Welcome to the Crimson CHOW (Character of the Week)! This is a biweekly challenge which was created as a way to hone your skills in design and character creation, in a fun and competitive way. Each challenge, we will give you a short character prompt and it is your task to interpret the character as you imagine it, with your own unique spin. The winner will be chosen through a poll in the finals thread, and in addition to being able to pick the next challenge topic, his/her piece will be featured in the "Crimson Champions" Winner's thread!
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh C'thulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!" A vast silence followed after the Necromancer's chant, followed by a foul and unholy bellow echoing across the cavern walls. The ancient volume he held in his hands, the necronomicon, glowed steadily as the bellow became a shattering roar. "Welcome back, my friend."
Your task: Design the Necromancer, wielder of the Necronomicon and summoner of the Cthulhu.
Guidelines:
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.
Photo textures, 3D, and traditional mediums are allowed.
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).
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). No back views are allowed without a front.
Only ONE character please.
Only ONE submission per person in the finals thread.
Sketches, WIPs, or rushed artwork will not be accepted into the poll.
No fanart. We want to see your original, unique interpretations!
anyone else cool? The one on the left is a collectors edition edgar allan poe book, the right is the Necronomicon, a compilation of lovecraftian stories. i have the real Necronomicon somewhere in my house but it's in a trunk somewhere oh well it's only a $6 paperback hehe
I've missed the last one but hopefully I'll be able to finish this time. I'm not familiar with Lovecraft (shame on me) but I'll give it a shot anyway :P
Like Mike, I'm also somewhat unfamiliar with Lovecraft. Hopefully I might know enough to bullshit, haha. Gonna try and focus on the face a bit more this time around. Here is some exploration for his mug. I think I'm gonna do some more though.
(p.s. don't mind the color choices, they don't represent anything.)
umm i dunno if i'm gonna render this but i really wanna push myself so i might as well. i know i don't have to do a full on illustration but i don't mind, it helps me learn stuff!
Edit: Dang need to draw tentacles that would be cooler!
Gilger - Someone is watching Jojo = ) You are doing a lot of exploration for the character which is pretty cool, doesn't look like you entirely settled on the character just yet but are closing in. Something I noticed is you aren't drawing him in any kind of real pose. His arms are straight and tucked to his side and his legs are entirely straight, fitting in a perfect rectangle. Try out some different poses, give him some body language, etc. ps. I like the take on cthulu as a stand, haha.
Cracked - ZOOM IN BREH! You are very far out for a character concept, even a character illustration if that is where you are going. We can't really make out any of the information from this distance. Try to think a bit more about the forms you are trying to convey as well, things are very vague so far.
Mike - Lots of variations, very nice! Something I noticed across them all are anatomy mistakes. None of them have necks and the forearm holding the book looks like it is shorter than the distance of their hand. Maybe you were going for foreshortening but it isn't reading very well, personally I'd bring the book out more and not go for foreshortening there. As far as the designs go, you have a lot of busy areas and little rest stops for the eyes. Unless you are going for a paizo sort of thing I'd try to simplify some less important areas.
Fedo - Before you start rendering I suggest you do some thumbnails! Your composition is a bit weak right now for an illustration and it looks more like you drew the character and tried to fill empty areas of the canvas than actually construct the illustration. Thumbnailing would really help with this!
Russell - I think you know what I'm gonna say here. He is an eskimo with a book and a skull on a stick. You're pushing yourself in terms of how you are executing things but you aren't spending any time on your actual designs. You did some poses before you started which is good but you used the same design across all of them, and the design is just an eskimo dude. Inuit culture is pretty cool and you could find a lot of designs to draw from with cool patterns and such!
Aaron - I think you have the opposite problem from Mike. You have a lot of simple areas but nothing to make the eye stop for a moment and take anything in. Patterns/Cultural nods/body marks/something. I think you just need a little bit more, preferably near his head/face and you'll be in a good place. Strong simple composition, I really like it! The sketch reads very well, I can't wait to see where you take it.
Alright! So, I think I settled on the face I'm going with. Just gonna play it safe(boo) and go with green. I think it is kind of "expected" design wise but I really wanna paint those tentacles and I gotta get move on if I want any time to do this well.
@Fedodika Remember that a background / composition is not needed, if you feel like the background is going to mess up your time just focus on the character.
Great entries guys. I'm joining late so here's something for starters.
Been wanting to do the Crimson CHOW since it started up. Not sure I'll have time to see this through - but I couldn't resist the topic. So here's my rough ideation. Top row male, bottom female.
![[Image: KhdUWpj.png]](http://i.imgur.com/KhdUWpj.png)
![[Image: 1_by_afternoon63-d83z8u4.jpg]](http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/297/c/3/1_by_afternoon63-d83z8u4.jpg)
![[Image: tf4ylLW.png]](http://i.imgur.com/tf4ylLW.png)
![[Image: 2_by_afternoon63-d8426j5.jpg]](http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/298/f/a/2_by_afternoon63-d8426j5.jpg)
![[Image: anothernecro9_zps63608b00.jpg~original]](http://s886.photobucket.com/user/jonas1221/media/anothernecro9_zps63608b00.jpg.html)
![[Image: HbqAeGc.png]](http://i.imgur.com/HbqAeGc.png)
![[Image: 15648010472_f554803c2d_c.jpg]](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3933/15648010472_f554803c2d_c.jpg)
![[Image: 15648007612_347bbebc0b_c.jpg]](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7466/15648007612_347bbebc0b_c.jpg)
![[Image: XWBzKwp.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/XWBzKwp.jpg)