Process Log 20: Armour Series 1-4

I love sci-fi armour and my portfolio was lacking some realistic pieces, so I started a project where I had to draw five armour sets.

Armour 1: Stealth EGO "Basilisk" Revamp

     Basilisk, or "Bas", is my brand identity. His entire creation backstory and design choices can be found here. I enjoy drawing Bas, so this time I redesigned his armour to be even more organic, as if the armour was his skin. 

Armour 2: Hidden Armour "Sacred Fire"

     This armour was originally going to be strictly sci-fi, but the theme changed into combining old with the new - merging an ancient look with sci-fi. 

Armour 3: Trooper EGO "Sabre"

     Sabre comes from the same universe as Bas. Trooper EGOs range from gunners to melee fighters - Sabre specializes in melee and knife combat. Her armour is extremely unconventional compared to most (if not all) Trooper units, as she prefers keeping flexibility of the upper body intact and increasing power and defense to her weaponized legs. Since there's minimal protection on her upper body, Sabre has "Neo-Barrier" (energy shield) emitters placed strategically on her arms.

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Armour 4: [Sentient Machine Custom] Sound Reinforcement Unit 3226 "AMP"

     After the first three armours, I started the fourth one only to realize that this would be the last of the series because it took so damn long to finish, mostly due to motivational issues. I recorded the process for this armour:

And then the final with detail shots:

While AMP took the longest to finish, his concept was the most fun to develop. A backstory and personality for him emerged during the rendering process. 

A little note about the colours: AMP's light colours changed from blue to yellow because blue felt too serene for his personality. Yellow is more upbeat and fun, associating more with childlike behaviour. 

What I've learned from this project:

- Practice painting metallic spec. So much spec. I got sick of painting spec by the time I got to rendering AMP.

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For those who are interested in AMP's backstory:

Sentient Machines (SMs) are robots with AI curious for knowledge, but they also have a unique trait in that they can develop "personalities". These personalities are often related to their "Users", the person or persons that own the SM (like how pets usually take on the behaviours of their owners). There are many different types of SMs and they all specialize in various types of fields, whether it be something like construction, a boring desk job, camera work for a movie, or military reconnaissance. 

Sound Reinforcement Units (SRUs) are essentially SR systems with bodies. So instead of x number of speakers set up at a concert, there would be x number of SRUs, and SRU bodies are highly customizable in terms of installing different types of speakers. Some SRUs have been developed to be their own DJ and sound system.

When an SM unit is modified from its original, intended purpose it becomes a "Custom" unit (SMC). SMCs are closely monitored by the authorities, as most SMCs have been modified for dangerous purposes. "AMP" here, is a modified SRU, built for bass and beat-em-up.

SRU's are definitely not built for combat, but AMP's unknown User constructed his extremely unconventional weapons as well as add an advanced combat program to AMP's AI network. This resulted in a carefree, bad attitude robot that gives no fucks and takes no prisoners. AMP has been on the authorities' Wanted list for a long while, but no one so far has been successful in capturing or defeating this SMC. AMP doesn't go out picking fights, but he does like to cause mischief and won't back down from a challenge.

Shiny Objects and Nice Sprite(s)

An observational study on painting different, reflective, hard surface materials.

A little test for SkriRex's idle animation. ;)

"Pikachu Used Thundershock" 4

EDM Arena character batch 4 is finally complete! To check out the previous batches, here's one, two, and three.

Shout outs to people on deviantArt who helped motivate me and inspired some of these ideas! Here's each character's design process:

D3S-DROID (derives from Destroid. Info on this character can be found here.)

Silence (Kill the Noise)
     - One of the simplest designs, the challenge here was to make the rest of his body more interesting, as his head is really the only point of interest. I also wanted to keep this one simple because I wanted to make a plushie out of him.

Klaymor (Klaypex)
     - Klaymor had been around since batch 3 but was never released due to colour scheme issues. Originally, the character was half red, half blue, but no matter what orientation or texture I applied to these split colours, Klaymor looked like an airline mascot. It wasn't until this week when I figured the Klaypex red and blue colours should go to the swords and not the character's body.
     - His limbs float and can extend great distances, similar to Rayman.

Vicious Infectious (Infected Mushroom)
     - Vicious Infectious' cap was originally your typical red toadstool, but I really wanted it to be the bleeding tooth fungus because that's my favourite fungi. I based its design around the giant, mushroom character statue the band has on stage when they play live sometimes.
     - Figuring out this character's name was the most difficult. It relates to one of Infected Mushroom's albums, Vicious Delicious.

Don Haus (Swedish House Mafia)
     - Thanks to a fellow deviant on dA, I was able to figure out a design for a Swedish House Mafia character. I initially thought of depicting three mafia-esque characters together (like the three members of the SHM group), but the idea of just one head-honcho that could send in other members of his mafia to attack an opponent seemed better.
     - Don Haus' head came from one of the designs of the three dots that are often affiliated with SHM. His scarf design is the Swedish flag.


Now for a break from EDM Arena, back to updating the portfolios. Stay tuned for more characters in the future! ;)

The Muses: C, D, W

In between portfolio and work, I came up with an on-going challenge called "The Muses", which is a series of triptych portraits of personified songs where the goal is to practice different brushes, lighting, colours, and special effects in Photoshop. Each portrait of a triptych must be complete in no more than 2 hours. Here are the first three that I've done:

The Muses are mysterious beings that are the embodiment of their respective song. The names of each "Muse" are song titles:

Clarity (by Zedd ft. Foxes)
Curiosity (Genki Rockets)
Crush (Pendulum)

Days [to Come] (Seven Lions ft. Fiora)
Dead Star (Muse)
Diamond Eyes (Deftones)

Watercolour (Pendulum)
Walking On Air (Kerli)
Witchcraft (Pendulum)

Most of these portraits are based on their respective song's album art or music video (for instance, Clarity, Curiosity, Crush, and Days are based on their album art whereas the rest are inspired from their music videos).
Another reason I came up with this exercise was to draw faces faster and (hopefully) stray away from a style that is too anime. I still have anime roots in my line art... I wanted to break away from it a bit.

EDM Arena Character Reveal 2

Character batch 4 for EDM Arena is now underway. Here's the first sneak peak:

D3S-DROID (derives from Destroid)
     - Based on Destroid's heavy sound, the first idea that came to mind for this character was "giant, brutal robot". I went through 4 different sketches until this final one was chosen. At first, I thought about giving it huge Gatling or rail guns (either mounted onto its back or carrying in its arms), but then the idea of a giant robot that just beats the shit out of anything felt more suitable. It also uses the chains on its shackles as whips.

Stay tuned for the final four of batch 4...