Congrats all! I'm floored and grateful to have placed among so many fantastic submissions. The skill and creativity on display in these challenges is always a joy to see. Thanks Scott, Alec and the Proko team for making this one happen!

If you are not familiar with Steven Zapata, I would strongly recommend his videos as he is one of the few artists/instructors who talks openly and eloquently about the kind of problems you are describing. This video addresses some of what you expressed but his channel is a gold mine for other insights on topics ranging from artist block to overcoming insecurities in the art practice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UJuQ0Ma1L4 Additionally, he often speaks about the problem with pursuing "the fundamentals", wherein many artists become so overwhelmed with "getting good" that they become paralyzed and burnt out because trying to learn "everything" is not sustainable nor is it actually something that most professionals do. Instead, he advocates for simply creating the thing you want to make, whatever brings you the most joy, regardless of your perceived lack of skill. Making the things you want to make will reveal your strengths and weaknesses as an artist. It is also the only true form of practice that will get you closer to your goal. Doing a million gesture drawings won't help you make a finished painting. Making a finished painting will help you make finished paintings. I also want to congratulate you on creating a tattoo portfolio. You did a big thing and unfortunately other people didn't recognize it for the undertaking that it was. That is OK. But their reaction DOES NOT mean that you are unworthy of doing that project again. It does not mean that you MUST improve your skill before you can earn the right to make what you love. You have that right as your human inheritance and no one can take it from you. In fact, I might go so far as to say fuck the fundamentals. Fuck the syllabus. You don't need it. And if you do need some piece of that skills-based practice, the best way to find out where to focus your time and energy is to make a project of your choice that speaks to your passions and see where along the way that you need help. Anyway, I stole most of this stuff from Steven so just go watch his channel, listen to him as he draws, draw with him as he draws. He's great. I hope this helps even just a little tiny bit because the art journey is hard and we need every scrap of good, true, honest advice and encouragement that we can get. Cheers.

Dulces Princeps - The "Sweet Little" Prince of the Nine Hells - At 5036 years old he is the youngest of infernal royalty and prophesied to be the warrior who will smash the gates of heaven and tread their legions underfoot. For now, however, the principle terror he visits is upon his lesser cousins' larders, for his appetite knows no bounds, and his mother's watchful eye is ever present to ensure he is fed his full measure. Many a Duke and Duchess of Hell have been eaten out of house and home by the "little" prince (who still towers over many of his brethren). His devilish "nanny," a many armed construct of demonic flesh and bone, trudges into their dining halls, arms outstretched awaiting a rich feast as offering... The final in color and one of a few initial sketches in pencil accompany it.

Hi Scott and all the rest! I hope I am not to late for the assignment! I only had one and a half days due to work and travel so I tried to give it my best shot within the time I had. There were many ups and downs during the development (with a lot of garbage) and there are (definitely) parts I really would like to research and explore in more depth. But for now... let me introduce: The Pumpkin Brigade! A ruthless band of mercenaries who does all the dirty work you are not willing to do. Checkered Leader - takes care of the contract and coin Warlock - freaks the shit out of people and calls for supernatural backup Tank - hits things with his big hammer Shadow - gets into places and creates confusing with his pumpkin spice grenades Tinker - has the right tool and trick for every situation They might be a bit icky and carry an unpleasant smell, but they get the job done. I copied them together and added a few colors, just to get a better idea of the size and proportions. Good day to everybody, Andre

So in keeping with the goal of developing characters based on archetypes and creating a lineup, I ended up deviating quite a bit from my initial sketches. A lot of my Potato Famine ideation sketches, while cool, felt more like minions than main lineup. That said, I still took plenty of ideas from those sketches into this next phase. Rather than doing a lineup of 5 totally different archetypes, I did 3 and repeated them on each side of the conflict. The side of good being those who are fighting the minions of the blight and the side of evil being those who have succumbed to its power and now do its bidding. The three archetypes are basically Leader (doubling as DPS + Rogue/Dual Wield Ranger), Tank (doubling as Outsider) and Wizard + Summon. Notes on each with some more backstory are in the images. Also included are some exploration sketches I did to get to each of these characters. One thing I struggled with a bit was presentation, especially of the Blight side because they have a lot of strips of goop and flesh that don't lend themselves well to strong shape definition. Also in general I had a hard time lining up the characters in an aesthetically pleasing way because I did most of the drawings individually or as pairs, so I didn't feel their pose or orientation was as strong in a lineup.

What's the most bizarre/unexpected place or subject matter that you've drawn from to inspire a monster design? Or - Just thought of this one, are there any monster designs from pop culture that you think are really cool but you feel just don't fit in the piece of media in which they appear? An example for me is the white orc in the Hobbit movies, kinda neat design, looks like a sweet shark dude but feels more at home in a modern RPG video game than a Tolkien story.

Any suggestions for building a creature/monster design portfolio for games from scratch? And even if creature design is your goal, what other kinds of subjects/projects would it be beneficial to include?

The working concept here is "Harvest", as in harvest time on a farm and also organ harvesting. Besides a peach orchard, the farm is home to several dozen rabbits. The farmer, in order to make more money, had allowed an enterprising yet twisted biochemistry student to perform experiments on the rabbits. One of his experiments starved the rabbits in order to find the biochemical markers of cannibalism. The rabbits suffered greatly until one broke out and discovered a holy revelation - a can opener. The rabbits gorge themselves on canned peaches and plot revenge - to harvest and sell their enemies' organs. I started with some shapes I found interesting and hope to keep it simple, elegant, and sinister.

The graphic element in the back is much more appropriate and subtle, does a good job of drawing attention to the point of action which is the head and weapon. The detailing in the boot is great but I think it does dominate too much of the picture frame and distracts from the action above because it is brighter and shinier than the helmet. Reducing the thickness of the boot and darkening the values in that area might address this. Other than that very nice work!

Question for Marshal as an artist/enthusiast and Stan as a current dad of young children: In your personal opinion, what are the most important visual and story elements that distinguish a good children's book?