Forums → Art, Music, and Writing → Art Skills Competition: Fire and Water (page 56)
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Scratch that. Disregard image above. I have a better one. >3<
-Chillz
Last theme: Fanart
I am rather impressed with this round. Not just the amount of participants, but also the uploaded works. Sadly, there can only be one.
Winner:
ABarOfSoap and the literal fan art.
This was a good idea and a fine concept. It might have been executed a slight bit better, but even so, it tells a story and takes you somewhere. A good illustration of, why not asking for the meaning of the theme will pay off in more freedom and better ideas.
It is well drawn, even with your "Blergh" comment, though I can see why the sketchy quality in the surroundings might make you say that. But for the purpose of the art, the detail to the more important aspects of the drawing pays off well anyway. I could have wanted a bit more depth to it, story-wise, perhaps with a cityscape in the background and ruins around the - fans, to illuminate that someone might have lived here, but left for something else, abandoning their trusty helpers after so long. But that is marginals. Technique-wise, there is only the sketchy quality to put a finger on, and that you might have gotten a bit more out of the background by smudging the lines a little to give a more uniform texture.
As for the rest of the fine collection of more typical fanart:
Dair5
I won't comment much on this, since I can't see it very well, but it looks like it might have had potential to be a nice piece of art. The details on the hands might be a little too much shadow-wise, and even if you are not well versed in the style, keeping a lighter manga style to at least this part might have been better.
I hope you figure the scaling out for next round.
Gaboloth
I have this odd urge that you might have rushed to make this, since some of the lineart is rather heavy and stiff and the anatomy is a bit funky, but it doesn't take away from the concept. I know a little about BoI, and while I haven't seen this particular character, you do manage to put a more ominous feel into the drawing with the detail and more realistic style. Perhaps a background would have been in order, to make the atmosphere more tense and give the illusion that you are caught with that guy? Colours and some lineart would have done it well.
Strop
This is a huge file, so I won't post it here.
Fine, clean lineart, though the background could have done with a bit of cleaning up, especially now that there are no colour, but with the main focus being relatively clean, and the lines thicker, it should draw most attention on the our protagonists. The style is consistent, though there is a clear touch of 'Strop' over what I assume you wanted to be mainly SC, but it can be hard to translate well.
While the drawing is tight and tense, I can't help but think it is also a bit static, and that there might have been more punch in another concept or a different position, but that might just be consideration for another time.
Killersup10
The anatomy is a bit wonky here and the drawing itself is not particularly dynamic, but the character is recognisable and the photo is of a better quality. You might consider drawing with a thicker line next time, so the photo quality doesn't ruin the image too much, and then start playing with cell shading for a better defined figure.
Personally I believe you should consider freeing yourself from your restrains and start doing some freehand sketched, even if you are going to eyeball an image, because the stance and anatomy might improve and become more fluid and dynamic, not to mention a bit more interesting to look at, and easier for you to define.
ChillzMaster
I refuse to acknowledge your request for a disregard for a quite obvious reason: Otherwise you would have had nothing that could be judged.
The idea here is funny, not to mention I have no idea how ponies actually write or draw anyway. The style is consistent, not only with your own, but also with the official pony animation. Nice expression and good use of gradient in the eyes.
The appeal of the pony-animation tends to be the smooth, thick lines and the rounded characters. I do think you could achieve more by keeping this in mind. If you make the line thicker, it is also a bit easier to make it smooth, and you would be able to define the character a bit better. It might also help getting some direction on the hair.
I will applaud you for opting on a gradient background. Putting a bit of texture behind there does make the image easier on the eye than pure white does.
Koshonos
GLaDOS is unimpressed. I like it. And I don't think I have any further comment to make on that.
It's a neat picture, the overly big pixels does well for the art, and the half-border seems fitting somehow. You might want to consider colouring the outline a little, so the black doesn't contrast so heavily against the white, even with the lightly coloured background. Just a slightly lighter grey to ease the contrast, it would be good.
Well done.
And, I think that was it. It was nice to see what you could all think up, and you all did a good job on this theme.
So, to ruin all this fun and games, I am going to give you a harder theme. I have faith in you to do something awesome with it.
Good luck.
Theme: Gaslamp Fantasy
Deadline: Saturday 25th
Okay, okay... I feel like I may be able to do this.
This was the first thing that popped into my head when I read gaslamp fantasy. It's not exactly one drawing, there aren't any rules against that right?
Just in case... One of them has to work right?
I don't have an art thread, so naturally, outside of the "mental poop" thread and old armatar contests I've never submitted anything that could be deemed as "art"; but seeing this contest in action again inspired me to at least attempt to draw something reasonably fair.
So without further ado, I present to you, my first ever entry into this competition:
I'm not a great artist, especially with a mouse, so this piece actually took about 3-4 noncumulative hours; most of which were put into the people rather than the gas lamp itself. I had to look at a few clip art templates to see what human heads, human bodies, and gas lamps looked like, so that's why the details don't really match the quality of the background.
So I actually googled gaslight fantasy to see what it actually means, and I think this qualifies despite the lack of an actual gaslight. Also, I hope the poor quality can be excused by the fact that I did this in an hour just using my track point in paint. 
Last theme: Gaslamp Fantasy
Yes, this was a really annoying, really hard theme. In it's basics, it was just a genre to be followed. Steam Punk with magic. Historical fiction, now with monsters. It's simple, and yet a horrible and annoying theme. Which was why I chose it.
A bit of a test to see if everyone would jump ship because it seemed like an overly complicated theme, which a lot of the former participants seems to have done. But still we have four entries for this week, which is about three more than anticipated.
So, well done. So well done, that you should all go ask Zophia for a merit for participating, just this once.
Good job.
Anyway, a quick judging for the sake of getting a winner.
First place:
Dair5 with the fantasy of a gaslamp.
It's a fun idea, it's thinking a bit out of the box with the theme, and making something that tells a story, even if doing so through a comic, rather than a well illustrated drawing. It's a fascinating work, much like the doings of H.C.Andersen, which did tell many stories with items as the protagonist, often with a happy ending, that might come later for the gaslamp.
It's not a techically skilled drawing, but perhaps it is better told like this anyway.
All the other places
Gabaloth
When the above wasn't technically skilled, this one certainly is. The scan is, as stated, rather poor, but it doesn't take much away from the drawing. I would perhaps have wished for a better defined werewolf, a dark sky and a bit more atmosphere, but since this is 'all [I] deserve', I will have to go with this. Well hit on the genre, the scenery is fitting and the quality of the line does give it an old feel, whether intented or not. An old paper texture, and it could have been a fine illustration for a book.
Ernie15
This might be going beyond fantasy, and more into some kind of fetish.
I am not quite sure how the impression would have been without the background. If it would have subtracted from the fine work done, or it currently is with the neon colours. You do lack a bit of anatomical skill, but seeing this has been drawn from references, it isn't all that bad. Colour choice for the foreground is easy to the eye as well.
Aknerd
I had entirely forgotten that Sleepy Hollow and the legend of the headless horseman was well within this theme, and it was a nice surprise to see someone thinking of the slightly darker elements of magic and malice in the setting. Even the horse looks evil.
I won't say a lot about the quality here, since you asked for it to be excused, but considering the limited resources, I think you did well. Trackpads aren't the easiest thing to draw with, and even though I have seen master works using it, it takes a lot of practice. The only real issue here might be the colours of choice, at the very least for the moon, and the use of the paint brush for the misty feel, which has been done a little too... messily. The change of direction in some of the strokes should have been avoided.
But still, to all of you, thank you for taking up the challenge.
That said, let's take something a bit broader and easier to swallow this time around.
Theme: War
Deadline: Saturday 1st
Can love stop war and animal cruelty?
This is just something i drew, everything came straight from my brain.. so i guess it's an original? Anyway, this was by hand and i thought it showed exactly what the caption says.