11 replies to this topic

[StarkJeter]

Furious Nick-Janet Van Dyne-Pym vs. Thirdraildesignlabs-IronMan

The participants were asked to follow this set of rules/guidelines: RULES POST

Rules for Voting:
Votes should not be based on which character the voter THINKS should win, but instead which artist showed the best battle between the two characters.

Furious Nick:


Thirdraildesignlabs:


Let the Voting Begin!!!

[Furious Nick]

Very clever, TRDL! Great use of sex as a weapon here. Love the scattered clothes and armor. My favorite part is the Armory. Hulk Buster Armor for the win. Poor Janet didn't see it coming! You know Tony gets around the Marvel U, but he and Janet did have a thing after her divorce from Hank. Great stuff man, and good luck.

[SirWaka]

Both very nice pieces,

Went with Furious Nick in the end because his piece feels a bit more actionpacked.

Only saw on the third time though that she was spinning ironmans head around, the swirl is a bit too shy, otherwise I like the perspective/composition,
really adds to the overpowering feeling of Janet.

TRD: nice piece, there's a play of shadows on the floor, two things that I notice, one of janets legs is kinda very thin compared to the other,
and the lights of the robots in the background are also somehow greyed out by the shadow.
Otherwise I really enjoy this piece, it has humor, very well drawn and colored.

Goodluck to both of you, this should become an exciting battle!

[DrunkenMaster]

Great showing you two!
Congrats for making it this far.
Both of you stepped up to the plate on this semi final round.

Nick, Hats off to you for trying to do something new every round meduim wise
that you dont normally use also for going with grey scale as I now you could
have went with your usual awesome digital colors.

TRD, you my friend are always thinking
and coming up with different approaches.
I would have not thought of this approach.
Nice colors as usual.

Good Luck!
DM

[thirdraildesignlab]

hindsight is a bitch! I see in both pieces great ideas that just a little tweak could make even better. On Nicks, which I love for several reasons, not th eleast of which being his effort in drawing the actual armor I'm using, I think if we understood the head twist better, it would be much more powerful. Dillon, who isn't always my favorite outside of Preacher, did a great one of this in the final issue of Ultimate Avengers. I believe it's a hard pose to get right, but the key is to make it clear the head has been twisted; crumple the neck armor, don't bring the head a full 180 and on axis...
On mine, the entire point of the piece is to go beyond the sex attack angle: sure, they went at it, he let his guard down, and she got him with a sting. But the whole point of his comment and the reason it's not over, is that phalanx of activated armors behind them, a classic from Iron man stories. But I made the shadow dull their repulsors and didn't draw you to them enough. I have a variant of this piece where the organic metal deal of the yellow underlayment of his armor is played all across the floor, which added intensity to it but took away from the not-quite-checkmate moment I was going for.

I loved both concepts frankly, and it was a great battle. Or, still is!

[DrunkenMaster]

Nick:
Like how you used the tilted angle to create more dynamics to the piece.
People have mentioned the head spin thing already but I like how its too the point
without too much explanation. Not sure about the light flares as it doesnt come
from a central source and is kinda all over. Nice amount of greys,
Im a gray scale kinda person and can appreciate it as much as a color piece.

Thirdrail, Cool concept.
A little more subtle than I would like it to be as it doesnt evoke
a strong emotional response either way.
Kinda in the middle, should I be excited
the troops are coming? or that wasp is stinging him?
are the troops providing
add lighting for the experience?
Starks expression is?
doesnt seem to be in any discomfort from the sting?
without words its kinda hard to tell whats going on.

The armor is too soft looking on the
foreground and on the ones on
the guys in the back standing.
Needs more perspective, precision,
and line work to make it look more like metal/hard edge machinary.
Some lighter colored highlights on the armor could help give it that
look also. Even with the low light situtaion highlights on select areas
could give it more life/dimension. Right now it looks flat colorwise
and needs some modeling with highlights and darker darks.

The anatomy could be better on booth figures, wasp could be a little bigger
as she looks too small. Anatomy on your first two pieces were
really wonky looking and the armors off perspectives added to that also.

After much thought I went with Nick for his direct and to the point approach.

DM

[thirdraildesignlab]

I appreciate your comments. I don't agree with all of them, especially regarding the rendering of these armor components which are by design soft, curved planes, but I DO appreciate and acknowledge the overall impression you have conveyed, regarding where you have questions about proportions of the figures and the lighting of the scene. In general, I have been playing fairly loose with proportions in these pieces in order to get to a look I was after, but in some places I don't think that has worked. I did overly dim the scene as well. Overall, I have to say, while my intention was to bring more action, I honestly just didn't find inspiration showing Tony smacking Wasp around, given the character dynamics, so I went a different way. I totally get the criticism about TONE: I could have shown Tony in pain, or presented a protagonist, and I went the subtle approach at a time when people want action. If I Proceed in this competition, you can bet your ass I'll bring dynamic action to the final piece.
Cheers, and thanks for the tips!

[Furious Nick]

thirdraildesignlab, on 28 June 2011 - 10:01 AM, said:

I appreciate your comments. I don't agree with all of them, especially regarding the rendering of these armor components which are by design soft, curved planes, but I DO appreciate and acknowledge the overall impression you have conveyed, regarding where you have questions about proportions of the figures and the lighting of the scene. In general, I have been playing fairly loose with proportions in these pieces in order to get to a look I was after, but in some places I don't think that has worked. I did overly dim the scene as well. Overall, I have to say, while my intention was to bring more action, I honestly just didn't find inspiration showing Tony smacking Wasp around, given the character dynamics, so I went a different way. I totally get the criticism about TONE: I could have shown Tony in pain, or presented a protagonist, and I went the subtle approach at a time when people want action. If I Proceed in this competition, you can bet your ass I'll bring dynamic action to the final piece.
Cheers, and thanks for the tips!

I've struggled with that too. Part of that is what makes this tournament fun for me. The whole dilemma of how to pit two characters against each other in a way that will connect with the voters and still is something that you can stand behind. In hind sight I don't believe any of my opponents have gone ultra violent against my pick. I understand not wanting to put together an image with Iron man smacking the crap outta Wasp. It has been done before anyways. I personally enjoy both angles to these battles... violent or out of the box, both are great to see. I really got a kick out of your image, because I saw what was going on right away. We all could make changes to make our pieces better (DM is on the money about the lens flare, I figured out how I could make it on my own without using the filter, and it spiraled outta control from there), but as long as you get something out of it, and the voters keep voting, it is all worth it. I've actually been using some of what I picked up from previous battles in my other art, so its all win-win in my book.

The real question here is, (queue dramatic music).... WHAT HAPPENS IN THE EVENT OF A TIE?!?!

Seriously, I don't think it will come down to that though, because I think your going to pull off a buzzer beater win. Either way, I think the final battle is going to be outstanding!

[nate]

FuriousNick - great action and tone, I like your effects, very dynamic. My biggest crit is I personally thin you went to the giant wasp one time too many. You picked a character best know for her shrinking ability and haven't shown it much, its quite a hard power to work with (when I was thinking of possible match ups its the one I couldn't come up with myself)but I'd have like to see you use it more.

3rdrail - Nice change of pace, like a last page cliffhanger, wouldn't work every time but fits this one. I'd have like to see more light coming from the approaching armour, would make them look more menacing, but I can also see how it may distract from the main characters, tough call.

I went with 3rdrail. He took a chance and for me it paid of nicely. Good work gents.

[Furious Nick]

nate, on 30 June 2011 - 11:58 AM, said:

FuriousNick - great action and tone, I like your effects, very dynamic. My biggest crit is I personally thin you went to the giant wasp one time too many. You picked a character best know for her shrinking ability and haven't shown it much, its quite a hard power to work with (when I was thinking of possible match ups its the one I couldn't come up with myself)but I'd have like to see you use it more.

3rdrail - Nice change of pace, like a last page cliffhanger, wouldn't work every time but fits this one. I'd have like to see more light coming from the approaching armour, would make them look more menacing, but I can also see how it may distract from the main characters, tough call.

I went with 3rdrail. He took a chance and for me it paid of nicely. Good work gents.

Thanks for voting, Nate. I appreciate your comments, as well as everyone else's too. I agree with you on TRDL's approach. I liked it too. I love the out of the box type approach to these. It took some real guts to not have Tony smacking the Wasp around a bit. Also, I get what you are saying about Janet, and the Giant Man power set being used so frequently. That is precisely why I choose this version of Janet as opposed to some of her other incarnations. I went with "Mighty Avengers," version because my plan was to use the heck out of the growth power. While I totally understand that she is known for being small, and how people might have been expecting to see more of that. To me that is like having Superman only use one of his powers in a battle. If I'm lucky enough to advance, I'll tone it down some.

or if not, we still got that grudge match that needs to happen with you and me hombre! Seriously, I do want to battle you again Nate.

[DrunkenMaster]

@Nate
You said:
(DM is on the money about the lens flare, I figured out how I could make it on my own without using the filter,
and it spiraled outta control from there), but as long as you get something out of it, and the voters keep voting, it is all worth it.

You are right, do whatever it takes to get the votes.
If it works go for it. When I was looking at it,
it was with a different mindset. Not as a voter but more as a artist.
Same with Tom's Piece, I was trying to focus more on the aestetics than content or approach.
So wahtever you two did was the right choice because you are locked in a tie at the moment.

The real question here is, (queue dramatic music)....
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE EVENT OF A TIE?!?!

A three way winner takes all battle would be nice

Laters, DM

[Yncke]

DrunkenMaster, on 30 June 2011 - 10:41 PM, said:

A three way winner takes all battle would be nice

It's only the logical thing to do.

Thank you participants, critters and voters.

Edited by Yncke, 03 July 2011 - 02:34 AM.