Lesson 1: An Introduction

[vrt]

[unrelated posts removed]


Please keep this about art, not about card ideas. Thank you!

[Pineapple]

Might as well upload my progress--although it's not much--so you can give me some criticism and answer some questions.


Concept: Human (crap, there aren't supposed to be humans in elements  ) babies lying around being all human and stuff while the visually different Changeling tries to be like them (teddy bear, diaper, pacifier). I plan on making the babies unfocused by blurring them. I just couldn't resist being influenced by folklore of fairies replacing human infants with changelings. ^^;;
(I hope) it fits the card because the Changeling is mimicking the babies like the card mimics permanents.

Sketch: Sorry in advance if my poor drawing skills made your eyes bleed. ^^;;



What I've been doing is having the sketch in one layer with multiply and then using the pen tool in photoshop to make the shapes.
1. What should I do after I have the basic shapes?
2. What should I use to make defining features? For example, should I just give up with the pen tool and use  a brush and my trackpad to add some lighter/darker shades of the base color in a new layer?
3. Should I yada yada brush and trackpad black-and-white shades on a new layer and then set the layer blending to something?
4. Should I use gradients on the vector shapes? How would I use gradients?

So if you want to summarize my questions into 6 words, it would be "Tell me how to do everything." Now, I've read your feedback on the others, and apparently this isn't your style of teaching. ^^ But yeah, I have the time to experiment, so you don't have to tell me how to do everything, just lead the way and I'll find my way around this maze...maybe.

[Kael Hate]

[unrelated posts removed]

Please keep this about art, not about card ideas. Thank you!

The Art is for the card idea. Should it not be a match to the idea rather than some random art?

I'm an architecht / technical designer not an artist so correct me if I am wrong in this thought.

[bored_ninja777]

heres my sketch so far..
(http://imageplay.net/)
i was going for a mirror like look. each permanent in the sketch is just an option really for it. hourglass, mindgate, eclipse, discord all of them black and shadowed. if i could figure out how to draw how i pictured it in my head id like to make it look like a glass like dome inside where it is filled with an amorphous substance that has the permanents sort of shaped out inside if that makes sense.  as far as color i would guess using a gray on the outside and black on the shapes. the eyes idk red or purple to fit with entropy. the eyes could even be icons.

as for the rest.. i have always liked drawing but only learned from a few how to  books growing up and a few art classes through school. i just want to learn how to make some decent looking art and actually know what im doing when i pick some of the random tools in the editors.

[Kael Hate]

About me -

 Technical Drawer, designing components for mechanical operations
 Production team dictating thematics for game worlds
 Some hand drawn art.
 Some overlay and editing using photoshop etc.
 Some costume design, primarily armour, mechanics and masks. Both Physical construction and layouts.
 http://kaelhate.deviantart.com/

This was deleted earlier as card ideas stuff rather than art, but its what I imagine in my head. so I've quoted it back.

I have a want to do this but am failing to commit mind to media. Maybe my soul is sucking back at me.

Concept:

Hate the card idea. Its name is changeling but it is an entity that is simply commiting uncontrolled mimicry once prodded. The card creator has no idea on game mechanics and the balancing of its effect seems weak and it will always be used to replicate a weapon effect.  Why does a creature pretend to be a permanent or artifact? What benefit could be gained of such?

Thinking of real life and fantasy creatures that act as such. The Mimic, a creature that acts as a chest of treaure to lure prey, and various sea creatures that follow a similar action. Do these creatures echo a changeling? maybe not. An Octopus that copies a rock or coral isn't mechanically coral. The only other thing of such that would copy is something like a protoplasmic ooze ie stem cells and various creative blank media. But why do they have an attack and defense value? Ok what can be a creature and a permanent at the same time? a shape changing machine?

This will be the topic. Give it attibutes of a machine and a living mimic like a octopus. Make its back the permanent that it copies. It has no visible eyes. Its many limbs end in sharp scythe like blades acting as its feet/hands. It has a beaked mouth into which it feeds the elemental matter stripped from its prey. The permanent sprouting from its back is the most common and recognised permanent, the "Golden Hourglass"

I will get the idea to paper/png in the next few days maybe.

and the key part

This will be the topic. Give it attibutes of a machine and a living mimic like a octopus. Make its back the permanent that it copies. It has no visible eyes. Its many limbs end in sharp scythe like blades acting as its feet/hands. It has a beaked mouth into which it feeds the elemental matter stripped from its prey. The permanent sprouting from its back is the most common and recognised permanent, the "Golden Hourglass"

Here is my pre-spec work.


I sortof have the feeling I could build this in 3D easier than draw it but I'm going to try this week to.

[asymmetry]

God dammit Kael xD I was sketching something similar, it was a spider instead of a floating octopus-like thing. It had a flat surface too, to spawn the desired permanent.
Weird.
Guess i'll change the concept then. see you soon, art class!

[Kael Hate]

God dammit Kael xD I was sketching something similar, it was a spider instead of a floating octopus-like thing. It had a flat surface too, to spawn the desired permanent.
Weird.
Guess i'll change the concept then. see you soon, art class!

Feel free to take it develop it in any way you'd like.

[TENSUKI]

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of what a changeling might look like is Sora in Anti-form:

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs17/i/2007/144/c/a/AN_07___KH_Sora_AntiForm_Drive_by_DarkChildx2k.jpg
http://www.deviantart.com/download/141436023/Sora_Antiform_by_xJoeDx.jpg

[ArtCrusade]

After looking at my old sketch again, I thought I should make a new one, because I felt there is more potential in my idea. Basically, I extended my concept and now try to focus on giving the Changeling body-parts from different monsters. What I try to achieve is, that you can see right from the start, without even knowing the card's effect, that it is purely a card which can have any effect.

The gun attached to his right arm will be replaced by an other weapon. I already made a whole lot of weapon sketches in the past so finding a proper one won't be difficult (here is a link (http://artcrusade.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d308icw); I think the sword in the middle would fit best). The Changeling doesn't stand in a random place before, it stands in a cave to get a deep atmosphere.

Long story short, here is the new sketch:



EDIT: I'll use the hammer, since I got enough scythes and blades already. Changed the head to a blue colour, horns are yellow. Red part and brown part is fur.

[Kael Hate]

Ok, I have a question here. I'm not trying to say that any of the art is wrong in technique or effort but as suiting the topic I find some of it questionable.
When  I have worked on production for CCG's and other Games we had to choose artwork that suited the topic and although creatures that replicate other creatures is cool, the changeling doesn't copy such, it copies permanents. The lead designer would reject the artwork. Are we just making Artwork or are we making art for the card?

When talking with pepokish about an art she was doing for a trade, she was free to do it how she wanted, but the subject manner had to have requirements. The two characters had to have certain features and the genre of the characters clothing and accessories had to be specific. I'm old and some things I don't understand by default anymore (brain is switched to logic mode and empathy mode doesn't work anymore) so I need to be told the answer to this.

[vrt]

bored_ninja777: It's a start, but it's pretty flat as is. Try to work in a bit more perspective, or use a more dynamic pose. Experiment with some small scribbles, to see where you end up. You mention the colours, too; I'd really like to see some work on that.


TENSUKI: I'm fairly certain that that isn't your work. I can see why you posted it, but at this point, it's prety irrelevant. This is not about the concept.

ArtCrusade: Why the heck did you start over? If a painting seems to not work out, the best thing you can do is to keep going at it until it's completely screwed up. The more you work on it the more you'll realise where you made the mistakes - this is something you learn a lot from!


Kael: Your sketch is rough, but a good (and effective) start. Your experience with technical drawing shows, and that's a great thing for concept art. However, you seem to be a bit too focused on the concept. The only requirements I gave in this assignment, was to create art for the Changeling card. That's it. Concept developments is quite a few steps further down the line.

[TENSUKI]

bored_ninja777: It's a start, but it's pretty flat as is. Try to work in a bit more perspective, or use a more dynamic pose. Experiment with some small scribbles, to see where you end up. You mention the colours, too; I'd really like to see some work on that.


TENSUKI: I'm fairly certain that that isn't your work. I can see why you posted it, but at this point, it's prety irrelevant. This is not about the concept.

ArtCrusade: Why the heck did you start over? If a painting seems to not work out, the best thing you can do is to keep going at it until it's completely screwed up. The more you work on it the more you'll realise where you made the mistakes - this is something you learn a lot from!


Kael: Your sketch is rough, but a good (and effective) start. Your experience with technical drawing shows, and that's a great thing for concept art. However, you seem to be a bit too focused on the concept. The only requirements I gave in this assignment, was to create art for the Changeling card. That's it. Concept developments is quite a few steps further down the line.

That's a bit disheartening. Nonetheless, you're right.

Good luck on the Art Class! I really like what you're doing.