Curse

Deatgs Corrupter · Oct 17, 2010, 09:34 AM // 09:34

ahhh guys unfortunately a delay in the post emasn that the materials i ordered will not come in time estimated delivery time is 25th :O, this sucks. i also did not realise how early the entries had to be in

Charlie Dayman · Oct 17, 2010, 09:39 AM // 09:39

http://changinghand.deviantart.com/#/d30x763

♠ Name: Charlie Dayman [digital] [Progress Gallery: http://s1181.photobucket.com/albums/x422/charliedayman/

I can only provide a direct link to my picture on DA since these forums don't support my file type. That being said: I don't want to look at this god-forsaken thing for the rest of the week.

There are 100 frames total, spread out across eight layers. The film grain effects and the jumping picture took me the longest since each frame was individually created to be unique through either placement or effect. As for the recordings, those were all done through effects on GarageBand. The voices of the two Gwens are actually my own voice filtered through a helium & male-to-female setting (lol). All effects and sounds were later compiled in Audacity, because I'm cheap and like using free programs.

And now we have it; a telegraphed reference to The Shining, combined with an influence from Silent Hill, and a voice-castrata all wrapped up nicely in a Guild Wars context. I'd say that's a fairly decent job for a first go at Flash Animation.

Now that I'm done with this, I actually have time to look over other people's works! *gasp* But I'll get to that in the morning - staring at these flashes all day and recording has given me a cracking headache.

Minami · Oct 17, 2010, 09:48 AM // 09:48

Charlie D:

Holy shit.... >_< D:

Tommy's · Oct 17, 2010, 11:28 AM // 11:28

Wow so many finished entries already! *stresss gottahurry* Looking great all. And Charlie that flash you added is really cool. Kudos to that my good sir.

KiyaKoreena · Oct 17, 2010, 01:14 PM // 13:14

That is awesome Charlie. Pure awesome.

Ravenhawk · Oct 17, 2010, 02:26 PM // 14:26

Oh Frustration - Wow that really looks great! It almost looks 3D to me! O_O

Charliepai - One word - EPIC!

I suppose I need to resubmit my entry form with the new format :

♠ Ravenhawk: Pumpkin Carving is for Sissies [Digital media] Progress Gallery

Concept:
Mina is my main character in Guild Wars and, although she has a good heart, she tends to have violent tendencies due to her love for battle. So during Hallow's Eve, I imagine her carving on the skulls of her opponents instead of pumpkins while looking good doing it as any mesmer should be!

Elements in the picture and their meanings:

-The skull that she is holding is a Charr skull or at least what I imagine the Charr skull to look like. I looked through feline skulls over the internet and put horns on it. Mina fought the Charr in the past, especially during the Northern Wall mission as demonstrated in this older artwork of mine where Mina was being cornered by the Charr with my ranger and monk -Ran and Dani - respectively.
http://roguemina.deviantart.com/art/Trapped-169857986

She doesn't have a deep seated hatred for the race unlike Gwen. Simply put anyone that would cross her would surely end up the same way and this Charr wasn't so lucky (Or was he? It did get a kiss from her

)

-The cat, the fire imp (on the wall) and the dagger are shoutouts for three of my Guildies in The Beautiful Oblivion [EON] - Sylas the Lynx ('nuff said) , Murke (she had a mischievous fire imp as a pet. Murke is also part of Nolani and she has a commission thread here) and Vale since his story involved a pair of (talking) daggers infused with fragments of his brother's soul - Madness and Malice. Well, they didn't have pumpkin handles but I can imagine Madness dressing up for the occasion

-The dragon carving on the skull serves two purposes - The long awaited Guild Wars 2 and our guild emblem which is a black dragon as a shoutout for the rest of my guildmates. (I would love to put them all in the drawing but yeah I probably won't be finished till next year lol)

-The Harvest Moon. I always loved Guild Wars rendition of this. I sort of combined the orange skull faced version with the white grinning version

. I couldn't pick between them!

-The Raven on the window - Ravenhawk is my username here (as you all can see lol. The 'hawk' part is for my ranger whose last name means dark battlehawk) and Mina is sometimes nicknamed as Raven - possibly due to her dark hair and overall mysterious persona.

-Obsidian Armor - Mina is usually seen wearing her black elite rogue's armor. I always wanted the Obsidian Armor set for her and that was made possible by you guys in Nolani Forums. Earlier this year, I decided to take on Guild Wars commissions to purchase this armor and more importantly, challenge myself to getting better at drawing. So this is for you guys especially all the people who commissioned me in the past and the ones who supported me in this workshop.

Nymph of Meliai · Oct 17, 2010, 02:51 PM // 14:51

Name: Nymph of Meliai
Art Form: film
Idea: The summoning ritual
Progress Gallery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkeRiM_WLs0 (complete)
Artbook Award: [X]
Official Contest: entered
Workshop Awards: [X]

Sound track is mixed by myself using copyright free samples - try watching the film with headphones rather than speakers to get the full effect. For me it is the sound that gives the element of creepy to a film. It was mostly the sound in my 2008 runner up video that won its place imho - although in that video there was a lot of subliminal stuff happening - such as a laughing skull in the moon, skulls appearing through the ground under gwen's feet that your conscious mind misses but if you freeze frame you can pick up on. No such subliminal messaging in my 2010 video - the 2009 one was full of it but it didn't translate too well - so went back to basics this time.

I tried to base this concept film on the Ring (Japanese version) death video sequence - obviously I was not trying to copy that film but was using it as a source of inspiration to give a similar kind of feel - I was aiming for a ritualistic type of experience - such as summoning the devil or the undead.

The end 'zombie' walk uses two characters - I wanted the way that the female ranger bows her head but the face of a necro. Using the shining blade costume allowed me to give the appearance that it was a singular character. Removing the eyes before the zombie face mask close up was largely down to luck.

Just looking at Charlie's entry - now that is what I am talking about - awesome creepiness - that is what Halloween is supposed to be about. Excellent work!!!

>>Not a bad idea, I think I will too. After all, they let a video win in the past, <<

The video is a dead link - it can be seen HERE

Nym

Widowmaker · Oct 17, 2010, 03:14 PM // 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nymph of Meliai

I tried to base this concept film on the Ring (Japanese version) death video sequence - obviously I was not trying to copy that film but was using it as a source of inspiration to give a similar kind of feel - I was aiming for a ritualistic type of experience - such as summoning the devil or the undead.

I actually watched it before reading your comments and recognised the Ringu video feel you were going for so I'd say that worked well, it gave it a strong ending.

Death By An Arrow · Oct 17, 2010, 03:34 PM // 15:34

so i kind of stayed at that party longer than i thought... so i apologize Kiya for not getting to CC your costume.

It looks great though, especially with the plushie!

charlie; that turned out really, REALLY good. o: some sort of prize will be going your way in the official contest for sure.

So thanks everyone for the CC's from last night. I'm seeing a general theme of my pumpkins needing textures, so I think once I'm finished all the pumpkins i'll tackle that. Like a sprucing up deal. my only question is, what exactly do you mean by texture? I'm under the assumption that pumpkins have a smooth, shiny (not lustrous, but not dull) because we dont have our pumpkins yet D:<

I also want to add a deeper groove effect to the pumpkins (my initial struggle with the piece) without making it look like huge, fat blobs.. i might just be over complicating things.
i want to submit mine by wednesday because my internet is kind of a huge fail and I need to make sure it submits a few days in advance to avoid failing. busybusybusy ;x

KiyaKoreena · Oct 17, 2010, 03:54 PM // 15:54

@ Death. A pumpkin's skin is kind of mottled; some have lightish orange or yellow dots to them where it is indented while others are darker. examples http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/10/i...-20091017.html and http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-3921...ackground.html They are flawed and a bit bumpy/lumpy in places. http://www.aftonapple.com/pumpkins.jpg They aren't smooth like apples, and I would categorize them more as satin luster than shiny. Hope that helps a little.

Shy Guy · Oct 17, 2010, 04:21 PM // 16:21

Name: Shy Guy
Art Form: Digital Art
Idea: poster
Progress Gallery: Don't have one yet >.<
Real Life Prizes: []
Official Contest: [x]
Workshop Awards: [x] (tick this if you want to compete for the workshop awards (you forfeit your chance to be a judge)

This is just a vague concept I had, and I thought I'd have a go at sharpening my photoshop skills.

I have a ways to go with the poster, but and CC would be greatly appreciated.

Aeronwen · Oct 17, 2010, 04:26 PM // 16:26

I have been a bit busy and have not kept up with this thread. Wow what a lot of awesome entries, have just read through the last 2 pages, will try and catch up on the others soon.

Stouda ~ wow that is a great pic, I am surprise dyou are not satisfied with it. I would leave it right there.

Marsh ~ that is so lovely, I wanna be at that Halloween party 

Kiya ~ just awesome 

Konig ~ I would say that although Halloween is based on the christian calendar, the date of this and many Christian festivals was intentionally set to coincide with pagan festivals, in this case Samhein. As Samhein is celebrated on the last day of autumn , that means that in the Mouvelian calendar it would be day 270. Isn’t that a lot better than maths?

Frustration ~ Oh that’s a lovely pic, I really like the colours and what you have done with the moon.

Deatgs ~ 

Charlie ~ I wish I had not watched that, I may never sleep happily again. Hope your head is better.

Raven ~ I love the picture and the write up you did made me see it all differently (I never noticed the pumpkin handles on the daggers lol) There is so much detail in this picture that there is always something more to look at 

Meliai ~ I love the colour. I will have to go back to pre to check the temple place, I never really had a good look at it. I haven’t listened to it on headphones yet…

Oh_Frustration · Oct 17, 2010, 05:45 PM // 17:45

Nymph, you've really done good job with the video, creeped the heck out of me

Same with Charlie, before the flash element had fully loaded, I was like "such nice stuff from Charlie, he sure knows how to draw well, I like this work a lot" and then I almost yelled because it looked so creepy

Well done, mate, well done!

Shy Guy, I like the looks of it and the concept, I guess you're gonna add more shadows and stuff, maybe lower the saturation a little?

Keep up the great work! The deadline is close, but you can get it done, fellows

(Just sent mine to Anet and now I'm feeling excited. I can't wait!!!!)

Death By An Arrow · Oct 17, 2010, 06:15 PM // 18:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiyaKoreena

@ Death. A pumpkin's skin is kind of mottled; some have lightish orange or yellow dots to them where it is indented while others are darker. examples http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/10/i...-20091017.html and http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-3921...ackground.html They are flawed and a bit bumpy/lumpy in places. http://www.aftonapple.com/pumpkins.jpg They aren't smooth like apples, and I would categorize them more as satin luster than shiny. Hope that helps a little.

ahh, the dots I can do. The lumps... i dont really know how to tackle that buisness.. any suggestions/pointers? I forsee them not looking like bumps but rather random lines on the flesh.. :/ The speckles I can do, but I now see how the lumps could be beneficial.

Thistle Xandra · Oct 17, 2010, 06:21 PM // 18:21

@ Deatgs Corrupter: awww

That totally stinks! Is there still a way you could make a different idea work?

@Charlie: OMG, that is so awesome!!!! The 'marks and dust' on the film makes it so perfect! AND THE VOICE, wow! Great, great job <claps excitedly>

@Nymph of Meliai: nice job! Very creepy looking, but if I get a phone call after watching that vid, I'm going to get really upset

@ Shy Guy: Yay, nice start and idea! It looks great! My only comments would be to change the screw to a nail (you'd nail a poster) and change it so you just see the head since you're looking at it straight on (or tilted with shadowing to show it was nailed incorrectly), crinkle the paper where the nail would go in for a realistic effect, and it would be kinda cool if the corners of the paper curled in

@ Konig: Ok, got my bagel and my coffee. And that math still made my head explode, because I'm still unsure with a lot of the assumptions you made (since I'm not very strong in lore apparently). I'd go with an approach like Aeronwen or use GW-real world timings (I know lore and game is considered different due to scale but still). For example, looking at the Mouvelian calendar, it says Wintersday lands between Colossus and Zephyr, so we can say:
Wintersday = Day 360/ Day 1 GW time
We already know that Wintersday was Dec 18 - Jan 4 in the real world from 2009 activities, so just for simplicity, call it Dec 31.
Halloween even was October 23 - Nov 2 in the real world in 2009, so for simplicity, let's call it October 31.
Since there's a 2 month difference in real world time, between those two dates, we can generalize there's a 2 month difference in GW time, which is 60 days as you pointed out.
So, Halloween could land on day 300 in the Season of the Colossus.

Alternatively, the problem with direct linking between the two calendars is that different days make it out of sync, so where do you say they sync up when they correspond to our calendar every year? We can always just make the assumption that a time is different so that 360 days in their year = 365.25 days in our year but the cycles are still the same, which is why we can celebrate wintersday and halloween each year at about the same time.
so, in, the real world, we have Halloween as 306 day and what is Halloween in GW?
Look at the ratio and solve: 306/365.25 = X/360 where X = 301.6 days or 302 rounding up.

So, I guess this means you can go with day 224, 270, 300, or 302 and irregardless, you'll still have a great story

Just on a side note, I did a total cop out and called it 'Halloween, present day'

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konig Des Todes

How I view my fan-fiction is that I want to have as minimal contradictions to canon lore as possible, which means that if something isn't known, I put the most likeliest case down

I view my fan fiction like Hollywood makes comic book adaptions. It'll probably anger a lot of fans that know the real story, but I can only hope the audience will enjoy it. If not, I'll just pretend it didn't exist and says it's time for another 'reboot'.

I still have to write my battle scenes, but I'm just not feeling motivated to do it... Time is ticking

Charlie Dayman · Oct 17, 2010, 06:34 PM // 18:34

I'm glad you guys find it a source of nightmare fuel. Mission complete.

@ShyGuy: Aye! Nice to see you joining the workshop. I'd suggest maybe fraying the edges out just a little bit more. All the edges look so crispy and orderly, that it doesn't really seem to give off the feeling of worn out paper. You don't have to go crazy with it - just a few differences around some of the sides to give a bit more texture.

@Nymph: Argh, it always creeped me out when movies did that frame by frame edit of someone approaching the camera. And did those fleshy walls have teeth? It's got a good creepy atmosphere to it.

@Raven: Still lookin' good

@Konig: Not only would Batman have survived the fall, he would've used his Bat-jitsu to throw Thorn out the window. I lol'd when Thorn threw his herald out the window though. I'll be keeping up with your stories - this looks to be a fun read.

@Frustration: Looks awesome; the colored pencils gave it a nice texture. I really like the moon as well. Always good to see traditional art in these workshops.

@Kiya: That's awesome. Is that tissue paper on his eyes and mouth? That was definitely a good call. It really makes it look like the inside of his head is very bright. If it were just the LED inside, I doubt it would have had the same lighting effect. Overall, the armor looks great and it's really well done all-around.

Though I'm requesting one of your next WIP pics be of Thorn doing that disco pose the Wars do for their dance.

@Marsh: You've heard it already, but your pics really are way too adorable. Normally, I don't really go for chibi-style pictures. But I like your particular style and method to it. Definitely a very fun picture to look at.

@Stouda: The coloring looks good so far. Again, I'm really liking the gesture to Thorn and the H-Hound. If you're having trouble with laying down colors in the "Color" layer of PS - just remember that colors react significantly stronger on darker shades of the Grayscale.

@Shady: The Charr-effigy design was always awesome. Nice to see someone actually crafting one. Are you going to set it on fire for the final progress shots?

@Tom: Looks really good. Love the pumpkin carving to the left. It doesn't look like you've gotten to the point of adding the final highlights and shadows, so I can't really comment on that. But at the moment, I'd say add some highlights on the the ground to emphasize that rocky texture.

@Dutch: My main question is the lighting on the left side. The way the lighting is right now, is a bit confusing. The corner of the brick wall should have a weak light source coming from the lamp. And maybe adding just a few highlights on the bottom of the tree branches can help bring them out into the foreground a bit more. At the moment, they seem a little flat due to how dark they are. Other than that, keep going at it.

@Speerit: Nice and creepy

@Death: I'd try pushing the highlights on the pumpkins closest to Thorn's face a bit more. Doing some overlays or highlights with brighter colors on the curves of the pumpkins will help emphasize their shape. Though that's probably coming later, so I'm not sure if you've already planned to do that.

@Najade: Very nice textures. It has the feeling of a sort of collage, which is a nice change here in the WIP galleries.

@Odinius: As I said before, the clay suits the scene you're making. Looking good.

@Lil Thing: Nice, good choice of perspective here.

I'm hoping I got to everyone within the most recent posts :\ But if not, I should be more active in this thread now that I've got the Halloween piece out of the way. Time to relax, aaawww yeeeeeuuuuh

Thistle Xandra · Oct 17, 2010, 06:43 PM // 18:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie Dayman

Time to relax, aaawww yeeeeeuuuuh

I'm jealous!!

but considering your entry, you deserve it!

Charlie Dayman · Oct 17, 2010, 06:48 PM // 18:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thistle Xandra

I'm jealous!!

but considering your entry, you deserve it!

Thistle, I just realized I've missed your wippie. Do you know what page your latest update was on? This thread has gotten so big - hard to keep track.

Thistle Xandra · Oct 17, 2010, 06:58 PM // 18:58

Charlie, no worries

I've stopped posting the actual story pieces because I kept changing them, but I've kept all the notes and previous stuff on my blog homepage

This is today's latest post (http://thistlexandra.wordpress.com/) :

Konig Des Todes · Oct 17, 2010, 07:08 PM // 19:08

@Charlie Dayman: I love it. But not nightmare fuel for me. The sound in the background truly makes the piece.

@Nymph of Meliai: Nice, liked the end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aeronwen

Konig ~ I would say that although Halloween is based on the christian calendar, the date of this and many Christian festivals was intentionally set to coincide with pagan festivals, in this case Samhein. As Samhein is celebrated on the last day of autumn , that means that in the Mouvelian calendar it would be day 270. Isn’t that a lot better than maths?

Yes, that is better than maths. I hate maths. Though I gotta wonder if Tyrian's halloween is based off of the time of the christian festival or the original (Samhein).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thistle Xandra

@ Konig: Ok, got my bagel and my coffee. And that math still made my head explode, because I'm still unsure with a lot of the assumptions you made (since I'm not very strong in lore apparently). I'd go with an approach like Aeronwen or use GW-real world timings (I know lore and game is considered different due to scale but still). For example, looking at the Mouvelian calendar, it says Wintersday lands between Colossus and Zephyr, so we can say:
Wintersday = Day 360/ Day 1 GW time
We already know that Wintersday was Dec 18 - Jan 4 in the real world from 2009 activities, so just for simplicity, call it Dec 31.
Halloween even was October 23 - Nov 2 in the real world in 2009, so for simplicity, let's call it October 31.
Since there's a 2 month difference in real world time, between those two dates, we can generalize there's a 2 month difference in GW time, which is 60 days as you pointed out.
So, Halloween could land on day 300 in the Season of the Colossus.

Alternatively, the problem with direct linking between the two calendars is that different days make it out of sync, so where do you say they sync up when they correspond to our calendar every year? We can always just make the assumption that a time is different so that 360 days in their year = 365.25 days in our year but the cycles are still the same, which is why we can celebrate wintersday and halloween each year at about the same time.
so, in, the real world, we have Halloween as 306 day and what is Halloween in GW?
Look at the ratio and solve: 306/365.25 = X/360 where X = 301.6 days or 302 rounding up.

So, I guess this means you can go with day 224, 270, 300, or 302 and irregardless, you'll still have a great story.

Technically, Wintersday would be on the spring equinox, not the end of the gregorian calendar. So there would be a much bigger difference between Halloween and Wintersday in GW lore - at least 90 days and at most 180 days.

I realized that, using my calculations, it's 44 days into Autumn - so I could say the 45th and call it "the ides of the Scion" - I like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie

@Konig: Not only would Batman have survived the fall, he would've used his Bat-jitsu to throw Thorn out the window. I lol'd when Thorn threw his herald out the window though. I'll be keeping up with your stories - this looks to be a fun read.

Twas a joke on the name. ._.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thistle Xandra

Charlie, no worries

I've stopped posting the actual story pieces because I kept changing them, but I've kept all the notes and previous stuff on my blog homepage

This is today's latest post (http://thistlexandra.wordpress.com/) :

How big is your written work? o_o I don't need chapters for mine. Course, mine's a short story.