Art Talk 1

Hammerknight's starting a new series this week, and would love your suggestions. Take it away, HK! Click the image for a larger, more legible version.

art-talk-week-1-01-19-2010

30 Responses to Art Talk 1

  1. Solander says:

    How about different ways to use the current items in HM3 to make two-handed and heavy weapons? I’m a n00b on that area at the moment.

  2. Hammerknight says:

    Very good job Kaldath, this is exactly the place to share them, Signature heads/pictures are an art in their own. They show a lot of creative designs. And they the type of art I forgot to mention. That is a great topic for a post.

    Solander, two handed and heavy weapons are a good idea for a topic also. Great detail can go into them and if you save them in HM3 by themselves, they can be use for more then just one character. One thing to remember if you do this you might think of doing them in a number of poses(angles) so that they don’t have to be moved when you add the new character to them. If you have any pictures of the types of weapons you would like to see, post them and I’ll see if I can work up a recipe for them. Plus the pictures will also be a help to Jeff if he was to decide to add those types of weapons to the program, and also would let him know what people are wanting to see.

  3. Demented The Clown says:

    I Made This Store Awhile Ago.
    http://i35.tinypic.com/dm8axx.jpg

  4. Richard says:

    Just thought I’d share my activity In Harrypotter they have the portraits of the Heads of school etc Ive been making a collection of characters for a wall which I base short stories on

  5. Jeff Hebert says:

    Just to be clear, this is for suggestions for topics for Hammerknight, not items for me to draw.

  6. Jake says:

    I would greatly appreciate some talk of proportion. I think it would be great to know how to make, lets say a child. While I’ve used the program a lot, I don’t have an artist’s eye for scale and proportion.

    I would like to see some discussion of positioning of the limbs too. Most of my creations are of the basic position, which leaves my works less dynamic.

  7. Hammerknight says:

    @Jake, look back through my recipes there is one over proportion by age, and also some that deal with poses. Both are very good topics to talk about and they also give me some ideas of what I need to do in future recipes.

    @Richard, thanks for sharing. A wall of portraits sounds cool, that is one of the reasons that making picture frames with HM3 is a good idea.

    @Demented, Nice store front, making backgrounds with HM3 can be a lot of fun.

    @Solander, thanks for the pictures they are good ideas, But as Jeff said, we need to stick with topics for Art Talk, I will try to see what I can work up for possible recipes for them.

  8. Solander says:

    @ Jeff and HK: Sure, no problem. After all, I posted those images as suggestions, not requests, for possible recipice ideas for the topic “Two handed and heavy weapons”. Unfortunantly (which you probably have learnt by now), I have a bad habit of submitting a bit to many image suggestions, so I hope you can forgive me there.

  9. Hammerknight says:

    That’s no problem Solander, you know what you want to see and you like to share.

  10. Brad says:

    @ Solander: I might have a couple suggestions on the gun paraphernalia. First off, a laser sight could probably be well-accomplished with two cylinders and an “energy blade” with a gradient applied, as well as some transparency applied.

    As for constructing a rifle and bayonet, you could go for something similar to what I did in this picture:

    http://devil-of-midnight.deviantart.com/art/Rifle-for-HM-site-151330092

    Composed using various rifle parts and scaling, it should be an easy enough effect to reproduce. FYI, I had to use two hands to mask it properly. Keep in mind you can use any blade to attach to your rifle 😀 If it fit this character, I would’ve used the giant Spartan blade to stick onto it.

    @Hammerknight: Would you like more examples of our past work that could be helpful to others?

  11. Hammerknight says:

    @Brad feel free to share. That is why I started this to get more people to share what they have done and what they what to do. Helping others is the best way to help yourself.

  12. Solander says:

    @ Brad: Thanks for the suggestions! I will keep them in mind the next time I’m making such a character.

  13. Brad says:

    @Solander: Welcome, glad to help.

    @Hammerknight: I suppose we can just add unique illustrations, give comments of our challenges with the program, etc. then, eh?

    I’ll start off with one of my favorites that I’ve been wanting to add to a contest, as soon as there’s one where it fits a criteria, my Ice Dragon:

    http://devil-of-midnight.deviantart.com/art/Ice-Dragon-140847498

    The easiest part altogether was finding the consistent color scheme, followed by the way it all “snapped” together. I think the challenge of it all was getting the right items, especially from shoulders and kneepads, and figuring out how well they fit the theme and character.

    From the experience, and of course, the bugs of the program, I’ve learned that it’s best to add any items I think might fit for a creature, then scale them down and move them off to the corner or side. After that, I start a process of elimination as I start to put the character together, evaluating what fits best with the general idea. The good bits get resized, rotated, moved, colored, and, if necessary, masked until the illustration is finished. As we all know, it becomes a very satisfying experience. 😀

    @Hammerknight (again): Thanks for making this post feature, it’s nice to discuss the more technical aspects with others who understand what goes into making a character utilizing HeroMachine. On deviantArt it’s difficult to find others who appreciate the medium actually being used.

  14. Jeff Hebert says:

    That’s a cool looking critter, Brad.

  15. Hammerknight says:

    @Brad, Thanks you for your post, I was hoping that Art Talk would open people up and talk about art here on HM. You might try joining the forum it’s a great place to post your art with a lot of great people on it.

  16. kyle says:

    so what are we spouse to talk about?
    do you need some ideas for some recipes?

  17. Brad says:

    @Jeff: Thanks! I’ve been more focused on creatures with HM3 than anything else, it seems, because it really opens up the opportunities. I’d really love to see more contests that allow the presentation of them, after all, I can’t be the only one who likes to go all-out for non-human based fantasy 😀

    @Hammerknight: I’ve probably put it off long enough 😀 Just look for MidnightDevil in the forums.

  18. kyle says:

    what would be cool is to see how to make a furry,pirate,cowboy
    barbarian,alien,etc

  19. Brad says:

    @ Kyle: I’ve always loved your “Waiting for the Train” illustration. What were the most challenging aspects of making it?

  20. Capshot says:

    Not sure if this is any good,
    I just thought I’d post a Lens Flare I made in HM3.
    Lens Flares are sometimes seen on videos when the camera is near a bright light, (I think).
    http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=66104&d=1264261334

  21. Hammerknight says:

    @Capshot, that’s really is very cool, great job.

  22. Brad says:

    Definitely, I’d like to see a character behind it 😀

  23. Gene says:

    This whole thing got me to thinking about other things you could do with HM. I made a couple of Corporate logos for my Super Hero RPG setting:

    http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/IoxqS2N6YcYDewBDOidyXA?feat=directlink

    http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Gv_ed76HffHCN2HkYVhyqQ?feat=directlink

  24. Hammerknight says:

    Great job Gene. I’m glad to see that I was able to get people thinking able other things.

  25. kyle says:

    thanks brad. the most challenging aspects of making it was: keeping everything in tacit,lining it up correctly

  26. Capshot says:

    After just reading the later comments,
    I realized I have made a character using it.
    His name is Flashbang.
    http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=66109&d=1264271412
    And here’s a closeup of his face.
    http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=66110&d=1264271416