Lady Blade Gwuenevere - Updated for Artfight

Very late for Artfight, but here's updated art of Gwuenevere with her magic Thread and her Woven Blade.

Gwuenevere prepares an attack with a flourish of magical splendor. Sprouting from her fingers are thin thread, flowing together into long cords of crystalized ichor which is then molded into a blade. Woven by thousands of magical Threads, the blade takes on a piercing shape. Like that of a sewing needle, it displays an eye by which Gwuenevere's Thread flows through.

It seems to be made with precise attention, but it is short and deceptively brittle. While Gwuenevere 's Woven Blade does not cut well, it is made to puncture. To quickly dart and dig into the enemy's core and out again. The blade carries her Thread into their wounds, which its strands then burst into a painful cluster of metal crystals. With their interiors made from Gwuenevere's ichor, these crystals bleed themselves deeper and grow more of themselves from within. 

A devastating sight to witness. Yet many witless War-Fitted would find themselves bearing ichor scars from their battles with Gwuenevere. Some, if very unfortunate, would face their demise by her blade. Those crystals creep deep, damaging the integrity of one's ichor structure, leaving a wake of destruction that corrodes throughout. 

A ruination that finds no cure by any measure.

Details update goofy ahhhhh

 

Colors progress! Trying to keep them looking both similar and different at the same time.

THOU ART MAIDENLESS

The Janthizeran Siege Arches Thermite and Caelestis

You're stuck babysitting the world's most annoying brother (outside of your five other brothers).

Unfortunately, you need him to keep the empire stable.

The Janthizeran Brothers ruled for centuries, but they still have their sibling rivalry moments.

Like debates over district expansions, who's the face of the empire, fighting over their lords' loyalty, and stealing each other suitors

Just normal sibling stuff

 

WIP - The Jantherizeran Brothers - Big Turtle Preview ahhahahhahahah

 

Welcome to Big Dead Turtle City

It's dead and a city at the same time!!

And maybe an empire oh no :D

Seven of Wands - Seven Brothers WIP

 

✨💫🔪✨🔪✨🔪⭐fucking betrays you⭐🔪✨🔪✨🔪✨💫

EVERYTHING IS COMPLETED AND DONE-ISH!

Eightenate Character, Sword prop, and callout sheets are completed!

 

 

 

 

I can finally move on to finalizing her character model in Blender and adding her sword as a model, too. But before that, I need to work on some 3D animation and hard surface modeling practices, which might take most of March. The completion of the character model itself might be around June or July.

For anyone who was here when I started on this saga last year, remember that this project was to create a style guide for future World of Relics 3D comics. I know this model, the first of three characters for the style, took about a year to get to this point. This is mostly because I'm relearning a lot of things related to 3D character design for NPR (non-photorealistic rendering) styles, including building my own shaders, style matching between 2D and 3D, sculpting and retopolgy, UVs and texture baking, and so on. So, yeeeaaah, kinda taking a long time for this style guide.

The good thing is that the more I learn, the faster this 3D character creation will be. Also, most of what I learned will become second nature, so no like three or four weeks of learning how to do proper topology so the model won't look weird if shaded the wrong way (no I'm not kidding). I still have 3D (and 2D) animation, advanced character sculpting, and character rigging to learn, however. This year will be all learning!

I have no start time (aside from a trello reminder for 2027) for starting my Rise of Relics comic. I'm thinking about while developing the character models, just start traditionally with drawn characters and environments. Then eventually added the 3D characters and environments as I go along, especially for more complex scenes.

Anyway though, this was an enjoyable process. Hope to have Eightenate's character model completed soon!

Credits for the stock images used in the above callout sheet:

1. Photo by Alex Suprun on Pixnio
2. Photo by benjamin lehman on Unsplash
3. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
4. Photo by PDTillman on Wikimedia
5. My own example of a crystal blade
6. Arpit Sahani from Pixabay
7. Photo by Andreas Haubold on Unsplash

OOOHHauuuhhhhhhhhhhggggghh perspective hard

 Fixing and correcting old sword design to updated version.

 

Old version

 

New WIP update

 

Cleanup stage 2

Thank you so much Krita for the perspective tool. I'm not sure if this is correct buuut yeah.

 

Callout/Reference Page for Eightenate

 One more WIP page for my character Eightenate! This will show a callout/reference sheet for textures needed and design notes for Eightenate. I should have done this before working on her 3D model, but that's okay, I'm learning!

Calderian Earthenkind ages and sizes

 

Made a rough size and age sketch sheet of my Calderian Earthenkind, with a human (5'4") to show scale. Upper section shows Eightenate's size at age 25 due to her stunted growth next to an Adult Earthenkind around the same age. Bottom section shows normal growth over years.

Eightenate Character model Progress!

 So, over the past year, I've been working on Eightenate character model for a World of Relics style guide. The goal of the style guide is to help develop a consistent aesthetic, themes, style, and visual worldbuilding concepts for the overall look of the setting of World of Relics, and its sub universes, Rise of Relics and The Mundane Realm.

 The goal of the Eightenate model is to test out how my designs translate to 3D space, while keeping my 2D painterly/comic book style. This means months of learning NPR styled shading and modeling, from Anime-styled renders to Arcane and Spiderverse styled shading. I'm still learning most of this stuff, as a lot of this style of 3D art and design is still new and developing. But once Eightenate's model is complete with body and facial rigging, with a plan on how to keep Appeal of my 3D models intact for comics, the process of asset creation of my future comics will go by faster.

Currently, the status of Eightenate's character model is the following:

 

Original 2D design

There are a few corrections I need to do for this model before moving on to rigging:

•  Finalize Shaders and Textures
•  Fix right scar over eye taper shape
•  Once that's fix, repaint scar to be close to reference
• Reshape holdout geo over right eye and scar
• Fix tassels shading to be closer to reference 
• Complete cape with two holes from reference and improve shading (Look up Arcane Cloth shading)
• Make sword after learning hard surface modeling
  

Eightenate sword updates and upcoming character sheet corrections!

 I made corrections on Eightenate's sword, shown here in a previous post. Check it out:

 

The reason why I went with this design was due to the environment that Eightenate lived in was incompatible with the original hooked sword from her previous sheets. The original sword design was for breaching and bypassing the armor of war-fitted objects like war-torches and other polearms and fighting against swords by using the hook to redirect their swings.

But Kingdom of Calderia is largely populated by Earthenkind made of multiple layers of solid stone, which includes Eightenate - despite her stunted size. I don’t think that hook design will survive long in this setting. So I went with a thick stone sword with a wedged blade, designed to still breach armor and stone, wedge between exposed cracks, and act as a tool for breaking through barriers or aid in climbing. And some additional traits like punching with the bolted hilt or stone pommel.

Also, there’s a bit of an additional worldbuilding note for Eightenate: because of her stunted growth, she is unable to grow spines on the underside of her arm. While most adult Earthenkind (of stony variety) grow spines upon coming-of-age at 20, Eightenate was five years late in that growth and lacked the additional offensive and defensive benefits she would have gained from them.

This sword was a gift given to her by an elder Earthen, who took care of her shortly after the lost of her past Guardian during her curiohood. The sword, once used in a higher position before Calderia’s downturn just years ago, was in poor condition and took a long time for Eightenate to take care of it. After some time, it gained a similar hue as Eightenate’s own chrysocolla core.

 Next to be updated:

• Correct textures on Expressions and Pose Sheets.
• Update Sword Design on Pose Sheet.

Eightenate Poses and Expressions

 Totally forgot to post her pose sheet a few months ago, but here's Eightenate's pose and expressions sheet!

Hoping the worldbuilding pays off ahahh

 Writing Gwenny's backstory draft rough:

...But, alas, the thronewolf sensed something nearby and turned its massive mossy rusted head towards Gwenny and his curios. Gwenny ushered the curios on, led by another curio, and tried to distract the thronewolf from killing them and devouring their kernels, dooming the young to a final Death. Risking himself of grave injury, knowing the curios are scared and panicking, Gwenny unlatches his silver suppressor collar and summon forth magic.

As a fragile, especially an Apparel, Gwenny had to wear a suppressor to keep his magic from harming himself. It is common law in most kingdoms, though lingering rumors question its relevance and hindrance in the daily lives of fragilekind, especially in extreme circumstances as this. For the law demands that all fragiles must suppress, least they be a danger to themselves or to others. However, such a law implies that Gwenny should, in this situation, completely sacrifice himself to the beast to save the curios. Dying a violent true death with no hope of revival. To give the curios a briefest chance of escape.

Gwenny knew that the curios were still too far from the Abbey and his death will only satiate the thronewolf for only a moment. It is a large beast, possibly decades old, battle scarred, rotted, and rusted, hungry for ichor to repair its molding splintered wounds. Gathering his wits, with knowledge of both Calderian and Longermorian wildlife, Gwenny spurred forth fire from his hands. Ignoring the searing pain of the flames burning his fabric body, he forced fire onto the ground, allowing it to spread towards the beast. The thronewolf tried to plow forward through the flames, embers licking at its mossy head as it opens its great maw of rusted metal and molded wood. The beast lunged and Gwenny dodged, his right arm caught in the beast’s blackened jaw. Angry and hurt, Gwenny poured more power through his right arm straight into the beast’s cavernous body.

Screaming, Gwenny briefly feels a sudden burst of pain as his arm incinerates from this spell. As he grows weak, the thronewolf, finally realizing it met its match, released Gwenny in a panic as flames ate through its body. It turned to leave, but before it ran back into the forest deep, a blade soar through the air, stabbing deeply into its back. Another sword and another, and the beast fell. With one final living blade slicing off its head, the beast dies as its ichor retreats into a decaying withered kernel within its smoldering chest.

[Name], nobelhatched mage staff of the castle of this area containing the Abbey, swiftly puts out the flames before they can do anymore damage. But for Gwenny, as his vision fades, sees the anger of the staff as he stared at him. Gwenny knew, thoughts just barely coming through as his ichor retreats, that his actions cost him everything....

Eightenate Character Poses WIP

 Eightenate Character Poses! Next is color and the expressions page.

It's fine her arms change their length between poses here. I like the idea that whatever a living object is doing, their limbs will shift their mass for that purpose.

An ability called Ichormancy.

I.e: jumping from a high place onto the ground requires the limbs (Eightenate's arms in this case) to thicken to absorb the shock when landing. If climbing, they lengthen. If fighting (which happens very often for earthkind like Eightenate), their limbs form thicker skin/scales for protection. And so on.

Advanced Ichormancy may allow an object to shift their limbs to extreme forms or disconnect them, allowing the limbs to float and have a wider range of movement. Example: Swords and their floating hands.

Eightenate's eye is a rare form of natural Ichormancy where she had gravely injured her core but her strong will prevented her ichor structure from retreating into a kernel. This forms a germ at the site where her core was injured. As with some partially revived objects with this rare condition, eventually, this germ may need to be extracted to prevent further injury as it will absorb any material surrounding it to create a new curio.

Eightenate is lucky that this germ is dormant...for now. It occasionally throbs, but it's nothing that a sip of mercury can't soothe. As long as she does not need to be revived again, Eightenate needs not worry about it.

Oh, and the die in her eye is mostly for cosmetic purposes. She can't see out of it, but she likes the way it looks.

WOR Style Test

 

I just completed this concept of my characters, Eightenate, Inga, and Gwenny, for a future project to create 3D models for a World of Relics 3D test comic. For these character models, I want them to best match the original style presented in this image.

First up will be Eightenate🔮

Broken Mirror - Bygone Era

 

Broken Mirror - Bygone Era

Side A Feat. Goddess Nikey

My self-image is just as murky as a reflection in a worn old mirror. Broken and weathered by time's toll. There's a weight upon me. I will carry it eternally, even as the world dies and the ground below me falls away. At this moment, I wish to come to terms with it. My dull reflection carries it, too.

Old stomping grounds

 Well...

 

....it's been a while since I been here and I am surprised that a few posts are still getting views on here.

Anyway, since I left Twitter (for personal reasons I will not mention here), I also gave up a platform for posting my rough sketches. I like posting on Tumblr, but I like to spread out my content on different platforms. DA, Insta, and my portfolio are mostly for my finished completed work or polished sketches.

So, maybe a possible revival here??? Just for the sketches?

Anyway, here's something I have done recently. I'm writing an objectshow comic about living object people living in a fantasy world. Here's the carrd for one of my stories set within it: Rise of Relics! Also, if you are wondering what the "Not for the use of NFTs" watermark is for: it's to hopefully slow the scrapping of my art by nft art thieves.  

 I do not support nfts nor have any intention to create or profit off them. 

So yeah, enjoy my art! You can find me on other places, too! Check my about me page for more information!