New art commission : Dunefolk

[LordBob]

Hi folks ! Has it been 4 years ? After another extended leave, a new LordBob has been summoned.

Sometime last year, the team contacted me to ask if I would be willing to create commissionned artwork for the Dunefolk faction. We agreed on terms quickly enough, but I needed a while to clear my pile of current work. Flash forward, "some time" turned into months but here I am at last.

I've done rough sketches for a good chunk of the faction, but not all of them are in a showable state at the moment.
Because they stand out the most from our usual units I'm starting with the Burner line, of which I am asked to produce both male and female variants. For now, female Burner and Scorcher are inked and yes, I took some liberty with the Burner's pot of sap. I can easily swap it with the bomb in her hand if art direction deems it necessary, because I reckon her current gear might make it difficult to link portrait and unit.

Either way I'm glad to be back. Stay tuned for more and see you soon.

[Lord-Knightmare]

Wow. Looks like those are coming along fine.

[Refumee]

Those are fire!

[MathBrush]

I love these. I especially like the 90 degree zig zag line theme, I feel like it really sets it apart from other factions.

[LordBob]

Thanks guys. Continuing with the Firetrooper.
I gave her weapon quite a bit of thought, trying to compromise between something that looks cool, resembles the sprite and could believably work if you squint your eyes hard enough.

Ultimately the plan is to paint portraits of both genders for the whole line, but I'll start with doing only females and then get to other unit lines before coming back to male burners.

[Gothyoba]

Wow! These look really nice!

[LordBob]

Soldier !

[ChaosRider]

Soldier !

I think that shield is too high. It should be a bit lower. Looks good but its what I thought at first look on it.

[LordBob]

Compared to the sprite, maybe. But if you check the arm underneath, we're not all that wrong. Possibly the shield could be rotated ever so slightly and a tad further away from the body to make room for that arm. I'll let it rest a while a see how it looks when I pick it back up for color.

[LordBob]

Ink for the Spearguard.

His armor looks lighter than the soldier's despite being a higher level, but then so does the sprite

[LordBob]

Following up with the captain.

Next week is a holiday so I will be resting a bit, then there will be more coming the week after

[DuncanDill]

Love the pose! Have a good break

[doofus-01]

Hi LordBob,

Great that you are on this, these look really good! All these folks have character, and the burn scars on the Firetrooper are a nice detail. I'll point out a few minor things:

1. It might not be an issue once you've started shading, but the Firetrooper goggles look a bit modern, like this is veering into Mad Max or steampunk
2. The Soldier's sword arm looks a bit off, maybe too small or at odds with the armor and sleeve? You already explained the shield positioning, but something isn't adding up. I think it's minor but not trivial nit-picking. I've tried to show what I mean here:
   Redlines

   

   soldier-redline.jpg (66.39 KiB) Viewed 3126 times

3. The Captain's scabbard looks too short for the sword, and the opening might be too narrow.

[LordBob]

Thanks for the feedback !

I finished the swordsman and modified the other units as per your suggestions, please let me know if anything still seems off.

Quick couple of comments :
- The item on the Firetrooper's head is not goggles but a metal mask - since the sprite seems to wear one - that I pushed back up to reveal her face. The position makes it difficult to recognize even in the best scenario, so I'll make sure to double check my drawing. Shading ought to dispell the ambiguity either way.
- Re: Scabbards, perspective can play tricks because these characters aren't always facing the camera, so there may be foreshortening on the scabbard depending on its orientation. I still enlarged the captain's one and added a top opening so that it's clear the sword can be sheathed one way or the other. I did a bit of research beforehand, but I'm not familiar with how historical scimitars did it - other than following the overall curve of the blade, there isn't much that gives a clue as to how it works. Maybe the sheath is a bit oversized and flexible enough to let the blade through even if it's not perfectly shaped? It's difficult to imagine, would probably require handling an actual scimitar to properly wrap my head around the concept.

[Heindal]

These look fantastic. Amazing work.

Some feedback. I refer to your last post, with these three warriors.
The scimitar looks a little bit to thin for the first and the last. The scimitar of the second warrior, looks pretty good, maybe you can adjust the others.

Also I'd like to add, that the perspective of the third warrior seems a little bit off.
He seems pretty thin, maybe because he turned to the side.

The naphta warriors look fantastic, as well as the spearman.

Hm, its a little bit odd, that they all don't have leg armor and just wear silk trousers.
But its cool somehow.