Resonance poster (the server's back up)

Mayday

Hi! Remember me? I'm toying with the idea of making an RPG game. I even got a nice title recently: "Resonance".
Anyway, I'm working on a "promo poster" thingy depicting the races of the world I made up. Your input will be of great value to me.

MagicToaster

Is this promo poster for the internet? I think you should take into consideration how ppl will see things as they scroll down to see it. I'd make it tall instead of wide.

CyberMonkeytron3000

I think you need to inject a bit more life into the scene. Im not reading any personality in their faces. They all have the same, non-excited look. Even the guy with the energy ball, he doesn't seem to pumped to be there although his pose says different. You should probably do something with the other characters poses as well- even with an awesome costume design, they would seem a little static. Mix it up a bit. This is going to be the first thing that people are going to see of all these guys (girls?)- make it count

Mayday

So.
-vertical layout
-more emotion on the faces
-more action poses (but the squidhead is ok?)

The high, thin guy IS supposed to have a kind of an emotionless vibe so I'll probably leave him like that.

The Black Hunter

The turtle man and the elf look good, but the other two are very similar.

Perhaps you could make one of them More bestial, or go the other way and make one more human.

Johannen

I think it would be cool if there was a game that didn't contain a human-like race. Just make them all weird, but as different as eachother as you can, at the same time.

Mayday

Ok... is this the right direction?

They are still standing... but I guess something's going on now. I left the elf static because they are stoic, charismatic manipulators and I wanted the poster to depict what the races are like.

TBH: hm, you are somewhat right. Consider this redesign of the high guy made by wakkawa: http://wakkawa.iseenothing.com/sketch/mayday.jpg Is it more like what you'd like to see?

Johannen: you are, in fact, the second person to suggest that. I included the human-like elves to leave some familiarity in the world. Besides, I wanted to keep most of the races a bit similiar in terms of budy-builld, so that the armour and clothing can be easily re-used... otherwise it might be a bit too much work for a half amateur team.

Shiboe

First off, that is loads better! More excitement and life to it now. As for suggestions...

- I think the energy ball dude still looks awkward in pose. I think it's prolly his weight distribution, and an easy way to fix/adjust is to give the energy ball some substance to his stance. Have him reared backwards, concentrating the energy into the ball, and supporting the weight/power. As is, it's more likely he's showing someone a pretty flower.

- The smallest guy adds a nice break in the lines as he's hunching over. You might want to exploit that a bit more to break up the vertical poses.

- The big guy's head doesn't match his pose too well IMO. Go to a mirror, and put your arms straight up all menacing like, then look with a scary face. Do the same, but tilt your head back as if your screaming to the heavens. It looks more appropriate that way IMO, and kinda weird in the first way. Maybe arch his back more too?

- For the elf, you can still keep him static while making him a bit less so. Try turning his facing so it's off to the viewers right).

- I don't think both of your small races should be unclothed. Would be slick to see baby sized garments on someone, and leaving them both in the nude might make them too similar.

edit: I just realized that none of your races have tentacles. For shame sir.

Mayday

Yeah, this one was just for general composition. I'll play with the energy-ball one and I'm gonna have the final ones referenced. Good idea on the little guy though. (he's not gonna be nekkid, BTW).
I think the elf will be kind of turned around, gleaming at the other guys, scratcing his chin.

And they DO have tentacles! They're crammed up their vaginas!

(thanks for the input!)

Johannen

I wouldn't have two little races. It's kind of like you're just copying Gnomes and Dwarfs that way. If you have your big race, your little race and your intermediate two, then i'd say go for something completely different, like a cyborg race that is much better with technology, sort of a Gnome replacement with different skill sets.

IZRA

i think everyone pointed out what needs to be worked out.

Ill just add this little thought: The biggest problem ,to me, with the energy Ball dude is that the hand lacks energy. is just doesn't look like hes putting actual "energy" into it. if that energy ball is supposed to have any sort of power or weight it should be reinforce by the hand gesture. that is all

Mayday

Ok, so it's kinda like this... but not really.
I don't think all the issues have been adressed yet.

Johannen: the powerball dude is actually about halfway between the goblin and the elf, so he's not so much little. IZRA, is the hand alright now? Shib, I'm still working on your input, I'll just let you know that the powerball dude is the only one to stay unclothed.




EDIT: I think my server is down atm. sorry for that.

Mayday

Still playing around instead of actually working on it... Also, I'm having doubts about the tehin (tall, thin guy) face design. Which one do you prefer? The OP one, wakka's version or any of these two: ?

Rye

I've always been one to believe that it's all based on his personality. If the tehin have aggressive "sharper" personalities, the jaw and facial structure should reflect that. If they are kinder, wise and restrained, I'd say a softer complexion would fit. Angular vs curved is an immediate identifier for characterization whether we know it or not. We look at movie stars and actors and say "Oh man he looks so evil" without knowing anything about their character. If you want to make it ambiguous, go with a blend of sharp, curved.

for example in antz:

Good Guys


vs

Bad Guy


These designs remind me of your characters a little bit, so you should pick up on what they did design wise.

Forbe!

They all seem really static still. The group as a whole is all facing one direction, as opposed to the one on the right facing the opposite way. I think moving the group closer together instead of having a large gap in between each of them would help this out a lot. Otherwise I like the designs, the positioning/poses just need work.

srsizzy

Five separate character posters, each with a different color and mood, depicting each race in its proper environment. It's totally never been done before. Also, you need bright flashy backgrounds with light up shapes and objects that don't actually exist but merely serve the purpose of being pretty. Look up movie and game posters, it would probably help.

Shiboe

I was thinkin' more like this for the lil' guy:

Sorry for the badness, really wanted something quick for the general idea, otherwise I'll get way to into it and end up doing it for ya. =D

I also gave him tentacle hair, because as before, someone needs tentacles. Was also gonna have some tentagoodness coming from his knee/elbow joints, but lazied out.

Good luck dude.

Roshin

Mayday wrote: »

Ok... is this the right direction?

That works for me. Personally, I would slap a circular decorative design behind the characters with some runes, skulls, or whatever and put the logo at the bottom, beneath the characters.

The only thing that bothers me is the direction the characters are facing. All of them look to the left, except one guy who looks to the right. I'd feel more comfortable if they all faced the same way and preferably looked at the viewer.

NibCrom

I think you should get the design of all the characters down before you start a poster. Do many sketches of them, sleep on it, then see what you like. If you don't have the design down, I don't think you should be working on promotional materials. It seems like you're getting ahead of yourself.