Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

[octalot]

On the subject of skin, I've decided to experiment with different skintones. Since the cause of elven evolution in the UtBS setting is not entirely natural, it could make sense that the genes of their light-skinned ancestors are still getting expressed to an extent; causing a diversity of skin color far greater than could be expected in such a rather isolated population.
Visually I think the faction is going to be more interesting that way, and it leaves room if we want to keep white-skinned elves around.

I really like the new artwork. But, assuming that there will be only one portrait for each unit type implies that there's one main skin tone for each unit type. I'm worried that having diversity within the faction will lead to the unfortunate consequence of "dark-skinned soldiers/cannon fodder, light-skinned high-value mages".

[doofus-01]

On the subject of skin, I've decided to experiment with different skintones. Since the cause of elven evolution in the UtBS setting is not entirely natural, it could make sense that the genes of their light-skinned ancestors are still getting expressed to an extent; causing a diversity of skin color far greater than could be expected in such a rather isolated population.
Visually I think the faction is going to be more interesting that way, and it leaves room if we want to keep white-skinned elves around.

I really like the new artwork. But, assuming that there will be only one portrait for each unit type implies that there's one main skin tone for each unit type. I'm worried that having diversity within the faction will lead to the unfortunate consequence of "dark-skinned soldiers/cannon fodder, light-skinned high-value mages".

Most of the current portraits don't really look like the same person advancing through the (usually) three levels/ranks, so it should be pretty easy to mix skin colors up in portraits without going down that road.

Nice work, Lordbob.

[Gyra_Solune]

Hmm, what exactly does the Disengage ability or Shock weapon special mean?

[beetlenaut]

According to the files on zookeeper's link, Shock decreases an enemy's retaliation strikes by one, and Disengage allows a unit to move after attacking, but only if it hasn't moved yet.

[LordBob]

More sketching ! I revised the main fighter branch in order to account for various comments. The lvl1 fighter wears a padded tunic as far as armor goes, but if that's still too light he can have leather right from the start. The pose is still not final though, as I focused on design. Also, don't mind the spears - I will adjust their size and nastiness when I do the actual portraits.

Last, I detailed the beast rider line - both the main branch (the one that looks tankier) and leadership branch. There's just one thing I'm not sure about: do our elves come with the "my mount's my best pal, no need for reins" package ?
Similarly to the fighter line, if you think having just a leather breastplate for the lvl 1 unit feels too light, I can reserve that for the mounted scouts and give the lvl 1 rider the leather armor of the current lvl 2 leader

[Lord-Knightmare]

I am really loving the way the new Quenoth/Desert Elves are progressing, but a part of me thinks that the fighter line's advancements should have pikes or barbed tridents...
Anyways, carry on with your awesomeness, LordBob.

[LordBob]

Thanks. Here's the mounted scout line, which concludes the sketch series for the generic desert elves. Next I'll start producing some final artwork.

[zookeeper]

Two things mainly come to mind: they look really hostile, and the last one's helmet gives off a pretty strong chaotic dark warrior vibe. The former might be just because it's still a sketch, but in the final one it'd be good if they didn't appear quite so nettled, seeing as how these are still the quintessential good guys and in most of the dialogue are just talking to each other. The helmet seems a bit extreme because the spikes are so massive with the main spike in the front like on a rhino, making it either incredibly impractical or intended to be used as a weapon... and I just can't see our graceful elvish elite warrior goring an orc with a headbutt.

These look good to me. Again, the helmet is maybe a bit over-the-top, but on the other hand it is pretty streamlined and elegant and definitely my favourite helmet.

The flags, hats and leather armour are really nice. Isn't the tauroch itself still a bit small, though, when compared to a horse? It's tougher and heavier than a horse, but a horse is higher (although the riders probably sit at the same height). Arguably, you won't see the legs and thus how high the animal is in the final crop, so that's probably not a problem. However, I think it should ideally still have a bit more... presence, I guess? The reason why I liked D in the original sketches was precisely because the animal was clearly alert, with the huge wide horns on its somewhat raised head, which gave the creature more dimensions and made it look like the rider was less exposed and a bit safer behind the horns that could with one sweep send a small squad of goblins flying. The curled horns would be good for ramming, but visually they don't project "threat" and "protection" in the same way, if that makes sense.

They look very good, but... well, they're not horses anymore. I can't say off the top of my head whether there's any reason why they'd need to be horses. Probably not, but I'll have to ponder whether there's any notable implications of that to make sure. The design is very nice.

[LordBob]

I did a couple of quick'n'dirty adjustments to try and answer those concerns:

Fighter
- toned down the spikes on the fighter's armor. I'd still like to keep the rhino horn - or any set of horns - though, as I think it can be a nice distinctive feature and a sign of the fighter's status. Besides, it's not entirely unreasonable to think warriors would want to instill fear in the heart of their enemies with awe-strucking armor.
- on the matter of hostility, I will keep their faces uncovered and aim for a relaxed pose. I think this should go a long way towards giving them a more neutral look
Beast rider
- scaled down the rider compared to his mount
- retrofitted beast D's horns on the current beast's head. Anatomy needs tweaking in order to better match the two, but I think that's a step in the direction you're suggesting. Let me know what you think.
Scout
I think we had discussed alternate mounts during the initial research phase in an effort to give the Quenoth an outlandish feel. I picked a random mount from that series of sketches, but now I'm thinking if we do go for something that's not a horse, then it might better fit their environment if they rode some sort of camel. Either way I'm fine with a horse, the anatomy isn't too different so it won't be much work to change the current mount

[vultraz]

The Fighter armor reminds of the Falmer armor from The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim. Was that an inspiration?

[Aldarisvet]

I like the idea of camel-like deers.
The reason is that we are dealing with ELVES still and elves are graceful beings so we should expect that they would ride graceful creatures.
Probably yak-like beasts could be more shapely/less massive too.

[LordBob]

The Fighter armor reminds of the Falmer armor from The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim. Was that an inspiration?

Not directly, but that's maybe where I got the idea from. I do picture the Quenoth using chitin as a substitute for steel and some of those armor pieces are actual beetle parts, so it's little wonder that the result looks similar

I might try different tints though, because it's possible that the black armor takes a step towards the "hostile chaos warrior" feel. Crab shells have wonderful colors, they could become an inspiration.

Probably yak-like beasts could be more shapely/less massive too.

This could be worth some extra design effort. However the beast rider is the closest the Quenoth will have to a damage soaker, so we do want them to look quite tough in the end.

[zookeeper]

I did a couple of quick'n'dirty adjustments to try and answer those concerns:

Fighter
- toned down the spikes on the fighter's armor. I'd still like to keep the rhino horn - or any set of horns - though, as I think it can be a nice distinctive feature and a sign of the fighter's status. Besides, it's not entirely unreasonable to think warriors would want to instill fear in the heart of their enemies with awe-strucking armor.

I think it looks much better now.

Beast rider
- scaled down the rider compared to his mount
- retrofitted beast D's horns on the current beast's head. Anatomy needs tweaking in order to better match the two, but I think that's a step in the direction you're suggesting. Let me know what you think.

Looks very good, the proportions and the horns look more or less perfect.

Oh, and I forgot to comment on the question of reins: I think it can go either way. I don't think they'd use bridles, but some other simple means of giving directions could work. Maybe the rider could simply have a light stick in one hand (or hanging from the saddle; it wouldn't need to be a prominent detail) used for guiding the animal by lightly touching/pushing/tapping it, sort of similar to elephant handlers? It would seem like a fitting method, since the animal would be quite a bit more autonomous in combat than a horse, probably has a pretty good bond with the rider, and the rider is most of the time busy lobbing javelins anyway.

Scout
I think we had discussed alternate mounts during the initial research phase in an effort to give the Quenoth an outlandish feel. I picked a random mount from that series of sketches, but now I'm thinking if we do go for something that's not a horse, then it might better fit their environment if they rode some sort of camel. Either way I'm fine with a horse, the anatomy isn't too different so it won't be much work to change the current mount

Yeah, there was so much back-and-forth that the horse thing might have slipped through unmentioned. Anyway, I haven't really been able to think of any specific objections, so the antelopy mounts are fine by me. Considering how the unit line focuses on speed, ranged combat and harassment, a mount which looks potentially lighter and faster than a horse seems to fit. I wouldn't take it further into the camel direction though, because camels don't exactly make one think of fast outriders. The current antelope-camel mix looks good to me as far as anatomy goes, but I think the first one has a perfect cautious pose and expression.

[vultraz]

Another point in favor of the antelope-ish mount: it's keeps them from looking like the stereotypical 'desert camel rider'

[Celtic_Minstrel]

Also, it's meant to be a scout; a camel doesn't really imply "speed" to me, whereas an antelope does. (Whether camels are actually fast or slow in reality, I'm not sure, but they "feel" slower somehow.)