ART WAR | 2D | Reyda the Star Gladiator | HyperMode

[HyperMode]

Most recent update: 2017/02/25

FINAL SUBMISSION

Original post

Hey everyone!

I'm new the board and a little late in jumping into the contest, but I've been pluggin' away at it for a few weeks before starting this thread. I know you wanna get to the pictures so here's how I began!

Given the broad parameters of the prompt, it took me a bit to figure out what I wanted to do. I started with silhouettes and scribbles, as you do, to see what I could come up with. I initially wanted to do something like a cosmic version of Pete Morbacher's Angel illustrations, but I wasn't feelin' it.

So then I went back to the drawing board. I recalled an obscure PS1 game by the name "Star Gladiator" and then it clicked. I'd do a space gladiator type character set in pulpy sci-fi universe in the vein of Fifth Element or Megas XLR. Space Aliens. Space Bars. Space Pirates. Space Bounty Hunters. SPACE!!! I settled on three of six new silhouettes and moved on from there.

I did a first run of designs aaaaaand I wasn't really feelin' it yet. Turns out I was shakin' off a bit of rust from the designer parts of my brain.

Second time's the charm! Grabbed me some more reference, specifically of crustaceans and various roman armor, and ended up with six really solid candidates.

I've already have two favorites of these six, but I'd like to see what you guys think before I move forward.

In the mean time, I'll be working on her face and what she looks like under the armor!

As always, all feedback is welcome! Best of luck to those of you reading who are also participating.

[glubglubz]

My vote is for either A or E.
Definitely a great start!

[rgdraw]

Great concept already curious to see more !

[malcom]

Welcome to the scifi family. Good to have you. I saw this on levelup fb group like 10 mins ago. I see a lot of people going with E. To me though, I'm a fan of design D but I see why E is popular. Very heroic and has a ready to go attitude to her design. It really shows. The bug elements help as well. Good work. Hopefully we can help eachother as we're on the same team
Best of luck.

[rgdraw]

Saw it too! Fun coincidence, i saw the thread here and just 2min after i saw it on facebook, internet is a really small world
And nice to see a levelupper here @malcom !

[HyperMode]

Thank you, @malcom! And yeah, it's a small world indeed, @rgdraw. It's very cool to see some Level Uppers around these parts.

I've yet to do a final tally on them, but I always find it a bit weird the way some people go. I felt E is actually one of the weaker designs of the six, but who knows, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, hahaha.

[malcom]

@rgdraw @HyperMode Yeah thats pretty funny. Also to more I look at the designs. I'm liking C and F a lot as well. Love there shapes. the Guns of F are the best. Cool helmet design as well.

[rgdraw]

All of them are really cool honestly, you're gonna have a hard time making your choice. And if that can help you i would choose A, B or D, or maybe mix some of them? Anyway good luck !

[glubglubz]

Yeah, they're definitely all good.

Here is my thought process...
-C and F have very good shape language but are a bit too extreme
-D has a cool feel but is a bit too busy
-B reads clearly but the shapes are not as interesting as the others
-A and E read clearly and have very interesting shapes

I hope that helps in some weird way

[HyperMode]

Thanks for all the feedback, chums! After tallying all the feedback I got, design B is the clear winner with design D in second place. That said, D was my personal favorite of the six, so I'll probably give it the star treatment after I'm done with the contest.

While I was waiting for the results to come in, I plugged away at what our hero looks like behind the helm.

I still wanna do a liiiiittle bit more exploration but I think I'm almost there.

[Evolvyn]

Can we have Design B with Design's D shield? A spear and shield combo? lol! Love your progress. It's nice to see what it looks like before it gets rendered. ^^

[HyperMode]

Since sleep is for suckers, I made some headway on the front and back views of the design.

I'll admit, the design's growing on me even though D was my favorite. However, what this is missing that D had was personality. Design D looked like the kind of Gladiator who's won hundreds of battles. This one looks a little too rank and file to be worthy of the title of champion.

The next step is add some decorative elements that'll really up her presence.

[rgdraw]

This is epic! Great work !
I like the first face i feel like it fits the design very well

[HyperMode]

Hey guys! It's been a bit. Wanted to squeeze an update in before the weekend since I'll be out of town.

I've largely been working on concepting her pole arm and I thiiiiiink I almost have it. I narrowed it down to two designs and I'll do a few iterations on those when I get back.

Next up, I very quickly started working on one iteration to make her more heroic looking.

It's not too much at the moment since I'm a bit short on time, but I'll be exploring that further once I get back home on Sunday.

[rgdraw]

She looks bad ass and all those weapon design too ! Nice work

[glubglubz]

I think you may be adding too much to your design. You have a lot of small details, but don't have enough large areas where the eye can rest.

your weapons are very cool. All of my picks already had check marks next to them.

[dldimartiny]

Ohh men.. that´s looking good, i think you should´t cover the face, the facial expressions looks awesome specially the first one, keep going men looking awesome

[glubglubz]

I super agree.

That first one is a very cool head design.
It would be a shame to have it covered up.

[SquareTipArt]

AWWWW YEAH! nice feature Dave!

[HyperMode]

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

Yeah, I definitely agree on the helmet. I still want her to have some form of head protection but I might have her holding it in her hand or something in the final illustration rather than wearing it.

@glubglubz
Definitely a fair point on the over-detailing. It's gonna be a tricky balance to strike to be sure. Hopefully I'll find it through some more exploration.

Thanks again for the feedback and support guys! I'm at work right now, but I'll have another update tonight!