FINAL | ARTWAR 2 | 2D | Saturday Knight | MDashow

mdashow 2017-12-31 20:39:32 UTC #1

Michael Dashow
mdashow@michaeldashow.com
Website / Facebook Art Page / Instagram / Tumblr / ArtStation / sorry, no Twitter

final entry images:

Original first post follows:

Hi, all! I'm new here, but this seems like a fun challenge so I'm looking forward to working on it and giving and getting feedback from you all.

I'm going with the side of light. Lots and lots of light, and a great Paladin from the days of yore... Specifically, the era of disco! Feathered hair, mirror-balls, flared bell-bottoms, the works! Here are a few early sketches. Let me know what you think and if certain aspects of one or the other are working for you... Cheers!

Mike

jonathan-barker 2018-01-01 01:25:31 UTC #2

@mdashow Hahaha! Love it! So original!

sanguine 2018-01-01 18:43:04 UTC #3

So 80's!! Such an original idea!

rgdraw 2018-01-02 15:05:43 UTC #4

I like the idea, good luck!

mdashow 2018-01-02 16:58:35 UTC #5

Some more active poses, really rough. (And because I'm on the theme of disco, why not roller disco?)

I probably neglected to mention: Her pauldrons are going to be disco balls. But the thing about disco balls is that they only sparkle when a light source is aimed at them, so she's got this cadre of cherubs that follow her around with flashlights (and a boom box) to make sure that she has a constant supply of light (and music.) Here are some cherub sketches:

So that's where I am today. Cheers!

mdashow 2018-01-02 20:50:43 UTC #6

Loose sketch-over of the last two sketches I posted. The active pose and the overall attitude are a lot more fun, I think. (What do you think?)

mr_dessin 2018-01-02 20:53:55 UTC #7

It looks really fun haha ^^
Good luck @mdashow !

rgdraw 2018-01-03 00:27:08 UTC #8

Haha OMG! I love the little angels with flashlights, so funny!
And i approve the rollers this way you can get even more dynamic poses
Keep up the cool work

mdashow 2018-01-03 04:48:38 UTC #9

Thanks, folks!
Here are some sketches of designs for her sword's hilts (and some possible first names for the character.)

P.s. Can anyone tell me what you have to do to be able to have an avatar image for the forums? I seem to have one on the main site but not here in the forums. I figure I have to post enough or do something to "earn" it but I have no idea what!

rgdraw 2018-01-03 14:42:02 UTC #10

I vote for sword n°5 !
And no for the avatar you don't have to earn anything it should be visible, but seems like there's some conflict between the main website and the forum part, let's hope the devs team fix it soon

mdashow 2018-01-05 06:06:48 UTC #11

Thanks @rgdraw. cubeBrush tells me the devs are still on vacation through tomorrow, so hopefully next week I'll get my avatar.

Thanks also for opining on the sword. I liked the unicorn head too but after messing around with it, the full horse-head made the hilt too large, so I removed the head and kept just the horn and the wings.

Here's the design with a lot more refinement, not fully cleaned up but a lot further along than the last scribbles:

I also have a scribble in there of my planned setting, some kind of gothic cathedral. She really needs to be inside so that the light coming from her disco ball armor has something to bounce off of!

rgdraw 2018-01-05 11:19:39 UTC #12

Devs don't need vacation! We need them working all the time! xD

Nice progress keep up like that !

mystarryspace 2018-01-06 05:06:46 UTC #13

I love the idea of this design, it’s really cute! Gotta feel bad for that one poor cherub holding the boombox, though

mdashow 2018-01-06 23:47:19 UTC #14

@mystarryspace, thanks! I suspect you'll feel more sorry for him now: The boombox was too small compared to the flashlights so I scaled it up more. (It's also funnier that way.)

I spent this afternoon modeling vaulted ceilings in Max to work out the proper perspective for a cathedral-like setting. As noted earlier, the disco lights all need some walls to bounce off of, so here they are in progress.

I also made her legs even longer to exaggerate the proportions more.

At this point I'm pretty close to locking down the layout and cleaning up the line art so if anyone has any feedback on layout or design, now's a great time for it... Thanks!

mdashow 2018-01-07 05:43:53 UTC #15

Line art finished for my disco paladin, Crystal the Saturday Knight. On to color...!

Anatomic 2018-01-07 06:02:58 UTC #16

love a good pun! nice work dude good to see a lighter more humor oriented take on the theme.

rgdraw 2018-01-07 10:25:18 UTC #17

Haha! nice one !
Nice progress on this dude

evehartman 2018-01-07 14:46:24 UTC #18

Such a fun character, lovely to see one like this up here! Great design so far, keep it up!

mdashow 2018-01-08 03:58:55 UTC #19

Thanks for the notes, all! Glad you're all appreciating the humor and light-heartedness I'm going for.
I spent part of this morning just blocking out color areas - always boring! - but by this afternoon I was able to get onto painting. While it's not done, I'm really happy with the results so far. It feels very 70s to me, which of course is the entire goal.
I originally sketched the smile as a toothy grin, but I started wondering whether it was TOO toothy so I did another version with a more open mouth. Do you like one more than the other?

Cheers!

rgdraw 2018-01-08 11:33:41 UTC #20

Nice! I like the more open mouth better, great progress thought!