DWIII - 2D - Beluosus - Not Sure Anymore

Beluosus

So, this will be my first (I think) post on polycount as well as my first dominance war, so I believe a little bit of an introduction is in order.

My name is Josh, I'm 23, I dig drawing and animation, I'm a VCU graduate, and I'm looking for work. My friend mentioned that DWIII had a concept category, so I figured I'd jump in on it. I chose polycount because I already know a person or two over here. Plus the logo and colors are way groovy.

Here's the very early ideas:


The race is essentially a human/plant hybrid. I'm leaning towards a female character, but I'm not fully decided yet.

Class I'm still unsure about. Currently, he/she/it's an invoker, but that might change.

The artifact is a gauntlet of sorts that will be "growing" into the user. Again, this could change, but the growing idea is staying.

Any ideas/suggestions/critiques are welcome. Seeing as how I'm one of maybe 2 or 3 doing 2D, I wanna do a hardcore job and do polycount proud.

snemmy

female.

this forum is sorely lacking in female concepts at the moment.

Cody

Welcome to the fight Joshasaurus! Can't wait to see it man!

Beluosus

So far, I've got a lot of racial information. I've worked out at least the basics of the society from which she comes, and her particular back story. I'm a dork, I know ^^;

Here's some more sketchwork, and some not-really coherent information:


For those who are interested, Solania is the illicit daughter of her clans chieftan and one of his servants. She was destined for a life comparable to her mothers. The war hadn't affected their civilization until recently. The purge of technology didn't set them back at all, and the war was still in the distance. But the arrival of this new mechanical menace has spread the war to their doorstep. What's more, this inorganic race is an affront to their civilizations core belief structure. It is said that in times of great conflict, the gauntlet of the ancient hero Datura chooses a champion to face the new threat. To the surprise of all of the Veridians, Solania has been chosen.

I notice my flow is slightly different from the modelers out there. But I like to have the foundation in order to develop the character. Next post will be significantly more sketching and far less writing, I swear :-)

snemmy

good to see some backstory. helps bring a character to life and shows how they fit into the overall scheme. a lot of designs are lacking in that aspect. they may be pretty but they have as much depth as the polygons they are built of.

Beluosus

So I've started working on the armor. So far, I've been trying out a wooden armor, in keeping with the mystical nature-worship thing. I'm not sure if I'll keep the wood. other options are stone or more traditional leather and bone. I'm trying to shy away from metal. Everyone always has metal armor.



Story-wise, this armor is an extension of the Gauntlet, and therefore magical protection is a given. I haven't decided on the material of the gauntlet. But what I decide for the rest of the armor will make the difference.

The mask, I think, is a no-go. Combined with the vine-hair thing I have going on, any mask I put on her is going to make her look too Predator.

I haven't nailed down the final layout for armor, and I need a good pose. Other decisions I need to make: whether or not to have the secondary non-artifact weapon, color choices, best placement of the logo. Any and all suggestions will be weighed. :-D

Quick coloring of the detailed sketch to come tonight!

Beluosus

Just a really quick attempt at color for this last one.



Definitely needs work on the color scheme.

Steve Schulze

I'm liking the design mate though she is starting to look rather like Sarah Kerrigan from Starcraft. Not exactly like her, but enough to get that impression on a quick glance. I don't think you necessarily need to change anything greatly, but its something to keep in mind as you refine your design.

Beluosus

Thanks for the tip, Jackablade. I'll bear that in mind. I'm starting fresh today with some different ideas for the armor, so perhaps something distinct will turn up.

gauss

i think you've got some strong elements brewing, but avoiding a comparison to other green-skinned hotty evil characters a la kerrigan. avoid the green skin, first off. but i love where you're going with armor, and the alternate material choices are definitely a big plus. keep cranking, you've got a strong start.

Beluosus

Done some more sketching. I think I've got a pretty good idea of where I'm headed.

Sorry for the poor quality jpgs, but I don't see any need to waste peoples time loading high quality images of scratchy drawings

On the right is a rough of the gauntlet. I'm thinking stone is the best option, with glowy runes and whatnot. Vines will be growing out of that and into Solaria's arm and torso. Her Armor is most likely going to be the wooden, bark-like bit I have in the color picture above. I tried stone, but it's just not as amusing. (right, under the sword) I still haven't decided whether to keep the 'grown' sword (middle'o'page), change it into something else, or drop it in favor of driving home the fact that the magical power of the gauntlet is all it takes to destroy everyone in her path. I've also considered dropping her age. Something about little kids with unimaginable power amuses me. But I haven't sketched that yet.

One way or the other, I'm taking gauss' advice and dropping the bright green skin. I really don't want to fall into the green alien chick stereotype. Besides, it'd be better to pale her out some for contrast with the armor. I'm also taking her features to a less human place, and stretching some proportions. (Middle top, and bottom respectively.)

Comments/Concerns are welcome.

naruSol

Avoid stone on the gauntlet if you stick with that design, it already looks a bit like Hellboy's "right hand of doom" On the other hand, with some alteration, It might look cool to do it in granite or something else that looks very refined and polished to contrast the rest of her.

Beluosus

yep... I was afraid of that Hellboy association. I'll see what I can do. :-)

I'm also looking for ways to draw in a more post-apocalyptic feel on the character. Right now, she's straight fantasy. Anyone have an idea? So far all I have is a plan for the final drawing. I figure I'll show the vegetation magic in action, with vines tearing apart those all-machine bastards :-D. But I think she needs something herself.

Beluosus

Alright... this is where she's at for the moment. Not perfect yet, but far enough along that her worth shall be determined!:



I like her as a character, but I'm not sure I like her in the context of the DW storyline... I think I may try some new ideas. She was one of the first ideas, and I couldn't get into anything else without getting her out. Let me know what you think of her. And tommorow I'll have some doodles of other ideas that are kicking around.

Steve Schulze

The gauntlet seems kind of at odds with the rest of the design at this point. If you had a few viney bits wrapped around it, at least at the point where it joins the arm, I think it'd coalesce much better.

It'd be good to get a little more colour in there too. She's all shades of green and brown at this point. Think about other colours that you often see on plants - verigated leaves and red spines and so forth. Perhaps you could even add a few flowers here and there.

rollin

i like the way the gauntlet came out .. has a cool maya touch to it

would be cool to give the whole character some more maya /aztec design elements

Beluosus

I think I've had a breakthrough!



More to come...

Cody

Hell yes! DO IT!

snemmy

indeed you have!

Beluosus

Alright, so I haven't forgotten the viney monster that is in my last post, but I drew this one this morning in PS. If she doesn't wind up entwined in vines, this is pose I'm thinking about using in the final artwork. If I wind up using the vine-body, I'm going to need to figure out a good pose for it. Also, if I use that, I think she's bordering warlord instead of invoker, which is cool with me, but not what I set out to do. We'll see. I just wanted to keep everyone updated, and see what people thought.



<font color="red">Edit:</font> Wow, I just took a look around, and there's like four or five other plant-human hybrids out there, just on our forums. I think most of em are modelers, but that still means I gotta work harder to stick out more... It's time to push her even harder... ::cracks knuckles::

JBurley0879

I like the direction you're going with the character as well as the backstory you have...I'm curious if you've looked up on Mayan/Aztec architecture and armor design for her armor. If not, I'd say it wouldn't hurt to do so, actually.

Beluosus

I've looked at some bits and pieces, and started adding some of it, but I need to find some better resources. Any suggestions would be excellent.

Beluosus

Alright, it's been a while. I just wanted to drop in and explain myself/brag a little? (for anyone who wants to know). Two and a half weeks or so I got myself a new job. I'm doing broadcast graphics for Media General's new central graphics hub here in VA. It's no games job, but it's a start. I've been training for the past two weeks (learning their softwares and how to understand what people want from us, and I've been so tired (having gone from freeloading to full-time) that I haven't had time to do my own thing. This coming week, I switch to my new schedule, so I'm again going to be off in the real world. And now I'm' sick. God. Anyway, I'm going to try and get this thing done, but no promises. Good luck to the rest of ya'll though!

Empty

Congrats on the job man. I hope you find some time to finish, it looks like you've got some good stuff brewing in here.

Cody

Congrats anyway, but remember I [could find out] where you live, and if you don't finish the war I will track you down, and give you a...talk. You can do it, Josh!