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NightDragon
6th Grade UsernameRegistered User regular
6th Grade UsernameRegistered User regular
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but yes everything here is really aweomse. armadillo is very cool. kinda dark crystal-esque. I love your sword variations.
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Also dont just think about attaching parts, the parts have to look functional even for these simple weapons. so how thick does that spear have to be to feel like you can really thrust with it?
poast moar plz. then I can help even more. as a team. with uniforms.
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
They're made of a metal material, so I figured that would offer enough heft.
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
I'm not really sold on any of the weapon designs. They're falling into the same "study from real life first" chasm that animu and stylized superhero anatomy resides in. All form, no function (and yes, they look like WoW weapons. WoW weapons are horrible designs.) You're just making differently styled blades and guards and hilts, without any real understanding as to what the basic structure is.
And yes, even swords follow a structure that has a little more nuance then "blade, guard, hilt". A good design should look balanced and comfortable, with a readable silhouette that tells how it handles (fast and light, heavy and powerful, etc etc). 90% of this work is already done for you if you study some real world swords and use them as archetypes to build more exaggerated and fancy designs off of. There are THOUSANDS of realworld sword designs and types that you should be using as inspiration, not generic fantasy brickabrack.
I mean #4 sword is pretty crazy lookin. It has a really fun handle. But with a handle like that, you wouldnt be able to swing it easily both ways. Which is why most curved swords have the blade on one side.
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
Most of the stuff you do ND, is pretty well grounded in reality and rendered such. I can't really see any of your characters wielding any of those weapons and have it look synergetic.
I highly recommend the book "Weapons" by the diagram group by the diagram group. It has a pretty complete history of weapons with easy to understand explanations of their basic mechanics, and several hundred excellent diagrams of historical examples. I keep it on hand all the time as a launching point for ideas, as there's plenty of weird and obscure weapon types with interesting ideas from all around the world.
As a general rule of thumb though, most ornate weapons keep pretty much the same shape and function as their non-fancy kin. You won't see many real world swords with crazily shaped blades, because thats the function part of the weapon. Pretty much anything else you can find examples of folks going nuts with (hilts, guards, pommels, the flat of the blade, etc) because adding ornateness there doesn't hamper the effect of the weapon.
Look at these polearms. They're fancy and ornate and probably only used by honor guards in parades, but the FUNCTIONAL parts of the weapons are still pretty clean. The detail is crammed into the areas that arnt important to the effectiveness of the weapon, like behind or under the cutting edge. Design the weapon FIRST. The decoration comes afterwards.
Prox pointed out sword #4 being a cool idea, and it is, it just doesn't have the structure to back it up. Like a cool character costume with horrible anatomy.
The general public may not know specifically what the problems are, but like poor anamtomy, theyve seen enough swords and held enough sticks to know when something doesnt look right.
The sword has no tang (the part that goes into the grip) and would snap off the handle in an instant. It's symetrical and slim, which is a quality good for stabbing weapons, yet the handle is curved and off center, a quality good for slashing weapons. The handguard is angled in such a way that it doesn't sit well in a persons hand (the middle bit would poke them). Again, it COULD be an interesting design, if you had the structure to back it up.
I'm raggin on you alot, but you know how I am with killy things
I won't let people get away with drawing a box and a cylinder for a gun, and I won't let you get away with this for swords.
turning the form in your mind is an incredibly difficult process, and rending it accurately can be maddening
lovely work, as usual
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Maybe these color variants are all options when you create your character.
But if you texture it with colour variations in mind, there should be no reason why you can't do all of them pretty easily.
Though i kinda wish for higher contrast.
artistjeffc.tumblr.com http://www.etsy.com/shop/artistjeffc
Exactly how do you plan on setting up the colouring process? Flexibility is a good thing to learn for the industry. It really shouldn't take more than a few slider tweaks to change the colour scheme, especially with something as relatively straight forward as this (there's no crazy clothing or different materials).
Like, the diffuse map essentially controls the colours. Set that up with enough layers that you can easily and quickly change the tone and shade.
Yes you do. How else will you feel comfortable and at home?
The seem to have a nice vibrancy and 8 seems it would do well in forests, while some of the other ones more sandy terrain for camouflage.
But yesssss this look so bitching, great job ND!
And I'm with you, I rarely use colour tweaks unless I'm exploring a colour to paint over it. Too often I try and mess with the pattern the colour is forming over the concept. It really counts on the importance of the concept for me, or if it needs patterning.