Sven, The Hoplite
Sven, The Hoplite
Hello everyone! I'm new to the forums and I wanted to get your feedback on my first project for Dota 2. I was thinking of a complete set for Sven based on the hoplite soldier of ancient Greece. Here are some concept ideas I sketched and inspiration (that I got from museums and the internet) I've had for them.
Sword: Most ancient Greek swords were either double or single-edged bronze short swords for close quarters combat where their spears weren't effective. Since Sven fights with a sword I just thought of making a larger, exaggerated form of one of those short swords while rescuing some "Svenish" qualities. The shape of the first blade is based on the (non historical) machete-like sword from the movie 300, the second set is based on the "kopis" downward-curving slashing sword actually used by hoplites. I tried some variations on a typical partial hand guard from Greek swords, and they are mostly interchangeable with the blades. On all of them I tried to rescue the typical Sven horn pattern (which I really like) as a sort of spine on the blade.
Helmet: I know there is a Corinthian style helmet for Sven already (or there was, can't seem to find it in the store now), but I find it to be too similar to the real thing. I wanted to do something that had a Corinthian style feel to it, but still retains traits from the original Sven armor (e.g. plates over black and that pattern from his horns), so I kept some of the original mask face inside the helmet, and put the horn pattern as the plume.
Cape: Although actual hoplites never used capes in combat (except in the movie), they are sometimes portrayed wearing them in official circumstances. I thought it would look cool and balance the set to have the now classic red cape to go with the armor. I might stamp it with the "alpha" character which a lot of them wore, since he doesn't have shield to put it on.
Belt: Hoplites rarely had any protection in the groin area, leaving it just with the lower part of the tunic, although some had small strips of cloth or leather over the tunic. I went with some of these ideas, but exaggerating the leather for character (with Sven everything is oversized).
Gauntlet: The few gauntlet portrayals I found as hoplite equipment were relatively simple bronze affairs, so I simplified Sven's gauntlet to go with the shapes of the rest of the arm.
Shoulder: The arm was the hardest part to come up with since hoplites rarely used arm protection in their armor. I could only find a few references to a "perixeirida" shoulder and arm guard from which I pulled that idea. The other focuses on exaggerating the shoulder strap that some cuirasses had into a shoulder guard of sorts, although it looks kind of roman. Finally I toyed with some lion pelt shoulder guard ideas as a sort of reference to Heracles, who fought with a lion pelt on his shoulders.
Here is a sketch of some of the concepts working as a set with some rough color scheme to get started.
Body and legs: I don't know if it's possible to change the textures for the body and legs of Sven, but it would be cool to be able to switch his legs to a bronze shade as well, even if the geometry has to stay the same.
Well, thank you for any feedback, tips, and/or constructive criticism you can give me on my ideas and the execution. I'm very excited to get started with modeling
.
Hello everyone! I'm new to the forums and I wanted to get your feedback on my first project for Dota 2. I was thinking of a complete set for Sven based on the hoplite soldier of ancient Greece. Here are some concept ideas I sketched and inspiration (that I got from museums and the internet) I've had for them.
Sword: Most ancient Greek swords were either double or single-edged bronze short swords for close quarters combat where their spears weren't effective. Since Sven fights with a sword I just thought of making a larger, exaggerated form of one of those short swords while rescuing some "Svenish" qualities. The shape of the first blade is based on the (non historical) machete-like sword from the movie 300, the second set is based on the "kopis" downward-curving slashing sword actually used by hoplites. I tried some variations on a typical partial hand guard from Greek swords, and they are mostly interchangeable with the blades. On all of them I tried to rescue the typical Sven horn pattern (which I really like) as a sort of spine on the blade.
Helmet: I know there is a Corinthian style helmet for Sven already (or there was, can't seem to find it in the store now), but I find it to be too similar to the real thing. I wanted to do something that had a Corinthian style feel to it, but still retains traits from the original Sven armor (e.g. plates over black and that pattern from his horns), so I kept some of the original mask face inside the helmet, and put the horn pattern as the plume.
Cape: Although actual hoplites never used capes in combat (except in the movie), they are sometimes portrayed wearing them in official circumstances. I thought it would look cool and balance the set to have the now classic red cape to go with the armor. I might stamp it with the "alpha" character which a lot of them wore, since he doesn't have shield to put it on.
Belt: Hoplites rarely had any protection in the groin area, leaving it just with the lower part of the tunic, although some had small strips of cloth or leather over the tunic. I went with some of these ideas, but exaggerating the leather for character (with Sven everything is oversized).
Gauntlet: The few gauntlet portrayals I found as hoplite equipment were relatively simple bronze affairs, so I simplified Sven's gauntlet to go with the shapes of the rest of the arm.
Shoulder: The arm was the hardest part to come up with since hoplites rarely used arm protection in their armor. I could only find a few references to a "perixeirida" shoulder and arm guard from which I pulled that idea. The other focuses on exaggerating the shoulder strap that some cuirasses had into a shoulder guard of sorts, although it looks kind of roman. Finally I toyed with some lion pelt shoulder guard ideas as a sort of reference to Heracles, who fought with a lion pelt on his shoulders.
Here is a sketch of some of the concepts working as a set with some rough color scheme to get started.
Body and legs: I don't know if it's possible to change the textures for the body and legs of Sven, but it would be cool to be able to switch his legs to a bronze shade as well, even if the geometry has to stay the same.
Well, thank you for any feedback, tips, and/or constructive criticism you can give me on my ideas and the execution. I'm very excited to get started with modeling
.
Replies
but the set looks good!
are you working on the gold color palete? or are you changing it?
LOL, yeah, it is kind of a helmception! Since Sven's is a composite helm made of plaques, I figured I'd sort of rearrange them a bit :P
Regarding the color palette, I've been changing it to Sven's more classical gray colored metal armor. I just used bronze for highlights on some surface rims and decoration reliefs on the helmet's side plates. I intended to keep that style on the rest of the armor. Does it look good and not too transgressing? Hehe.
Hey thanks, man! Stay tuned. I should have the next piece ready in a couple of days
Here are the links to the set and its 6 pieces. I'd welcome and appreciate any feedback on my work, and of course all your ratings. Let's see if I can get any visibility
Sven, The Hoplite Set
- Kopis (Sword) of The Hoplite
- Helm of The Hoplite
- Perixeirida (Shoulder guard) of The Hoplite
- Gauntlet of The Hoplite
- Belt of The Hoplite
- Cape of The Hoplite
Here are some images of the finished set:
And a video of it in hero view.
Thank you again for your support and comments!
Also, I'd add a a chunkier strip gold trim directly under the mohawk thing, to tie it in visually with the blade even more.
Nice breakdown of your process.