CGAN Oct 2014 Challenge - Dead of Night - - Finals

Aaah, voting time. Always hard especially when every picture manages to be successful in its own way. So congratulations to those that get my vote and apologies to the those I have to leave out. You all deserve better.

1:SchizophreniaWolf
2:CherryGraphics
3:microscopi

And with that clearly stated to make the mods job easier when adding up, now let me ramble on in no particular order...

Cherry: A terrific piece of work. Dramatic, spooky but also delightfully mischeivous (or, mischievous. Help me, spell-check!) I really loved what you did with this, especially towards the end. After the final wip you really put some tremendous work in to get that lighting around the fire correct and to put in the extra attention to detail in the ground and dolls peeping in the distance. As micro said, the pumpkin head is perfect, even more so when you consider the complicated light sources of the moon, the fire and the inner glow. And then there's that brooding bird, like a sinister black hole bending the light around its edge, a substantial presence that could disappear and then return when you least expect. Overall it's a picture that has a real polish to it and exceeded my own expectations.

Linasue: I loved the progress you made with this. I think everyone was interested in how you would depict the ground and link it to the figures and you did it very well indeed. The style of your picture made me think of book illustrations and how artists use symbolic and iconic images to imply a narrative that will appear later in a story and you had plenty of that symbolism in your image: The hangman figure, the tormenting pumpkin child, the passive child watching on, the tree and its branches groping in from the edge (and I was envious of that tree, so much better than my awkward angled efforts). And all of these elements made me think of how they connect to each other and what story it would tell.
Also I think you were very brave to make those big decisions towards the end; although I was sad to see the ghost go (I had conjured up all kinds of possible meanings for it) I think you were right to let it go. Sometimes the picture is more important than the individual elements, and that change helped unify the image more. So, well done.

microscopi: I said your picture was scary at the start. And it never stopped being scary. I really liked the way you solved every problem that came your way during its development. Those trees and shadows create some really strong verticals like the subtle suggestion of prison bars trapping you in and the way you curved the ground up solves the compositional problem of the drifting gaze while also adding a sense of warped anxiety to the whole image. Towards the end I was a little worried about losing the foreground zombies (and the hanging skeleton) in the darkness of the shadows, but perhaps that has more to do with the colour settings on my monitor. Even so just a touch of reflected light on the edge could pop them out a little more but none of that affects the overall mood of the picture.

Katie: Surreal at the start and surreal to the end. Looking at your picture I feel like I'm spying on someone's dream, intrusive yet somehow revelatory. There's a really strong design aspect to your style. I mentioned the stump thing in the wip thread and now I can also add to that the rabbit and especially its ears: the shape reflecting the knot-holes in the tree trunk. And also turning the ears upward in that way is really imaginative and innovative, unorthodox and unexpected, challenging your perception of what "should be" in the way that all dreams do, a challenge that's emphasized by that exaggerated expression. The progress of your picture seems to suggest that you spent a lot of time using just greyscale so I'd be interested to see what would happen if you used colour earlier, it can sometimes help you to push the values a bit more and, although this is down to personal preference, I do think the image looks a little deeper when you tweak the levels a bit to move the midtones more to the dark end. But even as it is it's still a terrific image!

And Schizo: Last but not least... (Well, definitely not least cos I think you're the winner!) What can I say? A picture of professional quality. Dynamic in both composition and action, every pose authentic and natural (and so many poses!) An image of ambition and scale. I have literally no idea how to do something like that and even more literally no idea how to do it in the time required. It takes not only skill and vision but also confidence in your own abilities. Any client would be happy to hand over money for that. Stick it in your portfolio and wait for the jobs to roll in, or trickle in, or tumble in. (As an amateur I don't really know how those things happen but with a picture like that let them happen to you!)

Right I don't think I've left anyone out so I'll click post and then edit all the typos out!

Very nice works and loved the theme.
1 - Valence
2 - Cherry
3 - Wolf

1. Valence: Yep, Like it. Specially the fog and its color. Very retro and classic. And ok there is no original idea or design but I'm not missing it.
2. Linasue: Technically your work is a little poor, but your style makes it part of a mysterious vibe, and that I like. The kids with the pumpkin-heads are very morbid and tormented. Something I miss in Cherry's paint, so I choose you as my number two
3. microscopi: Yes yes Zombies!!! The shadows over the field is a cool idea, but the falloff of the light should be softer. I do like the light on the horizon. But the silhouettes of the "zwombiez" are too frequently placed, it's like they have to keep a certain distance from each other, like cars in traffic .

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4. Cherry: Not my thing, sorry sweet cherry , for me it's too soft and too children-bookish. BUT still as always nice painting-skills! (don't hate me... @-'-- )
5. Katie: The colors are very nice. The characters are ok, but the environment is clumsy and 'dirty', take some time to look at pictures, and try to paint what you see and not what you think or know. But anyway the pink and the desaturated blue is a very nice color-combination.
6. SchizophreniaWolf: Crap and not finished! Too dark and depressing.

Oh my gosh it's really hard to find time for ... anything. a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g but now I found some for my voting - so here we go

1 valence I appreciated your picture from the first WIP to the last to the final piece. I really love the colors and the creepy mood and - for christ sake - I really won't be in the graveyard. The hand which comes out of the dirt looks so real I'm scared that this thing will capture me.

2 micro I really like your unique style. The mood in this pictures turned out very well - I feel terribly sorry for the survivors in this house on the hill. I like your chosen colors for the trees - and that you changed the shapes of them a bit so now they don't look similar any longer. I think I would have put the moon a bit more down - I don't like cutting it off - but anyway: great piece of art!

3 katie Even if you didn't already finish this I really enjoy it. This is a cute AND creepy style you've got. I love surrealism - keep it up! The fur of the rabbits head turned out very well and the style of the tree is really nice. .... the rabbit reminds me a bit of Alice's rabbit ... aaaah .. aren't we all mad in wonderland?

Linasue: nice start your idea is really cute - the lights turned out very well and the pumpkin kids are cute. Maybe you should try to play more with lights and shadows to get a feeling for it. Keep it up!

Schizo: Well well well ..... I don't hate you. I'll just rush my little voodoo dolls on you. Nope. Don't be scared. I really like your style as always But as you said for my picture, it is not my thing. I'm not a fan of that creepy zombie-haggard-blood-style. I'm more .. girlish. Anyway your picture is great.

I'm calling my voodoo dolls now for the next prank - be prepared!

1, SchizophreniaWolf: A zombie army, really well done, especially the mounted warriors.
2, Valence: It’s the atmosphere/fog in this that did it for me.
3, CherryGraphics: Love the cute but creepy voodoo doll ritual (especially the pyro-baby).
Microscopi: Neat concept with the occupied house ready to come under attack.
Linasue: Fun pumpkin head kids (at play?). The mansion in the background is a nice touch.
Katie: Lot of original elements in this from the snake creatures on the ground to the main rabbit type character.
Nice work everyone!

1. Cherry. Outstanding!

2. Valance. Solid.

3. Katie. Weird! (In a good way!)

The bells have tolled and the votes have been counted...

CherryGraphics - 13
Valence - 16
microscopi - 4
Linasue - 2
SchizophreniaWolf - 11
Katie - 2

And our winner issssss... Valence! Congratulations!

Congratulations, Valence!

Grats Valence!

DoIgetamedaldoIgetamedaldoIgetamedal..... Do I? Do I?

Thank you all for the votes and congratulations. Although I do feel slightly guilty and fraudulent at the way SchizophreniaWolf clearly (clearly) did at least (at least) ten times the work I did and only came second.
But .... do I get a medal?