a piece of post-nuclear "art"... //updated twice

Started by skw, Sun 07/08/2005 13:50:32

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skw

Sun 07/08/2005 13:50:32 Last Edit: Tue 09/08/2005 22:47:23 by Xarkh
Hi! Yesterday, when I was feeling not so good and I was just bored, I've started working on some backgrounds for my first game's trailer. This is the only one piece of all the huge intro sequence.

This one (drawn first on paper by an ordinary pencil) is introducing a post-nuclear warrior with a helmet made of human skull and a leather armor on. I cut off the upper part of the picture (quite messy), but there was only something, which I'd call a beret (on the warrior's head) and some destroyed buildings on the background. Ah, for precise: these long black dreadlocks are just an element of the armor.



I was inspired by some cyberpunkish art and, of course, "Fallout" game. It's probably easy to guess why I've placed it here so... if you have a time and a good will, it'd be nice to see some C&C. Regards, Xarkh!
a.k.a. johnnyspade

loominous

#1
Sun 07/08/2005 22:52:39
Some value/color mods:



Upon looking at it the first time I had some trouble distiguishing the foreground subject. To make it pop out more you can lower the contrast in the background and increase the value range in the foreground. Increasing the saturation in the foreground and adding some color contrast will further differentiate it.

I'm personally not very fond of anything post-apocalyptic, but the character looks cool.
Looking for a writer

skw

#2
Mon 08/08/2005 10:23:38
Tack så mycket, loominous! This is exactly what I've been waiting for... and I'm glad you like it.
a.k.a. johnnyspade

Nacho

#3
Mon 08/08/2005 11:24:00
It reminds me to a Star Wars sands marauder, so you might like to change the design a little? Just my two cents...
Are you guys ready? Let' s roll!

skw

#4
Mon 08/08/2005 16:40:50 Last Edit: Mon 08/08/2005 17:33:08 by Xarkh
Quote from: Farlander on Mon 08/08/2005 11:24:00
It reminds me to a Star Wars sands marauder, so you might like to change the design a little? Just my two cents...

Heh, heh... I've never been a fan of SW so I don't really know how the sands marauder looks. :) Do they wear a mask made of human skull, black long dreadlocks and looks like that: [crappy Corsair design]? ;)

I though my design is quite original.
a.k.a. johnnyspade

skw

#6
Tue 09/08/2005 22:40:26 Last Edit: Tue 09/08/2005 22:48:43 by Xarkh
Okay. I've followed loominous' tips and make a small paintover of my sketch. Finally I'm coming with something like this:



I also changed the size of the picture and added some blurring at the background, but don't know if it was a good idea. Generally I'm satisfied from my edit -- now his "face" reminds me a bit of some hound's jaws and looks just creepier.

There's another version (and the one from above, but at the black background): http://www.geocities.com/arcanusmysterii/xarkh/grunt.html

Anyway I'm still curious what do *you* think?
a.k.a. johnnyspade

Ozwalled

#7
Tue 09/08/2005 23:45:14 Last Edit: Wed 10/08/2005 00:14:43 by Ozwalled
Hm. Well, I'm not sure how to improve or anything, but the drawing itself is a bit on the ambiguous side for some reason. I have a hard time telling what I'm looking t really. The grittyness of the style is probably a factor, but I think that maybe better shaping of the skull might help.

For some reason I get the impression more of an animal skull (like a bull's or something, or as you alluded to, perhaps a dog's or wolf's) that's extended toward the screen, but I can't put my finger on why exactly.

And going right along with that, I have a hard time seeing that drawing and the sprite being the same character. My mind's just not linking them up as being one and the same at all.

Actually, the more I think of it, the more I'm seeing some sort of Native shaman or something, wearing a longish flatish animal skull on his head, with bits of feather and possibly fur hanging off it.

BAH! I just decided to go for a do-over instead, and figured that to avoid the pitfalls of not being able to tell the SHAPE of the skulls so well, I went for a partly turned view, much like the sprite.



It wasn't terribly easy to do, mostly because I wasn't sure what all of the parts of the skull helmet were supposed to be... All things considered, it'd have to be BIG too (in order to fit someone else's head) and it doesn't fully look human in the sprite.

Sorry if all of this seemed harsh. Hope that something I said or did here is of some help.

EDIT: ALSO, in regards to the sprite, the helmet is really awkward -- if the helmet's skull eye holes are to be the area wher ethe person sees through, either they're low, or the top of the helmet thing is unusually high.

skw

#8
Wed 10/08/2005 09:50:15 Last Edit: Wed 10/08/2005 15:10:48 by Xarkh
Well, Ozwalled... thank you very much for your time and work, I like it. I'd like to clarify all the things, but it seems that my English isn't pretty clear enough to do that. Anyway, I'll try below. :)

You see, there are some differences between the sprite and the sketch characters. They just doesn't present the same unit. When I've been making a sprite, I was thinking about some navy formation (and I called him a Corsair, beeing precise) and the clear style, characteristic for hi-res games. In turn, the unit from the sketch is an ordinary grunt, man from some infantry regiments. Generally, when I was drawing it I wanted to show a disorder and chaos so I like it as it is and don't want to erase these unnecessary lines.

But there's no point. I'm heading to that I wanted to link those two units by some characteristic item -- and it's a skull helmet in that case. Like a Predator's mask, this one icludes an oxygen tank and some various visors, although I'm thinking of some *extremely* primitive equipment (an absolute absence of electronics, except weaponry). Thus your reminds with a witch-doctor are even correct. These things on the top of helmets are, in order: a beret (huge black thing), transmitter (a white thing) and a symbol of Ø (+ some oxygen systems, as I said before).

You're right, the sprite's helmet isn't too practical, but if you've ever seen Fallout's Advanced Power Armour, you'll find some similarities (it was my *cough* inspiration).

It's good to say at the end, these warriors aren't real people. Even I don't know if they're real humans, animals or what... They come only in the main character's dreams and tell him about the black, post-apocalyptic future. So they can have the most unpractical details when it comes to armoury and weaponry... ;)

Hmm... and that will be probably all, hope you understood at least a part of that gibberish above. ;)
Cheers, Xarkh.
a.k.a. johnnyspade
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