Our judges have spoken, and I’m looking forward to sharing the responses with you. It appears that everyone had as much fun as I did reviewing the entries. I was hoping to have permission to share the pieces from my own segmentation research project at Wizards by this time, but the brand team has me in a holding pattern. As soon as I get permission – I will share the wonderful and exciting images (Joy has one in there!).

As far as a winner. I think we, the viewer, are the winner for this challenge. Such wonderful and delightful entries! The judges hit a gridlock too. We ended up with a multi-way tie. Since there wasn’t a prize for the winner. I think it is fitting that we ended up coming down to an impasse – it just proves the excellent quality of entries I received for this challenge. Don’t forget – you can see the rest of the submissions in the line-up. Don’t forget the “Ulitmate Fighter” challenge! The deadline is coming soon…

 

Lou Anders

Editorial Director
Pyr, an Imprint of Prometheus Books
Kate Laird – blog

Hands down my favorite. Love the expressions on both warrior and beholder. A real sense of character coming through here. I want to know more about female fighter and why a life/death struggle makes her grin so slyly.

RC Torres – website

I like the action of this piece, and the way Torres has managed to get away from “round” beholders while keeping to the basic look of the creature.

Alex Dai – blog

This one is just fun. And it seems to push the subject matter the farthest from its accustomed style. I suspect plush toys can’t be far behind.

Jeff Porter – blog

There is a nice “classic children’s book illustration” feel to this. Carrol’s lost masterpiece, Alice’s Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.

Anthony Schmidt – website

Love the “yipe” look on the beholder’s face.

 

Joy Ang

illustrator
Alex Dai (5-7) – blog

This piece has a great energetic composition that cleverly reveals only a portion of the Beholder to its audience.  Along with its vibrant colors and a relatable young hero, this art is both enticing and hits the target demographic.

Anthony Schmidt (13-17) – website

The subdued palette and evening lighting instantly give this piece a more mature feel.  At the same time, the exaggerated features of the characters provide the art with a more stylized and youthful look appropriate for teenagers.

Christopher Johnston (8-12) – blog

I love this version of the Beholder! This piece definitely pushes the limits in terms of veering away from the typical D & D art style.

Felicia Cano (5-7) – website

I would have enjoyed this thoroughly as a child!  The vibrant colors, the exaggerated proportions, and especially the unicorn with rainbow-colored poop.

Felicia Cano (8-12) – website

The color palette is wonderfully appealing.  There is a very epic, yet romantic, quality to this piece that works so well.

 

Lars Grant West

Illustrator & Rhode Island School of Design instructor

Katie Laird – 8-12/tween target audience – blog

Great Characters! Positive, fun feel to the piece. Solid value structure and an active composition. Great control of values to pop some elements and minimize others.

Anthony Schmidt – 13-17 / teen target audience – website

This illo is a ton of fun. The expressions are perfect, and the added flavor you brought to the narrative makes me chuckle each time I look at this. Nice, rich (and deep) colors, especially with watercolors. I’d make two recommendations on future jobs: Try popping some lighter values in there to the piece overall. This image looks dark on my screen. Also, when mixing brighter versions of a color, try mixing up with a lighter color.  For example, in the face of the beholder, rather than mixing white to lighten your values, try adding the yellow of the energy bolt instead of white to bring lighter values in without getting chalky. The highlight areas will pop with orange, so you’ll draw the eye with color AND value. Very  nice work!

Christopher Johnston – 8-12 / tween target audience – blog

There’s so much I really dig about this piece, Christopher. Checking on your blog, I think a lot of it comes down to the style you’re working in. I’m glad you stuck to your guns stylistically. Trying to anticipate what an art director will or won’t like by the work they commission isn’t always easy. I think you’re better off enjoying the way you work and seeking out a market where it’s viable. The subtle color use is right on. Again, I  might have lightened some areas to open the value range (to help unify the overall shape of the girl, for example – popping some of that green around the edges could help with that), but you seem to like playing in the dark!
The creature was what really caught my eye initially. You went back to the description rather than sticking hard and fast to the visual reference. With some properties you can’t do that, but in the context of this challenge I think it was a risk well worth taking. Sometimes a re-envisioning of the elements can breath new life into a story. You came up with a creature that is delightful  with its googly eyes, pin teeth, spherical head, and beard-like tentacles. I’m not sure if I should run from it or laugh, but believe that this guy could certainly chomp my head off (or seriously perforate me at any rate).

Darren Jensen – 2-4 / preschool target audience – deviantArt gallery

I’ll be honest with you, Darren. I didn’t love this piece at first, but for this competition it hits the mark perfectly. You’ve done a great job of making bolts of lighting and a big-mouthed green blob with eye stalks feel non threatening and fun.

Felicia Cano – 8-12 / tween target audience – website

I really like the choice of sticking to the warm palette overall on this piece, and the piece has a feel that would appeal to a younger market, but with a great classical design sense. Nice, straightforward composition. The choice to add the flowers in to echo the color in the beholder was an interesting touch that stood out.

Honorable mentions:
Mark Henrickson – website – solid design and composition

Storn Cook – website – for turning the assignment on its head with an editorial approach

Patch – website – that beholder is a RIOT! My problem with this piece was that it just got too dark and lost clarity.

Dillon Yothers – blog – nice rendering on the beholder – and lots of really fantastic rendering. The Achilles heel for me was the composition. The figure and the sword touching the head (see note on tangents below) were a problem for me.

If I didn’t mention you here, don’t feel bad. There are two things I noticed in a few pieces that are good to watch out for:

1. Awkward tangents: Elements just touching one another. This creates a visually awkward spot in a composition. Better to leave some breathing room between objects, or overlap them. Having them just touch is almost always a problem. The times I’ve made this mistake it’s generally because I’ve designed objects separately, then tried to put them together in one composition – and they end up bonking into each other.

2. Weak value structure: A good practice is to convert your picture to grayscale, then squint at it. If you can still clearly make out what’s going on from ten feet away, you’re probably in good shape. If your objects stop holding together, you need to look at your values.

 

Irene Gallo

Art Director, Tor & author of The Art Department

Kate Laird – blog

Fantastic piece! The girl is spot-on: strong, powerful, and totally confident that she’ll be triumphant. The drawing is great. The slight tilt in the angle keeps things dynamic. And the values let the scene be read instantly.

Chris Johnson – blog

Such a great juxtaposition of being dark and ominous and kinda cute. I love the classic story-book feel.

Frederico Piatti – blog

I’m such a sucker for this Provensen-esque style. The angels keep the flattened style dynamic. My only crit would be, make the beholder read a bit more clearly. Knowing what it is, it reads well, but to a newbie it would be good to make the eye, jaw, and underside a little clearer.

Alex Dai – blog

I picked this one for the sheer fun that it conveys. I love that the Beholder’s pretty eyes and snaggletooth smile makes the girl the menace! Only crit,  the sun doesn’t need to be personified the way it is…and perhaps some of the clouds can break up the diagonal a bit. I might help to soften the value on the clouds as well.

Dillon Yothers – blog

Love the light on this! Super dynamic. The beholder and the trees are handled especially well. The only thing holding this one back is a tiny one, but it is the silhouette of the girl. You could make her pose a stronger by bringing in a little more anatomy…keep it exaggerated, but let her head come off her shoulders more and maybe a little more strength in her back.

 

One of the joys of this ‘job’ is the feedback I get from the challenges and writings on the blog. Raphael Kretz wrote to share this with me…

see attached a depiction of the segmentation challenge scene, drawn by hannah, 7 years, my girlfriends daughter. note the beautiful storytelling with the tree hit by a beholder ray and the appropriately serious face of the heroine!

her favorite entry was felicia canos 8-12 years illustration, and regarding the highly simplified entries for younger kids, she remarked “that has been drawn by veeeeery small children” -pause- “but they arent that bad”

Thank you Hanna, and I think your drawing is lovely!

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Current Challenges:
April 10th, 2011 – The Ultimate Fighter

Got questions, or want to see a discussion on a particular subject? Drop me a line at jon@theartorder.com, and put “Question” in the subject line.

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