Mini Challenge #5 - Halloween Avatars

[blankslatejoe]

http://www.30lives.com/gaorg/minicomp5c.jpg

Theme:
Halloween Avatars!

Brief:
Halloween is upon us! Let's get down and dirty with monsters, ghosts, and ghouls. This mini comp is dedicated to the creation of the spooky, macabre, and frightful--anything 'Halloween' themed goes, be it monsters, a graveyard-you name it! The only catch: when you've finished your creation, create a smaller 'Avatar' image as well.

In the words of Fred: Submit a large image for your final, but somewhere in that large image, you should have your 100w x 140h sized avatar pic. Additionally, it would be nice if you actually temporarily replaced your avatar with your Halloween one

For concept art, we are looking for the same, but in 2d . As always, Backgrounds are optional. Pedestals are optional. Texturing/coloring is optional. Basically... everything is optional. This challenge is here for those desiring to practice their art and receive friendly advice from fellow artisans. So as mentioned in mini comp #1-4, keep it easy, keep it quick, and keep it real. Good Luck!


Please do not make a new thread for your entry. Keep all w.i.p shots in this specific thread.

The Specs:
- 650 triangles maximum
- 1x512 diffuse
- Optional bonus maps: 1x512 spec, 1x512 normal, 1x512 transparency,
1x512 glow, 1x512 reflection


Final Submission:
You can submit your finals here:
http://www.gameartisans.org/contests/mini/concept.html


Prizes:
1st place:
- 1 book from Amazon.com (up to $30 value)
- 1 new forum and gallery award icon for mini challenges
- 1 point towards raising your overal game, elite, and/or master rating
on gameartisans

2nd place:
- 1 book from Amazon.com (up to $20 value)
- 1 new forum and gallery award icon for mini challenges
- 1/2 point towards raising your overal game, elite, and/or master
rating on gameartisans

3rd place:
- 1 new forum and gallery award icon for mini challenges


Public Voting:
All Winners are chosen through a public voting system. Only GA.org
members may vote.


Deadline:
October 31st 11:59 p.m Eastern Time

[Sectaurs]

I guess I'll start this one off.

Banged this out while I wait for the rain to stop so I can walk home.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v192/Sectaurs/Pimpage/Avatar_01.png
note to self: use a slightly less jarring yellow as a starter fill when painting on a single layer :doh:

[blankslatejoe]

hot dang, that be gorgeous, ian!

[Evan Smith]

awesome pic Sectaurs!

[dfacto]

Damn nice. What brushes do you use to get that effect on the left side under the eye?

[damagecontrol]

jeez. That ones gonna be tough to beat. nice piece sectaur!

[Sectaurs]

thanks for the kind words. looking at it on my home computer, I think it came out too dark.

dfacto - I only used two brushes for the painting. standard hard round brush, and a custom "paint chip" brush a co-worker made. oh, and a splatter brush.

[peter_john]

is the deadline october 31?

[Evan Smith]

Decided to go with a classic zombie attack for this challenge.

The Idea for the avatar will be to make it look as though the zombies are coming out of the avater onto the screen. This will be done by making the border of the image black to match the color of the forum where the avater will appear and then creating a false border inset some from the real image borders. Then I can paint over the false border and hopefully it will appear as thought they are coming through the pic.

Rough draft pic below...

[FredH]

Peter, yes, I believe the deadline is october 31st.

Evan, that's a brilliant idea! I think it will look really cool when done. Now I'll have to think of something cool to do too:uhh:

:think:

[peter_john]

hey Evan, I like the foreshortening you're going for with that hand reaching outward, nice start. It's a little tough to read though, given where the other zombie's foot is intersecting it. I'm sure color/more rendering will help to clarify things, but just a suggestion to be aware of tangents, contrast, etc.

The fundamentals nanny is waving her cane :D heh

[Gunnahan]

definitely in on this one.. like what youve posted so far...

[Evan Smith]

FredH - thanks!

peter_john - Thanks for the crits! I had the same thought about the hand and the foot when I looked at it the next day. I was thinking of maybe raising the hand up a bit and giving it a more central location.

Haven't had a chance to work on it since I posted the sketch and I'll need to decide on the final layout and composition before doing a more finished version.

[Gunnahan]

heres one i did the other day on the train, not sure if i will go in that drection though.

[kirilot]

http://kirilot.com/os/brains.gif
http://kirilot.com/os/brainss.gif
I guess its not very video gamesy, but i guess you cant break old habits.

[blankslatejoe]

kiril - doesnt need to be videogamey to be cool -- works well as an avatar. :)

gunnah - heh, I was thinking baout doing a pumpkin-ghoul like that too. the hands look a little tiny to me, but its a cool start.

evan- kickbutt idea!

[damagecontrol]

gotta get in this piece. Here's a rough of my piece. Hope to finish it soon.

One the side note, can I do a different one for the 3D piece?

[Marco Mazzoni]

Really wanted to make this quick and dirty after spending so much time rendering the hell out of my Naruto entry. I guess you can call it "art therapy" :)

http://www.butcherfx.com/stuff/CA/Halloween%202.jpg

[Sectaurs]

badass marco. i really like the shapes of his arms and torso. good stuff

[Mogster]

Very awesome Marco love the style :D

Sectaurs still think you anus is scarier than any Halloween image :C

heres my quickie Crow O' teh dead

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/9938/crowofthedeadfo8.jpg

[pimpleberry]

Hello folks. This is my first time joining any sort of online dicussion, so I hope I am doing it right. If everything worked there should be a sketch of a scaaary monster below.

[Mogster]

Tentacle monster :F awesome should look great colored

[Evan Smith]

Joe - thanks! :)

Pimpleberry - freaky lookin monster! welcome to Game Artisans!

Mogster - I like the little dude in the background with the flaming eyes, cool pic.

Marco - love the style. Nice dramatic angle too!

Damagecontrol - Kind of looks like she ran her broom into that tree? that'd be funny if she did. I don't think anyone else answered yet, but I doubt there would be a problem with doing something different as a 3D entry.

Kirilot - I like the animated eyes in the avatar. I take it the background is like brain tissue, he must be in zombie paradise lol :)

Gunnahan - creepy looking pumpkin. great start, Bet it'll look wicked with the right lighting.

[Mogster]

hehe thanks Evan

[kirilot]

evan: yeah xaxa it jsut kinda turned out that way im glad someone saw it :P
Marco thats awesome i was trying to do something like that and we can see where that went :/

[Dario]

interesting sketch, pimpleberry! and welcome to our party. :)
and again, marco's work turned out special. i like the sharp edges all around the painting... scissors!

my new avatar:

http://www.dariocoelho.com/gallery/speedpaintings/minhalingua.jpg

[Mogster]

Great looks like wraith or sommin nice

[MattiaNelli]

Hi everybody,
this is my first post here, very interesting forum!

And this is my halloween avatar WIP, maybe too dark... I'm trying to catch the atmosphere using colors and lights before going on with details

http://www.mattianelli.com/public/halloween_03f.jpg

[damagecontrol]

I'm so rude. I forgot to comment on everyone's stuff.

@MattiaNelli: cool piece. I thought it was suppose to be too dark :-)
@Dario: got a nice phantom of the opera thing going there.
@Mogster: freaky crow, man!
@Marco: jeez. if this is your quick and dirty...:thumb:
@pimpleberry: looks like a great sketch. Keep it up!!
@kirilot: who are you trying to fool?! I know you got skills.
@Gunnahan: Wow. It looks great as is.
@Evan: Yeah. my witch crashed her broom and somehow it's the cat's fault. Hope to get more work on it before submission. I do like where your piece is going.

[blankslatejoe]

dario --reads really well as an avatar..doesnt look too halloweeny quite yet though...still, very cool
mattie - sweet, I love the mood!
pimpleberry - welcome to the online world. sketch looks good--are you going to color it?

[blankslatejoe]

stayed after work for an hour and sketched up this doodle. Not sure if I'll take it further :)
http://30lives.com/wips/sketchbook/10_25_07a.jpg

marco--not sure how i missed that image before--gorgeous work!

[brian_h]

Here is a quick sketch...

[damagecontrol]

Okay. Well this is pretty much my entry for this part. Gotta get to 3D entry. Any crit woul be great. Trying to get better as I go.

Thanks for the opportunity!

[WhiteGuardian]

I'm in. Cause i will start busy tomorow so i have post he final image 2day. Hope many member join this contest. :thumb:

[MattiaNelli]

Sectaurs -- your sketch is great, very good rendering of materials!
Evan Smith -- Very cool idea! Can't wait to see it finished
Gunnahan -- Nice character this is a very good concept
Marco -- I love quick and strong sketches, very good!
Dario -- cool atmosphere, is it a kind of venetian mask or ghost?
Blankslatejoe -- Gorgeus concept! I would like to see it colored!
Mogster -- strong and original concept, interesting atmoshpere
pimpleberry -- Cool! It makes me think about some Chtulhu monster
brian_h -- awesome work!
kirilot -- I agree with Blankslatejoe, maybe not very much videogamesy but very avatar!
damagecontrol -- I like the idea... maybe you could make the crash more dynamic to make it funnier. Anyway good job!

And this is my WIP update. I've changed the concept from my previous post because I didn't know how to do a pumpkin's body... So I removed its body. :)
Then I think I will crop it to make it an avatar.
If I have time I'll go on working on this

http://www.mattianelli.com/public/halloween_04t.jpg

[Defeat]

Can I enter the concept and 3d?

[blankslatejoe]

yup--though you need different entries for both.

[Sectaurs]

mattianelli - i like him a lot! I'd make it even darker, myself. The lighting on the teeth is great, but lacks a light source. I'd love to see some SS on the pumpkin, with the light source more obviously coming from inside him - right now it fades to black inside his head which contradicts the light source. Perhaps either show the flame, or make it all white/lit to contrast with a darker environment?

[Parnell]

Just making something silly.
http://www.subshape.com/avatar/halloweenbear.jpg

[blankslatejoe]

ghahahaha awesome parnell!

[Sordid23]

http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1483&stc=1&d=1193773539
RobbieTheZombie_500.jpg

Here is my idee Robbie the Zombie eating some ones Guts :D hope i have enough time to finnish it, since im not a verry fast worker.

[MattiaNelli]

Sectaurs -- Thank you for your critics!

I'd make it even darker, myself. The lighting on the teeth is great, but lacks a light source. I'd love to see some SS on the pumpkin, with the light source more obviously coming from inside him - right now it fades to black inside his head which contradicts the light source. Perhaps either show the flame, or make it all white/lit to contrast with a darker environment?

Yes I admit there isn't any strong, precise light source inside the head :)
I've tried to light his eyes and the inside of his mouth, but this way I would have needed a dark color for the outside, to make the face readable. I liked that orange head so I decided to make it lighter outside and darker inside... his mouth could look like a black hole. And the inner light comes from the white eyeballs, lighting the teeth.
As for the SSS, in general, I love it and I'm experimenting how to paint it in 2d. One of the next times I'll try something!

[blankslatejoe]

been working a bit more on mine; here's the progress.

http://30lives.com/wips/sketchbook/10_30_07a.jpg

one more day! Gogogogogoogogogo!

[blankslatejoe]

MattiaNelli -- that guy came out great! I like the solution for arms/legs--they feel very natural

sordid--hah! cute! I hope you can find enough time to finish him

[EricElwell]

dude, the rendering on that is really something special. It kinda has a style i have not seen very often. I like it! and I've always loved your indiana jones avatar too! :)

[Sectaurs]

badass joe!

lightsources everywhere! i'm not cool enough to work with more than one in my pictures. need to upgrade.

his one large tooth on the far side of his head throws off the perspective a bit - i think he's supposed to be asymmetrical, but the large tooth on that side makes it look like you tried to give him his two large teeth in the middle, which doesn't line up with the nose at all, etc...

[blankslatejoe]

eric - thanks man! :)

ian - thanks, light sources hurt my brain. I know what you mean about the teeth--that was a crappy bit in the initial drawing and it had been bugging me for awhile, but I couldnt quite put my finger on why. I pushed the asymmetry a bit more, hopefully that does the trick. Here's my final!

http://www.30lives.com/wips/sketchbook/10_31_07a.jpg

[vied]

WHOA !!! :ack: :ack: :ack: that is amazing blankslatejoe!

[Kus Umok]

Man... how did you get so good at coloring? That eye is just amazing, when I first saw you avatar I thought it was 3d. Thats just awsome, your getting my vote.

[Marco Mazzoni]

Damn joe, that turned out all sorts of awesome!

[Marcus Dublin]

At first glance I thought it was 3d,:p sweet work Joe!

[MattiaNelli]

blankslatejoe -- Excellent coloring! I like the richness of details while keeping the general mood and the skull's deep expression.
Sordid23 -- Funny character, I hope you will finish it!