my suggestions for this piece are, lengthen the legs, lose the one baggy sleeve, shrink giant crotch protuberance, and try to come up with reasons for various parts of the costume rather then just because they look interesting. An example would be the thing on his shoulder. Whats that?
I dunno, looks pretty cool to me. but I guess I don't know Ninjas' other work well enough to judge in that respect. I agree that the legs seem a bit too short, and I'm getting a bit thrown-off by the gasmasky protrusion from his chin - a bit like an egyptian death mask...?
the three-punch holes in the armor are very sephiroth...
also, who knows if this was intended, but does anyone else think the ironic contrast between the "giant crotch protuberance" and the shortness of the blade (is that a wakizashi? or what) is totally hilarious?
I like the narrowness of the color palette, the more I look at it. would be fun to see where you take it.
Okay, the things on his knees and shoulders are zero-g pods, salvaged from UFOs in the 50's. I was really trying to come up with a "orginal" look, but failed.
[edit]
I think all these comments are totally valid, except for the cock pod. The cock pod is the bomb!
Noritsune, he had a kick-ass War General, should check it out.
a direct link to the concept Here - Ninjas, hope you don't mind. This is the image it was reminding me of... similar classic heroic pose [which I still can't do ]
As far as design goes, yes the codpod rocks all sorts of dimensions, both space-time and physical. I actually like his one baggy-clothed arm, and the shoulder-mounted sheath. not seen that before.
Yeah, I actually think the shouldermounted sheath is an awesome idea, if it was incorporated into the costume in a more natural way ... right now it just looks kinda like a regular sheath, just balancing there.
He does indeed have a giant codpiece
Agreed with previously mentioned crits - there are some nice original areas, but the samey pose and the harsh black shading are bringing it down IMHO.
good comments MoP and everyone. don't get too down on yourself, there's a lot of good stuff here ninjas. but if you really want it to pop, or be as thorough an investigation of new forms as you would like it to be, you're gonna have to resist the same old fallbacks we all do it to some degree. you just need to catch yourself before you turn on the autopilot.
main offender: the facemask. your general had a mask that covered the lower half of his face, this guy has a mask covering the lower half of his face, even your friggin' avatar has a mask covering the lower half of his face! his hair is pretty much the same as your general, too. this guy is undeniably a badass, but you may need to add a few more entries to your definition of badass, as it seems a little narrow. i'm digging the color, playing with stuff like the baggy sleeve, etc. as mentioned, the shoulder-sheath is ace, elaborate on that.
if those pod-things are salvaged from a UFO, why don't we have any visual indications that this is so? nothing of his kit says "50's UFO salvage". not that you have to stick with that backstory, but you know... corroborating your designs more faithfully with the backstory is one way to nail down squirmy little issues.
noritsune comments that the three hole punch motif if very "sephiroth", but you and i know better. it's just lazy, lazy design and you know it most commonly abused in anime, but there are plenty of western designers who abuse it and similar details. it looks cool, but it's usually a cop-out, a prime example of brain-on-autopilot behavior. snap out of it, docta jones!
the codpod is totally rocking it. i suggest a re-try on this character where you just completely erase the head. no spikey hair or ninja facemasks allowed this time... try playing up some sort of helmet design that complements the bulbous aesthetic that's going on with the cod and shoulders. the thing coming off the facemask does tie into it... but it looks too much like a gasmask. and we all know gasmasks are in like the top 5 of lazy design offenses.
this guy has got the makings of a really, really cool character, you've just got to take him back to the tailor for a few alterations. ooh, and while you're at it, i'd really like to see you investigate rendering different materials. that Q4 shub character design you made, the general, and now this guy all seem to be encased in military metal/plastic stuff, mostly plastic in terms of material "read". try playing around with different spec levels, or just different materials altogether... one of my favorite things to play around with is drawing robots built out of nonstandard robot materials, like wood. no, i'm not saying this guy needs some wacky varnished wood codpod, but you could try different materials, or at least stuff with different textures or spec/reflectivity levels.
and let's face it, this guy would look pretty awesome in spandex, too.
Thanks for the direction guys! I now want to try and do a complete redo of this character, so expect to see that some time in the future. Until then, I took some of the earlier crits and was practicing a bit with this guy.
what, no comments yet? some people need to be dragged out of GD if you ask me...
well, you sure tackled this head-on, didn't you? he's an interesting enough looking character, executed from a very difficult angle. i think i've attempted drawing a character from that angle all of 3 times in my entire life; one of those attempts ended up in a short hospital stay. very interesting mix of warm and cool colors on that one... looking forward to your next update.
Thanks for the response! I still think the perspective is a bit off. I feel like I need to change the shading on the near foot and adjust the position of the back foot. Even with that, this is my best attempt at this perspective.
Hey Gauss, I have been trying to come up with something original seeming. Do you block in the silhouette first? How many of those do you do before you settle in?
I think that I need to spend a lot more time working on the face... I think it is one of my weakest areas and one of the most important in defining the character.
Here is a project I just finished... thought I would pimp it, but I don't think it needs it's own thread.
Wow, very nice stuff Ninjas. On the second ninja post there the perspective is awesome, but there is one thing that stands out to me a bit... his fist seems kinda tiny. I'm not sure, it might be just me, but it seems a bit small in proportion to the rest of him. Other than that, I love the concept.
And the Numenor thing is awesome by the way! What's it for?
Ninjas: i take a couple of different approaches to getting a character started, and i think the key to keeping it fresh is always be adding more tools to the toolbox, and reaching back in for a new one, you know? i'm really bad most of the time about doing more thumbnailing before i get carried off, which is a bad habit of mine. thumbnailing to explore interesting shapes/poses/silhouettes is always a good idea, as are doing silhouette studies. kite's Beef mech from the dominance war came through silhouette studies, and it shows. it's one of the best and most iconic designs i've seen in a while.
so i guess you should probably go with whatever you don't normally do enough of. maybe some thumbnailing, maybe some random-seed type generation, a la Andrew Jones or Sparth. that is to say, getting a "source" image, manipulating it in abstract ways, chopping and dicing and flipping and whatever, then seeing if you see anything and work from that. some of my favorite concept tags have been executed in that manner.
look at how much detail you gave the metal (on awesome perspective guy) and how little for the rest. i know it's fun to 'scrap off' the corners of the metal, but should't his head get a little more?
you probably moved on to something new by now, so pay attention to how small you get with your brushes, prematurely or just where it's not needed.
oh and in both pieces I think you might want to try planting his feet more properly into the ground, the perspective of the cracks/shadow in both pieces throws me off. it's a final, delicate touch, but I beilieve it's good to get it done just right.
good stuff, man. i really dig the reserved color palette, the artificial muscle type shoulder rig things going on, and the light touch you've brough to rendering out the details on the figure. it's a busy design, but it all comes off pretty clearly, nice work.
only oversight i think is that he looks like he's about to fall over. i know this is coming from the guy that draws all of his characters as way too stiff and nearly immobile, instead of more dynamic, but the net effect on this guy is one of unbalance, instead of readying for a ninja strike!
just as a side point, do you mirror horizontally often when you're working on a piece? one of ryan church's gnomon dvds really drove that point home and now there's hardly a piece that i work on that i dont mirror several times. this is the kind of pose that you might catch and correct sooner if you mirrored more often (but if you do, then don't pay me any mind ).
all that said, i'm digging his gear and his overall look. i'd like to see more future ninjas executed in this kind of style/color palette.
if i was a ninja, and if i told you the truth, i'd have to kill you, i wouldn't want my swords sheath obscuring my field of view.
the vent things on his hip, i think you went overboard on them, just one would suffice i feel, could make it larger if it doesn't break the silhouette up enough.
all your asymmetric bits, sheath, sword, harness buckle, vent things, are all on one side, and make him look lop sided. and he'd have a hell of a time getting the sword out with his right hand while the sheath is on the right.
looks like the vents might be on the left side too, but they're much flatter and less obvious than those on the right.
the legs as a whole seem over equipped. the upperbody and arms are form-fitting, while the legs are covered in all manner of muscle enhancers, plating, padding, straps and buckles.
I see what you mean about mirroring Gauss. That is an awesome tip!
I'm struggling to find a style that looks good and that isn't based on using the smudge tool. I feel like I'm still living in the 90's with the techniques I've been using. It seems I'm making good progress now though!
Marine, I'll see if I can refine this design to make it a little less busy.
Think about the traits of ninjas; stealth, mobility, speed and deadlyness.
My idea of a super tech ninja would be more along the lines of...
For stealth giving him adaptive camo so its harder to see him. Explosives holodisks for distraction.
For mobility giving him gloves and boots that can grip on to any surface and climb it. Disposable grapling hook tubes that fire off two spikes in opiste directions to make a tow line with the center tube being able to take you along it very fast. This way you can get from one building to the next with out takeing much time.
For speed a body suit that is skin tight with built in artificial muscles that alows him to move faster and gives added strength.
Lastly to keep him as deadly as can be he carys no visable swords. His srords are built in to his suit on his forarms. When released they are twice the length of the forarm. also carried in the forarm are darts.
ok I was going to say a similiar bunch of stuff to marine..
instead I will offer this;
Good work, your definately improving! The characters poses feel a little stiff and perhaps unatural. You might also try to work in more motion <- catching the charcter at the perfect motion to suggest who they are, and or what they do.
since mop posted a link to marko's work I will refer you to that! He uses the characters pose to help guide the eye through the composition
I like some elements of your latest, but as a whole I'm not sure its working for me. He's sort of a G.I.Joe version of a ninja... that is, he's only a ninja because he has a sword and a covered face. Still cool as shit, though.
My favorite still has to be the first in this thread. I'd really like to see that design developed further. Lots of neat elements in it, and deserves some more love.
Nice work man. Although the latest one seems to have a lot of cool ideas, that just dont seem to mesh well together. I love
the, "and it absolutely requires ninjas..." someone should use that in an ad campaign.
check out your rendering on the last one - you've got the most layers of color on the shoulder fibers than anywhere else, which makes it a focal point for me. was that your intention?
imo the face should get the maximum detail, with just a few key elements in the design that get extra definition where the light hits them. this also helps controlling where the eye goes
i'd like see some brush strokes going along the form, to push volume. some of the highlights are too 'edgey' and don't reflect the bigger forms at all (or i'm just not seeing it)
i like the boot/knee design, it's well done, although i must say the general design is pretty clumsy for a (future) ninja. maybe you need to focus your efforts on just a few things with each piece, if it's design you're after show it and let us know so people can critic it specifically. right now the concept part seems pretty poor
Sectaurs: I do like the stretching. Maybe not so much, but I see what you're getting at.
Shotgun: I have been doing face studies recently, but you are probably right, I need to do something with the head and mask.
I was wondering is you could elabortae on this a little:
[ QUOTE ]
maybe you need to focus your efforts on just a few things with each piece, if it's design you're after show it and let us know so people can critic it specifically. right now the concept part seems pretty poor
[/ QUOTE ]
Are you saying that I should break-out and show designs for specific parts? I am very much trying to make this a "good concept", so any tips on the process/what things you think suck would be much appreciated.
as for the heads - that's good but as you demonstrate yourself the anatomy isn't as important as having a form to whatever you create, and you do it well. better anatomy deffinitely helps, but that's not what i meant..
the mask/head has a solid form for what it is, it just isn't as detailed as the shoulder fibers. it doesnt get as many layers of light laid on top of it, and as a natural focal point it dereves more. i think this is what i said earlier on this thread (page1), watch where you put your detail and don't get carried away with excessive rendering on just one area cuz it looks cool.. look at how it effects the image as a whole.
keep your swatches tight, or as tight as you feel you can handle them, and put each color (=layer of light) where it belongs. when u add too many at one place u'll have a hard time matching it on another, so just try to keep it tight. that shoulder is too 'dirty', too many colors.
what i was saying design wise is that it's not clear to me what you are focusing here: concept design? rendering? perspective? composition as a whole image? so it's hard to focus the critic, and everyone tell you fix this fix that. but what did you really work on here? what were you trying to push? which skill to improve..
i gather it's concept, so i'll say that your character doesn't look to me like a future ninja. i would imagine something slick, very mobile, silent, stealthy.. you know, ninja
and in the future naturally everything is (artificually) enhanced, stealthy-armor-muscle-suit comes to mind, maybe some new black no-specular material that acts and looks like human muscle fibers (such as the one you painted), or something else which sticks to the definition of a ninja. armor stuff is very generic, and works Againts the ninjas concept. what ninja looks shiny and colorful, and has unorganic costume? it just doesn't work, and in concept design things have to work to a certain extent, at least to where they don't work againts what you are opting for.
what's going on with the belt? what are those shapes? they don't read as strong abstract shapes or objects to me.. some energy grenades? 1, 2, 3, make it clear those are energy grenades, not just some scribble to make some "cool belt stuff". i've never seen a ninja with such a heavy waist belt, or even a metal armor around his knee (as cool as it does look)
try starting your design with strongabstract shapes, and from there go in and sculpt it. try big forms to small forms. this process is unified regardless of scale, and keeps the design reading solid from any distance (you can see my process on the dmt bobo thing). maybe it will work for you
i personally like to feel the character and it's style, it's attitude, and try and put it into linework. the abstract shapes are carried on the linework that reflects the personality of the character, and in this case very fluid and organic lines. metal and straight lines=no
Shotgun: Ah, thanks. Yes, I think it will help. I'm not really focusing on one area -- I regonize I have a lot of areas I can improve on, or you can think of me as focusing on many different areas at once (which may be a mistake).
SperOstrich: I think it is probably the blue/purple shadows that give it that feel. I kind of like it too. I may do more like that in the future
I liked the first concept you did, but it did carry a lot of the style from your dominance war entry. Then was suprised with the second concept you did. I was like... WHOA! I LIKE IT!
Then lurking in the shadows, flying through the air, out came this totally bad ass looking future ninja! Which definately takes the cake.
I agree with what you were saying about using another technique that don't involve the smudge tool, its all I seem to use.
I dont know if anyone asked this, because I was just skimming through this thread. But what's this mod you had in mind?
I have had this idea of doing a mod for UT for ages. It's mostly just a couple of gameplay concepts, but I figure I can do some cool looking ninja, and a few map items and maybe make a mod. I'm not sure yet if I can pull it off, but I hope so. In short, a FPS ninja combat mod.
great lighting man, I dig. Something looks a wee bit odd to me with his right hand, as if we can see too much of his fingers for that angle. Great stuff though!
This last one is such a great painting. I don't understand how your textures never come out at this level? It's like you stop using your painting knowledge entirely when doing the model and texture. If you could get this level of dynamic proportions, color, and rendering in your final 3d product, it'd be amazing.
I'm really digging the color scheme and volume, as well as the action.
DUDE. Those are some badass cyberpunk ninjas! But with those huge external muscles, I would give him a much bigger weapon, his current small sword is .... underwhelming, at least when compared to the character.
I'm glad you guys liked this as much as I did. Thanks for all the great crits everybody!
Rooster: I think you are absolutely right about the hand. I'm going to see about fixing that right now.
Poop: I'm not exactly sure why my 3D stuff is never as good as my painting. I find it very hard to bring stuff into 3D without cutting corners and screwing it up. For the Dom. War challenge I was really trying to get a grip on normal maps, and shader set-up. I hope in the future I'll be able to tighten up my 3D/Textures.
Ebagg: It's probably a good idea to work on the weapons a bit more. It would be cool to have him with a giant spec-ops katana.
I really appreciate the help I have gotten on this. It's been slow, but I feel I really took the time I needed to work on the design problems. Thanks again guys!
Replies
the three-punch holes in the armor are very sephiroth...
also, who knows if this was intended, but does anyone else think the ironic contrast between the "giant crotch protuberance" and the shortness of the blade (is that a wakizashi? or what) is totally hilarious?
I like the narrowness of the color palette, the more I look at it. would be fun to see where you take it.
[edit]
I think all these comments are totally valid, except for the cock pod. The cock pod is the bomb!
a direct link to the concept Here - Ninjas, hope you don't mind. This is the image it was reminding me of... similar classic heroic pose [which I still can't do
As far as design goes, yes the codpod rocks all sorts of dimensions, both space-time and physical. I actually like his one baggy-clothed arm, and the shoulder-mounted sheath. not seen that before.
He does indeed have a giant codpiece
Agreed with previously mentioned crits - there are some nice original areas, but the samey pose and the harsh black shading are bringing it down IMHO.
main offender: the facemask. your general had a mask that covered the lower half of his face, this guy has a mask covering the lower half of his face, even your friggin' avatar has a mask covering the lower half of his face!
if those pod-things are salvaged from a UFO, why don't we have any visual indications that this is so? nothing of his kit says "50's UFO salvage". not that you have to stick with that backstory, but you know... corroborating your designs more faithfully with the backstory is one way to nail down squirmy little issues.
noritsune comments that the three hole punch motif if very "sephiroth", but you and i know better. it's just lazy, lazy design and you know it
the codpod is totally rocking it. i suggest a re-try on this character where you just completely erase the head. no spikey hair or ninja facemasks allowed this time... try playing up some sort of helmet design that complements the bulbous aesthetic that's going on with the cod and shoulders. the thing coming off the facemask does tie into it... but it looks too much like a gasmask. and we all know gasmasks are in like the top 5 of lazy design offenses.
this guy has got the makings of a really, really cool character, you've just got to take him back to the tailor for a few alterations. ooh, and while you're at it, i'd really like to see you investigate rendering different materials. that Q4 shub character design you made, the general, and now this guy all seem to be encased in military metal/plastic stuff, mostly plastic in terms of material "read". try playing around with different spec levels, or just different materials altogether... one of my favorite things to play around with is drawing robots built out of nonstandard robot materials, like wood. no, i'm not saying this guy needs some wacky varnished wood codpod, but you could try different materials, or at least stuff with different textures or spec/reflectivity levels.
and let's face it, this guy would look pretty awesome in spandex, too.
Ha ha! Awesome spandex quote Gauss!
well, you sure tackled this head-on, didn't you? he's an interesting enough looking character, executed from a very difficult angle. i think i've attempted drawing a character from that angle all of 3 times in my entire life; one of those attempts ended up in a short hospital stay. very interesting mix of warm and cool colors on that one... looking forward to your next update.
Hey Gauss, I have been trying to come up with something original seeming. Do you block in the silhouette first? How many of those do you do before you settle in?
I think that I need to spend a lot more time working on the face... I think it is one of my weakest areas and one of the most important in defining the character.
Here is a project I just finished... thought I would pimp it, but I don't think it needs it's own thread.
Image
And the Numenor thing is awesome by the way! What's it for?
Numenor is going to be a follow up to the One Ring's LOTR fan film of the year for 2006, Sons of Elrond!
You can check it out here , along with a new "making of" feature, and another little animation I did for a company called Eyespy.
so i guess you should probably go with whatever you don't normally do enough of. maybe some thumbnailing, maybe some random-seed type generation, a la Andrew Jones or Sparth. that is to say, getting a "source" image, manipulating it in abstract ways, chopping and dicing and flipping and whatever, then seeing if you see anything and work from that. some of my favorite concept tags have been executed in that manner.
good work.
look at how much detail you gave the metal (on awesome perspective guy) and how little for the rest. i know it's fun to 'scrap off' the corners of the metal, but should't his head get a little more?
you probably moved on to something new by now, so pay attention to how small you get with your brushes, prematurely or just where it's not needed.
oh and in both pieces I think you might want to try planting his feet more properly into the ground, the perspective of the cracks/shadow in both pieces throws me off. it's a final, delicate touch, but I beilieve it's good to get it done just right.
Thanks for the paintover Hawken. Now it's clear what the original version was missing!
only oversight i think is that he looks like he's about to fall over. i know this is coming from the guy that draws all of his characters as way too stiff and nearly immobile, instead of more dynamic, but the net effect on this guy is one of unbalance, instead of readying for a ninja strike!
just as a side point, do you mirror horizontally often when you're working on a piece? one of ryan church's gnomon dvds really drove that point home and now there's hardly a piece that i work on that i dont mirror several times. this is the kind of pose that you might catch and correct sooner if you mirrored more often (but if you do, then don't pay me any mind
all that said, i'm digging his gear and his overall look. i'd like to see more future ninjas executed in this kind of style/color palette.
the vent things on his hip, i think you went overboard on them, just one would suffice i feel, could make it larger if it doesn't break the silhouette up enough.
all your asymmetric bits, sheath, sword, harness buckle, vent things, are all on one side, and make him look lop sided. and he'd have a hell of a time getting the sword out with his right hand while the sheath is on the right.
looks like the vents might be on the left side too, but they're much flatter and less obvious than those on the right.
the legs as a whole seem over equipped. the upperbody and arms are form-fitting, while the legs are covered in all manner of muscle enhancers, plating, padding, straps and buckles.
I see what you mean about mirroring Gauss. That is an awesome tip!
I'm struggling to find a style that looks good and that isn't based on using the smudge tool. I feel like I'm still living in the 90's with the techniques I've been using. It seems I'm making good progress now though!
Marine, I'll see if I can refine this design to make it a little less busy.
Think about the traits of ninjas; stealth, mobility, speed and deadlyness.
My idea of a super tech ninja would be more along the lines of...
For stealth giving him adaptive camo so its harder to see him. Explosives holodisks for distraction.
For mobility giving him gloves and boots that can grip on to any surface and climb it. Disposable grapling hook tubes that fire off two spikes in opiste directions to make a tow line with the center tube being able to take you along it very fast. This way you can get from one building to the next with out takeing much time.
For speed a body suit that is skin tight with built in artificial muscles that alows him to move faster and gives added strength.
Lastly to keep him as deadly as can be he carys no visable swords. His srords are built in to his suit on his forarms. When released they are twice the length of the forarm. also carried in the forarm are darts.
ok that all i can think of rite now.
instead I will offer this;
Good work, your definately improving! The characters poses feel a little stiff and perhaps unatural. You might also try to work in more motion <- catching the charcter at the perfect motion to suggest who they are, and or what they do.
since mop posted a link to marko's work I will refer you to that! He uses the characters pose to help guide the eye through the composition
Go go!!
Nice work to you too, Ninjas. While I'm hardly in any position to critique 2d work, the last image really strikes me as a good, solid design.
My favorite still has to be the first in this thread. I'd really like to see that design developed further. Lots of neat elements in it, and deserves some more love.
the, "and it absolutely requires ninjas..." someone should use that in an ad campaign.
And following in Gauss' theology... thank you.
I uploaded an updated version of the last concept.
He's still a bit chunky, in my opinion... I prefer my ninjas more along the lines of:
check out your rendering on the last one - you've got the most layers of color on the shoulder fibers than anywhere else, which makes it a focal point for me. was that your intention?
imo the face should get the maximum detail, with just a few key elements in the design that get extra definition where the light hits them. this also helps controlling where the eye goes
i'd like see some brush strokes going along the form, to push volume. some of the highlights are too 'edgey' and don't reflect the bigger forms at all (or i'm just not seeing it)
i like the boot/knee design, it's well done, although i must say the general design is pretty clumsy for a (future) ninja. maybe you need to focus your efforts on just a few things with each piece, if it's design you're after show it and let us know so people can critic it specifically. right now the concept part seems pretty poor
Sectaurs: I do like the stretching. Maybe not so much, but I see what you're getting at.
Shotgun: I have been doing face studies recently, but you are probably right, I need to do something with the head and mask.
I was wondering is you could elabortae on this a little:
[ QUOTE ]
maybe you need to focus your efforts on just a few things with each piece, if it's design you're after show it and let us know so people can critic it specifically. right now the concept part seems pretty poor
[/ QUOTE ]
Are you saying that I should break-out and show designs for specific parts? I am very much trying to make this a "good concept", so any tips on the process/what things you think suck would be much appreciated.
the mask/head has a solid form for what it is, it just isn't as detailed as the shoulder fibers. it doesnt get as many layers of light laid on top of it, and as a natural focal point it dereves more. i think this is what i said earlier on this thread (page1), watch where you put your detail and don't get carried away with excessive rendering on just one area cuz it looks cool.. look at how it effects the image as a whole.
keep your swatches tight, or as tight as you feel you can handle them, and put each color (=layer of light) where it belongs. when u add too many at one place u'll have a hard time matching it on another, so just try to keep it tight. that shoulder is too 'dirty', too many colors.
what i was saying design wise is that it's not clear to me what you are focusing here: concept design? rendering? perspective? composition as a whole image? so it's hard to focus the critic, and everyone tell you fix this fix that. but what did you really work on here? what were you trying to push? which skill to improve..
i gather it's concept, so i'll say that your character doesn't look to me like a future ninja. i would imagine something slick, very mobile, silent, stealthy.. you know, ninja
and in the future naturally everything is (artificually) enhanced, stealthy-armor-muscle-suit comes to mind, maybe some new black no-specular material that acts and looks like human muscle fibers (such as the one you painted), or something else which sticks to the definition of a ninja. armor stuff is very generic, and works Againts the ninjas concept. what ninja looks shiny and colorful, and has unorganic costume? it just doesn't work, and in concept design things have to work to a certain extent, at least to where they don't work againts what you are opting for.
what's going on with the belt? what are those shapes? they don't read as strong abstract shapes or objects to me.. some energy grenades? 1, 2, 3, make it clear those are energy grenades, not just some scribble to make some "cool belt stuff". i've never seen a ninja with such a heavy waist belt, or even a metal armor around his knee (as cool as it does look)
try starting your design with strongabstract shapes, and from there go in and sculpt it. try big forms to small forms. this process is unified regardless of scale, and keeps the design reading solid from any distance (you can see my process on the dmt bobo thing). maybe it will work for you
i personally like to feel the character and it's style, it's attitude, and try and put it into linework. the abstract shapes are carried on the linework that reflects the personality of the character, and in this case very fluid and organic lines. metal and straight lines=no
hope this helps
SperOstrich: I think it is probably the blue/purple shadows that give it that feel. I kind of like it too. I may do more like that in the future
Then lurking in the shadows, flying through the air, out came this totally bad ass looking future ninja! Which definately takes the cake.
I agree with what you were saying about using another technique that don't involve the smudge tool, its all I seem to use.
I dont know if anyone asked this, because I was just skimming through this thread. But what's this mod you had in mind?
-caseyjones
I have had this idea of doing a mod for UT for ages. It's mostly just a couple of gameplay concepts, but I figure I can do some cool looking ninja, and a few map items and maybe make a mod. I'm not sure yet if I can pull it off, but I hope so. In short, a FPS ninja combat mod.
Here is back for a little smudge tool action:
[edit]
New version:
Old Version
I'm really digging the color scheme and volume, as well as the action.
Rooster: I think you are absolutely right about the hand. I'm going to see about fixing that right now.
Poop: I'm not exactly sure why my 3D stuff is never as good as my painting. I find it very hard to bring stuff into 3D without cutting corners and screwing it up. For the Dom. War challenge I was really trying to get a grip on normal maps, and shader set-up. I hope in the future I'll be able to tighten up my 3D/Textures.
Ebagg: It's probably a good idea to work on the weapons a bit more. It would be cool to have him with a giant spec-ops katana.
I really appreciate the help I have gotten on this. It's been slow, but I feel I really took the time I needed to work on the design problems. Thanks again guys!
- BoBo
Agreed with the crit about weapon size.