Creation In The State Of Art - A SCV Gallery by King Slender

King Slender

[06] Combatant
Here are several SCV characters that I have created, along with their backstories, that I would like to share. Comments and critiques are welcome. I hope you enjoy.


Ironsides

Although Ironsides has been in the navy since he was 13, due to various disciplinary actions as well as his illiteracy, he has failed to advance beyond the rank of Seaman. Unsophisticated, yet always in search of adventure, he has a penchant for strong drink, strong women, gambling, and fighting in exotic ports of call. Surprisingly, he carries something of a torch for Taki, whom he met only once in a dingy Osaka tavern. After rebuffing his clumsy advances, she soundly defeated him in an arm-wrestling contest. She declined to comment.
ironsides1.jpg ironsides2.jpg


Sha Sha


The product of extensive genetic engineering, Sha Sha is the culmination of a top-secret CCP project known as “Deep Panda”. Born in 2063, she was raised by the State to be the ultimate ideological warrior, ready to enforce the strict Party line with unrelenting brutality. Never without her Little Red Book, Quotations of Chairman Mao, nothing gives her more pleasure than soaking her pristine white gloves with the blood of the freedom-loving. In 2089, however, a spontaneous democratic uprising threatened the CCP to extinction and Sha Sha was sent back in time to wipe out democracy once and for all and establish a Communist world order.
shasha1.jpg shasha2.jpg


Ziggy

Screwed-up eyes and screwed-down hairdo (like some cat from Japan), Ziggy came to earth solely to teach us how to rock. Although he considers himself a teacher at heart, he won’t hesitate to lay the beat down on those he considers rock poseurs with his intergalactic guitar of justice.
ziggy1.jpg ziggy2.jpg ziggy3.jpg


Elisa

A sorrowful creature, Elisa led a hard and tragic life. A victim of her own otherworldly beauty, she was taken as a spoil of war to be made the concubine of an evil overlord. When she refused to acquiesce, she was systematically tortured and abused to madness and eventually death. Her spirit, however, remained unbroken and she was thus deemed worthy of resurrection as an agent the goddess, Elesium. She has now roams the earth as a kind of “avenging angel”, vowing to destroy all those who wronged her, wherever they may be.
elisa1.jpg elisa3.jpg elisa2.jpg


Otto

Otto is the last surviving member of an ancient aristocratic family whose military exploits can be traced back to the Teutonic Knights. He is a warrior from a time long forgotten and a country that no longer exists; a veteran of innumerable conflicts and skirmishes whose causes and outcomes have now been lost to history. He fights on, oblivious to his own obsolescence.
otto1.jpg otto2.jpg otto3.jpg


Osomo

Osomo’s origins are mysterious. What is known, however, is that she is a gynoid from a near dimension where she was a test pilot, of sorts. During one such test, she “phased out” and reappeared in our world. Her further ambitions remain unknown.
osomo1.jpg osomo2.jpg osomo3.jpg


Thanks for checking this out!
 
Tell you what, Otto and Osomo demanded my attention. They make me think steampunk anime old school style. However, they could use tweaks like Otto's coat is a bit plain. If he has history from some royal background, add some patterns with colors and maybe a griffin or some sort to balance out the black coat and outfit. Osomo's pants is shiny than everything else. I'd keep the design of the pants, and switch it to any pants.

Ironsides is a simple rugged sailor who has potential to stand out. My beef is: if he has a hat, why not a jacket and some boots? I'll leave it to you on how to design him.

Ziggy is flamboyant but I'm confused of him. There's nothing wrong with having bright screaming colors, but they're not coherent. If he's all about justice, then why does he rep a rainbow? Sure Japanese visual kei fashion is weird, however Ziggy feels like a homo version of them. A simple 2-3 color scheme can tie this guy back to where he needs to be. Because the prop is radically amazing with creativity. However, his whole design needs direction. Characters for inspiration that come to mind is Jin Saotome because he's justice like and radical like Ziggy. Captain Commando also works because he has a squad that he leads and Ziggy also likes to lead via guitar.


Sha Sha has the logo and the Chinese look going on, but she feels like another sexy fetish that will be forgotten. A Communist that likes to get her hands bloody, needs a practical outfit to protect herself. I can't suggest anything but google what every communist wears, and then cookie cut an idea out of it. She is coherent in color scheme, yet she lacks a strong impression to backup her color scheme.

Elisa feels like a raped design that will never see the light of day, but I can't seem to put my finger on what I'd critique on. Maybe she should wield Devil Jin's style as it could suit her personality very well. I'd also remove the wings because Devil Jin's style already has wings. I'd also add some brown and gray smear stickers that signify how filthy and wretched she is. Finally, move the stabs near her boobs some where else. She isn't Angol Fear. Angol Fear was one disgusting sexual fetish design of a character that was a joke.


My final review is this: It's yet another breathe of fresh air with the amount of mediocre anime originals, generic black and red knights, generic _____ recreation from _____ series, and god forbid sexualized, juvenile, dirty joke characters who just look atrocious.
 
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Thank you for an honest critique -some of which I took to heart in slight character refinements. I strive generally for authenticity and "rational" details in my designs, but I'm not above a little fan service now and then... it is a video game, after all. If you tend toward a steampunk aesthetic or a more muted palate, you might appreciate the following Great War era character:


Seren

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Welcome to 8WR, KS! Here's some of my thoughts.

Ironsides: not the prettiest CaS I've seen, but the character design's excellent. The striped shirt, white pants, and scarf are all classic sailor tropes. You also grimed him up nicely. Cool cigar too. The one thing you might reconsider is the top hat, which is a bit too posh for the rest of the outfit.

Sha Sha: interesting mix of Chinese and Soviet motifs. The color scheme is very bold and very communist. You should try place-by-view to avoid the stretching out the stickers on the hammer and sickle though. I'd also get rid of the bandit mask, which is too ghetto to jive with the qipao. Try going for a Super Villain look instead. Perhaps making a cool eye mask like DC's Huntress via stickers or cool headgear like Marvel's Scarlet Witch via SpecEq. If nothing else, just try randomly throwing on some jewelry or making some hair extensions to use up those SpecEq slots. Overall, great design with a lot of potential.

Ziggy: very JoJo-esque. I really wouldn't place patterns directly next to each other though. He definitely needs some solid colors to break up the chaos. The lightning bolt T-shirt is really cool though. Very 80s. Cool guitar too. You even got the strings using some kind of stripe pattern.

Elisa: one of my favorites. I've seen plenty of fallen angels here, but you pulled this one off with a style of your own. The chains are a no-brainer. Some people just splatter blood all over the place, but you use the blood to tell a story. Very cool how the stakes wounds bleed from the chest onto the robe. It looks like her eyes were gouged out too. Poor girl, but every part of the design just clicks. Bravo. One bit about her bio. As an assistant arbiter of justice, she has no business digging up old grudges or transgressions. Justice is blind, after all ... in terms of objectivity, not lack of functioning eyeballs like for this poor girl.

Otto: that's a lot of black. It works for this German aristocrat though. Great work with the helmet spike. Great facial hair + glasses combo too. I see you made a medal out of a griffon sticker and sun sticker. Like for Ironsides, simple but effective.

Osomo: cool gynoid. I've never seen that combination of SpecEq on a helmet before. Clever use of the earrings. Nice subtle patterns. The black/red/gold color scheme is very steampunk. The sticker work on the shoes is good. Nicely balanced color distribution too. You could try playing out the robot angle by cutting out the clothes with some patches of silver or zipper stickers, which have a cool ribbed texture. Like this, for example: a mini-gallery (http://8wayrun.com/threads/a-mini-gallery.12594/page-8#post-658371)

Seren: this one is exceptionally good. A dark, grungy look reflective of war in the trenches. Phenomenal job with the head. Clever how you separated the hat from the cowl and blended the mask with the helmet with stickers and special equipment. That gas mask is amazing too. Looks like she was inspired by Fallout: New Vegas.

You're off to a great start, KS. I see you've found the contest thread already. Here's a sticker technique thread which might help you with layering: School of CaS: Advanced CaS Technique (http://8wayrun.com/threads/school-of-cas-advanced-cas-technique.18282/).
Keep up the great work!
 
brucege: Thanks very much for taking the time to look at my designs and to comment on them. I'm always curious how others might interpret my work or have some suggestions about other (or better) ways of doing things. And I can see that you also appreciate the little details. When it comes to 19th century naval uniforms, don't forget that the top hat was very much part of the uniform even for everyday seamen:
IMG_3420.PNG IMG_3422.JPG
The immediate alternative was the Old Hat which just looked too big... And maybe Ziggy Stardust is just a little before everyone's time:
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I also read your posts on Advanced CaS Technique and not only was that a great idea, but they were very helpful as well. I spend 90% of my SCV time in Creation just experimenting with how different pieces fit together. I really hope they retain and expand this feature if SCVI ever materializes -I guess it's my weird idea of fun.
 
Thanks guys! I'll update this thread from time to time if I feel I do anything particularly creative.


Patchouli


Usually only used to fighting “The Establishment”, Patty’s entire experience in SCV is merely an extremely intense hallucination, the result of experimenting with peyote one evening with some friends in the New Mexico desert in June, 1968 –a fact of which she remains completely unaware.

maryjane.jpg maryjane2.jpg SOULCALIBUR Ⅴ_17.png
 
This was a study in helmet-building, which is my favorite kind of work in Creation. Starting with a bald head, it consists of two zipper stickers (front and back), two circle stickers (left and right sides), an elongated sphere (covering the ears), the Hero crest (reversed), the samurai helmet horns (visor), and the circlet (decoration).

Prion

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That's an amazing combination! Using patterns on special equipment is one of my favorite features to experiment with.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys! I'm back with a few new characters to inspire you.

First up, a Native American character. These have to handled with some care as they can easily fall victim to cliche:

thunder2.jpg

I've done a couple of WWI characters above, so next we have a WWII character:

heidi.jpg

As I said before, my favorite kind of work is using the pieces in unexpected ways. Here we have two examples, one male and one female:

swath.jpg nocturia1.jpg nocturia.jpg

Finally, just to show that I have a sense of humor, I give you The King:

theking.jpg theking1.jpg
 
yes it's really addictive to build stuff in SCV, if we get a sequel or a spiritual successor to the franchise; creation is a must. Because it adds so much value to the game.
 
So, after The Witcher: Wild Hunt, it seems we have some downtime before Dark Souls 3. Of course I'd find my way back to SCV! Thus, I present a new character in my "Busty Girls From Outer Space" series:
SOULCALIBUR Ⅴ_5.png SOULCALIBUR Ⅴ_2.png SOULCALIBUR Ⅴ_4.png Stara.jpg

I'd long grown tired of the standard equipment, so she is mostly the result of using stickers (the button pocket specifically) directly on the body to form a kind of space suit.
 
I've tried to move on, but I guess I just enjoy playing dress-up too much. Here we have a couple new gender-benders; that is, I used the female model to make male characters, both for the challenge and to be able to use certain exclusively female clothing options:

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SOULCALIBUR Ⅴ_5.png SOULCALIBUR Ⅴ_1.png SOULCALIBUR Ⅴ_2.png

Especially when you change the voice, this actually works really well.
 
The Great War & Modern Memory
With both the 100th anniversary of WWI and Battlefield 1 dropping later this October, there's been some increased interest in the Great War and I love designing for it. Two new ones join our Tommy and Prussian in this series: a German trooper and an American.

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Hi King Slender...

First off i won't give you any "like"s because i think a few words of comments are much more meaningful to a CAS artist.
I must say upfront i like your avatar, and i actually drew my Corto Maltese lookalike not so long ago and i love Hugo Pratt's unique style (RIP).

back to the topic of your CAS, there are good things, some really good, and some area for improvement as well.

-the first thing i noticed is that you have an eye for colors and know that sometimes muted colors achieve a much greater effect than saturated ones, even though it is fun to do that sometimes like on Ziggy, whenever it makes sense (as i did on some of mine as well ie. daft punk)

-second thing is that your design are rather coherent, and you have put some reasoning behind them meaning that each has its own theme and identity

-you make good and creative use of ExEq as well, and i think i have not seen that combination of pieces for the helmet build of Seren. I like the concept of a female WWI steampunk soldier, very intriguing...may i ask, is the face just as detailed beneath...i would go for a faced with burn marks from mustard gas using the bump mapped face paint painted in skin color if i were you...brrr, spooky :)
Your helmets builds in general are exquisite and very intricate, i like Prion's in particular because it has that old-school sci-fi look if you see what i mean, ulala !

My favourite of your CAS, meaning the one that struck me silly, is probably celeste, because of the color and pattern work, but Otto, busty girl from outer space and Prion come close second.

Now you have started thinking outside the box, i would advise you to go for the sets rather than the pieces, in other words try to make other series like the very good WWI series rather than making some, albeit well executed or gender bender, rather generic indian, pirate, indians, space robots lacking a bit in the personality / originality departement. I love Elisa though.

I can see you got much potential, and what you do remembers me of the angle i took when i started my CAS journey, so i would definitely encourage you to not drop the dress-up game, and i will drop by once i a while and hopefully get blessed with a "strike me silly" CAS.

In case you don't know my CAS, you can always fasttrack to the video in my thread
...which i will bump to the front again with my latest drawing in tribute to Nice terror attacks...i am french, just so you know, and it ain't good to be french right now :(

CASt away !
 
Thank you for your comments and suggestions; I'll be sure to check out your designs. Je Suis Charlie!
 
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