CGAN May 2017 - The First Vampire

A bit early but work commitments are killing me right now.
As always I would have loved to spend (a great deal) more time on this but hey-ho.
False start
Wip 1
Wip 2

And the final.....for now......

So much for that race to the deadline! But I don't mind stumbling in third.

1: Wrong!
2: Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right.
3: Slightly Less Wrong.
4: Skinny Details.
5: Feel The Collar For A Cheap Frill.

And after too many wips ... a final, of sorts.



Good Luck, all.

Atto:
I think you put us all to shame with the amount of work you put in this month. Your picture, with all its different figures, is incredibly ambitious and it wasn't even your only idea for the challenge!
The composition is great and all the characters are very well arranged. I particularly like the contrast between the two women, with one cowering with subservience and the other challenging us with that glance over the shoulder.
The vampire character is easily recognisable through the position, relationship and expression, and the style fulfils all of your expectations of what a vampire should be like.
I wish the deadline hadn't arrived so quick so that maybe you could have blended the skin of the girl on the left a little more. The hard edges around the shoulder look a bit blotchy at first glance. The textures everywhere else are very good though, especially all the different fabrics and their distinctive folds. They all look like they have a different feel and also a different mass, something that's often difficult to depict.

Banj:
When seeing the title of this challenge I (and probably everyone else) had a clear idea of what kind of pictures would probably appear in the finals thread. And this wasn't one of them.
It's a brilliantly original design for what a vampire monster could (and perhaps should) look like and it's refreshing to see someone eschew all the traditional, familiar tropes to produce something completely unique.
With the human body, the fish-like head, the monstrous teeth, a lion's mane and those creepy long hands at the end of the furry arms, the whole creature looks like some mythological chimera from all our nightmares and combining all those disparate elements into a single, coherent entity requires a substantial amount of skill and imagination.
With the deadline fast approaching I think the choices about colour scheme and rendering style were well made and give the pic a dark, comic book feel. Also those little diagonal strokes highlighting the pools of blood are very effective at describing the scene without the need to overpower the picture with saturated reds.

And a whinge at my own picture:
I really don't like the legs in mine and with hindsight I think I would have been better off painting the full body and then cropping instead of repeatedly extending the canvas downwards and drawing in a bit more of the body, then a bit more, then a bit more... etc. As a result the muscle anatomy there looks very confused indeed.
Memo to self: Do better! Or else.

And voting…
I do feel very envious of Banj's imagination and originality but I think it's very hard to go against all the hard work Atto put in this month and I think all that ambition deserves some reward.

So… Atto.

Val - I think you're being a little over critical with your entry this month. The skin texture and colour is fantastic and very appropriate to the character. The translucent effect to the frill is excellent and it's eyes have a depth to them that I love.
Excellent lighting from above and look! You even gave us hands!!

Banj - Such a cool design, loving the overlarge hands, big fish lips and all those teeth. A lovely sense of light and form and the structure to the skull, while exaggerated and deformed still comes across as believable, something I utterly fail at when attempting something similar.

My vote this month goes to Val, even if we did only get three fingers