The Bottom Fetishists
polycounter lvl 18
"He was a gentleman of noble bearing, fallen on hard times. He no longer could afford the finest nor most stylish livery, yet he still commanded utmost respect. Even among younger, more vibrant members of the court, he operated his suit with unmatched grace and pride."
Though I can't remember who posted the original idea, it was here on polycount (or was it CA.org?) and I never forgot it. One look at this image suggested to me an entire regimented society of truly bizarre people, who live their entire lives inside mechanical suits, never seeing each other directly. Except for their butts. It makes me laugh as much as it kinda creeps me out--why leave the butts exposed?
Hilarious and bizarre as it was, I took it as a chance for a little bit of concept design/worldbuilding. I imagine a highly lavish and ornate, but corrupt and perverted high society... something like the court of Louis the XIV, the "Sun King." (google it).
So anyway... not really sure at this point, but I may very possibly do a few more sketches of this insane society. Probably a lot looser than the above piece.
Oh, and if the original artist is still kicking around, PLEASE speak up and claim credit for the original idea! It's much to twisted for even me to have come up with
Replies
I'd definitely like to see you flesh out this society a bit more. Maybe some more illustrations. A big scene at a ballroom with lots of these characters conversing/dancing. Regardless, gimmee more
Please post your other character ideas for this universe!
aesir, i definitely am thinking about some sort of ballroom scene once i design a few more of these.
kdr: obviously defecation would play some sort of special role in this society, eh?
poop: thanks, fair points about dynamic quality of this piece. i really hadn't set out to render it as much as i did; this one i was just trying to take the original drawing and make it into a non-spherical shape. drawing a sphere body and making it work is harder than you might think. anyway, that first piece is supposed to be a very average if not a little round down suit, not the big wowee zowee suits. hopefully some of the ones to come will impress you more.
i did have a little time tonight to draw up an orthographic, depicting another very sort of average male 'suit'. i'm especially proud of the cutaway view, since it also makes me laugh in addition to showing some of the mechanics.
as you might infer from this image and the first image's description, "piloting" one of these suits in a social circumstance requires a great deal of dexterity and skill. the limbs are manipulated as well as the head, much as a puppeteer would. the head can blink, open its mouth (like a nutcracker) and do other basic things... at least on an average model suit like this one.
anyhow, stay tuned for more of the insane world of the Bottom Fetishists.
you know how different cultures and societies around the world historically have prized different bodily attributes and distort or exaggerate them (lip/ear plates, feet binding, etc)?
as the title implies, this is about a really strange society that completely isolate themselves from the rest of the world and each other, but leave their asses hanging out. butts on parade. yet they never or rarely see each other eye to eye or make any real human contact. maybe there's some commentary hiding in there, i don't know at this point.
it's not a sexual thing, nor is it a Freudian anal fixation thing, at least not exclusively--both of those are likely factor in to some degree. mostly it's just completely silly at this point. i'm still working on the psychological/cultural makeup of this fixation of theirs, its not particularly easy to develop sensibly.
That's where I'd go with it, anyway.
Awesome work, gauss. V. creepy.
Frank the Avenger
the whole thing reminds me of the art style from thief 1 and 2, i love it
I love the quirkiness of the design. Someone should make a mod based on this
nice to see some original off the wall stuff
Cool stuff
The ventillation Idea is cool, maybe they are a flatulent society who have developed a language from it
Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "don't talk shit"
I like what you've done with it, though in the first painting i think his arm socket should be farther forward to indicate the turned torso exposing the bum.
I also love the idea that they make giant pants for the robots to wear. I can just picture one of them shopping in an oversized store, holding up pants to his large metal waist
Frank: I think something along those lines, yes
shotgun: i didn't play either of them, but i've seen enough material to take it as a compliment!
roach: you misplaced the quote marks, it should be furry "society"
aesir: yeah, something like that, but not so much a modesty thing as it is paranoid and disordered.
chaos: thanks man, glad you like it.
Spacey: glad the idea comes across well. the ortho stuff (and the thumbs below) are just ways to explore the idea without putting in all the time for a juiced up painting.
Penzer: that's definitely the tech level i'm pitching this society/culture at. not quite "steampunk", but something like that.
Xaltar: man i dont even want to think about it
Miles: when it comes to the baroquely absurd, nobody can beat Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animations.
Sectaurs: yep, others have pointed that out--the ortho suit isn't meant to be exactly the same as the first image, but you're right. i think from now on i'll likely depict the arm sockets as more forward; as firestarter pointed out, it tends to recall gothic plate mail, the way the arms tend to be stiffly rotated forward.
LordScottish: thanks man, but you may lose friends (or attract the wrong ones) by doing that
alright, so small update. exploring different possible chassis types for the suits, different shapes and sizes. will continue exploring other details and aspects later. dare i approach ritual/cultural aspects of this society?
not sure about the proportions in the very first image in this thread, the arms especially look really off... the rest is cool though!
The concepts make me think of The Neverending Story. This I don't know why.
Hey gauss, can u paint one for me? Please?
"They all admired her--from a distance. Cold and imperious, she was a crown jewel of the court; pale posterior flaunted before all."
Mop: I'm not sure I understand your comment about the proportions of the arms being off? Surely the metal suit does not have to strictly adhere to human anatomy? This is a question I have pondered for a while as I have come under similar criticism in the past. Just trying to understand
HHmm, i need to model this. maybe... need to think about...
just for Ashat (not really). man, this was pretty fast, about 2 1/2 hours.
"They all admired her--from a distance. Cold and imperious, she was a crown jewel of the court; pale posterior flaunted before all."
[/ QUOTE ]
Fucking awesome.
Keep up the good work dude.
here's a heavily collated and photoshopped set of sketchbook pages (!) from over the weekend. yes, gauss actually scanning linework. i haven't done that in years.
i love the king on his throne, almost didn't see his butt.
How about one with lots of hair?
Maybe a servant-sweeper class?
I can see a dialogue scene now, on a balcony. A lady and gent mention how beatiful the moon is tonite, 'quite so' and then they turn to leave the balcony, mooning the audience. Corny enough?
It will be a beautiful thing.
I love it!
crazy stuff as usual gauss!
speaking of which, here is my first and possibly far too ambitious full scene drawing of the high court itself. more to come.
"To an outsider, the dance of a twelve foot tall Suit would seem grotesque and marionette-like in the worst way; to those of the exclusive royal court, it was enchanting."
this thread is just too weird, and too awesome.
One thought i had from your last pic and quote. This civilzation could have become so fixated on their suits being so large and tall that the world around them or just parts of it were built for the suits, not for the real people inside them. So as time went on, things generally became out of perportion. Without your suit, you really dont fit in certain areas of their world (upscale/ high class).
great pics too.