Curse

Widowmaker · Dec 17, 2009, 02:52 PM // 14:52

Minami: I have to agree with the above comments. You've obviously put a lot of work into the figures that such a flat background does them little justice. I wouldn't suggest anything too detailed though as they need to stay the focus.

Morag: You might want to try adding a very subtle warming of the colours around the handshake to draw the eye to it. Just a tiny amount will be enough to really cement that as the focal point.

Quick poke about to elaborate what I mean:

Minami · Dec 17, 2009, 03:04 PM // 15:04

Thanks guys!
Your suggestions would fix the problem I've been seeing, thanks so much ^_^

I'll get to it asap

@ Morag: Owoooh... soo awesome!

Morag D · Dec 17, 2009, 04:08 PM // 16:08

@ widowmaker: you are sooooo right! Thanks a ton!

@ minami: thanks!

new version:

Eragon Zarroc · Dec 17, 2009, 04:17 PM // 16:17

very awesome morag

love it

<3

Tzu · Dec 17, 2009, 04:20 PM // 16:20

wowsy, Zidane, I LOVE your textures! XD

And thanks, Dyeane. What exactly did you make the frost effect on your snowman of? It's brilliant, looks so real! o.O' And can you take it out of the jar, etc? Your project looks really interesting, got me really curious. :3

Minami, I agree with what everyone else have said, somewhat. I think your background/frame looks really cute, but it's true that it doesn't do your characters much justice in that case. And I wonder what's in Grenth's gift??? D8

Morag D, FANTASTIC artwork, so incredibly inspired and stylish and original, and the theme is just perfect! Widowmaker's idea made it perfect in my opinion, I've no CC for you! XD

KiyaKoreena · Dec 17, 2009, 04:34 PM // 16:34

@ Dyeane. It looks to me like a salt or sugar crystal figure (am I wrong?), so couldn't you just put a little bit of hot water in the bottom to loosen it up? Just like a mm or two to work it away. I wouldnt try rocking the figure to get it off the bottom, maybe once you dissolve a little of the very bottom you could take a pair of chopsticks and tape a short length of fishing line or dental floss to the very tips (tied and duct taped to be secure). Put the tips down to the very bottom of the jar and loop it under the feet into the dissolved groove. Maybe a little sawing motion with help lever it slightly away from the jar bottom or you can loop it and use the sticks/string to focus the pressure to that area where you want it to break instead of higher up the figure.

Widowmaker · Dec 17, 2009, 04:37 PM // 16:37

Happy to help.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tzu

And I wonder what's in Grenth's gift??? D8

Look on his face, something verrrrry cheap.

Minami · Dec 17, 2009, 04:45 PM // 16:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Widowmaker

Happy to help.

Look on his face, something verrrrry cheap.

And veeery tiny O_o

My original idea was that Grenth was gonna give that teeny tiny present, and Dwayna would be giving him a huge one, so big that she would've been standing in front of it, and as tall as she is.

But I love the mini Dhuum ^_^

Dzjudz · Dec 17, 2009, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Okay, here a first look at my new project.

Idea: Dwayna down the rabbit hole

As I said before, I'm a novice at all of this (always a good excuse for terrible work

). Anyway, I've been experimenting a bit with vectors in photoshop and this is what I got so far.

As I hope you can see, it's a drawing of Dwayna at the famous rabbit valley in eotn. Down in the valley you can see santa with a tree. All of this is obviously not finished.

I also wanted to ask some advice. I'm going for a cartoony look. I was wondering how to illustrate the path and the walls. Any suggestions on how to do this? I'm using Photoshop CS4 by the way.

P.S. At least it's better than my previous stick figures

.

tmakinen · Dec 17, 2009, 09:31 PM // 21:31

Dzjudz, in my opinion this is a much better idea than the first one, and it's funny and original as well.

If you have trouble visualizing the environment then it might be a good idea to go to the place in game, take some nice screenshots and use those as a reference. Should help a lot since the perspective is somewhat challenging.

While we all know that it's a trap, you could underline the fact by making Grenth take a sneak peek from under the hood as he waits for the descending Dwayna. Another possibility would be to draw the scene from the perspective of Grenth (since it's his trap after all) and put Grenth on the foreground, facing camera, rubbing his hands in evil anticipation while we see Dwayna walking down the slope with rabbits at the background. That would provide a more dramatic setting and you would have both characters facing the camera instead of the other way round.

Edit: also, that way you could make Grenth an active participant of the scene, as he could, e.g., be making wintersday gifts with 'unusual' contents (see Nightmare Before Christmas).

Dzjudz · Dec 17, 2009, 09:51 PM // 21:51

Ah yes, I didn't mention that I was planning on making a 4-part comic again. This is only the first of the four screens. (Oh man what have I gotten myself into, even this one only has taken me a lot of time already

). The (un?)expected Grenth revelation (I know everyone sees it coming) is planned for the third screen. The second screen shows Dwayna about halfway down, following the first rabbit, and with several hints that she's walking into a trap. The fourth screen will show a victorious Grenth and a captured Dwayna.

Dyeane · Dec 18, 2009, 04:40 AM // 04:40

@Tzu & Kiya

Borax crystals, actually

They form faster than salt/sugar. It's supposed to come out of the jar but it's stuck! I added way too much borax to the water, I guess! I was so paranoid about not adding enough, heh.The hot water thing maaaay work to loosen it, but there's soo much borax layered at the bottom I'm not sure if it'll be effective. I'm definitely going to try that though.

I want to make a few more, but I ran out of white stems! I thought it'd only take a couple to make a figure, but it takes like 5. I need to go get more.

KiyaKoreena · Dec 18, 2009, 05:29 AM // 05:29

I never heard of using that before. I need to try it!

tmakinen · Dec 18, 2009, 06:29 AM // 06:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dzjudz

I know everyone sees it coming

I think that this is the problem. A good story in 3 or 4 frames consists of introduction, punchline (unexpected turn of events) and denouement (look at that last year's polar bear comic to see what I mean). You are giving away the punchline on the first frame and the last three are just a very drawn out denouement that is boring because it is completely unnecessary - everything was already revealed in the first frame! Less is more, never add more stuff than is needed to make your case. The idea that you have can be expressed in just one frame and that way you'll spare a lot of work and the end result will be more to the point and thus better as well.

Edit: if you absolutely insist on doing a 4 frame strip with the given idea, then you should not reveal that the events happen in the infamous rabbit hole before frame #3, preferrably not before the last frame. Expand your story so that the first two frames contain an introduction, like Dwayna walking through the forest, noticing a little rabbit freezing in the snow. She decides to help and make the rabbit warm and when the rabbit has thawed it leads Dwayna down to the hole, apparently asking her to help other poor rabbits as well. The punchline (we see the familiar rabbit hole with an obvious Grenth in disguise) can be put to the last frame because the outcome is so obvious that it can be left for the reader to figure out.

Now, for something completely different, I'm also preparing an official contest entry. I won't be submitting the project to this workshop but as a long time guru member I'll give you a sneak peek of one of the stop motion puppets that I've made (BTW, my avatar is also a puppet of my own making). I figured out that I can't lose with this work - even if ANet doesn't think highly of my work I'll still have the puppets

Tzu · Dec 18, 2009, 12:11 PM // 12:11

Inde & Arenanet have decided to donate 1 code for Grenth's Regalia, and 1 code for Dwayna's Regalia to the Wintersday Workshop!

I will need the rest of the day to discuss where these glamorous prizes shall be placed, or if I need to make a new award entirely, with the other Judges (specifically Zholn Cherub as he is the only other judge, except me, who will be a judge for all the awards and in turn is not legible for any, to avoid bias). If you have some input or ideas, feel free to share, though the final descision will rest on the two of us.

No idea what I'm talking about? Check out this update & the new Costumes!

stouda01 · Dec 18, 2009, 12:40 PM // 12:40

Name: Stouda Cz
Idea: Grentch in snowball fight
Genre: Illustration

I didn't really find time to continue on this lately but i hope that changed with holidays .) Grentch is still far from finished and also i haven't really figured out the background yet

Morag D · Dec 18, 2009, 12:52 PM // 12:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tzu

Inde & Arenanet have decided to donate 1 code for Grenth's Regalia, and 1 code for Dwayna's Regalia to the Wintersday Workshop!

ZOMG!!

how awesome!
I want!

Minami · Dec 18, 2009, 04:08 PM // 16:08

After trying several suggestions, this is what I figured...
No matter how nice & detailed I make the xmas lights, it's not gonna look good. Even with opacity down and colors faded it takes away too much from the scene itself. So I dropped that idea.
Tried drawing a wreath border, turned out to be a disaster. I think I found my "why do I have such a hard time drawing this simple thing" thing... It looked like twig worms with green growths. >_<
I thought this part was gonna be easy

This is my latest try... What do you guys think?

Widowmaker · Dec 18, 2009, 04:29 PM // 16:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tzu

Inde & Arenanet have decided to donate 1 code for Grenth's Regalia, and 1 code for Dwayna's Regalia to the Wintersday Workshop!

Well, bugger.

Someone is going to happy with those prizes.

KiyaKoreena · Dec 18, 2009, 05:21 PM // 17:21

I like that much better Minami.

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Status update: Working on more ornaments (non skill ones, still cant find the parts I finished for the two monk ones.) Sorry no pictures, husband hasnt brought the camera back from work yet.