DWIII - 2D - Miqosis - The Froschiga

#1

Well I joined this site for just for entering DW III and looking at the entries there’s some talented folkes around here to say the least. Been toying around with a couple ideas for a bit and am ready to post. Skip the next paragraph if you don’t wanna bother with the first’s flimsy back-story.

The first is quite simply a centaur-style character swapping out the horse for a frog. I am not sure how to classify him, but I like the “disallusioned former military” archetype; perhaps a prominant figure in the last war left scarred and saddened by what he witnessed in service. He lives alone in the uninhabited bogs at the fringes of his home nation, guarding the artifact he was sent to apprehend in his final mission and has stolen to prevent his people’s unavoidable misuse of it (the artifact is yet to be definted). To witness, he is a harmless, bundled up, unassuming hermit. But since hearing the rumors of impending battle, his fond memories of glory and resignation to the understanding that combat is all he will ever know, he has taken to wearing the uniform and arms of his former Unit under all those rags…

The outer costume is a simplified first draft - I want the outfit ragged, carrying a large pack with all his belingings. The uniform underneath is a Navy Seals-esque frog-man sneak suit, covered with utility pouches (in a later design), form-fitting but indicating freedom of movement. The angled rectangles below the beltline would be tactical fighting knives as i want him to be a master of hand to hand combat. Tough to imagine this dude sneaking up on anybody, but in the water he would make the perfect Stalker.

Any input and suggestions are greatly appreciated. The second character I will post right away…

#2

This is concept is really interesting. I like it; something new and different. The second outfit looks like a Japanese men’s kimono although it would fit him more to opt for no clothes at all. Keep it up, can’t wait to see more!

#3

a frog-centaur before! In classic centaur tradition, you’ve got the upper body which is totally human and the bottom half which is totally (or toadally?) frog. It mgiht be nice to try mixing it up more: What if he had longer, more rubbery arms? Or a slightly more froglike face? What if more of the frog like aspects showd in his upper half? Anyhow, good luck with this!

#4

And, my second idea. I am getting more comfortable with this one - mostly because I have the back story in mind from the start. This is lit-heavy so again, you might wanna skip a bit of campy back-story…

It’s sort of a play off the Labours of Heracles to try and reinvent the Manticore; a hero of the classical era must redeem himself after his fall from grace, completing a series of trials to gain retribution. The final trial is to retrieve an artifact (again, undecided on it just yet) that is guarded by a mythic beast - a lion with impenetrable hide. Facing off with the beast and fighting for days, the lion realizes it may finally have met its match and swallows the artifact to protect it. The hero allows himself to be swallowed by the beast in hopes of retrieving it and fighting his way out, and he almost succeeds. Fighting to escape from the lion’s belly, a final force of strength tears through the throat of hte beast as both succumb to exhaustion. Yet as the battle of strength ends, the battle of wills begins - for both souls are bound to the artifact within the beast, both are drawn to the edge of the living world to struggle for the artifact and for control over a form with more power than either could have known in life.
Centuries later the people who’ve lived in fear of the Manticore for so long now pray that even a sliver of the warrior’s mind remains, something left to reason with. Because the indestructable rage of a beast and immeasurable strength of heroes of a forgotten time may well tip the scales…

There’s a reason I don’t call myself a writer.

So I will post a front and 3/4 view soon just to properly display how the anatomy works, but from what I plan the chest an shoulders are erupting from the lion’s throat, and the human face coming out of it’s mouth, pushing the lion head back. The lion’s eye’s are closed and the cheeks distended by the man’s head, but it comes alive in battle. The eyes open wide and the jaw closing partially on the human face as if trying to crush it. I’ve also considered a “berserker effect” brought on by the upper canine teeth of the beast piercing the man’s forehead causing blood to run down his face.
It would move and fight much like a lion, often rearing up on the hind legs to fight with the forelegs and claws, however I want this one to be a warlord character, massive and usually moving slowly through the battlefield with occasional speed.

The human arms must serve a purpose, so I will equip him with an enlarged word that is stored in a harness on it’s side. In mythology the Manticore has a scorpion tail, so I plan to design a sword that could mimic that shape. I am playing with the idea of making him a walking armory, covered with dozens of weapons for ally forces nearby on the field to unsheath and use.
For colour, I like the idea of a black lion with a red mane (it comes through more orange when I put it up online) and a pale white figure. Both should be muscular to display their power, but not in such a manner that it couldn’t still move with feline agility. Blood from their original fight remains on the human’s torso, mingling with the red of the mane and creating the impressin that the two have grown into one, despite the dual wills within.

Sorry for all the reading. Again any input is greatly appreciated

#1 - arm and mane removed to show how the two have grown together

#2 - B&W sketch

#3 - Colours

#5

Thanks for the fast input guys! As a newbie on the site I suspected my entry would get buried and forgotten pretty quick.

StacyOgie - thank you, and I agree that opting for no clothes would likely be his preference. However in terms of the Navy-Seals suit it’s really for utilitarian purposes, and the clothing overtop (the kimono will just be part of it) will be to hide it, and be cast off when he needs to be able to move faster.

Walrus - Thank you too. I have kind of considered playing with the human features and I am certain I will bring some of the skin pattern of the frog up the human torso’s back, and probably mess with the proportions. I made a pretty embarassing attempt at a more frog-like face before but perhaps the idea is worth revisiting…

Here’s some weapon sketches from a Drink n’ Draw last night (these are for the Manticore).

I wanted to come up with something that either directly resembles the look of a scorpion tail to draw it a little closer to the mythology or uses a repeating pattern based on the curling teardrop shape of the Stinger on the end. I went from the jagged stone sword designs to cleavers specifically designed to resemble the tail, to the idea of a halbred. So far I’m liking the halbred direction most.

More of the frog guy to come. I made a slightly doughier version as well as a female.

#6

I actually prefer the Frog to the Lion; the Frog guy is a lot more interesting and dynamic, where the Lion just seems awkward. Plus the back story for the Frog has more potential than the Lion one in my opinion. As for weapons, it would be less of a challenge to come up with one for the Frog because like you were mentioning the guy fought the Lion bare handed. So other than having crazy huge man hands of death I’m not sure what else he could use. However, for the Frog I was thinking something thrown would be awesome. Perhaps something like a shuriken; accept if it’s the artifact weapon you probably wouldn’t want to throw it away
so maybe something on a cable / chain or an “extreme boomerang”. Thanks my $0.02

#7

That seems to be the general opinion, and though I am still convinced I can work the Lion into something manageable, I might not have enough time left in the competition to get it properly worked out. While anatomically he he might be more awkward in concept, he seems like he would be more mobile and less awkward in movement than the frog guy. I was thinking the lion would would move similarly to the first boss in Devil May Cry 4. And I wanted to give him a weapon for 3 reasons: I liked the idea of the body harness for a weapon, I wanted to use the weapon to round out my use of the manticore myth (which is admittedly unnecessary), and because I generally ahve this weapon fetish when it comes to character design. I’m gonna keep working both, but I think now I’ll spend less time on him…

The artifact as the weapon isn’t bad, but it seems to be the trend most people are going with and I want something unique for it (not unlike your concept of the character itself being like a huge artifact). I like the throwing weapon idea a lot though. Perhaps some sort of harpoon will match up with the aquatic nature of the character…

#8

I actually think the lion has a ton of potential, I could see it being more malformed and disgusting, not so perfect looking.

#9

Well a bit more work on the Frog man - still gonna continue with both, but I think you’re right, SunRay. If I’m gonna continue with the Lion then I should make him look a bit more malformed.

  I'm enjoying playing with body-types a bit more. I'm not sure about this head - might be more distorted than I am willing to take it. But I'm happy with where the first one's arms are headed, and the hands are close I feel; distinctly human, but indicitive of a frog's hands

#10

Cool sketchs man! nicely done! The last frogman is getting awesome:thumbsup:

#11

I like the Frogman on the top of the page a little better than the other guys just because He seems like the top Frogman would be more agile than the larger guys. Plus if he is going to be jumping around and taking names he should have a little more of an athletic build.:slight_smile:

#12

I really like where the frog guy is headed - I like the blending of frog like characteristics with the human in the top drawing of your new three. (mainly the wide mouth, the webbed hands, and the shoulders) Perhaps you could try making the frog part a bit more tree-frog-ish and less like a fat toad? I find that the slim human torso on the chunky toad body seems like a bit of a mis-match. If you want him to be an assassin - type, perhaps a tree frog (or some sort of fast, agile, poisonous rainforest amphibian) might suit the character better. Just a thought…

#13

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. I’m spending more time on the frog guy, and the Manticore wil likely just become a personal project. I’ve already been working on some slimmer tree-frog body types and looking at poison dart frogs for refference both in shape and body colouring. The face is giving me too much hassle, but I expect to have it worked out right away.

Gonna post more right away.

#14

Well I think I have the proportions figured out. The treefrog-type body certainly fits better with the athletic build, and looks far more dynamic in motion. Playing around with knife/short sword designs, I also still kind of like the idea of sort of harpoon (hence trying to fashion a barb on the end of a couple designs).
I’m not happy with any head I’ve done thus far. But coming up with the right head/face has been like pulling teeth, so I’d hate to show none of what I’ve got so far.


#15

oh man u are freaking good with the pencil. Frog seems real fun, can’t wait!!

#16

this is freaking awesome! specially the frogman, great job dude
have you tried making a badass option for the frogman?

#17

Wow, thanks for the compiments guys! As for your question Gyorkland, I was kinda considering clothing and weapon to be the factor to bring in any “badass”-ness to him. Though bringing that into the facial design might be the direction needed to get me out of this rut.
A few more (early and not especially creative) knife designs. I kind of like the thought of him carrying a Ghurka knife like the one at the bottom or the throwing knife in the middle though. A friend and talented designer suggested a bow and arrow weapon to run along the lines of a poison dart frog, so I’ll be trying some ideas there too.

#18

ha, crazy weird concept, love it! :slight_smile:
The action poses really add character!

I actually also really like the lion concept with his head in the lion’s jaws! :slight_smile:

#19

well this is something new :slight_smile: never seen such combination lion + human - Lionavr sort of speak. I actually liked lion combination more then frog one.
But thouse daggers are not that good, you have to come up with something more original:) in my opinion.

nice start:)

#20

Thanks Hideyoshi - and believe me, I would continue with the man/lion (I did a couple similar in-action studies for him too), but I just feel the frog is a bit further developed at this point and I work too slowly and haven’t got the free time to work two at once; at least given the deadline for the competition. But I will be picking the other back up almost immediately afterwards.

And big thanks for your input too, digi_est. Agreed on the daggers - the second batch especially were just revisions of actual designs and trying to pull elements I like from reality. But this contest calls for weapon designs to be pushed much futher than what I’ve got here; especially if I follow my plan to load him up with an arsenal of small arms.