A Vagrant's Story...

A young man journeying to save what matters most to him.  selfless to a fault, he would lay down his life for her's without second thought.

Finalised concept of my protagonist, he is known as 'The Vagrant'.  though born a slave, he was raised in the art of combat akin to the level of a Spartan.  the tribal markings around his arms signify this, though unlike his 'slave collar' tattoo around his neck, the marks on his arms and chest aren't just inked into his skin; they're burnt on.  the bandages represent his rebellion against his upbringing, an attempt to hide his unsightly 'scars'.  he wields a standard falchion, worn and rusted, but otherwise still deadly.

The design was inspired by many characters:  Ashley Riot from Vagrant Story and Wander from Shadow of the Colossus were my main sources for the overall look.  Raiden from the Metal Gear Solid Series was my inspiration for the face.  in terms of character and personality though, Princess Mononoke's Ashitaka was what i was going for; a strong willed warrior who's altruistic in nature.

The picture itself underwent many face lifts, but it turned out rather surprisingly in the end.  the colours were once again a product of my 'keep experimenting until it looks decent' process, using Photoshop's adjustment settings.  it's over-exposed, but it looks better this way compared to my bland initial colours.  Here's the mockups i started off with:

Overall, i'm quite happy with how it turned out.  gonna start storyboarding now...

Dragons & Dragons

A little something unrelated to my shortfilm.  it's the first painting i did in Painter without doing any line art.  took about 5-6 hours to paint.  i believe i used an oil brush for this.  the concept was intended for an intern i was helping teach 3DS Max to.  we ended up modeling it after we worked on the turnarounds.

Here's the finished low poly 3D model clocking in at 3356 polys. spent about 2 days modeling it.  did a simple 3 point lighting setup with the point light having ray-traced shadows.  also turned on light tracer and exposure for some ambient lighting and additional highlights for the render.  i might rig and give it a proper texture one day.

The Eye in the Sky

They looked up and saw it:  a piercing gaze.  a great expanse.  a size too imaginable to fathom.  what they saw was but a fraction.  there and then did they know that they could only be staring at the eye of God.

An unknown entity that appeared in the skies centuries ago, the local people worship it as a God of malevolence and chaos.  it goes by many names, but is more commonly known as the Blood God or Blood Eye, for only sacrifices made in blood are enough to quell its fury.

The idea came about from 'the eye in the sky', a term relating to God.  i also remember being in the library when i was in primary school and seeing a book by the same name, with the cover art being exactly that: an eye in the sky.  the moment i saw it i thought, "woah...what an awesome idea!".  the peacock feathers were accidental, but i'm glad i threw it in since it adds to the whole 'eye' concept.  that, and i love repetition :)

The line art took quite a while to finish.  i swear those squigly bits took forever.  the colours worked well with the lines this time around.  i stuck with yellows and reds, with subtle hints of violet and blue for the colours.  i realized i couldn't do a rush job after my first few attempts at colouring turned out mediocre.  an adjustment layer in Photoshop for contrast made the lines and colours blend rather well, saving me time to have to colour my lines.