A tale of souls and swords, eternally retold...

chobek said:
Ok now I see what you mean... I hadn't seen a lot of these.... I was looking on your thread for the new year...
Impressive! I especially lik the convict. Ulala is really cute and Leo is nicely done ...
Iron Golum is very cool, even though I was confused by him at first....what do you men by hand colored?.... I don't want to leave out the biker he is a lot of fun :) ... Great stuff... I know I missed something... But I am on my iPad and I hate typing on this thing....
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Thanks, lol, when i type on xbox controller using the xbox browser, it is even worse than an ipad, believe me...
 
I've already seen most of these from the slideshow, but here's what I think about them.

1. Jungle Leixia: I prefer her non-camo version. The camo pattern is a somewhat modern for the stereotypical, classic jungle/safari jacket in my opinion. I would add a pocket sticker for texture and then stack a dirt/mud sticker on top. I find that keeping both the camo and the leopard print is excessive. A flash of white undershirt in a grungy outfit can be quite attractive. Finally, I feel that the original pants were more thematically relevant than the pumpkin pants.
2. Taki: Understated and elegant. Best take on Taki yet, as I've mentioned before.
3. Convict Asta: Certainly gets the idea across, but on the plain side.
4. Black Adder: Heavy armor is not my area of expertise, but he does look pretty hardcore.
5. Ulala: Infectiously cheerful and cute. The elongated headphone cups is the defining feature. Is there any way to manipulate the ant antennae into a mike?
6. Leo: Cool touches like the smear of paint and the paint tubes. I know Leo was probably gay, but I think that outfit's still a little too flamboyant.
7. Area 51: I love the alien head and the psychedelic space suit. Tastefully over-the-top.
8. Biker: Dirty, messy, and crass. In other words...it's perfect! He would look right at home on the highway or at a roadhouse bar.

I have a high respect for your work, so I'm certain that no decision comes lightly to you, so I'd really like to hear about the design process and the specific decisions you made for these characters. I'm sure my own designs would profit greatly from it too.
 
Extensive design notes in the quote, and other comments...

brucege said:
I've already seen most of these from the slideshow, but here's what I think about them.

1. Jungle Leixia: I prefer her non-camo version. The camo pattern is a somewhat modern for the stereotypical, classic jungle/safari jacket in my opinion. I would add a pocket sticker for texture and then stack a dirt/mud sticker on top. I find that keeping both the camo and the leopard print is excessive. A flash of white undershirt in a grungy outfit can be quite attractive. Finally, I feel that the original pants were more thematically relevant than the pumpkin pants.

Those are very constructive comments and i will certainly update my jungle Leixia, because she has to be perfect.

The design notes : the design originated from the straw hat i never used before gave me the idea of the colonial hat, and the jungle design, then Leixia came to mind, partly because she could wield a machette to get through the jungle, but also because i thought the face associated with the haircut matched with the theme of a young cheerful girly adventurer on her path to exploring the world...the colonial hat was born of careful color choice, then i used pocket stickers by axis on the front and back and used a gourd to make the button protrude at the top (i can still perfect this). For the first version, which i'll try to recreate considering the feedback, i went for gradients and a bit of dirt here and there, and a torn trouser at knee level (using a patch sticker by axis and painted so it looked like bare skin). The two scarfs from the neck equipment and chest shirt do combine pretty good too, i thought of using different for both but somehow wasn't satisfied with the result.
Use of the backpack and simple boots was pretty logical for an adventurer...
Those are the things that come to mind...and of course i think the thumbnail matches the mood of the CAS quite well...

2. Taki: Understated and elegant. Best take on Taki yet, as I've mentioned before. Hell yeah, i concur !
3. Convict Asta: Certainly gets the idea across, but on the plain side.
I don't think it is plain, meaning it has a lot of personality, but i get what you mean, i went for plain pieces of equipment with simple patterns and all, but look for details like the thigh bullet holes, the numbers on the back, the beard...more details would precisely have hurt the raw impact of the CAS design IMO...this one had to be "plain", well, like a convict outfit...damn, i even made a backstory for him sort of ;o)
4. Black Adder: Heavy armor is not my area of expertise, but he does look pretty hardcore.
I think i will redo the original horn design (using two special item slots, because the jewel on the chest doesn't add that much in-game, as the CAS is mostly seen from the side)
5. Ulala: Infectiously cheerful and cute. The elongated headphone cups is the defining feature. Is there any way to manipulate the ant antennae into a mike? Believe me i tried to do the head mike (good for you to notice), but was limited by the editor...or else i could have done it much better, and did not really found a face that matched (big forehead is needed). This CAS was deleted from my collection for being sub-par.
6. Leo: Cool touches like the smear of paint and the paint tubes. I know Leo was probably gay, but I think that outfit's still a little too flamboyant.It ain't paint tubes actually, those are schematics for his over the top inventions, and the colors appealed to Le Bello, so i'll stick with them, vecause it adds personality to this senior CAS.
7. Area 51: I love the alien head and the psychedelic space suit. Tastefully over-the-top. Zorgzlllbl (thanks in alien pimp's tongue), i never found a good way to use that silly asta hat, and to make it work, i had to use an apple to make a protruding forehead and carefully painted it with the same patterns than the rest of the skull...the effect in-game is striking...
8. Biker: Dirty, messy, and crass. In other words...it's perfect! He would look right at home on the highway or at a roadhouse bar. I love 3Ping Edge Master, i could do it all day !

I have a high respect for your work, so I'm certain that no decision comes lightly to you, so I'd really like to hear about the design process and the specific decisions you made for these characters. I'm sure my own designs would profit greatly from it too. The best advice i could give you is look for pieces of equipment and weapons you normally don't use or never had, and brainstorm about how it could become an interesting gimmick or help you build a strong themed CAS (preferrably never done before). Have fun and thanks again to you guys for your support.
Click to expand...
 
After my lengthy design notes, where i forgot to mention i used a striped pattern on the backpack straps to give it more peps, here is my updated version (i kept some of the camo, adjusted the hat button, changed the pants and redid the knee injury, and i went for the "lucky charm" furry tail on the belt, because it seemed "scoutish" enough to me and i had a special item left (i tried to make a little snake peek out of her boots with the snake ornament, but it proved impossible to do because of size and other limits ;o) :

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Now we're talkin'. The adjusted camo pattern makes just the right amount of pop. The subtle stripes on the undershirt is reminiscent of clean lingerie, a direct contrast to the roughed-up safari gear. Effortlessly cute, sexy, and fun. Bravissimo.
 
and the lucky charm, don't forget the lucky charm...just kidding, thx, glad you like it better !
saw the design notes in the post above ? my intent being to spark a discussion there...
 
I did notice all the cool little touch-ups like the lucky charm and the bloody knees (poor Leixia!), but I was simply speaking about the character as a whole. I suppose I was also distracted by the mid-riff. I really enjoy discussing these designs, so you can count on me to wall-of-text your next creations.

P.S. ~ Premium support = paid subscription to 8WR. Removes ads, privilege to thumbs-down threads, among other perks.
 
Now, now, after experiencing first hand save corruption and CAS re-creation, i decided that i wouldn't take any chance and stop when i used up all but the few slots i freed up by not redoing some of my recolors (which you can still see in the slideshow).

I figured i owed you a few more, and i am working on a very last slideshow, featuring my latest and never seen before CAS, along with a few old faves of yours...

It will probably be online tomorrow night if i manage to do all the editing.

I am thinking about creating a new thread, as it will be a very thematic slideshow, which could easily be the starting point for others to show off similar stuff.
Rdmunhoz among others has very good CAS of that specific theme, but i don't want to disclose too much right now...

Swan's song little Vil...i tried my best to reinvigorate this board for the new year, and it seemed to work more than i expected, with new talents blossoming amongst the less talented (nevertheless most welcome !) newcomers.

Brace yourself ! The final showdown is coming ;o)
 
Ok, before the slideshow, let me share a few of the redesigned CAS, meaning the recreation of the ones i lost during the horrendous save crash the other day...i hope you'll like the updates...

Included as a bonus, a design i did not keep, an arabic Ivy 3P...

Vlad updated ("pointy ears through hair", referring to the original concept art)

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Black Knight Mitsu 3P update (yeah it stings a little, barely, Mistu is a badass) :

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Tip/wink to Gef :
Do you know that if you make a sticker and shrink it per axis to the minimum, and paint it black, and have it touch one of the nails on the helmet's front, they will all be painted black, adding to the wow effect...i used an eye sticker to produce an even more stunning glistening effect, which does not show that much here, but works quite well with some stage's ambient ligthing

Bonus Persian Ivy (from the Harem of Sultan Edge and Vizir Mitsu ;o) :

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Since the mask is too small for the face, i widened it using the snake horns painted black

Now onto the slideshow...
 
This slideshow is very personal, was a lot of work (all the pics are brand new, and i specifically tried to make them as sharp as possible for you to see small details...)

i hope the site won't run into tech problems again, but for now it works...

Nb :
1/MAKE SURE TO CLICK ON SOUND ICON ON TOP LEFT HAND CORNER
2/SWITCH TO FULL SCREEN IF YOU WANT (PICS ARE NOT HIGH RES UNTIL LAST TWO)...
3/AND OF COURSE IT IS MANUAL FOR VIEWING AT YOUR PACE, SO LEFT/RIGHT ARROW FOR BROWSING

Last and final slideshow and CAS...enjoy !

http://snack.to/phjsdas8
 
FlashHarry said:
I really liked the western characters in that slide show, very good!
Click to expand...

what a cute and whimsical avatar you have...
oh and thanks !
i hope others will notice this show, but everyone has deserted atm - they ll come back lurking for new stuff eventually - addictive this forum is -mon ami le bello ou es tu ? ;o)
 
well, even if activity is low, i somehow fooled myself into thinking i'd get more feedback / questions on the slideshow...
i get that nagging feeling it might have been overlooked by some...well let me bump it one last time, then i will leave you guys to your recreation frenzy ;o)...

don't forget : read instructions above / activate sound

http://snack.to/phjsdas8
 
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