[ejwize]

I just spent the last couple years playing Asheron's Call.

If you play or have played MMORPGs you know how HUGE a timesink they can become. I was a fiend... played all the time. It entirely eclipsed my other hobbies.

Anyway, a few days ago I finally managed to quit... and now I'm determined to do something more useful with my time. I hate to think how much more refined my artistic skills would be if I had spent the last 3 years hanging out here instead of playing a MMORPG.

Anyway, I've made Sijun's forum my new home page. I've been having a great time reading old posts and checking out all the amazing work that gets put up here.

I've finally worked up something of my own to a point where I thought I'd throw it up here... I figured I'd do a step by step update kind of thing as it evolves. Those are a lot of fun to see other folks do.

Appropriately, this is a tribute to my Asheron's Call character, Gubtug. It's his retirement image.

Here's a pencil sketch.



And here's what I've rendered so far in PS7.



This has been kind of an exploratory project for me. I'm inspired in so many directions by all the work here, I wasn't sure which way it would go... colored line art, loosely rendered, tightly rendered... anyway, I figure I'll keep tightening up from here, playing with colors, maybe working up a nicer background (although I don't want to spend too much time on this one... want to move on to other subjects ).

Anyway, I'm going to be beating it on this thread until it's dead.

[daeldren]

actually it looks quite well done so far, Id work more on shading some parts like the knife especially look kind of cartoonish which wouldnt fit at all. I think it would be really cool to add some darker overtones.

[ejwize]

Tightened up the figure a bit, some color play (the armor is designed after a particular suit in the game), started working in a background...



I'm going to keep tightening... maybe look for opportunities to add more character/interest. I feel like it's turning out pretty boring. Regardless, I'm enjoying playing around.

[Matthew]

Hello
This one is turning out to be totally supercool.
I think that his pants rocks.

Is he going to have hair?

keep it up
Matthew

[Ragnarok]

Wow!
Really good.
I love the rendering of the body and the background. The hand itself is wonderful.
What bothers me a little is the shoulders size, maybe too big. And something in the left elbow bugs me... some muscles seem a bit displaced and a bit disproportionated.
The back is great though, and so is the right arm.
Go on, I'd love to see this one finished
As well as more paintings from you!
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"Ever forward, my darling wind." -Master Yuppa
Seigetsu

[ejwize]

Thanks for the feedback!

Matthew, the character this is depicting is bald, so no hair.

Rag, you know, I had just finished shaving a few pounds of flesh off that shoulder when I read your post... anyway, I agree! I fleshed out the left elbow a little bit more too. I hope this hits what you were seeing as awkward, because if so, then I think I'm going to consider the torso done.

I've been doing a bit of playing with the suit. It hasn't really come together too inspiringly, but I figure it's not too bad. I'm going to play with it a little more (have to at least take back that heavy outline a bit...) to see if I can get it to say something other than blah.

Here it is now...

[UkiTakuMuki]

hey thats vv nice!! that knife still bugs me its that additional strip of material at the bottom taht goes around tha sheath that doesnt feel right.

my 2 cents :> great stuff! cant wait to see it finished

[ejwize]

Yeah, the knife was pretty... um... not working.

Ok, some changes to the knife, some more cleanup... I decided the piece needed more "interest" so in the spirit of "freedom" I added a bird. heh. It looked a bit too elementary at that point, so I quicked in a mansion/castle thing in the background to counterbalance.

I'm thinking I may call this one done. There are things I could keep working on, but I don't think it's going to get a lot more effective based on what I started with.

I've got an idea for a next effort that's got a little more dynamism in it...

Here's a little bigger version than I've been posting.

[UkiTakuMuki]

yeah! the knife rocks now :. love the leather-strips :> i esp. love the palace/castle in the background... so dreamy , esp in the sunrise. (its sunrise yes? )

[Ragnarok]

Great improvement

I think the knife still could look a bit better if you added something explaining why it's in that position without falling, how does it stand there.
The castle and the bird work very well. About composition, I think the right down corner looks a bit empty. Maybe the castle would be better in that position? Just a sugerence.

I'd love to see your next piece
_________________
"Ever forward, my darling wind." -Master Yuppa
Seigetsu

[r1sm]

oh my god, its looks so impressive

i wish i could draw like u. maybe i will get a scanner today and can start with drawing.

anyway..i like ur drawing much

ps. did u ever played ac2(beta)? :p
_________________
Last words of Mr.Riker "Worf, fire at Will!"

[Matthew]

Wow that is impressive and the knife is definitely better.
Would be lovely with some more birds, like he scared the birds or something..hehe

Have a nice day
Matthew

[lalPOOO]

looks great, I hope you continue working on it!

[Specter]

This turns out to be a real nice image! But in my opinion you should get rid of the brown outline of the character. It doesn't suit the painting style very well...

And I really love the pose of his right arm, very well executed!!

Specter out!

[ejwize]

Thanks for the feedback!

r1sm - I launched the AC2 beta a couple times. Nice graphics. I decided I'm going to stay away from mmorpgs for a while though. We'll see...

Matthew - thanks. The bird was meant to be a metaphor for freedom from the game. I'm not sure what scaring a bunch of birds away would be a mataphor for, but how much time I put into playing was *scary* so I guess it could work.

lalp000 - thanks. I put this one down calling it done and then went on to work on something else... and then that got interrupted by some freelance work coming in. Anyway, when I get back to painting, it will probably be a new thing.

Specter - thanks. Yeah... I don't have a very well realized style yet... I was kind of vaccilating between full on rendering and outlining. I tried to land somewhere in the middle where the outlines were subtle and painted into the masses. Could use work, I agree. Next one.

[gezstar]

you're probably done with this pic, but it occurred to me that you could change the whole mood by adjusting the sky so it's a bit more epic (maybe a 'just after the storm' look).

I really like the figure - stylish and expressive.

[Merystic]

GREAT job! This turned out wonderful--love your style! Might I say this was completed very nicely. No crits here! I think you got the mood across quite well.
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"Dreams are necessary to life." --Anais Nin