TASK 3 RESULTS

For our third task, the contestants were split into two teams and each team was assigned a celebrity - the challenge was to capture the essence and style of the given celebrity in a striking graphic!

*Prior to Task 3, Virginia (Rei1981) had to resign from the competition, but proceedings will go as normal

**Key parts of your feedback are in bold


TOP PHOTO: Filip

Jack: Flicking through all the entries, this is the one that stood out the most to me. Although it's not your best work technique wise, the essence of this piece is quite incredible - and that's what I was looking for. I think you captured Lana's dark and eery vibe exceptionally well. I'm impressed with the detail on the hand and parts of the face, but I would have liked to have seen a cleaner finish around the mouth and eyes. Overall you did an amazing job this week, you were also the only one not to depict Lana in white!

Kirsten: Personally I don't feel like this is the strongest graphic of the bunch this week, but it stands out in the crowd with its heavy feel. It is also a marked improvement on the entry sent last week. You have clearly spent time with the face, however there are some smaller details which could have been captured or worked on more carefully. Having said that, there are some aspects which do seem very much unfinished when I look at the graphic - for example the eyes seem especially flat and lifeless with almost no work on them when you look at the full sized image, and also the hair.


RUNNER UP: Pablo

Jack: The thing I love about your entries the most is that they always have such a striking impact, and you really put in 100% - this week I think there was just something missing that made this pop for me. I do think the shading and just overall image is gorgeous, but I'm sensing a lot of conflicting techniques with your shading work that kind of just makes some parts of the graphic look like they shouldn't be there. Your entry last week had an amazing flow, try and pick up the pace again from there.

Kirsten: This image really stands out in the crowd from the warm light that the body gives off and it really draws the eye from a lot of the other entries this task. On close look though, you need to be a little more careful with your edges, at some places they're blurred and cut wrongly, and others they are more like corners and smooth lines. The skin has a pretty good technique, but maybe take some time with your clothing because I feel the item looks rather 2D in comparison to the densely shaded skin. Not very much a fan of the background - it doesn't seem to fit the theme of the actual graphic and adds a little detraction from the piece.


3rd: Rozalia

Jack: To me, this is your best entry yet. I'm so impressed with the improvements you've made on your technique, it's definitely not as choppy and amateur as before. The garment is shaded so effortlessly but I think it looks well done and works for the graphic. I wish you would have paid more attention to the face, it looks slightly rushed and I can't really tell if you were trying to make it look like Lana or not? Also the "Lana Del Rey" in huge letters at the top looks ugly and distracting, it almost feels like you thought this didn't translate enough as Lana so you had to put that there to reassure us. The strongest part of this graphic is probably the collarbones, they look great! I just wish you would have tidied up the edge on the left arm before sending this in, it would have improved the piece dramatically.

Kirsten: I really like this as a graphic, and I think it's because of your strength in skin shading over a lot of the other contestants - just be careful with a few of your edges though! The face is a little blurry though, particularly around the eyes, and I think the hair could use/take a stronger shade to make it really fit greatly with the rest of the graphic. With the clothing, I do think I have preferred the items you've shaded in the past, however white is one of the notoriously difficult colours to shade really well, so I commend you for doing a decent job. However without the 'Lana Del Rey' text, I would have no clue who was an inspiration for the piece, so just be careful of the brief - overall a great job though!


4th: Giselle

Jack: Love the hair and the pose you went with, but the delivery could have been a lot better. I'm not really getting a Rihanna vibe from this at all - for a start Rihanna is black and you went with a white (?) model, also the background is just really confusing to me, it's not something I would have gone with personally. Your entries always seem to land somewhere in the middle, so until you can pull out something that makes an impact, I feel like you may just fizzle out. The strongest parts of this graphic are probably the hair and the shoes, I'd like to say the fur too, but the technique doesn't sit right with me. Also try refining your choice of model to one that's more suited for the task, and be careful with the positioning of the head!

Kirsten: I'm a little confused on first look as to who your celebrity inspiration was because I don't really see either of the assigned stars in your entry, as Jack has said, I agree that this comes down to the model choice. The pose definitely has interesting aspects however I can't help but be drawn to the odd neck position - I think it would have been fine with the right shading, but in this instance it really wasn't there. You were definitely going in the right direction in attempting fur, however the texture or style used to work on it seems a little odd. Looking back over your previous entries, I can tell you are working on your basic skills, so just keep going with that and little by little it could all come together.


5th: Helen

Jack: It's disappointing for me to see you drop 3 places this week, I really feel as though you were beginning to ascend, but this week you seemed to have stumbled - or at least I hope that's the case. Again it's a problem with definition, and really cutting in a crease or a shadow where it's needed. I think that once you can grasp the concept of defining certain areas, your work will improve monumentally. I do have to say that I enjoy the hair on this one and the layout of the text and background is something I could see in a magazine - channel this artistic capability into your work!

Kirsten: I don't really see Lana in this at all, it honestly could be anyone. Your shading technique overall has been consistent throughout the tasks, however I think it gives them all a similarity and a familiarity and is starting to look quite easy and quick to do and not showing a progression in your graphic skills. I think this comes across in the face, as real faces take a lot of time to sculpt into looking real and to me it seems you've taken the quick route with this one. The hair's not bad though, I think it does add a little something to the graphic and pulls you just out of the bottom two.



BOTTOM TWO

Beth

Jack: I've said time and time again that when creating a celebrity face, it's crucial that you capture and define their features because they are what makes them unique. I just think that overall this piece comes across as very half-assed (especially when you compare it to my graphic of Rihanna sporting the same look). From what I can see, the hair has absolutely no shading, which is disappointing to see. The choker/necklace looks very unflattering, and I want to take this opportunity to say that just because an item is part of your reference, does not mean you have to include it - this was clearly demonstrated in last weeks task. I appreciate the detail you put into the tattoos on the hands and chest and the rings look nice too, but is that enough to make up for the rest?

Kirsten: There's a very odd feeling coming from this graphic, and I think it starts with the face - it seems a bit flat and not very appealing, sure it bares a Rihanna resemblance, but it doesn't make me want to spend time looking at the graphic. I do quite like the pose from the reference chosen and the clothing looks reasonable but not wow-impressive. I completely agree with Jack - if you're going to do a graphic where someone else has done a very similar one (e.g. same event) you need to make yours just as great (or better, if you can) as theirs, and when I look at this I just don't see the same wowing effect.


Gabriel

Jack: I'm left quite speechless with this piece, it just looks like you did it in 20 minutes flat. Everything looks choppy and I can't even pin point one thing that I like. If only you would have spent a little more time making the layers smoother, you could have had a decent graphic here. Overall this looks like it was done by a beginner who has no idea what they're doing, and I'm not sure if that's not someone who belongs in this competition.

Kirsten: I'm very much not a fan of this graphic at all I'm afraid. The only positive I can really think of is that I can tell it's Rihanna, however it really ends there. It looks very quickly done, mainly due to the fact that you've chosen a close up and if you're going to do that, the areas it shows need to be amazing, and frankly, they're not. The layers of shading look rushed and done with little care and it really shows with the entry unfortunately, and at this point and having seen the competition, I don't think it's really good enough.




So who goes this week?

Gabriel.

Your entry this week was not up to the standards that are set for this competition. The collapse in your progress was snuffed out early. Sorry, but you have been eliminated.


Task 4 will be posted soon!