CGAN June 2016 Cleric of the Moon God Lûne - Final

Once the colors were done I decided to load it up into Rebelle and give it a watercolor wash to soften the image and add some texture. Going to stop messing about with it before I really mess it up. Calling it done.

WIP 01: cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...e-wip?start=10#13882
WIP02: cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...e-wip?start=10#13909
WIP03: cgartnexus.com/index.php/forums/challeng...e-wip?start=20#13927

Kind of proud I've managed it before the time's over. So let's dance for the Moon God Lûne

Good luck guys

WIP 1 & WIP 2 - sketch and color palette

WIP 3 - flower petals all over!

Pretty happy with the result. So here it is.

WIP01
WIP02
WIP03

Not enough time equals not enough detail.
And when you want to hide a lack of detail nothing beats a gimmicky lighting effect.

1: Very Late Work.
2: Very, Very Late Work.





Well Done Everyone and Good Luck!

Ok let's see......

Val: Football? really? the beautiful game getting in the way of beautiful art? - I know what you mean. I recently updated my favourite MMO that I had finally managed to ween myself off about 2 years ago because I was losing my entire life to it. And now? Guess what? It's happening again. It's why I haven't entered the last two challenges but I promise to do better this month. Any way, your entry....I think we can all see you ran out of time on the detailing but it's such a strong idea and composition. It's like you were just waiting for that final little suggestion from Tyl to finish it off. I don't mind the clothing at all, in fact I think it 's rather well designed and the folds in the cloth are lovely. Those little gold swirls on the lower skirt help describe the form very well and add some real interest.


Tyl: Your use of colour across the character here is extremely successful. I perhaps would have altered image slightly rendering her up in stone to depict a statue of a famous cleric and lost the trees to show a stormy sky in the background. It could have bee fun(?) to show rain water washing over the surface of the stone and a mysterious glow to her eyes. But then I guess I should have made this suggestion in the wip thread - sorry. I love the rendering of the fur - you've encapsulated the form and texture perfectly and I thought the little nod to Hansnomads image on her necklace is a really nice touch. Her hair and clothing is spot on thematically and the coat of arms on her outfit lends the whole thing a very Beowulf-y air which I think is very appropriate.


Cherry: You make me smile with every entry you produce. Someone says cleric and everyone else jumps on the Dungeons and Dragons type bandwagon to produce images of a holy warrior. Someone says cleric and you grab the theme and drag it - sorry that should be - dance with it all the way to that surreal, fairytale world that you live in to produce a ballet inspired, pastel rendition of a beautiful story that for some reason seems to hold some latent dark undertones. Technically this is not my favourite of the entries but where you took the idea and the simple majesty of what you produced is why I always enjoy challenges a little more when you enter them.

Hansnomad: Technically this is my favourite entry. This is the type of thing I would hang on my wall as inspiration in how to depict the human form in a provocative way. The pose, the texture of the skin, the colour and tones used and the costume are all handled beautifully. I am particularly intrigued by her almost yoke like necklace, it's almost a slave collar which to me, provokes some very interesting ideas with regard to religion and free will while in service to a deity. The water bowl she carries not only provides an appropriate device to make the image more acceptable in terms of content but also humbles the character through a suggestion of ritual and servitude that is in contrast with her demeanour and gaze suggesting she serves through choice and not fear. there is also an underlying tension to the piece that I attribute to the fact she is topless.

Excellently rendered, thematically and conceptually provoking and the kind of image I strive to produce myself Hansnomad gets my vote this month. Let me know if you get this printed I would love to get a copy Hans, well done.

Hansnomad:
Another fantastic drawing for everyone to envy, and I do envy it! The form and mass of the flesh is perfect. Even though you were uncertain about the colours, you made good, quick progress with this picture and perhaps because of that I feel that this image has a much more unified mood than last month's challenge. And you've managed to get that dark moonlit look to it!
All the narrative elements of the jewellery work to offer that sense of intrigue, context and backstory, as well as adding a contrast in form and colour.
If you'd had a bit of extra time I would have liked to see a bit of reflected light on the darker side of the face, perhaps bouncing up from the bowl, just to add a bit more dimension to enhance the shaded areas there.
I was very interested by your use of Rebelle. I love seeing people use software that I'm not familiar with and learning what new techniques it provides. And with that you seem to have added an extra sense of texture and consistency to the whole image that really pulled it all together in the end.

CherryGraphics:
I loved this all the way through. I would never have thought of producing this kind of picture from this particular subject matter. It's so innovative, imaginative and original, and right from the first sketchy lines I could see exactly what you were thinking and I instantly knew that, yes, this was going to work. And then with each improved wip, it got better and better, every choice you made was the right one. The fluid composition, the spiralling shape of the petals that follows through the splash of the water back to the arched spine: it all hits the mark. I loved the addition of the pinkish colours and loved it even more when you added the final dark inside it and added the sparkle of stars to the outfit.
One minor quibble is the lower arm. It looks a little stiff when compared to the rest of the pose. A softer elbow or wrist could enhance and continue the flow further into the picture. But it still works wonderfully well and the style of the figure suits the clean, freshness of this interpretation of the theme.

Tyl:
This is another picture that started well and kept on getting better. You instantly got the Norse, Viking look that you wanted and built upon that as you formed the hair and the fur. That hair is very well done, the braids just look so substantial and weighty yet still have the softer inner detail of individual strands.
At one point I was a bit worried about the harsh colour split of the foreground and background but you solved it by adding some convincing warmer tones to the skin and some blue ambient light to the fur.
The final pass of detailing really makes everything stand out further, especially the specular highlights in the eyes and on the medallion. These little touches add so much to the final image to give it that crisp, professional polish that I wish my pictures had. You're right to be happy with it.

Charlotte:
An aborted comeback is still a comeback! And a welcome one at that.
This was a lovely sketch, even though is was just a few lines and values it still clearly described the symbolism and meaning of the theme. The concentration of the face and the formality of the pose express the feeling of some profound and significant ritual taking place and I also like that mass of dreadlock-style hair.
Hopefully we'll have a longer comeback next time.

And so to vote.
I was leaning towards Cherry all the way through this month and then Tyl pulled out those final specular details to make it very hard for me to choose. Both Tyl's and Hansnomad's paintings have a very high technical quality and detailed precision while Cherry's has such a free expressive style to it. And how do you compare and judge pictures that are successful in such different ways? Hmmmm.
I think I'm gonna have to stay with Cherry and my first gut instinct. I think it's artistically the most complete all-round picture, in terms of composition and emotional impact, and that expression and feeling seems to connect with me without the need for more technical detail. Plus I find it hard to go against that completely unexpected originality of the concept.

Cherry: Phenomenal work. I love how you took it in a totally different direction. I bow to your creative instincts, you are far braver than I. I absolutely loved the pose. The piece has a light, playful feel to it--I found it beautiful and pleasantly unexpected. The pose and the arc of the petals describe the flow of motion perfectly--an unbridled celebration of the moon. Fantastic work.

Val: In spite on working against the clock, you managed quite a strong entry. My eye just kept going to the head piece, I loved the head piece (and of course that fixation lead to my suggestion-LOL). I honestly don't know why you complained about the clothing, it looks like a great design (and the small gold accents really sell it as ceremonial garb). Another great entry.

Tyl: I loved this one from the beginning and it resounded with me all the way through the contest. I enjoyed watching it come together and as I mentioned in a previous post--masterful use of color to maintain the atmosphere. The face is still my favorite part (although the necklace is a close second ). You really captured the Nordic look with the clothing and the hair. This one gets my vote.

At first ... thank you all SO MUCH for these lovely words.. It's so great to know that I make someone smiling with my paintings ....

So and now:

Hans:

I love how your character turns out, it looks so real! I really don't have this knowlegde of bones and muscles of a human body so I really adore your accurate, but also very illustrative painting. The simple design of her clothes fits wonderfully in the scene.

Tyl:

The woman looks great I can really feel what she feels when I look at her. Her cloth and the black trees in the background give the picture a real cold, norse mood that I really enjoy. As I said in the WIP thread I think she is a little bit static, the painting lacks a bit vitality. Maybe it's just because of the colors, a little lack of light from the moon perhaps.

Val:

For this little time you've done a nice job. We all can see how it would looked if you had more time. The lightning from the wizard/priest and the ball looks like a very cool idea!

Sooooo ... my vote goes to Hans thisa time. Great work!