Hey people!
Alrighty, the idea behind this is a member of a dark order of not exactly assasins but warriors. Essentially like the league of shadows from the Dark Knight, so an order devoted to martial arts. Thats why ive got her crouched in a kinda ninja stance, will have the typical two fingers together outstretched hand you see in martial arts, and one weird ass curvy sword (its huge I know, kinda going for a larger-than-life style for this, think final fantasy).
I've only rendered some of it, but I was wondering how far I should go with the standard female armour style (chainmail bikinis.....). I want it to be slightly sexy and feminine but not to look like a bimbo in a costume! She should be deadly but feminine.
Anyways thats my spiel over, tell me what you think of the pose and what i should do with it! Gonna do a kind of asymmetric design with the spaulders, and I'm wondering what colour the cape and mask should be? I want an accent colour to break up the dark purples and blues. Let me know!
Cheers
I'm far from the best person to ask as far as designs go, but my personal preference when it comes to the "feminine but deadly" idea is just to have the armour be form fitting ie it follows the natural curvature of the body, maybe it exagerates it a tad (not a lot, just a tiny bit). Bioware tends to do a really good job at the whole form fitting yet still functional deal with armour. Also, its not armour but Triss Merigold from the witcher 2 (not the first one) is also a nice balance between practicality and attractiveness. Personally i really hate the metal bikini nonsense, its just so useless and honestly doesnt even look that great. You seem to have it going away from that though so i think its good
Also before you get too far into rendering, theres a few things with the anatomy that need some tweaking. For instance, the torso seems quite a bit too long, and the arms and legs seem kinda short. I would maybe extend the legs further into the torso and lengthen the arms. Essentially the elbow should be able to reach near the waist line, a couple inches above it. I understand theres a bit of foreshortening going on here but they still feel too short
before you continue rendering, i suggest you to redraw the pose because the anatomy is off, and thats essential. If the base drawing is wrong, then it doesnt matter how well you render it or how awesome the design is, it wont look good.
Use reference, take a look at some anatomy books, and construct first the figure, then add the armor.
For the design, just avoid dumb things like chestplates with boobholes or stuff like that, you can make a female look sexy without all that lame stuff.
I actually like the scarf she is wearing! why not bright red to complement all that blue and purple?
But if she is a sneaky warrior, ninja style, then you should avoid bright colors, and use black or dark earthly colors, or even camouflage!
It also looks like she is a very agile combatant, maybe with an acrobatic style, if thats the case, then desing an armor light enough to do those acrobatic moves and without any unnecessary ornament that would interfere with her figthting style.
Also thats a very big sword, does she have enough strenght to use a thing like that?
Maybe a shorter, smaller katana like sword would be more appropiate.
Cheers!
@beardley
Yeh I have seen some absolutely ridiculous designs out there, that are stupid enough in themselves but look absolutely terrible when bad artists such as myself do them, so i will steer well away from that. Bioware's designs are awesome I agree.
Triss Merigold is coming up with a lot of boobage for me, not that im complaining! I found a ranger armour suit which is pretty cool though, i see what you mean. So figure accentuating but not too revealing.
Garrr i hoped my anatomy was ok for this :'( I did a lot of sketching.... I thought the arms looked a bit weird, but foreshortening isnt exactly my forte... Will have another go with them, and I'll have a look at the torso thanks!
@eduardo
Meh I had really hoped I'd nailed the pose and anatomy with this one but apparently not :/ Will have another look at it and see what needs adjusting. I did the arm partly from reference but the angle of her torso etc kinda throws off the reference a bit, so I'll scour the net for some good refs.
Yah to be honest the bits i did around her cleavage were mainly just as a form reference for myself,i intend to have her pretty covered up. I was thinking a bright reddy orange for the scarf bit,(its a part of the cloak which is slung over her shoulders) but then I thought exactly that- shes meant to be sneaky, flourescent orange would not help! I think i may go for a dark blood red, and perhaps a dark green or blue/purple cloak.
Yeh you are right about the sword, I was just having a bit of fun with it really i intended to use a katana to begin with. I think i may downscale it a bit and make it narrower. Will keep you updated :)
Many thanks for the advice, much appreciated!
(07-21-2013, 01:01 AM)Ward217 Wrote: @beardley
Yeh I have seen some absolutely ridiculous designs out there, that are stupid enough in themselves but look absolutely terrible when bad artists such as myself do them, so i will steer well away from that. Bioware's designs are awesome I agree.
Triss Merigold is coming up with a lot of boobage for me, not that im complaining! I found a ranger armour suit which is pretty cool though, i see what you mean. So figure accentuating but not too revealing.
Lol i probably should have just linked you a pic of triss. It can be pretty dangerous googling that name
Don't get discouraged about the anatomy in your picture though. Its really just some minor proportions that need fixing. If it helps just do a quick under drawing of basic cylinders and shit to get the proportions and stuff looking alrihgt and then draw the anatomy around them. If you're still at a point where you're not entirely comfortable with anatomy doing those construction thingies can help a ton
here's a rough attempt at fixing the pose and some of the anatomy.
I think you can stretch the legs quite a bit and put more tension on her back leg to show that she's ready to strike (heel will be off the floor, calf will be flexed,... find some reference!)
As for sexier design. I took a bit off her top. It's usually good to pick the upperbody or lowerbody to show more skin, both isn't really classy anymore. Try and show more of the face, cheekbones, eyes, pretty nose etc. It helps sell a sexier picture. (maybe some hair coming out of her hoody)
Anyway spent too much time painting over it already. Hope it helps!
Just keep with the practice mate! Keep drawing until you can see your own mistakes, then correct them and level up! :)
Double think's paintover is already on the right path, yo should keep following that direction with the pose.
But i cant agree with the design, why would an assasin wear that skimpy outfit? to show her enemies how hot she is before they hit some uncovered vital organs? it doesnt make any sense.
Sorry for keeping bitching about this, maybe you just wanted to have some fun haha, but i believe that this kind of consistency is fundamental in a design.
Anyways, i wont bother you anymore with this topic, keep workin and looking forward for an update!
Wow great paintover, will implement that in my design for sure. I love the whole poised look you've achieved here.
I dont know what I'm gonna do with the design, i still want it looking classy but with some elegance as well, so I think i may just go for quite figure hugging clothes and maybe a tiny bit of skin here and there just as a teaser ;)
I dont know how i'll make her look pwetty with a mask, may have it a bit of her scarfy bit pulled up, jst covering some of her face. i dont know, will experiment! Will have some dark red hair coming out of the hoody :D
Cheers!
@beardley
Hm I need to get into the habit of using cylinders, i usually go for a line of action and then build using ovals on there to get the outline. Will give that a go cheers!
Yeh that was the design I saw, very nice and very feminine without being too slutty. Will use that kind of style I think, and incorporate some cloth in mine.
Cheers!
@eduardo
Level up to the maaaax!
Hehe, i really like the pose he did too, its very animated. I do agree with you there (without ganging up!), I think there is a place for that kind of thing but battle isnt it. I'm considering going for a evil goddess illustration soon which may get a bit skimpy (raw power etc) but I think I'll keep it rather modest for this one.
Still great paintover!
No worries, all good points thanks a lot for the comment. Btw cant take my eyes off your profile pic, love it! Kinda have a thing for dark red hair so that may come into it i guess.... heheh.
UPDDAAATTE boom. *explosions and lightening*
@Ward217,
You're making pretty good progress. Changing the blue fabric to red was nice. The purple/red colors really read as dangerous. Where blue/purple can come off as more noble, I think is the general case.
Looking at your posts, I noticed you're working from a very rough drawing. I'm no great painter so in my experience, it REALLY helps to paint over a clearer drawing. No matter how many sketches and redrawing it takes; maybe posing in your mirror or webcam, etc. Any added time in drawing saves time in painting.
I really like the composition you've worked out, but my eye goes from the top left to bottom right where you've painted that boot. This is purely fashion preference, but I don't think it accents your design well in terms of color or shape. I'd like to see it match her scarf, or maybe black leather? But do what you feel is true to your vision.
Hope you find something useful in my crit, good progression so far,
R. Buber
Hey, thanks!
Yeh i thought I'd go with a bit more of a dangerous look rather than refined.
Hm ok I'll give that a go with the other arm- I tend to get the base shapes in and then kinda doodle from there and try out some ideas, but I'll give detailed sketching a go :D
Great point with the boot, its essentially a placeholder at the moment. The idea that I have for it is black metal with horns and bits coming up her leg and a horn at the toe. Think daedric armour from skyrim- that kind of thing.
Will see how it looks and keep you posted, thanks very much for the crit!
