I'm working on angels

[anitangel]

Hello everyone! My name is Anita and my husband is known here as Jabbro.

I've started creating angels last Saturday, thinking that surely there are some girls out there who would like to play with angels.
I was to post them into Jabbro's store. I haven't decided yet if they are going to be a free set, or go as pay. It depends how they are going to look when they are done. This is my very first set.

I wasn't following the ongoings on this forum. Jabbro says that you guys are interested in a set like it because OneMonk has just put out a demon set. I had no idea! What a coincidence! So he got me to post a teaser picture of them. So here it is:



I haven't decided yet if I want to attach the wings to the figure, or have you guys print it out and then glue it on the back. I'd like to hear how you, the gamers prefer it. Is anyone out there who prefer to see halos on them?
Please, tell me what you think.

Anita

[Floyd]

Hey not just girls! Angels were(are?) fierce warriors. I think most of us can appreciate that.

And these are some really nice looking angels. I love the wing designs and the hair. You've got a really nice feel to these and the proportions seem right for scale paper figures. Smooth dynamic cloth folds...Very nice. They remind me of figure depictions from ancient Greece.

I would prefer separate wings so that I can give them a concave look to the enfolded wings and a nice furl to the spread winged version.And I vote no to the stereo-typical halo designs. But if you were thinking more of a glowing wreath I might be inclined to see your interpretation of that.

The poses and proportions look good for the most part. But some of the action poses and stances seem a little awkward.

Very nice stuff. I really look forward to seeing these colored.

Welcome to the boards!

~Fl0yd

[squirmydad]

WOW!

Those are great, you put my sad attempts at anatomy to shame.

You will never get a concusses about attaching wings or not. My suggestions is design them how you see them, with wing or without, and do then as simple part figures. Then if you get enough requests you can make the separate.

These are going to look great colored! Welcome to the forums. As soon as you get 3 projects done, I'll set you up with your own board.

Never mind, I'll set it up now...
JIM

[anitangel]

Thank you for the comments!!! ;D

Already on a new board? Well, thank you! You work fast Jim. I don't think they look half as good as your figures --anatomy or not.

Floyd. I was trying to ignore some perspective with some of their feet legs, especially from the back view, keeping them to the ground, and make them flat. Some of those are going to be edited even flatter. And they do look weird.
If it is something else that looks awkward, could you be more specific? Maybe I can change that. I'd like to know before I get to the coloring stage. Thanks.

Anita

[stevelortz]

I used to play a lot of miniatures games with my homebrewed rules. I haven't played so much lately, but I've still got a zillion figures stowed away.

I have never cared much for Michael Moorthingy, Games Workshop chaos abberrations. One time, I found some suitably sized, plastic Christmas decoration Angels, that I based and painted up to go against the Chaotic units.

The Angels were armed with musical instruments, and the rationale for their attacks was that the harmony they made disrupted the influences of chaos.

So, my two cents worth is to make some with musical instruments!

Have fun!
Steve

[jabbro]

See? I told you these were good.

She wanted to try her hand at them. These were cool, so I talked her into posting them. ;D

[anitangel]

Thank you for the comments yet again.

Steve I appreciate your two cents. Are you thinking a whole new set with angels actually playing these thing, or just to edit the weapons out and place a musical instrument in their hands? I can do both.

Jabbro they are kind of blah, compared to your figures.

Progression:

[magpiestear]

wow!!

your colouring is awesome!

I like the idea of the doves.

Keep this up anita and welcome to the boards!

[stevelortz]

I also love your color work. I think I'd rather see you do MORE angels to introduce the musicians!

I can see these angels going up against the demons in Jim's latest release.

Have fun!
Steve

[darkmook]

These are great! Look forward to seeing the completed set!

[abaddonwormwood]

Anita,

Sweet Blessed Halos! These are great. Got a request for you to think about - do some angels in modern garb with wings that are separate. This would allow for figures to be shown as "hidden" or "mortal" in the modern world.

Also I would like to see the "whized off" Angels - Angels that dislike mortals or it's their job just to be Angry. Then there are those that are slipping away - Falling.


Any which way you dice it these are going to be winners. Thanks for coming on board.


Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

[abaddonwormwood]

Oh ....

Balls of Light - the Angels that have no human form; ones and threes - core number reflecting their mythology.


Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

[Floyd]

The more I look at these... the more they remind me of
“Saint Michael Fighting The Dragon” and "Angels Fighting" by Albrecht Durer

Lovely lovely color work.

The poses I was referring to are in the middle row, the 1st two male Angels. The sword raised guy looks like his forward foot/leg is actually turned away and into the background. And the one holding the hammer seems stiff, or that the hammer ways no more than a styrofoam replica. (BTW) This is just my opinion on what seemed a little off on what are some really, really excellent angels. These are the most beautiful wing sets I've seen in miniature. Truly.

I am eager to see the rest of these figures come to life!

And I like Ab's idea for why the wings might be preferable as a separate item.

~F

[onemonkeybeau]

Holy cow Anita!

Seems I'm late to the party... Welcome!

I'm so glad to see you here!

Your angels are amazing for first figs... I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

I'd like to see some massive angels in battle armor kind of along the lines of the angels in Angel Wars ( angelwars.com ). You know, huge swords and all!

Anyway, glad you're here and say hi to Jabbro for me!

Onemonkeybeau

[anitangel]

Thank you for the comments everyone!

Magpiestear, I'm glad you like my coloring and thanks for the welcome.

Abaddonwormwood: Oh, wow, we are talking about several sets here. I like angels, but not this much I'll probably need a break, but some of your ideas I like.
I was planning to make these angels without wings so they can mingle with humans. But yeah, we are talking about a different era here.

Darkmook the set is half complete as a matter of fact here is a new picture about yesterday nights' work:

I didn't expect such a great interest, thanks!

Cheers,
Anita

[buckwiley]

Sept 9, 2009 5:38:31 GMT -9 anitangel said:

I LOVE this figure. The pose, the look... awesome! Really looking forward to this set!

[Scruff]

Sept 8, 2009 12:13:38 GMT -9 anitangel said:

Jabbro they are kind of blah, compared to your figures.

I beg to differ! Anita these are Fantastic! Don't sell yourself Short! You both have great but differing styles and this is a case of comparing "Caramel" apples and "Chocolate dipped" Oranges. I might be pushing 40, but when I "grow up" , I hope my skills become at least half as good as yours!

[anitangel]

Hi everyone! Back with updates:

Last girl for a while.

Scruff: Lorelie and Betty Sue are looking good to me. I don't see why you would say that you need to improve to my level when you are there. And as for chocolate covered oranges or caramel apples that is a tough choice but gimme the chocolate covered orange jelly and we have a winner Thank you for the kind words! I just love Jabbro's ideas, little details and gosh his coloring is awesome!

Buckwiley: I hope I can show the whole set soon! And thank you for your comment! They make me happy!

Oh, my, forgive me somehow I missed Onemonkeybeau and Floyd's reply.

Floyd: The sword raising angel's foot does look like it is in the background. I'll pull the other leg down, so it gets into the foreground and edit the shoe that should help. It is hard to make these things flat when you were learning all your life how to foreshorten!
As for the guy with the hammer, I thought that shows how strong he is holding a hammer like it was a feather does show some skill Notice that he still flexes the other arm, to balance?

Onemonkeybeau: Glad you arrived to the party. I'm a bad hostess though I almost missed your comment there. Thanks for the warm welcome, and I'll say hi to Jabbro for you. It sounds like I'll come up with angels next too so many ideas! My preference in male body is not the massively muscular type. What you see here is what I love to look at, and draw... as you see not even the abs are that defined. I haven't tried my hand at the big bulky guys yet, might be interesting for a change. Thanks for the comment!

[anitangel]

Onemonkeybeau: Jabbro just told me to look at the link you have sent me. For some reason I had something else in mind, I could have sworn that the angels you were talking about were totally different. These are mecha warriors with wings! Heh. Pretty cool looking!

Next angel in line:


And I have the "incognito" versions:

Tell me if that pattern on the dress makes it look to busy.





Anita

[Floyd]

Oh I like the patterns you chose for the outfits. Very nice!

These all look really, really nice. I took a few of the samples above and
printed them to scale and they look great. All the detail holds and is easily
discernible. The proportions look good. !!!!

Keep'em coming. You've got a really nice set coming along here. I cannot wait to see
them with some wing attachments.

~F

[hackbarth]

I'll recommend these minis in the SJGames forums. In Nomine doesn't need miniatures per se, but they'll be welcome.

You could put wings in the angelic version and leave them off on the incognito version.

[kane]

WOW! Those are amazing! Get some backs on those and have Jim set you up. Your ready to sell out of the gate!

[anitangel]

Thanks everyone!

Floyd: I hope I've fixed up that leg and it looks less awkward. As I said I've just edited the height of the heels, and shoes and the like. I had a bigger task on the styrofoam hammer, as it will follow. I'm pretty sure I've done justice to it now. But I don't know about the golden angel (5). And thank you for the feedback, I think they look better now, all because you've opened my eyes to my mistakes.
Ah, how nice of you! Thanks for printing them out, I'm glad they keep detail, I was afraid of that they wouldn't.

Hackbarth: Thank you for the advertising! I'm thinking of doing it in 2D, after I have my wings colored (last to do on this set), and have them be available for those who want it 2.5D. This way both group is happy.

Kane: Wows count as great compliments so Thanks a bunch! The backs are done, but there is still a lot to do for the set. Three more guys, one girl and lots of wings, that is gonna be the hard part.

And the update:

I hope he looks better now.


Anita

[onemonkeybeau]

Hey Anita!

Yeah, the Angel Wars characters are more like angels in power armor!

I wanted to let you know that I think I may be in love with the 3rd angel down... that side glance and coy smile is great!

Anyhoo, a quick word about the black border. For the front image the black border should be thinner than the back. What you have going right now would be excellent for the back image... just take a few pixels off and you'll be golden!

AWESOME stuff here... really, really awesome!

onemonkeybeau

[anitangel]

Thank you for the reply again Onemonkeybeau. We have a long conversation going on here.
It sounds like she is the best figure on this page, you and Buckwiley have the same taste.
But that chick has gotten some personality. I tried not to go with making angels angry looking, because that is not that they were made for. Only modern people make them look mad, on old paintings when they are killing demons they are pretty much expressionless.
As for the black border I use 8 pixels around the front of the figure, and 16 pixels around the back of it. Is that okay?
I was in the belief that these numbers work. I have a figure producing machine sitting beside me I know that it is not a hard thing to change.

Update:



Anita

[abaddonwormwood]

So are you drawing and texturing or is J doing that part?

These are shaping up very nicely. As for the whole angery angel... umm if you start to draw what is discribed in the Bible someone might mistake them for Lovecraft critters.


Lord Abaddon of Wormwood

[jabbro]

Anita is the queen of textures. She has a lot more talent in this area than me. She does a lot of little cool things like textures that really bring a digital drawing to life.

[anitangel]

Lord A.W. These are a 100% my work. I only ask Jabbro how would things work out on paper in his opinion. He provided me that black rectangular box with the red line in the middle that I have seen on the forums somewhere for download and the scale figure. Otherwise he can only effect how these turn out with his opinion. As it works turned around, I do not fiddle with Jabbro's artwork, I can only tell what I think. Usually we are opened to eachother's ideas, but don't try eachother's style. For example the coloring, I do defined shades to give strong contrast, Jabbro does soft shading.

Jabbro: I have been a photoshop user for 6 years, patterns and textures come easy. You could do it too if you weren't that worried about it. It is harder to make those special effects you've created than to slap on a pattern or texture.

Thanks for the comments!

[Floyd]

Yep! Like'em both. It actually looks cooler with the Hammer resting on his shoulder.
And the leg /foot look better on the sword wielding sarraph.

Did you try applying the texture to displacement maps? or did you use the Layer Styles feature for your clothing patterns?

These are looking really nice.

On newest hooded figure: the skin tone being so close to the sword sheath
is hard to distinguish between the two. Maybe a brighter color for the sheath?
And is the texture maybe just a little too large on the incognito version?
The latter may not matter when scaled down or if reduced it may output so
small as to not be discernible.

~F

ps. From the Department of Totally Useless Information:

Procured this from the internets.

1. Angel: Greek Angelic
2. Angelica: Latin Female Angelic
3. Angelina: Latin Female Angelic
4. Angeni: American Indian Spirit angel
5. Angie: Greek Female Form of ANGELA - heavenly messenger
6. Arella: Hebrew Female Angel messenger
7. Cassiel: Latin Female Angel of Saturday; the earthly mother
8. Dabria: Latin Female Name of an angel
9. Evangeline: Greek Female Like an Angel
10. Javan: Latin Female angel of Greece
11. Malaika: African Angel
12. Malak: Arabic Female angel
13. Muriel: Latin Female angel of June
14. Neria: Hebrew lamp of god, angel
15. Nitika: Hindi angel of precious stones
16. Oriel: French Female golden, angel of destiny
17. Sachiel: Greek angel of water
18. Serafina: Spanish Female seraph, angel
19. Tamera: Not available or unknown Female A Spice or Beloved Angel
20 Uriel: Hebrew Angel of Light
21 Vangie: Not available or unknown Female From EVANGELINE
22.Zaniel: Latin angel of Mondays
23 Fay: English Fairy

I've got a book called The Dictionary of Angels. Which is fantastic for angelic names and their meanings and back-story.

[anitangel]

Floyd: Thanks for the feedback. The sheath has been changed, but I'm not going to post a pic of it, the change is so subtle. I made it more of a reddish brown, somewhat like his belt.
I have intentionally left the texture oversized, I hope it will show on printing. And I have used displacement maps for the texture.

Today's update:


His outfit looks like a turkish pair of pants, but I doubt anybody could pass him for a turkish guy because of his skin color oh, well.

Anita