WINNERS ANNOUNCED! Jason & the Argonauts - FINAL SUBMISSIONS

[CGNZ]

Post your final submissions for Jason & the Argonauts here.

Submission Criteria
» Attach a single piece of character design as a high quality digital image.
» Remember to include a concise written paragraph explaining your concept.
» You MUST create a WIP thread in the competitions forum showing your process.

The final submission deadline is: 11:00pm NZT on Wednesday 30 June, 2010
Good Luck!

[BronsonBradley]

Hey there,
This is my final submission for the character of Jason.
From the outset of this project i had a pretty solid idea of what direction i wanted to take my character in, and also what character i wanted to do. Undoubtedly I wanted to use Photoshop as my main tool to paint him, from the start i saw this as a great opportunity and an awesome motivation to get into this digital art medium that i have been wanting to learn for so long. After having completed my first finished digital painting i have so much more understanding of how it works, but most of all i am brimming with ideas and desires to create other stuff and improve on what i am capable of at the moment. It's bloody exciting!
The painting i have done here shows an older bearded Jason as opposed to the young hero type, this element was key in my concepts and final art work. This aspect was pivotal for my idea of making the character more interesting and appealing to todays audiences, as movies (and games) are being made to be more abstract and darker ("kick-ass", "The Dark Knight") to keep ideas fresh and keep the audience guessing. My Jason is older, experienced, and some what tormented from events in his past, these things reflect his position in the myth as having the ability, persona and reputation to be a leader of heroes, but also reflect the cracks and errors he is responsible for in his quest. I think the ability with film to be able to explore the character of a hero after his better days is a genuinely darker story, that could also pull greater on the heart strings when the character finds some sought of redemption or other saving grace. My painting shows a great deal of primitive dressing and armor, i liked this idea as it pays tribute to the 'ancient' in ancient Greece, and it also depicts a certain form of strength that is not seen nowadays with all our body armor, camouflage etc. I gave Jason a ripped robe that could have once been a shinning green, noble cape stating his Princely position in society. This further tells the story of his decline from glory. The art work also shows a skirt of chain mail loose over his legs, with leather pads for his shins. Here you see a light form of armor, not very much, but enough for Jason's role in the tale. I had read that an early point in the myth Jason was recognized by wearing one sandal and leopard skin, so in my painting he has the leopard skin wrapped around his center. Typically in ancient greece a warrior would have a shield, Jason's shield (though hard to see at this angle) has an engraving of a greek warrior fighting a dragon like beast to protect a woman. This shield may have been given to him as its specific design or enchantment is to defend against such beasts, ones that Jason will encounter. I also gave him a battle axe instead of a sword or spear, it feels more brutal and takes on a further more barbaric look. The background shines with a golden elegance, but if you observe closely the light begins to fade into a blue glow at the bottom left of the screen. This is also where the figure of Jason is depicted moving towards, perhaps symbolic of him setting out from home to darker shores. One of my favorite aspects of the picture however, is the golden fleece wrapped around his waist, you can see the rams head poking out from behind him and its wool puled tightly and chained to his front. I loved the idea of just having the full skin of the ram or sheep (or whatever the fleece came from) tied untidily to him, as if he just picked it up, slung it around himself and then carried on. He also has a quiver of arrows with only a few left on his back, showing that he has a mixed skill in combat.

I thank you for you're time, i really really enjoyed this competition and will be gritting my teeth and solidly training to get into this sought of work. Cheers heaps and hope to see you soon!

[HDP]

Hi all,
I chose to try and re-imagine Talos within the setting of a dark fantasy, somewhat along the lines of 300 or the Clash of the Titans remake. The design I settled on combined a Greek hoplite with an undead zombie. This was inspired by the scene in the 1963 movie where Talos turns to face Hercules; it was a spooky scene and I wanted to try and recapture that feeling while making Talos scarier. The backstory to the character (and to the re-imagining of the film) I created was that Talos was originally built by Hephaestus (the lame god of the forge) to battle Ares (the god of war). This was during a period where the gods actively fought each other. However, due to the devastation that was wrought, Zeus and the other gods agreed to settle their differences through mortal proxies only, such as Jason. The gods called this the Peace of Zeus. Before the Peace of Zeus, Talos did fight Ares, but the fight was ended by Zeus prematurely. Talos sustained damage during his fight with Ares, and was retired, along with other animated bronze statues, to the Isle of Bronze. His task was to guard the treasure of the gods against mortals, which he proceeds to try and do against the Argonauts. I envisioned him as being still very dangerous when he faces off against the Argonauts, but due to his injuries the Argonauts were able to survive his onslaught long enough for Jason to dispatch him.

[warlord]

heres my entry:

I did a a slightly satirical take on the typical macho warrior thing - something a bit fun......The title of this is "Hero Parade"
Premise of this movie would be that these "Heros" basically cruise around in their ancient sail boat, whenever they pull into port (which is often) they throw an impromptu "Hero Parade" up the main street of that port town - often to the surprise of the local people. This is set in ancient times, but with some modern twists.
Obviously this isnt a serious movie - much more a comedy, with Jason and his ship mates getting up to loads of crazyness.
For my single image, i chose to do the victorious Jason, after getting the golden fleece - of course he had to use the skull of the fleece as a codpiece.....why not

[HunterKiller_]

Argonautica 2000
My concept takes place in the year 2000 of an alternate time line. Where ancient Greece continued it's rule
till modern time, and their remarkable feats of technological advancements raced ahead unhindered.
By the year 2000, space exploration became the norm, and traversing the far reaches of our galaxy was feasible.

My vision for the concept of the technology in this world is to be grounded in reality, especially the aesthetics.
Jason is a space explorer and his suit is not geared towards combat. My aim was for his suit to remain somewhat ordinary, built to do the job without superfluousness.
Despite being in the far future (compared to the real world), the Greeks have strong culture and I wanted to show this by
reflecting ancient Greek aesthetics in the design.

[sam.balzer]

Well i pretty much wrote up this big thing and then had my net cut out on me, so thanks to our wonderful internet here my intro will be very brief..

Basically my Talos is a Mega Huge Giant Protector created my the Gods who were actually Aliens (hence all the technology and stuff) so their mystical powers were actually just extremely advanced technology and the mythological heroes were actually just half cast aliens who got taught how to use the technology (or had a District ( thing going on where they could use the technology because they had the right DNA.. i cant descide ) So yea... i wish i could have done more but i had a few assignments creep up on me and i think i took on a bit of an ambitious task size wise but i am still happy with the result.

I would also like to dedicate this to my grandfather Karl Balzer who died recently, if it wasn't for him i might have never have become an artist at all..

So i hope you all Like it! im off to go have a beer



and because i cant get it to show wide-screen heres the link to it on photobucket..
http://s944.photobucket.com/albums/ad28 ... alfRes.jpg

[andrewimage]

Hi so my story will follow much of the traditional story but for the change that the harpies will be used as a sort of assassins for hire by the king, Jason Uncle to assassinate Jason whole on his quest.
Instead of three they will be more a clan of 30 or more!
The style would to be CGI Animated film keeping it a fast paced dark fantasy action.
In my design ive tried to bring Jason up to date and different from past Jason designs giving him a punk rocker look with some colour i thort a red head would be a cool new look for him.
With the harpies who in the past were meant to be a ugly creature for them i went bit more sexy but still bad ass.
Weapon and armor i kept simple but put cool little details were i could.

[mcnublet]

mcnublet
Character Concept - Hercules

I have chosen the sidekick character Hercules for my character concept and have visualized him as a warrior of modern times (near future reality). My goal was to create a modern day Hercules character who has obvious personality and looks like a big but realistic soldier. The character traits of Hercules are vitally important because he is a popular character and is identified by his club, and 'Nemean Lion Skin'. I wanted my Hercules to have adapted versions of these items and therefore I made sure to include the club and lion skin but alter and adapt them to current day (or near future) equivalents. My Hercules wields a sledgehammer in one hand (revealing his strength), and wears a suit of prototype indestructible armor (which is considered to be a magical artifact by the people, due to knowledge of advanced technology and its methods of creation being forgotten). My Hercules does not have excessive muscles but is instead built like a strong and athletic special forces soldier. I have tried to portray him as a hyper-real SAS soldier who has amazing talent in battle but is all about using brute force, jumping from boat to boat smashing his enemies. His expression is the major focus in this composition and I wanted it to portray his multiple personality traits (e.g vain, lover of ladies, fool hardy etc) with a hint of deviousness.

[El Diez]

Hi all

Great submissions here!

Here is my final image. Talos - the defender of Crete.
According to Wikipedia Almighty - ...In the Cretan dialect, talôs was the equivalent of the Greek hêlios, the sun: the lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria notes simply "Talos is the sun"..... so this was the main line I built the character around. It is written that Talos circles the island three times daily while guarding it. One for sure - this guy makes big steps )
I grew up with the Greek mythology and I didn't want to go too far with the design, but to keep the original spirit. I didn't want him scary bad ass too, because the ancient greeks have respected him as a protector of the shores of Crete and Europe. Made from the Cyclopes (or Hephaestus) known as great masters of the ironwork, Talos is a perfect example of beautifully crafted precise defending machine. So here he is: Talos - the defender of Crete.

Good luck to all
Cheers
10

[tengu]

: Hercules
The story of my character Hercules, is that he was raised by a solitary lion that mothered him.
The local tribe killed the mother lion because they thought it was going to kill the child
They ate the lion but kept the skin because they is had spiritual powers.
The tribe thought that because Hercule’s mother was a lion, that therefore, his father must have been some sort of god spirit. Half man, half god.
The parents that fostered Hercules thought he was very special because he showed unnatural strength and power and so eventually the chief adopted him as his 2nd son..
When Hercules was a young man, there was a group of marauding lions who hunted in packs and terrorised the village.
The chief passed on the Mother Lion skin to Hercules and he wore it on his head. It gave him strength and courage.
He is the only one who could take down the lions without getting hurt or killed.
Joko (Jason) who is a young man from a neighbouring tribe, falls in love with the chief adopted daughter from Hercule’s village.
He has to prove that he is worthy to marry her.
The chief sets him a task of taking down the dangerous group of lions.
Joko takes six young men from his tribe. With Hercules’ special power and help, he is successful.
The marauding lions are caught and killed. The village is safe.
Joko wins the hand of the chief’s daughter.

[Ragu]

Hi there,

I decided to have my version of the character set in the ancient Mediterranean but in an alternate reality. In this reality the gods exist and are in possession of very advanced technology, and act as they do in ancient Greek mythology - not a pleasant mix! The story runs on similar lines to the 1963 original, and Jason in this re-interpretation is every inch the hero as he was in the original. The gods believe he is a pawn to use in their games, but throughout the course of his adventure he overcomes as of the obstacles in his way. The goddess Hera has made him one of her favourites because he passed a test she set him near Thessaly, and so she aids him with a new set of armour, weapons and an A.I. tool that can provide him with advice at key moments that will enable him to succeed in his quest. Or at least, that was her original intention. Zeus, in the interests of "fair play", forces Jason to use a particular annoying A.I. tool called HERA (Hyper Eristic Rational Algorithm), which is more concerned with debating him than providing him with any useful information. He can also use it only five times because of a virus in its behaviour core which degrades its sociality functions the more HERA is used.
In this image Jason is seen wearing the armour that Hera has given him to aid him on his quest. The colouring is inspired from peacock feathers (notably blues and gold that are on the "eyes").

[Shoo]

I envisioned my Jason & The Argonauts as a sci-fi/punk take on the classic story. Here is Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. Though still young, he has been raised in secret isolation by his foster father, a cyber-centaur, always aware there is a kingdom waiting for him to lead one day. Before leaving home, his step-dad gifted him a special gauntlet which concealed the location of the fabled Golden Fleece.
Jason is a serious young man. If he was to have any chance leading a band of heroes and pulling off this quest, he would need to be quite the individual, and I tried to convey this with the colours, expression and design of my Jason. Animated or stylised cg, would be the medium this would be made into a movie.

[PaperX]

arrgh, my firefox crashed while i was uploading..hope im not too late!

EDIT: adding description...

My story around Hercules is that his father was the creator (ie God) of the robot army which eventually rebelled and wiped out most of mankind. At birth, Hercules was caught in the disaster and nearly died as a result of an explosion which took away most of the right side of his body. To save him, Hercules' father created artificial robotic limbs and heart for him, infusing him into half-man, half-robot (ie immortal). To protect the delicate robotic heart, his father also designed the N.e.M.E.A.N (can't be bothered to make an acryomn ) armour which would endur any shock or damage.

Hercules grew up being hunted by both man and machines. Luckily he managed to survive due to the enhanced strength from his robotic limbs and his equally strong will. Eventually he became one of the most feared men around, travelling alone as a mercenary. He was later recruited by Jason as a member of the Argonauts, a group of survivors seeking to restore the human race back to its former glory. Hercules is distrustful of the other members of the Argonauts who initially view him as a freak and are all terrified of his fearful reputation. However, as they journey on, Hercules continues to save the group from peril proving his worth and gaining the respect of others. He is still however, quite self-centered and can be arrogant and overestimating of his abilities at times eventually causing the group to be tracked down and hunted by the elite mech soldier - Talos.

[RAdo]

Concept design of Hehehercules: Jason & the Argonauts– A Cinematic Reinvention
Hercules loved and hated

Since it is my first attempt in concept design in digital media I was developing the concept as I was exploring and learning how to use Photoshop.

Choice of character:
Because of the nature of this competition I have decided to create the Character of Hercules as a stylized parody named Hehehercules. I realize he is highly exploited character in many genres but what is provoking me is his complexity. I started making him buff and showing off his strength in a trivial pose of a superhero but as the concept evolved I integrated more complex and multidimensional perspectives.

Setting: Hehehercules is the player with Number One of the Omega team of the Argonauts in the thunderbolts/balls Olympics fighting to win the Golden Fleece Cup. The game is a mixture of hockey and golf and the objective is to catch and place thunderballs in a special golf like hole so they get to Hades in the underworld.
Character: The Romans built their empire on the foundations of the Greek culture so I’m using that symbolically to build the character for Hercules. I have chosen a pose and body posture of traditional hero such as Conan the Barbarian, the Vikings and other popular characters from the times of violence and brutal physical strength to make him a figure combing all this in a serious as well as humours way. His character is designed to project a balance between love and hate as his traditional character is.

Hehehercules character resembles his traditional character from Greek Mythology that the Romans developed further as well. He carries the Nemean lion skin for protection and the lion’s head reflects his bad moods. I prefer the way he looks without the lion’s head but it makes the character complete.

His helmet has wing like protectors on the sides for balance of the frontal face part. The crest accumulates electricity when a thunderball is struck and Hehehercules can project it as an electrical sting. It also works as a camera.
Hehehercules carries a Greek ceramic pillar as a stick to handle the high voltage of the thunderballs instead of his club (the Greek pillars in the temples connect the mortal to the gods).

For speed he wears special roller skates with metal wheels, which ground him and resemble a Greek/ Roman chariot. Like most great players he is an inspirational role model. He is loved as mush as hated by his fans and opponents.

In the final stages decided to flip the image and like it best this way. Sorry about the signature but no time to fix that.
I have not been able to attach my file for the last 10 - 16 minutes is there a file size limit? Will post and compress original and attach later.
Good luck to all.

[nilut]

Thanks for all your great submissions!
We will announce the winners ASAP, as soon as we have had time to read & review all properly.

Rado - I have just checked the limit and taken up-ed it to 5mb. That should hopefully solve any problems. Sorry about that.
Let me know if there is any issues. No worries if you only attach it tomorrow.