E.O.W Round 12: Valhalla - THE BIG VOTE!

[Red_Rook]

E.O.W Round 12: VOTING THREAD



TOPIC: Valhalla

Deadline For Voting: Friday 20th January

Please vote for your personal favourite artwork from this round. Please remember that your vote should reflect an equal weight of aesthetic impact, adherance to the brief, and idea development.

Your votes will be public.
Please help strengthen the activity by leaving criticism for the artist you vote for, and for any other artworks you can manage!

posting thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=58765)


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auden100

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v504/auden100/Eow12final.jpg

Valhalla stands beside the frosted peaks of Asgard, its massive walls housing fallen warriors brought by the wings of valkyries. Their days are spent in massive mock battles while their nights are filled with feasting under the watchful eyes of the wolf and eagle.


Sept13
http://zaba.tiimipeli.net/roskaa/valhalla.jpg
Valhalla, the fortress where the gloriously slain in battle determine themselves to assist Odin in Ragnarok, the gods' final conflict with the evil fire giants.

depleteD
http://people.uleth.ca/~andrew.melnychukosee/portolio/vallhalla.jpg
The path to valhalla. Viking warriors walk the path and face the judgement of the each condemed. Vikings that weren't worthy of Valhalla and are frozen as statues. THe Condemed are only allowed to attack the unworthy. When the Unworthy is slain, they are damned and frozen as a monument and pass judgement for 1000 years. Those that are worthy can pass without incedent.

rawwad
http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/4134/valhallafull5dp.jpg
Valhalla Prison

Valhalla Prison is modern international prison, situated to big waterfalls. It is "home" for the worst criminals on the World. Is called Valhalla because these criminals are like gods in underworld. Escape from this superstructure is impossible, only way to this prison is by air.

Makk
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~rowanfamily/EOW12_Valhalla.jpg
Description: The three towers of Valhalla are used by the local villages to store the spirits of the dead that drift through their village.

llothcat
http://www.llothcat.com/valhalla.jpg
the Valhalla casino and sportstadium complex..home of the vikings

Panagos
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/Panagos/WEBEOW12-Valhalla-Panagos.jpg
The Valhalla Monastery:
The Monks of the Brotherhood of Odin have retreated from the world of men to better prepare themselves for the coming Ragnarok. Hidden away in their halls and forges, the warrior-monks hone their combat skills and forge great weapons of war; preparing for the Last Battle.

sketchling
http://www.sketchling.com/artwork/2006/Valhalla_EOW.jpg
It was a little known fact that valhalla had a servants entrance as well as a grand one aflock with Valkieries.... Ivan had no idea that using this entrance forever denoted his status in the afterlife and that because of his blunder and despite the valiant killing of all his enemies and the rampant raping of his captured women... he was about to become someone elses bitch...

JakkaS
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a314/JakkaS/EOW12JakkaS.jpg
VALHALLA
Valhalla is a cemetery of Dr. Saint Paul Hospital. This mental hospital was built in 1946 next to Barris. This hospital was for combatants and victims of war. At the beginning the cemetery was unnamed, 'cause for just a few graves there were no need to do it. But one night, November 24th, 1957, changed everything. That night all patients died under mysterious circumstances. After that Hospital was closed and corpses buried. The Police haven't found any reasonable explanation concerning this incident. But people start saying that gods couldn't stand the pain and sorrow of this people any more. So they decided to take them to heaven... Asylum was never opened again, and the last order of hospital's director was to name the graveyard a VALHALLA. The place where warriors and soldiers go after the time of death.

[Amerasu]

I voted for depleteD because I like the idea and the execution, it immediately caught my attention. I like the rays shining through in the background exactly in the right spot.

sketchling's painting was a very close second for me. The atmosphere of this painting is incredible. Very nicely done!

[Standing]

auden100 - this is excellent - it shows a marked improvement from some of your earlier entries :teeth: Bravo!
Watch out for the 'softness' of the mountains in the background - yes, they should be indistinct and blend a bit into the sky, but I think what you have in your picture here is use of a brush that is too soft for the job. It's a full moon right? So, the light will be crisp and although faint, the lines of the mountains would be distinct rather than blurry, unless they are wrapped in cloud or mist and that's not the impression they give as they are now. Keep it up though - the pallette is very good and the longhouse design is fabulous.

Sept13 - this is a very original design - hat's off. The 'prows' lining the entranceway are a nice touch - very appropriate. I think the thing that would benifit this picture the most is a bit more care on the perspective - this view just doesn't seem physically possible - if the wall on the left is not at a righ tangle to the wall (it doesn't feel like it) than what angle are the 'prows' taking on this side? They look like they are on the other side.
Overall nice work though - great pallette

depleteD this design is fabulous - you could run for miles and miles with this one (sorry for the bad pun). Two things:
What is the light source and where is it coming from? You could immediately drive the drama through the roof with the sun behind the tower or take the opposite tack and have it's oramge glow falling on the tower from afar and some solid shadows about the place, giving it more mystery.
Also, where are all the unworthy Vikings? There must have been a few who tried to sneak by Valhalla security! Think of all of the guys you could have frozen in action around the path. Yes it would probably take a lot more time, but if you develop this pic any further I think that you could consider it.
One last thing - the tiles don't read as very 'Viking' to my eyes, but it's a minor quibble.

rawwad - this is fabulous - pure class. Great idea and great execution. I think that you acknowledged in the thread that you had stuffed up one or two bits of perspective - a couple of towers are a bit wonky - but overall, Bravo! A difficult task that you set yourself and you carried it off brilliantly. Maybe some more variation in the foam of the waterfall, to let us see the violence of the water and how dangerous it really is, but top drawer all the same.

Makk - cool idea and the stones themselves are nice - a bit more distressing and weathering on them and maybe some creeping weeds would have added to the mystery, but that's just my take on your idea. It's the sky that's letting your pic down. Get some ref, there's loads on the internet and get it smoking - it would really add to the painting!

Ilothcat - great idea and the 'bloody' banners dropping from the eyes are a hoot - it looks more like an amphitheatre specially made for Oedipus Rex or king Lear!
The perspective is a bit off - really choose your horizon line and stick to it like glue - it will anchor the whole piece together. Also, think about your light sources and how they can add to the feeling of the piece. Look at a photo of a football stadium at night or a real Vegas casino - they are lit for visual impact and you should try the same.

Panagos - this is well executed. I love the brush-strokes, they seem smooth and natural. Maybe some variation in size if the strokes, however, would give more of a sense of scale. The texture of the mountain is very vague too. Maybe shrouding it in cloud could add to the mystery. Another really good pallette too, btw.

sketchiling - my vote goes to you. Quite simply what I would think good quality pro work should look like. A perfect blend of loose and tight marks and a lighting scheme that screams grandeur. Perhaps the scale of the door itself could have been more massive, but that's only mho.
Top!

Jakkas - great work. I love the description - it totally justifies the christian burialgorund which at first seems a bit incongruous with 'valhalla'. The only thing that I would change if it were mine would be the design of the angel statue. She looks a bit righteous at the mo - as if she is passing judgement. A less confident stance might suit the overall solemnity a bit better.

Great round! - I wish that I hadn't been so lazy this week and I had finished mine.

[pix-uk]

I voted rawwad as I thought it was the most imaginitive. Loved the sound of it etc etc . But well done every one.

[noche]

oh DAMN! i mixed up deadlines with creature of the week! i thought it was this SUNDAY! any chance i can still post my work?!?

[Sept13]

My vote went for Sketchling, looks professional.
Thanks for the crits Standing, will try to improve :)

[madplanet]

My vote went to Auden100. I guess this is what I would typically expect when I think of the traditional idea of Valhalla. I think that a nice touch was showing this scene from the outside with the cold and uninviting surroundings and having the soft glow of the inner light of the longhouse gives the impression of warmth and comfort. Until Ragnarrok, that is.

My close second went to Panagos, just for the technique and the color scheme, in how the rock and building seem to merge into one another.

[voraz]

I voted for Rawad because I think it is the most interesting one. I think the one from sketchling is also well done but not so interesting.

[schowalye]

there's a variety of concepts and all of them are good.
Hard to choose...
(looking again and again to choose) well, madplanet wrote "I guess this is what I would typically expect when I think of the traditional idea of Valhalla". At this viewpoint, i choose depleteD's. (but i must say it will be better when mixed with auden100's)
Thanx all for the nice pieces...

[auden100]

Nicely done, everyone. Interesting concepts.

Sept13 - Those "prows" are pretty cool. Yeah, the inconsistencies in perspective are a little distracting, and distort the proportions. As an image it comes off as a little plain. I might recommend adding in a couple of little architectural details, and maybe something more interesting in the sky, just to give the image some character. Looks good.

depleteD - cool. Couple of little things. The horizon line seems kind of high for the setting. I agree with sketchling's recommendation for some vikings; the scale of those statue guys is a little ambigious. Also, compositionally, the shingles are a little too heavy. And there's a lot of visually pull to that lower right rock. Maybe some saturation, or contrast development could boost the drama or compositional emphasis.

Rawwad - cool design, nice pic. I like the saturation play in those darks. I think you already know what could be improved, and I can't really add to that. well done.

Makk - Though I like the painterly sky, it doesn't really fit in so well. But in the right context, that kind of thing would be cool. Keep an eye on proportion when doing these guess-timated perspectives. Either the further stones are huge or really skinny. Also, that grass texture is perhaps a bit too literal and confuses the scale of the mountains.

llothcat - yeah, those crying eyes are sweet. I'm intrigued by that "XYZ" thing on the side. Not really sure what it's about though. I think you could have played with lights a little more as well. Cool concept.

Panagos - very nice. I like it. I think you could push the depth a bit by varying some of the tones and forms on the background building. The lighting on the front building is really nice, but it all gets kind of compressed in the middle ground because of all the flat colors.

Sketchling - sheesh. nicely done. My vote and a tip of the hat to you.

Jakkas - I like blue. Good job on that glow effect and all the mist. That big black tree gives a lot of emphasis to that "#1" angel. I think it might have looked better way back on the top of that hill imho. Very magical, and lovely concept.