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MeMyMine β Stabri Killinov 3
#armor #black #cloak #dark #elf #longhair #male #sand #sea #sword
Published: 2019-01-11 12:10:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 14177; Favourites: 492; Downloads: 167
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Well, so much for managing to upload at least one picture per month. December had a lot of holiday-related time-consuming things to do so this offset everything by a week or two.Now on with the new.
Happy New Year, by the way.
Regarding the picture: Sort of sequel to www.deviantart.com/memymine/ar⦠.
He's looking for some things of interest in this landscape. The funny thing is, since the last picture I even figured out what his main and secondary sources of income are and some things he's saving up for. That's more specific economic information than on characters I've actually played in RPGs several years ago. Is this what getting older is?
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Comments: 32
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Hell, I thought Stabri is going on a vacation in this one, but it's for work, will the guy ever catch a break? 
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Hey, thanks! It's for work but he likes the opportunity to be outdoors and in exotic locations, especially when he can combine work with hobbies this way. The only downsides are spotty reception, and, of course, the lack of medical care in the event of injury.Β
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Magnificient ! Is he an OC based on the aeldari from Warhammer 40k or an elfΒ from a different universe ?
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I wish Wizards of the Coast hired you to do some Magic the Gathering art, I think you'd kick ass, seriously X3 This piece is great, from the things I haven't paid attention to when I saw this on tumblr I love the folds of the cloak, and the constellation and reflection under his feet. Always a treat to see your art <33
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Aw man thanks! It's always nice when somebody mentions noticing a certain detail in the picture.
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Knowing what a character's profession is gives him a place in the world and allows him to shine in unorthodox situations.Β
With a name like Stabry (great name, btw) I have a hunch as to what your dude is sort of good at but that's a very specific set of skills that you wouldn't necessarily employ on a day to day basis. If I knew someone who was good at killing I wouldn't even talk to the guy, unless he was an expert cheesemaker and I really needed to impress the in-laws, because being good at killing is a bit of a social faux pas.
I don't know if you've played the Witcher, but Geralt had a profession - ghost whisperer and supernatural pest control. If you have a strange noise in the cellar and red eyes glowing in the jam-and-pickle cupboard who you gonna call? That's right, a professional. This is what made the game work - everything evolved around your profession and hobby and all your activities worked towards reinforcing the magical-pest-control fantasy.
It didn't have the Assassin's Creed syndrome - you are a master assassin so all you do is stab people all day, every day, 10 games in a row so you are a visually well designed lifeless husk of a character who you cannot fit in any sensible game world without an overarching tinfoil hat conspiracy theory that may or may not be only in his head because you'd be completely useless in a non-violent well-adjusted society.Β Β
So... I like to imagine my characters arriving in a quiet fishing village full of friendly, welcoming elderly people. What sort of business would they open? Clearly not a stabbing bureau.
Which is why you need a good background story for your characters and, ideally, a profession they had before becoming a sword for hire or master assassin - something they can fall back to, a 'plan B' if you will.Β
A player I DM-ed to had a clockmaker background and was headed to the Clockmaker Con. He was now a thief of sorts, specializing in special, intricate traps and lockpicking but if that failed he had something to fall back to.
Technically I think the picture is not bad but Stabry can use more personality in the overall character design - why is his weapon ornate but impractical in terms of length and balance and why does he wear black segmented armor at the seaside? Is that the way he normally walks around? If he's a thief surely he'd know about concealed armor or medieval kevlar? Can you bring an external inspiration to your character (Asian or African or Viking or even contemporary European?) Does he have casual clothes or he just has this armor that he diligently washes every evening? If so, why doesn't it have some wear and tear?
Some if not most of those things would come naturally once you have a background/profession and try to incorporate an element of that into your character - a teddy bear keychain, a set of car dice dangling off the sword hilt, a smartwatch etc.
I sort of imagine him going to the shop and buying each piece of equipment separately and then spray painting them black as they normally wouldn't come in burglary colors. Historically more expensive stuff came with more color rather than less, to the extent of wars being waged over coloring dyes. Thinking of each equipment piece separately would give Stabry more variation in the styles of equipment he has which is something you could experiment with - if he needs speed and stealthinessness he might prefer leather boots, even though it might clash with the metal-shop-gothic look he has going on. Maybe it's better to give him a celtic leaf-shaped blade rather than a souvenier-shop-looking scimitar letter opener? Or you can push his edginess and give him a blade that looks like Rambo's knife, forged by elves? Or even a folding butterfly knife? Don't succumb to the cliches - give your character the tools he'd be using to be best at what he does but also add a personal touch - something that says 'Stabri' and not 'generic grim-dark elf male'
I hope that helps a bit. I love to see how far you've gotten technically but you need to push the design part a little to stand out from the crowd.
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Hey, thanks for the time it must've taken to write such a long and thought-out comment.
I think that without the cloak a full view of the armor might provide more context that would answer some of the questions. For the purpose of looking nice and swooshy on the picture I also didn't include the full gear (the backpack and the helmet).
I actually have the body on a layer underneath the cloak (but with far less detailed shading) for future reference, a layer group that tucks in the hair and adds the helmet on, and a version with the cloaking effect of the cloak isible (it's like in the previous picture). But I haven't uploaded those online because they offset the composition a bit and don't look as good as separate pictures (although friends who saw it said they like the cloak effect so I might upload this one).
Regarding the sword, since dark elves quite exclusively manufacture blades with single edges, and leaf-shaped swords are used by other elves, it would require more explanation where he got the other type of sword if he has one. Especially snce dark elves also consider their own manufactures superior and won't use foreign equivalents unless necessary.
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I meant something else but got too off-topic.
Figure out what your character does for a living and what his background is. Then show us through his character design both of those things.
Having a generic-looking black armor tells me nothing about the character. Having a run-of-the-mill blade tells me nothing about the character. (A weapon that has people ask questions is BETTER than a weapon that doesn't. An orc weapon that doesn't fit has more of a story than an elf blade that does. Maybe it's a weapon he stole from the orcs, maybe it's a trophy, maybe he uses it to add insult to injury - "I don't need a GOOD weapon to kill you, I need ANY weapon".)
Having no personal items (keychain, handle wrap etc.) again tells me nothing.Β Β Even a simple band that holds his hair together can hold information.
His stance and silhouette and physical fitness level, again, give me no information.
This is a very good picture, don't get me wrong, but looks like a Warhammer 40k concept art piece for a generic dark elf dude. There is no individuality and nothing to hold my attention, tell a story or have me ask questions.Β
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Hey, thanks for the encouraging words, I appreciate all your comments
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I love the forground, the stars on the cement type of thing
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I'm glad you liked those
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Pretty awesome drawing. But what is he standing on? an Acinet portal?Β A map to the stars......Or the landing platform of the Mother Elfship?
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Left it vague but I was thinking some combination of the portal and map suggestions, either one or both.
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that's one lazy-ass cloud in the background xD
but stabri is awesome again
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Didn't want to make it distractingly detailed XD Thanks
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Honestly I can't quite tell because I did it inbetween other things at very varying time per day (1-3 hours) for around 10 days (not consecutive days, there were pauses around New Year's because of holiday events). So the total working time may be between 20 and 35 hours.
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