PRM LW Walril vs Paintingfire- Historical Re-imagining

[paintingfire]

I agree that Walril went with a more creative concept! Actually, I'm stunned that this fight is close- looking at Walril's submission, I was pretty sure I was going to take a nasty beating. I like the concept, the background, the detail- the only things that seem off are how the kilt falls and the musculature on the back.

[basil81]

Walril gets my vote because he's actually depicting a scene, whereas Paintingfire's doesn't have much of interest there, except the novelty of the period costume variations of the Avengers. The problem with Walril's piece is that the way the arena is depicted makes it seem very small, barely large enough to encompass the seemingly giant rhino-gladiator. The wall looks like it merely a couple of meters away from him, but then the crowd is depicted as being very far away, and this combination makes it look like the people in the crowd a very very small indeed.

The background in Paintingfire's gives me the impression that he was trying to go for that old medieval illustration style, such as you would find in old bible's, but the shadows belie that notion.

Walril gets the vote.

[tudore]

While I'm waiting on the edge of my seat to see who I'm going up against:

Walril:
+ Rhino has solid anatomy and there's a clear story. While a profile shot might have been nice, preferable to a frontal view because you'dve been able to include the emperor's box, its not problematic that he's facing away from the viewer.
- You mentioned you were struggling with the defeated opponent up to the deadline. Also, the background could use further fleshing out.

paintingfire:
+ The line work is excellent, and the concept is both novel and humorous.
- However, the piece has no narrative, something that might be hard to have without a background, but may have been manageable.

[Juggertha]

Wow! A tied bout!?

[Walril]

This is such a ego boost. Thanks everyone. Thanks especially paintingfire the opportunity to push myself. Im taking notes for my next fight. Joining this site and especially joining PUMMEL has been the best thing Ive done with/for my art and its progress. Books and videos can't compare to this at all.

[Emperorsteele]

More votes, MORE VOTES!

Walril, I just want to say, I for one APPRECIATE that you were brave enough to have a character facing away from the viewer. Too many times I've seen pieces where characters are facing AWAY from the action just so the viewer can get a look at them, but it's extremely awkward or inappropriate (I sure as hell wouldn't turn my back on someone trying to kill me unless i were running from them!). Even pros do this. Like having a character facing us, but looking to the side, as if that actually lets them SEE the person or thing behind them. I hate this, hate this, HATE this. There's one Pummel piece i remember... i won't name names (also, I forget who it was XD). It was an awesome piece, but the artist had a guy essentially RUNNING BACKWARDS.. no, wait, that's an exaggeration. More like running sideways and trying to look out the back of his head... and it ruined it for me.

See, here's the thing: You got the horns in. We KNOW who it is. What would showing his face do for us? Rhino is just a generic ugly guy. Do we need to see that to know who he is? Nope. Now, if a character's defining trait IS something on their face (like Nick Fury's eye-patch), that might be an issue, as otherwise, he'd be just some generic dude as far as we would be able to tell (if you go old school, the white/brown hair might be a good indicator, but since Reed Richards has the same kind of hair, it'd still be a little ambiguous). But in this specific case, I think this works.

Still, gotta agree that the perspective is wonky. Part of the problem with perspective is that you have to avoid the temptation to make everything "eye level". The "eye level" here should be at about Rhino's shoulder blades. Which means that in order to see the guy, we should be looking down. If we're looking down, we should be able to see more of him. Instead, HE'S at eye-level, too! Makes the picture rather disjointed.

Paintingfire: I coulda sworn i already commented on this, but maybe not? Anyway, very nicely done for the most part (even if there's nothing going on), but what gets me is that Hulk is literally floating there. He's not behind the crew: his knee is in front of Iron-man. He can't in in front of them, as his feet are raised higher on the drawing plane than theirs. Therefore, he MUST be floating. Bad planning! Also, the fact that the other three guys feet are all in the exact same pose is a source of contention, as well. ... You also need to work on hands a bit more, but that's not a huge deal here.

I DO like the costume redesigns, and I also like the concept: I think that if you asked 100 people to do this, very few would have selected "3 musketeers" as their inspiration. I also like the coloring: basic, but you've got some dirt on the characters which really, REALLY helps the image pop! I certainly wouldn't have thought of that =) Still, the floating hulk cost you a vote here, so be more careful in the future =)

[D.I.S.]

First, it was instantly Walril for capturing a great scene.

Then I looked at Paintingfire's piece. Noticed they're the renaissance Avengers.

Then I looked at Walril's again. Then Paintingfire. Then Walril. Over and over.

Went with Paintingfire because it was more polished.

[Walril]

I tried to do a worms eye view but couldnt get it right. So there are some problem areas. I figured it out (with some help) with 4 days to go. I decided against a redraw for 2 reasons. #1 because it was too close of a time IMO, #2 I think the idea was the same, but I felt it was me+help against paintingfire. So I left it be.