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Post by kiladecus on Feb 7, 2013 7:52:51 GMT -9
Coming soon... WARMANCERS: Battle Arena! Teams of Warmancers join forces to battle rival teams in the arena! It is an all-out battle to the death of the greatest Battle Wizards of all-time! Do you think YOU have what it takes to compete?
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Post by cowboyleland on Feb 7, 2013 8:26:00 GMT -9
ooof, the pun
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Post by bravesirkevin on Feb 7, 2013 8:44:14 GMT -9
I thought it'd be something to do with the King Beyond The Wall... Nice undead priestess you've got there though
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 7, 2013 9:14:56 GMT -9
THANKS, BSK! ;D Means a LOT coming from you. @ CBL: Would you expect anything less from me? I was really torn because the Warmancers line has had its ups and downs, and I have been trying to "bring it back from the dead" so to speak, so I decded to breath new life into it with an undead wizard. I actually discussed doing a joint efforst with and he agreed! I told him my idea, and it is proceedeing forward (in between other projects I am juggling). This will feature a HUGE arena. The first time I saw the arena was when I released my first set of figures (WARMANCERS: Battle Wizards: Set One). I thought, I have got to get THESE guys in THERE. Here we are a few months later, and sure enough... they are going to be released *soon.* This will have all of the Warmancers you have come to know, and will feature a few new ones, the priestess for example. There will be spells in various classes and will line up with the wizards themselves. Each wizard will have certain bonuses and set-backs. Some will be faster, and other will be able to use more spells. Some will even be multi-classed (like the priestess here.. he can use "Biomancy" and "Pyromancy." You can tell these by her flame that she is getting ready to hurl, and the green glow ot the eyse on the scepter... you might have missed that since it isn't colored yet). Here is the kicker... She's undead. If there is a Necromancer on her team.... she could be re-cycled over and over...
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 9, 2013 19:54:15 GMT -9
Having no real discernable computer skills, I am slowly trying to improve my work. I thought I would try a few techniques I use on my Motorworks sets, and see what I could do on an actual figure. Well, as you can see, her eyes are glowing and she can be either a Pryomancer, OR a Cryomancer. I realized I couldn't do it with her hand showing (like I do with my hand-colored stuff). I could put her hand in front of this, but it would not have the same effect. I could try to trace the hand over the flames (old-school at it's best). I dunno... Any thoughts or advice?
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Post by cowboyleland on Feb 9, 2013 20:06:08 GMT -9
Draw a hand on each (draw one hand and copy it onto both) but in gray so that it looks like it is engulfed?
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Post by old squirmydad on Feb 9, 2013 20:26:44 GMT -9
Can you affect the opacity or blending mode of the flames? I so, you could dial it down so the hand shows through. Otherwise, yeah, what Cowboy said. The title of this thread makes me wonder if the competition will be judged by celebrity deities.
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 10, 2013 6:07:49 GMT -9
Instead of using "actual" flame (the ice was just the flame colored blue... look at it again, and you will see it is the EXACT image only re-colored), I drew the yellow highlights and but it over three various colors of orange. Using hte "glow" effect and trimming the edge to 5% border, blended it pretty well. Does this look better?
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Post by gilius on Feb 10, 2013 9:36:22 GMT -9
In my opinion it does look better. I wonder if the black outline for the flame is necessary on the inner part of the figure, and if removing it would improve it or not.
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Post by old squirmydad on Feb 10, 2013 10:21:40 GMT -9
Much better.
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Post by bravesirkevin on Feb 10, 2013 10:28:38 GMT -9
I'm actually in the middle of painting a bunch of flames. Not sure my technique would work too well with your drawing style though.
Out of curiosity, what software are you using to colour?
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 10, 2013 15:02:09 GMT -9
I really only know one software program (other than SHUFFLER)... Everything I do is in EXCEL. I always knew I was pretty good with it, but I started playing with it in various aplications when I decided to make my Camel look better for the Era of War "box" set. I then used my techniques for the War Walker and the Grav bikes. When I got around to the Mantis/ Cricket set, I drew the ENTIRE set in Excel. I have some more things planned, but I can say although I hand-draw all my stuff, I am teaching myself how to do more with Excel. I know that Gimp/Photoshop have a lot more capabilities, but I always say, "Use what you know, and when you think you have reached your potential, DO MORE. When you have used it beyond it's posibilities... wring hte life out of it. Once you can't get ANY more out of it, then move on to a bigger program." I will still do a lot of hand-coloring, because I enjoy it so much, nad I still feel that sometimes you can't beat a good old Sharpie maker in your hand. You can control each stroke and there realy is no equal. Thanks for your kind words, by the way!
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Post by bravesirkevin on Feb 10, 2013 15:18:08 GMT -9
Excel's great for spreadsheets, and okay for graphs. I think you should make the move to Photoshop/GIMP as soon as possible though! It's like the difference between building a shelf by knocking nails in with a monkey wrench, and building the shelf with a fully stocked tool box. It's quite possible that you could do much more with Excel than you're already doing, but because it wasn't really built for that purpose, you'll find that doing anything slightly complex lands up requiring tons of tricky work, while photoshop or gimp would handle it with just a couple of clicks.
If you get yourself a graphics tablet (even a relatively inexpensive one) you'll find that digital painting comes really naturally and you'll soon be achieving a lot more than you ever could with your collection of markers!
On a side note, getting the most out of PDFs will require something completely different. You've been doing some professional grade stuff lately, and if you want to take it to the next level and graduate to doing fancy things like layered PDFs you're going to have to get your hands on a copy of Illustrator and learn how to use it.
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 10, 2013 19:22:03 GMT -9
Well, thanks Kevin. I am trying to get my feet wet, and Illustrator seems to be the way to go. I have some friends (we'll call them Chris and Dave) that swear by illustrator. I am happy with what I am doing so far. Just think if I can make the MANTIS with Excel, imagine what my SPREADSHEETS look like (that reminds me, I have to get that Lexicon updated). I know I am using the "wrong" program for the job... look at some of my Shuffler projects. Paper Make It designed it to do 2D maps. I did my first 3D models with it. (You can find them here under my "Projects" thread... maybe someone can post the links here). I don't think out of the box... I don't even HAVE a box!
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Post by bravesirkevin on Feb 11, 2013 0:03:33 GMT -9
I don't think out of the box... I don't even HAVE a box! Haha! Boxes are a terrible place to live your life anyway! My accountant has a creative streak, and he put together some pretty nifty stuff using excel too, simply because it was the program he knew how to use. Must admit the stuff was pretty good, but he quickly ran into limitations with the textures and the shading thereof. I personally only use Illustrator right at the end, to save my PDFs out, just because I prefer the painterly approach and Photoshop's better for that. Illustrator's the got the tools for making the professional layout however, and it's the only way I've found to create a legitimate high-quality layered PDF.
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 15, 2013 3:02:24 GMT -9
I actually took a few mintutes to draw yesterday! ;D I had a goblin pyromancer that never made it into any of my sets. Looks like I am going to finally get one in under the gun.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2013 3:24:54 GMT -9
Ooo!!! Funny character and nicely done! Your style suits this kind of kinda less serious figurines very much, I think. IMHO definitely among the very best of your figurines so far (if not THE best).
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 15, 2013 5:13:37 GMT -9
He turned out pretty good, if I may say so myself.
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 15, 2013 5:15:57 GMT -9
Thanks, Mesper! That is a HUGE compliment coming from YOU! I think this guy brings an aspect of fun to the set.
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Post by cowboyleland on Feb 15, 2013 5:31:35 GMT -9
Seconding Mespers praise, I really like him. He kinda looks like he escaped from some Creepy Christmas set. Like Santa fed the elves after mid-night.
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 15, 2013 5:39:26 GMT -9
On Facebook people have refered to him as the "Disco Goblin." They even said his Mage Orb should be a disco ball! I said he isn't even laid-out, and he is the most fun figure I have already done. ;D
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 15, 2013 10:10:41 GMT -9
Here is the final version of the Skeletal Priestess.
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 15, 2013 10:13:43 GMT -9
I have had this concept locked away for a while now, but finally got it out onto paper. I jokingly refer to him as "Iron-Mancer." (Cue Black Sabbath)
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 15, 2013 12:33:29 GMT -9
Here is the final front of the Clock-Work Warmancer. Doing three figures in one day is enough to do me in... no more figures today! EDIT: The reason his Mage Orb is not colored is because I am going to experiment with it, and try out some different variations. One "Iron-Mancer to rule them all," so to speak.
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 16, 2013 14:32:27 GMT -9
This is a figure I am playing with. I think he will be a good rival to the Xiang-Wu Akuma! Any thoughts?
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Post by cowboyleland on Feb 16, 2013 18:07:22 GMT -9
There is something strange about his hip. Maybe his forward leg needs to be moved to the outside (viewers right) a bit and/or maybe the other hip should come forward/out. I think the right thigh is too far back for where the feet are ending up.
Just Parduzing a bit
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 16, 2013 20:01:19 GMT -9
I think you are right. The left leg needs to be moved to the right a bit. I didn't see that until you mentioned it. But I will work on that. In the mean time, take a look at my Iron-Mancer options... I was playing with some cool effects. Any thoughts on these?
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Post by cowboyleland on Feb 17, 2013 9:30:54 GMT -9
I really like the "plasma ball" in the lower left.
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Post by gilius on Feb 17, 2013 11:01:51 GMT -9
+1 for the plasma ball. Also, I really like the shading on his robes.
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Post by kiladecus on Feb 17, 2013 15:16:03 GMT -9
Thanks fellas.
I *may* include all four in the set.
Blue can be Hydro, Aero or Cryo
Green is Bio
Plasma can be Electro or Techno
The black one can be Shadow or possibly Necro.
These are pretty neat. ;D
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