Its Name Is Mud

Thus far, I’ve created a few models for a Flash game that I’m co-developing with another guy. I featured one of these models in my blog earlier, an elven archer of the Unseelie Court. The game we’re working on is in 2D, but I’m using my 3D models to make tile sheets. The 2D figures are so small that much of the detail that I put in them is lost, but I figure that it’s better to have too much detail than too little.

The next model I’m making for this game is a golem, a kind of tank unit that is able to withstand a lot of punishment before dying. As usual, I started by drawing a silhouette of the creature then filling in details over the black areas. I decided that the golem should be broader than a human being, the better to block its enemies. I made its arms long so that it can plant its fists on the ground like a gorilla to achieve better stability against attacks. Its forearms and fists are large and heavy enough to act as powerful blunt weapons. The golem is devoid of ornamentation as if the wizards who constructed it were more concerned about amassing an army than creating a work of art.

The model that I designed is so simple that it only took me two days to construct and texture its mesh. The weekend is just around the corner, so I doubt if I’ll be able to work on it then. Nevertheless, I hope to finish the golem’s tile sheet by early next week.

Single Elf Female, Part 2

Having made a naked base model of a female elf as mentioned in my previous blog post, I set about to gearing up the elf model. There are many ways to design the armor and weapons of humanoid creatures, so I wasn’t sure at first on which direction to take my design. I turned to Google to see how other artists made their own renditions of elf women. Inspired by pictures of scantily clad blood elves, I initially thought of dressing my model in a bra, miniskirt, and boots. The design turned out to be rather bland, so I abandoned it and drew something that I should have done earlier – a silhouette of the elf.

The elf whose silhouette I drew is the type that an evil wizard would try to summon. This elf is of the Unseelie Court, whose members are feared for their malevolence. She is a veteran of the Wild Hunt, when unseelie folk would ride across the sky and kick up dark storm clouds that often heralded catastrophe or death. Her horned helm reflects her wild nature, and the layers of her black leather armor are like the protective plates of some draconic beast. Nevertheless, the elf is as beautiful as she is cruel, more akin to the creatures of Guillermo del Torro than J.R.R. Tolkien.

Instead of filling in the details of my 2D drawing, I went straight to modeling the armor in 3D. The final result is shown below. I decided to do away with the armor on the upper arms and thighs because I liked the effect of more skin showing.

Now that that’s done, it’s time for me to model the bow. From there, I will go straight to animating the elf.

Jupiter: Character Design

Meet Jupiter, the ultimate boss in my upcoming game. Whereas the character design that I made for Ra took me a few days to finish, my design for Jupiter was done in a matter of hours. I had a pretty good feel for what Jupiter would be like as an opponent, which is evident in my concept art.

Like all the Roman gods, Jupiter appears as a marble relief, which makes him tough to destroy. Being the end-game boss, Jupiter is especially strong and sturdy. His head is small, relative to his body, which gives the impression that he is a giant of a man. His thunderbolts, forged for him by the god Vulcanus, are the most lethal weapons in the entire game.

Even when fighting, Jupiter retains a merry disposition. After all, the word “jovial” was taken from Jove, another name that Jupiter is known by. His appearance and demeanor were inspired in part by Brian Blessed, whose roles in Flash Gordon, Henry V, and the Blackadder comedy series left an indelible impression in my mind.

Jupiter’s huge arms are clearly discernible in his silhouette. His overall shape is like a pillar, which evokes strength and durability. For all intents and purposes, Jupiter is immune to direct attacks. Players will have to figure out how to defeat him. (And since I haven’t designed the boss battles yet, so will I.)

Ra: Character Design

The eponymous hero of my upcoming game, Ra, needs an appropriate image to depict him. Being based on a god who was worshipped in ancient times, Ra has many pictures on the Internet that I can use as a basis for making my own version of this character. After trying out different variations, I finally settled on the design shown below.

Though it may not look it, the above picture took days for me to complete. In this blog post, I explain my character design process and the reasons for painting Ra the way I did.

My first step was to decide on what I wanted Ra to be. The back story of the game is that Ra and his fellow deities ruled comfortably over the spiritual lives of Egyptians until Octavian, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, conquered Egypt. At this point, Octavian was strongly inclined to abolish the worship of Egyptian gods, a move that his advisers warned him against. Nevertheless, the Roman gods were only too happy to give Octavian a nudge in the desired direction by kicking the Egyptian gods from their places of power. Only Ra, the strongest of the Egyptian gods, found the strength to drag himself up after his fall and to try to impress the local mortals sufficiently to have them worship him again. Only then will he find the strength to defeat the Roman gods and restore all Egyptian deities to their rightful thrones.

I want Ra to be an avenging hero, sort of like The Count of Montecristo and Sam Raimi’s Dark Man. I don’t want the game to be serious, however, because I have a soft spot for comedy. If a game idea makes me laugh, I’m inclined to implement it. Instead of portraying the gods as actual living beings, I’m going to depict them as wall art trying to vandalize each other. This design decision has the advantage of allowing me to put in floating obstacles, as I explained in my previous blog post.

Without worshippers, Ra is so weak that he hobbles like a man at Death’s door. When he happens upon Egyptian mortals, they will softly chant his name, giving him the strength to stand upright and walk normally. By striding before his worshippers, Ra can get them to chant louder until he gains the ability to run extremely fast and jump impossibly high. When hanging on to a nail on the wall, Ra can swing himself ever faster until he flies away like a gymnast, his body whirling and blazing like the sun. At the height of his power, Ra can crush Roman soldiers without coming to harm. Against their gods, however, Ra will need both his smarts and his strength to defeat them.

With this description in mind, I wanted to build Ra like an athlete, more of a gymnast and sprinter than a wrestler or bodybuilder. When I painted him, I started by drawing his silhouette with an eye toward hinting at his athletic prowess.

The broad shoulders and narrow waist suggest that Ra is the athletic type. His arms are muscular but not overly hypertrophied, and his calves are long and well-defined. These convey the idea that he relies more on speed and quick bursts of power than brute strength and tank-like endurance. His head is oddly shaped, like an eagle in profile. This is a departure from how Ra was depicted in ancient times. The top of the original Ra’s head, along with the overall shape of his face, was round, which suggests a love for comfort and relaxation. By giving Ra a more angular, aquiline profile, I depicted him as a dynamic and dangerous character.

When painting the rest of Ra, I relied mostly on the ancient sources to guide me, although I decided to make his arm bands light green instead of red to add variety to the mostly warm colors. It was with Ra’s face that I made some subtle but important differences. Instead of making his eye round, I made it narrow and slanted to give him that pissed-off Clint Eastwood look. I reshaped the black mark on Ra’s face to make it look like an avenging superhero’s mask. Finally, I gave Ra a furious frown on his beak. This is one angry bird that no pig will want to take on.

The color of Ra’s skin was picked to closely match the red ochre pigment that was used for painting skin tones on Egyptian wall art. All the other colors were precisely chosen for their harmoniousness with Ra’s skin color.

Despite the stiff pose of this character, I was satisfied with the design that I came up with. It took me a few days to complete, but I feel that all this effort was worth it.