March challenge - Enter here!

Deadline for entry:
 

February challenge WINNER ANNOUNCED!

 

CGAN Jan 2015 Challenge - White as Snow - FINALS

02 Feb 2015 03:09 #8652 by Digital Dave
Very nice works everyone. :)

1 - Valence
2 - Kodabble
3 - Dom

I get sketchy around pencils! ...=D

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

02 Feb 2015 06:45 #8654 by CherryGraphics
Great work everyone! :)

Schizo - I reeeeally love your ice fairy with her strange look and expression. :woohoo: I also like the monochrome look of your piece. And especially her frozen wings are just ... wow. Yeah. :silly:

micro - Your final one is just awesome. The feeling of the cold and the warm season - I think i can grab it and put it into my own winter world here. :D I like the changes you did - from rotation to the doggies. (... DOGGIIIIIES! <3)
Only one point: I wouldn't put the person at the border of the canvas, just give them a little more room to be. :)

Valence Who would I be if I wouldn't give you and this wonderful piece no points. ;) I love her eyes and her whole expression and the snowflakes and her pale face and... Yes I like almost everything about it. Just her hair ... I don't know but it is a bit... like mine when I haven't see a brush for hours... and hours... and hours... :D Sorry. :*

----
Kodabble I like how it turned out. :) The snowflake and her wings are just awesome. Her hair is a bit static but I think it was intentional because of her frozen look?

Dom Elsa is great :D And her icy army is awesome too. But something is missing but I couldn't point out what it is... maybe a shadow of Elsa to give a bit more depth to the picture?

mind I like your style and the traditional look is great. But I was a bit surprised by the change of your color mood at least. I liked the brighter blue a bit more. :)

If I had a world of my own,everything would be nonsense.Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't.

Facebook / Behance
The following user(s) said Thank You: Mindbender

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

02 Feb 2015 07:55 - 02 Feb 2015 07:58 #8656 by SchizophreniaWolf
1: Valence: of course. Stunning portrait of a beautiful lady. My girlfriend said she didn't like the mouth, so I locked her up in the basement for a couple of hours :P . Domtopia is right about the snowflakes though.
2: CherryGraphics Yep, I like it. It has a story-feeling and I immediately hear music. Cool contrast and textures, maybe a little bit to dark under the wings and the weird shape coming out of the dragon's mount is also a mystery. But anyway a piece with allot of energy in it.
3: Domtopia: A sexy woman in charge of a army of Iceman! You have put allot of work in this paint, even though I doesn't really look finished. What is the black zone in the right lower corner of your frame? But love the retro-look and the fury of the mr.freeze-clone-army.

Then one more remark for Micro: Maybe you just wanted it this way and then it me. But the gate looses a bit of it's sense of scale because everything is really big. The trees, the logs in the wall, the flowers, now its like two different paintings glued together. But they are very nicely painted! I wanted to give you 3rd place!! :( I,M SORRY... I'M SORRRRYYY!!!!

O and Digital Dave... :whistle:
The following user(s) said Thank You: CherryGraphics

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

02 Feb 2015 14:33 - 02 Feb 2015 14:34 #8669 by Mindbender
Had a really hard time to decide as great thought and effort was put into every one of the pieces I could choose from.

Anyway, my votes will have to be:
1. Kodabble - really like the pose and the look of the elf, made me think of the remarkable art of the "Elfquest" series. Also very fond of the palette and the swirling motion of the snow and around the crystal.
2. Valence - beautiful portrait of a pale lady
3. microscopi - I'm a sucker for landscapes of epic proportions and really like how the winter ends with a huge door behind which the summer awaits - the one we all long for right now? ;)

But as I said: You all did great and many pieces could share the same spots if that had been allowed. Well done :)

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

02 Feb 2015 19:04 #8670 by Kodabble
Well done everyone B) . Have to agree it was a tough vote, so I wanted to give comments on everyone for my choices.
1 - Valence: Nice work. She is exquisite and definitely meets the theme. Love the focus on the big eyes. I like the idea of the snow covering/dress. Only wish there were some separate flakes on her body and hair like the ones in the background.
2 - Mindbender: one of the top choices for a wintry scene that matches the theme. I like the use of the limited palette though I think it could of used more contrast with true white.
3 - SchizophreniaWolf: She is pretty in a creepy way. I like the limited cold palette. Not quite sure about meeting the white as snow theme which is why she’s not number two on my choice. She appears to be more ice than snow, but the crystal wings are well done.
CherryGraphics: Love the dragon, especially the fire and ice idea. The biggest issue wound up being with the children. Their leg proportions look off and there is something in the twist of the girls dress that seems wrong to me.
Domtopia: Elsa really makes the piece and almost one of my top three. I wish she was more prominent to the piece (ie larger/closer). The icemen are really cool (pardon the pun :silly: ), though the as mentioned in the wip comments, the foreground and background characters needed contrast to give it depth.
Microscopi: Your winter to spring is a neat idea, and the latest is much clearer than your first work (wips). To me you needed more winter foreground so the dogsled and dogs could be bigger and not touching the bottom edge (could hardly tell what it was until I enlarged it picture).
The following user(s) said Thank You: Mindbender

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

02 Feb 2015 19:32 - 02 Feb 2015 23:28 #8671 by Valence
Well this is a tough one! So many good pictures and not enough points to give out. I think every single picture, even the unfinished ones, has at least one thing that I would like to have in my paintings. But the rules say that decisions must be made so here are my reluctant votes:

1:Schizo
2:CherryGraphics
3:Domtopia


And in no particular order I'll say...

Mindbender: The thick impasto paint style really suits this image and gives it a real sense of the depth and texture of the snow. I also like the crystalline shapes of the building and the growths around it reaching into the sky. When I first saw the progression of this image it reminded me of something and gradually the memory came to me of the old Superman movies when Christopher Reeve goes off to what I believe is called The Fortress Of Solitude (or something like that); Superman's secret arctic base where all the structures are big icy crystals isolating him from the any dangers in the outside world. You've really captured that kind of remote isolation and distance. Nicely Done.

Domtopia: The icemen really nail this image for me. When I saw the first sketch I thought, that'll be tricky, and I was subsequently impressed at the amazing complexity you acheived there. Not only do I not know how to draw and paint that, I don't even know how to initially imagine and visualise all those edges and the shading that suggest solidity and transparency at the same time. I was a little unsure about Elsa's prominence and whether there should be more contrast there but I do see how her power is emphasized by having her at the centre of that bold X shape that extends throughout the picture. And the fact that I've spent so much time arguing both sides of this with myself shows that your decision was just as valid as any other. Also I like the way that that you faced the issues that the picture presented to you and always strove to find the correct solution.
(And on another note thank you for the hair advice. If I could offer extra points for the way you successfully painted my picture better than me then I would.)

Schizo: Brilliant! I dread to think how good it would have been if you'd had the time you wanted. You always seem to have an intuitive grasp of anatomy no matter what the figure or the pose. I'm very envious at the apparent ease with which you do this (even though I know it's not really easy, it just seems that way to people who watch the progress.) The ice shard wings are inspired and perfectly rendered, there is no way that they could be better, and the image as a whole is just so very cold. I shiver every time I look at it. Well Done.

Kodabble: Great idea, great design and a great character. The drawing was really well done and as the colour and detail were gradually applied this became one of my favourites. The one thing that knocked it back a little at the end was the skin tone, it looks a little too much like a colour layer over greyscale (more about this later.) I noticed that you came to the challenge quite late so I expect that may have had an effect on how much time you had to layer the skin and as such it doesn't quite match the quality of the snowflake and the wings. But what quality there is in those two things! The way the wings join the body is difficult to do yet completely believable in your image and their intricate structure is beautifully defined with well-rendered light. The snowflake is exactly what you want a snowflake to be and again a big thank you for your demonstration. It was helpful to me in both technique and as an inspiration.

microscopi: Another epic textured image from you. The gate is an imposing edifice and yet still offers some hope for the viewer with the colours peeping from behind it. The contrast in scale works well too and the little figure and the dogs are suprisingly effective for something so small. I've zoomed in and they're only a few pixels high and yet still recognizable! The one critique I have is that you seem to have lost the depth of the earlier wips, the watery blue areas are really vibrant but don't quite have the diagonal, zigzag kind of path to lead you to the distant gate. But even so it's still a fine image.

Cherry: I wanted someone to do a dragon and boy, did you do a dragon. I said in the wips thread that the warm colour inside a cold colour was so clever and so brilliantly done, and not only that but was done with such frosty texture! Initially I had the same thought as Dom about the kids, they don't look quite scared enough, they look as though they're just playing. But then I thought, maybe they are playing. Maybe the dragon is just an ice sculpture and the kids are pretending to run away. Maybe the sculpture is coming to life without them knowing and turning into a real dragon. Maybe.... And that's what I like about your pictures Cherry, it doesn't matter if the style is to my taste, or if the subject matter is to my taste, the images always provoke stories and possibilities in my mind.

Thomgirl: Sorry you didn't make it. Clearly the child had a say in that and that's much more important than the picture, even though I like the picture and hope it might get finished one day. I always love your crisp line work, it's really striking and always backed up by the colouring and with this picture you were managing to combine bold abstract shapes on a large scale with the convincing drawing on the small scale. Do keep at it when the kid permits.

oaktree: Damn those deadlines! In the wip thread I was quick and eager to agree with Cherry when she said that this looked like a frame from a film. And it does. Really cinematic with a fine dramatic composition of the huntsman's face leaning and looming towards us. The sparse gradients of the background force your focus onto the man but the trees (wonderfully done with great efficiency; simple detail and yet I know exactly what kind of trees they are!) still give us a context to his environment which then link conceptually to the axe. Great Stuff! The little badge is symbolic and now nicely toned down and I like the furry texture of his hat. The expression is good too, nicely contemplative, and the highlights give a nice life to his eyes. The one area that could do with a tweak is the skin tone. There still seems to be a yellow cast to it and, a bit like Kodabble's, it gives the clear impression of a colour layer over greyscale.

And writing that twice in one post made me think. I know this has been heavily discussed before in the Nexus Colouring Book thread but forgive my little ramble... Colouring greyscale is a good way to get your values in early but it is a really difficult way to do skin. I know it is possible to do and Henning Ludvigsen has some good tutorials and videos on how he does it. But it takes such layering to get it right that I can't help but feel that even if you can get it right then you're doing it the hard way.
As I discussed in that other thread I used to do this all the time until I got too frustrated at a) Having to paint the picture twice, once in grey and then in colour and b) the struggle to stop the skin colours going muddy and dark. So I made a conscious effort to move away from this method, especially with skin. After studying a Marta Dahlig tutorial (doesn't seem to exist online any more :( ) I used her colours to make myself a series of default skin swatches to use. These ones in fact:



This improved things a bit but I still found it a bit of a struggle to know which colours to use where and when. Then I found a couple of tutorials by Serge Birault, here and here .
Even though it's not specifically for skin (and caricature pin-ups may not be everyone's cup of tea) I found the first one of these really helpful in understanding the brightness and saturation of the colours needed and specifically the way he uses a skin colour as a base for the whole canvas and then pulls lights and shadows out of this base. After studying this for a while I used what I'd learnt to make my own default swatches for pale skin (dark skin is another matter entirely, much to my annoyance and dismay) and arranged them in gradients like this:



Of course the downside of using a default set of swatches is that all your pictures have the same skin colours so it's a good idea to bypass this by using the Colour Balance adjustment or the Photo Filter tool to modify the light and shadow colour when you have the facial form painted and then ditch the swatches and eyedrop off the image for the rest of the painting.
And for quite a long time this was the way I used to do all my figures and portraits. It isn't now though. About six months ago I started to try a new method involving choosing colours based on the comparison of Cooler/Warmer and Brighter/Darker rather than just saying "Now I want a Red!". I'm still learning this and failing frequently but if anyone's interested this video explains the method. However I still think that the default skin swatches idea acted as a great stepping stone to wean me off the greyscale method and onto better things.

And now I should probably apologise. Sorry! The mods are probably on the verge of a fit while exclaiming, "The Finals thread is not for discussion!!" But after mentioning the greyscale thing twice it got me thinking about this and here seemed a good place to shove it. And "Shove it!!" is probably the correct response to that. So sorry again. (And I dread to think how many typos are in this! EDIT: Two so far. EDIT AGAIN: Make that three. Keep counting!)
Attachments:
The following user(s) said Thank You: Domtopia, CherryGraphics, SchizophreniaWolf, Mindbender

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

03 Feb 2015 13:57 #8715 by oaktree
Good work all but for me
1 Valance
2 Kodabble
3 CherryGraphics (for that dragon)

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

07 Feb 2015 22:58 - 07 Feb 2015 23:00 #8814 by microscopi
Just made it, the internet guy didn't show up so had to wait longer ! But anyway..
Appreciate the comments and feedback on mine guys, I have to say this, i'm more of a landscape guy, landscapes going up against characters is like peanut butter going up against chocolate but I still love landscapes !!! :woohoo:

(1) Kodabble - Really like the design, has an old school fantasy type feel I really like, the colors are awesome, especially in her hair, and the snow theme really works well, awesome!

(2) Valence - As per all the other comments awesome job!, The design and details are really well done. It's hard because everyone's an expert on critiquing faces as people stare at hundreds everyday, so you did a great job!

(3) Dom - I really like the character designs, Elsa looks amazing, and the ice army is really well detailed especially when you're just working with ice, way to go!

Cherry - I really liked the fire and ice theme with yours, I like the color contrasts from warm to cool colors and the dragon looks really awesome!

Schizo - I would of chosen yours as definitely in the top 3 if you finished more,! Although it looks amazing how it is already, you fit a lot of detail into your work, and you have a recognizable style thats all your own, looking really cool so far though

Mindbender - Really like the classic feel of the landscape and the mystery surrounding the door, great job, hope to see you in more challenges!

Oak - Too bad you didn't get yours in the final, It was just as good as the other submissions and you worked on it for awhile, hopefully you will get one in the next challenge !

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

08 Feb 2015 11:04 #8817 by Charlotte
It's been a week and I'm indebted to micro for the late vote as I would otherwise have forgotten to tally this thing up... :blush:

The results are:
Mindbender 2
Cherrygraphics 5
Domtopia 4
microscopi 3
Kodabble 11
Valence 20
SchizophreniaWolf 9

And the winner is Valence! Congatulations Valence.

Thank you all for participating. I chose the subject "White as Snow" just because snow is pretty much never entirely white and it's been a blast seeing what you've all come up with and all the colours you've actually managed to get in there :)
If I may, I'd like to give some "Honorable mentions" of my three favourites in no particular order:
Domtopia - those icemen are absolutely amazing, I have no idea how you managed to paint ice like that!
Schizo - I think your fairy is suberb, creepy but beautifully rendered and one of few images that just made me go "wow" when I saw the latest version.
Valence - I think it's a beautiful portrait with very soft pale colours just like you intended. And I like the snow - it looks a bit like she's got a snow-fur coat :) (One nitpick is the hair and snow at the left side of the portrait makes her left (to us) breast seem a bit small or "squeezed" - I'd have liked it to be visible a bit further back if that makes sense.)

Any an all misspellings are henceforth blamed on the cats.
The following user(s) said Thank You: SchizophreniaWolf, Mindbender

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

08 Feb 2015 11:06 #8818 by Charlotte
Btw I should add that it may be a while before everything's sorted with the winning image in the right galleries and being displayed on the front page and such because poor Banj is having the flu or some such. But Valence, you know the drill ;) send me a Pm!

Any an all misspellings are henceforth blamed on the cats.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Powered by Kunena Forum