@Sarah-VanDam @LauraA These are my thoughts exactly. I could figure out what's going on but there was something off about the picture and I didn't know what I think you explained it well. I feel there's too much going on and it's confusing. Also I thought the dog is holding a photo camera 
@evka8D @Sarah-VanDam Is this version clearer? I just took out the fish with the treat because in fact there's no way to tell which way the transformation is going. I decided the other fish could be clients arriving on the scene. I also took out the boy's crown and cape so it would be evident that he's concentrating on his sand castle and also so there was no confusion about two crowns now that I've added a cat queen. And I took out the dog because it was confusing. Does it work better?
I tried a cropped version, but this one was just more harmonious. Since it's a still spread version, it also leaves room for the gutter.
So my general idea is a "Seaweed Pie" food truck run by a mermaid. Her customers will be pirates. I'm still refining the idea and the story/ twist to the idea, but started with the character design of my foodie mermaid character. Here I share my process:
@LauraA Hmm I am not sure. To me it still seem like there's too much going on on the picture. It's possible to figure out what's happening but there are too many things which seems confusing to me for example if the treats are supposed to make your wishes come true why is that boy playing with a sand castle? Isn't a sand castle something he could easily build without any magic? I would expect a real castle or at least some way more exciting sand castle. I still don't get what is that fish doing? Who wishes to be a fish? I mean someone probably does but here it's hard to figure that out from the picture and it adds to confusion in my opinion as it's not the most typical wish you'd expect. I guess if there was more context like if this was a part of a wider narrative in a book for example, it probably could work better but for this prompt alone, I feel like it's trying to cover too many narrative points.
On the other hand I find the mermaid girls part the most interesting. Personally, I'd only focus on that part and add maybe more girls who want to transform but that's just my suggestion.
I decided to start over again and focus on blocking in shapes and colors first and avoid details. Below, my second attempt felt flat and drab, so I started over again. Below that is the third attempt where I am at currently. I am more satisfied with the progress and am hoping that bringing details and shading in will complete it well. Any thoughts?
@jahn wow those are all pretty crazy ideas! Thanks for making the thread, i wasnt going to participate because i guess idea generation burn outāits hard to really spend a long time trying to come up with a special story and angle to get feedback like āman you really missed out on doing this super obvious storyā which really means āyour idea was still not condensed enough and you didn't present it to me in a way that i could grasp itāāor alternatively, this moment is not action packed enough to be a full story.
But reading this thread (and finding a little free time) made me interested in trying, so i asked chat gpt what i should draw, (A: a tranquil landscape) q:weird character (for some reason i hoped it would say giant floating eyeball?) (a: mecanical jellyfish, that sells ornate glowing underwater lanterns). I asked a few other questions but nothing really interested me, so i went back to work.
All that was bouncing around in me brain and i threw this together
If i find more time might finish it
Edit june 29:
I made another version and am struggling with color now lol. It is my greatest weakness right after everything to do with rendering.
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@LauraA I do agree with @evka8D āI think I still have to suspend my disbelief about too many things in the image to the point where I feel like this magical world doesnāt have enough constraints, and Iām not sure whatās important or how things work. I think it could be fun to focus on just one magical ārule,ā and popsicles that can turn you into a mermaid could be a GREAT one to do. Youāve got a good start with that. For example, hereās a quick mock-up of your image zoomed in on the girls: 
Hereās me brainstorming if I could take your image in any direction I wanted: Maybe, instead of the ice cream truck being run by a dog, itās run by a merperson with rainbow hair, scales on her arms and fins by her ears or something. Maybe the popsicles give you a mermaid tail with the same colors as the flavor of the treat. And maybe the truck is right next to the water (I drew the edge of a pool here), where you can see people who are already transformed swimming around.
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@Sarah-VanDam Thanks! I did something similar last night, though it still has the larger format. All mermaids. The color part is funny, though!
@Mandy-Forte I like the first one too!
@Fey-Realme Well, it's an off the wall idea for sure! And I hear your concerns, and I get the analogy. I guess my only question is: Is it food? Do they eat the content? I'm guessing they "consume" it.
@jahn I feel like the (well-executed) sun flare is distracting me from the main point, which is clever. I'd make the animals a more prominent part of the scene. Work on making their silhouettes interesting, and put some lighting on at least some of them, so we can have some character interest.
@LauraA I agree, once again I got too focused on detailing the sky before composing the rest of the piece, but yesterday I brought more of the animals forward and I am planning on finishing the details and adding shading afterward. Also, the sun flare was conveniently a custom brush I purchased haha.
@jahn Here's an example of what you can do with some cropping. I didn't spend long in it, but it's an idea. Also, a lot of AD's don't want to see the back of a character. I didn't intend to create such a focal point on the smaller bear so you might need to move it around, but you could play it up and consider having the baby bear turn around to look excitedly at its mother. As for lighting, you do need dark values, but can put on some rim lighting. Just some quick thoughts.
@LauraA
I think your suggestion does contain the focal point a little better than my wider angle. I will have to play around with my cropping a little more.
I was originally thinking of doing a night or evening scene, and the animals would be more of a shadowy silhouette but one of my friends pointed out "Why would they be going to the dump at night?"
I am planning on bringing shadows to the truck and trees and some rim lighting to the animals to help make it all look a bit better and more cohesive.
@LauraA Nice! I like your character poses.
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@jahn Aren't both bears and raccoons more or less nocturnal? I mean, I've seen a bear during the day, but I suspect they're out at night, too. At any rate, I think you can make a case for the hour you want, except maybe for raccoons at midday. The point is, they're in the shadows.
@Sarah-VanDam Thanks! This thing just wasn't striking me the right way yesterday no matter what I did with it. I may do some more thumbs just to make sure. I really liked your solution and now I can't unsee it!
This is where my progress is at currently, after rearraging all the elements and adding details. What I have left to do is finish detailing the trees and foreground elements then add shading. Any thoughts on compositions and placement of the elements?
@jahn It seems reasonable to assume that Rhonda is professional and responsible. To me, it would make sense if one of the forest critters, like a raccoon, was in the back of the trash truck opening the sealed bags and distributing the spoils to his buddies.
Hi there people!
Okay Iāve missed two prompts and Iām trying to get one in for this prompt. Iām playing around with 3 concepts and I think I know which one I favor but I wanted to hear your opinion. These are concept only, not layout, story design etc. appreciate any feed back. Iāll be narrowing it down tomorrow or the next day if you want to put in your āvote
I want your opinion on which of these three concepts I should move forward with. Donāt judge layouts etc, just concepts, thanks
1- floating meat boat serving fishing boats
2- turtle pulling a yeti cooler to serve frozen treats to the desert in animals
3- The witch from Hansel and Gretel giving away free samples with a path leading back to the woods for ā moreā
@Sarah-VanDam @LauraA These are my thoughts exactly. I could figure out what's going on but there was something off about the picture and I didn't know what I think you explained it well. I feel there's too much going on and it's confusing. Also I thought the dog is holding a photo camera
