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

VILARCANE said:
what do you like/love / dislike/hate about it comp. to previous instalments ?

ps : are there even dragons in DS2, as i remember fondly spending an hour shooting arrows at the red dragon by the bridge using dirty hide and peek tactics (arrows were about as efficient as toothpicks but actually got the better of him in the end without me getting barbecued to oblivion)
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I love that there's a lot more of the bolded part, so you should too.

I've beaten it now, and would highly recommend. It doesn't feel as classic as Dark Souls did, but it's still great, and a lot longer than it appears.

I guess my main gripe is the lack of variation with some of the enemies. There're a lot of soldiers and warriors and big armoured guys, and very little of the weird and wonderful.

Otherwise it's much the same as Mr Fury said.
 
I love the personalities in this new drawing. The knight's going balls-to-the-wall offense. His stance is reckless, maybe even angry. He's dashing forward in a straight line, completely exposed. The dragon, on the other hand, has a disturbingly human-like face. Calm and intelligent. He's crouched somewhat defensively, probably charging up his fire breath, as if he's seen this attack thousands of times before. That's also probably how he got that scar on his right eye. I can't tell if it's fear, respect, resignation, or pure concentration on the dragon's face, but it's almost as though it's the knight that's the wild beast, rather than the dragon. Whether you intended it to be so or not, this scene is far more thoughtful and emotional than the typical knight vs. dragon battles you see nowadays. Wonderful.

As for DS2, once you get the hang of abusing spells and roll invincibility it becomes a kinda walk in the park. I've got a Crystal Magic Weapon buffed sorceress with both magic and pyromancy, and you have a solution for everything. No shield, two-hand like a boss. If the enemy likes it up close and personal, roll and slash. If the enemy likes to sit back and spam, I can do it better (since I have invincible rolls lol). Solo PVE of course. Not as good for PVP though. Best strategy for that is a big fuckin' shield. Turtle, poke with light weapon, and fish for backstabs. The shield break attack is way too slow for anything. Retarded.
 
I see that my question about DS2 brought the experts and hardcore fans out in the open, thanks for the comments and tips to all of you.

Now about the drawing, again brucege, as always you managed to catch most of the intentions behind the design, and always you spotted each tiny detail (like the scar from previous battles, you did not mention the damaged wings but i am sure you spotted them as well)...

Yes, i definitely wanted the dragon to perspire intelligence and show how much unimpressed he was by the wild charge of the knight...
That is why i gave him this defensive rather than offensive stance, drew him with his maw shut rather than open showing all its teeth as most dragon drawings do
...actually, i did not intend to make it look as if he was going to breathe acid (green dragon dearest :) as you think i did, the fumes are just here to show that he is exhaling acid gases through his nostrils, but it also makes the threat quite obvious to the berserk knight.

So yes, i love that sentence of yours in the review : "I can't tell if it's fear, respect, resignation, or pure concentration on the dragon's face, but it's almost as though it's the knight that's the wild beast, rather than the dragon"
A bit of work went into the shadow of the knight as well, if i may add, to give the drawing enough depth and portray the knight almost as flying (like a dragon) to its demise.

Originally, i wanted to draw a knight (tiny one) impaled through the right horn (you can still see traces of the eraser where i'd drawn the rough) to show the size of the actual dragon, but it looked a bit odd and ruined the balance and "clean" (kinda :) ominous look of the dragon.

Please continue reviewing my latest stuff, it is so much fun...how did your test (of what i dunno) go btw ?
 
The test was on electrochemistry and mass spectroscopy. Typical science shit. Feelin' pretty good about it though, so hopin' for the best.

I was workin' on some gothic lolita stuff for the one-shot challenge, and my thoughts naturally gravitated to a certain Tira alt of yours from way back. Best part is that feather placement. Really jaunty and cabaret/cancan-ish. Really sexy. The only detail I question is the vertical stripes on the corset crashing perpendicularly into the horizontal lines of the skirt. Even so, she's nothing short of glamorous.
 
Electrochemistroscopy, good lord :)

Glad you remember that one, and i might agree with your comment, but the stripes are very typical of cabaret dresses in France.

Anyways, please watch this one slideshow again (very short one) and go to the last picture right after the final shot with bounty hunter Tira and the word "Fin", you see, problem solved, no more stupid stripes, and slightly increased sex appeal :P

http://www.photosnack.com/my-slideshows/details/pt3s78im?jsalbum=1
 
For this last art for a while, i tried something different.
My idea was to make a pencil sketch out of a CAS i made, so here a reinterpretation of Ares from my greek gods and myths CAS roster. You will easily spot a few differences with the original, but i wanted to convey something different...

I'll write no design notes, because, you know, there is this mad scientist brucege and i wouldn't want to take the food off his table :P

 
CLAWS_INC said:
Hey man, really love your stuff but your Boba is the bomb! Can you plzzzzz post the helmet formula? Thank you sooooo much!
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Well, thx and sorry man, i can't really give an exact formula because it is all slider stuff, all i can say is you need to use the biker helmet, the feathers of strength (and yes, it might be pretty impossible to find the right combination of axes because it took me close to 1/2 to get this right from all angles. I'll see if i can post something more specific later on, k ?
Really important that it blends perfectly with the helmet visor to add this sci fi look

For the antenna, use two horns and size them accordingly and align the long one with the visor button on the right side...

The rest is a combination of stickers to do the stripes, nothing you couldn't figure out (i used squares with round corners and "1 sticker" i think...
 
Very anatomically acccurate musculature. One of the most naked versions of Ares I've seen though lol. Interesting that the god of war's using such a tiny dagger, but he must have lost his sword trying to defend against a hail of arrows or something. Can't tell why he's frothing at the mouth. He must be reaaally pissed, which is unusual for a god, especially since he doesn't seem to be wounded in any way. Pointed teeth too. Which is also surprising. I'm gonna guess that smoking skull dagger's messin' with his mind somehow. Turned him feral. Maybe a "gift" from Hades. This is a really tough one.
 
Ares is mistakenly often portrayed wearing heavy battle armor, but if your read a bit more about him, you will learn he was a simple warrior with swift feet (hence the lunging stance). Usually he was riding a chariot, wearing only a helmet on his head. In his hands he was holding a shield, a short sword or a spear.
He was a very difficult character to deal with, very unpopular among gods, frequently challenging his half sisters Artemis and Athena in open conflict, especially during the trojan war. This is supposed to be him fighting against Athena (i did not expect you to guess that lol), and you could say he had to take a special potion from Dyonisos to get into feral / berserk mode, hence the drool and pointy teeth...you were quite close on that one !

As said, i wanted him to be close to my SC5 version of Ares, i just thought it'd be more historically true (yes i know it is just greek lore) to give him a short dagger/sword and a small round shield rather than the badass sword like the one i gave my CAS. On second thoughts, Pat's swift style would have fitted him just as good and might have been more accurate from a mythos perspective.

Know that the headgear and helmet design i did is very close (eye excluded) from the helmet he is sometimes represented with

how's that for a reply :P

Many thanks to both of you for the compliments on the anatomy, it took quite a while to finetune (starting from bobbles and ovals)


jxhp.jpg
 
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Ugh....I hate being so off the mark. I don't think I fully understood your Ares when you first released him. Yeah, the design's one of those masterpieces that don't really click until you do your research, kinda like the classic Street Fighter designs. The black skin reminds me alot of those paintings on the Greek vases/amphoras. A few tweaks to lore, like the third eye and floating plume keeps the authentic design fresh and modern. I never would've thought of a telekinetic Ares lol.
 
brucege said:
Ugh....I hate being so off the mark. I don't think I fully understood your Ares when you first released him. Yeah, the design's one of those masterpieces that don't really click until you do your research, kinda like the classic Street Fighter designs. The black skin reminds me alot of those paintings on the Greek vases/amphoras. A few tweaks to lore, like the third eye and floating plume keeps the authentic design fresh and modern. I never would've thought of a telekinetic Ares lol.
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Black skin explanation ...A+ you passed ! YES thank you you were not off the mark as you always hit my artistic sweetspot bro and i love you for that (platonically speaking :)
 
VILARCANE said:
Well, thx and sorry man, i can't really give an exact formula because it is all slider stuff, all i can say is you need to use the biker helmet, the feathers of strength (and yes, it might be pretty impossible to find the right combination of axes because it took me close to 1/2 to get this right from all angles. I'll see if i can post something more specific later on, k ?
Really important that it blends perfectly with the helmet visor to add this sci fi look

For the antenna, use two horns and size them accordingly and align the long one with the visor button on the right side...

The rest is a combination of stickers to do the stripes, nothing you couldn't figure out (i used squares with round corners and "1 sticker" i think...
Click to expand...
Thank you, how i log/write down all of my complicated recipes is i jus go into editor & jus count however many clicks to the left or to the right on the sliders. Yes it is a time eater BUT it works well. As for the helmet, i mainly wanted the feathers of strength adjustments. I have done evrything else on mine. Some things i borrowd from u, most i did not. I love good ideas etc. maybe one day soon i will post a few of my babies! Thx again my friend!
 
based on a height 4/normal build boba

FoS ExEq slider values (top to bottom) :

H : -12
V : 2
B : 12
W : 21
L : -34
D : -50
RV : 46
RH : 6
A : -105

Let me know if that works for you...
Now the only thing is kindly request from you is to deliver on your proposal and actually post your boba (and other creations) on this board. You have been a lurker too long, come out in the open and get valuable feedback from a community that will bloom again thanks to our new extra-mod-inaire Le Bello du petit Frigo !
 
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