DWIII - 3D - Akimba - Skaa-Di

[akimba]

Hey everyone!

Name: Skaa-Di
Class: Invoker
Artifact: Water/Ice Evershard's Tear

Detailed background story in progress..

I'm aiming for her to be visibly intertwined with her magic, to the point where it's pouring out of her.. One idea I'm throwing around is that the magic that she harnesses is one of such power that she has trained herself to stop it from taking over her psyche. The side effect of this initial magical internal battle became physical, and shards of ice painfully shot out of her body, left to protrude above the skin.

Let me know what you think and more to come soon!

[McKronic]

looking great, I like the color scheme, are you going to maybe texture parts of her body frozen? like a layer of ice sort of consuming her?

[akimba]

Thanks McKronic.. Yeah, that's what I'm currently thinking.. I've got alot that I want to redesign and detail and I'm thinking pushing that aspect to some extreme would be good..

I'm gonna work to make her more pointy I think, those horns bother me hehe. And I hope to make the frozen areas have a bit more growth to them, more shards and such just to push her silhouette.

[Robbiek1000]

Wow, I really love what you have so far akimba! I can really see where you going with this and I cant wait to see more. I know its still rough right now but the feet are really bothering me. I would suggest some pointy high heals. I think it would help make her a little more sexy and also throw in that extra bit of pointyness that you want.

[akimba]

Heels...Check. :)

Thanks RobbieK1000. Yeah, the feet were an obvious blank spot so the input is much appreciated.. I was originally thinking some sort of tribal wrap or shoe, but heels could have MUCH more impact. And they'd hurt someone she stomped on ALOT more.

[lampshadehead]

That's a really awesome concept. keep up the good work

[akimba]

Thanks, I should have another update tonight and lots of work left to do. Just came up with her name too. She is now named Skaa-Di.

[akimba]

Here's an update...off to bed for me then more to do tomorrow.
http://www.projectakimba.com/images/DWIII/concept_pass2.jpg

[pingu722]

I like the mark on her body, nice work!!:shout:

[Puckducker]

Great update. Love the new "hair" piece...really adds a lot more character to your design. I really like the runes as well, that stuff usually turns out really nice in the end.

My only comment would be to perhaps exaggerate some of your curves and proportions. She's looking fairly straight/flat right now....she is pretty anatomically accurate, but perhaps too accurate for the fantasy look. A few small tweaks into the more "stylized" type of proportions might really add a lot.

[akimba]

Pingu722 Thanks! That'll get another pass soon to get it nice and crisp

Puckducker Cool, thanks for the advice.. I'll look to lengthen her arms and possibly widen her hips a bit. I was trying to avoid an 'enlargement', but looks like one may be in order in this case. It'll certainly add more curves and flow to her look.

[Puckducker]

Oh yeah, she doesn't need much....my thinking was just that, you know when you see fantasy character design, and then you compare it to what it looks like when that design is made into a costume for real life (say, for a film). There's always something lost in the translation, generally because fantasy is heightened reality. here if you're using realistic proportions, reality is pretty much as far as you can go.

[Somnium]

O I like that second one very promising indeed. With lotsa of glowiness that'd look sweet!

[akimba]

I REALLY appreciate the crits and comments guys, keep em comin!

Puckerducker Good point man. I certainly don't want her limited in any way.. I'll work on that.

Somnium Thanks, Yeah, I certainly plan to add some glowiness to her. There's certainly potential in the runes, tattoo, eyes, and staff. Just gotta do some tests, too much could overpower her, you know?

[akimba]

Been a busy few days but I've managed to squeeze in a small update..

I aiming to have her and all of her icey goodness designed and pretty done this week then start modeling.

http://www.projectakimba.com/images/DWIII/comcept_pass3.jpg

[ZDCoe]

I think detail in the design is coming along nicely, I love the runes especially, really helps give it a magic feel. I like how you're lighting it too, the staff and headpiece in particular are looking very "icy". Keep it comin' man, can't wait to see it in full 3D glory!

Had 2 things I thought of when looking at this if I may:

1. The head piece seems a little top heavy - I like the headdress feel of it, but traditionally since head pieces are made of feathers, etc, it seems like this piece makes the head feel very weighed down and hard to look around or up without snapping her neck.

2. I think it could be cool too if you pushed the "Ice Sorceress/Queen" idea a little more. I know she's kind of protected by the magic and all, but it might be kinda cool (no pun intended) if you gave her some kind of fur-lined leggings and cloak/jacket, from the land of the snow covered Nordic/Viking style. The more powerful she grew, the colder she became? Then you could have a a bunch of rips and stuff where the ice shards have torn through that too, and even frozen icicles in the fur to give it some more visual interest (right now there's a lot of blue-ish skin and armor, maybe having just a little bit of leathery/fur color might be a good contrast/complimentary color?)

Anyway, I think this is going really well and I'm definitely gonna keep checking this one out. Keep it up man, I'm pullin' for ya!

[akimba]

Thanks for the input ZDCoe!

On the topic of her head.. I hear what your saying about it feeling a bit off-balance. I mainly remade it this way because it gave her a very spiky, icy feel and added a lot of interest to her silhouette. I'd also thought that it was less of a headdress and more like ice shards that had began to form on the top of her head and shot out, forming a headdress-like top. The lower, dark blue area (that still needs fleshed out) is more like a tiara (for lack of better terms) that goes on separately.

Secondly, interesting thoughts on wardrobe.. I may work in fur and things for those reasons. I kinda liked the fact that she wore nothing to keep her warm. Considering she can wield and is practically infused with water and ice, getting cold was never a factor. Adding metal to such a cold character just makes her colder, you know? :) So I was going for that, but fur isn't a bad idea.. It would be good for some contrasting colors. I may work some of this idea into her armor to contrast all the blue/purple if the fur doesn't pan out.

More work is comin and thanks alot for the rockin input!

[akimba]

Got another concept sketch...

I just tried taking another angle on the style of sketch, getting a bit more of a dynamic pose and taking into account things that were brought up in some of the comments you guys left. There's alot of detail that I haven't put back into her (the ritual marks on her body for example) and I've done some redesign work on the staff..

I've been itchin to see her in action, so this is a brief idea of something out of her arsenal. Anyway, I want to finish up the details on this as I go, bust out a model sheet, and get to modelin!

http://www.projectakimba.com/images/DWIII/concept_pass4.jpg

[Puckducker]

I'm loving that little blurb you wrote...sounds extremely foreboding.

I like the design too, and I hope you're still planning on adding the details you had in your last update, cause they were effective. She looks like she'll have a great silhouette to her. I might try to avoid the glow so much in your concept, since that aspect will be tough to bring across as effectively into the final model (like on the weapon), but really I suppose it's just supposed to add an effect to the concept itself.

[akimba]

Thanks thanks... The blurb came straight from the heart...guess I was pretty pissed with something at the time hehe.

I'm certainly gonna add the runes and body markings back.. I also have to detail out her armor detail. Good call on the glow, it's not something I plan on doing this intensely in the model for the exact reason you stated. But it was added to add some pop to the concept and to make 1st attempt to show a bit of her magic in action.

[Robbiek1000]

lookin' good Akimba....It's definitely coming together awesomely. I cant wait to see some modeling WIPs.

[ballo]

Fantastic concept and desing.

[ZDCoe]

Definitely more dynamic in terms of the pose - I think the magic in action is interesting, it would be cool if the magic could be shown this elaborate in the model without taking up too many polys. Can't wait to see this one decked out with more detail! GO AKIMBA GO!!!

[akimba]

RobbieK1000: Thanks man! I'll be starting the model very soon.. It's so easy for me to get wrapped up in getting the concept all decked out, but I feel she's at a point where I can get started modeling and polish things up later.

ballo: Appreciate the kind words!

ZDCoe: Yeah, that level of glow will certainly not be translated into the model, but some of that can be achieved without using too many polys. Thanks man. More to come!

[akimba]

Did some small concept work and started some modeling.. I also worked up some quick temp geometry just to see how her silhouette is translating into 3d.

http://www.projectakimba.com/images/DWIII/concept_pass5.jpg
http://www.projectakimba.com/images/DWIII/Skaa_Di_modeling1.jpg

[Budello]

Very good concept, but I'm not convinced about her calfs, I think they are too big.

[akimba]

Thanks for the crit Budello.. And your right, seems like I them get a bit wide, especially from the front view. I still have to model in some boot detail, so I'll make that adjustment also.

[khemist000]

Great start. Love this concept especially the very 3DT color scheme, it fits so nicely with the ice theme. As far as the staff goes, I think I was feeling your original design a bit more. The new set has a very Aliens/Giger feel to it that I dont think matches all that well. Maybe make the whole thing ice with various metal bits, rather than the other way around?

Great mesh too, looks like your well on your way. Good Luck.

[akimba]

Thanks khemist000. Honestly, I'm a bit torn on the two staves. I really liked the original staff's more natural feel, but I wanted to try to push the design a bit more towards an intimidating shape, hence the spikes and such. You may be right though. I think I may merge aspects of both and make a final pass at the staff. Maybe a more icy feel altogether with the staff.

Appreciate the input!

[akimba]

It's been a busy couple of weeks at home and at work and it's destroying my Dominance War time, but I've got the low poly model complete and the unwrap 80% complete. After that I'll start on some normal map work then move on to the texture.

Cuttin it close is an understatement...I hope I can finish...

http://www.projectakimba.com/images/DWIII/Skaa_Di_modeling2.jpg

[ZDCoe]

Sweet man, can't wait to see this thing fully fleshed out - keep it coming! I'm especially waiting to see it with the runes and textures, rock it out man!

[kicksachi]

The design is eyecatching... Especially the few taglines. Looking foward to C ur finished character.