CHALLENGE: What Lies Beneath?

Recently the Moai statues on Easter Island have been found out to have undiscovered parts under the ground. Create an image depicting what you think is buried in the ground.

Canvas size - Unrestricted.
Colours - Max 15.
Transparency - No.
Animation - No.

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CHALLENGE RULES

• Participants have until this upcoming Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) to submit their entry (strict). Don't forget to check the 'Submit to weekly challenge' checkbox.
• Only new pixels allowed.
• Open to all members.
• Posting WIPs in this thread or in new threads in the WIP section is highly encouraged, but ONLY SUBMIT YOUR FINAL ART.

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CHALLENGE JUDGING

• Every Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) the previous week's entries are judged.
• Every week a new voting poll will be posted for previous week's entries.
• Winner announced the following week.

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CHALLENGE PRIZES/GOODIES

• Top three finishers will receive an award displayed in your PJ gallery profile for all to see and envy.
• Top finisher gets to call the following week's challenge...sweet.
• 'Participation' ribbons will be given for all who enter.
• No matter what happens you get challenged :)

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CHALLENGE VOTING

Vote now for your favorite pixelart in this week's challenge!

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CHALLENGE AWARDS

The What Lies Beneath? pixel art challenge is complete and we have three new champions. This week's challenge awards go to the following pieces:



Thanks so much to all who took the time to vote and participate in the challenge!

This came to my mind when I read the challenge

MOAI DRAWING HOT TIPZ:

-The nose is the most prominent feature! It has to be VERY big!!

-They lack eyes-- they can't see you!!

-The moai heads are very long! They're also like... pin-headed!!

-The ears are also long, like Buddha's, but they're not smiling!!

-Use photo reference! Especially profile ones!!


Edited by YellowLime - 22 January 2013 at 1:48am

I really am intrigued as to what you have in mind, so please do!


Edited by YellowLime - 22 January 2013 at 3:08am

Oh my God,Mrmo, awesome!

I really want to participate, I'll se if i have ideas hahaha




My idea is Atlantis, the legendary lost island hahaha I know it's absurd, but that's my idea.

Edited by maganegorap - 22 January 2013 at 1:54pm

****!! I swear, I had this idea too! Goes to show how original it really was...

But I'm still going through with it!! YOU CANNOT STOP ME!!

This is almost finished, just need some polish and cropping of the transparent side. I could need some help with the AA of the moai... any advice?

KRD: That is brilliant!

I don't think I can enter this one... all my ideas have been perverted.


Edited by |||| - 23 January 2013 at 5:33pm

Ok, here is mine. I also put a coloring sheet to go with it.

Still not sure about the outline of the ground/sky, but this is my wip so far.

*Edit:


Edited by AtskaHeart - 25 January 2013 at 11:12am

Hmm, I'm having some trouble with the perspective. I forced a topdown perspective so I could draw some part of the ground, but now the body looks weird.


Not sure what to do in there :S. Shall I create a cave for the body so it's not strange to see the whole body (the other leg), instead of drawing it as if it were buried and surrounded by earth (I'm not sure if I explained myself properly lol).

I like the concept and perspective, but I don't understand the light source. Banding is not helping as well. Keep in mind that you are illuminating a rock texture, take some references from digital paintings and/or other pixel art pieces in which you can study several ways to illuminate rocks. Banding is terribad even in small pixel clusters (take your time to work on shading until you get rid of it).

Besides, I would recommend to work on smaller resolutions (shading won't be a pain :p).

@Pixelart_kid, why are you showing a screenshot of your app instead of the actual file output. I'm not sure I can actually see your pixelwork or what actual resolution you are showing.

The biggest edit you will have to do is a fix on the perspective; the head is at an extreme angle tilt, yet the body is seen almost straight-on, and the ground is seen from yet another conflicting angle.

Edited by Ashbad - 25 January 2013 at 4:52pm

You're absolutely right Ashbad!

While a non-curved slice of ground makes more sense, given the perspective of the head, no visible ground at all would make more sense. Here's a way to describe how the perspective is working on the head:



The "vanishing point" is where the end of the head seems to "vanish" towards -- this is a basic concept of perspective; the perspective and angle you chose were interesting, and with proper execution, could look rather cool. However, this is the only part of the piece that conforms to this perspective.



The body, for example, does not vanish towards this point, even though it would be at the same angle as the head; this makes the piece as a whole a bit confusing to viewers, and kills any feeling of depth.



This is a quick little sketch (it's past midnight here and I'm too tired to do much more) that (roughly) shows how you could fit the rest of the body to match the perspective set by the head (everything is way larger than the head mostly because I rushed and didn't scale things down to keep some trace of those red lines there; also the arms in the edit don't quite conform as well as they could.) You'll notice I used some quick little guidelines from the vanishing point to help quickly flesh out some forms.

If you want to conform the head to the body, however, things would be a lot simpler (and a bit less interesting), since you could settle for a more straight-on head tilt.

Some helpful links:
http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/
http://www.technologystudent.com/designpro/twopers1.htm
http://www.explore-drawing-and-painting.com/3-point-perspective.html (this third link relates to the perspective in your piece in particular)

One other large problem is that the light source is inconsistent; you seem to be rim-shading certain areas but not others, and you have a yellowish light source when the sky is purple and there is no trace of a yellowed sun.

Keep in mind that perspective is not a "pixel art concept", but one from general art. There are specific skills and techniques needed to produce good-looking pixel art, but other than that, pixel art is in the end, art, but with pixels. Treat it as such by practicing your general art skills, draw a lot, etc., and you'll notice that every single one of your general art advancements will directly aide you in your pixel art pieces.

Hope this is of some help.



Edited by Ashbad - 25 January 2013 at 9:25pm

Hello! I've a small problem, I submitted too quickly this for the challenge :

But I decided to edit to add textures, and for a better canevas. ->

And naturally i want to replace my first one with the second for the challenge. It's possible?

(And before make the same stupidity, have you some critics?)

And i want to thank Jalonso for his commentary. ;)

(Sorry for my syntax or my grammar, but i don't be english :3)

It's looking much better Monkey! But, yes, Ataska is correct. You are not allowed to have transparency for this challenge (that means those corners).
There are a few lines on the moai that are unrefined. The top-left of the statue has a few pixels that form a backwards L shape, which needs fixing, and also his chin looks unrefined.
You're clouds could also use for more work, as they are kind of sad looking and small.

Edited by crozier - 26 January 2013 at 7:16am

looks awesome :)

Thank you Ashbad and Friend, I will practice more perspectiva and light source.

The study of perspective will help me in creating such isometric elements.