124 replies to this topic

[Archaes]

Everyone else is doing it! Peer pressure! :qq:

~~~

Ok this'll be my my thread for all my future Guild Wars 2 Fan Art. I'm currently at the end of a college semester so I probably won't be doing much artwork until break starts. So feel free to comment, critique, suggest, etc. at my artwork. Enjoy...or not...or maybe! :)

So for something to post now here's something I put up on my dA account a few months back that I didn't post here...or at least I don't think I did...


This is, as some of you might recognize from my avatar image, is Archaes Iomhar. He's kind of my pre-conceptualized main character for Guild Wars 2, who is obviously human, but also a Warrior...or could possibly turn out to be the BML depending on how that profession turns out.

I did a comic of the story of his life prior to the events of Guild Wars 2, which I did put in another thread, but for those who haven't looked at it, you can page through it here.
http://archaes8.devi...llery/#/d2zgd79

This was my first attempt at a digital portrait painting, since realism has never been my thing in the past. I must say it was fun for a first time though.

~~~~~~~

Links!

~"Preemptive Strike"- http://i55.tinypic.com/awt56e.png - Dec. 19th, 2010

~"Doodles, Doodles, Doodles"- http://i51.tinypic.com/2dgwf9s.png - Dec. 22nd, 2010

~"Wintersday 2010 Contest Entry"- http://i54.tinypic.com/k54h93.png - Dec. 31st, 2010

~"Concept Armor Design"- http://i55.tinypic.com/332yvjm.png - Jan. 10th, 2011

~"Sylvari and Asura Concept"- http://i55.tinypic.com/6yo1p0.png - Jan. 19th, 2011

~"Charr and Norn Concept"- http://i56.tinypic.com/e84i6v.png - Jan. 21st, 2011

~"Sylvari Guardian Concept"- http://i56.tinypic.com/j9110m.png - Feb. 2nd, 2011

~"Norn Thief Concept"- http://i56.tinypic.com/2vrs6jt.jpg - March 12th, 2011

~"Vanish"- http://i53.tinypic.com/qsp7vb.png - March 12th, 2011

~"Blitz"- http://fc09.devianta...es8-d3e764d.png - April 17th, 2011

~"Blitz (Colored)"- http://th02.devianta...es8-d3e91u3.png - April 17th, 2011

~"Charr Week" - http://fc09.devianta...es8-d3e7pi1.png - April 17th, 2011

~"Archaes Doodles" - http://fc01.devianta...es8-d3has0u.png, http://fc00.devianta...es8-d3hases.png, http://fc08.devianta...es8-d3hasqc.png
- May 28th, 2011

~"Rim Cinderfist" - http://fc03.devianta...es8-d3hg3fr.png - May 28th, 2011

~"Villains" - http://th03.devianta...es8-d3kh78h.png - June 30th, 2011

~"The Iomhar Family" - http://fc02.devianta...es8-d3l23fa.png - July 5th, 2011

~"Catherine Iomhar, Seraph Mage" - http://th03.devianta...es8-d3ovw2b.png - July 13th, 2011

~"Neera and Briggs" - http://th01.devianta...es8-d3ymnf6.png - July 17th, 2011

Edited by Archaes, 18 July 2011 - 06:06 AM.

[Amannelle]

Very detailed hair! :O It looks so good!

[Archaes]

Amannelle said:

Very detailed hair! :O It looks so good!

Surprisingly enough, there are a few things I did wrong with the hair, but at that point I didn't feel like redoing the layers again so I decided I'd do it the right time on my next portrait. :D

[Doctor Overlord]

Woohoo!  More artists making threads, awesome!   I'm coming here nowadays as much as the Tyrian Assembly lol.  

I've been thinking about making my own avatar, just don't have the time :qq:

What digital program are you using Archaes?

[Baktwerel]

Nice! So many small details :D Keep the artworks comming!

btw your short comic about the story is tempting me to draw some for my future GW2 characters...

[actionjack]

I like it.. gets me a smile  :)

[Archaes]

@Overlord
Photoshop CS4 :)

@Baktwerel
Well in my case it was for an art class geared towards comic making. I've never been too big on doing large comics, a few strips to a page is my preference for comics. Do whatever you like though. :D

@actionjack
Thanks! ^^


I have something new coming soon-ish, I have to put it off for this weekend for a sake of actually doing my final paper for my English class. xP

[Anemone]

study a bit from real life - even if you don't go for realism knowing the basics is important, because if you know how things are supposed to be you can freely play around with them.

but you did well on the first digital work

: something that might help:
http://attachments.c...11&d=1168822719 http://attachments.c...12&d=1168822751 http://attachments.c...13&d=1168822789
http://attachments.c...87&d=1291004097

[Archaes]

Thanks, proportions are likely the hardest thing for me to do on a regular basis. I've actually got some instructional books plus I'll be taking more art classes in the future so hopeful some improvement is in my future. ^^

[Anemone]

Archaes8 said:

Thanks, proportions are likely the hardest thing for me to do on a regular basis. I've actually got some instructional books plus I'll be taking more art classes in the future so hopeful some improvement is in my future. ^^

taking more classes-that's really good, I agree that proportions are the hard, even big artists have trouble with them because human bodies are quite complex, the only way to learn is to draw and draw and draw, and in time you'll be drawing without a problems ^^

good luck on next works and always remember that its important to have fun while drawing XD

[Archaes]

Anemone said:

taking more classes-that's really good, I agree that proportions are the hard, even big artists have trouble with them because human bodies are quite complex, the only way to learn is to draw and draw and draw, and in time you'll be drawing without a problems ^^

good luck on next works and always remember that its important to have fun while drawing XD

I'm actually an English major though from childhood I had developed a talent for art so throughout high school.  I never took an art class after middle school but I continued to practice anyway. I probably should have taken more classes looking back, but at that time I was more into my writing. :)

Edited by Archaes, 12 December 2010 - 07:56 PM.

[Baktwerel]

I'm also an English major, only in a country where English is a foreign language. It's rather fun sometimes... definitely not now in the middle of the exam period X,D

[Doctor Overlord]

Anemone said:

taking more classes-that's really good, I agree that proportions are the hard, even big artists have trouble with them because human bodies are quite complex, the only way to learn is to draw and draw and draw, and in time you'll be drawing without a problems ^^

Those good old, so-hard-to-get-right proportions.   They are my bane :)

I agree completely though, there is nothing harder to get right than the human face and body.  I brought this up in another thread, pointing out that it's so hard because we all look at human faces and bodies all the time.  Everyone knows what they are supposed to look like so if they are off, it is noticeable.

I go for a slightly manga-inspired look but the proportions and expressions still have to catch the feel of features we are biologically hard-wired to recognize.   Practice is the best thing (one of the reasons I figured I'd start a GW2 comic and force it on a schedule).

One of my favorite reference books was "Drawing the Head and Figure" by Jack Hamm.   Anyone else read that book?

Edited by Doctor Overlord, 13 December 2010 - 07:13 AM.

[Trusty]

Archaes8 said:

Thanks, proportions are likely the hardest thing for me to do on a regular basis. I've actually got some instructional books plus I'll be taking more art classes in the future so hopeful some improvement is in my future. ^^

Yeah haha I don't get this thing called proportions... :eek: But every time I do not think about it, it messes up a drawing and I'm thinking FUUUUUUUUU and I quit.. hahaha xD ok nahh.. but it's really really really hard, I need to be more patient (and I thought I was a pretty patient person..)

Maybe I should start working with proportions as it's probably the only way to really learn how to draw (bodies for me) properly.

[Archaes]

Quote

One of my favorite reference books was "Drawing the Head and Figure" by Jack Hamm. Anyone else read that book?

I have a friend who has access to digital scans of his instructional books which she's given to me. I haven't used them much recently but I have a few times. :o

[Doctor Overlord]

Trusty said:

Yeah haha I don't get this thing called proportions... :eek: But every time I do not think about it, it messes up a drawing and I'm thinking FUUUUUUUUU and I quit.. hahaha xD ok nahh.. but it's really really really hard, I need to be more patient (and I thought I was a pretty patient person..)

The nice thing is that most proportion books use parts of the human body as measurement, usually the head.   The whole body is 8 heads, the torso is 3 heads etc.    The face is often divided by using the size of the eye as a measurement unit, which doesn't work at all for anime lol

Archaes8 said:

I have a friend who has access to digital scans of his instructional books which she's given to me. I haven't used them much recently but I have a few times. :o

They're helpful as references, but as Anemone says just doing it is the best teacher.

[Archaes]

New artwork! I feel so accomplished, especially since it's still finals time at my university. :cool:

"Preemptive Strike"


Archaes Iomhar is there, of course, along with one of his fellow Vigil members, Rim Cinderfist. Yeah, yeah, I know warriors can't use pistols, but Archaes isn't even in his armor at this point, so why the heck not? :D

I always feel like there should be more art with humans and charr attempting if not succeeding at getting along. After all, that's one of the point of Guild Wars 2 isn't it?

[actionjack]

I can see the bandits in the back!

[Archaes]

actionjack said:

I can see the bandits in the back!

Warning! The next scene contains content not suitable for children under the age of 14.

I didn't really draw the next scene but if I had there'd be dead people, specifically bandits. :devil:

[Archaes]

Doodles, Doodles, and Doodles...


Just a few doodles I did a few days ago. Was working general face proportioning as well as head to body ratio. The frontal view of Archaes turned out ok, but the second...yeeeeah.

And for something completely random, a male asura. Just a concept, not any wished for character design or anything.

Good news though, I'm done with exams so my next goal is to do something for the Wintersday Art Contest before the deadline. :qq:
Wish me luck. :x

Edited by Archaes, 22 December 2010 - 06:27 AM.

[Guideborn]

Very nice shading. Brings out the detail.

[Doctor Overlord]

Archaes8 said:

And for something completely random, a male asura. Just a concept, not any wished for character design or anything.

Good news though, I'm done with exams so my next goal is to do something for the Wintersday Art Contest before the deadline. :qq:
Wish me luck. :x

Concept designs are always interesting to see.   I liked Pre-emptive Strike too, always fun seeing character parties.

Thanks for the reminder about the Wintersday Art Contest if there's time before the deadline I might try something too.

[Archaes]

Overlord said:

Concept designs are always interesting to see.   I liked Pre-emptive Strike too, always fun seeing character parties.

Thanks for the reminder about the Wintersday Art Contest if there's time before the deadline I might try something too.

Thanks, and no problem! :D


Rim Cinderfist is a particular favorite of mine. He's still very loyal to his race but years away from charr country has scraped off those initial xenophobic tendencies some of the races have, which he eventually helps remove from Archaes, who has a bitter history with the charr.

There's not enough friendship being made these days between the races. :P

[Doctor Overlord]

Archaes8 said:

There's not enough friendship being made these days between the races. :P

Agreed!  But I guess that's probably going to be one of the themes of GW2 when it comes out.

[Archaes]

It's not really GW2 artwork, but it does take place a few years into the GW: Beyond future. Likely recognizable by Salma's flags hanging in the background, and the "Seraph" pin clipped to Archaes W.'s mini-cloak.

Anyway it's Wintersday, and a very important someone has arrived in Lions Arch. Professor Yakkington! :D ...Oh...and Nicholas Sanford. :)

Title: "Stopping by Lions Arch on a 'Winter's Day' ".


It's my Wintersday Art Contest entry for this year, so here's hoping something good comes of it. Also, the watermark is there because I'm paranoid. I'll trade this one out after 12:00PM PST. ;)

Edited by Archaes, 31 December 2010 - 07:30 PM.

[Artaxerxes]

That last one looks really good. It's a bit hard to appreciate it completely because of the watermark, but it looks great overall. Have you ever considered animation? :D

[Archaes]

Artaxerxes said:

That last one looks really good. It's a bit hard to appreciate it completely because of the watermark, but it looks great overall. Have you ever considered animation? :D

Oh no, I'm more into conceptual art myself, or at least that's where I'd like to go as an art focus. :)

[Zungx]

Aha, very well done Dolyak, I like his expression.

[Archaes]

Unfortunately Yaks don't have many expressions. :(

Also, I removed the watermark.

[Archaes]

Oh look, I did some armor concept art.



As far as the design inspiration, a lot came from looking at Logan Thackeray's Seraph armor. I know a lot of people hate the whole "white knight" thing but nuts to them; I like my shiny armor.
It's still different design wise (Note the lack of skill in comparison to Kekai Kotaki xD) obviously since I didn't want to straight-up copy Logan's armor.
Also, don't get me started on the lack of consistency with the body dimensions...it's already been bugging me...like that shoulder plating on the side view...you know who you are. :mad:

Hey, I've got to give myself some credit though, in comparison to my art say, two years ago, I should be a little proud of myself. :)

Edited by Archaes, 10 January 2011 - 09:47 PM.