Illustrate or paint a character from a Chinese fantasy novel for use as a book cover
- Status: Closed
- Prize: $398
- Entries Received: 51
- Winner: rivaro
Contest Brief
Paint or illustrate a character from a Chinese fantasy novel, to be used as a book cover. As you plan the composition, please keep in mind the book cover aspect; text will be overlayed over the image, including title, author, etc, so leave some space for those things.
General scene: A young man in Daoist robes is seated cross-legged with a Chinese alchemist's pill furnace in front of him. He has a wild grin on his face. He is performing a double-handed incantation gesture. The pill furnace is glowing with heat and magical light. Greenish smoke is swirling out of the furnace to fill the background. Other than the smoke, the background is black.
Medium: I'm open to all mediums, including Z-Brush or non-digital
Style: Please lean toward realistic. I won't rule out stylized art, but it would have to be really impressive. Manga or comic book styles would also need to be very impressive.
Specific direction for each element:
Color scheme - Please keep the color scheme to greens, blues, and violets.
Lighting and atmosphere - The painting should feel dramatic but fun
Young man - Please model him after Chinese celebrity Li Yifeng. I'm attaching a few pictures for your reference. He must have long hair, long enough to reach his waist if unbound. There are two options for the hair. 1) Have some of the hair bound in Daoist headgear, with the rest floating in the air around the character. For the Daoist headgear, see the #1, #2, #4 "daoist robe" reference pictures. 2) His hair can be unbound, somewhat disheveled and floating in the air around him.
Daoist robes - Please see the attached pictures for inspiration, but do not copy any one particular outfit. There are some important key elements such as: long, wide sleeves; a wide waist band; various hanging accessories. Please do not use a yin-yang symbol on the clothing. If possible, include Asian cloud motifs within the outfit.
Pill furnace - Please see attached references for inspiration. The furnace is heated from the bottom. It should be glowing red with heat, starting from the bottom. Perhaps have half of the furnace be red hot. The furnace should have a lid. The furnace is pretty large, probably about a meter tall. However, for artistic purposes, it should probably be smaller. Just make sure it doesn't obscure too much of the young man.
Grin - I tried to search for the perfect photo reference but couldn't find it. He should seem completely focused, but excited, and a slightly crazed. I think the "li yifeng #6, #7" references have some expressions that are very close.
Incantation gesture - This is very similar to a Naruto hand seal. However, please DO NOT use the same hand seals as Naruto. Please see the attached reference for some actual incantation gestures used in real Daoist magic. Of course, the young man in the painting should not have weird clawed hands like the reference picture haha. Please have the gesture look cool and not awkward.
Please feel free to submit sketches for feedback. However, although I understand a full painting is a lot of work, and don't expect an absolutely completed product at first, I will need more than just a sketch to award the prize. If you do submit sketches, I will want a second draft submission at the minimum before considering awarding the prize.
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Employer Feedback
“Great work, hope to work again with Frederico!”
laobaisjz, China.
Top entries from this contest
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rivaro Argentina
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rivaro Argentina
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rivaro Argentina
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shustovalada Russian Federation
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sayta Indonesia
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rikbelanger United States
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irefirus80 Indonesia
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juliakushnareva Sweden
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rivaro Argentina
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shustovalada Russian Federation
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rikbelanger United States
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sayta Indonesia
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shustovalada Russian Federation
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shustovalada Russian Federation
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MakingPicsSlowly Japan
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