shapes you've created and the dynamic colours. I think you could bring the maze up to the foreground so you can see the pathway into the maze? But I'm no expert

JeiWo: I think Panshi is pretty bang on with the crit. At the monent the direction of the characters is straight off the page so we cant see where they're heading and what they will encounter, which kills the drama. But also you need some perspective lines, it's all over the show at the moment

[AdrianNagorski]

My initial maze idea, starting as a 2d maze at the bottom and then crumbling into a 3d sort of space.
might be a challenge because its many random shapes with random lighting.
1352936

[Bnoch]

On this one, the first thing that popped into my head was desert canyons. I've never been in a maze, but I assume its very intimidating and disorienting. To me, 'inside the maze' doesn't mean physically being in a maze, but explains the grand splendor of it. Almost like someone is explaining how insane it is when you're actually inside one.

One of my favorite Kubrick films ever is The Shining, and i love the maze presented at the end of the film (snow+anything = good). I may give a more intimate shot a go as well.

[Lightpunk]

Looking great Bnoch!

[Panshi]

Here is my final image, along with a short description:

"Far inside the mystic rainforest, lays a valley that once was the orchard of proud giants. These ambitious entities cultivated a garden whose paths were drawn with prodigious complexity, so as to keep all scents trapped in forever. This prowess eventually made the gods jealous: with vengeful magic, they cut down every tree, tied the ambitious giants to the dead logs, and let wild vegetation regain the valley and turn the blasphemous grove into an emerald maze. According to legend, the maze was so perfectly drawn that it's scent still haunts the abandonned garden thousands of years later, alleviating the souls of the giants in their eternal punishment."

Thanks for watching, good luck to you all!

Panshi

* Thanks for the suggestion, OchreHand: I didn't add any character, but I played more with atmosphere and low stripes of clowds to suggest the scale. Hope this works!

[OchreHand]

Panshi, really great job!

The way you painted the sky is really beautiful, and I like your clean and clear painting style.

My only minor crit is that it would be nice to see a person or a familiar object wandering through the hedge maze, an object could set the scale to the giant green structures.

[JanJager]

inspirational to se everybodys work
Jumping in late.

Panishi
wunderful. Great flow in the picture. Very nice to see the progress and read your story.
AdrianNagorski
Nice idea
android411
Nice picture. Perhaps dampen the trees a bit and extend the canavas on top. to get the buildings look less squeezed in.
JeiWo
Its says maze very good. Maybe have some more of the blue background light.
Sean McClain
Strong picture.Perhaps you can push the rendering a bit more.
MagicPrincess
Good start. Perhaps lighten the right part a bit, and define where the main light source is located.
daflom
Great. I agree with Incinerated about the attention catcher.
Corrick
Nice action and rendering. As Incinerated mentioned perhaps try to have color on the man.
Incinerated
I like the scene very much. its soothing and makes me think. At this point I have difficult to see if its a big duck or a small seagull. Perhaps this is your intention. Maybe a shadow under the seagull would lift it .
Benoch
Great Its really nice to see what you doing. It helps me a lot to see your wips.

[devilminer]

"Bound by King Xwarg's hatred of man for murdering his only son, Knots Kingdom's swirling staircase maze remains of what little respect he's had for his community. After his son's death he swore to never again fail his children, locking his only daughter in a specially mechanized castle which involves not simple dragons or moats, but a spectacular maze of turning and warping staircases, known to the commoners as Escher's Ultimate. One wrong turn in this anti-gravitational behemoth and infinite repetition ensues, resulting in nothing other than death by hunger (and at times, insanity). His only clues--- several blue projected hexagons towards the bottom of the man-made hill and a gold one directly onto the castle itself---barely enough for those daring to once again gain the King's respect, and his beautiful daughter's hand in marriage. May the best man win."

Thank you for looking and good luck to everyone!
-Miguel

[Corrick]

JanJager, Incinerated, many thanks for the comments, will try to update before the deadline with color and more detail.

Wonderful work from everyone this round, and Panshi that really is incredibly well rendered, very lovely.

[Syle]

Panshi!!!! Awesome work. Truly inspirational! How many total hours did you put into this?

[Panshi]

It took me about 8 hours for the first few frames (on page1), then 8 hours more to get the definitive idea (page 1 bottom), and four more to polish that up and send it as my final image, so all in all 2 days and a half.
Thanks for your compliments, you made my day !

Panshi.

[Raphelt]

Hey all - cool challenge and entries so far!

I ended up with an image of a lost dragon-raider in a giant thorn labyrith/wood...quite nausicaä influenced.

The image changed quite a lot, as I only had a vague sheme of the final idea in my head, therefor the image changed so hard it´s shapes and colors.

Hope you enjoy!

raphelt

PD: I did this challenge along with our intern Lukas - hi did this fabolous ice-landscape :-)

[Tomercs]

Whoa, just looked at this thread. Amazing stuff!

[Lukas_Fusshoeller]

Hi, at first great works @ all

My idea was it to create a place where you never can escape and you are lost.. in the end i coming to an Ice Mace

I hope you enjoy it (final Image)

cheers

luke

[daflom]

my final:

[Lightpunk]

Wow, great round guys, there some seriously nice stuff in here!

[albino-Z]

Wonderful work till now everyone... Very atmospheric and well rendered pieces. I am uploading my take although it is not finished. This will be my final unless I find some time and update this post.

Fear is a formidable enemy. Always faster and stronger. However, he is not bound to win. Our mind's maze is our own hunting ground.

[OchreHand]

amazing round.. I like the range of interpretations, too. I personally find open ended challenges more difficult to execute.

speaking of which, how much time do we have? I would love to post my final later tonight if possible

[Vulgar`]

Some great interpretations in here.

Yes Ochre, you can have another day if you need it. I'll post the poll sometime tomorrow night.

[OchreHand]

Thanks Vulgar!

My final:

[Mila]

Darn. Amazing entries around here.. dind't have quite the time to join. Next time!

[JeiWo]

Whew, barely made the deadline! (sort of anyway...)

Thanks for the crits earlier, I actually took my piece in a different direction entirely. There's a lot about it that could've been more developed, but here it is. In a nutshell, I need to stop avoiding the elephant in the room for all my pieces which is perspective :/

[nohoper]

been watching this in order to learn a lot more from some vets, glad i did as the work is fantastic, anyway i enjoy being part of the live studio audience. i will try to make something for the robot bazaar.