DWIII - 2D - ericvedder - Zelyza

[njoo]

yowazza! yoooouuu rockkkkk, hury up more moreeee :P

[kenzoabeki]

Lovely sketches.

My Dominance War III

[ericvedder]

Heres are some more sketches.. just trying to play with a shape i like. I really like assymetrical designs sometimes... this is a half female, half shelled/bone creature with a claw for a right foot.

Thinking maybe undead like or sea creature..

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/4.gif

playing with the idea of bone piercings and a deathmask idea...


http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/5.gif

Hmm..not quite there though..

E

[ericvedder]

Well, heres a big post of my day today. Or rather, my thought process and the drawings that were spawned.

First off was a oversized horned deathwitch idea. She weilds two summonning artifacts, which are the attenae of some ancient beetle or caterpillar. Also, she has this squirming tongue like tail which does something... hehe..

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/7.gif


Then I started playing with the idea of a sea creature/goddess, an atlantean princess so to speak, who rules the underwater world. With her magical summoning artifact, she is able to summon the skeletal remains of an ancient leviathan/kraken, which rests deep in the ocean.

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/6.gif
http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/8.gif

oh and she rides on her per manta ray too.

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/9.gif

After lunch, I came back to it and decided that perhaps it was a little too much. Like I was trying to fit in all these ideas. So I slimmed her down and liked the look of it better...

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/10.gif

..but as with many concepts/ideas, things change. I started to think about the overall look I wanted to achieve. I thought, if she is going to be able to summon this insane looking skeleton, which she then invokes her surroundings onto its frame, thats quite alot of eye candy. Which is good, I think, but the problem is, shes alot of eye candy too.
So my solution was kind of melding some of the ideas I had while keeping-it-simple-stupid (kiss;)).

So, keep her simple and scary in design (like initial sketches), perhaps even weak looking, then have her ride atop this massive skeletal beast which she invokes earth or water or ice or lava onto
(depending entirely on her surroundings) and make it a juggernaut of destruction! hehe..

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/11.gif

phew.. ok, brain is tired!

Anyways, I think I got a general concept that I want to persue now. I'm sure alot will change but its a direction at least. Time to flesh these out!!

Stay tuned...

E

[kenzoabeki]

This idea is great. About the fish-ride, I had the same idea, but couldn't resolve it. But looking at your sketches, it makes me wanna rough more.^^

[andy6308AAA]

it's very cool concept art. keep going!!!

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=234&t=604654

[ericvedder]

Ok, so basically here's Zelyza's story(roughly):

"Zelyza comes from a long line of summoner queens. Sadly, she is the last, as her tribe is diminishing with each passing generation. With no offspring in her future, and being one of the few females left of her tribe, she is their last hope for returning the secret of technology and hopefully renew their tribes former glory.
Using the sacred artifacts of Kuluu, she has the power to summon forth the skeletal remains of the legendary Leviathan, whose skeleton lies deep within the sea. Once summoned Zelyza rides atop its head, invoking her surroundings to the massive frame of the once mighty Leviathan. With its new formed body, the Leviathan becomes a juggernaut of destruction, impossible to kill as its body is merely collected pieces of surrounding matter. When hit, some of its body disintegrates, but only to be replaced by whatever Zelyza invokes to it.
The artifacts were acquired by the tribe centuries ago, when the Leviathan reigned. In a last ditch effort to overthrow the beast, the tribes banded together and trapped the Leviathan, removing its 2 antennae upon its head and imbued upon them the magical trait of summoning. The Leviathan was now at the tribes disposal. Unable to control itself, the antennae artifacts are now used to guide its path, by whomever is powerful enough to wield them. Centuries past, and its body long decayed, the Leviathan is still under the control of the artifacts. Its soul is trapped within the artifacts and resonates within its bones.
With this immense power at its disposal, the tribe enjoyed a veritable golden age of wealth and prosperity as all opposing forces were quickly disposed of. However, as their kingdom grew, peace was not enough for its citizens. Unrest led to revolt and a rebellion ensued. The summoner queen at that time was a wicked one, and used the Leviathan upon her own people, in the hopes to regain control. This proved to be disastrous as the tribes were angered even further. The following years left them in ruins, with the artifacts lost amongst the chaos. Hunger, followed by disease and with its people spread far and wide, the tribes dwindled at an astonishing pace. Were it not for the prophet Kuluu, the tribe would have ceased to have existed.
Kuluu gathered the remaining people and rebuilt what was lost. With the Leviathan lost in time, stories and myths surfaced about the historical beast. Kuluu and his people began to revere the Leviathan as a god and so formed a religion to worship him accordingly. Their belief was only strengthened when after much prayer, the lost artifacts were found. A suitable female was discovered amongst the tribe and she became their new summoner queen.
With lessons learned from their past, the tribe is trying to regain some of its former glory, but with a new understanding of the power they hold. Acting as one, Zelyza and the Leviathan are the tribes only hope of survival, as even now the skeletal remains are beginning to crumble. She must overthrow the opposing forces and bring technology to her people, before its too late."


/phew

Ok, that's the rough story idea I've been working on...

Now that I have done some sketches to my liking and have a rough story to reference from, I put together 2 pages worth of shapes for Zelyza, starting with a simple, typical look to more wild designs, symmetrical and non-symmetrical.
Although some of them turned out to be more comical then others, they still gave me some interesting ideas hehe.

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/pg1.gif

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/pg2.gif

After looking at these 2 pages, I decided to put together a third page of the ones I liked
the most...

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/pg3.gif

So, having picked these 5.. i'm leaning towards 1 and 3. I feel 2 is too techy looking, 4 is too witch like and 5 comes across being too regal...

1 and 3 could pass as the tribal look im going for. What do you guys think?

cheers,
Eric

[AxelAlonso]

Hi Eric,

I like your history of the Queen of summoners from the vast ocean worlds! Fits perfect to this great hero of the war! :thumbsup: I think as for shapes, that number 3 is strong because has the big shoulder and the long shape, and I also like 4 it reminds the organic design to the sea! So that will be my 2cents hope to see more updates of your amazing concepts!

[ericvedder]

So I went ahead with shapes 1 and 3 and decided to do a quick pass at them.

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/render1.gif

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/render2.gif

I really like both ideas.. and these are really early yet but I need to pick one or im not going to get done! hehe...

The first one definitely gives me the impression of a ocean dweller.. but maybe too plain and ragged??

The second one seems more composed and looks powerful. I think I'm favoring the second one myself... i feel I could build off her costume and really inspire fear into her enemies instead of the wispy, ragged look of the first one...

??? what do you guys think?

Thanks

Eric

[The Flork]

I like the dinasour head looking one with the tail! that ones awesome!

[ericvedder]

Starting to sketch and flesh her out a bit more.

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/12.gif

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/13.gif

I'm really liking this last one. I changed the artifacts a little, as their shape is more appealing. Also, I incorporated the shape of it into Zelyza's outfit somewhat.

Something that was bothering me was how I was going to handle her casting magic, if shes always holding onto the two artifacts, while riding the Leviathan. The new artifact design gave me my answer though. I decided that once the Leviathan was summmoned and she had planted the artifacts into its skull, she would harness herself onto them from her waist, using the ribbon like material attached at the ends of the artifacts. Thus allowing her two arms to be free for invoking... Not sure if I explained that properly.. but as I develop her and the idea more, you'll see where I'm going with it.... hopefully hehe.

Ok, back to work! thanks:)

E

[ericvedder]

I like the dinasour head looking one with the tail! that ones awesome!

Thanks Flork! Thats the Leviathan she is riding. I need to work on that beast next... stay tuned:)

E

[ericvedder]

Its coming down to the wire so I got started with a rough rotation of Zelyza today.

http://www.ericvedder.com/misc/rot.gif

have to clean this one up asap. I will also include the harness detail. Anyways, hope you guys like it:)

E

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