SpectralJin In reply to AesirHod [2017-07-27 00:16:03 +0000 UTC]

Hey Aesir, right now I'm hard at work on doing illustrations for a friend's book 'Once Upon a Mouse'. Once I get done with that I'll jump back in to SR drawings again. Thanks for being patient, I want to do a Lt Turel and Melchiah piece, too.  Alas the paying gigs come first.

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SpectralJin In reply to fallenRazziel [2017-05-19 18:56:30 +0000 UTC]

Sure. Not a problem as long as you provide credit and links. Thanks

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fallenRazziel In reply to SpectralJin [2017-05-19 19:40:45 +0000 UTC]

Thanks^^

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SpectralJin In reply to Enemicarium [2015-08-31 19:02:10 +0000 UTC]

Salve! Always happy to see new ideas! Where in Italy are you? I loved it when I visited there

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Enemicarium In reply to SpectralJin [2015-09-02 22:38:57 +0000 UTC]

Hidden by Commenter

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Enemicarium In reply to Enemicarium [2015-09-02 23:42:53 +0000 UTC]

Sorry, I wrongly pushed the publish button... Herr hem, I had a little idea for the legacy of Kain team, and you are the nearest contact I found, so: my idea was to add a new point of view to the games, a never explored one, the one of a human. I really liked the dead sun's idea of making a vampire and a human cooperate, but the fact that the human was also a vampire... Meh. This is why a little story came me to mind (beware, looooong storytelling, so prepare yourself, go to the toilet, take out something to eat and sit, because you'll sit for a while... Sorry for any possible disturb):

after the Elder God's banishment and Kain's purification from corruption the vampire king of nothing decides to fix what he has done, and unifies Nosgoth's left vampires and humans to build a gigantic, tenth pillar, to slowly drain all the energy the elder god stole and use it to revive the land. Then, seals himself into a coffin at the very bottom of the tower to guard it forever. After centuries... Or maybe millennia things in Nosgoth are quite different, vampires and humans have arrived to some kind of "peace", using slavery to both feed vampires and enrich human economy, but at the cost of following severe rules dictated by the heir of the scion, a vampire lord "blessed" with Kain's own blood, and the reborn sarafan order (that now is a bit more precise than before, but still dogmatic in its duties, also I kinda like the sarafan so...). The story begins during a sarafan purge of rebel vampires, the wing clan, with the respective armies led by the woman general Darua ahr Raziel (generals' titles are reminescent of ancient "heroes") and the Vampire fledgling, albeit leader, Kain (Kain has become a very used name among vampires, like the modern Joshua). During a fight among the two leaders Darua loses her left arm and Kain(II) is stabbed to near death, and both armies are obliterated by the sarafan's newly made firearms. Is then revealed by the other three sarafan generals that they wanted to eliminate both vampire heretics and the last battallion that did not use firearms, also led by a woman (a shame for them), then Kain II is thrown down a cliff and Darua is left to die for blood loss. But before Kain II exspires a mysterious voice echoes in his mind, asking him if he wanted to live, Kain answers to the entity that he is disposed to pay any price for having revenge against who murdered his only family, and in the meanwhile a cloaked and masked being approaches the dying Darua, asking her if she wanted to live too, and after the two characters positive answer, Kain II is magically healed and the masked man replaces a weird looking tridactil arm to Darua's missing one and then vanishes. The story continues with a flash forward of three years, and Darua is seen working as a bounty hunter for a group of villagers threatened by mysterious immortal bandits, and when Darua assaults them, they are easily deafeated, also thanks to Kain II, arrived there to investigate. But the two have no time to talk, because the bandits immediately revive, morphed into a grotescue versions of themselves, obliging the two to hide in the nearby shrine of the ten pillars, only to find the cloaked man (the one that saved Darua) that summons what seems to be the legendary soul reaver of the scion, desintegrates Darua with a lightning spell and vanishes, leaving Kain II alone with the blade. Darua in the meanwhile wakes up in the spectral realm (not casually she is ahr Raziel) only to meet the soul of an ancient, skeletal vampire (guess who?) that lends her a spiritual version of the reaver and then tells her about the menace she is going to fight
"this, lady, are the qliphoth, impure beings that feed on the souls of the living, only to wear and corrupt their bodies, no weapon can really do harm to them, because they exist on this plane and also live, and destroying their physical husks just repels them momentaneously, but this can... I can destroy their spirit once their body is gone, feed me of their souls, or I'll turn my hunger on you...". Meanwhile in the earthly realm Kain II is fighting against the monstrous versions of the immortal bandits with the newfound blood reaver, but still it seems not to work on them, until a spectral manifestation of Darua (also partially visible in the earthly realm) destroys the true qliphoth that were inhabiting the human bodies. After Darua materializes in the living world, with Kain II's surprise, the ghost Ariel appears and tells them that a terrible menace has rooted into Nosgoth, and that it lives at the very bottom of the tenth pillar, and if not quickly stopped both the living and spectral world will die. The only way to access to the tenth pillar is to kill the nine arc-qliphoth and reunite the circle of nine scattered from far too long... This is the begininng of an adventure where a human and a vampire are forced to work together. And no, there will be no romance, if you are already fearing it, maybe the opposite. Also I'm from Lombardy, and sorry if I disturbed you... 

If you are interested I'll send you the drawings and I'll be more specific in the characters and the story in general. Thank you for reading all this mess...

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Enemicarium In reply to Enemicarium [2015-10-03 19:12:53 +0000 UTC]

Sorry... I shouldn't have bothered you... 

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Enemicarium In reply to Enemicarium [2015-09-05 11:16:58 +0000 UTC]

Just an idea, of course, I just hoped to inspire.

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Enemicarium In reply to Enemicarium [2015-09-03 07:56:07 +0000 UTC]

To give a sample look at my page (I don't want to pay for core membership...)

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SpectralJin In reply to Louves [2015-08-07 20:01:54 +0000 UTC]

Hi Louves, 

Most of the Hylden like dark, subdued colors with a smaller bits of saturated accents. Their skin was pale flesh colored, nearly translucent to the underlying bone in some sections

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AesirHod In reply to SpectralJin [2015-08-13 10:11:06 +0000 UTC]

It looks like there's a lot of metal and leather in the images Andez drew. I think the metal would mostly have been iron/steel or bronze and more higher ranking Hylden might have used gold armor like Hylden Lord did in BO2. Daniel, is the gold something you'd have wanted to tone down in Dark Prophacy to fit better with what you described?
I'd guess the kinds of metal colour could be similar to the Hylden armor wraiths, although having been morphed from Sarafan armor, it was likely the Sarafan's choice of materials.
legacyofkain.wikia.com/wiki/Le…
The faint colours in this one look like they would be steel and perhaps the spiky bits would be brass or gold plated.
legacyofkain.wikia.com/wiki/Fi…

This was the only coloured image I could find from Andez concept art and it's labeled Seer. The skin seems a dull brown colour and a little darker than in BO2, so I don't know if it's just artistic licence and you'd have gone with something closer to the skin tone she had in BO2 or if she was a special case due to being a hybrid.
legacyofkain.wikia.com/wiki/Fi…
Some of the hylden have a greenish colour in the Vorador's mantion murals. Is that just artistic licence from the vampires or something? Perhaps a reference to glyph energy?

The hylden appear to have hair. Again, is this just that the Seer is a special case due to being a hybrid? The HyldenSisterCostumeRough and the Seer images I posted look very similar to each other and I'm not sure if they're actually the same character.  I don't think Andez remembered much about them, but maybe you had some idea from when you were consulting with Ritual Entertainment.

I remember a some of the BO2 concept art showing the hylden in very dark blue/red colours. Does that sound right or was it something you tried to move away from in games you were involved with? Would it be better to stick with greys, blacks and browns for the fabric or something else altogether?  The mural of the hylden champion has lots of dark red. Are there any other murals that show the type of clothing?

There's an important looking male hylden in the Dark Prophacy concept art too. Would that have been the Hylden Lord or was it in an era where he was already dead and this a new character or was the plan that he'd survive somehow? The Hylden Lord in BO2 wore a purple banner with cold armor. Do you think he'd stick with the same colour scheme in Dark Prophacy if it was him?

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SpectralJin In reply to AesirHod [2015-08-31 19:27:05 +0000 UTC]

Hmm. Well these are questions that would have been processed through a six month preproduction cycle, where we'd work out the entire ecology of the Hylden, their political structure, symbols, technology, etc. Are you looking for the Hylden before they were banished or after? I wouldn't use the Seer as a guide, she's not a pure Hylden. (Heck I wouldn't even use the Hylden Lord moving forward) I have always seen the Hylden as a very different design based on their philosophy (techology through glyphs) Their armor would have been much more fitted and less traditional. I'd knock back all the saturation of the cloth, reinforce their differences from vampires (the feet, wings and head design). Overall I felt Ritual based their Hylden designs on Kain, which was confusing to me, and took a lot of discussion and sorting. I'd make it more organic armor in terms of shape or design reinforcement. Maybe I'll do a Hylden armor design next and post it. I really wouldn't follow the Sarafan armor, Hylden Lord armor, or Seer designs... maybe the upper half of the sister design, but even that I would have made different from traditional 'buckle and plate' design methods.  

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AesirHod In reply to SpectralJin [2015-08-31 20:07:14 +0000 UTC]

I was basically trying to match whatever state they'd be in in Dark Prophacy in the images Andez drew. I'm not sure whether they were intended to be before or after banishment, but my best guess would be post banishment, but taking into account what you once mentioned about the more powerful hylden sustaining themselves at the expence of others.  I believe the ones in the concept art were meant to be part of the hylden monarchy/ruling class.  Was it you who mentioned that or one of the designers at Ritual?

If you're considering doing your own take on their cultural background, I'd love to see that (add it to the list), but in terms of what I was asking Louves to do, the redesign would be out of the scope. It's just a little project to get a better idea of what Dark Prophacy might have looked like.

Did you mention once that you were thinking of writing some tutorials on LOK character design? That is something I'd like to see one day, but it's kind of a huge thing to ask. You probably have a ton of other projects already.

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AesirHod In reply to AesirHod [2015-08-31 19:17:58 +0000 UTC]

That should have said gold at the end, not cold.  Also, this is what Louves said she had so far.  I've only just noticed the picture in the link.

"sta.sh/01vs7nbtzr62
Just a quick update for you. I am working on the winged hylden right now. I have completed the lineart and started colouring it.
According to DouEdgeZwords notes the hylden wore black/dark leather so I coloured everything I assume is leather in black. I am not sure about some parts of the armor though. Especially the parts around her shoulders could be metal.
As for the metal parts I took the hylden wraith armors as a reference. Light gray metal with golden accents.
For the fabric I sticked to what Daniel said about their taste in colours. Dark subdued colours with saturated accents.
I don't really know what to do with the sword like weapon. It looks like some hylden technology so I coloured it like it would emit a greenish light (I just checked if I could find a similar weapon in BO2 and noticed that the colour is far too blue; actually the hyldens signature colour is a really saturated green) I will ask DouEdgeZword again what he imagined this weapon to be but I fear he might not remember anymore."

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AesirHod In reply to Louves [2015-07-07 16:59:43 +0000 UTC]

I'll stick a link here with all of them together so you can see which ones I'm referring to.  They're a bit scattered on the deviant art page and there might be some missing.
legacyofkain.wikia.com/wiki/Le…

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SpectralJin In reply to lao-wa [2014-11-27 06:42:06 +0000 UTC]

Love your work!

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SpectralJin In reply to TheFlyingNautilus [2014-11-27 06:42:38 +0000 UTC]

Thank you, Nautilus! It's fun to go back and draw these guys.

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SpectralJin In reply to ziridel [2014-05-19 19:42:10 +0000 UTC]

Thank you. Been super busy with work as of late, but will get back on it soon.

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SpectralJin In reply to ShankMasta [2014-05-02 18:41:07 +0000 UTC]

Thanks ShankMasta! It's an honor to be on your list.

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SpectralJin In reply to ReignitedN7 [2014-01-03 09:00:00 +0000 UTC]

Thank you! I appreciate that.

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ReignitedN7 In reply to SpectralJin [2014-01-03 16:02:57 +0000 UTC]

Most welcome

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SpectralJin In reply to TheRoninBoss [2013-10-18 05:30:20 +0000 UTC]

Well I put a lot of them down on my forum. I think it's pretty cool, I wanna play it. It's not a traditional LOK game, but if it keeps the series alive then it's all good. They did well to circumvent some complex story issues, and are being very inclusive of fan input. 

I think I'd have made the Razielhim more tragically fallen, looks wise (distorted beauty), with bigger ears on the Turelheim. But overall they've got their own unique spin on the style, and that's cool too. 

If it does well, hopefully it will lead to a LOK game that is more traditionally story driven. 

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SpectralJin In reply to ramtin-s [2013-10-18 05:26:30 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, Ramtin-s!

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SpectralJin In reply to lZephyrus [2013-09-12 21:41:40 +0000 UTC]

Well Hello!

  Thank you for the kind words. I'm doing my best to keep up. Wrapping up Lost Planet 3 took a lot of energy and so I've been a little offline for a while now. 

Hmm I could see how that line would make you confused! As you correctly surmised, Raziel was freed from the Elder God's imprisonment, but made the ultimate sacrifice to enter the Blood Reaver and make it into the Soul Reaver. 

It's a tragic end for him but one that he chose to make to save Nosgoth. (It follows the path of the Gnostic Hero... same as Neo in the Matrix)

I've opened up a forum subject and will be posting my thoughts on it soon. 

Thanks again for your great question and don't worry it's never a bother to hear from a fan. If I don't answer right away it's only because I'm very busy at times with one thing or another.

Take care!

Daniel

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SpectralJin In reply to davide-86 [2013-07-31 07:38:20 +0000 UTC]

Hi Dadel,

It's a long answer. The short one is that you basically need a strong portfolio and skillset that is well presented to get into the game industry. I know that may sound overly simplistic (just be awesome) but for artists it really is. Designers sometimes come up thru test, but artists never do. What's your speciality? Concept? 3D modelling? FX? 

I have a much more detailed response during my lectures. Do you have a picture in your mind for what you want to do in the industry?

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davide-86 In reply to SpectralJin [2013-08-01 20:00:19 +0000 UTC]

hi Daniel ,

thank you very much for the answer.

in my mind, when the game developement  starts, the software house asks to an artist to find the look of the main character other than the enviroment and the overall feel for the game.i'd really like to do that kind of work 'couse a 3d modeller at the end of the course "simlply" made a 3d version of the character that someone else designed.it's really cool having the power to choose which particulars the character will have and if you did a good job your creation will be the hero of millions of fan like you did with raziel.

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SpectralJin In reply to davide-86 [2013-08-31 11:49:07 +0000 UTC]

It looks like you'd like to get into concept work then. It's become a highly competitive field, especially character design. It pays to have strong art/design skills, but also know a lot about 3D since it's not simply a one way pipeline. You get feedback from 3D artists and animators about what is or isn't possible with a character design. 

(Long hair, scarves, heavily covered joints, fur, and complex joints were all difficult in the PS3/Xbox360 generation)

And while you may say that the new generation of games will have more power, it's a balancing act of knowing where you want to spend that power. Making the characters more complex draws from the pool of the environments, fx, UI, AI, and number of characters on screen. Even the new systems will have hard times because even though their graphics cards are more powerful, the materials have become more complex (eating up GPU time and memory) and TV resolutions have become higher (720p is the current requirement for HD, but you know it's jumping to 1080 then 4K.. which eats up draw cycles and makes all the graphical power gains a wash, performance wise)

So knowledge of all this helps to keep you in balance with the team. Knowing what a system does well helps to make your design pass thru the pipeline easier. 

It's a wonderful, interactive situation where you present ideas and get feedback on what works on the system. The process is much more 'formal' now, but it also leads to stronger designs being put in the game. 

And for better or worse, everyone wants to be the character concept artist. Take your time to polish your craft and learn what it takes to be competitive. You'll have a great time learning and creating for games when you get into it.

Good Luck!

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davide-86 In reply to SpectralJin [2013-09-03 12:05:08 +0000 UTC]

thank you very very much.

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SpectralJin In reply to dol-konijn [2013-07-31 07:34:24 +0000 UTC]

Hi Dol,

Thank you! You're always welcome to browse or contribute as you see fit.

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