CGAN Dec 2016 - The Ice Warriors - Final entries

The Ice Warriors

Brief: Open brief. Use all your creative might to take this title and illustrate it. Have fun and a merry Christmassy period from us.

[strike]Deadline: Saturday 31st of December at midnight GMT. (NOTE: Due to New Year celebratory wildness voting may be delayed but will happen when we wake up sometime in the new year)[/strike]
VOTING is open, until January 8th!

This is where you post your Final entries. WIPs should be posted over here: cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...he-ice-warriors-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 - SCHIZOPHRENIAWOLF

Ok here it is !


WIP 01

WIP 02

cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...s?limitstart=0#14890

cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...s?limitstart=0#14904

cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...-wips?start=10#14922

cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...-wips?start=10#14978

OOooK It seems like I've managed to set up the vote! Come one, come all, come hither and dither...

uhm yeah. Voting deadline is January 8th so you have 1 week.

Short feedback:
Schizo, your pics are always awesome. I don't know if it's because I expected the wip format, but I kind of feel that the wip's with the faces closer and the cropping, had more energy to it. Still great though.

Phoenix: I'm amazed that you had time to add armor on that bear! Your outline/sketch for the woman looked very accurate but I feel she's a bit hard to read now when coloured and her skin tones are a bit flat... Try adding a bit more warmth, next time, maybe?

Schizo:
Yes, this theme was made for you. And it's good to see you get the time to work the picture right to the end.
There's an awesome amount of detail throughout the image and the standard of the figure work is right up with your best. The colours are perfect too, particularly the control of saturation in the top left corner. I'd say it's cool but it isn't, it's cold. So very cold!
I too was surprised by your last-minute format change and, like Charlotte, I think I prefer the wider, landscape composition, especially the way the long, reaching arm in the foreground acted like a foundational base for the whole painting. But I don't begrudge you the chance to put in a signature wolf! He looks like a super scary beast and those teeth are absolutely fantastic!

Phoenixdee:
I do like this idea with the bear. The Narnia/Dark Materials mashup is one of those things that I wished I'd thought of. The best ideas always seem obvious after the fact.
You made some terrific progress in a very short space of time, achieving much more than I would have and there are some wonderful edges on that bear. It gives it an embossed style of emphasis that pulls it out of the background without having to alter the unified palette. I love the falling snow too. It's really easy to end up with something that looks like a flat afterthought but this snow has a lovely variety of size and detail to create a tangible feel of depth and movement.
I like the pose and expression of the girl, so much so that I wish you'd had a few more days to develop it further with some more shading to the face.
Oh and I'm glad you managed to fit the distant figures in. I was worried you would lose them in the crop but their presence keeps a bit of narrative context in the picture. Good Work.

DigitalDave:
Some really strong character art in your idea. You did a great job of depicting your warriors and their relationship while also adding enough details to imply the world they live in.
I was particularly impressed with the clothing, all that fabric and fur is very well rendered and looks completely natural.
It's a shame you didn't get chance to polish off to a finish but we all know that time is far too fleeting at this time of year and my sad effort didn't even get past the abandoned sketch!

And my vote…
Much as I'm drawn to Phoenixdee's idea, and the quick, successful efficiency of the progress, this is one of those occasions when it's very hard to go against the super-professional level of detail in Schizo's painting.
The scary wolf gets it this time.

Nice works Schizo and Phoenixdee. They both fit the brief well.

Thanks for the kind words, Valence. And yeah, though I wasn't planning to do much more on mine, I just never got the time to sit down and do it. Hoping to finish it up sometime here soon.

The Icy cold winds of the north blew through the forum. Everything in their path froze in an instant. And as the storm calmed to little more than a chill breeze barely brushing the snowflakes from the rocks, the the forum lay deathly quiet. The challenge results stood frozen in time, a reminder of a contest long forgotten. Then a shadowy figure came through the mist. The figure raised a hand and blew across it's palm and the ice surrounding the challenge results melted as quickly as it had formed.

"Voting is over" bellowed a gruff voice.
"SchizophreniaWolf is victorius" the sound echoed around the land.

With that, the figure sloped back into the mists leaving no footprints in the snow. And in the distance a small almost imperceptible thud.

"OUCH! Who left that thing laying there?"

Well, someone's in a writing mood today. ...Nicely done. and Congrats Schizo

But now I just want to know what that "imperceptible thud" was. To be continued?...

*hides from the snow*
Congrats Schizo!

Digital Dave wrote:
But now I just want to know what that "imperceptible thud" was. To be continued?...

The shadowy figure picked himself up from the ground and cursed under his breath as he brushed the loose snow from his body.

He looked back at what had made him trip in the cold mist. Before him was a lump partially covered in the snow. He could barely make out a face and a mouth shrouded in icicles formed from its own drool.

"See the little goblin, see his little feet..." The lump sang drunkenly.

"Charlotte?" Said the shadowy figure.