The Journey Begins Challenge (2D) Entry: Jakob Pedersen

[soapy]

Hey Jakob, looking forward to seeing what you do. Cheers, good luck!

[DoInferno]

Welcome and good luck!

[Zycho]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141460219_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141460219_large.jpg)

This is the first quick concept sketch. I'm mostly trying to decide on the angle of the picture.

[Zycho]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141460341_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141460341_large.jpg)

Second quick sketch. This has a wider view, but at a lower angle.

[Zycho]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141460430_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141460430_large.jpg)

Third sketch. More of a normal view, and the path is narrower.

[Zycho]

I have a lot of ideas for this challenge, and I'm having a very hard time deciding which one. But I think I'm gonna go with the fallen angel (concepts above).

The story as of now is something like this:
In order to regain his place amongst his brothers, the fallen angel must pass through the valley of shadows.

I thought the title of the picture would be something like:
"When one journey ends, another begins..." - The words of a dying angel, as he embarked on his final quest.

I'm still not sure on the angle of the picture. The composition of the picture will be something like this: A man in a dark coat, leans on a rock in the shade of a dead tree. Behind him a couple of feathers lie on the ground (there might be some blod on them). The path winds on to a narrow passage between two mountains.

I'd like the camera to be in frogs perspective (seen from the ground), to give the picture a greater sence of grandure. But I don't want the feather closest to the "camera" to take up too much space in the picture.

Any comments will be greatly appreciated!!!

Don't worry about the details yet. Just the overall composition and such... Thanks!!

[Zycho]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141463507_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141463507_large.jpg)

I wonder why no one has done any underwater scenes (If there are, I haven't seen them, sorry...).

Each yeah whales travel thousands of miles around the globe, and I thought that might make as a good story line for a picture...

Comments are more than welcome!!!

[BrutalMonk]

Hmm intresting, I love the last idea! It would be a great idea to make wheles, the lightning could be made for awesome!! if a red-orange light came frome the pit, the wheles would get some nice lightning from down and up too.

Keep it up

[Zycho]

Thats actually not a bad idea. First I had imagined it as a more realistic picture, but perhaps I could be interesting to make it a bit more imaginative... And more of a painting style perhaps...

I'll try some stuff and get back with some updates...

[Zycho]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141494849_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141494849_large.jpg)

I just came up with this idea. The characters are far from done, but I just wanted to put something in the sand buggy. There will be alot more details and small gadgets around the car and on the characters, if I choose to use this idea.

As always, comments are very much appreciated!!!

[DoInferno]

I like the whales idea, man! That would be cool.

Only thing strange to me tough is the fact that the camera is half inside and half out of the water... I know it can be done, but it felt kinda unnatural to me... Well maybe it´s just me....

[Zycho]

DoInferno --> Hmm, you might be right... I'll probably color it without the surface, and then do the surface to see what works best...


Thanks!

[Zycho]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141557951_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141557951_large.jpg)

So I almost decided that this is the idea to proceed with. I tried to put on some colors, and change the aspect so it's easier to feel the depth of the ocean. I also removed the surface, which I think helps to underline the vastness of the ocean.

What do you think?

Thanks

[umbrellasky]

I really like your idea. Your right not many people have done underwater themes. Hmm I did think about it but decided to stick with land as it suited my idea best.

Great idea keep it going!

[BrutalMonk]

yea!! Cool! I love what you have there! Its looks cool now, i think the surface wasnt needed here.. Keep it up!

[Nigio]

I like the idea. The view angle of the whales is very interesting and very difficult to draw too. Have you some photo references?
Good luck!

[Zycho]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141576107_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141576107_large.jpg)

So I've put some color on one of the whales, just to see what it could look like. I'm still no quite sure if I should render it something like this, or in a more artistik way, with paint-brush-like strokes...

I think the colors are about right... Maybe a little more red in the overall picture...?

[Zycho]

Nigio --> No, I don't really have any references concerning the position of the whales. I have looked at some pictures of humpback whales to get a feel for the proportions (not that I'm pleased with them on my own pictures so far...).

[ragdoll]

I see your point for the ocean depth part, but it feels empty.

That glow on the ground, would that be lava or something magical?
This would be a hard one to think of since it's heading towards realism too much.

If it were up to me, I'd make it a flying whale, now that would be an epic journey! :thumbsup:

but still looking forward with what you could come up with! Very nice concept so far! :thumbsup:

good luck!

-rj

[Zycho]

Ragdoll --> Ha ha, the last six threads I have commented, you came just before me :)... I actually thought of redoing the sketch. As mentioned earlier I don't want it to be too realistic, which is why I thoght of doing something in more of a painting style. I also thought of doing something abstract. Like have the whales swimming in water close to the "camera", but then somewhere in front of them, the ocean would disappear, and you could look out over a vast landscape, or something. To make it really wierd, I'd might place a portal of some kind between the two worlds (Don't tell anyone, but I ever thought of "sending" the whales through a portal to another planet... Don't know why...:shrug: )But right now I'm just trying to get a bit futher with the original idea... Gives me more time to think of the other alternatives :D

[ragdoll]

Sounds good! Keep up with the planning!

Oh and your secret's safe with me! :thumbsup: :D

-rj

[calisto-lynn]

wow! you had a lot of ideas. i love the last one you're working on...the colours are so beautifully atmospheric!!:applause:

heh im a bit late, but...wellcome, and have fun on the challenge :D

[umbrellasky]

Beautiful colours! I look forward to seeing more progress on this :)

[Drifton]

thx for the comment, i look forward to seening how your entrie turns out

[MichaelCTY]

HMmmmmm, I can said I really love the blue themes, and from now i think journey in sea is a great idea so far,,,,,,but there still can be more too add
waiting for more
cheers

[Zycho]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141674912_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141674912_large.jpg)

Ok, this is just a very fast mock-up of one of my many ideas... The whales appear to be flying over a small village, but they remain under water. The village however looks like one on dry-land, except that it's at the bottom of the ocean. They will still have fire, to give light in the streets, and fields to grow wheat or something. (the light from the village might be strong enough to appear on the whales..?)
I'll probably make the houses a lot smaller, to make it look deeper.
Over the village I thought of having clouds... Clouds made of a lot of small, pink jellyfish perhaps...?
I imagined the sharp edge to be sort of a drop-off, where everything gets darker.

I tried to have the picture divided in two, so the upperpart contained the whales in water, and the lower part was a village on dry-land. I just felt that the differences were too big, which didn't benifit the picture...

What do you think? Horrible or possible?

[storyForge]

hey! i love the idea so far, but i feel its lacking in a narrative sense. maybe add some elements to the picture that let us know whats going on and what/where the whales are doing/going. nice colors so far! try adding some green to the blues as well. tertiary colors work well together. thanks for your comments by the way, i'll keep looking in on your progress !

[Slav]

very cool concept. i like it but my only crit is that you might need to start using referance now... i think this fact would determine if or not your image comes out looking cartoony. i guess it all depends on how you want it to look like as well. :wip: good luck.

[Zycho]

Thank you very much for your replys everyone!!

StoryForge --> Thank you very much for your comment! This image is only a small fraction of what I imagined it to be. The fields below will be a greenish tone, and I'll put in some brown tones as well, since the village is mostly made of wooden houses (yes, wood under water :)). I'll also put in a lot of seaweed, bubbles from the whales, plankton that is mostly visible in the light and so on. I might also draw some other types of whales or fish, but I don't whant them to steal the focus at all.
I must say I'm having some trouble comming up with a good destination for the whales... I thought of sending them towards a bright light or something, but I don't think that will work. For now I think I'll stick with the first idea: The village is placed on the edge of the oceanfloor. The whales has to leave their home and travel a great distance over unknown terrain. I don't quite know how it's gonna turn out though... Any ideas???

Slav --> Thanks for your comment! I don't want my picture to look too realistic, though I'm not really going for a toony look. It's somewhere in between... When I find the time, I'll look at some reference photos for the houses in the village. It's very important that the houses resemble some kind of old 15th century houses (don't know why, but I think old houses suit it better than modern stuff).

New idea:
I've come up with yet another idea... This has nothing to do with the underwater-thing. A boy sits in his room, late in the spring afternoon (red/orange light). He sits at his desk, with all his different color-crayons, thinking hard of what he wants to paint. As his imagination runs like a horse on steoroids, his room almost comes to life. He has a lamp in front of him with a bunch of air balloons on it. Some of these air balloons now actually start comming off the lamp, and flying upwards. His ocean-life picture on the wall starts leaking water, running down the wall. Trough his window you can see spaceships in fierce dogfights, and buildings explode. This is the start of a wonderful journey though a childs restless mind...

What do think?

PS. sorry for the long post... but thank you very much for reading it!!!

[soapy]

Well Zycho you have done lots of good work in here. I dont know which way you are going to go but I like the dune buggy drawing a lot and the whale concept is kool too. Very nice colour and mood. The latest story about the childs imagination is intriqueing also. Tough call what to do. hahah. Good luck.

[calisto-lynn]

nice update! now that you put up 2 different ideas, they both seem great!

keep up the good work!:thumbsup:

[Zycho]

He he, thanks for the kind word. Though you've not exactly making it easier for me to decide which idea to use :rolleyes: ...

Well... I think I'm gonna work a bit more on the boy-idea, to see if it could work out for me (I don't think my painting skills can match what I picture in my mind, but I'll see how far I can go). I've found a lot of pictures of children, which I'm gonna use for reference, and I'll also find some air balloons to look at.
For the picture on the wall I'll of course use the whales that I've already done (well they aren't done, but almost if I'll use them for this idea)...

[Zycho]

http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141989636_medium.jpg (http://features.cgsociety.org/challenge/entries/12/10372/10372_1141989636_large.jpg)

(I know it looks like someting from the hand of a 6 year old, but it's just a quick test!)
I'm very much in doubt concerning this idea... First of all I can't decide weather to have a large window like this, with a lot os stuff going on, or a small window with only one or two things happening.
I'm not sure if i want such a mixture in the things as well. Maybe I should stick to one historic element (pirates, sci-fi or pre-historic)...
The picture and lamp on the table will also have elements of moment on them. The lamp will have air balloons comming of it, and the picture will have something falling out of it.

I picture the boy in his PJ's, just before bedtime. Therefore it's gonna be dark on the other side of the windows, with only a few light souces (like the explotion and the stary sky).

What do you think? Big or small window? One or many different kinds of things happening?
Any comments will be greatly appreciated!!

[SublimCreation]

Good luck Zycho, can't wait to see more! :thumbsup:

[storyForge]

i like the idea of a big window, but try and keep the actions small outside, and keep the ones you have. really work on giving the child character, alot of details into his persona.

[calisto-lynn]

nice work and i agree with storyForge, to make actions smaller outside would prove how large it all is...it would get a certain dynamic effect..nice work mate:thumpsup:

[Zycho]

Thank you very much for your replys!! I appreciate it!

sortyForge and calisto --> Thank you for the input. Sounds like a good idea, so it won't take the focus of the boy.

I'm sorry I haven't done any updates, but I've just been so insanly busy with my school, work, music and such... But I hope I can get some work done this weekend and next week.

[Overchord]

Hello

Just dropped by to say - great ideas! Maybe you could even incorporate your flying whales into the idea with the kid at the table! Looking forward to see how you progress!

Hled og lykke med det!

[rasamaya]

Are you going to surprise us or what?

Thank you for your advice on my thread.
I was gifted enough time to finish mine.
Check it out
But be sure to click parts of the image to zoom in to 100%(almost)
http://rasamaya.sitesled.com/main/index.html
Cheers

[Slav]

da hell with school time to pull all nighters and finish this up! j/k

but yea seriously time to finish the work up man. :)

[Zycho]

Hi all

Sorry I haven't uploaded anything new!! I REALLY wish I could!! But I'm up to my neck in exams and work, so I don't think I'm gonna be able to finish this challenge... Breaks my heart...

I'll see what I can do, but I'm not sure how much I can get done before the deadline (I haven't done anything since the last update, so theres a long way to go...)

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