Support NeoGAF

[Raging Spaniard]

Okay, first a disclaimer, it'll be a pretty fucking cold day in hell if I win this contest. Top fifty? Even thats a stretch, but you gotta have ambition if you're gonna succeed, so I'm gonna give it my best shot, and I could use GAF's help. Why GAF? Well, GAF is probably the toughest crowd for ... anything out there really. Seeing games that look great be called "generic", "boring" etc etc made me realize that if I can please at least some of you with the design, then fuck, I may have a shot at this

About the contest, the Dominance War III:

Its a huge, probably the biggest, Character Design Art contest there is as far as Videogames is concerned. Its a cross - forum art contest that consists of two categories, 2D and 3D. I'm going to enter the 2D comp since is my specialty. The idea is that you represent one of the competing art forums (out of 9). Its sponsored by a lot of big companies (Blizzard, EA, Ensemble, etc) and its a fantastic way to get your name out there and hopefully get hired by Blizzard (lolz). You must design your entry based on the provided storyline, here is this years story:

Heres the Rules and Regs page, in case you want to go there straight away)

Machines victory did not last... In a final desperate effort, the remnants of the opposing forces united against the machines and created an ultimate weapon that would temporarily disrupt all electrical functions within the galaxy. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong...

It has been 1000 years since the disappearance of machines. All electrical and mechanical systems continue to malfunction and every planet has been cut off from each other, leaving planetary wormholes as the only means of traveling between planets. Only myths remain of how life with technology once was, until recently...

Bizarre creatures have been emerging from wormholes; creatures made entirely of metal!
The ultimate weapon's effects are apparently fading. Everyone must put a stop to this rising menace before it's too late; unfortunately, everyone in the system is already at war! For the past century, an inter-galactic war has been raging between 9 rival planets. As a result, sending massive armies to a new awakening machine world is impossible, so in their place, single powerful units have been summoned...

Your mission, with the help of a powerful magical artifact (read below), is to enter an ancient forgotten world via wormholes, destroy all rival enemy forces sent by other planets, crush the awakening machines, and bring back the secret of technology in order to dominate all opposing forces, their planets and their wretched citizens once and for all!!

Okay, thats all fine and ... terribly corny and overdone, whats next? Ah yes, the topic:

Topic:
Create a Powerful Artifact User!

Time period:
Post-apocalyptic futuristic fantasy where magic exists. With technology unable to function due to the remnant effects of an ultimate weapon launched 1000 years ago, a new science has emerged. Formed by residual effects of an ancient ultimate weapon, or maybe an evolutionary step in the universe, whatever it is, this mystical force can now be harnessed by a few talented individuals or can be infused into items to make simple magical items or immensely powerful magical artifacts. As a result, a new age of life has come forth: An age of Magic!

Race:
You can create any organic, demonic or undead race: Alien, vampire, angel, succubus, skeleton, mutant, elf, human, fish, pixy, treant, giant... Anything! Only exception: No robots, metal constructs, magical golums, cyborgs, steam engines, steam equipment or anything with electronics.

Class:
Select one of the following classes (no combinations):
Invoker This character type harvests powerful magic to destroy and/or manipulate his surroundings or enemies.
Clericon This character type uses magic to heal, strengthen, weaken, banish or bind foes or allies.
Stalker This character type cannot manipulate magic like an invoker, but rather, has mastered the art of magic to aid his/her stealth, information gathering, and assassination skills.
Warlord This character type is not proficient in manipulating magic, rather, he/she has mastered the art of hand-to-hand combat, weapon(s) fighting and high armored defense. Warlord's may use magical weapons and armor.


Artifact Weapon:
Powerful artifact weapons are needed to defeat all opposing rival forces and to destroy the awakening machines. Your character must wield a single artifact or a pair of similar artifacts (two scimitars, two daggers etc). Artifacts must possess one of these following magical energy types (no combinations, example, no Fire/lava + Vegetation):
Fire/lava
Water/Ice
Air/Lightning
Earth/Rock
Vegetation
Darkness/void
Light/Holy
Summoning

Special notes: If you choose to give your character two similar artifacts, you can only have one magical power type. Example, you cannot have one ice dagger and one fire dagger. They must both use fire or both use ice.


Insignia and Colors:
Your character must possess your team's colors and/or your team's insignia (if your team has one). If you don't have the colors or the insignia located somewhere on your character, your entry will not make it into the top 50. Please represent your team properly. This is a team event so make your team proud!

Allright, so now theres some context to this whole thing, what are the deliverables for the 2D category?

The Deliverables:
A final illustrated concept of your glorious Dominance War III Character. You can use any 2d software package and/or any traditional mediums like acrylics, color pencils, and oil paints to create this image.
A black & white or single color (example light to dark blue etc) modeling sheet that shows at least 3 angles of your character. Choices include: Front, right, left, perspective, closeup(s), and/or back view.
A minimum of 6 black & white or single color (example light to dark blue etc) initial rough draft thumbnail sketches.

Restrictions:
No vehicles allowed.
Your character cannot possess digital technology. A simple pistol is allowed, but a laser gun with circuitry is not allowed.
Organic living pets and steeds are allowed.
No Teams or groups. Everything must be made by 1 person.
All sketches, ideas, concepts, models, 3d meshes etc must be made specifically for this competition.
Keep gore and nudity to a decent level please!
Artists wishing to enter 3d and concept art categories must create a new idea for each category. No 3d entry and concept entry can look the same.
Creating a forum thread and showing your work in progress is mandatory. Entries submitted without showing their work in progress will be disqualified. Entries who keep their work a secret until the last few days can potentially be disqualified.

Okay, so now that you got the facts, heres how this will work. The forum Ive chosen to represent is EATPOOO (yes, I know), and that means that Ive either have to place their logo somewhere on the character, or represent my forums colors in some way (grayu and green).

Im gonna post all the work Ive done so far and explain my process. Either by updating this OP or by making new replies with updates as I go while updating the OP. Lets get started and please, I could use all the feedback you can give me, its OK if you hate it, I dont mind

Also, heres my official WIP page

Raging Spaniard's submission, Ashur the Warlord:

Ashur is one of the Mesopotamian Gods of War. I figured this would be a pretty original approach, separated from the usual European Medieval or standard Feng Zhu fantasy stuff (World of Warcraft too) However my first sketches did not ressemble any of this:

As soon as I posted this, this guy Mitch on the forums gave me a good beat down and explained the approach he thinks I should take

The ancient near East had a very distinctive style of clothing that was more similar to a cross between Ancient Greek/Roman and Ancient Egyptian, which makes sense considering it's geographically between. they generally wore long pleated or draped skirts that tied around the waist or around the shoulders like a toga, wrapped bindings around the chest, arms and legs (or no shirts and shoes at all), wore lots of braces, earrings and necklaces, and had highly elaborate helmets and long braided and beaded hair and beards

Ashur is generally pictured as a naked dude with 4 wings and an eagles head, I knew that I wanted to base my design on Mesopotamia influences and just give some hints of the Mythical God, so I tried some stuff that had some to do with the reference, I also played with the idea of making Ashur a female some more

I quite liked this approach but, to be honest. This character did not resemble a God of War very much, also I dug up some more reference and went a bit more classic with my approach. This following design dictates the direction I will be moving on, but it still looks too ancient, and doesn't fit the contests criteria well enough

For the hell of it I also did something completely different again, just to see if my new approach was effective. I like this design a lot, but I don't think it will make my entry a winning entry

Gathered some feedback and decided that the Mesopotamian reference was a winner. Its different and I honestly think it separates itself from the pack. I went back yesterday and re-did the design, putting some more post -apoc elements and modernizing the look ever so slightly. Pencils and colors:

Aaand this is the point I am at right now. I think I'm on the right path to at least making a pretty cool piece, but if you guys help I am sure that it'll push me over the edge, in a good way of course. Ill probably be doing some close-up studies today, see where they lead. Please feel free to leave as much hate and/or feedback as possible, thank you!

 

[Solaros]

Very good ideas and I like the direction you are taking it. I am no artist but the elements of art that I respect most are as follows: the eyes of a warlord should look /very/ intense , how they hold themselves (very proud and upright stance as opposed to a collapsed stance like an assassin), and the clothing that they wear has a great influence on how the character is seen.

I would look into color psychology to get some ideas for colors.

Your weapon choice seems too expected. Perhaps giant piercers that are long and skinny. I am not sure what makes an original weapon, but what I already stated means the most to me.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

Good thoughts, I agree! Im struggling with the weapon now myself, I want something that makes sense, but that isnt too traditional either. Lack of technology also killed some of my initial ideas (some hybrid elemental gunblade thingee might work though)

Thanks!

 

[Raging Spaniard]

Aaaallright, so far not much of a response, thats OK though, Ill keep updating regardless

Decided to go with the last design, so now I have to make an illustration that will be the main draw of all this. I didn't want to do something generic or boring since one of the good things about my art is that my characters are usually in an interesting pose. Heres a collage of some roughs I threw together, my favorite is the one on the lower right, so I'm probably gonna go with that.

 

[eudaemonic]

Oh man... I just noticed this thread for the first time and I wish you the best. I'd join but all I'd end up doing is drawing a cute bunny who can summon zombie carrots and that's not part of the rules. *chuckles*

Anyways, to note on yours... he seems very heavy to one side. Mind you, I have personal issues when it comes to balancing characters but I thought I would mention it if you have been on the fence about it.

Oh, and what is on his chest? Cause right now, it looks like a rug to me. Or wallpaper. Not quite sure. I think you need to define that more.

I like the glove but have you determined what energy type it is going to have? That might affect his overall look. Right now I feel fire but that has more to do with the big red stripe in the back.

What has your team been up to? How have they defined "Post-apocalyptic futuristic fantasy "? Are there good ideas that work with your dood? I think checking out their stuff will be very benificial for you too - make sure to keep that in mind. *nodnod*

Otherwise, I like it. You still have time so don't be afraid to play around with things and change them. If you don't like it, you have your original file. I also think showing off different things you have tried and did not work is impressive. It also helps you learn what would work and not work with that type of character. Always good to experience.

Keep it up and if you don't hear from me on your next update, send me a PM to remind me if you want to hear me babble some more about your stuff.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

UPDATE

I ended up ditching that layout I said I was gonna use. I started the drawing and ... well he really looked like he was ready to get molested from behind, so I scratched that whole thing.

Finally found a layout that I was happy with though, and I got started on the Winning Pose illustration, heres what I got so far