Heavy Metal

This pose has issues. I probably moved from skeleton to detailing too soon. I think I'm ok with the outcome though.

I didn't expect to be as happy with these as I am; even with the off pose I think the detailing rescues them. Fairly different styles too.

Some of that's from the colouring; I never intended #3's shoulders to be part of his cloak, or his legs to be covered in cloth. I'm pleased with how it alters the look so much without any new lines.

I always used to associate knights in armour with swords and shields. Or maybe lances. In real life thoughm maces, hammers and picks were common weapons because they tore through plate in a way that swords didn't. I've come to like the look too. #3's meat tenderiser seems a real can-opener.

There's a lot of swappability represented here. Weapon, body and head as standard. Beyond that, I made the helmet ornaments swappable, and there's more of those floating details I'm coming to love: boot cuffs, gloves and sleeves. I suppose that if I wanted to be really petty I could isolate the butt of the hammers too, but that would be silly. And come colour time the tabards can vary in both colour and pattern. Which is handy, given that they're mostly boring grey metal (though I did tint them differently here).

For the armour, I am using Shine Technology (painting white streaks onto a 50% transparency layer). Need to be careful not to overuse it. Just on the helms seems appropriate; to draw attention there. A little detailing in other places too, most prominently on #1.

Suddenly; armoured guys.

Sudden unexpected productivity! Inspiration hit this morning and I managed to get these done in pretty short order. No complications, no real difficulties, no burnout. Unexpected, but I'm not going to complain.

It was the collars you see - I saw a breastplate with a really nice tall, open collar and when I tried to scribble on of my own, these came out. The swooshy cloth roby-thing covering their right leg was an idea I yoinked from some half-remembered Rackham miniature I once saw. Saves me having to do a symmetrical set of complicated plate-armoured legs. Implying complex 3d shapes with 2d outlines is easy - but doing the same shape twice from different angles to order is hard. besides, the cloth looks kind of cool and helps moderate the nodecount and level of detail.

Fairly complicated by my standards, but (possibly due to the limes) I think they're allowable. Oops - just noticed that I missed the second guy's axe - that quad shape on the blade is meant to be a gap. No big deal - this is just a quick white-out to make 'em look a little more presentable here.

So, armour. Lots and lots of armour. Fun. Not sure how interchangable the bits are. I kind of themes the armours, so #2 has that curved/pointy thing going on, while #3 has the triple-layer. I oculd probably get away with mix and match still. Interesting (to me) how different the looks are. #1 seems like a warrior-monk kind of guy, probably because that weird armoured headband is remeniscent of a tonsure. #2 Seems like a paladin or generic knight for reasons I'm unsure of, while #3's banded armour makes him look a bit more menacing and sophisticated.

Javelins and squires.

I've been vacillating about whether to put this up. It seems a little like admitting that the previous linearts aren't getting coloured any time soon. But, if I'm not then they're not so I might as well keep going with what is getting done.

I'm hoping that I just need something inspirational to jump back on the colour-horse again. In the meantime though it's linearts.

I was really happy with javelineer pose, but the more I look at it the more limp and noodly it looks. Still, it's at least an attempt at something a bit more dynamic - I really don't want to fall into a rut with posing.

I like the heads; hair continues to be a difficulty but it went ok here. Torsos took ages to detail in a way I was happy with. The funny angle and a lack of space really limited what I could do without it looking cluttered and messy.

The legs are... bothersome. Those crotch-crescent thighs aren't working right, but I can't seem to fix it. I'm calling it done and moving on rather than obsessing though - for all the bits I don't like, overall I'm going to call the javelineers "adequate". They're characterful enough to me that I can let myself overlook the dodgy bits.

Speaking of characterful, I'm very happy with the pose of the squires. Not exactly dynamic like the javelineers, but different and with a sense of motion. Stumbling forward with someone else's weapon and armour.

I like the pose so much I wanted to give them more variation - perhaps a sheathed sword rather than a lance - but I couldn't come up with a third option and this way they're all themed and can go alongside the heralds.

It occured to me that the pose was perfect for soemthing I tried to do when I was paying more attention to the mad surgeon theme - an assistant stumbling forward with a comically large syringe in his arms. Now that I have an idea of the knid of lines that pose needs I could try and do a different version for it, but I also wonder whether I oculd get away with a novelty reskin.

I want new models in preference to reskins, but it seems like an interesting way to do "rare" characters: reskins that completely change the character of the model. It could be kind of cool, or it could be kind of lame. It would add more variety than just an on-theme reskin, and would be an easy way to get a new character without having to make a complete new model. But easy is often a trap. The big thing turning me off the idea is what if the "rare" variant appears alongside a regular? It'll probably look obvious and cheap.

In the works: masked jungle natives and small nippy dinosaurs. Will they make it past sketch? Who can tell!