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 out—its hard to really spend a long time trying to come up with a special story and angle to get feedback like “man you really missed out on doing this super obvious story” which really means “your idea was still not condensed enough and you didn't present it to me in a way that i could grasp it”—or 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 —I 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 doesn’t have enough constraints, and I’m not sure what’s important or how things work. I think it could be fun to focus on just one magical “rule,” and popsicles that can turn you into a mermaid could be a GREAT one to do. You’ve got a good start with that. For example, here’s a quick mock-up of your image zoomed in on the girls: 
Here’s 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, it’s 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.
https://sarahvandam.art/
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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 I’ve missed two prompts and I’m trying to get one in for this prompt. I’m 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. I’ll be narrowing it down tomorrow or the next day if you want to put in your “vote
I want your opinion on which of these three concepts I should move forward with. Don’t 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 “ more”
@jahn
Hi Jahn, first off, I think concept is great and I know you’ve put a lot of time and energy into this. I’m going to add what I think Jake, Lee and Will would say. The story telling isn’t clear enough. I know what’s happening but if I didn’t know the prompt I’d just say “ a truck is dropping stuff/garbage off it in the woods” Are the animals disgusted that her truck is dropping stuff in their forest? I can’t see facial expression or body language. If they love this food truck shouldn’t they be excited, maybe carrying baskets to collect stuff up in, or even wearing things they picked up from her last drive through? I think a couple coming out from across the way would be good too so we could see their excited faces. Maybe loading up a wheel barrow with stuff. I hope I’m not saying too much. I’ve just watched enough of there podcasts so I’m giving you a friendly heads up.
Unfortunately I will not be able to finish my illo (see above) in time for HTFYA because I now have a broken right elbow. It's going to be a loooong summer!
@Larue The Hansel & Gretel one has a dark sense of humor that makes me laugh. At 1st glance it's my favorite. The only thing is, it's almost like the house itself is already like a food truck? In that both are a lure...
The turtle is cute but I feel like the guys will say it's not different enough.
The meat boat has potential. It reminds me of my husband whenever he comes back from Finland. "Anything but salmon!" Of course it all depnds depends on the execution. You'd really want to play up the differences, show them pocketing loads of cash, etc.
Good luck!
@thomas-young That is a good idea, I'll add that
@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.
