artisticdude's Art

[Captain_Wrathbow]

/me takes a deep breath
Honestly, I don't like the sword either. It looks like he's holding a massive popsicle.

[artisticdude]

The sword is intended to look like that.

I can't remember the context, but I've definitely seen a weapon like that before--I think it was used in some sort of ancient civilization.

I didn't copy the sword exactly from any one reference, I used multiple sources (mainly the Roman gladius) for inspiration, and added elements from other references and my own imagination.

The color makes no sense (I suppose it want's to look like gold?)

I intended it to be a gold-toned metal (and I don't understand why you say the color makes no sense... 80% of the palette was copied from the mainline gold palette ). Real gold would, of course, be highly impractical, since gold is a soft and very heavy metal. But I'm using the fact that Wesnoth is a fantasy game as an excuse... there could be a metal that has the color of gold, but the weight and strength of steel.

and the shading is dubious imo: I can't shake the feeling that if you looked at it from the top it would be star-shaped instead of "flat", standard sword shaped. I can't say I think the shape is all that great either, but it's a minor consideration next to what I said previously, I think.

It's intended to look like this (from above).

Untitled.png (3 KiB) Viewed 3309 times

Such a heavy looking blade could also most certainly benefit for a longer handle for balance, and probably a guard too (I hope "guard" is the right word here).

Like I said, the sword is based primarily on a gladius, and I attribute the balance factor to the fact that the sword could possibly have a heavy pommel to counter the weight of the blade.


But yeah, you raise some valid points, and I'm beginning to get the feeling the sword is rather dubious (I suck at drawing oversized fantasy swords ). I'll work out another one. Thanks for the comments, guys.

[Dixie]

Well, I think the gold effect mostly failed because it was too dark/orange, and not enough yellow/white. It didn't look like it was shiny gold, even though the logical aprt of my brain told me it was surely what you wanted it to be.

I would never have guessed the shape. In the best case, my logical brain though the dark thing in the middle was slightly protruding, and my eyes told me the blade looked like this:

sword-top-view.png (4.06 KiB) Viewed 3299 times

I guess it was a nice attempt, though, I have no idea how I'd have shaded it myself to give the impression of the shape you wanted

On another note, I tried my hand at an oversized-sword shape, feel free to use it, modify it, or disregard it entirely.

sword idea.png (4.48 KiB) Viewed 3299 times

I suppose a good shading would make it look a little like a big, round-ended cleaver: flat all-over, except for the sharpened edge. Or something like that. I thought it could look nice and more natural for your character if it had the sword resting on his should, passing behind its head, hence the position in which I drew the blade. I haven't verified if the angle was correct, though, I'm sorry. Anyway, I already had a D&D Character that had sword that looked like that, it ought to be massively deadly (and impractical)

[A-Red]

Incidentally, it looks like well-polished bronze, and if you're going for something old-worldy, it's a good color. Definitely not a good gold though--you can get a great gold palette from the Drakes.

[thespaceinvader]

Indeed - the Loy gold palette is difficult to use, cos it doesn't really have enough shades, since it's only really used for edging and trim. The Drake one (Clasher line particularly) is probably better.

[Major]

Those Khalifate have an amazing gold/brass/bronzey colour.

[thespaceinvader]

On the Ekim Haram (or whatever his new namne was)'s shield IIRC.

I should also add: along with the size of the handle, the thing that makes this sword not look like a sword is the fat that it simply doesn't look sharp at all. It looks to me like he's weilding an oddly-shaped cricket bat. It's something of a systematised thing rather than a realism one, but the way I denote sharpness is to have the brightest highlight right at the edge, and a much lighter outline than usual - look at the Dwarf Explorer's axe for my favourite and best-executed version of this.

[artisticdude]

It looks to me like he's weilding an oddly-shaped cricket bat.

In life, he was a demented cricket player.

Here's a new sword, this one based more on a cleaver than anything else. It's a simple, brutal, and ungainly weapon, but if you get hit with it... ouch. I'm not convinced that I got the perspective quite right, however.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

He finished eating the popsicle.... and got out an umbrella.

I just don't like the idea of a gold-colored sword, I guess. But that's just me, and it's your sprite, so never mind me. I really have no logical or artistic issues with it. Looks good.

[thespaceinvader]

The shape is good, but the shading is lacking. I'll do a quick paintover as soon as I can.

[Dixie]

Shape is much better indeed. It does look quite hard to carry the way he does, though. He must have a pretty strong arm! But I guess it's not that big a deal.

[artisticdude]

Meh, I'm starting to get a bit burned out with this sword.

Here's a little something I just came up with, as a practice with musculature and skin tones.

Warning: minor gore element:

We're calling it an extraterrestrialfreak

ruffian.png (4.8 KiB) Viewed 3068 times

EDIT:

[artisticdude]

Dang it, I can't get this oversized sword right (and this is just the preliminary design phase ). The perspective and shading are waay off. >.< I hate shading large metal surfaces.

Perhaps I'll just stick it in the ground behind him (like Zerovirus' avatar), or have him hold it in his other hand.

[thespaceinvader]

Why not try somethign a little like this:

Shading could still be better, though.

[Dixie]

The last two swords' shapes are good, I think, although the shading needs more work indeed (especially your "kirs" one). And I would definitely think he could hold it differently: either in its other hand, point towards the ground, either the blade resting on his shoulder and passing behind his head (as I suggested previously). The former would imply less rework on the posture, though, so you might actually prefer that Also, sticking it in the ground behind him might be too much of a rip-off, maybe? I think you are going the right way, in any event, don't give it up

Just my 2 peanut cents.