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MattBirkett-Smith
02-18-2007, 04:58 PM
Hey guys, I've been thinking about concepts for the last week and a bit but I've finally decided to take the plunge and start a thread.

Things aren't as far along as I'd like but here's what I have so far.

Character: Minos, shadow of Tartarus
Skills: Tactician, Defender, Hand to Hand combat specialist

After looking at the 'ancient' theme I decided pretty quickly that I wanted to do something classical, preferably greek with only relatively subtle sci-fi influences. I'm not too keen on bizarre alien humanoiad designs so I've decided to go with a human.

Here's some of the reference I've been looking at, so far I've mostly been looking for classical inspiration which I'm going to try to rework to look a little more hi-tech.

http://www.vertpusher.com/images/Spartan/ref1.jpg

http://www.vertpusher.com/images/Spartan/ref2.jpg


http://www.vertpusher.com/images/Spartan/ref3.jpg

At the moment I'm thinking of going for a 300 influenced spartan/hoplite character but with a fair bit more protection. I'd like to go for a spear and shield as the primary equipment and a sword for backup but I'm going to have to work out how I can make a spear look hi-tech seeing as it is probably one of the simplest weapons ever made besides the club. There's also the slightly annoying fact that a spear and hoplite shield were only really useful when in formation, one on one they were a bit of a liability compared to less cumbersome equipment, I think I'm just going to ignore that though.
I'd also like to work in some influences from classical statues, I particularly like some of the statues of hercules I've come across and I really like the idea of the character wearing the pelt of a lion or other creature he's vanquished. I'll have to see where this goes though.
I'm also looking into having some very elaborate armour pieces with lots of engravings and sculpted detail I don't yet know how I can tie that together with a sci-fi look but I'll give it a go.

I did a rough sketch about a week ago but I got stuck when I started trying to put armour on him so at the moment he's just wearing a very simple tunic, I'm not too good at sketching so this is more just me trying out a possible pose than what I expect the end result to look like.

http://www.vertpusher.com/images/Spartan/sketch02.jpg

I also started blocking out proportions and body type for the character (possibly too generic at the moment) and I did a bit of detail sculpting. My current plan seeing as I haven't nailed down my concept yet is to do quick and dirty models for anything I don't fancy sketching and try assembling things together in a rough form. Once I know what I'm aiming at I'll start producing proper high res geometry, I'll only start the low res mesh once the high res one is done.

http://www.vertpusher.com/images/Spartan/quicksculpt.jpg

Next on my list of things to do is to try creating a piece of armour (probably the helmet) and work out what kind of detailing I'm going to go for.

Anyway, I seem to have said way too much considering I don't really know what I'm doing yet.

Cheers
Matt
madshooter
02-18-2007, 05:16 PM
Awesome Modeling, looks great. Very nice details:thumbsup: He surely looks like an ancient warrior.
All the best:)
Rod Seffen
02-18-2007, 05:36 PM
I don't think this is a good idea (not if you want to win anyway)
Really, this contest comes down to pure l33tness, badassness, kewlness, the sort of stuff that has 14 year old boys drooling, just the sheer f**koff-ness of it all.
That's what it's all about, and I don't think this kind of understated classical character, no matter how well realised, displays those sorts of qualities.
It's best to imagine the judges as 14 year old Halo and WoW addicts.
madshooter
02-19-2007, 03:31 AM
I really don't think one needs to create a badass character, but yeah you can make your character look strong with a warrior attitude, A patriot who is fighting for his country. Something like Gordon Freeman from HL2 who doesn't looks badass from any angle or like solid snake from Metalgear solid, but he has a strong attitude. I thonk you have created a nice character with a strong body, now you can work on his armour and make him look like a strong warrior.:)
Rod Seffen
02-19-2007, 09:33 AM
Gordon Freeman would not have won this contest, or even been in the top ten.
All you have to do is look at the previous winners to see exactly the sort of badass leetness that the judges are after.
You need eye hooks, something that snags the viewer's eye and makes them want to look longer and get a 'wow, this is cool' feeling.
MattBirkett-Smith
02-19-2007, 04:38 PM
I got a bit further with my sketch (see first post). I'm still working out overall look and equipment, I haven't decided on any of the detailing yet. Note that on the sketch I haven't worked out what I want to do for the spear yet and I got bored doing the shoes so those are very basic, I'm also planning on changing the helmet, possibly to the one in the bottom middle left pic of ref3.

I'm currently stuck in two minds as to whether I want to do a pelt or not, at the moment I've gone for some kind of fur on top of the cloak but I know this is going to be a right pain in the arse to get looking reasonable.

Thanks for the input guys, I'm impressed with your cynicism Oddity :p, personally speaking I'm doing this project to push myself rather than to win anything, the contest just gave me an excuse to do something to a deadline.

Anyway I think I'm going to start blocking out geometry for all major components over the next few days. I'm also going to have to find a way of making his equipment look adaquately hi-tech while still keeping a fairly old design
dmonk
02-21-2007, 12:46 AM
This is looking well done so far. I think Oddity has a point though. I'd take another look at the Brief for the contest.

"The year is 3106." (I can only assume a.d.)
MattBirkett-Smith
03-16-2007, 06:55 PM
Just to prove I'm still in the fight:

http://www.vertpusher.com/images/Spartan/highpoly01.jpg

I've just started working on making some high poly geometry, some bits are more done than others.

With regards to making him look high tech I'm going to try and do it relatively subtly, a few glowy things here, a few cables there etc. What this really means is that I haven't designed everything properly yet but I plan on adding little technology touches once most of the big things are done. Also I'm toying with some ideas for his spear and shield, the shield will probably contain a large EMP device.
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