a micro-gallery

[brucege]

Arduin, Druid Warrior

Everybody loves Celtic CaS! But we rarely see girl Celts, so here we are. I promise manlier CaS next time! Arduin is based on druidesses of Celtic lore and viking shield maidens.

 

[brucege]

HILDE

In before anyone else tries CaS Hilde! I didn't have enough stickers for the beauty mark, but eh. Guide to using bat wing ExEq here.

 

[SpellcraftQuill]

Two lovely ladies.

Appreciate the more modest take in Arduin. She’s quite pretty too. The scars make her look even more badass. I appreciate that you let some beauty get tarnished.

I don’t see that many stickers on Hilde, but I’d take the foot motif in Rotation and make it as small as possible then cover the parts you don’t want with a sticker that matches the skin tone as close as possible.

 

[Kieve]

Damn you did a nice job with Hilde! I love the emblem on the left breast (I saw @Gatsu did the same on his Siegfried), it's a great detail, and works very well to offset the belt across the chest. Really clever idea using the horns to hide the fin seams on the bat-wings too - I typically drive myself bonkers trying to line them up "just so," but when you've got the ExEq to spare for it, this works much better.

She's another one I wish they'd brought back from the SCV roster...

 

[Gatsu]

Really like the deer horns crown on the celt hottie is the animal i ever associate with theyr culture

I like the Hilde too, if i ever do one will remember to say you was there first :D

 

[Fliptop]

Liking Arduin alot. The paint, scars and antlers all work really well!

Hilde, though...fucking legit. Big fan of the custom shoulder armor - which shall be stolen - and that sneaky sticker breasplate.

Re your last post: I'm a little off getting the game at the moment. Hopefully soon!

 

[Alexandra]

How did you make the upper body armor for Hilde? Fantastic recreation, btw.

 

[SpellcraftQuill]

Looks like pocket stickers on the Chinese dress.

 

[ThePascuzzi]

A M A Z I N G Hilde. I might have to take it over to CaS mirror match when I have time next.

 

[brucege]

@Alexandra, @SpellcraftQuill: You're right, it's the Chinese dress/qipao! The sticker is actually the golden lion's crest sticker (motif 52). You can actually see it used here as a corset on Kieve's thread. I'll be posting a topic covering all the bump mapped stickers on the techniques thread soon.

@ThePascuzzi: Yeah, that'd be awesome! Mirror match thread was one of the most entertaining threads back in the day.

 

[VILARCANE]

Well i come a bit late for a review but i really love your Hilde, there is a lot of small sticker work details like on the legs (but a bit hard to spot on the pic), colors are very hildeish of course (hair, shoulder, armor...) and the face seems a close match (why they didn't just keep the face preset of former instalments chars is (again) lazy from PS.
The shoulder pad looks the part and must have taken a while to get right, batshit good looking if i may :) and the highlight of the CAS
If i had to nitpick, i'd say the waist part could use a bit of patterning or sticker, since you have an available surface to work with...
And last but not least, the halberd (properly colored, another Hilde touch) seals the deal...

I like the celtic girl, but i would have taken a face that is more gritty or scary looking, and would have added more contrast in the color choices on the "kilt" pattern...and if she is a druid, the crown works great, then why not go for some wooden patterns and feathery patterns for the shirt instead of scales ? Druids didn't wear armor, so with a slightly different set of patterns or equipement choices, with the crown (which might be recolored as well to mimic tree branches), she would be the hammer !
I know you well enough to say that if i come up with constructive criticism, you'll take this as a token of gratitude and not an offense (well, i sure hope so, because that's how they are meant :)

If i should stop with the critique and tips, let me know and i'll gladly delete the post as well...

 

[mokamoka827]

Goddamn, that Hilde is amazing. I hardly expected that dress would work so well for her, but there ya go. Also loving the Celt, of course. The Arabian pants balance out the tasset really well, to compensate for its usually bulkiness.

Edit: Just realized what I thought was the Arabian Pants' waistline is actually the turtle shell? Even more creative tbh lol

 

[brucege]

@VILARCANE:
Please continue criticizing. More, in fact would be nice. For Hilde, good catch for the weapon. Will fix. I'd rather not put a pattern on the belt since it's supposed to match the plain sticker breastplate. I completely missed out on pattern opportunities elsewhere though, like the gold trim on the shoulder cloth.

For Arduin, many druids of Celtic lore were formidable warriors, who often wore leather or scale mail in ancient depictions. However, you're right that the druid aspect could be better developed with nature-themed patterns or stickers, like the ones you used for Araven. As for the coloring, you know that I prefer simplicity for my OCs. There's just so much stuff going on with the flashy (Talim) gear, revealing clothes, and blue tattoos. I sought to balance that with an aggressively plain color palette. In fact, her hair used to be red (as with Bodhmall, a mythological druidess), but I cut it to blonde to reduce the number of colors to 3: green, gold, and blue. This approach may seem dull for a guy like you, who specializes in haute couture, but I consider myself more of a pret-a-porter kinda guy.

Thanks for the advice, mon ami. I should learn French so I can talk better with my family in Paris. Ugh life is too short.

 

[brucege]

@mokamoka827: Thanks! And good eye. I didnt think anybody would notice the turtle shell haha.

 

[VILARCANE]

@VILARCANE:
Please continue criticizing. More, in fact would be nice. For Hilde, good catch for the weapon. Will fix. I'd rather not put a pattern on the belt since it's supposed to match the plain sticker breastplate. I completely missed out on pattern opportunities elsewhere though, like the gold trim on the shoulder cloth.

For Arduin, many druids of Celtic lore were formidable warriors, who often wore leather or scale mail in ancient depictions. However, you're right that the druid aspect could be better developed with nature-themed patterns or stickers, like the ones you used for Araven. As for the coloring, you know that I prefer simplicity for my OCs. There's just so much stuff going on with the flashy (Talim) gear, revealing clothes, and blue tattoos. I sought to balance that with an aggressively plain color palette. In fact, her hair used to be red (as with Bodhmall, a mythological druidess), but I cut it to blonde to reduce the number of colors to 3: green, gold, and blue. This approach may seem dull for a guy like you, who specializes in haute couture, but I consider myself more of a pret-a-porter kinda guy.

Thanks for the advice, mon ami. I should learn French so I can talk better with my family in Paris. Ugh life is too short.

Ok will do i mean it's cool to like and praise but criticism is what takes you further, if one is receptive to it like you are. Totally makes sense for the druid, i didn't know about warrior druids tbh only the druids from Gaulles like the one from the Asterix comics :) Matching colors is always difficult i know especially now you dont have ref for default colors, another weird move..
Thx for the compliment, very fashionable of you, and your french seems good enough to me if you start making jokes...rest assured i enjoy deconstructing your CAS as you do mine...i posted one today who doesn't know what couture is, and tomorrow will post one that will have you raise an eyebrow :)

 

[brucege]

Trying out collages for easier viewing. Here's a couple Japanese-themed CaS


Kagutsuchi, the Blind Demon

Manly CaS! Which isn't really my forte, but he gets a spot via affirmative action :P Not too familiar with male equipment, so any advice is welcome. Kagutsuchi is supposed to be the Japanese god of fireeee.




Taki 2P: Mistress of the Gambling Den

Sick of hunting demons and Soul Edge seekers, Taki retires to the seedy underbelly of the Kyoto gambling dens. Cho-han is the dice-in-a-cup game seen in old Japanese movies. The dealer is usually stripped down so they can't tamper with the game. This often reveals the dealer's tattoos, typical of the Yakuza, who ran these illegal gambling dens.

 

[Kieve]

Blind fire-demon is amazing. I really like the way the flame medallion bits mesh with the horns, that's very clever. I also have to compliment you for using that samurai waist wrap, something I seem completely incapable of employing to good use.
If I had any critique, it'd be the patterns (camo? dirt stickers?) on the pants. I'm not exactly sure what the intended effect was, but I don't think urban camo is what you were going for.

 

[VILARCANE]

Sir, this manly CAS is very clever, it is always difficult to use the flame ornaments on a CAS, but your head design is really something as Kieve said.
I must admit i prefer your Taki, from the background story to the perfect japanese pipe, suiting tattoos and makeup, it totally fits the background story, very nice and you know il like strong and original concept (i can't remember it being done before).
Now i am left guessin' where the 3rd Exeq went :)

 

[NeclordX]

For some reason the very momento I put my eyes in "Mistress of the Gambling Den" I inmediately thought "Goemon"

 

[Ardent]

The Japanese mythology is one of my all-time favorites so i was eagerly awaiting who would try to create a god, in your case, Kagutsuchi. I'll try to comment on parts individually.
Head: Un-f****ng-believable (sorry)! The dirt-patterned helmet+Hannya mask combo does wonders, the highlight though is the SpecEq. The horns, together with the eye-covering flame ornament (which reminds me of Yoshimitsu's angered story portrait, blue wrathful flames coming out of his eyes) and Voldo's chin piece fit extremely well with the mask.
Upper body: I'm in love with the color palette, the rustiness with bits of red, black and grey is on point with the flame demon/oni theme. Excellent use of patterns and gear, i'm especially fond of the asymetrical feel provided by Mitsu's armor combined with Sieg's underwear.
Lastly, lower body: I relate immensely to what @Kieve said about the waist, i also fail to put it to good use (in SC5, don't have 6 yet) so, kudos for doing it justice. On contrary though, i actually like the patterns applied to Kagutsuchi's pants (i mean no offense on Kieve's opinion, i respect it in fact) and with Cervy's boots, give the right amount of edginess.

As for Taki, only thing i have to say is you totally nailed the illegal Yakuza gambler look, reminds me of the Ryu-ga-Gotoku/Yakuza games, which i'm a fan of.

Outstanding work!! :)