Concept Art Contest #6 - Themes and Ideas

[Skycraft]

Hello.
It's been a while since the Hive has generated one of these fancy drawing contests, so I think it's about damn time we get another up and running.

Got any themes/ideas people?

 

[Joe-black-5]

Mspaint contest. (even Minecraft got away with it's graphics)

 

[dead-man-walking]

Mspaint contest. (even Minecraft got away with it's graphics)

Come on. We all know Red Shift's gonna win if its MSPaint.

 

[Mr.Goblin]

Suggestion = DON.T HAVE THE SAME JUDGES AS LAST TIME!

now point proven.

Theme = Paradise, hell, 7 princes of darkness, Greek gods, Golem, Warcraft 3 super mad mojo killer (elite warrior), ''beast that could be real'' (aka, no gryphon bullshit and what not), Cursed armour, Sanctuary, House-hold Robot..

blablabla

 

[Deleted member 157129]

To be quite frank, I don't think there are many people here suitable to judge a concept art contest, Goblin; few of us have any education or experience with concept art (I do, you do, Pyramidhe@d does, and I suppose Kimberly and a few others as well), and those of us who do are either too busy to judge or already participating. D:

We ought to establish a proper judging criteria, though, so it's as fair for everyone as it could be.

 

[Mr.Goblin]

To be quite frank, I don't think there are many people here suitable to judge a concept art contest, Goblin; few of us have any education or experience with concept art (I do, you do, Pyramidhe@d does, and I suppose Kimberly and a few others as well), and those of us who do are either too busy to judge or already participating. D:

We ought to establish a proper judging criteria, though, so it's as fair for everyone as it could be.

me and I can work on those criteria I guess.. what do you think?

 

[Crazed_seal2]

I hope we have a Pixel Art Contest... Would be epic

 

[Mr.Goblin]

I hope we have a Pixel Art Contest... Would be epic

that is quite a LOVELY idea

 

[Crazed_seal2]

I would join if we had a pixel art contest. Since it doesn't require any advanced tools like photoshop

 

[Gausslander]

I would join if we had a pixel art contest. Since it doesn't require any advanced tools like photoshop

I use photoshop for pixel art

 

[-Grendel]

pixel art contest sounds like a pretty good idea.

 

[Crazed_seal2]

I seriously hope we are doing Pixel Art. >

 

[Amargaard]

What about a theme where contestants are to draw a race/creature/beast never seen before?

 

[Deleted member 157129]

What about a theme where contestants are to draw a race/creature/beast never seen before?

THat's exactly what concept art is about, for the most part, anyway.

 

[Wazzz]

this is me, commenting on your thread, because you matter
mah main man

 

[kola]

Pixel art isn't not a theme for a Concept art contest.

If you want pixel art you should do a new kind of contest.

 

[Ahimtar]

just throwing out some ideas, im not sure if they are ok but idk

-halloween creep
-the personalization of "evil"
-female orc
-thunder god
-main boss of next wow expansion
-trollface as a regular w3 unit
-princess of some race
-titan
-a regular tool (pc, chair, lamp) as w3 unit
-star rider
-the pandaren king

 

[dead-man-walking]

-the personalization of "evil"

this

 

[Arcisal]

A beast or creature based on Ralle

 

[bowser499]

I think Horror will be the best theme for that :]

 

[Arowanna]

Please... Before this goes any further...
Let’s first define what "Concept Art" will be in the contest... The last time around people made more illustrations than actual concepts, which kinda sucks... Really, there should be well-defined rules before this continues.

Just what I'm thinking...

Silhouettes, always the first stage of concept design (but there are other ways to approach this, but since the birth of digital art, silhouettes is the most used).
http://snaketoast.deviantart.com/art/male-character-thumbnails-186398718
- Helps you find what you’re looking for, gives you tons of ideas.

Quick coloring, play around with color-schemes, lighting and etc, but should still be rather simple, no full illustrations yet.
http://anndr.deviantart.com/art/Sophie-concept-192250353
- Brings the character to life, defines it’s personality and etc.

A front-, back- and side-view of the concept, can be the absolute final stage.
http://shiramune.deviantart.com/art/ACCD-Yoo-Shin-Concept-119553376
- The full-view of the actual character, this is the complete character.

After that you can put it in a full illustration, but just to remind you, a full illustration IS NOT a concept.
Example:
http://samburley.deviantart.com/art/Keeper-of-Cascade-268309282
- That's NOT a concept, yet amazing...

 

[dead-man-walking]

A front-, back- and side-view of the concept, can be the absolute final stage.
http://shiramune.deviantart.com/art/ACCD-Yoo-Shin-Concept-119553376
- The full-view of the actual character, this is the complete character.

After that you can put it in a full illustration, but just to remind you, a full illustration IS NOT a concept.
Example:
http://samburley.deviantart.com/art/Keeper-of-Cascade-268309282
- That's NOT a concept, yet amazing...

imo submissions for CACs should contain works of both of these types.

...Well, maybe not as detailed as the first link. That would make the contest last for months.
...Okay, the second link is also very detailed. But you get my point.

 

[Arowanna]

Without silhouettes there won't be any WIPs of how you reached the full concept... Worthless without it. And again, this is a concept contest, not a illustration contest...

If that would takes months, then people aren't doing what they are suppose to do.

 

[Deleted member 157129]

Although I agree with what you're saying, Arowanna, a concept can also be represented with just a front view like this: http://perzo.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4csatj

Anyway, to clarify:
An illustration where there is a message being conveyed (like the last image you linked) - usually with a background, a subject, perspective, depth, and a focus - is not a concept art, but there may be several concepts put together in this sort of illustration.

A concept art is initially not meant for public eyes. They are used to quickly represent characters, clothing, items, buildings, locations, etc. Makes less work for the other artists as it's easier to put together loads of concept art and deciding on a style from that rather than, well, buying new fabric to make a new costume because the old one wasn't quite there. Concept artists tend to "cheat" as in use bits and pieces from photos or other artworks. The point with a concept art is to illustrate the idea(s), and it's supposed to be fast to do. When you have decided on an idea, then you may go ahead and make something more polished.

We can't have people "cheating" on this site, because it's public. So the entries will be the polished result, possibly with orthographic (that is, front view and side view, and back view if needed) as well. What I'd like to see, though, is people posting their silhouettes and colour mock-ups as part of the whole WIP process. This could easily be implemented in the rules, but the inherent problem is that different artists approach this differently and demanding that people post silhouettes and colour mock-ups could seem an extra chore to them.

Lastly, a few examples of how a final entry could be in a concept art contest (from my favourites!):
http://fav.me/d36n5v8
http://fav.me/d2iv90b
http://fav.me/d45ju0f
http://fav.me/d3kyf6t
http://fav.me/d33fhzb
http://fav.me/d2oqp3j
http://fav.me/d2yi2tn
http://fav.me/d2q2g2k

The basic idea is full body, faint shading merely to denote shape and no fancy effects. You want to show what your character looks like, but you may also want to give it personality. The look takes priority.

Lastly, there shouldn't be much trouble making a concept in one month. If it takes longer, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Arowanna]

Thank you for clarifying, shiiK. *bow*

What I'd like to see, though, is people posting their silhouettes and colour mock-ups as part of the whole WIP process. This could easily be implemented in the rules, but the inherent problem is that different artists approach this differently and demanding that people post silhouettes and colour mock-ups could seem an extra chore to them.

I understand what you mean, but silhouettes and etc. is a major step in the whole creation of a concept, it's where everything comes alive... And as mentioned before, without it there's no real way to "show off" how you got to the final stage. And that pretty much renders the whole thing worthless, at least in my opinion.

Although I agree with what you're saying, Arowanna, a concept can also be represented with just a front view like this: http://perzo.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4csatj

But how did he get there? That's one of the most important things, in my opinion.
Of course, that is a concept, but I'm sure he did a lot more work than just that (silhouettes and etc.) and I personally believe we should include that here (in this contest)...

 

[Deleted member 157129]

Yes, I agree the silhouettes are essential to concept making, and they are quick to do anyway. And, yeah, Michal Ivan probably did a lot of work we're not seeing before he reached that result.

 

[Arowanna]

Very well then, we got some opinions.
Hopefully some more users will have an inquiry about it and hopefully we'll have a better "set of rules" this time around.

 

[Wandering Soul]

My suggestions...

Nice to know what 'Concept Art' means and how to achieve it, everyone...

But let's get back to the purpose of this thread, The 6th Concept Art Themes and Idea...
First let's list out the previous themes of the contest;
Contest #1 - Mechanical
Mini Contest #1 - Epic Battle Scene
Contest #2 - Steam-Punk
Contest #3 - Demonic
Contest #4 - Evolution
Contest #5 - Mythology

Now here's some themes I came up with;
1 - Warmaiden (women who fought in battlefields)
2 - Demi-Human (people who have human and animal physical characteristics)
3 - Cyborg (beings with biological and artificial parts)
4 - Golem (as suggested by Mr.Goblin)
5 - Cursed/Animated Armor (armors that is moved by an apparition)
6 - Angelic (beings of angel-like features)
7 - Elemental (beings of a specific element)
8 - Halloween (as suggested by Ahimtar)
9 - Fallen (corrupted counterpart of a creatures, NOT AN UNDEAD/DEMON)

 

[67chrome]

Dang, didn't see this before I posted something about it elsewhere XD

anyways, my idea for a theme is this-->
I had a lot of fun in the last Concept art contest, and have been brainstorming ideas about what would make a fun theme for another one. The mythology theme in the previous contest was pretty cool, and from playing a lot of games and reading comics the restricted sizes of fantasy universes in contrast to the amount of mythological creatures out there seems to result in this idea:
----------------------------------------

Concept Art Contest #6 Idea:

Multipurpose Creature

In several games sprites and models are recycled to create a wider range of enemies, or re-introduce similar units in higher-tier locations.

The goal of this concept contest is to create the concept of a creature that can be used for 2 different mythological monsters with both names working adequately to describe it.

So, pick 2 creatures and combine their traits into 1 concept that is representative of either creature.

A short bit of text or link should be given to offer the back-story of the creatures chosen.

Scoring:

/5 Lore: How closely does the concept fallow the lore of each creature used? If the original story the monster is from describes it as having 3 heads, does it have X heads (or can it be mistaken for having X heads)? If the creature is described as being part bear, does it appear bear-like? Is their an attached description of what the creatures back-story is?

/5 Creativity: How different are the descriptions of the creatures chosen? Is the combination of two nearly synonymous terms or are the names chosen indicative of vastly different creatures? How Unique is the portrayal of the creature?

/10 Gestalt: How well does everything work together? Do the two names chosen to describe the creature feel right? How effective does the concept feel? How well did the artist use their medium?

FAQ:

Can the two terms be something like Demon and Oni?
Yes, though considering they mean largely the same thing, you're liable to get a low score in creativity, or more likely nothing at all. If say, you went for something like Cthulhu and Baphomet, that would be much more interesting, as both have a considerably more specific look. As long as the creature's chosen aren't synonyms of each other, you should get at least 2-3 points in creativity. If the concept is really unique, much more.

Can I pick a creature like an elf or dwarf?
Yes, anything mythological counts. Though you should certainly add a bit into were exactly the mythological creature's name is taken from. Elves from Tolken and Norse myths are far different than the elves of Irish mythology. Also, Dungeons and Dragons has a big habit of twisting the aesthetic of mythological creatures so they are unique to their franchise, so if you are basing the aesthetic off of D&D be certain to say so.

Can I combine Night Elves and Blood Elves?
No, differing the names of the creatures chosen simply through the addition of prefixes or suffixes is just lame.

 

[Amargaard]

What about a christmas + New year theme?

 

[Chucky]

what about a christmas + new year theme?

hhahahahahahahahahah ! No !!!

 

[Wimbo125]

Why not an abomination-theme, not the WC3 one, but the other ones, the wicked, disgusting creatures!

 

[Amargaard]

Cool idea

 

[Arowanna]

@67chrome, damn, that's a really nice idea, chrome!
Not sure if I'd be able to pull it off, but I sure as hell would give that a try! ;D

It will be a challenge for the judges though.

 

[HappyCockroach]

i really like the "creature that could be real" theme. so people should think about reasons for having an specific anatomy, etc

 

[ike_ike]

lorem ipsum dolorp

so palette swap friendly designs? could be tasty

i really like the "creature that could be real" theme. so people should think about reasons for having an specific anatomy, etc

but then we'd need to find a Self-Described Qualified Internet Biologist (tm) to judge. we already had horrible shenanigans the last time round

 

[Deleted member 157129]

I approve of combining two creatures in a way they can represent both. :3

 

[moyackx]

I'd suggest for this contest (and the others to come) to propose a set of possible presentation formats like the ones presented by Arowanna92 and shiiK so contestants can choose any of them as a minimum to be considered as an entry, with the possibility of adding more drawings to complement the idea.

I think is important to emphasize that this can be used for any modeler here, so clarity in the concept is crucial and a basic presentation format is mandatory

 

[HappyCockroach]

my brother is a biologist, and he is very good to critic anatomy in drawings and anatomies that could make sense (he knows plenty about evolution and genetics and etc) - he also draws pretty good and speaks good english. heheh

he could give an "anatomy judgement" through my account, or create one here to judge it.

and im not kidding.

 

[Goci]

Well it will be my first time to comment something.
As an designer who likes concept art i have an idea.
Why there cant be some theme not about monsters, what about gears for some specific race or something, or may be some vehicles for war also to have some background story... There are plant of contest all about creatures. Why dot we change that. And no special techniques just paper and pen. And after we chose a winner, we can make another contest. Who make it better 3d. Something like that . What do you say ???

 

[Deleted member 157129]

Paper a pen? Why would we do only sketches? No thanks. I'd much rather paint.

 

[Goci]

I mean first to chose the best sketch and then the best 3d. Or if everybody wants to paint im good with that, just to be some theme like i said before.

 

[Wimbo125]

I mean first to chose the best sketch and then the best 3d. Or if everybody wants to paint im good with that, just to be some theme like i said before.

Like, one contest where some make a sketch or something, and another contest where contestants pick a sketch and create the 3d image? Could be fun!

 

[Goci]

me too.

 

[Jaret]

We know (And you all know) that not everybody has the advantage of the tablet.

If we had a "Traditional" and a "Digital" drawing contest then it'd be OK. This way, pen and paper drawers have no way of winning, since colors give the drawing more eye-candy (enhance it). People see "Oh, colours, me lieks" and vote for it. Also, the disadvantage of no Ctrl+Z (undo) furthermore assures the traditional drawer's failure. I mean, he can produce a traditional masterpiece, but then again, most (again) lack a valid and good scanner, hence why it doesn't shine as it should.

Also, i don't see the point in calling it "Concept art contest" since (I wasn't here before) the last theme was "Mythological creature" and everybody drew Zeus, this and that God (in their original form (it was a drawing, not a concept art)), and other stuff. At least call it "Drawing contest", or propose a theme that is really broad. -the personalization of "evil" one is something i really like and dislike at the same time; it gives us the freedom to look at evil stuff (Which is, quite, a rare thing we draw) but then again, it would most likely turn out in 50% of the people drawing the devil or something similar and/or even more disgusting.

Also, if we had a "creature that could be real" theme, i'd love to judge, since i myself am studying medicine, biology etc. and pretty much know how strong/broad/etc. a muscle/bone/etc. should be to support something and/or do a certain movement... I approve the idea of such a theme, and would gladly either join or judge it.

 

[Goci]

Well im a designer, final year. We all could make a great judge team. Anyway there will allw be people who draw only with pencils and any kind of colours and the others who make it digital. Not everybody have tablet to draw it in photoshop. And how the great minds of design says if ure not able to put your work on a peace of paper you are just a half of an artist. Well actually i dont mind but there are others with great talent and they dont have how to draw digital. so thats where i came up whit idea of two contests. One for chosing an master peace, and two for those who does digital - to make it real - giving the right colour and the right background story

Thanks

 

[Jaret]

Well im a designer, final year. We all could make a great judge team. Anyway there will allw be people who draw only with pencils and any kind of colours and the others who make it digital. Not everybody have tablet to draw it in photoshop. And how the great minds of design says if ure not able to put your work on a peace of paper you are just a half of an artist. Well actually i dont mind but there are others with great talent and they dont have how to draw digital. so thats where i came up whit idea of two contests. One for chosing an master peace, and two for those who does digital - to make it real - giving the right colour and the right background story

Thanks

Well, we could always color via pastels/watercolor/etc. but then again, scanning would turn out to be quite hard for these (if some had the resources to scan traditional art). Sure, Digital has it's advantage, but the pencil is a magical thing, and i always respect more the traditional media than digital.

I think some people like digital way better than traditional, so i furthermore propose a Traditional and Digital drawing contest. Hell, we could mix them up and make a traditionalxdigital contest, in which people form teams. One draws it traditionally, while the other colors it. Then, the judges would judge the shape (for the traditional) and the colors (for the digital). Of course, judging also some smaller things (like, idea, etc.) would benefit the contest even more.

 

[Goci]

Yup you are right. What else to say, any theme would be great, and any kind of technique will do the work. From my side i cant draw and paint because of university, but i can be a great CRITIC. Depends when will be this contest. im kind of short with time.

 

[Deleted member 157129]

Look, although I can agree there is difference in the possibilities - in terms of colouring, effects and general quality - between pencil on paper and tablet to computer, it does not matter one bit in a concept art contest. Concept art is about the concept, it's not meant to be shown to other people. Most concept art stay within the team behind the product, never to see the light of day. Though it is not uncommon to make fancy concept art and use it for promotional purposes as well.

Furthermore, I can't remember anyone drawing Zeus for the Mythology contest, but I may be mistaken. More importantly, there were plentiful of original takes on existing creatures/deities - which is concept art in every right. There were, admittedly, some entries that wouldn't have qualified if it were regulated by yours truly, but nonetheless, it was a fun contest and most of the entries were concept art. A drawing contest is something entirely different.

Also, whoever it is of you who's talking about 3D - concept art is mostly done in 2D because doing 2D concepts is faster than 3D. Concept art is more often about making lots of ideas and throwing them out the window for the best one, or the better ones. It needs to be quick and cost effective. Hence 2D. I think we've developed through the years that Concept Art Contests on THW are to be 2D, not 3D. I don't know, but it sounds like you're saying anything computer generated is 3D; and that's not true. And using pen on paper is not a theme, if that's what you're saying.

As for teaming up, sure, but there's no need to have one do the traditional and one the digital. That's somewhat pointless, because, again, concept art contests are not about the artwork's quality, but the concept itself, the idea. If you've got the skills, you can just as much apply it digitally as traditionally. Just because some people think it's easier to draw on a computer than it is on paper, it doesn't mean it's the finite truth. I personally find it much easier to draw what I want on paper. I often doodle on paper before starting to work on the better idea digitally.

I also saw somebody mentioning CTRL+Z as an unfair advantage to digital artists. That is false. You can erase your mistakes in traditional art as well, although it may be faster to do digitally. In addition, CTRL+Z is often considered both a pro and a con to a digital artist. The pro is that it allows you to effectively go back to a previous state without much hassle (same applies to using layers). The con is that by always having the possibility to go back, you may discard a lot of ideas that could've been used. It also makes you sloppier knowing that it takes a couple clicks to get back to a previous state. Layers are not as affected by the former problem, because by keeping all layers regardless of how horrible the idea seems at the time you prevent any discarding. However, layers are just as inhibiting in the latter case. Personally, I never use CTRL+Z. When I sketch, I try to stick with one layer only to resemble a pen doodle. Pen doodling is my favourite way of quick concepting. It's easy to get fast results and there's no effective way of going back, you simply flip a page instead, thus keeping the old "mistakes" and generating a vast bank of old ideas that you can use in the future.

/bla bla

 

[67chrome]

There were ~3 Zues concepts posted as at least a WIP in the last contest, pretty sure Jaret made one of them to XD. Considering the quantity of entries it wasn't like everyone was doing Zues though, there was a pretty solid variety.

As for limiting medium types for judging...Doing monochromatic stuff is probably more inhibiting when it comes to the public poll, especially scanned pencil sketches on lined paper.

GIMP isn't to hard to use for adding a splash of color or fixing the brightness/contrast of a scan to look crisper, and with all the cries for pixel art doing stuff in MS pain isn't particularly hard either.