Monthly Art Challenge – January 2025 – "Magical Adventure"

sooz · December 31, 2024, 7:34pm

Hello Krita Artists

The Monthly Art Challenge for December 2024 is complete. Congratulations to @steve.improvthis, the winner. And congratulations to everyone who participated by submitting wonderful art, and also to our members who voted for the entries.

Monthly Art Challenge – January 2025 – “Magical Adventure”>

A new year is upon us! I like to take this time each year and think of all the possibilities that new beginnings allow. With that in mind, let’s make the topic for the January Challenge to create a “Magical Adventure” for the year ahead!

Will your adventure be something as close to home as creating the perfect afternoon with loved ones? Or maybe it will be something fantastical like a hero’s journey to a mythical land? Wherever your adventure leads, lean into making it magical!

Optional challenge: Choosing where to focus
Just as a new year is full of possibilities and we need to decide where to focus our effort, January’s optional challenge will be around creating focus in our compositions.

One way is to use the rule of thirds or a Fibonacci spiral to help lay out the elements in your composition.

Another way is to dive into Krita’s Assistant Tool and work with vanishing points and perspective tools.

If you’re stronger at one of these in your art than the other, why not challenge yourself and work on the one you are not as strong at?

I hope you have fun with the month’s topic and challenge. I can’t wait to see all the wonderful Magical Adventures we’ll embark on this month!

Please post only artworks and discussion related to submitted artwork in this thread. There is a WIP thread for each monthly art challenge in which you can ask questions and post your works in progress (WIPs).

Monthly Art Challenge WIPs and Discussion Thread – January 2025

Rules

The composition should be your own and not an exact copy from someone or somewhere else. If you are using a reference photo taken by anyone other than yourself, please ensure the license allows for its use and include a credit to the photographer with your submission.
Artwork should be done in Krita. Submissions must be done from scratch in Krita, no paint-over or tracing allowed. Photobashing is allowed only when explicitly specified in the topic.
The topic changes every month. Your submission should be somehow related to the topic. If possible, please add a few lines explaining your idea and image.
No AI-generated images are allowed, not even partial use of AI and paint over. It is unfair for those who are drawing from scratch.
You can post a maximum of 3 entries and also edit the entries until the deadline. All your entries will be clubbed during the vote and you only get one vote. Reply with your entries to this post in this thread. All entries must appear in a single post. Please do not post your submissions in any other category on Krita-Artists until voting has closed and the winner is declared.
In order to have the image featured, the entries need to be safe for work so please avoid any NSFW or controversial content. The moderators can use their discretion to disqualify the image from the contest with prior notice. Of course, the artist will be given the chance to submit an alternate image or change it.
Submissions will be accepted until 2025-01-26T18:00:00Z, at which time the topic will automatically close. You can check how much time is left at the bottom of the thread.

We will hold a poll at the end of the challenge period. The artwork with the most votes will be the winner.

Prize

The winner will be featured on this website in the featured artwork row.
The winner will have the privilege to set the topic of their liking. If the winner is not available or reachable, then the 1st runner up will be asked to provide the topic and challenge
The winner will also be awarded the Monthly Art Contest Winner badge.

Please spread the word about this art challenge by posting your artwork on various social media websites with the hashtag – #KritaChallenge. If possible, include a link to the forum post.

I hope we will enjoy this exercise so let us begin.

P.S. Note we can change the rules based on the feedback on this contest and modify the format. Any suggestions are welcome. To submit feedback, please create a new topic in the Site Feedback category.

steve.improvthis · January 8, 2025, 4:33pm

I posted this in the discussion thread and thought it’d be good to add it here as well, just in case anyone is feeling stuck on the “Magical” part of the topic.

I like this definition of ‘magical’ from the Oxford Dictionary: beautiful or delightful in such a way as to seem removed from everyday life.

bueuk · January 9, 2025, 7:09pm

“Why Can’t We Be Partner?”

Kiki is on a journey to become a proper witch. She mastered riding a flying dry roller (brush) and spell casting with her magic wand (tool) in short amount of time. Her next task is looking for a cat as her partner. Unfortunately, most cats sees her as a yummy dinner by nature, including this ferocious domesticated one she encounter.

I use rule of third for composition and perspective assistant as guide for the background.

sooz · January 9, 2025, 7:12pm

Awesome, @bueuk!

bueuk · January 9, 2025, 7:31pm

Thanks, @sooz ! .

steve.improvthis · January 10, 2025, 1:48pm

Fun idea @bueuk! That orange kitty looks determined, hope Kiki makes it!

bueuk · January 10, 2025, 4:51pm

Let’s hope for Kiki’s safe return together, @steve.improvthis . Orange cats are indeed bad news .

Elixiah · January 10, 2025, 9:16pm

My entry for “Magical Adventure”
These two boys were out playing in the woods and came across a strange glow ahead. They stopped and threw their bikes on the ground like kids do, then quietly crept up to see and were spell-bound by an amazing sight.
From imagination, although I did reference a few random bicycle photos.
I have a timelapse of this, but it’s horribly long, since I worked on it for several days Lol. If anyone wants to see it, lemme know and I’ll upload it to youtube.

My second entry. I’ve been working on this landscape the last couple days and thought it would be cool to exchange the red rock mountains in the background for a magical castle fortress… complete with force field. Reference is my own photo taken while hiking along Oak Creek in Red Rock SP, Sedona, AZ.

bueuk · January 11, 2025, 1:56am

Whoaaa! I just can’t stop looking at this awesomeness @Elixiah .

steve.improvthis · January 11, 2025, 8:50am

As always @Elixiah , Magnificant! It feels so playful and endearing!

Corentin · January 11, 2025, 9:21am

12th Century Fox presents…

Michelist · January 11, 2025, 9:37am

You’re just rewriting the history books, the bicycle was invented in the 19th century according to previous doctrine.

Michelist

Corentin · January 11, 2025, 12:10pm

Maybe, but the fox is obviously a medieval wizard that was somehow transported into the future!

Michelist · January 11, 2025, 12:16pm

That’s true!
It is always a question from which side I watch a story! For both parts of the participants, it will be for sure an astonishing, because never expected, experience, no matter if envisioned from the presence or the past.

Michelist

Bobrowsdower · January 12, 2025, 9:36pm

I didn’t like my original submission, so here is an impressionistic one that I enjoyed working on. The title is Fox finds a Fairy. illustrated with pencil-6 and heavy rake smudge tool only. 3 layers. Thanks!