shiremct's art thread

[SFault]

The spear looks bit jagged. Try to AA it. Also the shadow is quite elliptic, like a shadow of a sphere.

[shiremct]

Zeugites with some improved shading, especially in the shield, and a shadow.

Consider this the first candidate for the Finished base frame, so feel free to critique accordingly.

Should have an initial version of the Hypaspites (upgrade of the Ekdromos) in the next few days.

[shiremct]

As promised, a WIP of the Hypaspites... Only the more I mess with this, the more I'm inclined to scrap this concept for the Hypaspites and just use this instead as a base for the lvl 3 Heavy Spearman unit. This is probably the stance I'll go with for all 3 levels of the "standard" heavy melee line and I'm a bit worried about differentiation of the Medium Infantry offshoot line with the Heavy Infantry standard line. Okay, I'm a lot worried.

So... I don't really know what this unit is going to be... but there is plenty of room for feedback from what I have so far and long periods of inactivity while I struggle to make up my mind don't do much to help generate interest . Everything has been shaded except the chest and this is the stance I plan to use for the faction's "standard" unit line, so it's kinda important that it work. The spear and the shield are both prepped for AA, but haven't been yet, so are a little thick in places.

If it does becomes the Pezhetairos, I'll shade in the chest with a muscled breastplate (Hypaspites will probably have some sort of scale armor,) create a new Corinthian helmet (or maybe just stamp on an existing Phrygian helmet, not sure yet,) and maybe add a cape and/or lengthen the spear a little. If I continue with this concept for the Hypaspites... I have to make it NOT look like the Pezhetairos. I initially planned to go with a more dynamic stance for the Hypaspites, with the spear held more at-the-ready in an overhand manner, but it's proven difficult to do so far. I've also got to work in a shortsword hilt somewhere at his side and the spear held up would create the space for that nicely so i think I'm going to continue trying to do that but I'm open to other suggestions as well.

Edit: I think I'd like to maybe add a design to the Aspis shields, but don't really know what to do. A lion head would be great, but seems a little too complicated to work. Any ideas on something simpler that might be fitting for it?

Edit2: Pose with the chest shaded in and a sword added to the hip.

[shiremct]

WIP of the iconic Hoplites! I'm not happy with the shading on most of it yet, but I need to take a break from this unit and come back to it later.

Edit: Version with some more shading work and an experimental alternate version with some serious foreshortening. The unit looks much better on a non-white background, tho it still doesn't pop as much as I'd like on snow terrain... May need even more contrast but hopefully it's looking better.

[shiremct]

I have been looking to establish a name for the faction these units would belong to. Some time ago, I was doing art of this style for a Imperial Era faction called the Dardanoi and I was considering keeping that name, but I was curious where the name came from and looked into it and it is kinda synonymous with trojan, which is not what I'm looking for. So I've browsed wikipedia for city and region names in ancient greece and the surrounding area, looking for something similar... but different.

The candidate I'm considering at the moment is "Aegialoi" based (sorta) on the region Achaea in the northern Peloponnese, which the Romans expanded as the name of the entire Peloponnese region while under their control. It avoids any specific associations or distinctions with Athens/Sparta or Greek/Macedonian etc while keeping a very real rooting to the area and its peoples. At first I thought it sounded absurd, but it has grown on me... It may not be suitable, may sound silly or just not feel right, so I'm looking for opinions or alternate ideas if anyone has any.

An "Aegialos" of the "Aegialoi", the peoples of the region "Aegialus" (which is the name Homer gives the the region Achaea in the Illiad)...

Fitting? Crazy? Too many damn vowels? Please, share with me your opinions.

[shiremct]

First version of the Mystikos, the level 1 Magic user. I'm not happy with the texture (or lack thereof) of the upper chest yet and I may need to thicken the entire sprite by a pixel or two but this is the direction I think I'm taking the magic units.

[thespaceinvader]

Robe texture is looking really good. Nice work =) I'd suggest maybe brightening the highlights on it, though - youhave to remember that the TC palettes are mostly quite dark. I'd say maybe the arm should be a little larger, too. Proportionately, it looks a little young.

[shiremct]

I enhanced the highlights, tried to add some depth and texture to the upper chest, made the near arm a little bigger and added a scroll to the hand, and tweaked one sandal a bit. Not 100% happy with how the TCed wrap turns out in game, but the main issue there is saturation. I may shift some of the pixels to their next darkest shade at some point, but working with TC is very frustrating and I think I'm leaving that alone for now.

The scroll could use more work, but I don't know if I even want to keep it. I'll post an updated version without it too for reference.

[shiremct]

Level 2 branch of the Mystikos (the healing branch). My initial intentions for the TC wrap was to get lighter as the magic units leveled up while their robes got darker but the TC isn't cooperating so I've reverted it to unshaded at the moment and will come back to it later. Big thanks to Sleepwalker and thespaceinvader as their Khalifa heads were used as a base and as references for this unit's face.

THIS is a good part of my inspiration/reference for the magic units costuming and composition, especially with this unit.

Edit: Update.

[furioso]

These are really, really nice. As TSI says you've got a good handle on the robes.

[shiremct]

I had intended to let this thread die and start a fresh one if I got most of the units done (or postable anyway), however other things have had my interest and I have not made the progress I had hoped to. However, I have been quietly working on the faction from time to time over the past months so I'll post some updated/new stuff here for input/feedback in the meantime. I've been tweaking my sprites more often lately, so hopefully I'll continue this streak of productivity and have some more stuff to show in the coming days as well.

Javalineer Line:
Level 1

Akontistes.png (2.33 KiB) Viewed 4059 times

Which advances to:
Level 2

Peltastes.png (2.57 KiB) Viewed 4059 times

Horseman Line:
Level 1

Hippeus.png (3.75 KiB) Viewed 4059 times

Which advances to:
Level 2

Doratophoros.png (4.23 KiB) Viewed 4059 times

[shiremct]

And updated Mage Line:
Level 1

Mystikos.png (2.35 KiB) Viewed 4056 times

Which advances to:
Level 2

Iatromantis.png (2.54 KiB) Viewed 4056 times

[Midnight_Carnival]

Regarding the Mystikos (great name!):
It's a really good sprite, not saying you need to fix it in any way, but look at the toga+hood thingy worn by Roman argurs. I think there is an example of this with emperor Augustus on the aura paucis or something, but I'm too lazy to post the link. It would take very little modification for your unit to look like that... if you like that style.

[shiremct]

Magos: the other level 2 option for the Mystikos. Not entirely satisfied with the overall design yet, as I need to add some additional embellishments or something to enhance the Occult & Cult feels. The magic they dabble in (manipulation of spirits & the spirit world) brings them closer and closer to necromancy (sorta) as they level up, so I'm looking to add just a slightly darker undertone to the unit.

Magos.png (2.54 KiB) Viewed 3979 times

EDIT:
Replaced the shoulder-skirt thing and I'm liking this direction a whole lot better, but still missing a certain something...

unit.PNG (1.61 KiB) Viewed 3968 times

EDIT 2:
Final version, at least for the time being.

Magos.png (2.53 KiB) Viewed 3912 times

[shiremct]

Halfway through the rework of the Hypaspites posted earlier in the thread. It's perhaps the first time reworking one of my older sprites has resulted in a smaller unit than the original.

I'll edit in some updates after a nice long nap.

unit.PNG (1.74 KiB) Viewed 3864 times

Edit:
Alternate version not suitable for the base Hypaspites, but may be useful as a hero/villian. May also be used as a starting point for one of the leader/general units too.

unit.PNG (1.76 KiB) Viewed 3813 times

Another alternate version usable for a hero/villian, this time of the Magos. This head was created (chiseled and re-shaded out of the Magos' hood) for use in the Magos' upgrade, the Theourgos.

unit2.PNG (1.64 KiB) Viewed 3813 times