Inspiration taken from a samurai, hope it shows xD The katana's (3 swords = badass) ;D the iterations on the concept, from thumbnail to 3/4 model concept.
@polymath256 Just to be sure, are you setting the model to unlit? Vertex colors multiplied over an existing lighting/shading model can be quite dark. Here's a video from an old Playstation Underground disc that shows how they applied vertex colors to light scenes in Tomb Raider 3 (starting at 3:53):…
Making a short movie in CryEngine 3 is possible. --> http://cryenginefilmtools.blogspot.com/ Some awesome screenshots from CryEngine 3 movie --> http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=747906