Crimson CHOW #25 - Dystopian Detective

[Pubic Enemy]

This week's theme and brief by previous winner, mixedmax

Crimson Character of the Week #25

Dystopian Detective

"In a dystopian world, it's his duty to gather the clues and find out who's responsible. Was it a human, robot or a cybernetically enhanced dog?
Is he interested in solving the crime for good or is he aiming to cover it up?
And the last question: Is he human? Or is he something else entirely?"

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 Monday, March 22nd @ UTC: 23:59

-+|| WIP THREAD ||+-

[Pubic Enemy]

Here's WIP. I had more fun with this than expected and ended up spending every free hour on it. I'm not getting any points for originality, though. We got our Inspector Clouseau trench coat, suggested grimy urban setting, and sunglasses at night. Aww yeah.

[JosephCow]

Inspector Clouseau 

Why are all your references on point tho???

I like it so far. The red background is very vibrant. He's kind of giving me megamind vibes a little bit.

[RottenPocket]

As a primarily pencil artist I'm trying to find tools that emulate the pencil feel best because I prefer it as a foundation. The next hurdles are the fact that I almost never do sci-fi or tech, and working entirely in a new painting program. Have a medusa detective...

[Pubic Enemy]

JosephCow: Thanks. My brain is full of useless information that can be pulled from whenever funny references are needed. I haven't seen Megamind but I can see the resemblance, haha.

RottenPocket: That's a cool concept. Her profile and expression are really nicely drawn. Also, I can relate to wanting something that emulates the feeling of pencil drawing; some programs have really nice pressure detection or texture, but generally not both.

[Skeffin]

cool concepts, I like how the snake heads seems to be looking at different monitors, and the bloke in the trench and sunglass is great - really getting a dystopian cyberpunk feel from that

Mainly focused on the clothes and gadgets of the character here, did 4 rough base ideas, then did some gnarly studies and idea sketches below, with the chosen design on the right. Went with a military style puffer jacket, sort of combined 2 trends into one, and added a shit ton of pockets. And a cap that has a mask attached. Probably won't get around to finishing this as I also want to work on some instagram # thing, but we'll see. Was fun to do though, I don't do enough outfit stuff.

[Pubic Enemy]

I like how you gave it some fashionable but practical features (like the off-center zipper). It works well.

[Skeffin]

tidied up lines and doing some colour concepts. given the fact that he's supposed to be a detective he shouldn't be standing out in the crowd due to crazy colours, which is a shame cos I like the third and fourth colour concepts more, but I'll probably have to go with #1 and add interest via fabric texture. did try and pay a homage to the original beige detective trench coat but puffer jackets look hecking ugly in beige and brown

Going to design his mask and other accessories next, then render his clothes

[RottenPocket]

@Skeffin Thanks, yeah, that was the idea but if I want to finish anything I had to reconsider the concept - no way would I get that done in time. So many screens. 

And so rigid and lifeless too... SO time to start over. I think I've found the tools that make it as close as possible to real pencil  and eraser as possible and it's so much faster to knock something out now. I seem to have taken -not human- and -detective- as core features and forgot completely about the dystopian in the title. I'm using this challenge to stretch my painting legs again so I'll try to re-evaluate the costuming.

[Skeffin]

yea here's his gear, final will have little annotations

[Jana]

@Pubic Enemy: Wow, I love the vibes of your painting, the red is a really great contrast and gives it a really sinister feeling. Looking at it now, maybe my sketch was a little inspired by your detective.


My detctive does not leave his house to go on patrol. He just connects to the network using it to gather hundreds of informations in the blink of a second.

Refrence

Sketch

Coloured result


I kind of had to speedpaint this, because I don´t have enough time this week.

[Pubic Enemy]

Thanks Jana. I must say your concept is more thought-out than mine though, haha.

It's about 8 more hours 'till the deadline, so if you wanna post in the finals thread, be sure to do so before then.