artisticdude's Art

[thespaceinvader]

Dixie's point on stance is a very valid one, actually - the reason it looks like it weighs nothing is because he's holding it like it weighs nothing. Sticking it in the ground in front of him, or putting it on his shoulder, would help to avert this impression.

[artisticdude]

Thanks guys, you're both quite right. I was kinda hoping it would solve itself once I'd finished with the sword, but that's just not going to happen. I'm going to revamp his pose and try a couple variations with him holding his sword on his shoulder.

[tapik]

I do not want to shake hands with a guy like the kyrs. Why? He has to have a steel fingers

So seriously - take something long and heavy, try to stand in the same pose as him and look to the mirror. The sword together with the angle of his hand generates a moment of force in hundreds of Newtons. Long sword could not be carried as short sword or sabre. It doesn't look realistic.
So my sugestion is: for long sword make the angle of his elbow less then right angle, not more, and the angle between his wrist and the sword make around a half of the right angle. This pose is the least exhausting and he could use the maximum force of his arm.

[Cybermouse]

I really liked the sword in the very first post of the unnerving metal dude (the one named "How Peculiar"). I don't know why but I liked it that way.

Great work on all these sprites, I want to use some for my campaign but I can't think of how to fit them in...

If I can think of any specific ones I need, think maybe you could try them? Right now I'm mooching off all other UMC art, basically just using the Dark Elves and Wild Elves because I wanted a campaign to give more attention to them and the wurms. Maybe some new wurm units would be neat. I would sort of like something more original for my campaign but my photoshop experience is kind of limited and I'm no artist.

BTW the alien squid things are really awesome.

[Midnight_Carnival]

I liked the other one.
No, not that one, the other one!

Just commenting that when you try new things with your sprites and instead of people just saying "that's better" or "no, change it back" people start to discuss what you've done; then you know you're getting good!

-or better at least, since I'd argue that you weren't too bad to start with.

[thespaceinvader]

Indeed. When its starts being a matter of opinion, rather than fact, things have definitely improved.

Keep improving them

[em3]

The current stance would work pretty well with some kind of polearm. Just saying.

[artisticdude]

So yeah… a lot of inactivity on my part of late. My internet connection seems to work best in the middle of the night… during the day it rarely works at all, for some unfathomable reason. Satellite internet is soooo darn lousy. I sigh for broadband. Anyway (yawn), I'm up way past my bedtime in order to post this, so I'll go ahead and finish before I fall asleep on my keyboard.

First off, let me thank all of the above for your advice and encouragement... it really helps keep me going. As for my avatar, I might try what em3 said and give him a polearm... but later. Right now I'm focusing on bigger and better projects (see below).

Inspired by an aspiration to mainline and an urge to animate something, I tackled the lack of animation for the menfolk warrior. But... at some point along the way I came to the realization that it just wasn't turning out to be good enough. So I'm now doing it for practice and in case someone, somewhere, might be able to use it in some way.

So far, I've completed the blocking and have begun to shade. It's still unfinished in terms of shading, and I still have to add the rest of the tail movement into the extension frames, but it should give the general idea of where I'm going with this.

All input is gratefully accepted, but I would especially appreciate it if some of those skilled in animation would take the time to critique this. =)

EDIT: and some other bits and bobs I'd forgotten to include.

[thespaceinvader]

Your animation needs to pull back a bit more before striking. It looks weak right now, particularly because the end of the spear extends when he thrusts, so it doesn't seem to move forward if you look at his body. I'd also try to make the tail move in a more sinuous manner, like a snake, so that he might be crawling or swimming forward, rather than twisting..

[Captain_Wrathbow]

That avatar is awesome.

[monochromatic]

Hey artisticdude, I just want to drop in and say I'm glad to see you around.
The animations seem to be coming along great! Keep up the good work!

[Dragonchampion]

Commando looks better than the first time you made it; in fact, I prefer that style. The helm keeps the suit stance and air I like, and it has better shading and metallic parts than the normal soldiers in TWoT. Mind if I include it in TWoT? Not sure which unit it'll be though.

[artisticdude]

Amazing how tunnel visioned one can get after working all day on the same project. I started working on this again this morning, and was able to fairly easily fix many of the more obvious issues in the animation, including implementing the tail motion suggested by tsi (which is what I should have done to begin with), and fixing the wonky position and anatomy of the upper body in the extension frames. I added an extra frame in the wind-up, but I'm not quite sure it works.

Mind if I include it in TWoT?

Not at all. It was your comments in the TWoT thread that made me decide to change it.

[thespaceinvader]

Very nice. Put in a frame more of forward thrust (this will help to make the motion blur work correctly) and then motion blur, and this is good to go in. Post it in Contribs =)

[artisticdude]

Very nice. Put in a frame more of forward thrust (this will help to make the motion blur work correctly) and then motion blur, and this is good to go in. Post it in Contribs =)

Woot!

Anyhoo, here's a little something I came up with while taking a break from the Merman Warrior. The symmetry of the wings is bad, and the skull could use some better shading, but meh, it took all of five minutes or so to complete.