ART WAR 5 | 2D Submissions | Art World War | England’s Sweet Tea | bauscheusse

[bauscheusse]

Letting you know that I’m still doing this I’m determined to finish I just hope my content ‘counts’ since it’s been so heavily delayed by my health + mental health but this is the final week 🥺 the final push!

[bauscheusse]

So you may be thinking 'Baus, how on earth are you gonna get this all done in time if you've been stuck on the character design for 80% of the time?' and the answer is 'I have no idea but we'll see how things go'

On that optimistic note, I've been sketching down ideations for the main character design, all of which would still fit the same illustration, so at the very least I could get the composition for that noted down.

So the first one was actually from before I decided to 'simplify down' a bit but I liked it enough to include, 2nd was my initial new idea before I went 'maybe I should think this through a little more', and whilst the 3rd is what I call a 'failed idea' (i.e. I just went with the flow but I don't like the end result that much) the other two feel kinda neat as well, so it's MAINLY between the left 4... I like aspects from each of them but I wanted to see what others thought before attempting to create mashups, considering how tight we are on time now!

[rylantc]

Personally Three and four are my favorite but I really enjoy the body type of five and think that would be unique and exciting to see. But what ever you decide will be great!

[prinzmoana]

I like one and four. If the character appreciates more sweat tea I would go with one (cute), if the tea is more harsh I would go with four (tough) 😉

[gabs-fg]

I like 3 and four but more four than three, come on, you can definitely do it on time

[bauscheusse]

I know I'm definitely pushing it, I may have tripped a little on a thing called my silly brain, but we're getting there, and I'm still determined I can finish in time!
I was able to narrow things down to 3 rough designs (though by all means if you like certain parts of each I can frankenstein, but unfortunately timewise I cannot really go through another full design iteration lineup without sacrificing... well... time.
I would also like to note these are not in the final 'style' I'm going for, I just found it easier to concept in this style!

All 3 have the body type of 5 from the previous iterations.
1 is inspired by the 4th of the previous iterations,
2 is inspired by the 1st and 5th of the previous,
and 3 is inspired by... well... 3rd, of the previous iterations.

1 and 2 lean more into steampunk whilst 3 was, like its predecessor, an experimentation and a mix of historical dress and armor.
I'm personally leaning towards 1 or 2, but I'm open to hearing your guys thoughts! Then once I've FINALLY settled on her design, I can go ham on the colour palette and finally getting into a proper character sheet AND the illustration. Let's just hope this week is forgiving!

[prinzmoana]

I like the tubes and the upper part of the clothes in the first character ^^

[cedricgo]

1 stands out the most to me. I like the assymetry with the pipes on one side and the big hair on the other

[bauscheusse]

Finally narrowed things into one design (I can still change some things in the final if need be) now it's time for COLOURS!
Trying to 'tame my palette' a little because I can sometimes get carried away, I may still need to do a bit more fidgeting around with values and the blessing that is gradient maps but here's what I'm looking at so far - mostly tea colours (from your milky barely beige to deep brown and blacks), England flag colours (red and white) and maybe a little hint of 'sweet vibes' (pinkish hue, perhaps) (included a blank for reference as well)

May need more refining but we're getting there. I'm just glad I'm a fast worker when it comes to actual illustration pieces!

Edit: I have just realized the colours look much more vibrant on phone than on PC 🙈 why do graphics have to do this to me

[bauscheusse]

Amongst trying to settle on a composition for the illustration and getting the posing juuuuust right, and trying to decide on colours, I decided to start the character sheet. This is just rough but is it weird to fall in love with a character you're creating and solely for this competition, whilst drawing their eyes? (they have little crosses in them)

Sticking to the chunky boots because chunky boots make the best rocket boots. Will refine more tomorrow and then get to the back view as well!

[moirae]

I'm liking colour scheme 7, maybe with black boots and different coloured hair for contrast?

[bauscheusse]

We're getting closer! So I have finished the front and back view, and have also tested out a variant of the 7th colour scheme, unsure if I need to tweak some parts a bit more or not but I'm hopeful I can move onto the illustration part soon... not sure what else to add to the character sheet...

[bauscheusse]

So we're nearing the final day and I've finally gotten around to the illustration. Due to time I won't be able to do a super fancy background, and the posing/composition maybe not as dynamic, but we're getting there!
Before I fine tune her so there's not so much glare and the 'rim light' actually looks semi-decent, I'm trying to settle on a background colour and have narrowed it down to 3 - simple gray, contrasting blueish or complimenting similar hue.

Considering I've only managed to start this part today I'm? Really pleased with the progress I've made! I do plan on going back and polishing up the character sheet a bit more in areas, but I wanted to dedicate the few hours I had on today for the Illustration.

[bauscheusse]

Done a few tweaks (I forgot to add shadow to a certain area so I've done that now), still not 100% sure on the background but feeling that the 3rd has the most unifying colours? Now I just need to add some textures to certain areas to liven it up a bit, perhaps? Or alter the lines so it feels more rendered? We shall see if I have enough time tomorrow after going back to the character sheet and sprucing that up. Not bad for a 5 or so hour session (with a few breaks, of course)

[cedricgo]

Looks lovely!

[moirae]

There are some teal colours creeping in at the top and bottom, should you put some of that behind the character rather than purple on pink? Just a thought.

[bauscheusse]

So I decided I didn't want to overcomplicate the character sheet, and I took @moirae 's advice on the teal in the background. This might be the final revision for these unless I spot something I could tweak with the illustration, so I'll make another post sometime after this one (but obviously before the looming deadline) with my info in it and logo on the illustration for the 'final' entry! We actually made it!

[xeyersart]

It looks pretty cool!
I really like the colors! They look nicely balanced

[bauscheusse]

Full Name: Fionn Macdonald AKA Bauscheusse
Email: bauscheusse@gmail.com
@ ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/bauscheusse
@ Twitter: https://twitter.com/bauscheusse
@ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bauscheusse/

[bauscheusse]

Though we're nearly at the end I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who commented, liked, and even viewed my entry. It's come a long way from an awkward unstable concept into an almost literal polished little beauty, and having your support has helped immensely. I've had a lot of mental ups and downs outside of this that threatened to derail me entirely, but seeing people interested in what I wanted to create, as well as seeing the energy of others creating their concepts, really helped inspire me and kept me going, so as cheesy as I'm sounding I just wanted to thank you all, and also congratulate everyone for making it to the end, no matter how much you were able to complete - you're here!

I'm already excited for Art War 6 and hope to see you then!