Some More Refined Sketches

      My postings lately have been more intermittent that I would like, but then so has been my ability to do personal artwork.  As such, I've only got a couple of sketches this time around, though they are more refined than many of the past works I've posted here.

      The above sketches are largely the result of finding a fluorescent pink highlighter in my desk, and wanting to put it to use.  I'm no stranger to designing feminine mecha, but this is far more "conventionally feminine" then what I'm used to doing.  This got me thinking: wouldn't it be cool if Cartoon Network or a similar channel got someone like Genndy Tartakovsky to create a mecha show aimed at girls?

      This second sketch is the result of having played through Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.  Who could've guessed that a game about a gray-armored cyborg ninja would inspire me to get back to work on my own gray-armored cyborg ninja?  At any rate, the game's given me a lot of brain-food to mull over, artistically and conceptually.

Cheers,
Geoff

Settling Back Into Productivity

      It seems I keep missing posts here on the blog, in no small part thanks to my continued enjoyment of Digital Extremes' Warframe.  In light of that, I've done a few pieces of work based on the game.

      The first is a response to the "Suspicious Shipments" event, which occurred last weekend.  To give a bit of context for those unfamiliar with Warframe, the items being held (or dropped, as it were) by my Ember frame are rare items which were awarded with remarkable frequency during the event.

      Related to that, I really do love my Ember frame.  I've been playing as the more ornate Ember Prime recently, but I find that I ultimately prefer the less fancy look of the standard Ember.  In my own color scheme, of course.  As a reference artist, I usually don't do action poses, but I'm happy with how this one turned out.  I'm debating whether or not to further refine/ink the original lines and do a somewhat more developed version of this:

      Additionally, I've continued the long tradition among Warframe fans by doing a quick reference for how the "Vasto" revolver sidearm might look as a Prime weapon.  The original Vasto can be seen on the wiki for reference.

      Beyond that, and in completely predictable fashion, I'm still doing work on Novus Imperium.  First up is yet another iteration of Reina:

      Perhaps more interesting is that I've finally started doing work on figuring out the engineering of Reina's prosthetic limbs.  None of the below sketches show the prosthetics with their outer casing; this is all internal stuff.  You might need to click for a larger resolution to get all the little details.

1-  The anchor-points for her prosthetics are synthetically grown bone-like components which have been grafted to her truncated humerus' (in the case of her arms) and femurs (in the case of her legs).  The core frame components of her arms are articulated by ball-and-socket joints.  In addition to standard rotation, this allows the forearms to twist in a manner similar to natural arms.

2-  This simply demonstrates the series of myomer bundles layered over the frame which mimic not only the function, but also the positions, of organic muscles.

3-  The core of Reina's lower legs consists of three interleaved components, and her lower legs have a more pronounced curve compared to natural human legs.  The interleaved frame segments allow for a slight degree of flexibility in the "shin" area.  This combined with the exaggerated curve of the shins allows Reina to both absorb and exert a tremendous amount of force through her legs.

4-  The core of each knee joint contains a compact ultra-high-torque servomotor.  These motors are only employed when prolonged and extreme physical exertion is required.  In all other circumstances, the myomer bundle network is more than sufficient to articulate her legs.

      And lastly, I've finally gotten back to doing a bit of work on other NI characters who I've been neglecting, such as freelancer and mercenary Trent Valimund:

       More on him in the future.

Cheers,
Geoff

Where Did April Go?

      As far as online postings go, I pretty much missed the entire month of April.  That's not to say that I haven't been doing artwork.  I've simply been swamped with both wrapping up the school semester, as well as having discovered Digital Extremes' Warframe.  The game has incredibly good art direction, and has been quite inspirational.  It prompted me to try my hand at doing some designs based on Warframe:

      There's a fourth Warframe design that I've done some work with, but it's a collaboration and as such I'm not at liberty to toss that artwork up on the blog.  Not yet, anyway.

      As usual, I've still been working on designs for Novus Imperium.  These sketches are long overdue, though I'd rather not spoil the details regarding what exactly they are / how they fit into the universe.  The general idea, aesthetically speaking, was to attempt to create starship designs that are smooth and flowing, but also oriented along 90-degree angles.

      Beyond that, I've naturally still been working on the design of Reina's character.  I think I'm getting extremely close to nailing down the design of her armor.  Below are a series of small ink sketches testing out some poses (the middle sketch has had color applied digitally):

      This next one is just trying to figure out some of the less visible aspects of her design.  It's been long established that Reina's civilian gear includes a layer of body armor underneath her clothing, but I'd never devoted much effort to figure out what it looks like.  This is a start, at any rate:

      This last one is something that's taken far too long.  I've drawn many, many iterations of Reina's armor over the last couple of months, but this is the first version that I've been really happy with:

      I've really not got more to say about that one.  I'm just glad to finally have a design for the armor that I'm pretty much satisfied with.  I'm hoping that I'll burn out on Reina's design soon, so I can move on to some of the many other characters whose designs need my attention.  School's just about wrapped up, so I'm looking forward to getting back to both my own work and commission work over the summer.

Cheers,
Geoff

The Early Crunch

      Well then, I have been just slammed with schoolwork the last couple weeks.  While I am managing to keep up with my classes (something I'm both glad for and proud of) the artwork that I do for myself and for others has been suffering as a result.  But enough of my complaints.  You're here for artwork (what little there is this week).

      Have you ever had one of those ideas that ends up with you saying to yourself "This is so incredibly stupid, that I must make it happen"?  Because I've had one of those ideas, and this is it:

      This is the Balldam, and I am going to make a model of it.  Or rather, I'll be making a model of it when I have the time to.  It is for the most part the legendary RX-78-2 Gundam, except that the space where its chest and head should be is now filled with the chassis of an RB-79 Ball, frequently considered to be the most useless thing in all of Gundam.

      In other news, as should come as no surprise to regular viewers, I'm still having trouble figuring out the thigh plates on Reina's armor.  I like all of the individual components, but I just can't quite seem to make them fit together properly.

I should have some more substantial offerings in next week's post.

Cheers,
Geoff

Ninety-Degree Angles

      It seems that sometime last semester, something clicked in my mind and I started playing around with 90-degree angles in my designs.  The title of the post has a double meaning as well, as in addition to trying to incorporate 90-degree angles into the aesthetic of Novus Imperium, this week's post focuses on orthographic-format images.

      The first couple of images in this post are development art for two characters who I've not given as much attention as I'd have liked to.  First up here is Dee Typho, a Vhodan pilot.  I've made a few alterations to the look of the Vhodan since the last posted reference of her which I did a couple of years back, but for the most part, I've focused on bringing her attire in-line with my more current NI work.

      Second is Kouda, a Tegran.  Fun fact: the Tegrans were the first non-humanoid species I designed for NI, all the way back in the 8th grade.  They've undergone a tremendous amount of reworking since their initial inception, but I believe the original inspiration is still visible.  The shape of the head was based on a photograph of a horse skull, turned upright.  I recall there was a break on the skull resembling a mouth, and that's where the basic shape of the head came from.  As with Dee, most of the changes I've made to Kouda over his previous design are simply to bring his outfit up-to-date.

      This last one is yet again a concept for Reina's armor.  I've sketched out this armor many times over the last few months, and it's been a little different each time.  I've got the bodysuit, the chest armor, the boots and the gauntlets/bucklers pretty much figured out, but the thigh armor is still giving me problems.

Cheers,
Geoff

Getting to Know My Spacy People

Do you know what happens when I get side-tracked?  I forget to update my blog for a month-and-a-half, that's what.  Yes, a number of factors contributed to this unplanned hiatus, chief among them being model kits, Star Wars: The Clone Wars-themed artwork, and Skyrim.

But if you're anything like me, you don't read this blog for my words, you read it for the pretty pictures, so let's get to it.

First up, a study sheet of my character Reina Cloude, set in the original universe of Novus Imperium.  You may already be somewhat familiar with her, as she's been the subject of a previous post, and she occupies the background of my blog, come to think of it.  In fact, the little icon that appears on the tab you've opened this blog in is a little painting of her eye.  She's been the focus of a whole lot of development over the last couple years.

1-  This was just me getting warmed up.  I think I'm finally starting to get a grasp on how the various shapes of her torso fit together.

2-  Similar to the above, I've drawn Reina's face more times than I care to count, but that's an essential part of the development process.  I have to give her a defined look, and I have to get acquainted with every little detail to ensure that she has a consistent appearance.

3-  Finally trying out some ideas for the back of her civilian outfit.  I wanted to give it a slightly more sci-fi feel than the previous studies and sketches I'd done.

4&5-  I've been trying to figure out her armor's design for a while now.  It's a huge challenge, trying to make the armor look substantial enough to protect her, but still keep it light-weight and flexible enough for a stealth character like Reina.  I'm liking where it's going with the back and chest, but I can't seem to work out exactly how I want the stomach section to look.  It'll get there eventually.

Next up is a character who's been in the works for as long as Reina, but who I've only in the last two years rally made a lot of progress with: Timberwolfe, an ex-military freelancer who acts as a sort of adoptive father to Reina.  He's a Saldean, and alien species created by my close friend Kevin.  Externally, Saldeans are extremely similar to Humans.  Most of the differences are internal, the details of which I'll get into at some later date.  Suffice to say, their home planet of Saldea is a high-gravity world, and Saldeans are heavily muscled to counteract this.  On a Karic-like (Earth-like, basically) world, a Saldean is likely to be able to perform "impossible" feats of strength.

1&2-  A couple of head studies.  Similar to Reina above, this was primarily just to help myself get acquainted with the various details of his face.

3-  This may be the first image I've ever drawn of Timberwolfe without him wearing a bandanna, headband, or skull-cap.  I decided to extend that scar running up from his jawline through his eyebrow, up his forehead and over into his hair.  The scars on his head and shoulder are a couple of nasty souvaniers from the mission that ended his black-ops career and resulted in his going freelance.

Alternately:  "Timberwolfe, a proud member of the Solid Snake Hair Club for Men."

4&5-  Unlike Reina, Timberwolfe's armor has fallen into place without too much trouble.  There's still plenty of room for improvement, but I'm really happy with where it's going.  I've got sort of a blend of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Mass Effect influences going on with my current armor designs.  Also worth noting: his physique.  I'm trying to have his appearance show that he is obviously very strong, but also trim enough that he can really move when he needs to; vaulting over obstacles and leaping wide gaps when he needs to.

Also, he does have a real name, I just haven't figured out what it is yet.  "Timberwolfe" is simply his old black-ops call sign.

Also Also, here's some shameless self-promotion:  I'm currently taking commissions, for information, you can check Here.

So there it is.  My apologies for neglecting my readers (all three of them).  But I'm getting back into the groove, so expect weekly updates, at least.

Cheers, all.