CHOW #42 - VOTING - Oxygen King

[Oblio]

http://www.oreganoproductions.com/chow/chowlines.jpg






Oxygen King
(as in all mankind must get their air through him)
from the suggestion thread. Thx Stephan R

he didn't asked for it. he had no ideea what will he be turned into. he forgot how it came to this and when his life become meaningless to him... and everything for the rest of them. why?
Now... concept!

______________
Topic elements:

1 = King
2 = Provides Oxygen

Make sure your picture contains these - you will receive 3 VOTES for each topic covered.
4 extra votes will be offered for the description.


POLL RULES
(for the new people)
NOT ALL ENTRIES ARE TAKEN TO THE POLL.
(the selection is based on technical quality criteria)
ENTRIES NOT POLLED WILL RECEIVE C&C
(i really try to do this every time)
IT IS A DIFFICULT PROCESS - MISTAKES CAN BE MADE
I am trying to set this as a professional demand. I act as the client...
Oblio is always looking for feedback - If Oblio is wrong - tell him so.

rejected due quality:
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/oxy/8_pesmerga.jpg
i love your concept and you put a lot of work into it - however your drawing is flat. You need to separate the planes - whats close vs what's far.
Also... the biggest problem - your values and shapes. You need VOLUME - mak eeach element look 3D. Make your picture B&W and see your values.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/oxy/12_bryno.jpg
just as above - yet you put less work into yours ;) see your values and shapes. bring strenght to you form. ;)

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/oxy/13_illy_.jpg
uh.. difficult task you had - all glowie and lots of lights.
my advice - try to put more work on it. clean it up.. it's a bit messy - all your strokes are kinda strong and .. not too ordered. Make your strokes careful, following the shape. Your values need more work too but you are on the good path.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/oxy/16_crazyace31.jpg
oh.. this was hard to reject. you worked A LOT on this and the concept is cool too.
you need to clean it up and to see your values. You can not have so much black in there... try to have the whole range of your values. If you work in color - don;t use black to lower your value. See the Peer Project in the weekly activities.



Close to rejection:
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/oxy/2_piru_chow.jpg
a bit messy.. ;)

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/ChowPics/oxy/4_Fuuryoku.jpg
saturation, form and values... but... it made it. ;)


and the winner is... Andrew Ley . Congrats man... KEEP'EM COMMIN' :bashful:

[trevor]

im in! finally have time to finish one hahaha

EDIT
heres a little wip snapshot
enjoy
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/trevorclaxton/OxygenKing.jpg

FINAAAAAALLLLLLL
" date 2259: planet: UW c238: this is only the second planet we had found with any sort of atmosphere in this system.
had i know how bad the first 3 years of terraforming had gone i probably wouldnt have taken the job. but 9 years later im still here
ive begun to feel less and less due to the strain of breathing this harsh atmosphere but because of my over exposure
im one of the few that can breathe unassisted in the open. i believe it is changing me.i have already lost my right arm, replaced by this clumsy electromag excavator. the ice deposits that i have been tasked to find are getting fewer and far between. i alone have been responsible for the last 6 finds but it still isnt enough. the public sees me as a hero, they have dubbed me the oxygen king
but i fear the deposits will run out soon. maybe 6 months to a year before we run out if i cant find any others
we are so secluded here i doubt evac could make it in time if at all. do i tell my people? or do i keep looking?
either way i feel we are doomed
no ice no oxygen no oxygen no life
i miss my children, my wife, i hope they understand what im trying to do "

[Serpian]

WIP

Hey, it's my first submitted CHOW!

He's married to the Carbon Queen.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/real_Serpian/0918-CHOW42.jpg

"You don't know 'bout the Oh-two King? Larry, where've you been since the Big Ozone Collapse? His the richest freakin man in the Federation! Nobody thought he would make it when he started selling freaking OXYGEN, but then with the Collapse and all, the market was skyrocketing!"

EDIT: Reactions to suddenly appearing submissions.

Trevor: Cool!
Durin: Poor guy! I still have to pop in in your SB..
Fuuryoku: Wow, very special idea!
Eric Gerhard: Doesn't look much like a king, but cool nonetheless.
Faroresama: Poor Tom... "In retail", haha!

Oh, and completely off topic: what the HELL's this :nintendo: supposed to be? "Nintendo"? How is that nintendo?

[Piru]

Count me in!
From the description provided, I got the feeling that he is a torn character, ripped by his concience, pierced by guilt. I'm trying to get that feeling into my concept.

The Oxygen King: Aaron King, CEO of Oxxen Oxygen Harvesting Corp.

As CEO of the multinational company Oxxen, Aaron King has become the most powerfull man on earth.
His career made a rather strange twist of fate. If we go down the records, we find out that Aaron King was an ecology specialist, very concerned with climate problems, global warming and other signs of disastrous problems regarding the state our planet was in. His point of view was, that the whole planet was controlled by a few big players and he hated this profoundly. By the time that mankind had nearly destroyed it's own habitat, King had built out a vast network of laboratories and research centers around the globe in search for oxygen filtering and production methods, as war had contaminated most of the world's air.
This is about the time he made friends with the wrong people. They forced him into becoming the man he now is. The only true ruler of the planet, attached to the strings of others. Blinded at first, he now sees what has become of him, the only thing he never wanted to be. The terror of the small man, proclaimed king by a vast amount of suckups, but chained in his palace, an empty shell... thus living his worst nightmare.

http://users.skynet.be/durin/piru_chow42final.jpg

[Chuck Wadey]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/ChuckWadey/chow/ChuckWadey_Chow42_OxygenKing.jpg

In a deforested future, still powered by carbon, it became apparent that oxygen was becoming an invaluable commodity, much as water had been in the century before and oil in the century before that.

Anticipating the trend, Lord Javor consolidated his power by gaining the most direct control possible over that vital resource. Step one was a course of genetic and cybernetic alterations in which he converted his respiration system to expel O2. Step two was the eradication of every other oxygen source through the buyout and intentional drought of chloroplast farms. The bottleneck in oxygen distribution caused a global collapse of civilization and the die-off of everyone unable to reach shelter in his fortress. Tank hauling platoons were able to make temporary trips outside, working the fields for food production and extending Javor's power beyond the throne room, but for the most part he had to distribute oxygen directly to his subjects.

Now, in order to keep his tiny feudal economy running he must devote every minute to keeping his subjects breathing, either directly or by tending to storage devices. Soon, he thinks, he will give up and rest. As he slowly starves to death, he will take pleasure in the fact that no one remains who can dethrone the Oxygen King.

[fuuryoku]

My Wip...
http://www.thomscottart.com/images/oxygenking.jpg

"One hundred years it had taken him. One hundred years of sleeping, his feet in the ever more polluted earth. He had seen what was coming. he had seen that the air would turn to poison, and that the leaders that were would do nothing. there was only one terrible course to take. He changed himself, becoming both animal and plant, and over the course of a century he slept in a secluded valley, until he had grown large enough to stride the earth, devouring the poisons- now harmless to him- leaving the purified air for the survivors who now deferred to him as thier new anointed sovereign."

[Eric Gerhard]

This will be a lot of fun....
(edit)
Guys... I have finished, this is the final... Hope you all like, as I'm really loving all of your works.

Good luck for everybody.
http://www.gerhardarts.com/desenhos/ericgerhard_chow42_oxigenking.jpg

(edit) Ok, here is the description:

He gave his life to save mankind. In the 24th century, nuclear war had vanished most of the gases important for natural life on Earth. This great cientist knew that nothing could create and control a massive power of electricity to make oxygen. He turned himself into a living and concious energy core. He could now spend great amounts of electricity and control it without blowing him out. Through this act of pure love and desperation to save his so beloved homeworld, an enormous amount of the small rest of the world's population, bowed to his knees when he "asked" to be the ruler of the planet (most did because they were afraid of his giant power). Henceforth he'd be known as the King Oxygen.

[Chuck,mate.]

WIP

trev - i understand now. :)

guys, it seems like i won`t be taking part of this one, after all.
too packed a Schedule. plus - i really can`t think right now of a GOOD
idea for an oxygen king piece.
sorry.
here`s just a little poopoo, something i started for this round:
http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/3931/kingsmallcrapcp3.jpg

[redehlert]

ok...since i'm gone on monday and have to frantically pack and do all sorts of pre-trip shite, i've slammed into my piece and am callin' it done.

http://www.cognitionstudio.com/conart2/redehlert_CHOW42_O2King.jpg

cheers and good luck all!
d

[Wizard of KOZ]

WIP

DOH!!! Redehlert, it looks like ours are going to be very similar. Here I thought I was being so original. :^^;:


My WIP
http://www.landofkoz.com/Sketches/tree.jpg

[Jska]

Hey everyone - gonna give it another go... thumbs so far - I'm drawing and watching Adult Swim tonight heh :)

http://www.jskaconcepts.com/badaboom/dailysketch/092006jska.jpg

I miss my pens :(

(edit!) THIS IS MY FINAL - linework with copic multiliners on illustration board, with preliminary color block-ins w/ watercolor pencil and a final layer of gouache...

http://www.jskaconcepts.com/badaboom/CHOW/jska-oxykingCHOW.jpg

The story: The term "king" is really just an inflated and nostalgic term these days, granted to figureheads who have mostly corporations working in their guise. This "king" is one of the last of his species - a species that can convert the acidic atmosphere of this destroyed planet into pure breatheable oxygen. For this reason he was mutilated (as not to escape!), experimented upon, and shoved full of hoses so that his company "Oxygen King" can faithfully deliver oxygen to its customers.

Feel sorry for him, won't you?!? :P I wish I had more time for this, I would've spent waaaay more time on the background, etc. Good luck to everyone!

[surfacemonkey]

WIP
sketch WIP...

I'm picturing more like the baron off of DUNE... some rich politician in 2080 controls all the breathable air, and is therefore proclaimed king.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a9/whoami2u/02King_CHOW.jpg

[Oblio]

WIP
few wips... still searching...
DARIZ... it's on now...
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d105/afantana/Oblio_oxy1.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d105/afantana/Oblio_oxy2.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d105/afantana/Oblio_oxyNs.jpg
edit - two more added.

i was away form any digital thing.. only my sketchbook was around.
wondered from O2 in it's liquid form, to a mini king in a hospital, serving patients with O2,trough underwater guy etc.
Here are just 2 craps.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d105/afantana/oxy9b.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d105/afantana/oxy8.jpg
daily dose of saving people.

[Pesmerga]

I might actually participate for once. This is my first contribution (let's just hope I can finish it before the deadline :nohope: )

original sketch:
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/3353/oxygenkingsketchtn6.jpg

previous update:
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/3681/pesmergachow42oxygenkingwz7.jpg

Here's my entry. Unfortunatly, I don't think I'll be able to take it any further:
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/6218/pesmergachow42oxygenkingya0.jpg

I guess I should explain the idea: This guy actually drains all surrounding oxygen. Everything he touches comes to life. But what good is life if you can't breath? Fact is, he's the only one that can provide oxygen. Either with his mouth, nose or any other gaz emiting holes. But of course he doesn't emit gaz (even when he farts, it's all oxygen!). So he's always kinda surrounded by life and oxygen, right? Yet he leaves a trail of death behind. Not cool.

I chose this very simple static pose to illustrate the apathy, the emptyness and boredom of his life. I tought a dynamic wouldn't fit in the context (unless he's expressing rage). With dying trees in the background, he's holding this beautiful over-colored flower in his hand and he's looking at it with very sad eyes. He's depressed cuz he knows that when he'll let the flower go, it'll probably die. So he keeps it near by. That flower is his only friend...

"For once -just once- I wanted to feel alive,
But I've never felt so empty inside...
Everytime I breed, I kill the air, I lose my hair.
I try not to move, I try not to talk, I try not to cry...
I try I try I try, but I cannot die.
A god of life? No longer am I...

I have become death, the destroyer of worlds."

[Wafflehouseninja]

WIP! Almost done i think.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v412/Waffleninja/wafflehouseninja_chow42_o2k.jpg

[Johnnyhorse]

Finished!
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k151/JohnnyhorseCA/CHOW42OxygenKingFINAL-1.jpg
Desc.: As life became unsastainable on the surface, the only source of clean oxygen remained in the depths of sea. With harvesting operations racing for the most most plentiful sources of oxygen mining, the situation began to liken itself to 17th and 18th century sea pirating. Sources began to come too little, too late, and civilation made preperations for the worst. They dispatched one last effort into the deep dark sea. The Captain, upon securing the oxygen, remained true to the city's request. Unfortunately, the rest of the crew had other plans.

[Ostrander]

WIP
I think I'm gonna try and get in on this.
Here's a sketch.

http://www.rhinohidestudios.com/Untitled-1a.jpg

[buck6455]

so the oxygen king here is my first post and really my first try at anything like this.

http://www.vainfantasy.com/art/buck6455_chow42_oxygenking.jpg

the way i envisioned him was as a lonely corporate type who is held hostage by his title. both the most important person on the planet and the most isolated. here he is standing at a window high in a oxygen corps main tower looking out over the atmosphere he controls. he has his own perosonal oxygen generator with him cause he's special.

[Bryno]

Oxygen King
Final (crits are more than welcome)

Http://www2.hku.nl/~bruno/bruno/oxygenkingchow42bryno.jpg

-
In a far future, we as Humans failed to substain the ozonlayer. Therfore oxygen slowly started leaking into outourspace. The USA Area 51 tech.staff inmediatly started working on an ultra-secret oxygen-creating machine, providing fresh oxygen for all the Americans(in America). When almost finished, the 51 team needed one, final, hard to obtain part: Human lungs wich where capable of succesfully applying fotosyntheses. Not long after a poor Indian boy was kidnapped from his hometown, and transformed into an automobile- eh... Into an Ultra secret oxygen-creating machine. Later, he became known as the Oxygen King.

[illy]

Alright. Here's my first shot at a CHOW. Don't laugh please. :D

http://ilyoungbang.com/images/art/illy_chow42_oxygenking.jpg

A mysterious black sphere appears. Silent and ominous. One man is drawn uncontrollably to it. Mental images cloud his mind... vivid pictures of earth's doom and the extinction of every living organism on the planet rush through his senses. He is shown the power of the sphere... the ability to sustain a source of oxygen on many other planets within millions and millions of galaxies. But he must give up everything he knows along with any remains and any possibility of a life in order to take on the task. The decision was made and the sphere took him in, strapping and bonding him to it's own surface. To distant planets they traveled, and soon enough, humans would colonize and escape extinction just a bit longer.

[xgabo]

My Contribution, comments welcome:

http://www.gabo.ca/xgabo_chow42_oxygenking.jpg

The Oxygen King

2084. After two centuries of unbridled environmental damage, the air we breathe became irreversibly rotten and poisonous. The atmosphere reached saturation so fast, not even the darker forecasts could predict the tragedy. Soon people started dying, their bloody black lungs vomited on the sidewalks. While governments pointed fingers at each other, civilization spun out of control.

In an act of desperation, scapegoats were soon picked, and exemplarly punished. Industrialists and factory owners were condemned to walk the wastelands tied to giant air purifiers which sucked the poisonous air into filters and returned it clean to the atmosphere. It was mostly a symbolic act, since the number of machines was not enough to clear the air in large scale. "Oxygen Kings" they were ironically called, due to their headgears similar to crowns. Wherever they walked, they were scorned by the people.

As the atmosphere became inhabitable, al that was left of humanity moved underground, or into giant pressurized complexes. One by one, the "Oxygen Kings" died, and the last of them was seen walking the ruins of what was once London. He chose to stay outside, convinced of his own guilt in a crime all of us had participation. People say he will keep walking the Earth while his machine still works; the last inheritor of the kingdom of man, monarch of an empty realm.

[AndrewLey]

"Sustaining what little remains of the tree of life and guardian of its offspring, the Oxygen king represents the source of mankind’s suffering and its futures only hope."

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/5598/kingab3.jpg

[crazyace31]

here is my version of "The Oxygen King"
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n166/crazyace31/oxegen-kingchow2.jpg
“The one Scientist who thought mankind should suffer their fate, was the only one who knew how to save it. He developed plans that could be used to build a device that creates the oxygen man so badly needed. He refused to give these plans to the people because he didn’t believe in saving those who had caused the destruction. However, the people retaliated against the scientist, stole his plans and built the device, and as a sort of punishment imprisoned him in it. The machines life source is the scientist and so in effect the scientist never dies, but at the same time he is never truly alive. As a cruel joke he was given the title ‘The Oxygen King.’”

come check out my sketchbook,
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76333

[Eric Gerhard]

Since the very begining I was enjoyng jska drawing. And I also loved what was done because it was totally contrary to what we all did. >:D

[Johnnyhorse]

I give up. hah
Great work all, I'll post crits/comments when i have more time.

[Jska]

Chuck Wadey got my vote! Dynamic use of color and foreshortening - that guy looks intimidating. Good concept and mood overall.

Trevor - I LOVE the atmosphere of your piece, yours was a close second for me. The glowyness is intriguing, my smallest of rits would be that the yellow lights on his costume too closely match the vibrancy to those in the distance, that's about it!

RedEhlert - Lovely and whimsical, I love the use of light! Very noble concept - I must say I'm a sucker for tree characters for some reason.

WafflehouseNinja - I like the composition and the design, he reminds me of Dr. Robotnik (in a good way haha), would have LOVED to see this in color!

AndrewLey - fantastic costume design, like the idea! The cape threw me off a bit at first, but it lends nicely to getting the focus where it needs to be...

XGabo - Great concept and story, the hand really gets my attention for some reason - its rendered really nicely! Overall good entry!

Johnnyhorse- I liked your story as well, and I like the little detail of his crew reflected in his mask, nice job :)

Eric - thanks again :) I liked your concept, and man does that guy look tortured! A bit dark, but it adds to the dramatic lighting.

Fuuryoku - good idea, I would love to see this rendered a little tighter - the textures on the tree roots on his leg is nice! The atmosphere to the right of him throws me off a bit, it looks smoke-y instead of air-y if that makes sense? lol

Piru - He is very conflicted, isn't he? haha :) Kinda dark, and I think if you extended the shadow out to the bottom left it would me the composition a bit more balanced. Good story!!

Buck - welcome! The color scheme gets across that he is lonely, and I like that desaturated-ness. The generator looks like it is coming out of the end of his elbow to me??

*WHEW*

on a side note, i got a vote?!?! hehe

[crazyace31]

nice entries everyone,
AndrewLey- I like the way you focus your level of detail, it really helped guide the veiwer and made more of impact. nice job.

oblio-thanks for the critique, i will return with this knowledge that you told me to seek, For this is not the last time you have seen CRAZYACE gwahaha

check out my sketchbook.CRITIQUES and Suggestions are welcome all the time.
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76333

[jackenstein]

xgabo, your story was so heavy and powerful, and was beautifully rendered too. however, my vote goes to Andrew, who had a short but sweet concept, but his character just really resonated with me and stood out even when I wasn't on the boards. good job everyone who made it.

[Pesmerga]

Bummer, I didn't make the cut! lol. Oh well... I kinda knew it inside ;) I'll take my revenge on the next one. Thanks for the crit. I'll try to work on those issues. I'll still try to finish this one just for the sake of my sketchbook.

I hesitated between ChuckWadey, xgabo and Andrewley. But xgabo has my vote :confident

By the way, mine's all photoshop with the mouse. I can't wait to buy a tablet and, thus... finally take my revenge! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

You haven't heard the last of me CA members...


I'LL BE BACK.

[Piru]

Thx for the comment Jska! :) Yours stands out both in style and design!

I'm not to good at crit'n'commenting, but I'll give it a try! I'll restrict myself to the selected ones, although there are some nice efforts done, selected or not!

trevor: the story is strong, I like the way the armor is rendered but it's a bit of a pitty that it isn't finished like that overall

Chuck Wadey: I love this scene, fantastic rendering, nice design: I love the face mask. Only little crit is: the oxygen itself might be confusing to people who don't know what this piece is about. Nevertheless you get my vote for this incredible painting!

Fuuryoku: Nice story, missing some definition of tight forms and perspective.. story and image combined are a good startingpoint.

Eric Gerhard: I love the little robot! :) I think I would've gone for blues in the background. Nice composition.

Redehlert: Your initial sketch was better defined, and I liked it! I think your final is a "tad to speedy" for me :)

Wafflehouseninja: I would love to see this in colors, I like the almost tangible feel of the greys though!

Johnnyhorse: I like the composition and colors, but I would dress his left arm too! It is somehow a 'fracture' with the rest of the drawing..

Buck6455: I like the expression of the figure, would like some more definition on his back!

Xgabo: I like it, the figure, the machine and the crown! Good concept!

AndrewLey: fantastic! It was between you and Chuck... didn't find out about the multivote untill it was too late! ;)

[Blue Severin]

Xgabo got my vote, the illustration paired with the story work perfectly for the topic.

[JoeHell]

ChuckWadey gets my vote.. rock solid painting that works great with the background story, a reallygood concept in my eyes.. really like some of the other once as well like Andrew Leys, his work is always great..

[cowboy surfer]

Voted for Xgabo - Superb concept, well executed. Scarry future, all to likely.
Close second to Chuck Wadey - excellent render.

[dragon4lunch]

Hey Oblio, the two entries you were close to reject - that was unnecessary. They are fine as concepts and I think you are overdoing the sorting out abit. Over at C.O.W. things work out fine and there are a few more in play - and you certainly shouldn't comment on the ones you "almost" threw out, since it could potentially hurt somebody, if you tell them, their piece barely qaualified. I mean, if it is clearly not a good piece with little time invested, go ahead, don't include it, but don't make this wall of shame at the beginning :)

[Bryno]

nah didn't made it... well better luck next time-

i voted for Xgabo, for i really like the colors you used and the concept n' drawing style are very inspiring and new

[Macar]

I voted for Xgabo. My favorite part about this one was how pathetic the king looks. Poor little guy, all he wanted to do was exploit the economy to get ritch.

Other awesome ones: Chuck wadey- so dramatic! And Redehlert's which also created a figure you could sympathise with.

[jackenstein]

Hey Oblio, the two entries you were close to reject - that was unnecessary. They are fine as concepts and I think you are overdoing the sorting out abit. Over at C.O.W. things work out fine and there are a few more in play - and you certainly shouldn't comment on the ones you "almost" threw out, since it could potentially hurt somebody, if you tell them, their piece barely qaualified. I mean, if it is clearly not a good piece with little time invested, go ahead, don't include it, but don't make this wall of shame at the beginning :)
Pfft, everyone's a big boy and girl here, or should be if they're competing. This is a weekly challenge so they have time to improve and gain even a bit of a following, and it's not like Oblio didn't give something constructive to those who didn't make it. I mean, when you're up against some heavy hitters, you best step it up and bring all you got, and that's not to say that they're untalented, but they just need to keep working on it. It's nothing personal, and I think if anyone does take his comments personal I don't think they should be in competition here at all.

[Chuck,mate.]

damn fine entries this time `round.
and though there were alot of insanely good pieces,
i eventually went with Wafflehouseninja`s work.
i just love the rendering and the light&shade. it all works beautifuly.
plus there`s something about the face area that makes me stare at it.
(perhaps it`s the Darth-Vader-Unmasked vibe it got going on there... :) )

cool artwork i really dig as well:
Bryno.
xgabo.
AndrewLey.

good job everyone.
:)

[Beastmaster Fred]

Chuck W got my vote but xgabo´s piece was a close 2nd.

[dragon4lunch]

J_absinthe: Aw'it, you're right. I just felt compared to the other contests he slightly overdid the presenting of rejected art. Over at C.O.W. they are almost silently dropped and thus the shame aspect is practically zero, since pretty much nobody other than the people whose work is not in the voting area, will know what's missing. But it's all no big deal really - and thus far I haven't had my art rejected:P :yayca:

[Piru]

dragon4lunch: I didn't have a problem with that, I just asked what he meant exaclty. Now I know he was referring to my stroke technique, so I will certainly try to lift my works to a higher chow standard. If nobody would snap you on the fingers once in a while, you wouldn't improve! :P

[Oblio]

uh - its easier for me not to say anythig. in fact i always have problems doing C&C since i can't even draw right. But i was NOT drawing at all before i join CA. It is here that i learned all i know... and..it due feedback. I'm just trying to return it.
COW... is different. ;) H.. is for harder :p

[Chuck Wadey]

My votes went out to Trevor, Xgabo and Wafflehouseninja

Trevor - Where your painting comes together in the head and chest it's really nice. I don't have a problem with leaving a lot of it more loose but one place where some tightening up could really help is on his far contour edge between the stomach and excavator arm. They're two different body masses that should be separate and they're really bleeding together right now. A little contour line and crisp edge would help keep his legs in front and the excavator arm in back. A little of the same on the top of the closest kneepad and you're golden. As for the environment, I think you're not sure what's going on in the dark middle ground. If you make up something solid and begin to indicate it a little, the middle ground will feel more resolved. At the very least consider a few crack lines in perspective so that we can tell which way the plane of the wall is going (if it's a wall). Thanks for the enthusiasm you bring to the forum.

xgabo - I'd like to see a little reflected light on the face gear and shoulder because they're so dark and I want to see what's going on. Maybe a little more work on the feet because it's the only place I get an undone feeling. But whatever, it's debatable.


Pesmerga - Your decorative and flat drawing style is a perfectly valid form of illustration, but since you're hanging out at CA.org, it's probably not the look you were trying to achieve. One concept that could help put a sense of space in your painting is the idea of "value grouping". In other words, have
an organizational scheme for your lights and darks, such as "everything far away is going to be light and everything close up is going to be dark." Or vice versa. The way your painting is set up now there are light spots all over the place and dark spots all over the place which causes everything to mush together on one plane.

Bryno - Overall I like yours. It has a lot of pop. There's a lot of saturation but it's not all over the color wheel - so that's good. You could use a lighter spot right behind your character to make him stand out more. 3d dimensional things have different faces on their surface: top,front, side, bottom, etc.. Your guy feels flat because it looks like you painted the front face and ignored the other sides of the surface.

Illy - Some things the could bring more dimensionality to your sphere (because it's reading like a disc):1) a big, soft, round highlight somewhere towards the direction of a light source. 2) More contour lines (like the blue straps) that follow the curved surface. 3) Flip the curves of the pocket holes that his hands are in so that they feel like they're laying back against the sphere (make the pocket concave, not convex). The purple glow around the figure doesn't really add anything and it flattens the picture up more. I think it would have to be reflecting purple onto the surfaces of the sphere to start looking believable.

Crazyace31 - I'm assuming that your machine is supposed to be symmetrical because it has three glowy cylinders on each side. Working on that assumption I'll tell you that the machine looks disjointed and skewed. You should probably step back to your drawing, make sure you know where the horizon line is, and construct your machine using cubes (in perspective) as a base. You're going to need that perspective stuff in your future concept art so you may as well get good at it now.


Oblio - It took me too long to figure out which "H" you were talking about - but the payoff was worth it.
LOL. Harder is good.

Jska, Pesmerga, Durin/Piru, JoeHell, Cowboy Surfer, Macar, Beastmaster Fred - Thanks for comments and/or Votes.

[crazyace31]

chuck wadey- thanks for the crit, the machine isn't symentrical. i have been working from silhouette, and i have been having troubles with matching porportions and perspective. thanks for the building in perspective idea , i will try that approach for my future pieces. thanks again.

Feel free to critique my skecthbook.
http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=76333

[Bryno]

hey hey mister Wadey-

wow thanks for the very usefull crits! I think sometimes if you work on a piece really concentrated you just dont see it trough one other's eyes anymore. I'll dev. work on a more complex face/light setting next time. I really wanted to keep it dark tough, and try to create an half mysterious shape of what "seems" a body.

:)

[Eric Gerhard]

Hey, Chuck!

I really loved your concept and I'll be most pleased with a C&C from you.

Thanks and peace!

[Moai]

I voted for Chuck Wadey, more for his awesome description than anything else. The picture was great, but not quite as great as some of his other ones, and I don't really like the blurring effect at the top.
Actually, my favorite design was Chuck, Mate's WIP. A good mask is one of my favorite design elements.
And Dragon4lunch, with all your talk about the way things are at CoW, when are you gonna enter again over there? I've been missing your thick-legged reptiles.:P

[Vulgar`]

v - Wafflehouseninja

What Chuck,mate said.

Xgabo - Excellent summary of the image. Although it's more complete than Wafflehouse's entry, I liked his character's facial design. I'm hoping to see you participating in more of these.

Keep doing you

[illy]

Thanks for the crits and help Chuck. I will try to work on the things you pointed out and keep them in mind on my next piece. I've got tons to learn and it's constructive criticism like this that I was looking for.

Thanks to Oblio also, even though I didn't quite get the "uh.. difficult task you had - all glowie and lots of lights." comment. Is this sarcasm I sense?

Anyways, great job everybody. see you in the next round.

[Oblio]

Thanks to Oblio also, even though I didn't quite get the "uh.. difficult task you had - all glowie and lots of lights." comment. Is this sarcasm I sense?


oh no - i don;t do sarcasm in C&C. i was talking about the fact that once you have lots of light sourcesm and glowie things.. it's hard to render... properly. You set up a difficult task for yourself.. if you wanted this from the begining. That's what i ment.

Chuck Wadey - man, i realy want to finish the next one, only to get the crit too. Thank you for all the C&C.

[Chuck Wadey]

Eric Gerhard - If an image doesn't read clearly when it's small and desaturated, it's not going to be clear when it's large and colorful. I shrunk your painting and took out the color (ctrl+U - saturation) to get the first example here. It's hard to see what's going on, isn't it? Your most important elements, the king and the robot probe, both disappear completely in darkness.

To fix for the second image I created some contrast on the elements that needed to stand out: lightening the king's stomach against the darker probe and lightening the king's head and shoulders against the darker background. You could use a variety of tools to accomplish this, but since there was already a lot of information down on the canvas I went with the dodge and burn tool (o). In just a few minutes I copied the image to a duplicate layer, lightened the general areas that needed it, erased out the details and overflow places that I wanted to stay dark, and merged the layer back down. Done. Now you can color it however you like and, if you don't change the values drastically, the final should read much more clearly.

One other small adjustment I made was dropping the shoulder on our right because, when compared with the cross bar at his stomach, the original shoulder line felt out of perspective.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/ChuckWadey/crits/crit_ericgerhard.jpg

Moai - The blurring effect was supposed to simulate the tunnel vision you get right before you pass out. I guess if I have to explain it, it's not working. Thanks for the vote.

Oblio - I'll keep an eye out for your next finish.

[Eric Gerhard]

My godness!!!! May the Gods of painting bless you forever!!! No kidding!

This lesson was one of the best I have ever had.... sounds so simple to some but for me is a huge window of light that spreads wide open before my eyes....

Despite of my mistakes I hope you liked my work.

There is no words I have to thank you Mr. Wadey....

[Oblio]

oh boy .. .how a paintover works so much bettre then words. It's all about values, form, depth... same things i keep bla bla about.
I wish i was more skilled and i wish i had more time...

[trevor]

thanx for the crit ChuckWadey
all valid points
i had to hurry and finish this so i could start a freelance gig
so i did cop out a bit
and in general i almost never do enviros(maybe i should work on that ..duhh trevor)
i totally see what your saying
maybe when i have more time ill pollish it up a bit

[Eric Gerhard]

Trevor - beautiful work you did here and that one for Blizzard!

Congrats!

[Orifice]

Voted Trevor! I love your style, your way to paint faces especially. Great atmosphere there too. Many great posts from the rest too:)

[trevor]

vited for chuck
not only is it an excellent rendering
but the story is ruthless
second choice was andrew ley
but i only vote once

[Supervlieg]

Voted for Chuck, very regal and very breatheable. I always love his semi fish like creatures

hm to Andrewley, Xgabo and Wafflehouse

[Eric Gerhard]

Thanks everybody for the C&C and the votes.... It was better than I thought.

Peace to all.

[redehlert]

hey all! wow! i got me some votes! thanks guys and gals! i didn't get a chance to vote since i was in lisbon all last week, but my vote would have gone to xgabo for the great story and execution.
obrigado!
dave