[FIGHTER] SoulCalibur, Yoshimitsu, Der Hollander

Der Hollander

New art will be going up here as I update, switching from Yoshimitsu to Voldo. Would appreciate a title change if a mod happens to read
Latest Update:
Some proportional changes and more form exploration.




I've switched characters for the competition, but will leave the initial post intact.
I've got some local folk as a stage team, so I thought I'd enter the comp as a skill-building activity. I'm not much in the way of fighting games, but I did play me an ass-ton of Soul Calibur 2 back in the day, so I thought I'd try my hand at my favorite character. I am aware that he is also in the Tekken games, but I'd like to focus on his SC incarnation to give myself some blinders to focus my efforts. So far, I've had less than fantastic luck trying to revamp a character where traditional Japanese motifs are such a large part of the character.

I think I've narrowed down the must-haves to a few things:
Crazy-Ass Headwear
Prosthetic Arm
Back Banner
Katana/equivalent sword type


Here's my brainstorming session thus far:
Yoshimitsu Initial Concepts

MattQ86

Anachronistic Yoshimitsu would be awesome so Samurai Champloo gets my vote.

The_Onomatopoeia

yes champloo or the assassins creed version is my vote in terms of less is more in my opinion.

WillMac

champloo or harlequin/carnival... should be interesting.

Coldrew

My vote's for assassin's creed and forgotten realms, i feel that all your shapes are pretty similar and lacking in any real distinctive character.
You could do something really cool with some south american flair, real carnival like. big shapes, vibrant colors, something like that. Maybe give him a blinged out arm with confetti and streamers shooting out of it.

Der Hollander

After about 3 days of just about literally banging my head against a wall trying to reinvent Yoshimitsu, I was drowning my sorrows in some tea and RoboCops 1 and 2 when I had on of them thar epiphanies. I had originally set forth to do a cyberhorror "Death" version of Yoshimitsu when my synapses started firing on all cylinders for once and said: "You know what would be awesome? Take Voldo, and H.R. Giger that bad boy up."

I took a few days off to let my brain go to mush for a little before I dove in, but I finally got off my arse and did something.

So, with nary a month to go, I'm gonna switch my focus to making a Voldo-man in a cyberhorror style.

Art so far:




Note: there was a different post here, but I yoinked it so it didn't take up space.

Der Hollander

Shameful bump.

I would love any critiques on my overall direction for the new character/design.

Coldrew

I dig the changed design, but it's not quite Geigery enough. I feel like your shapes are all pretty similar in mass, maybe push the shape of the deltoid, hips, and calves more to get that thick into thin look.
You might be more successful if you really try to make the machine parts look as though they're making love to Voldo.
His bubble headgear thing is great, make it a little bigger, it looks like he'd be missing is jaw bone to fit his head in there.
just ma' 2cents

TheWizard

If you click 'edit' on your original post then click 'go advanced' you can change the topic title. No mods required.

I like where you're going I'm a big fan of HR Giger.

Der Hollander

Thanks for the information guys.

I'll be working on more of the forms throughout the week (no net at home right now, so no distractions) and trying to integrate more of the organic forms into the character, give it that weird sensuousness that is prevalent in Giger's works.

I'll definitely push the proportions, the hips are do definitely need some work, I really want there to be a sort of sexual vibe to that entire area, at least as much as I can get away with without having straight up boners on the character. Now, I know I'm throwing away one of the best ideas ever, but sacrifices must be made.

I'll try and work in some more sensuous form and proportion to the machiney bits, and post them when I can.

Der Hollander

Worked on exploring more forms and some proportional layout. I'll likely head into zBrush today to get some basic shapes roughed, work forward and some more detailed sketches as I move along.

Calabi

I like the idea. Its hard to make out whats going on with the sketch though. It looks very feminine to me(I guess thats the idea), I'm not sure it looks that giger esque though to be honest.

Those refs you have, giger seems to like penis's, bones, and repeating parallel lines(repeating objects even). His stuff, looks ordered yet twisted and sinister, with forms going into and out off one another, but lots of symmetry, not excessive detail.