CGAN Oct 2014 Challenge - Dead of Night - WIPs

Well i'm a bit of a surrealist and i do love Mark Ryden's work. so this is mainly the sort of stuff i do.

Thank's for the feedback and don't worry the composition worked out, there's gonna be more characters in the picture who are gonna be at the front, this is just the first one i drew , if anything when it is finished he'll be the one you look at last.

Katie: Two things I wanted to put in my previous post but had to cut short (was furiously trying to type on my tablet during the ads of Homeland but my fat fingers failed me!)
1: I like the sinuous flowing design of the tree, it's nicely stylized and recognisable in pattern and texture and looks creepily alive.
2: The other thing that stood out is the stump area that the characters are standing on mirrors the shape of the girl's headless neck. This repetition of what people call "design motifs" is something that professionals and art teachers drone on about all the time, so it's great to see someone using these concepts so naturally at such an early stage of the sketch! Well done.

Oh wow thanks, and I didn't really notice the similarities of the neck and the stump, I never knew that was a thing, but thanks for pointing it out to me. I may think about more conciously in the future.

Hello all!
Haa Valence, you are right. It is a little bit too ambitious. All those figures, but its fun.
microscopi, also thanks to you, I'll try not to disappoint!

design, composition, Light... wip

Hey Katie welcome to the challenge, looking great so far, interesting subject matter.

Wolf that's looking really great , if you hurry you can still finish on time!

This is my last update till i'm posting, I think my zombies need more work hard to paint them all from that angle.

Schizo: Amazing! There seems to be even more figures! I don't know how you even do something on that scale.

Micro: Nice to see that blood red colour slopping about. Get into the gory spirit of it all!
But don't let that detail in the moon get too dark. You still want a bit of glare even if it is just reflected light.

Right, this has come on a bit more, just need to add a few more smaller characters and creatures. then colour and lighting and
so on…..

Katie wrote:

Right, this has come on a bit more, just need to add a few more smaller characters and creatures. then colour and lighting and
so on…..

Yes really like the position and the expression of the rabbit (I hope its a rabbit , the nose looks more like its from an antilop ) but the shape of the head is a bit off, looks bumpy, unless you really like it this way. I couldn't resist trying something, frankly, I would hate it if somebody did it with one of my drawings lol, if you hate it too, then i'm sorry, wont do it again.

Hey it's fine, i was a little freaked out that you did that, but it's alright.
Generally whenever I draw a character or anything i'll use references as a loose guide, and then experiment with shape and what not. With the rabbits head i did do other versions that were rounder in shape, but i wanted him to look slightly menacing , and i kinda felt that giving him prominent almost skeletle jawline was giving this effect. I like it, but it is always helpful to get another's perspective.