This week's theme and brief by previous winner, CBinnsIllustration
Crimson Character of the Week #41
Cimmerian Cook
"We all know about Conan the most famous Cimmerian, but no one talks about how he was able to build and maintain all those muscles. The Skilled Cimmerian chefs were built for battle with a sword or a ladle, in a duel or a stew they were up to the task."
The best of the CHOWs will be picked by an anonymous poll in the Finals thread and the winner is given the opportunity to pick the theme of the next CHOW's design, as well as becoming the title banner for that week! So go hard, design something interesting and unique!
Guidelines:
- No photograph paint overs, must be 100% original work. (See next rule for exception)
- 3D is permitted and renders MAY be used as whole or in part of a painting, as long as YOU created the work. Pre-made and/or purchased, online, assets are forbidden.
- There is no restriction on the character's gender, time period or culture.
- Studies are recommended, but not required.
- There is no restriction on image formats (horizontal, vertical, square).
- Environment backgrounds are optional.
- Keep in mind you are not required to stick to what is in the passage. It is more of a guide in terms of mood.
Rules:
- You must post at least one WIP in the WIP thread to be accepted into the final poll.
- Finals must be posted in the finals thread before the deadline.
- At least 3/4 of the character must be visible (minimum from the knees up).
- Only ONE submission per person in the finals thread.
- No fanart. We want to see your original, unique interpretations!
- Voting will be held for 5 days after the deadline.
- In an event of a tiebreaker, a winner will be chosen through a randomized name picker.
Deadline is Saturday, January 21st @ UTC: 23:59
-+|| WIP THREAD ||+-
Alright I'm gonna have a go at this one, and try to do more designing and less just illustrating. I am kind of basing it on the old Conan comics from the 70s but as a reimagining of the series as a modern game, and the cook would be like an NPC at Conan's camp. So I think I'm going to extend the design to the stuff he would have around him at camp. I think one thing I'll change i'll have his apron tie under his gut so that his midsection is a lot rounder
Killer start dude! Loving the pose and his chubby face! Would love to see a tad more “formidable-ness” but I’m sure that will come.
(12-28-2022, 03:02 AM)CBinnsIllustration Wrote: [ -> ]Killer start dude! Loving the pose and his chubby face! Would love to see a tad more “formidable-ness” but I’m sure that will come.
Yeah, I think I'm gonna change his body proportions and make him older and bigger!
I’m thinking for mine has a crippled Cimmerian war hero turned cook. In an attempt to remain useful to his kin Krum took over the cooking, unfortunately the only thing that takes longer than his duck liver stew is his embellished war stories of yesteryears.
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Just throwing this guy on here before I have to sign with 2023 :) happy new years y’all!
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happy new year! Update on what mine looks like so far
Which thumbnail do you like?
JosephCow: Coming along great! I like the orthographic like view that you are presenting here along with some environment to help seal the deal.
CbinnsIllustration: That looks awesome, the value work and lighting especially really do this justice. The overall character design is really good too. I can just imagine this guy hobbling around trying to cook for the beast.
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(01-06-2023, 11:49 PM)Lege1 Wrote: [ -> ]Which thumbnail do you like?
JosephCow: Coming along great! I like the orthoscopic like view that you are presenting here along with some environment to help seal the deal.
CbinnsIllustration: That looks awesome, the value work and lighting especially really do this justice. The overall character design is really good too. I can just imagine this guy hobbling around trying to cook for the beast.
1 or 5 one as quirky mommy energy and the other as a i can serve you more than a meal type of vibe.
I like the direction you're taking! 1 looks good to me
(01-01-2023, 05:28 AM)CBinnsIllustration Wrote: [ -> ]Just throwing this guy on here before I have to sign with 2023 :) happy new years y’all!
There Some anatomy issue the more i look at it the pectoral muscle for example look like it fusing with the shoulder or the bumb near the the tibia is missing and the belly look very uncentered.
Is ear seem very out of place
How tall is that guy in the back? He seem very tall if you extend a line to check where both fall in perspective it almost an horizontal line i get that the other character is leaning but something doesn't seem right.I might be wrong suck at perspective.
Excuse my poor anatomy i got the eye but not necessarly the skill to do a good PO
I crop the extra black border i don't see the use for it.The grass doesn't convince me it look like fur.
Great anatomy on the arm rest on the the barrel i gotta add not just to be spewing negative.I which we could see a bit more of the hanging meat...
Which of the 3 concepts would you like to see brought to final?
Darktiste: Thank you so much for that input and so promptly, it means a lot. I took your suggestions into consideration and came up with the following. Now I'm trying to narrow things down.
(01-07-2023, 12:57 PM)Lege1 Wrote: [ -> ]Which of the 3 concepts would you like to see brought to final?
Darktiste: Thank you so much for that input and so promptly, it means a lot. I took your suggestions into consideration and came up with the following. Now I'm trying to narrow things down.
You got a natural affinity for expressive gesture but i suggest spending more time learning to learn how to ''wrap'' object around surface some of the belt and cloth seem a bit to flat.Also properly following the centerline of an object would help because right now the ''spoon'' sorry my english ain't super.So anyway what i was saying is that the spoon was mess up because the ellipse are in the wrong degre you can tell because they are contradicting the centerline of the ''spoon'' have you heard of the major and minor axis?
More convincing foot wear would also improve the overall work.Take time to find reference but try to give yourself a timeline not to over reference because it can kill motivation(seeing to many good artist) or overwhelm you(to many idea).
I think the most coherent design is 1 but it doesn't mean you can't fix any of the two other.
(01-07-2023, 01:36 PM)darktiste Wrote: [ -> ] (01-07-2023, 12:57 PM)Lege1 Wrote: [ -> ]Which of the 3 concepts would you like to see brought to final?
Darktiste: Thank you so much for that input and so promptly, it means a lot. I took your suggestions into consideration and came up with the following. Now I'm trying to narrow things down.
You got a natural affinity for expressive gesture but i suggest spending more time learning to learn how to ''wrap'' object around surface some of the belt and cloth seem a bit to flat.Also properly following the centerline of an object would help because right now the ''spoon'' sorry my english ain't super.So anyway what i was saying is that the spoon was mess up because the ellipse are in the wrong degre you can tell because they are contradicting the centerline of the ''spoon'' have you heard of the major and minor axis?
More convincing foot wear would also improve the overall work.Take time to find reference but try to give yourself a timeline not to over reference because it can kill motivation(seeing to many good artist) or overwhelm you(to many idea).
I think the most coherent design is 1 but it doesn't mean you can't fix any of the two other.
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Darktiste: Thank you so much and I enjoy the process of gesture drawing figures. Would you mind doing a paint over of the most problematic area of wrapping so I can better understand what you are mentioning visually? It's ok =) your English is not that bad, I understand what you are writing, but if it is better for you to write in your native language I wouldn't mind using a translator to read your messages, unless you prefer the English practice.
In regards to the major and minor axis situation I do remember this from math class although the formulas are blurry. I know the major axis follows the y aspect of the ellipse which represents the longer side, and the minor axis represents x which is the smaller side of an ellipse. I do understand what you are saying how the spoons are not perfect and the ellipses are off, I noticed this while drawing it and actually decided to keep it to maybe make for a more worn/ warped older utensil look.I will see to making corrections in the the re-work.
I agree on the foot wear and was thinking the same thing. I did kind of keep it basic for the primary reason of not drawing too much attention to that area but it might be something to definitely better some. Yes the referencing can become overwhelming but it is up to us how far to take it. I'm very glad you are liking #1 and I will go ahead and work more on that one. If time permits I will definitely get back into the other two as well.
Thank you so much again for the input and feel free to paint over any of my images or write me in your native language if that makes communication easier. 
I won't go into detail i think this not the place for long critic but i did PO.But to explain the wrapping people generally only do the sufrace that touch the person they forget to extrude and give a believeable thinkness to there object even a simple belt as a difference between how the two ellipse wrap around an subject. I recommend you got to drawabox.com to get to know more about ellipse i been struggling with them for a long time and i am not immune to bad estimation of the degre they should be view in a certain orientation.
The problem is that it very hard even on my po to pick up on those detail and it won't make sense until you see it and can somehow visualize the volume of what every you are wrapping around. For example let say a belt wrap around a box vs wrap around an arm(cylinder).
@Darktiste tactical and helpful feedback once again. Much appreciated. Good to see you joining in with the CHOW forum, we are getting some action this time around it seems. Maybe you want to join in with a piece of your own? Could be fun!
In regards to the ear, good shout it was bothering me too, for these CHOW pieces they don’t normally get my usual attention to fundamentals and thing can slip through the cracks as I’m going for speed over accuracy at times. I will fix that.
Good shout on the grass too. I fully admit this was rushed, I will attempt to fix for the final
As for the anatomy, I was going for a unbalanced pose, is if it were the moment before the barrels toppled over and he fell in a drunken mess. Now granted I broke some anatomy rules for that and it gives him some inaccuracies I didn’t feel it was too far off. I will tweak his belly button to be a tad closer to your centerline in you PO and i helps correct that “twist” at the hip he kind of has.
As for the barbarian in the background, I intentionally hid his feet as to not draw too much attention away by fleshing him out more, with the focus being his impatient expression. But you are right it allows for confusion as to his height. I did notice after adding him that I had not put them both on the right eye plane in regards to the horizon, But with no horizon in sight the only thing to guide you is the barrel lids and bbq. I decided to leave him as is, we can just pretend they are on very uneven ground and he is sat on a box :) as these CHOWs are just for a bit of fun after all
I may flesh out a couple of the hanging birds just for you.
Once again thanks taking the time for the honest feedback.
(01-08-2023, 01:24 AM)darktiste Wrote: [ -> ]I won't go into detail i think this not the place for long critic but i did PO.But to explain the wrapping people generally only do the sufrace that touch the person they forget to extrude and give a believeable thinkness to there object even a simple belt as a difference between how the two ellipse wrap around an subject. I recommend you got to drawabox.com to get to know more about ellipse i been struggling with them for a long time and i am not immune to bad estimation of the degre they should be view in a certain orientation.
The problem is that it very hard even on my po to pick up on those detail and it won't make sense until you see it and can somehow visualize the volume of what every you are wrapping around. For example let say a belt wrap around a box vs wrap around an arm(cylinder).
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Darktiste: This is great and thank you so much man for the paint over! I absolutely see what you mean by extruding and how you worked out the belt there, the hat, and the shirt cuff.Thank you also on the anatomy corrections as all those make a lot of sense and push the correctness of the image further.Thank you for the drawabox.com link as well the site is a gold mine of knowledge and very awesome!The belt wrapping around an arm or box is perfect, I understand what you mean. Thank you so very much again, this information was great and the drawabox site is amazing. Updates here soon.... 
@Lege1 i think you have a terrific start there and, like Darktiste called out, your natural ability to create very readable and lively gesture thumbnails is on point and I find them all great, this is a skill not many artist have and i would let it drive your art more. I would personally not move too far away from them and use them as a closer fountain for your piece.
What i mean by that is, at times a method i take to my characters is i like to build on a very rough gesture, then use that to create an interesting silhouette, from that i put in the structure and a few element i want to include ( things like hair, face angle, muscle and breast size) and try to fix some of the obvious anatomy and pose concerns ( some issues are ok at an early stage as you can correct in shading and coloring later, the key is to keep it loose.) Sometimes if i focus too much on anatomy at this stage that i can flatten and stiffen my characters. Then after im happy with the overall shape i start to add to it and wrap elements around the character. I hope you dont mind but i did a quick process sketch of how i might have take one of your gesture drawings that spoke to me the most. I tried to keep as close to the original shape as possible as that is what i liked about it originally.
But very nice work and i cant wait to see where you go with this :)
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(01-08-2023, 06:07 AM)CBinnsIllustration Wrote: [ -> ]@Lege1 i think you have a terrific start there and, like Darktiste called out, your natural ability to create very readable and lively gesture thumbnails is on point and I find them all great, this is a skill not many artist have and i would let it drive your art more. I would personally not move too far away from them and use them as a closer fountain for your piece.
What i mean by that is, at times a method i take to my characters is i like to build on a very rough gesture, then use that to create an interesting silhouette, from that i put in the structure and a few element i want to include ( things like hair, face angle, muscle and breast size) and try to fix some of the obvious anatomy and pose concerns ( some issues are ok at an early stage as you can correct in shading and coloring later, the key is to keep it loose.) Sometimes if i focus too much on anatomy at this stage that i can flatten and stiffen my characters. Then after im happy with the overall shape i start to add to it and wrap elements around the character. I hope you dont mind but i did a quick process sketch of how i might have take one of your gesture drawings that spoke to me the most. I tried to keep as close to the original shape as possible as that is what i liked about it originally.
But very nice work and i cant wait to see where you go with this :)
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CBinnsIllustration: Awww man, that is fantastic! Thank you so much for not only the input but the paint over, absolutely great! Yes, thank you so much on the compliments of the gesture thumnails, I do enjoy doing them and have done many over the years. I think your advice is grand about using the gestures closely and not moving to far away from them, along with the idea of keeping things loose.
I definitely like the idea of focusing more on the silhoutte before really getting into detail with the characters inner details, this is a great approach and I do understand the importance of a good silohuette as it really does make the thing read. Thank you so much again for all that as it really means alot, and what you drew up there is great, she looks rough. tough, and like she could whip up a mean feast. lol. 
