CRIMSON ARENA 1-Child of Zeus

[PabloNotPicasso]

Really digging the variety of ideas happening here. Everyone's got a good start.

EduardoGaray- Man, that is a world I want to explore, giant god-constructs clashing sounds badass. For some feedback, I'd suggest giving some time to constructing the Asura head so it reads a bit more three dimensionally and not as flat. Avoid drawing just to the edges of the canvas, think how the head planes would be going back in space and in turn, that will help you figure out how the lighting will appear. Line art's looking solid for the main character though, pose and expression read well.

Crackedskull- Liking the idea that as the figure carves the small statue, the larger one echoes that. If you're having some trouble getting the statue to feel massive and far back, I have something that might help- the three C's of atmospheric perspective: color, clarity, and contrast. These are the main things that will all drop as objects get farther back in space. Color will drop in hue, edges will drop in clarity, and values will get closer together overall and drop in contrast. A quick google image search for mountains on the horizon should show this; as the mountains recede, they will seem to get more and more transparent. Anyway, hope this ramble is helpful.

Madzia- American Gods, aww yeah! Like the way you chose to portray your subject, and I agree with you that your third color comp works the best for the mood you're evoking. My only feedback would be to make sure to include some elements in the piece to show she's a goddess. I'm sure you can figure it out though, great start for sure.

Warzone- Biker Hephaestus could be pretty cool. Just research biker paraphernalia and think how you can incorporate Greek elements into the designs. Something like having his jacket contain patterns from Greek vases or his helmet incorporating shape language from a Hoplite helmet. Anyway, cool idea, carry it through!

RenatoCaria- Good variety of thumbnails, nice compositions, and overall its your call which thumbnail you chose, they all look good to me.

JJ Aaron- Psychopomp Hermes, good angle. I like your color thumbnail. Works well for the somber, dark angle you're taking with Hermes. Color choices are looking good as well, keep it up man!.

FutureSpaceGhost- Hey man! Good to see you on here. FYI, your thumbnails don't display in the thread, I had to click open in new tab. I like the gesture you've got in the middle one on the bottom row, its very sinuous and if I'm reading it right, you've got spirits and nightmares materializing around her. My two cents would be to take that idea, refine it more without loosing the flowing gesture, and then see how it looks with values.

Mr. Toodles- Good choice for subject, haven't seen too many examples of Midas and Dionysus in art. Your composition has a nice organization with the darker mass toward the right leading the eye, my feedback would just be to make things a little more legible, as I can't figure out too well what's happening there. Your written plans sounds cool though, it'll look good for sure.

Robertthem- Oh snap, I hadn't realized you were doing Athena as well, man. Thankfully, you seem to be going for a more classical composition than what I'm shooting for, so our pieces won't be too similar. I don't think the idea's boring at all, it depends on how you'll carry it through. Some of the best Jaime Jones pieces are nothing more exciting than "castle in a field" but what makes all the difference is how he takes that idea and runs with it. Your composition's got some good things happening, especially with your lighting and value grouping. I say go for it, the idea's solid and you could make a hell of a nice piece.

Darantha- Excellent research and ideation. Liking the choice on depicting Eris as well, haven't seen too many illustrations of her. Color choices and composition are solid, and overall, I haven't got much to say aside from carry on.

[robertthem]

Thanks, PabloNotPicasso. That's what I meant with "a boring idea well executed", I'll try to push it to the best I can do.
And our pieces are different enough, don't worry about that.

[goodsir]

We would like to keep the focus of the contest on humanoids but you can choose mortal children like Perseus (which i am working on xD).

Thanks for the swift reply, then steampunk Perseus it is :D

I've done some Composition and Color Schemes research:


And big waves study (Link to the original):

[Amit Dutta]

I may not be joining in this challenge, but as PabloNotPicasso gave such good crit to everyone I thought I would give some back at him. So, Pablo, I think you need to explore much more variation in your thumbnails. They are all pretty much identical really besides some really minor pose changes. I would suggest you really radically change up your ideas at this stage because this is the time to experiment and see if what you have in your head meets the challenge.
For a more heroic pose, consider moving the camera even lower and looking up at the figure? Definitely some heroic sunset bounce light off armour or shield or something will set a nice mood :)

[PabloNotPicasso]

Monkeybread- Thanks for the feedback man, and you're right, I need to get more variety in the thumbnails and not just get stuck on one idea. I'll get some more varied thumbnails going tomorrow. For tonight, I finished up some studies of barn owl heads. I'll be making the owl in the piece a barn owl, and I have no idea how to properly render or light feathers, so thats what these studies were aiming to solve.

[Forrestimel]

Hey everyone, great progress on your entries so far, really happy to see so many people entering :) I'm a little late in the game, but now that the D3 art contest is over I'll have much more time. I'll post some crits for everyone next time I show an update.

As for my image I'm doing a sci-fi/post-apocalyptic Artemis. The idea is that Cronus rose out of Tartarus and desecrated everything leaving a small population alive. The Gods fought him off and now are using this apocalypse as an excuse to return to power. For Artemis I'm going for a hardcore punk, very strong feminist type. I'd like to depict her with her group of girls that travel with her too. I just kinda like the idea of this traveling caravan of tough women that go around as sort of protectors of people after the apocalypse.

[PabloNotPicasso]

Taking Monkeybread's feedback, I went back and made more varied thumbnails for the composition with Athena and the owl. Personally, I like what's going on with the top right one where both subjects are in a profile view. I want the narrative of the piece to be that its a scene from the Titanomachy, the war between the titans and the gods, which would also explain why Athena would be in full armor and all that jazz. I'll be taking the thumbnail and making color studies. If I have the time, I'll do designs for her armor, otherwise all of that will have to get solved on the canvas as I go.

[bemota]

Oh my, everything is looking so cool!

Forrest, that is looking punk as hell, very very cool. I'm getting a Last Man Standing vibe but with Greek mythology = Nerd boner.

PablonotPicasso, good solid work! Very difficult to pick one, isn't it? I personally like the middle one from the top row and the bottom row because there is some movement but maybe that's not what you are going for.

I decided to illustrate Perseus turning Citus (se monster) to stone and saving Andromeda. Exploring the idea and the limitations of focusing on the character and the design but hinting the story. I like the idea of having Perseus and Andromeda reflected on the monster's eye while it turns to stone, gives a nice framing and interesting element perhaps.





Sorry if it is a bit chaotic but i think this perfectly reflects my indecisive mind ahah

[Amit Dutta]

@pablnotpicasso. I also prefer the two middle ones. More movement, more of the character showing, better dynamic comps. Think top middle is probably my fave. Watch having the eyes of owl and athena level horizontally on canvas. It's not bad, but it does create a less dynamic line between them, remember we will be drawn to the faces and eyes of both so that acts as an indirect compositional line.

[Jonas Jerde]

here's an update on my version of Hermes. I plan on introducing some lost color and rendering things out more (especially the spirits behind Hermes) in the next few days.

Also, is there going to be a study post later on or something? or should I just post the studies in here?

[Trevor S.]

This is great!!! Feels like the Bloodsports all over again!! I didn't see this at first, I think it should have it's own thread headline so everyone can see it well. I chose to do Ares after a lot of debate. I wanted to do a typical greek themed fantasy god piece but after going through some character sketches the sci fi one really resonated with me, so my gut says go with it. Here is what I have so far for sketches and studies.
I was on an environment study rampage because I haven't done any in so long so maybe this was excessive but I would have done some anyways even if it weren't greek inspired.

[Madzia]

PabloNotPicasso thanks for taking your time and writing this comprehensive critique for all!
I like middle bottom thumbnail of your Atena, but probably the right is most readable, who is on picture. Athena helmet from profile can't be mistaken with anything else.

Forrestimel I'm looking forward for your piece, Artemis in sci fi punk world will be awesome!

bemota try more thumbnails, in my opinion they don't show story in best way yet. They look more like triumph over killing Medusa not like scene in the middle of the fight with sea monster. Designs looks sweet, keep it up!

Here's small WIP of my Hebe. I have in plan few changes I already repainted pot to look more adequately to serve gods I will add more ornaments to plate... Lot of work ahead!

[crackedskull]

Decided to shift focus on the sculptor, so softened the statue. The goal is to direct the attention to the sculptor, then the giant statue, then back near the sculptors hands and the small statue. I think Ill make the sculptor bigger and nail the head on the third.

Also I could turn that chisel into a sickle and then put a bunch of red banners with certain logo's everywhere for PROGRESS, behind which, the workers of the world unite!

[Kaze]

Hi, my first post and first sketches:) The character is Melinoe.

[Adam Lina]

So much great looking work so far everyone. Im doing Nemesis goddess of divine retribution. Shes a child of Zeus in some myths so I figured thats good enough. Shes represented as a remorseless distributor of fate. Shes often shown with a sword and an hourglass. Shes also the counter part of Themis aka Lady Justice whos seen outside many American federal courthouses. When Themis's judgement is disregarded, Nemesis comes and FUCKS SOME SHIT UP. Im going with a cyborg version.

The little back story I came up with is that in the not too distant future... Zeus Corp, the worlds leading producer of military technology, develops a new super computer, The F.A.T.E.S. (Finite Artificial Thought Emulation System, no idea what that means but it sounds good). The Fates OF COURSE becomes self aware and decides to pass judgment on man kind using humanities own ideals of justice. It decides man is an imperfect unjust creature and must be forced into change or be destroyed. It creates Nemesis to carry out its plans of turning humanity into cyborgs devoid of injustice.

Her hourglass is suppose to be a holographic projection and her swords a "LASER" sword :)

[PabloNotPicasso]

Worked out a character sheet for Athena. As a bit of narrative, the reason her shield has her owl symbol and not Medusa's head is because the piece will be set in the Titanomachy, so Medusa hasn't even come into existence yet. Anyway, onto the painting. After reading feedback, I'll be going for the middle bottom thumbnail (I should number these in the future) and play with maybe placing the camera lower to add a more "heroic" angle. Next update will be a WIP on the painting, woo!

[RenatoCaria]

Wow some great works here :O

Forrestimel - Reaaly digging the design and the story behind the character!

JJ Aaron - Really love the Hermes design and how you did the composition, because no matter where I looked, my eyes always ended up on the character, so good job, can't wait to see more!

Madzia - Great color scheme, I really like the balance between the warms and the cools :3 and the scene looks so alive that I feel I'm in that coffeeshop aha

crackedskull - If you're trying to make the sculptor pop up first, I would sugest you to add some elements to direct the viewers eye to where you want your focal point to be :O and also, the faces (both the statue and the man) are way mre rendered than the rest of the elements, so maybe try to give the overall image a more homogenous look (?) I don't know, I hope it helps :x

Kaze - aha I really like the fact that I we're both doing the same character in two completely different approaches! Is the one on the bottom right your final composition?

Hypnagogic_Haze - I like option 2, its more dynamic than the others!

PabloNotPicasso - The design looks really cool, mostly the shield and the helmet :O man, I really like that helmet xD and yes, that was the thumbnail I would go with aswel, solid choice dude, can't wait to see the complete image!
One question: Are you going to give the giant owl some sort of armor or keep it simple and effective?

Aaaaaand I changed My character xD I'm gonna go with Melinoe now! I did some thumbnails:




and ended up doing a mix between the 2nd and the 4th thumbnail, and I think my final composition is going to be something like this:



I'm gonna go with more of a demon-ish look, and try to picture the scene where she brings the souls of the undead back to earth to creep up the humans!

[EduardoGaray]

I love the stuff you are posting guys! :D

crackedskull: now it looks better imo.

Kaze: hey, i like the square composition more, it feels more artistic somehow.

RenatoCaria: thats some really good composition you have there! i also like your new choice more haha.

Madzia: awesome already, i'm looking forward to see the final!

Forrestimel: dude we got a similar idea haha, i like the design for the sci-fi one.

I will write a longer post later guys, now there is little time left and a lot of stuff to paint. xD

Here are some material studies i did, and an update for the piece.




I cant paint monsters at all haha, hopefully i will do better with the character.

[PabloNotPicasso]

RenatoCaria- I'll keep the owl armor-less, mostly because I'd have no idea how to make owl armor without it looking over the top XD.

So here's a WIP of the piece. Expanded the composition to keep it from feeling too claustrophobic and got some big ol' clouds happening in the background to add more movement to the composition. Next up, colors!

[Forrestimel]

goodsir Looking pretty potentially epic, looking forward to seein it :)

pablonotpicasso Hey yours is looking very nice so far, at the moment your values look a little similar though, don't be afraid to really brighten those clouds and push the darks in the foreground characters to help make them pop :)

bemota I'm loving how this is looking so far, really looking forward to your piece :)

JJ Aaron Go right ahead and post your studies in this thread, the more the merrier. As for your piece, it's looking great so far. I'm glad somebody went with Hermes because he's one of my favorites. Now, I don't know if it's just a personal preference or what, but to me the image looks like it'd be a setting for someone like Hades. Like if you replaced Hermes with Hades everything would look just right and dandy. Another thing is that other then the nod to aviary creatures there's no other real big symbols for Hermes (Wing tipped sandals or the winged Hat he's commonly depicted with). You gave him a staff, although it's only somewhat reminiscent of the caduceus. But anyway, nothing huge, just my thoughts, looking forward to the final :)

Trevor S. Hey Trevor, nice studies so far, looking forward to seeing your Ares design :)

Madzia This this THIS! A thousand times THIS! Sorry... I really like your piece so far :) You branched out and created an honestly not super interesting character and made her interesting and in a separate genre from what Greek Gods are normally perceived. If I can make any recommendations though, at the moment her head is being cut off by the top of the canvas and it makes what she's holding in her hands more important than her. I'd rather her be the attention grabber and have what she's holding be a fun nod to the mythology. Also with the hand grabbing her it makes the image feel cut off, like I want to see what else is happening. It adds a little mystery to the image, like something you'd see on a horror novel cover where a hand is grabbing someone from off the canvas or out of the shadows, but the rest of the piece doesn't come off as that. I hope this helped, looking forward to the final :)

crackedskull It's been really cool seeing you work on this one and I really enjoy the idea you've got. As for critiques, well the piece was meant to have people tackle composition and design and at the moment it's lacking in the design area. The character is a God, make him look like a God ;)

Kaze I'm really liking both those sketches so far, looking forward to see where it goes :)

Hypnagogic_Haze Really great idea so far, don't forget to do some studies though as well. Looking forward to see more :)

RenatoCaria Hey man, your thumbnail is looking really cool so far. The one thing that immediately jumps out at me though is that the pose looks too timid, like really timid for a God that is controlling a whole army. The arms do look a little short so that might be why, but don't be afraid to go a little more dynamic with the pose. I actually think I like the pose in the 2nd thumbnail more because of how powerful she looks.

EduardoGaray Nice job so far Eduardo, we both had the idea to use that olympus symbol on the armor somewhere ha. If I could recommend anything for your image though, it looks like the legs are a little short, or the torso is very long. Other than that, it's lookin great :)

I use too many smiley faces. Anyway, here's what I've got so far. I'm not sure I'm liking the piece at the moment. The values are a little too cluttered so I'm gonna try and control those a bit better and if I can pull it off then I'll stick with this one. I also wanna add a bit of sci-fi touch to the characters, gonna be fun :)