Chow 15 Voting - Nancy Goodaim

[S.C. Watson]

NANCY GOODAIM, SPACE HEROINE

Nancy Goodaim, Space Heroine and Flying Ace. Set in 2010 as seen from 1950. Nancy Goodaim saves Danny Seeker, the perky reporter from the Galaxy Daily, and the universe, from the clutches of Tal Largethought, the evil scientist and his nasty sidekick Kraw the Cruel in weekly episodal installments.

Character needs to be larger than life, but not comical. Think Buck Rogers style pulp science fiction heroine. Another reference might include Captain Franky Cook from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Angelina Jolie’s Character).

thanks to Undertow and Dogfood.
----------------------------------
Bammer
http://webspace.ringling.edu/~gbahm/OhNancy.jpg

Azrael
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a128/jmbcreative/chow-15markup.jpg

trevor
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/trevorclaxton/newchow3Flat2web.jpg

Jonoy
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a134/jonoy/nancygoodaimcopy.jpg

Evil_Sloth
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y135/Evil_Sloth/Chow_Pilot.jpg

Corrick
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b51/Corrick/Nancy_paint4_sm.jpg

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

Astarsia
http://saturn.walagata.com/w/astarsia/nancygoodaim1.jpg

Phaethon
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a44/Phaethon/Nancy.jpg

masque
http://www.metrocast.net/~chipartist/ImagePost/NancyGCHOW.jpg

newman
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e197/bennewman/goodaimwip5.jpg

matias
http://home.austarnet.com.au/esjakku/Nancy%20Goodaim5b.jpg

goran
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v17/smogyboy/production%20design/ahah-copy-2.jpg

GreyBelly
http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/9378/nancy18ie.jpg

cakeypigdog
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f87/cakeypigdog/nancygoodaim4small1a.jpg

Mitze
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f162/mekese2000/space333.jpg

walnut
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/walberg/nancy.jpg

DazWatford
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/3800/dazimageshackchow15wip6ub.jpg

SenSutter
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/TheIronShoes/Nancy-Goodame.jpg

[S.C. Watson]

smot
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c42/smot_1975/conceptArt/Nancy-GoodaimF.jpg

young paddy1
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/youngpaddy1/goodaim.jpg

endregan
http://www.visiblesurface.com/painting/endreganflygirl.jpg

dream_sear
http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/1844/cgnancy7hg.jpg

DeepFried
http://www3.telus.net/pixelz/wip.jpg

Poshspice
http://www.darkrising.co.uk/Stuff/NancyWIP.jpg

Antilight77
http://www.digitalmack.com/DigitalV7/art_pages/conceptdesign/2006/q1/future_lady1.jpg

xgabo
http://www.gabo.ca/goodaim.jpg

Ifman1
http://www.geocities.com/rio_isaac/NancyG.JPG

wassermelone
http://www.rsad.edu/~awhitmor/images/50sgirl.jpg

Craig Houghton
http://leversandpulleys.com//uploads/goodaim_015.jpg

[Azrael]

All in all there were some pretty decent entries this round. It was a toss up between Masque(killer work) and Posh(great execution) for me, but in the end Posh got my vote.-Sorry Masque I didn't catch yours untill it was too late. I only wish that I could vote twice. Both very desirving works nonetheless.
Some others that made the decision tough were Walnut, Trevor and GreyBelly.

I noticed a wide range of skill level
here and I find that honorable.

[darth massacre]

It was Posh, Trevor or Masque for me....

Masque - I thought her pose wasn't...err...action packed enough. You gotta watch those Charlie's Angel's reruns :teeth:

Looks like Poshspice strikes again!!

[Chuck,mate.]

2 words:
posh and spice
because frankly...who could stand a chance in HELL with this frigginly awesome piece?!
damn it.
as for my entry - unfortunately , i couldn`t finish it on time.
but it came as no surprise.
thanks for the kind words ppl anyways.
"you love me! you really love me!!"
:)

[romance]

Posh it is. Walnut was second.

Hey Posh, any way you can post a breakdown of your process for this masterpiece? I'd love to see how you did it.

-Rob

[walnut]

Posh: It wasn't a very hard choice once i saw your Nancy. Once again a fantastic execution and tons of character. It really feels like you had a lot of fun making this picture.
I also liked the picture of dream-sear, DazWatford and Mathias. They all had Nancies with a lot of attitude, really neat stuff.
Masque: I thought yours was well done, love the pulp mag look, but the whole thing seems to need some more punch.
Corrick: The faces didn't do it for me, but what a great action scene! Wish i'd come up with that.
xgabo: Another action-packed picture, it's got a neat composition going on. Neat expressions too, mr. Seekers made me chuckle.

[Hideyoshi]

yeah, Posh it is...

[Helzon]

Oh for *(*#U@#'s sake...no multi-voting, Shane?
There are such sterling pieces by so many!!
I won't cast an actual vote because I didn't participate in this one...
but the call outs would have gotten a vote from me:
trevor, masque, matias, goran, GreyBelly, walnut, dream-sear, Posh,
wassermelone, and last but certainly not least Craig Houghton.
btw...gotta give a great shout of honorable mention to young paddy1
man...great improvement in your work! Keep this stuff rolling out.
But not to neglect anyone...I respect all of you for having the cojones to see your pieces through and post em up. My hat's off to you all.
Cheers!

[Zergaloth]

Corrick has a nice piece. Could use a little more finishing though.
I would have voted for it, if it was a bit more Space. Looks like
your Nancy is a regular pilot, fighting some lasershooting badasses.

[GhostofMacbeth]

Dang, wish I coulda finished in time but nice work all.

[Bammer]

Hmm. Still don't know who to vote for. I think I'll wait and vote for whichever peiece I still like after thinking about them a while.

Question. Why is the characters description not present at the top?

[Mitze]

Voted for walnut i was going to vote for Posh his piece is beautifully. But walnut won out, as to me, his looks more like a 1950s version of Nancy in 2010.

[S.C. Watson]

Question. Why is the characters description not present at the top?
Because I was dead bloody tired last night when I pulled this all together and forgot it.

It's up there now. Thanks for catching that! :P

~Oreg.

[Aly Fell]

Fantastic entries all round, and thanks for the comments on my one! :) I'm going to vote for Walnut, as I think that pic captures the feel so perfectly. I'll try and write a longer comment later, but right now I've got to cook dinner!

Romance - Hi Rob, I'll do a breakdown and either put it on my website, or post one of those gif thingys that seem to animate if I can get it right! :)

[Corrick]

Voted for Walnut, and yes, it was close.

Other favorites were Poshspice, newman, matias, bammer and wassermelone, (the latter because I know too many people who would actually smoke in their damn helmet), for incredible artistry and general painterly wonderfulness.

I'm amazed at the amount of quality entries this round, everyone did a bang-up job!

[DSillustration]

omg!
you guys are kicking some butt here!
i definetly need in on this.

i'm actually not going to vote,
because i sincerely cannot decide!

[Elwell]

Walnut. I'm a sucker for the benday.

[bluefooted]

I better post quick - while CA still loves me :P

I was horribly conflicted - loved both Walnut's and Dream_sear's. I ended up voting for Walnut, but, honestly it really could have been either.

Great work here, dudes!

[I.was.ink]

At first I was going to vote for poshspice's pic, but once I read the description I went with Walnut.
Posh's piece is really well painted, but I think it's too futuristic and probably what we (2006) think the future would look like. On the other hand Walnut's piece looks to be closer to what the future looked like to the people in the 50's.
Anyways, good work people!
:)
-ink

[theshunzun]

Masque, walnut, posh spice, you guys rocked the house.

Good effort by everyone else. Long live the art of character design.

[S.C. Watson]

Okay, I'm going to throw on my art director's hat here and make some uncharacteristic comments regarding this week's CHOW.

First thing is that regardless of your skill level, I thought we really had some outstanding work.

However, a lot of this outstanding work didn't jive with the brief.

Yes, this is all in fun, and there's no paycheck attached to it, more's the pity. But part of the activity is in seeing how close you can hit the mark. Kind of like archery, or being at the shooting range. Yeah, you can shoot the guy next to you, but where's the fun in that? (on second thought, don't answer that :x )

My point: Nancy Goodaim's character is set in our future as seen by 1950's standards. Very few of the entries got that point.

Posh's is a great piece, but by his own admission, it was more 1960's. Nuff said. He's a strong enough artist that he knows what's up.

Masque's got my vote. Dead freakin' spot on. And, interestingly enough, very few votes, which tells me not many did their research this time around.

Walnut's piece is very good, and very fun, however, if you're familiar with pulp fiction, which you should be by this time ( :P ) it is more in line with 1940's style pulp. But again, I think this was intentional. However, it didn't match the brief.

Craigs' piece is fun, but looks like we're in the 80's, not the 50's.

I'll post some more comments later today, as I'm at work fluffing my hours at the moment.

Cheers,
~Oreg.

[cakeypigdog]

top entries, hard to choose.

i went with corrick: just loved the flamboyance of the piece : the detail of danny seekers arm plunged straight out to catch his camera is great: a really strong contrast against the general motion of the image.

just a really fun image: could do with more spit and polish but a real stand out.

in terms of rendering and ability posh obviously wins: the piece is fun on so many levels but just pipped at the post by corricks. she is a nice change to the way your girls usually look: a nice sidestep from your normal style whilst still maintaining the overall high quality of your work.

i also loved walnuts entry: so simple, so pure, so nice to see an entry that doesnt look at all laboured.

newman also gets a mention : love the face and attitude of your nancy, the creature is a great touch, wish you'd kept danny in there with the wider composition, but what ho! nice stuff as usual benjamin.

again great entries all around.

self crits would be that i really need to paint with more confidence: it all ends up to feathered looking... think i will skip the next few chows to practice individual elements of picture making and then try again...

[quickreaver]

Okay, I have a question....maybe Oregano can answer when possible. When a description has an action involved....like Nancy saving Danny....is that mandatory? As in....the Art Director WANTS the action as well as a good concept of Nancy? That will certainly color who I vote for.....

[xgabo]

walnut: thanks for the comments. That's one of the things I love in the 40's and 50's comics and pulps... although they seem to be very innocent on the surface, a lot of them have that underlying sexual quality that borders fetichism, buried deep so the censors would not catch it. Very subversive in their own way :)

By the way, loved your entry. Very few people dare to explore different styles in an increasingly uniform concept art world. Kudos to you!

[guggemmaneuver]

i love all of entries ... what a fun bowl of chow!
***gobble gobble***

[MonkeYoakum]

Deffinatly a fan of the pin-up style. Bammer hands down. And might I say that he isnt getting nearly enough props for this one. Might I also say Im sick of Poshspice being super-human.

[walnut]

Elwell: call me an idiot, but what's a benday? I'm intrigued.
Oregano: Hah, you caught me out! I did miss the brief by a decade. If we have to be honest, it even matches more a 30's look of the future. I guess it was partly intentional because i was more fond of that particular esthetic. BUt fair's fair.
xgabo: Yeah, it's kinda interesting how that sort of stuff got published in such a puritan climate right? I mean, just think of Betty Page and consorted pin up girls. And it all had this naive feeling to it, something totally different from our ironic modern times. I think that's what i was trying to aim for with my piece, that innocent look. Thanks for the comic too btw.

[Elwell]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benday_Dots

[Azrael]

Definetly agree with the rant Oregano. I admittingly, missed the time period. I got a little too wrapped up in other aspects and by the time I realized it, any attept to adjust would have taken too much time.

Masque gets my vote for this round for sure.

[iomoon]

Suppose we're being told to vote on the one who matches the brief the closest. Can't argue with that. Masque gets my vote then, followed closely by Walnut and Trevor. Luvvv Trevor's composition. Sweet stuff.

And I just picked my jaw back up off the ground after seeing Posh's work. Freakin' awesome. Roll on the 60's sci-fi chick CHOW next !! :)

[S.C. Watson]

Okay, I have a question....maybe Oregano can answer when possible. When a description has an action involved....like Nancy saving Danny....is that mandatory? As in....the Art Director WANTS the action as well as a good concept of Nancy? That will certainly color who I vote for.....

Technically, nothing with this activity is mandatory, aside from the stated rules.

However, the key to this is that if it's mentioned in the brief, you probably want to include it somehow, or at least reference it. Secondary characters, unless specifically stated, fall into a grey area. For example, CHOW 9 (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=57767) called for multiple characters, but gave room to do one, two or all three.

If the character is mentioned just in passing, like the Danny character this week, or the badguy characters, don't worry about them. They are there as flavor, to help you build a mental picture of the character you're dealing with. You certainly can include them, but if you've only time or interest to do the main character, don't stress it. Focus on the main character.

The same goes for character specific actions. If there is a specific action required of the character, you'll know. CHOW 9 is again a good example, because with the Timmy character, he was just getting off the plane, so that had to be communicated some how. However, Nancy saving Danny, and the universe, was there merely to help build the idea that this character truly is bigger than life, and featured in a weekly serial of some sort.

Hope that helps.

~Oreg.

[S.C. Watson]

Suppose we're being told to vote on the one who matches the brief the closest.
Actually, no. Vote for the one you like (though I suppose it's a little late now), but I'd suggest using the brief as a guide.

Cheers,
~Oreg.

[quickreaver]

Thank ya kindly, Oregano; that's what I figured. Just wanted to help cull down my choices....which it DIDN'T, so now I must return to my pondering! But truly, it's a pleasureful pain..... *saaaalute!*

[Bammer]

Deffinatly a fan of the pin-up style. Bammer hands down. And might I say that he isnt getting nearly enough props for this one. Might I also say Im sick of Poshspice being super-human.

Hey thanks man.
From the responses on this thread, I'm sort of confused as to what's 50s sci-fi and what isn't, but I'm glad my peice worked as "pin-up" to you.

In an unrelated not, I'm curious as to what you guys consider most before you vote. Going into this Chow thing, I was thinking I should just vote on character design. I assuming that's what the competition was about. But then I started wondering if that was just one aspect of the competition, and what really mattered was how much I liked looking at the final image. But now there's a lot of discussion here about how fitting something is to the topic (pictures being 40s and 60s etc.) and about how an art director would feel. Also, there was some discussion in the next chow's topic thread about how this is supposed to be like, a mock employer employee situation.
So now I'm not sure what to think. And of course, I know I can vote any which way that pleases me. But I'm curious about what's most important to everyone else.

[Corrick]

Ok, so "saves Danny Seeker" in the present tense is a semantic issue. I took it literally... then again, I put her wearing fifties issue hero-garb, so I blew the brief all over the place. Is she supposed to be saving him -every- week? I'd let the little twit get his own self outta trouble after a while. Maybe we should be more specific...

Cakey, Zergaloth, walnut, thanks for the comments.

Better luck next time.

[quickreaver]

Okay, I voted for masque. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The piece just caught the vibe, and was pretty darned pulled together! Of course Posh's was amazing....Corrick's, plain zesty! Walnut and goran rated up there too, for originality and polish. And I don't think I'll look at hot pink the same way again, after matias's. Fun project, daddy-o!

[Chuck,mate.]

here`s my too-late entry,
just to show you guys.
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7954/nancygoodaimsmall4os.jpg

joy.
:)

[walnut]

I so'd have voted for that.

[Simon Boxer]

Voted for Posh. Great work. Was so close to voting for walnut or Craig Houghton. Outstanding interpretations, Craig would've got it, but it seemed a bit out of range from the brief.

High quality entries this round.

[nephilim]

voted walnut,

it looked like it was actually from a pulp comic. like really from a comic.


posh had killer piece too, and so did wassermalone.


mike

[JakkaS]

Awesome work Chuck!
Really great work!

[Chuck,mate.]

thanks Jakkas, Walnut.
if it took me less time (6 hours) to finish this one,
i could have post it on deadline.
well, maybe next time.
:)

[chaosrocks]

Masque--- hit it

bammer and walnut were close, but aforementioned time problem. but incredibly spunky.
When costuming for a particular time period you need to cruise the reference material for that time period, even if total fantasy, if you are not already familier with it...even if you are. It should have the features and flavour of that time if not specific wardrobe. I am a costumer in my "other" life and if this were a theatrical production with the description given, nearly all the entries would be rejected by the director on atavistic or anachronisic grounds. I find in my own research that the clothing for an era is often not what I thought.
Which is not to say they aren't fantastic drawings, they nearly all are. Posh in particular, beautifull. and every one caught the character and spirit. which is why I was forced to decide on picky criteria like era....
marvelous work

respectfully submitted
c.rock

[Beastmaster Fred]

Mrs. Beckham (that´s Poshspice if you didn´t get it) got my vote

[Aly Fell]

That's top Chuckmate! Very nice!

Good crits Oregano! And some good points too!

In response to Rob Romance, here's a step by step gif thingy, so you can see how all over the place it really is! :) Bear in mind I'm still working on it...

http://img427.imageshack.us/img427/1182/nancygoodaim5hv.gif

[chaosrocks]

whoa cool! thanks!

[masque]

posh, it's great seeing how the pentimentos (pentimenti?) develop your character's more subtle qualities! thanks for the progressive gif, great learning tool.

[Slash]

Aly, you make my pants happy.

[J.Willis]

Going with Masque, just because his best captures how advertisments were done for 50 style pulp fiction.

Almost went with Poshspice, but for a couple of niggling details of how much anatomy would be seen through the outfit. 50 style costumes in Sci-Fi for women where often formfitting without showing details of the abdominals (at least in the U.S.). Otherwise the style and "shininess" of the outfit are spot on.

[DazWatford]

Howdy Guys :D

Firstly, thanks to Oreg for letting mine slide this week, 'ppreciate it Fella :D

Interesting point about how people have gone "off brief" this week, I'm just as guilty myself, aiming for a late 30s-early 40s type look (although other influences included Frazetta and Bernie Wrightson's fantastic "Captain Stern" ;) )

Anyhoo, now to business

Again great entries, so hard to choose, but here's the real stand outs (to my personal taste)

Obviously Walnut and Poshspice are both outstanding, each in their own way (and thanks for the "steppy" Posh :D ) I'm also lovin' dream_sear's which was very nearly not submitted (which would have been a crime) She looks like she has thighs of oak, which I like, I like a lot :D Chuck's late entry is slick too.

Ultimately, I'm going with Corrick There's some lovely lighting and detail going on, plus it really captures that serial cliff-hanger I remember from watching Flash Gordon as a kid. Is Nancy gonna make it out alive? Find out next week... :D

Also, thanks to Walnut for saying nice things about mine :D

[Azrael]

not one comment? crit maybe? geez.

[Bammer]

not one comment? crit maybe? geez.
Don't know if you want crits from me. I only got two votes. But I'd say the weakness of the peice is that it's not making anything happen for the viewer. It's a regular drawing of a chick with a gun.
Of course they are all chicks with guns, but Walnut managed to capture more than that with his peice. He managed to capture the personality of an era. Ditto for Trevor. Posh's girl with a gun is crazy quality rendered. Craigs has a very pronounced attitude. It's something you see and think "well I got something out of that."
In your peice, there aren't clear flaws to be picked out (except for that outer glow. Please get rid of that.) Her face is pretty nice. I don't think her low saturated self should be against such a high saturated background. But the real issue is that it's just a lackluster peice.

[quickreaver]

Heh....same here. I garnered one whole vote (for which I'm thoroughly grateful!), but here goes, Azrael....

You took such care with her hair and face, the body/costume looks half-finished. The shape of her boobs totally befuddles me. See, they had CONE bras in the 50's! ;) Not that I considered a bra at all with my Nancy; I was going for a more Frazetta/pulp/pin-up feel. At annnny rate, she just doesn't look very 50's, your Nancy. A slightly less static pose would've been helful too, but there again, I'm no glowing example of such, either. I'm new to the COWs, and I'm beginning to see what works and what doesn't. Bravery is rewarded; try more daring viewpoints, more challenging poses. Push your limits. And research the subject matter. I do like how you echo shapes throughout your piece, though. I'll wager we'll both do better next time....

Cris

PS.....excellent mini walk-through, Posh. We love/hate you. :tihi:

[chaosrocks]

I too garnered 1-vote. and one comment...but then no one ever says anything about my work. I have decided I am invisible a total fly on e the wall. aparticipating fly but a fly nontheless. If you look at the DSG. there will be three entrys and comments on 2 on either side of mine and mine are invisible.
But then Im alittle afraid of what anyone might say.
On my own piece It too is rather static, and there are foreshortening problems withthe arms. I like the style of it in a Nancydrew in space kinda way...My nancy is for a younger audience. I use tradition media by choice it is nearly all watercolor.

Azrael- The thing I noticed are a costumer's comments ..the above Con ebra and they hadn't conciebed of hip huggers either. even the bathing suits came all the way up to the waist.

Dreamsear- I really like yours actually. although it does feel a little more 40's (Frazetta is like 70s ain't he? there are plenty Fraszetta wannabe entries your spoke to me more of Vargas) Your looks like she's be played by a Marlene Deitrich wanna be whereas Poshes is more Rachael Welsh (you youngsters..look it up)

Im not really able to critique drawing style (well I am, but I wouldn't be so presumtious in this crowd). Im trying to be brave and keep posting.

c.rocks

[JeffZNY]

This week's thread is so much fun. Wish I had entered, but instead I'm just left to drool. Voted for Walnut, cause it was a great idea and perfectly executed. 30s-40s pulp fiction owns anyway! Now I'll shutup before Oreg beats me:)

[fukifino]

I had to vote Masque, not just because of a great image, but those names at the bottom cracked me up. ;)

[masque]

OK, since voting somewhat off-brief seems to be the vogue this round, i voted for Smot. anyone who can put Katy Hepburn, Douglas MacArthur and Betty Crocker all into one character, and make it work, deserves a nod :teeth: !

[noche]

voted for Craig. just so i can sleep peacefully tonight. because he deserves my vote. mainly because of what i have inside me and what he shows, you know...

anyways,

chaosrocks, you have a long way to go buddy, dont stress out at a chow competition. its one of the hardest you can find here.
the eyes of your girl are really cute.

cheers.

[Aly Fell]

Chaosrocks - I mentioned something about yours in the original thread. I think the colour works extremely well, but you do need to spend more time with anatomy. The foreshortening on her arm needs work, but you can see this yourself anyway. If you have doubts about the way something works, draw yourself using a mirror, which may sound wierd. Or take a photo of a friend in the position you're looking for. When I draw girls they all have my hands which can look a bit odd sometimes! :) There is nothing wrong either, with using reference if you get stuck, and don't rush it. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on speed in this world, but work at it and refine the things you aren't happy with. And another thing which I think is essential (for what that matters), is character. She needs a bit of expression to bring her to life. At the moment she's kind of blank. A little ironic smile or even a frown would work wonders. Sorry if I'm talking bollix... and I hope it makes sense.

Azrael - Your Nancy is gorgeous looking, but have a little look at her crotch and where it is! Ahem... Her hips are a little up! Her navel needs to come down along with the rest of that area. Maybe that look is what you are after, but it jumped out at me a bit. Her face is lovely though! Cool expression. :)

[chaosrocks]

Thanks Posh..nice to exist..and actually, since I am a girl that could work pretty well ;)....guys hands may end up a little weak though.

c.rocks

[voraz]

So many good ones, difficult decision. Voted for Craig Houghton.
Other runner ups:
Goran
Cakeypigdog
and Poshspice.

[Azrael]

Wow! Now those are some sound crits that I could have used a week ago!

Bammer :: Thanks for the great insight. I think my original sketch was a little more dynamic and lost a lot of attitude along the render. I think it comes down to not enough thought put into the development before I went to render. I was kinda hoping to develop the style along the way and I missed the mark.

dream_sear :: Definetly see the flaws with the costume. Dispite all the great refs I found online, somehow I happen to look right past the costumes. Lessons learned.

Posh :: Hear ya with the lower section. My original sketch accentuated long legs and a little more attitude that just lost its way along the render. Thanks for the comments.

Thanks for taking the time all who commented.

[trevor]

well seeing as how kraw the cruel never became a topic
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/trevorclaxton/sketches/KrawTheCruel3.jpg
i got bored tonite soooooooo...
kraw of the red menace
he keeps lenin's frozen head in his armored suit
he was supposed to be the brain in tal largethought's robot body
but they accidentally took the brain of a kgb barber instead
therefore uhhhh he cuts hair..uh maliciously!
with no regard for current trends!
hope you guiys like it
good entries everyone

[Dragonspit]

Lots of great entries imo. I went with Masque. Just thought, it covered most everything althoug might have been an added plus for reference of the geek. But looks as if I had gone to the store myself in 55.

[redehlert]

i know i'm in the vast minority here. posh, hot damn i love your entry. brilliant execution, pose, colors, pose, guns, pose pose pose. ;)
walnut - way to find the moment in time and make it look so classic.
however, my vote goes to xgabo since he was one of the few that actually executed the story theme - "...saves Danny Seeker, the perky reporter from the Galaxy Daily...".
to do a figure is one thing, to generate multiple figures is another. to create dynamic action is also intense and another key attribute. this is why xgabo got the vote.
others that also executed multiple figures to flesh out the story - well, you know who you are and get props for taking on the added level of difficulty.
last but not least, you guys slay me with your dedication and talent. bravo to all!
cheers,
d

[Undertow]

I chewed Shanes ear off for on the phone for about an hour after the final entries were posted about entrants following the design brief. Allot of these pieces are freaking gorgeous.. I'm kind of glad that I didn't try to polish my turd after seeing some of these finals;) I'll try to drop a crit for each one that hasn't received one yet a bit later.. but first what Shane and I discussed.

Doing the research and keeping within design perameters is priority #1 when dealing with subject matter that you're not familiar with. Producing pretty art is only (what I think) is about 1/3 of the job of a concept artist. The solid design that fits the art specs is the other 75%. Not following the design brief is NOT an option.. hence the reason so many were dropped going into the finals on this one, even though there were still quite a few questionable entries as Shane discussed.

My question for the ChOW participants, and those that are interested is: Would having a moderator of the weekly activities go through an initial concept sketch approval up to final render be something that would help artists out? This is geared more towards design briefs more like what Shane's been posting than anything else. COW wouldn't need something like this as it's left mostly up to artistic interpretation and imagination than following set parameters. I'm not talking about someone to hold your hand every step of the way, more where the mod says "You're following the design brief, keep going" or "What part of paleolithic era cave man did you not understand when you drew this guy with an assault rifle?"

The reason I mention this is that it would help with artists building portfolios, and gaining experience dealing with pacing and interaction with an AD. This site is a valuable learning tool for artists, how could this not add that much more to the experience for the inexperienced or aspiring pro? Finally it will prevent a win where an artist wins based solely on the 'oh that's cool' vote but didn't follow the brief. Am I really that far off on this stuff, or am I just being an anal retentive bastard?;)

-Mike V

[Azrael]

I agree. Maybe these should have voting categories. Or, better yet maybe we should have a few judges to confirm that they followed the descript before they go to voting.

[Helzon]

Undertow: Before it goes any further... Can we hear what Shane has to say on this?

[quickreaver]

IMHO, I dunno if there needs to be multiple voting categories, nor a mod to steer the artists. Now that we're becoming aware of the guideline concerns, we can probably keep each other on task. Peer pressure, if you will! Oregano can reiterate the importance of following the specs, in the character description, and then the voters can act as the Art Directors. "Hey, nice piece, but it's not the right time period..." or whatever. We can hold ourselves accountable. A new rule needn't be made for every circumstance. Keeping this grass roots will be easier on everyone. As it's been stated before, if we can't do the research and self-guide, we'll lose jobs. Peace.

[chaosrocks]

I agree with dreamseer's more cooperative take on this. YOu have to self regulate or when you go to the director with your work tthye will simply reject it on that basis and hire someone else. Learning to read your director mind/intention is one of the skills you have to learn. Im applying this from theater costume design work.
Once long ago I tried to convince a director to set Macbeth in Roman britain. believe me he didn't go for it. No Lady M in a toga ;P

So as long as who ever take s it to poll is willing to kick work that doesn't fit. I think we're good to go. lets keep it simple

humbly submitted
c.rocks

[JeffZNY]

How about everybody just behaves from now on? Submitting sketches for approval seems like a lot of work for the mods...Worst case, Shane can start rulling with a fozzy fist and not take entries to poll that don't follow the brief.

[redehlert]

Well, that's definitely more like the 'real world', so I'd agree with Jeff in the respect that Shane is acting as 'client' as well as 'mod'. My 2 cents worth.

Cheers,
d

[evilhead]

Came down to Bammer, masque & poshspice - how did Bammer only get 2 votes? Yeesh. Anyway well done all, better than me that's fo sho.