PC-CSGO | Aeon (AK-47 WIP Thread)
polycounter lvl 4
(Copied from my other post on the CS:GO forum)
I was pretty Excited when I heard the theme for this competition - I've had a fascination with 70's and 80's Sci-Fi for some time now, and my earliest interest was definitely Star Wars. Researching the guns from the original trilogy shows that many of them were in fact modified from real guns that the time - all manner of pistols and sub-machine guns were converted into Blasters by the prop-makers to arm those dozens of storm troopers. Other inspiration for this project comes from films like Blade Runner and Alien (and of course Aliens), Movies which defined that era of Sci-Fi cinema.
Above is my initial proof of concept, and it's a bit rough around the edges, but I'm liking the direction it's going. Rather than the usual gritty style of the darker films like Blade Runner and Alien I went for a brighter, much more flashy style with polished steel to go with a Corporate marketing vibe - a bright, shiny future should have flashy chrome guns to go with it after all.
Improving on this prototype, getting rid of mistakes.
The latest prototype, featuring changes such as more rubber looking grips, additional detail on the magazine and knurling by the front grip. At this point, I'm starting to acknowledge that this finish may not be suitable for the Covert tier that the AK-47 is intended to fill, so I will likely have to work on making the design somewhat more complex and exciting, however I will likely also submit a version much more subdued, similar to the current look.
I was pretty Excited when I heard the theme for this competition - I've had a fascination with 70's and 80's Sci-Fi for some time now, and my earliest interest was definitely Star Wars. Researching the guns from the original trilogy shows that many of them were in fact modified from real guns that the time - all manner of pistols and sub-machine guns were converted into Blasters by the prop-makers to arm those dozens of storm troopers. Other inspiration for this project comes from films like Blade Runner and Alien (and of course Aliens), Movies which defined that era of Sci-Fi cinema.
Above is my initial proof of concept, and it's a bit rough around the edges, but I'm liking the direction it's going. Rather than the usual gritty style of the darker films like Blade Runner and Alien I went for a brighter, much more flashy style with polished steel to go with a Corporate marketing vibe - a bright, shiny future should have flashy chrome guns to go with it after all.
Improving on this prototype, getting rid of mistakes.
The latest prototype, featuring changes such as more rubber looking grips, additional detail on the magazine and knurling by the front grip. At this point, I'm starting to acknowledge that this finish may not be suitable for the Covert tier that the AK-47 is intended to fill, so I will likely have to work on making the design somewhat more complex and exciting, however I will likely also submit a version much more subdued, similar to the current look.
Replies
There is still plenty of work to do however. I've noticed an issue where the screws and bolts appear to be custom painted before wearing off, which I will address in the future. I'm also wondering if I should add some sort of texture to the handle, grips and stock - something like molded plastic to give it a more industrial feel. I've also played around with the Patina buildup, giving it a suitably industrial grime and soot buildup.
If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it!
@amazon350 Thanks!
Feel free to give me some feedback!
"Weapons with bright colors and designs that perfectly complement a weapon’s geometry end up in the upper tiers. Weapons with more subdued colors and/or more randomization in the pattern application end up in the lower tiers."
Hope I could help
Click on the images for HD!
If you have any feedback, I'd love to hear it before I publish.
Throughout the time I've been making this skin and getting feedback for it, it's been quite clear that I need to make some changes in order to make this skin more "Covert" looking, and I have been doing my best to make changes that both fit the brief and my "artistic vision". I've also not wanted to abandon the more minimalist look that I first created, so it's clear that I'm going to have to release more than one skin based on the same look, so here are "the three that made it." (May those that failed rest peacefully in the depths of my HDD)
As "Covert" as I'm willing to go: This was where I came to with adding additional colour. An industrial orange, white flair and the rubber grips of the original, with a blue "power spine". I dislike fake glowing effects, so while some might suggest that I add a glow around the blue, I'm going to keep it like this quite deliberately. The only other changes since the last update are in terms of overall polish, changing the small logo to something vaguely reminiscent of the Weyland-Yutani logo and changing "Caution: Explosive contents!" to "Caution: Reactive Ammunition!"
20 minutes into the future: keeping it a bit more subdued, I find the ribbing looks better black. other than that, no changes to the above.
AEON: The original concept, with all the improvements from the Industrial Orange version. I decided not to try to carry over details such as "Mars Heavy Industries" in favour of a simpler finish.
Now all that's left is to publish.
I showed this and 3 other cool AK-skins to like 5 friends and 3 favored your silver version. Me aswell so that was 4 out of 6 votes
I should give you bad tips, cause I'm working on an AK aswell haha
But seriously, this is really really nice work! Good luck.
Sid
@SjiZzZLe thanks, and it is indeed!
"Building better worlds"
I'm going to hold off on publishing the Chrome version for a few days as I develop it further, as you can see I've made a major change to the magazine, and was even able to eliminate some very frustrating artifacts on the darker areas of said magazine. Besides that, small changes and corrections.
In other news, I've published the Chrome version. Link is here. I'm done for the night.
I made a work in progress Gif, for the hell of it.
Might not win the covert entry but as a low-mid tier skin: absolutely!
It has a very simple but elegent charm and the design works great for the AK.