Heavy Metal

[Perihelion]

I also just bought a Wacom (4x5 Graphire4, to be specific), and to test it out, I tried some concept art of the node from my project, Paradigm Shift. I'm not the best artist in the world, but this was pretty fun, even if it took me forever! Anyway, in addition to comments on the art, I'd also like comments on the character design, especially from those of you who've read my CD thread.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v325/ ... node02.jpg[/img]


Anatomy referenced from a photo. Anyway, this cyborg is a member of a collective (basically a network of human minds forming a superintelligence) in my game. She has two main functions: one, acting as a localized server for the collective (her brain is integrated with an extremely sophisticated computer, and the helmet houses a liquid cooling system), and two, performing maintenance/upgrades on other cyborgs in the collective. Her arms have been replaced with segmented flexible things (the joints can probably telescope a bit, making her arms longer), and her robotic hands house sophisticated multitools which can be folded back into fingers. She also has two thumbs per hand, which make it easier to manipulate stuff. Oh, and the things on her head are sensors; they go all the way around and can see in IR and UV spectrums as well. So yeah, that's about it, I guess. Might draw in feet at some point, but I hit the major cyborg enhancements already.

EDIT: Removed weird thing from arm.

 

[Makasu]

How do you people get your lines so clean?!?!?! Either ways Peri [[since I know you're a girl now!]] I do like it. The sorta over-exxagerated [sp?] makes for an interesting sci-fi kinda thing. the one thing I'm not a fan of is the weird extra syringe thingy coming from its hand. Its kind unneeded. Either ways its kinda solid. Colors would be interesting.

 

[Perihelion]

What, you mean the big one coming from the arm? It's supposed to be a drill, which wouldn't fit in a finger.

As for how I got the clean lines, um, it took a while. :x I just went back in with the eraser and smoothed things out after I drew in the lines. I also shrunk it down a bit from the original version, which helped.

 

[Makasu]

The big one? I mean the syringe thingy thats coming out of its right wrist. One of the basic principles of art that you learn is to not add unnessecary things. IE: a goofy facial expression or just that added nothing that really serves no purpose.

 

[Perihelion]

The big one? I mean the syringe thingy thats coming out of its right wrist. One of the basic principles of art that you learn is to not add unnessecary things. IE: a goofy facial expression or just that added nothing that really serves no purpose.

I know, that thing is supposed to be a drill, except it doesn't look like one. (I got lazy. :x) It's kind of extraneous from an artistic perspective, I'll agree, but it serves a character purpose. Like I said, this is concept art, so it's as much about figuring out how the character works as it is making something that looks pretty, and I wanted a drill somewhere. I dunno, maybe I'll figure out a way to add a drill to the other hand instead since I don't really like shit coming out of the arms either.

 

[Perihelion]

But yeah, I agree, I think it would look nicer without it. I think I'll take it out later.

 

[Venetia]

Hey, this is pretty neat so far. Keep going!!!

One thing I do is sketch out the shape/skeleton blocking with a very light red color, then make a new layer over it and do the "inking" (black). Moving slowly, use a finer point in your brush and draw out the outlines of your outlines, then fill them in. You will get a smooth [thick] line much easier this way :3

 

[Perihelion]

That's a good point, Ven. I usually draw skeletons and rough outlines, but going farther with it before going in with a dark brush would make my life easier.

I'm actually undecided on whether I want to go farther with this. I might try coloring it, but I think I wouldn't do so with outlines, so I might just leave it black and white. I could finish the feet, but the pose is kind of weird.

 

[Makasu]

The pose is kinda stiff. But thats fine for the most part. Don't get to caught up on one drawng y'know? Just put it aside for now work on something else and come back at a later day and age.

@V: whats a finger point brush?

 

[Venetia]

finer point not finger point :x

like, a small pt, such as 2-6.

 

[Makasu]

Lol oh I misread it. Hahah. Man that sure must seem like it takes a long time. Just paint over your original lines. Thats what I learned when I was painting. Which is why my stuff has a more painter-ish kinda look rather than well I don't know. Other peoples look.

 

[Mikee]

Hey, Peri.  What sort of color scheme would this be in?  Just trying to picture your game's theme a bit better.

 

[Perihelion]

@Makasu: Yeah, I'd probably do that, but I dunno, I don't really wanna color it just now. :x Seems like an ambitious thing to do for my first tablet coloring project; I'd rather do something from a photo first. The metal especially would be a bitch.

@Mikee: Not sure, actually. :x Probably lots of metallic blues.

 

[Espixa]

I definitely like the head on this, but the arms seem sorta wavy or tentacle-like, unless thats what you were going for in which case good job!