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If you're wondering about the number iteration - yeah, I had two previous threads, here and here, though in all fairness the second one was pretty short. Let's see if I can keep this going for longer.

This is an old one; I did the original lineart back in, jeez, late 2008 or sometime in 2009, I really can't recall at this point. Finally went back and finished the colours for this. I'd originally intended to draw an alleyway background, and I suppose theoretically I still might, but after I added the blood splatter it seemed...I dunno, a little too much detail.

The characters are MicroShade's (MicroHue, whatever he's calling himself today). Well. Not the unfortunate Longbow guy, obviously. The other two.

[Image: ladyspiders35.jpg]

Bigger Version (warning, large image)

Micro, if you want I can shoot you my full 100% scale working file in a lossless format. I don't typically upload at that scale, but for stuff like this I figure folks might want to print or something.
-- Acyl
VERY nice. I like in particular the lines in the leather coat.

The fishnets are also a nice touch.

one (minor) crit: the face on the lady on the left seems a little... off. Maybe it's the shadowing, or the lack of forehead.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
I'm not entirely happy with either of the faces (and eyes), really, but I didn't really mess much with the original lineart, nor did I want to at this stage. Redrawing the faces would be far more trouble than it's worth, I figured. I did do a little bit of touch-up for three-dimensionality with colour and such.
Part of the problem is the extreme angle the picture's done at. Obviously it's not an angle I'm used to working at, and it probably shows up most in the faces. The figures turned out okay, surprisingly, but orientating the faces and eyes proved a greater challenge than I'd anticipated. Again, it's fixable, but it's also a nontrivial fix (it would require redrawing both faces entirely, and possibly altering the jawlines). There's a point where I'm all, 'fuck it, that's good enough, I'll just take note of that problem for future work'.
The leather...I've done better, but not without a better visual reference. The thing with leather is it creases and it's also quite reflective, or at least can be, depending on the finish we're talking about. Consequently you want pretty extreme slices of dark/light shading. I know the theory at least, applying it in practice is something else entirely.
Regarding the 'fishnet' mesh... that's one of those things where, well, you know what the original CoH in-game costume piece looks like, but you also know quite clearly that you're not going to be able to replicate how it looks exactly in a drawing. So you're left with the task of interpreting it in a way that makes it identifiable as that piece, yet is different...but is still visually interesting in its own right. I dunno if this works entirely, but at least it ain't a failure.
-- Acyl
This is a great piece, especially given the odd angle, which makes it considerably more challenging.  If you have a copy of the work without the black fill at the back I can add a seedy alley to it.
Cheers,
Shayne
Rev Dark Wrote:This is a great piece, especially given the odd angle, which makes it considerably more challenging.  If you have a copy of the work without the black fill at the back I can add a seedy alley to it.
I can send you the Photoshop .psd or a layered .tif or something, if you'd like. My lineart and colours are typically always layers in and of themselves, allowing for variable background. Mostly 'cause I worry about that last of all, if at all.
-- Acyl
This isn't a City of Heroes thing, so my posting it here is somewhat tangential. But it is a drawing of OpMegs' character from Silhouette's 'Chrono Racer' game, and I daresay most folks here are at least familiar with that. Enough of a connection? I dunno.

[Image: sara2.jpg]

Direct Link to Image

Sara, in MJOLNIR Mk VI armour and carrying a Widow sniper rifle. Yeah, that's Halo and Mass Effect. How do those things go together? Damned if I know. Ask OpMegs. I just draw, I don't know all the facts and stuff. These mysteries are beyond my humble ken.

This was supposed to be a quick sketch, but I ended up spending considerably more time on it than I'd originally planned - ended up being a five-hour piece, something like. You might recognise the basic shape of the Widow; Sofaspud linked me to the Phil Moy commission on the Eyrie site as reference for the Widow, and I more or less used the same angle. I redrew the bipod and stock though, 'cause, well, I suspect Moy didn't pay that much attention himself regarding how those things would actually line up three-dimensionally.

The helmet is a little large for a MJOLNIR; this isn't exactly a mistake per-se, more that I've always thought the helmet size is rather unrealistically dinky given the supposed scale, so I pitched it more motorcycle helmet size. If it really bothers you, well, y'know, she's female, presumably the armour's a little slimmer.
-- Acyl
You know, I was just looking at the line drawing of the spiders the other day and wondering if I should bother you about it.

If people want I can post image references some-where for "Redback Spiderbite" and "Arachna Tormentia" (left and right respectively) for comparison).

I do agree with the minor (and I mean minor) quibble about the faces. The line-art that I have on hand managed to get their expressions and spirit just that little better. But that is a really minor quibble.

If only the ingame chest-logos were a little smaller and higher, it would be more fitting with their background story (to appear tattooed on in the case of Redback) one that's mostly developed since the drawing first started.

And they are the 2 more physical bloodthirsty ones of the Sisters Spider and I can just see them lurching over a Longbow goon like that.

Good work Acyl.

(Send me the loss-less version, please. And if there ever is a version with an alleyway I'll take that too. Smile ... let me get my check-book out.)

(I'm thinking of changing my handle in game to better match my handles out of game. ... its only in the thinking stage though)

Shader
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Edited to avoid the double post
Found the original WIP shot that I got sent: dated 30/7/08 ... so its been a while.
 [Image: wip2.jpg]
MicroHue Wrote: I do agree with the minor (and I mean minor) quibble about the faces. The line-art that I have on hand managed to get their expressions and spirit just that little better. But that is a really minor quibble.

If only the ingame chest-logos were a little smaller and higher, it would be more fitting with their background story (to appear tattooed on in the case of Redback) one that's mostly developed since the drawing first started.
Micro: The line art is identical; I didn't make any alterations to the completed lineart; the only thing is shades and colour. I might take another look at the shades at a later date. Regarding the chest logos - I followed the in-game model quite faithfully, but I can certainly move it higher. It's not a trivial alteration, but it's certainly doable.

...

Current finished work:- another Chrono Racer game image. I'll probably get back to City of Heroes stuff reasonably soon; I have another couple works in progress that I wanna finish up, and those are CoH images. But this was what I was doing for the past couple days. These are Sofaspud's characters from Chrono Racer...I understand they're originally from an old Rifts campaign. 

Jeff Reed and Liz Reed, brother and sister.

[Image: jeffliz65.jpg]

Direct Link to above version
Link to full version (large image)

The psi-blades didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. I need to figure out - or read up on - better ways to do energy glow. I like how the lineart in general turned out, though, and the colouring/shades are quite decent.
-- Acyl
*heaps more praise*

very much with the wow, seriously nice.

Though I have nowhere near the skill to do better, I hope I can point out two things that will make such wonderful things just that little bit better.

1) assuming the same generic light source (upper right) the shadows on the pants don't match. Jeff's pants are dark at the half way point, and Liz's are no where near as dark, or from the same degree.

2) on a similar point, dealing with different light sources (for glowing wands and blades). I'm not sure what tools you are using, but if you have something that does layers (what doesn't), alpha channels, and color overlays it's much easier. You can paint where the light would fall, tweak the saturation, toss a roughly circular gradient filter in the alpha channel, and your done. Or close enough that it makes life much easier.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
Quote:sweno wrote:

*heaps more praise*
very much with the wow, seriously nice.
Though I have nowhere near the skill to do better, I hope I can point out two things that will make such wonderful things just that little bit better.
1) assuming the same generic light source (upper right) the shadows on the pants don't match. Jeff's pants are dark at the half way point, and Liz's are no where near as dark, or from the same degree.
2) on a similar point, dealing with different light sources (for glowing wands and blades). I'm not sure what tools you are using, but if you have something that does layers (what doesn't), alpha channels, and color overlays it's much easier. You can paint where the light would fall, tweak the saturation, toss a roughly circular gradient filter in the alpha channel, and your done. Or close enough that it makes life much easier.
1) This is intentional, not an oversight. Whether it works or not is a different matter; it could still be construed as a mistake, but what I'm saying is the shades are deliberately imbalanced that way, it's not something I left out. Liz's psiblades are a light source, and since there's two of them and they're larger, potentially a stronger one. You will notice that ALL the shades are stronger on Jeff; from his face, to his jacket, to his pants, there's a lot more shadow on Jeff compared to Liz. It's a deliberate and consistent choice.
The sonic screwdriver Jeff is holding probably seems like a stronger light source, but the glow effect is a filter I added on a whim; I hadn't originally planned on it, so it's come off stronger than I'd anticipated - by which point I'd already shaded the figures.
The multiple light sources in this picture made the shades and highlights pretty challenging, however, and I know I didn't get it entirely correct. There's a few bits which I'd definitely do differently in retrospect.
2) I already work with translucent layers, obviously - as you've noted, who doesn't these days. Most of my images are actually anywhere from 10 to 30 layers, depending on complexity.
Having said that - a gradient fill for lighting isn't something I'd considered. That's a good point. Mind, I'm not sure how you'd make a circular gradient patch, but I'm sure I can figure that out. Mind, I note that's only good for an improved glow effect, even doing it that way one'd still need to manually paint in shades and highlights on the lower layers, 'cause that'd just be a 2D illumination rather than a psuedo 3D one... it's not simply a matter of throwing brightness on, it's also a matter of shaping the brightness to create the illusion of creases and contours.
Thinking about it, due to that, it might actually be better to shade the glow light in manually as a sequence of screen layers or somesuch, which would achieve roughly the same effect but with better control. I'll have to experiment.
-- Acyl
Some of you might remember this. It's old lineart I did in late 2009. I'm trying to clear off all the old stuff I never got round to finishing, so this is another example of that. I'm not entirely happy with the base lineart, but I like how the colouring turned out. Tried something slightly different. I'll be experimenting with different techniques in the days ahead. In this case my noodling isn't really visible to the...end user, as it were, but some of my future colouring experiments will probably be.
I've also gotten a new graphics tablet, a Wacom Intuos 4...albeit the very bottom end of the Intuos size range, and on sale. But hey. It's an Intuos. Is it really that good? Hell yes it is - but it'll be a while before I'm used to the new increased precision.
Anyway, have Hero Sandwich, Lisa (Gamma Emission), Terrence Knight and Rhea (Emerald Blast) - teen hero edition, or something, I dunno.
[Image: herotrio65.jpg]
Link to larger version
-- Acyl
Squee! Loves it

(though either Rhea has lost a few inches or Terr & Lisa are wearing platforms Smile)
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
Remember, before the ability to change character heights was added, Terrence was short. =D
-- Acyl
Terrence is still short. He's shorter than Numero Catorce, who is only 6'1"
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
I was lied too by the costume creator! its not city of heroes its city of Giants! >.> anyways Terr is 5'10ish
Gleaming... button... eyes... of CUTENESS...
Can't... handle.... CUTE!
Obey... WHISKERS!

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

dark seraph

Mr Wiskers stole the Hypno Toads job Tongue


dark seraph Wrote:Mr Wiskers stole the Hypno Toads job Tongue
All glory to the HypnoWhiskers....
  
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
Typically when I start drawing something, I don't pay much attention to the actual canvas size. I just make the image whatever size is necessary to do the job. This is a little different, though. Here, I set out explicitly to make a wallpaper-scaled image. 

So here's Leading Lady, my Inv tank, and her Praetorian counterpart, Celeb. If you're not familiar with my characters (and honestly, I don't expect you to be), Leading Lady is an actress who ended up with superpowers. So she's a rising starlet who can punch through brick walls. Her Praetorian alternate, Celeb, is also a media darling of stage and screen...except Celeb, being a much nastier sort, had to sell a few souls on her way to riches and glory. Not her own, of course. She's smarter than that. Celeb is a Demons MM.

Celeb also ended up considerably prettier in this picture because I drew her second. You can kinda tell.

[Image: LLCeleb55.jpg]

Download: Link to full wallpaper-sized image (1920 x 1080 Widescreen)

It's not perfect, of course, and there's a few things I screwed up. But on the whole I like how it turned out, which is more than I can say for...most stuff I do, actually.
-- Acyl
*clunk*

That's the sound of my jaw hitting the floor.

Seriously man, excellent work. I particularly like the edging on the arcane cape.

If that's you less then perfect work... I'd hate to see perfect work. It would be something else.

About the only thing missing is a 'Evil' version... but that's that's just me. You have "Good" (Blue) and "Shady" (Gold)... where's "The Evil Clone(TM)" (Red) Wink

Excellent work Acyl.

You will at some point be open for commissions right? Smile I have some siblings I can sell on the open market for spare parts Tongue
Great Work Acyl.  I particularly like the look on the Rogue version - not evil, just interested and self interested.
Wow! Really awesome work there Acyl! Like MH I'm particularly impressed by the detail on the cape. Did you pencil in first where you wanted the designs to go or was that all done in the color stage?
MH: I don't open or close for commissions, in the sense I do this purely for amusement rather than monetary purposes. As I say to everyone, you can request stuff from me, anytime, certainly, but since I only take compensation on voluntary pay-as-much-as-you-want basis, nor do I promise strict timeframe. I mean, I have life things to do.

Obviously I ain't free enough to do the open request exercises I've done in the past. But - and this is for everyone - if you want something, just ask. Just be prepared to supply me with your screenshots, descriptions, info, etc. I'm not psychic and it's not feasible for me to be chasing that down for you. If though you DO supply me with your requests and reference images, then I WILL do stuff for you, my time permitting.

Rev: Yeah, I like how it turned out. Facial details are really something I'm weak in, so it's all a work in progress.

Logan: Kinda both? The brighter gold detail was originally drawn in a separate layer as black lineart, around when I inked...tho I'd deliberately done it separate expecting this. I just recoloured the black to gold later. Illumination and shade on it is just my regular screen and multiply thing.
-- Acyl