CGAN August 2016 - It Came form OuterSpace - Final

It Came from Outer Space

Brief An alien came from Outer space, and now it lives with you. Depict your new house mate. Is it cute, scary, large or small?

Deadline: [strike]Wednesday 31st of August at midnight GMT.[/strike] VOTING OPEN UNTIL 8TH OF SEPTEMBER

This is where you post your Final entry, Wips should be posted over here:
cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...form-outerspace-wips

Challenge rules and guidelines:
cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...s/39-challenge-rules

Rules in brief:
•All challenge entries must be your own work.
•You should post at least two WIP images that are clearly different from your final entry and each other.
•Your final entry should contain your image (inserted so it shows up full size) and at least two links to your WIP posts on the forum.
•No chatter in the finals thread – if you have questions, post them in the WIP thread or PM an admin.
•Feedback is allowed & encouraged together with the voting and in the WIP thread.
•Deadline is given in UK time (midnight GMT) with a grace period of 5 minutes for getting the post sorted.
•Each member may cast one vote
•No cheating! Admins may decide to disqualify an entry that does not adhere to the above rules.

WINNER - microscopi

Getting in early this month.

1: First Bits.
2: A Bit More.

And finally feeding time for my alien cat.

WIPs:

1. cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...-wips?start=10#14351
2. cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...-wips?start=20#14372
3. cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...-wips?start=20#14387
4. cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...-wips?start=20#14402
5. cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...-wips?start=20#14421

Finished image - "Vegging Out"

Good luck guys

WIP 1:

WIP 2:

WIP 3:

WIP 4:

Voting is open and the poll closes on the 8th (at which point we will probably have forgotten all about it and need reminding again like usual).

While I'm here my vote goes to microscopi. This looks pretty spectacular, and I'll go as far as saying it's probably the best painting you have posted so far in my opinion. Lighting, composition etc. all working really nicely.

Valence, if I had a vote for second you would get that for the awesome kitty

Microscopi - really neat work and filled with life and story. Great illustration that I can find no fault in.

Banj - I love all the little items strewn about that bring character to the piece. The composition works well, but I think the lighting is throwing me off a bit. The main source of it seems to focus strongly on his legs, but very little on his face which I think makes it a little difficult for me to subconsciously take in the character as a whole.

Valence - Your 'cat' is creeping me out. It's a well executed work overall, and this is probably just me and my personal isms, but I feel that the 'grey' alien facial look is so popular and overused as to be uninteresting. Everything about your piece is spot on for the topic, but the alien look feels common instead of unique for me.

Valence, I really like your alien creepy cat. Unlike Thomgirl I think the humanoid face and expression works to make it more alien. In terms of following the brief you're the closest I think, in the sense of "this is my alien pet that lives with me" (although Banj's squatter is a close runner up)

Banj, I liked the sketch you did but I think the 3D version kind of lost something in terms of facial expression. I also feel that it looks a bit too "plastic", especially in the face and the clothes (and Thomgirl makes a good point about the light though I didn't really see it before...). I think I'd have preferred to see it painted. That said, I think it's both funny and well made and the character is an odd mix of harmless and creepy, somehow.

Micro, I'm just going to have to agree with Banj. I've no idea how that mama creature would work in the real world - the wings look a little backwards but they still look good. And it might not quite follow the brief "now it lives with you", but it gets my vote anyway. Each of these pics had their strenghts and weaknesses as usual, and in the end I just went by "which one would I put on my wall?". And that's this one.

Micro:
I agree with Banj, this is definitely one of your best pics. There's a good understandable connection between the two creatures that implies their relationship and I like the imaginative designs. The winding branches are a clever compositional tool, creating depth with the varying values while also guiding your eyes in and around the image and behind it all is a lovely glare that really captures that sense of dappled light through hazy foliage. The texture is good too, you're getting better and better at layering and integrating them to create a believable consistency and it even has an impasto-style look to some of the areas. I would have liked a little more depth separation between the smaller guy and the branch behind but it's not a big issue, especially after you solved the tangent problem from the wips.
I think my favourite part, though, is the choice of those iridescent blues in the feathered creature. It's very eye-catching but also well-controlled. That kind of strong saturation is tough to pull off but you've done it well here. Well Done.

Banj:
This is a fantastic concept. It made me smile straight away and seeing the details go in bit by bit in that 3D way was good fun to watch too. And that level of detail is very impressive with all the natural stuff like the leafy structures at the back and the grass-like rug, but also the smoother objects like the adapter sockets and all those cans! And if that wasn't enough there's also the added details of context with all those posters and the t-shirt. It makes me feel very embarrassed about the blank background in my pic!
The carrot-alien is a brilliant idea, I love the design with the textured spots and the well-sculpted geometry, especially the creases behind the "knee". The overall pose is just perfect too in the way that it expresses that "night in front of the TV" feeling with the lazy hand and the drooping pizza. The only minor gripes are the diverging look to the eyes (and yet that vacant gaze could be down to something alcoholic in those cans!) and the specularity of the teeth catches my eye a little too much. But none of that affects the terrific mood and personality of the picture, I know instantly what this guy is like and what he's doing, and I certainly know he isn't gonna clean up afterwards!

Segujo:
This was a great start to a picture and a wonderfully surreal creature. With that beak-shape to the head, the wings and curving body shape it made me think of a weird alien rubber duck. I don't know what colour you would have ended up doing it but in my mind it was definitely that familiar shiny yellow. I imagined it being like one of those Men In Black creatures that is disguised as a duck and is in the process of shape-shifting into its larger alien form.

And now the choosings…
Hmmm…
I think micro's is probably the best picture of the three and would get my win away from the challenge criteria, but I think I'm gonna vote for Banj because I think he really nailed the brief with his idea. The way the posters and the whole scenario perfectly matches the pulp, sci-fi theme of the title and description makes it hard for me to ignore.

I hereby order one vote for Banj.

Val: Really digging your alien kitty design, the anatomy looks pretty great considering it's not based in reality! The dynamic pouncy pose adds movement to the pic, which shows the aliens aggressive nature and his prediitor insticts. I know the rock is just part of the forground but it looks great, the lighting and texture both look realistic. The eyes really help pull you into the painting and suck you in, allowing you to see all the detail in his face. the eyes are the focal point for me and I think the mysterious glow in the background makes him pop out with the rim lighting around him, which is a nice touch. Overall I think this is one of your cooler critters !

Banj: I know how difficult and time consuming 3D is compared to 2D. There's so much (set) detail everywhere in your pic it adds a nice touch to the central figure to tell a story, and each object has a full range of detail and texture mapping to give everything a professional looking touch. The central carrot creature is looking great with the texture and colors you chose, so given all that you win my vote this month. Cheers!

To everyone that wasn't able to finish.. that's ok, better to submit then to not submit!

These are all amazing. Outstanding quality from the minimalist cat creature (which is the only cat i'd let in my house