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I'm actually going to be out of town until Thursday; so, Extension until the 19th!

I've been in "Do Odd Jobs So You Don't Get Evicted" Mode. BTW

I still love you all.

I DEMAND A RECOUNT!


1... 2... 3... carry the 9...






...one more second...





Yep- Oddy won.

Next: It'll make millions!

"What, that? ...i'll f*ck it for... 25 quid."

www.nikolas-sideris.com/stuff/superabimus.mp3

Not an entry! But I found a way to share it with you guys! 

Why not an entry Niko?  I think that sounds awesome!

I'm not sure if i'm going to be able to finish my piece so i'll post what I have and edit it later if I can find the time.

Anyways, I had this whole concept about about a Sci-Fi universe. There's a trader colony on a satellite in between galaxies. Space pirates were trafficking humans and discovered that one of their cargo was pregnant. It's pretty difficult to sell a pregnant slave so they abandon her at the satellite station when they stop for fuel and supplies. She is taken in by some type of faith/religious thing and they nurse and care for her. She dies during birth and the child is left orphaned on the windowless station. The people that helped his mother try to raise him but he is continually getting into trouble. At some point he runs away, get's into trouble and taken in by the authorities. They put him into foster care with a horrible family until finally they find adoptive parents for him. He's actually excited at the prospect of having a normal life. He get's taken onto a space ship to fly him to his new home. Along the way he see's space for the first time. That's where the song come's in.

He's staring at a planet, nose pressed against the window, stars and nebulas in the background; the planet is orange and green and more beautiful than he imagined. There are two moons, one peeking out from behind the giant planet, the other looks like it's only a few feet away. As he stares in wonder something suddenly blocks the view from the observation window- but for only for the briefest of moments. It shocks the boy, he focuses his eyes looking for what it could have been... and he see's them. They're nearly impossible to see against the black of space but he notices the glint from their windows. Space pirates. He looks around to see if anyone else noticed what had just happened. People were milling about, minding their own business. Children were chasing each other.

He looks back. The pirates are zipping off in different directions. The boy knows that an attack is imminent and he's not sure what to do.

The concepts I was playing with were to musically meld wonder, maybe a bit of innocence with fear and then finally resolve.

Enough said this is what I have so far:

http://www.box.net/shared/gvpsaolxyf

As it stands I have some pizzicato/staccato/arpeggio... I have no idea what the terminology is- sampled violins that are DRIPPING with FX, at the beginning. A cello (chello?) droning in the background, lot's of timpani's kicks, sine waves, and brass and also some Japanese percussion things, and wood blocks. And that's it so far.

I want to add some violins building suspense in the background with some more staccato (I really need to learn how to describe what i'm hearing in my head...) type violins, while some sweeping, epic, deep cello-y things pulse- with the timpani's just marching away, slowly and slowly gaining tempo...

But of course- I always dream bigger than I can produce so... feel free to modify the crap that I have so far, if I don't get it done.

Niiiiice. Any idea's on what it is? =P
I'm going with mutated squid-human hybrid.

I hate to make this seems like a gangbang on Bici but I vote for the midnight Kweepa.

I vote Darius. Mostly because I like the ambiguity of it, and I, as a matter of personal taste, like "talky," character driven stories with minimal exposition.

Oh! I understand, that was accidental. I typically draw in MASSIVE sizes and then make the image smaller and then edit for "pixelish" looks. I wasn't thinking and when I made the outline I opened up my regular template for it... a side effect of this is anti-aliasing, which I then clean up/simplify in order to reduce the image size.

I should have thought about that. I'm sorry. =' [

By refinement you mean multiple "passovers" on your artwork, or that I should clean up the outline a bit.

As a side note- it doesn't have to be that large. You can resize the outline, as long as it retains a modicum of fidelity to the original outline.


P.S.
That already looks awesome Darius!

Too difficult?

That could be a real cool comp!

Way to vote with Anonymity Dual...

I think a video tutorial would be fine- I think most PS users can recognizer the symbols like second nature after just a short time of usage and with a bit of commentary it would be even better.

Unless a standard tutorial is easier- in which case- that would also probably be fine.

Personally, I like your quirky color choices but I think they're effecting the tone of the image and they may or may not be alluding to the tone that you seek for the image.

Immediately when I saw the picture I got into my head whites and blues tinged with gold; Pale, somber opulence, so I made this:


In order to achieve the particular look I use: I painted over the original image, then reduced the size which distorted the image. I then modified it pixel by pixel until it resembled the original image again. This is how I do it, not how you should or should not do it- the main purpose of my post is to ideally influence your color choices, or not.


After my initial impressions I studied her- the whole look felt like Victorian Era or older and pale roses and sepia tones leapt to my mind:




After looking at the New picture I had made I giggled because it reminded me of the type of portraits they use on money so I went with a green pseudo-monochromatic look:




Ultimately these are poor illustrations of the concept but in a small way they all have a different "mood" to them, even though they have almost no difference besides color. In your original illustration you had very little color variation (although the level of contrast was good) which made your image feel flat and uninteresting. Next it appears as if you started using gently offset complimentary counterparts and they added a level of depth to the image and certainly made it interesting, however the new palette coupled with the new background effected the tone making it feel as if the subject is agitated, or mildly upset- which may be fine depending on the use of this portrait but I think having that appearance for a long duration would feel odd.

I'm sure there are hundreds of things on the web about colors effect mood/tone and the psychology of colors but here's something that i feel helped me: http://designinformer.com/the-process-behind-good-illustration-part-2/

I played around with colors in your most recent edit and (even with her mouth and eyebrow the way they are) the shift in tone was palpable. In one (mostly yellows) she seemed mischievous, in another she seemed angry (red/browns.)

Ultimately, in addition to any other edits you do, or if you do no more edits, consider adjusting the colors to match the tone that you're intending to achieve.

I'm personally blown away. People are saying that it doesn't look realistic... but compared to what?

Obviously it's not photo realistic but that's a largely a futile effort. It's got a unique look, that I personally think is sick as hell. I honestly wish I could make backgrounds like that.

I think that the sprite that you made, on the other hand, feels too artificial while TRYING to appear realistic. I guess that would fall into "uncanny valley" territory. Ultimately, however I think that the sprite just does not work as well as the BGs.

[WHAT IS IT?!]

On a bet you spend the night in an old abandoned house rumored to be haunted... In the middle of the night you hear strange noises and feel the floor beneath you vibrating, ever-so-slightly. Never one to believe in the irrational you decide to seek answers.

During your investigation in the grand entry room you notice that one of the spindles on the banister doesn't seem to connect to the railing. You give it a tug. To your surprise the stairs begins to move! They seem to be sinking! The stairs continue to lower and reveal a hidden doorway! The stairs, now leading downwards towards the newly revealed door, stop moving and with a final creak, seem to settle in place. You walk down the stairs and with a final, hesitant breath, swing the door wide open.

In front of you is a massive complex, it reminds you of a hospital, or maybe the science laboratory your mother works at... You hear an intense rattling noise just ahead of you. Regaining your focus you remember why you were awoken in the middle of the night. Sheets of cloth cover many items in the room, sheathing possible noise makers from view. You decide to rip all of the sheets off and find out exactly what's causing strange noises. You walk to a nearby stainless steel table with a number of objects on it; you grab a corner of the sheet, take another hesitant breath and rip the sheet off!

You take a step backwards... There, on the table! It's... It's...



WHAT IS IT?!
You tell me! The object of this coloring ball is to render something that could exist in a creepy, subterranean science lab. Is it an instrument of science? An otherworldly creation? Maybe it's a visual non-sequitur! Who knows? You do... You do...

The Guidelines
1. No color restrictions (but I love clever usage of limited palettes.)
2. Rotation and scaling is fine as long as the "general shape" remains the same.
3. Due to the nature of how I created the outline there are several small peaks and valleys that can be ignored as long as the "general shape" of the outline is maintained.
4. Warping the outline is not allowed.
5. An explanation of your creation is not required but can help identify some of the more creative/obscure creations.

The Outline







P.S. Trophies will be made- but they are pending. I'm a busy bee these days. =D FTW!

PTP has been kidnapped...

What the heck, why not: