Tuesday, March 17, 2009

DARKSTALKERS CONTEST LOSER!



Well, looks like I am a big fat loser after all... at least as far as Udon is concerned. My Rikuo character piece entry was not chosen to be published in the upcoming DARKSTALKERS TRIBUTE art book. Oh well. I put a lot of work into this piece, including many preliminary sketches and drawings, so it's disappointing to not get in. Now I won't get to see my piece in print and receive the prize of... a free copy of the book! Guess I'll have to pay for it myself now.

Anyway, this is the piece. I've fiddled with it a bit since the original entry -- the background elements before were much flatter and poster-like, and, as you can see by the inks, I was going for a more stylized-icon look (that might make a good poster print, giant sticker, or t-shirt design) than the fully-rendered scenery approach. I thought the choice of mostly flat, bold and bright colors might be a nice contrast to the typical Udon-style artwork we're used to seeing (very digital-painterly). As I mentioned before, I did get a late start on this, despite knowing about it well ahead of time, but freelance work got in the way and I ended up working on this right up the the deadline. In truth, the original entry needed a good 1-2 more hours worth of work before it was ready. I'm interested to see the entries that did make it in, though. Anybody else out there contribute and get rejected?

Oh, and here's some images of the character from the game that I chose. His name is Rikuo, and he's a fish-guy.


I thought I'd also, along with the finished inks, post a series of inking progression pics, just in case there's anyone out there who's interested in that sort of thing. I stuck with my usual modus operandi for this piece -- pencils printed in blueline on bristol board (in this case, 2 separate sheets to facilitate scanning), inked with 95% brush and ink and 5% pens.







8 comments:

Animatronyx said...

That sucks. Your image is really nice. I picked up the SF book and was surprised at some of the artwork that made it in there. Maybe they got more entries this time? I was really interested in contributing a piece of art, but I just didn't have enough time. I would have been more frustrated if I had submitted something that didn't make it.

Unknown said...

Wow, your entry was really sweet, too! Yet another good entry with a more graphic, different style that got totally ignored - the same thing happened to a friend of mine.

I posted mine a few days ago - out of the people I know who entered, NONE of us got in!

Makes me wonder what they were looking for, HMM.

Mike Monroe said...

Damn, if you didn't get in I don't feel so bad on getting the shun as well.

More lesbian vampires next time I guess :P

Robin said...

well, that is disappointing... and rather unbelievable.

Chris Grine said...

NOBODY does tentacles like you! Also, nobody draws them like you either.

Spoffy2 said...

I'm really shocked that this image won't be included. You have a really sweet style for this piece that really captures the Darkstalkers games perfectly. I'll be really interested to see what did make the cut

Jean Michel said...

DUDE! WEAK! I've been waiting to see the big reveal of this image. Wicked bit O' artwork, man. I bet it's a big politico type of contest. I wouldn't be surprised if all the artists that make it in the book "mysteriously" all know each other or someone involved with the production.

I think you should get your own book together personally. It's something I'd like to have on my shelf.

pablo pablo said...

Cool! Very good, dude!