CgTalk Daily Sketch 1024 : NTL: "The Golem on the blue lake cave" -HYPER REVIEW

[JTD]

Depending on what particular fantasy you happen to be reading or playing, a golem is a construct (an artificial being that is magically delicious) which can be made out of anything: iron, glass, fire, etc. Although a mud golem would be quite the adversary.

[Mats Gustafsson]

Such an interesting subject and so hard to visualise. I cannot resist to make an attempt!
3 hours. Photoshop and Painter.
Feel free to do an overpaint.
I will give my feedback to some later participants in the thread.

http://www.algonet.se/~matsgus/pictures/1024.jpg

[Telemaco]

I will update, of course

http://www.akenar.com/Sketches/Images/sk094.jpg

first of all the most important: thinking the illustration. The best is being as sutile as you can, there's no need to show a whole lake or a too clear image of a golem/cave but they must be in the image for being inside the topic. I use to think about the image having a tea at home and sometimes I can "see" it very clear in my mind. Other times there's no inspiration so i open canvas and play with the pencil -the ink is free- till i get something i like. In this case I "saw" the image I want, a cave with something of water (I will try to evoque some caustics in the top of the cave) and a mad ravine (the golem was a Prague's jew invention) working in its creation with a very complicated structure of wood, ropes and weights. The image gains strenght with stalactites in the top and some kind of rare bats sleeping in silence, few stalagtites are closer to the spectator so the image gains in space. The ambient is given by caustics, the deep still water, the far light of the blue lake (maybe in the very very morning, have to think about it) and the main light -the torch or lamp of the mad ravine, that gives shadow and volume to the half-made golem itself-. The golem have to be unfinished, of course, and maybe the legs are still part of the cave. The beard of the monster will help us giving a line focus of attention.

This is what I thought in 3/4 mins. The sketch of the sketch took me one minute to be done. Tomorrow next step.

---

http://www.akenar.com/Sketches/Images/sk094b.jpg

When doing an structure is useful to sketch it before starting, i think it must be matched with the desired perspective as close as possible and it must be complex and simple at the same time. In this point I casually saw that the image gains with an spiral structure around the golem and this is the way I'm going to follow to avoid a only-chaos draw. It only matters the pilar trunks, floors and the basics, detail comes in the "fine line pass". Now this is the ressult. At this ponit I'm going to put the "structure" layer to 40% and create a new one. My canvas is 3000x3000 and the "fine line pass" is a 3 pixel brush with the only custom of setting spacing to 1% to avoid bad-looking lines. As you can see I couldn't wait to draw a first idea of the man in the top (a jew) and maybe -i said maybe- there can be some parallelism with him and the golem itself... now let's go with the "fine line pass", I guess It's a matter of one or two hours to complete.

...

http://www.akenar.com/Sketches/Images/sk094c.jpg

30 min of fine line work before going to sleep

...

http://www.akenar.com/Sketches/Images/sk094d.jpg

One more hour of work trying to compose with the cave lines and ropes...

...

http://www.akenar.com/Sketches/Images/sk094e.jpg

This is the basic color approach. Note that the golem itself has the same color that the cave in the bottom and grows grey to the top.

...

http://www.akenar.com/Sketches/Images/sk094f.jpg

lol Sorry, I was in hollydays and I couldn't finish this! This was the state-of-the-sketch when I left to the airport, hehe.

[embryotic]

Telemaco- :applause: sounds great - please keep expressing your creative thoughts for this idea - its very interesting - I will try your method :)

3/4 minute? omg...

[Kimded]

Not that happy with my entry today, always have problems releasing the image from my mind to the "paper"... oh well :)

Took about 2 hours roughly in PSCS3

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/187/436944647_bf2efd6f18_o.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/78095978@N00/436944647/)

Looking forward to your work Telemaco, its always interesting to see the steps people go through.

[Robertt]

Mats Gustafsson: Nice sketch! I like the sense of liquidity you've got going there. It's definitely a challenge to visualise this type of character and setting.


Telemaco: I enjoy your sketches and also look forward to seeing where you take this topic.


Kimded: I think your sketch came out quite well! It has a soft and meditative and atmospheric quality to it, as if the golem is in deep thought, or dreaming, or about to awake. The sense of scale you portrayed makes one hope this really big guy doesn't wake up cranky :) Keep up the good work!


Here's my sketch, a golem who was so sad and stuck in the shadow of the blue lake cave, sad because he was lonely for so many centuries, until today, when the distant sound of a ship caught his attention and lifted his spirits. He hoped he would not frighten them away, hoped with all his heart whoever was on that ship could look past his appearance and see what a good golem he was, completely unaware the crew of mercenaries approached the cave with less than friendly intentions...

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r311/rtsketches/cgtalk-golem-web-byrjt2007.jpg

Photoshop / 1 hour

RobertT

[JTD]

Hmm. A mud golem. Looks like the little guy wants to fight him but his friend has more sense to run into the cave. I went for textures and I'm not sure the cartoony characters and the realistic textures belong together in this picture. I think I over did it.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e359/jtdv/DSF_1024Thegolemonthebluelakecave.jpg

Mats Gustafsson: I love the amount of detail you put in this but I feel the background has too much detail to give proper focus to your golem. Great golem though.

Telemaco: Great sense of scale. I know your style and I can't wait to see this finished. No crits at this point.

Kimded: That rocks! I would only suggest you put more contrast between the sea and sky so that we know where one ends and one begins.

Robertt: Your golem is somehow familiar. I love the consistency of your painting but the composition feels so cramped it's hard to figure out what's going on without your description. Can you landscape this piece?

.

[Mats Gustafsson]

Telemaco - looks interesting. I look forward to see an update
Kimded - looks good. Perhaps a little greater contrast between golem and sea, now they almost seem to blend together.
Robertt- No crit. I like the texture on the golem. I like the composition also even though it is a litte bit cramped.
JTD - I like the scale difference between the man and the golem. Good perspective drawing.
Colors could be a little more gray. Now the colors are very pure.

[xodibox]

Photoshop 1.25hr

http://www.quickbrownfox.ca/DSG/golem.jpg

JTD: interesting point of view, though it makes it a bit tough to make out the characters. You might consider picking your point of view to give the viewer the best feeling for the forms in the picture. Think "can I tell what this is by it's silhouette? can I tell what action/intention it has".

Robertt: hard to pick a spot to focus on in you picture, maybe a bit too much texture and not enough contrast? I think the boat deserves a bit more room in the painting.

Kimded: a bit lighter background and darker figure would help this. maybe a lower vanishing point (1/3) rather than right in the center

Mats: great colour and atmosphere. pose could be a bit more expressive., I like the brushwork.

[embryotic]

not sure where I am heading with this
http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/4694/golem1vp7.jpg
its large enough I could crop it anyway to change the composition
more like an early character design - he will be muddy growing moss with large branches and foliage protruding from him.
MatsGustaffson - thats quite dark - but the blue light works well - perhaps you could reveal the lightsource in some interesting way to add to the composition?

bout 2hrs, pretty lost at this point

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/2500/golem2kw4.jpg

and finishing here at 2 1/2 hrs PS

http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/6451/golemsmallzv4.jpg

[Wexter]

well, great to se people interested in my topic :)


xodibox: i think your colors are great. its like a Golum mood, i like the textures too. and the fog, definitly make the picture alive! the only thing (my opinion), where is the blue lake?

Jtd, the pic seems ok to me, only the colors maybe a little to saturated, specially if the lake is far away from the viewpoint.

Robbert: i like the pic, my favorite in technique,i like the brushes that you have choosen,the expression is good to, like friendly :P good pic, nothing to say.-

kimded: the golem seems fine, and the lake to, but you could make it on a side, not central (speaking of composition), i like your pic.

Telemaco: im spectating, what are u gonna do this time, you are a great artist, felicitaciones señor!

well here is mine: i wanted to start and finish it tomorrow, but i wanted to post it today, so maybe is not finished, but to much work, will cause maybee overwork...about 2 hours in Photoshop:
http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/1699/golemcgtalkid6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[embryotic]

Hey Kimded - I really liked your idea and did about a 20 min paintover on you picture

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/2904/kimdedpu7.jpg

I thought that if the focus was on the golems head then that's where the most detail should be - I darkened the background to bring in the focus more and used more dramatic light to show more of his form, made the golem look more like stone and let the water do a cool underlight effect

[burpy]

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/9264/golemff0.jpg
PS CS, 60 min

Wexter - Awesome pic! Love the light effects and composition. I think the golem looks a bit flat though compared to the rest of the image where the highlights fall off faster and there is a larger dark area in the shapes (eg the rocks). Makes it look a little out of place.

embryotic - The left arm seems a little weird (where it connects to the hand) and some of the stomach/chest area looks flat, although you're still working on it. Really nice design tho, so just keep going!:) Good paintover of Kimded's too making the golem feel more solid.

xodibox - The pose, lighting and feel is perfect. I love the sketch, don't really know what to crit. Maybe the foreground mist falls off too sharply, but thats just nitpicking. The sketch is great.

jtd - Interesting angle and good pose of the golem. Like the water and the saturated colours. Although the different areas don't seem to interact, each seems separate from each other. Maybe some more colour mixing, more defined light source and darker shadows could improve it. The realistic textures are great though, don't think you overdid it.

[Mats Gustafsson]

Worked on the image one hour more.

http://www.algonet.se/~matsgus/pictures/1024b.jpg

[Robertt]

Thanks for the comments!

I took this into Painter and worked on it some more. Since the friendliness aspect seemed appealing, I focused more on that within the confines of the original composition. The expression was my main item of interest this time around.

Texturally this continuation took the project into different look and feel. I used primarily a Artist Oils brushes and AO palette knife with some soft airbrush mixed in the back. I wanted to go for a softer and friendlier appearance, if not kinder as well, although this did also mean not continuing in the grittier direction initiated in the earlier image, which I still like as it seems more "golem" than this one.

For this one I also wanted to accentuate the sadness and yet the creature's surprise at the approaching vessel. For the eyes this meant downward dark ridges where tears had run as well as less mechanical/rocky appearance established in the first sketch with softer eyes pointing in an opposite direction (in a "oh, what's that I hear?! can it be?!" sort of stance).

I actually considered removing the ship completely to shift all focus on the character, but I left it in there for several reasons, such as scale reference and because I liked the idea of linking it to the creature's expression. A landscape format might be interesting and better compositionally (especially with regards to giving the ship better spacing) if I ever decide to revisit this iamge.

For now, this will be it:


http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r311/rtsketches/cgtalk-golem2-web-byrjt2007.jpg

Painter / +1.5 hours (in addition to original sketch time).

[ysvry]

Telemaco- :applause: great to show us how u work, I hope u show us your ways of doing things till the end.

[Norante]

Photoshop, 40 min. This spelunker never expected to come across the sleeping giant when he decided to go further down on the old cave by the lake. Now, under the light reflected on the blue walls of the giant's resting place, he marvels.

http://norante.net/artwork/sketches/golem-in-the-blue-cave-01.jpg

Robertt - Fantastic use of brush work there. But I don't know if I like the background being rendered on the same way. I think it takes away from the impression that the golem itself is made of that fuzzy matter. Perhaps more definition on the ship would be better?

[Ivy00]

here is mine for now , ha ha it is pretty bad. I will come back later and give a crit :)


http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s200/Ivy10101/golem.jpg

[kevinwalker]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/kevinwalker/1024-golem-sketch_cgt_900_3.jpg

hello, ps cs, 8 hours maybe some more.. My golem brings fresh food to his kitty ^_^

Ivy00 : nice expression on golem, blending water is good also, but theme vise cave is not clear.

Norante: nice flashy light.

Robertt: your first skecth was my fav Robertt this new thing is hairy :/

Mats Gustafsson : also your first image was much better, petrolium blue was rocking.

burpy : solid structure , nice

embryotic : your over paint works great.

Wexter : cave is great light is great, bridge need attention

xodibox : vooo lively golem, tramatic, theme vise blue and cave is not clear

JTD : interesting angle :o

telemaco : I am a big fan of your work. fine line wonderful light.

kimded: water need some light and reflection I guess.

[Dutchman]

Wow Gökhan, your style is really amazing! This piece of art is really a masterpiece! It is (almost?) frontpage quality! Very surreal and stylish, highly original work! :) :thumbsup: I want to see more of your style, so I'm happy to see you again and again in these forums. :bounce:
All the best with your upcoming art! :scream:

[Kimded]

I just wanted to say thanks for all the comments (and especailly to embryotic for the paintover), I shall endevour to take them all on.

Cheers.

[ajay1589]

kevinwalker, that piece is AWESOME. I love every little detail. I'm a little confused with what is going on witht he escaping water...is there some creature eating at the gollums side?

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