CHOW #319 :: The Starbound Outlaw

[Havok Reed]

Sweet stuff so far guys.

For a good idea of rugged and mercenary/outlaw type of look, check out the character designs for Borderlands 1 and 2, then apply the ideas into a sci-fi setting. Also, remember, it isn't just the design that makes it good. You have to make the character's attitude, gesture, mood and expression match the theme too! It will tie it all together and make a solid character design.

[Baranha]

These submissions are looking great. Good luck to all.
Here are my submissions, not sure what direction I was gonna go with, but I was thinking of some fat dude that sits in a mechanical hair and maybe he was an ex-military guy who was betrayed and left for dead. I also got your typical "hot chick in spandex" and I also a female with a body guard smoking and her right arm is robotic. not sure about her back story tho. Maybe Later.

[ded]

robotics or spacey

[darklogik]

Man its been forever since I did one of these but I can't pass on this one.

[MasterTroglodyte]

Baranha I can't help you decide. They're all visually appealing thus far. Even your hot spandex girl withstands the cliche by being rendered fairly nicely.

[ded]

update

[Panjo]

BG: War vet turns to a life of crime to pay for surgical implants to restore his lost limbs and utterly disfigured face


progression:
progression2:

hand is going to be ghostly/holographic, other arm is going to be bound to a blade of sorts. face is a new-form visual center.

this is only my 5th digital, so please give me some critiques!

[NickyBeats]

hey guys! great work all around!

heres my character sketch!

[wuzzle]

It seems I don't get any of these ChoWs fulfilled with a finished piece.

But I try none the less. It's all training, eh?

[NickyBeats]

little update

[ded]

update

[wuzzle]

update: another WIP

[Rostas]

Here are some concepts for this challenge . I may get to it soon or I may not. Anyways good luck everyone.

Some of them don't fit the criteria but I rushed some a bit.

[Havok Reed]

@Panjo: The "hole" in his head is very confusing. I would just draw a messed up face or perhaps half cybernetic (think Kano from mortal kombat). And remember, a war vet isn't what the brief calls for, so don't let the idea of him being a "war vet" influence the design.

@wuzzle:The poll, really, doesn't mean anything. What matter's is if you learn something new and improve. Now.. it's still early, so I am going to tell you this. Stop where you are and make some thumbnails first. Yes, it is boring, but it will help you. The purpose of thumbnails are to be quick to give you an idea of a gesture and then take your gestures and make multiple designs on them. Once you are happy with a combination, THEN go into the real work.

@ded: ok, I see this on a lot of work but I don't know how to describe it or identify what it is that you are doing. There is a colored, "haze" of blue, yellow and maybe another color. It makes it pop out, like if I had those 3D glasses, it would jump off the screen. Some people do it with green/blue and red for skin. What is it that you are doing to create this effect, are they just outlines? Do you use certain colors for different material? Is there an effect meant to occur by doing this?

[NickyBeats]

havok reed - i think you are referring to chromatic abberation. you can get that effect by adjusting the reds, blues, and greens of the image... i forget which adjustment layer it is, but it is like curves. you just push the lines around a bit to achieve this. then toss a noise layer on top of it and play around with it until it is very subtle. i hope that helps at all.

here is another update. still rendering. dont worry im gonna bring his tats back, and push the colors some more.

still lots to do...

[ded]

update again

@havok reed: i perceived it as too much sunlight effect and it adds more 'spacey' and realistic atmosphere to the drawings. i usually use it less but this time i give it more just for experiment

[NickyBeats]

check this out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG6eseP25pk

(easy video on how to create the effect of chromatic abberation)

[darklogik]

3 Quick Roughs of different directions I was playing with. Trying to mix in elements of past eras into each character to give them a more rustic space feel. Still working on the story line more before I share.

Leaning towards the Left Neo-cop Caesar style.

[NickyBeats]

ded - man, that is looking awesome!

[NickyBeats]

darklogic - nice characters man, i would go with the far left one. i think the one you mentioned. yea. that one looks pretty sweet.

[iamdio]

@Panjo: The "hole" in his head is very confusing. I would just draw a messed up face or perhaps half cybernetic (think Kano from mortal kombat). And remember, a war vet isn't what the brief calls for, so don't let the idea of him being a "war vet" influence the design.

@wuzzle:The poll, really, doesn't mean anything. What matter's is if you learn something new and improve. Now.. it's still early, so I am going to tell you this. Stop where you are and make some thumbnails first. Yes, it is boring, but it will help you. The purpose of thumbnails are to be quick to give you an idea of a gesture and then take your gestures and make multiple designs on them. Once you are happy with a combination, THEN go into the real work.

@ded: ok, I see this on a lot of work but I don't know how to describe it or identify what it is that you are doing. There is a colored, "haze" of blue, yellow and maybe another color. It makes it pop out, like if I had those 3D glasses, it would jump off the screen. Some people do it with green/blue and red for skin. What is it that you are doing to create this effect, are they just outlines? Do you use certain colors for different material? Is there an effect meant to occur by doing this?

as far as I know, it called stereoscopic 3D, just duplicate the layer twice, do some level adjustment on each layer, red and blue/green on the other, set layer to overlay/multiply, move each layer to some distance, and voila! well, cmiiw.

[Havok Reed]

sweet thanks guys. I have just learned something new to try out

[IDP]

Quick colour sketch

[Pixeltuner]

you can also move the rgb channels around to create the chromatic thingy effect.

[first0]

lovely work so far ppl! keep it comming

Soo... for my entry i ended up doing some head variations for both instead of just the male^^
My favorite atm is the one on the right for the girl (gasmaskpunkgal). The middle one just doesnt cut it as and outlaw and the one on the left seems to have too much... "status" for lack of a better word.

For the male i guess my fav is topleft atm, but he has some sort of hero theme going for him and i think the ones on the bottom would be better fits for an outlaw/pirate

still not sure what way to go, C&C would be apriciated

[Leoz]

Update:

[C mcgreevy]

hey first0 loving the top left male head very convincing ,
IDP the colours and body position are nice would be grate to see more from his helmat and maybe some reference to some past scrapes he got himself into somewhere but beautiful fist sketch

my first time thumb nailing would love some feed back on which one you prefer they will be in a more dynamic stance when i decide on the character to go for.

[Pixeltuner]

Chromatic schmatic. It's kinda neat, but I don't know. Gives me headaches

[Havok Reed]

Chromatic schmatic. It's kinda neat, but I don't know. Gives me headaches

Yea, it really depends on the colors and how subtle it is. But I agree, in some cases I don't think it works.

Here is what I will try rolling with.

[Spellsword95]

Great entries everyone! Keep it up!

First of all, I don't like that kind of sci-fi with led lights everywhere, chrome glow and geometrically shaped robotic suits. In fact I don't like scifi at all... However, this looks like fun so I'll join with my WIP. I have no idea of what I am doing.

She is a headhunter, elite mercenary for hire. Lost both lower legs in some suicide mission when it went wrong. She survived and glued KICKASS ROBOTIC FLYING LEGS!! in place of lost ones.
Yea, and she has glass helmet and oldschool WW1 handgun... Because it looks cool.