The Journey Begins Challenge (2D) Entry: Ramy Badie

#1

Ramy Badie is entered in the “The Journey Begins Challenge” update: View Challenge Page

Latest Update: Final Image: Underworld

#2

Well, here is my concept sketch for the first idea I had, I am a bit late to the party I suppose, but I’m glad I have a chance to enter this time around. I think there are going to be other soldiers/warriors/something on the path outside, and he is leaving to join them. I haven’t fully decided what I want to do with the interior, but I’m fairly happy with the sketch of the outside. Hopefully I’ll have an epiphany soon, if you have any ideas or feedback, please let me know. I’m not sure about the guy’s pose yet, that’s why he is a scribbly mess still. Hopefully I won’t scrap this idea completely, but I’m not sure it really portrays the topic well, I was trying to go for the triple journey, his literal journey, the journey of a new life that is going to begin, and her emotional journey. Let me know what you think :slight_smile:

#3

the first thing I like, or the first thing catch my eye is the lady & the new life this idea much stronger than one person who deside to hit the road it gives ur work more depth what do u think if u concentrate in one journey.
I like the theam outside.

#4

Wow! I like the concept and just wanted to say hat I really like the colours you have used so far and the lightning! Im sure this will turn out great.

Maybe the woman should look at her husband (with tears in her eyes) instead of looking out and maybe the guy should be in the middle of walking out of the room?
And then as you´ve already writtenm you see the soldiers outside marching away.

Just some suggestions.

#5

I decided to change the composition of the picture completely, and here’s the lineart I think I will use. I’ll put the other characters “in the action” I think, and the woman will be isolated from it. I am still debating the window shape, I might go back to the semicircle, but I feel like it’s almost more dramatic having it stretch upward out of the frame of the image? Like I said, I am ambivalent at the moment. Feedback is much appreciated, I want this to turn out successfully :slight_smile:

#6

I tried to put together some colors to see how they would work together, I’m not sure if I’ll stick with these colors until the end, but for now I’m going to continue working with them. It might be a few days before I can make another update, probably not again til next weekend. Let me know about the colors though, I am also playing around with a completely different concept, I might just scrap it completely but if it goes anywhere I’ll post the concept sketch and see what you think. Thanks for the advice so far :slight_smile:

#7

i really like your focus on the mother in this piece. i think a common and widely used interpretation would focus on the child/baby; here, you’ve brought in the emotion of a mother beginning her own journey as she brings new life into the world. nicely thought-out, and beautiful color and technique…

#8

In a way, I think the story would read more strongly if you did away with the window and had her walking outside instead, facing the volcano and laden down with bags or something. A more dramatic beginning of her journey…

Right now it looks a bit like she’s just looking at the volcano and feeling sad.

#9

Basically, there is going to be like military action kind of thing going around near the volcano, and she is looking at it and feeling sad because her husband is there and she is afraid that she will have to start her new journey alone. I do like the idea of having her outside though, at least taking a step rather than just waiting around. Hopefully I’ll figure out a way to put it all together.

Thanks so much everyone for the comments and ideas, I’m doing my best to incorporate as much of it as I can.

#10

Ok well I wanted just to give you an idea of the other concept I was toying with, basically it’s a young prince and two servants following the migration of butterflies. Obviously this is just the concept sketch, but I am not sure if I should just scrap it at this phase or if it’s worth continuing. I feel like my other idea was more powerful emotionally, but I feel like this will give me a chance to work more with moving characters and a dynamic background, and maybe try some things that I haven’t done before and really challenge myself. I would love to hear what you think about it.

#11

Finally I have a concept sketch that I’m fairly happy with, I’m not too sure about the foreground yet, I wanted to make the people sort of carefree and the boy about to fall into the water, but then the foreground look menacing and warlike. I’m sure adding colors will help with that, but I would love some feedback about the composition and such. I was originally thinking maybe some sort of aliens hiding in the trees, this one has some sort of forest natives sort of thing. Let me know if you have any ideas for me I really would appreciate it :smiley:

#12

I cleaned up the three main characters in the picture, since I am still unsure about the foreground I decided to define the three main characters, this is all I plan to do in terms of lineart, the rest will all just be painted in. I really would appreciate feedback, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions :smiley:

#13

Some work on the face, I don’t know what to do in terms of the shading style on this piece overall yet, so I would really appreciate some insight/criticism.

#14

it probably wasn’t on purpose, but there is something kind of endearing about the guys with the tiny head. (he’ll probably look like that after the canable islanders are done with him :slight_smile: ) maybe you should make all your characters as aliens and really get crazy with their design. then the native could look like whatever.

it really is sort of a depressing image when you think about it. those natives seam pretty serious and i don’t think they are going to help the family prepare their picnic.

hope eveyone’s ok,
~B

#15

I reworked the boy’s facial features because they were bugging me (and shifted to gray for now, I decided that I want to make everything uniform first then add colors later). I really appreciate feedback/criticism if possible, whether about the face specifically or the concept sketch. I’m going to redo the overall composition of the picture (keeping the same three main characters but just shifting the background around them) so hopefully I’ll be able to come up with something that works soon.

#16

Which one looks better and should I go with? I’m fairly happy with the new composition, not 100% sure yet, but I’m still not happy with the foreground. I might actually scrap both of these ideas, not sure yet. Let me know which of these two is better, or if you have a third and better idea please let me know :smiley:

#17

While I contemplated what I want in the foreground, I started working on the characters more, and now have a decent base for the shading. I’m not too happy with the girl’s and the dad’s faces, but I can worry about them later. I still have a lot of work to do obviously. As for the foreground, I was thinking about putting it as some sort of alien ship that’s covered in ivy and such, but again I’m not pleased with the idea. Hopefully something brilliant will come to me soon, or someone will suggest something for me.

#18

love the skeleton. so much more effective at feeling forboading!!! with the natives it just means they’ll have an oncounter. with the skeleton we KNOW something’s not right.
bravo!

also, watch your proportions. the grown-ups head is way small.

great colors in the bg. really pretty landscape. makes me want to go there except i know about the canibal natives and skeletons and what not.

keep up the good work,
~B

#19

Whoa! That is a small head.

I like the background painting, lovely loose style and great colours…but you should sort that head out.

#20

Ah thanks for the feedback, I promise the head will be fixed before the next update :slight_smile: And I think I will go forward with the skeleton idea. Hopefully I’ll have the picture more developed by the end of the week.