Team Chow II :: Tall, Grande and Venti

[daestwen]

You guys are burning up the dance floor, I love it.

Did some sketches to figure out posing for the Good Wood-Elf Thief (the evil version would be the Assassin)... Let me know what you think.

I'm leaning towards the one in the lower left, myself.



edit: thumbnaaaaail

[alive]

hmm, i was thinking upper left, edit- but go for what inspires u most hehe

[daestwen]

Problem with upper left is I have no idea why a thief would have a giant hammer...

edit: Trying to get a little more movement in here...

[yoitisi]

Daestwen: Woooo nice stuff. I also love the upper left thumb you did, but can't think of any reason for a thief to have a hammer like that either I'm afraid The current pose I'm not too sure about to be honest, it feels a little unbalanced. I think for a thief, the lower right pose might work too? It's a bit more sneaky or something. I love those thumbs you did though

Also, wasn't I supposed to do the good version and you the assassin? a_e I'm so confused as I forgot to put up the list properly, my fault. If you want to finish the thief that's okay with me, I'll handle the assassin then

[SunRoamer]

guido: evil lizard, good elf
britt: evil elf, evil warrior
sun: good warrior, good shaman
dished: evil shaman, good lizard

That's the list, I think...

Anyway, I prefer the lower right version as well... :> The current one somewhat seems to be more like a swashbuckler, or something like that. Although I really like her expression!

[DigitalShade]

Yoitisi really digging the lizardmen designs. It would be neat to see a picture of one of those in battle.

[alive]

you could always change the hammer into a katana , katanas are always win material these days heh

[SunRoamer]

Hmm, so I somewhat worked on sketches/some thumbnails (actually it's the same sketch all the time with little changes because of me getting new ideas)

First pic:
Original sketch at 50% with 2 different formats, but I guess I really won't decide that just now :> Also, a clear image of the Vévé I designed for the background, since I didn't want to lose my Voodoo-influence. It's also just a sketch, and actually I'm somewhat clueless. I definitely want it to hint to a protecting/healing spirit, anyway.

Second pic:
Original size, I forgot that I also had a version of the girl with a cape and I wanted to show it.

Third pic:
Original size as well; gave the girl elves' ears (wanted to do it from the beginning, just forgot about it D: She's supposed to come from the same tribe as Britt's elf, if it doesn't show^^ Hope that's okay?) and I added a fog at the bottom. I really like it this way, although the fog could be white as well (I'll just have to experiment a bit, I guess)

Oh, and please don't mind anatomical issues right now, for the real illustrations I'll use lots of reference pics, I promise! Rather, I'd like to hear what you think about the whole sketch itself

@Britt:
His scars somewhat changed sides on his face D: Would be awkward if the good and evil version had the same scars, but on different sides of their faces oO So that simply was a mistake on my part^^ Although it made me think that maybe we could simply remove the scars from the evil characters design. I mean, he was granted a new "arm" by the gods, so why shouldn't they have healed his face? °A ° It's your decision, however

[daestwen]

No worries about the scars, we'll work that out. :] I'll be doing my version after yours is a little further along, and using that as the basis, so don't worry if you want to change stuff, I'll make sure to incorporate it.

As for the rest of the sketch...

We need to lose the girl. Since we're doing character portraits it needs to be clearly a singular character... It's a really great idea but doesn't work for what we want to accomplish. We need the focus entirely on the main character.

As for the rest -

really like the veve, i think we could incorporate that really soothly, like it's drawn in chalk on the wall behind him or carved into something, ect. Right now it's too strong but that's easy to mute down.

two things about his posing:

A) Dooooon't cut off the feet DON'T DO IT. It just looks lazy and adds absolutely nothing to the composition

b) he's feeling too static to me, let's get some movement into him, get him a little less posed.

[SunRoamer]

No worries about the scars, we'll work that out. :] I'll be doing my version after yours is a little further along, and using that as the basis, so don't worry if you want to change stuff, I'll make sure to incorporate it.

Okay :>

As for the rest of the sketch...

We need to lose the girl. Since we're doing character portraits it needs to be clearly a singular character... It's a really great idea but doesn't work for what we want to accomplish. We need the focus entirely on the main character.

[...]

b) he's feeling too static to me, let's get some movement into him, get him a little less posed.

Well, okay, too bad I can't keep the little girl ;( I guess I have to work out something new then... well, good thing is, in that case he'll definitely get some movement :>

As for the rest -

really like the veve, i think we could incorporate that really soothly, like it's drawn in chalk on the wall behind him or carved into something, ect. Right now it's too strong but that's easy to mute down.

[...]

A) Dooooon't cut off the feet DON'T DO IT. It just looks lazy and adds absolutely nothing to the composition

Yep, right now I had already spend enough time on the design, so I simply slapped it behind my character. Didn't want to make a big fuss of the BG yet D:
Okay, so I should not cut off the feet... is putting his feet into a veil of fog and shadows acceptable, then? (guess not <.<)

Oh yeah, what about the new tattoo?

[daestwen]

No, you can't hide the feet in fog Problem with cutting them off like that is that it leads the eye right off the page.

The new tattoo is great! no complaints there!

[yoitisi]

Hey Sunroamer: Yep I agree on Daestwens comments. Basically, not including the feet in whatever fashion is being regarded as being either too lazy to draw them or not being able to draw them, both are worse than biting the bullet and just giving it a try really

I like the new tattoo better btw, though the stump of his arm reads a bit like it's a leather cap strapped on over his chest atm (something I think might work too, here).

[SunRoamer]

Well, okay, thank you xD I have to be careful, it seems D:

For now I'm off to bed, but I'll start on a new sketch right after school tomorrow (so, after 5 pm <.<). And well, after I watched the GuildWars 2 Trailer.
Unless I die of happiness after seeing it, of course @.@

[yoitisi]

Sorry for the lack of updates all of a sudden I need to give my arm and wrist some rest, I've been a little too enthusiastic the past week I suppose. Nothing to worry about, just should take it easy for a bit.

[SunRoamer]

I thought that maybe I should change my style at least for sketches D: Altough I really have to be careful not to get too detailed with these sketches... if I had added the tattoo it'd have been hard to make out anything (like, half his body would have been one black mass)

Moeover, he's somewhat looking really evil right now, due to the heavy contrast and strong shadows, I guess... besides, his expression will change... right now I'm thinking about making him look up, giving him a pensive/sad/tortured expression. Also, I'm currently considering certain symbolic things, like giving him blood-stained hands and such, because of his bloodsoaked past, and also his bloodsoaked present... (mimics are important because of this, too :>)
Maybe his mace will slip from his grip then, as well.
Eh, well, I guess it's better if I explain it later :/

Anyway, for now I simply played around with the format a bit, what I know for sure right now is 1. I don't want the picture to be to "cramped" (version 3) and 2. I don't want the character and the sign simply right in the middle of the picture (version 2)... well, yeah xD

[yoitisi]

Sunroamer: Composition looks a lot better now that the feet are included I'd try and incorporate the big sign into something in the background though, and make it smaller. It really distracts from the character itself right now, which is the most important part of your image. Also, guess the evil-ness comes from all the contrast and black right now (look at them eyes ) but I suppose you're working on that so.

Anyway, managed to get this thing done today. Had to take frequent breaks but my wrist and hand are getting better. I'll move on to the final painting now, think I'm going to use the second concept I did.

[daestwen]

Sunroamer: Much much better though I still think you can push it a bit. Because he doesn't have two arms he comes out very thin, so pulling his arm out to give him more width would be a good idea. I dunno about blood-soaked hands, that would ring pretty evil! I second yoi about the background, but I do think you can use the misty kind of thing that you pulled in. I disagree with him about the size, though. I would actually make it much, much bigger but much much fainter - like an overlay. If I have time I'll do up a quick paint over for you tonight. :] Remember to stick to the width/height ratio in the example pic in the main thread.

Yoitisi: This one's actually my favourite, haha, though maybe not for the evil version. :] I really like the nostril/eye chain and the adorned shawl... Maybe pull some elements into your other design?


Guys, who's around tomorrow? Can we get a quick meeting in?

[daestwen]

Just a quick thing for the face... her face keeps changing.... blah blah blah blah blah.

Also, I'm well aware that the eye on the right is kind of screwed up right now... will fix it!

[Dished]

just did a quick sketch of how im workin her design out for my evil shaman

hope this helps a bit too sunroamer, of course feel free do put your spin on her when you do the good version. Have fun!

[daestwen]

Dished, I love how she has crazy limbs and a zombie face and then PERFECT BEAUTIFUL boobs.

awesome.

[Dished]

hahah! thanks dae! those boobs were hard.... like i put a stroke down,and dohh! it got square,etc.

anyway heres an update on the illo. lemme know what you guys think

i decided to make her arms regular length, i think making em long and gangly..iono didnt fit right lol.

[yoitisi]

Dished: Cool stuff, I like the pose in the last one. I'd crop the image a little more on the right and bottom to focus more on the actual character still. There's lots of empty space there. Also, the boob issue might come from the fact that her nipple is pointing straight at us atm, think having it point a bit more forward and decreasing the contrast boob-ribcage (they're small boobs after all) might help too. Anyway, cool stuff

Here's some thumbs, not sure which one to pick yet. My favourite is nr.1 but it might be a bit too dynamic to fit with what everyone is doing at the moment.

[SunRoamer]

Sunroamer: Much much better though I still think you can push it a bit. Because he doesn't have two arms he comes out very thin, so pulling his arm out to give him more width would be a good idea.

So, you mean he should lift his arm, somewhat extending it to the right part of the image?
And thanks for all the other feedback :> the sign's something I can change anytime, and deciding about things like adding bloodsoaked hands or not can also wait for now. For now, I'll work it out a little bit more, and well, we'll see what happens, I'd say ^^

@dished:
okay, I'll try to have as much fun as possible with her design xD Although, first comes my cleric, because britt is also kind of waiting for my progress on him before she wants to start on his evil version^^ I certainly don't want to be the one slowing her down :>

[SunRoamer]

Okay... he got his arms somewhere else. Is this what you suggested?^^

[Niva.]

Yoitisi that lizard creature is awesome, great job. Cheers!

[daestwen]

Sunroamer: Lookin' good. I think you can probably make him a bit bigger but other than that it's an alright base to work with.

alright, this is it for tonight. left the my damn tablet pen at the other house so can't work anymore tonight. :/

Was thinking about giving her maori-styled tattoos and i think they actually look okay? Here's both versions, let me know what you think.

[daestwen]

Wood-Elves - Aka Razarim (as they call themselves in the northern forest) and the Razadum (those that once populated in the southern forest, now mostly used as slaves or third-class urban citizens)

Once a solitary but friendly people, the wood elves changed dramatically as their territory was encroached upon and their lives lost. The Razarim escaped most of what the wood elves refer to as their genocide - the reach of the Imperial City hadn't extended to their northern forest yet and they were too far to be worth a huge effort until expansion. The Razadum, however, had been trading with humans and other races for several hundred years, and lived much closer to the main contingent of the human population, which unfortunately also made them a much easier target. When the imperliast xenophobia spread, so did the hatred against the wood elves, who were known for keeping many of their secrets from human knowledge. The southern woods were burned to the ground, and the elves captured or slaughtered. Most remain in captivity, though there are a few that have earned their freedom over the last few generations since the burning. (It has been 3 human generations - just about 2 elven generations - since that time.)

The Razarim in the north are known as one of the fiercest pockets of resistance on the whole continent, and harbour refugees and fugitives that are willing to fight for the cause. They have also seeded many resistance cells in human urban areas, often masquerading as Razadum slaves in order to gain access to their targets.

Known for their ability to move quickly and silently, they have been trained and used on both sides as thieves, assassins and spies - for the resistance, they fight for their cause, for the empire, they fight for themselves, greed, or for their family which would be slaughtered on their betrayal.

Though there are many elven slaves, they are considered more precious than some other slave races (like dwarves and mountain orcs) and are often trained as spies (see above), or entertainment (dancers, actors, musicians). Resistance spies often take the guise of dancers or musicians in order to gain closer access to their targets. It is seen as unseemly for a human to have sexual interactions with elves, but there have been many known cases of half-blooded children (shunned by both societies) to the disgrace of both the human and elven parent.

Both the razarim and razadum have traditions of body art, and the tattoos they are granted upon adulthood tell the story of their birth, their family tree, the tribe they belong too, and the legend of the First - the original elf that brought life to the forests. The tattoos work as a sort of instant-communication and have yet to be understood by the xenophobic humans, who even by their loyal elven spies are told that they are merely decorative. Nevertheless, elven spies have been known to change the appearance of their tattoos with make up, or give themselves additional tattoos to obscure their origin.


Other notes: Though there are different races of elves, like the desert elves and the mountain elves, they are actually closer to humans than to the other elven races. Humans refer to many different races of 'elves' though there are actually many species and can't always inter-breed, though most can breed with humans.

[SunRoamer]

You should definitely give her those tattoos! I really love them :>

[SunRoamer]

First colours for the character. It definitely got worse xD Right now it's also looking far too digital, but well, it's just the beginning ^.^ (and I definitely need to turn the head a little bit more back to the viewer, liked that more in the original sketch :<)

[daestwen]

Okay, here's the update....

In black and white since I'm totally not happy with the colour right now.