EVILEST's 'Chaos' stuff

[Frogger5]

I agree.

[Valkier]

A couple of things to say about this.

It's very well executed rendering wise. You give it a nice feel in some areas. Not exactly chaotic, but I get the sun god feel.

Problem is, nobody would ever be afraid of it. If I had someone wearing that pick a fight with me, I'd have to laugh. The reason is it's too big. Nobody could move in that, and not just because of the weight. The plates overlap in such a way that it looks like it was designed for the wearer to only stand in that stance. Walking, swinging, turning. None of that would happen. I can look past gigantic metal plates as being ridiculous, but when it comes to overall design and such, you need to have some restraint.

He could never lift his arms, turn his head, look up, look down, bend forwards, backwards, or even swivel his hips. It looks more like a designed statue than a person wearing armor, and that makes it lose all intimidation.

I'd recommend worrying less about how much armor he's wearing, and concentrate on making do with smaller amounts. In my experience, metal and leather end up looking much more intimidating in the long run anyhow. The helmet design isn't bad, but you gotta free up his neck a little bit. Function over form should win out ever time.

I look forward to seeing how this ends up looking.

[EVILEST]

Thanks for all the suggestions! It's been a busy week, and I hope to get things moving.

Ok, so yet another take on this guy. Zero's sprites have really come along, and it gives me a good base to work from.

Once again it's back to a WIP version, but hopefully this is closer to what's needed. Toned back some of the insanity, and gave the armor two colors as seen on the sprite. I hope the plates are now more viable than before, concerning movement. I'll need to work on the neck area some more - reduce the level of Batman syndrome.

I'm not sure what color to make the cape, so for the moment it's a safe red tone. Should the cape be made of animal hide, or perhaps human skin? Something more exotic than just cloth?
I'll try to grind out a more complete version as soon as possible.

[Zerovirus]

Yay EVILEST's back! I like the look of this guy, but I hope you'll keep some variation of the first version's crest around for the helmet of the Lv4. That's what I used as reference for most of my sprite, after all.

[EVILEST]

Creeping ever so slowly forward!

No worries Zero, as the level two has no crest, and the Overlord has a larger crest with the sunburst spikes jutting out!

[Telaron]

Great work! The only thing I see is that the sword point seems a bit smeared, but I'm sure you are aware of this.

[Frogger5]

The finer details of the lower and right area have not been done yet which is why the sword looks smeared. Therefore, it isn't actually a problem.

[EVILEST]

So... it's getting there. The sword is really crude as I've not decided what to do with it yet.

semi-fanmade complexified philosophy-backstory

So far I've held off talking about this since most of it is nothing official, it's mostly inspiration to make our task easier. If we are to put it up, I'm not certain where to begin - maybe start with the caste system/triad? It might be better suited to going in your art thread though, since there's already a large amount of units visible to all.

[Midnight_Carnival]

With the sword, I'd mostly leave it as is. It is simple and elegant, yet it lends your warrior is his rather flamboyant armor a certain brutality. If you really want to do something with it I'd recomend either a simple flame motif etched onto one side of the blade or a German S-shaped guard. I'd stear away from an elaborate sunburst half-disc thing where the guard meets the blade...

[boru]

The angle of the axe looks really wrong. If he was holding it in a normal way, you'd only be able to see the edge. You may want to switch his weapons so you don't lose the nice detail on the side of the axe.

[Sapient]

I am really glad that EVILEST is back. I was getting worried

A really simple way to subtly convey his sinister nature would be armor spikes. The sword could also have spikes added.

The plain red cape doesn't seem to fit this guy. I'm not sure what to replace it with, though. Maybe an aztec pattern would be nice. Depends on what you are going for.

[Iris]

A really simple way to subtly convey his sinister nature would be armor spikes. The sword could also have spikes added.

I personally think that spikes are currently overused in the depiction of evil...stuff, at least when it's used as part of body armor.

Just my opinion, although if I were to make the (sprite) art for this faction again, I'd still leave the spikes to the Demon and Imp lines, particularly the Imp line, where they are prominent parts of their body...hm. Maybe I've played too much Doom.

In my last attempts at pixel art I've used the spike length/amount on demons as an indication of their unit level/experience. I intended to do the same with imps but I didn't get to re-design the L2, L3 and L4 sprites.

[Dixie]

I personnally don't think the axe is that off: if anything, I'd question having both a sword and an axe, but the unit is made that way, so you have to follow. About the sword, while adding spikes might be pretty cool, maybe making it a kris could be just enough to give it an exotic look and convey a sunray feel?

[Midnight_Carnival]

Look, whatever EVILEST does is going to look cool, but as for the kris, he gave the (really really ridiculously hot) vampire lady a flambard blade already, I personally feel that any major alteration would be going too far, the armor looks really great and I feel it would make a plesant contrast if the sword remained comparatively plain and brutal looking.

With regard to the axe: if he is standing to attention or at gaurd duty, great if he's standing in a combatative stance, not so great, that can be changed by adding a but-spike, but I feel that may detract from the simplicity of the axe, that's what I like about this image, the armor is beautifully ornate, but he weapons are brutal and effective looking.

Regarding the sword and axe combination, it was used historically, favored by vikings, it is effective if you are properly trained, in fact there is a type of axe which is termed the "viking buckler" among weapons historians. The only thing which makes me a little aprehensive is that the (really great-looking) armor with its heavy shoulder-plates might make large hewing strokes with an axe slightly more difficult, but hey, this is fantasy art!

[thespaceinvader]

Indeed - it seems more like a resting stance than a combat stance to me. Keeping the axe that way is fine.