Amazon ideas - Update 05.03.03

[Fipse]

Hi everybody,

after having to work in 16h-shifts for 1 1/2 month I finally found some time to draw a little again. I´m for quite a time a dedicated tabletop-gamer and am especially fond of the Warhammer World of Games Workshop.

For myself for years the idea of an amazon army based on classical town militias is going around in my head. I´m thinking of 4 different towns based on Athene, Sparta, Rome and the Macedonian Armies plus support troops like thracian peltasts and skythian archers. I think this is a nice project developing the concepts for this army (and maybe let a friend model them in lead) and getting into art again.

Here are my first results:

http://www.kriegsherren-von-og.de/webpics/hoplit-athen.jpg

She´s a hoplite-warrior based on my idea of a classical "Athenian" hoplite. I tried out crosshatching for the first time and I know that the right hand is crap - I´ve got to practise hands a lot more ...

C&C very welcome ...

Fipse

[Fipse]

http://www.kriegsherren-von-og.de/webpics/skythe.jpg

This is my idea of a kind of light support troups. The picture is based on skythian and thracian pictures showing this famous archers who´ve been hired for their abilities with the composite bow. This is my second try in crosshatching. Imo it´s quite a fast method to render if you´re used to it. The arrow is a little on the long side - I should have let her draw it to the face and not to the breast like a medieval archer would do ...

Again I´m waiting eagerly for constructive C&C :)

Fipse

[jester]

We've just returned from Sweden last night.

I know the first drawing :) quite some re-working with photoshop, eh?

As for the second: The position of her left foot looks wrong and it's a bit too short for my taste. Also the head looks a bit small (but that could be me, being used to my dwarf project proportions :D).

How about draw club next Monday?!

Jester

[Fipse]

Nice to have you back and alive, Jester. Draw Club Monday seems o.k. to me, I just have to talk to my social partner ;)

To your comments:
I didn´t rework the first one in PS much - just adding a colored background and putting some whites on as highlights. otherwise it´s the same pencilwork you know.

You´re right with the left leg of the archer. Somehow it seemed o.k. on paper. I just realized it somehow short and in a little wrong perspective after the scanning an reworking. I didnn´t saw the head as too small but maybe I´ve looked to long on my drawing - maybe someone else could comment on it?

Thnx for the reply

Fipse

[MindCandyMan]

head doesn't seem too small to me...I think perhaps something in the features is a little skewed. Nice rendering of the fabric...these pics are great...I like the history behind them.

[azjohnl]

I had always heard of amazon archers having a masectomy (breast removal) of one breast, usually the right if one handed to prevent interference in drawing the bow, might be interesting to do a concept like that. Nice work!

[Fipse]

@ azjohnl
Yeah, this would be the mythological way to draw amazons - call me oldfashioned but in fact I simply like women best with the complete set of breast :D Even on greek vases the amazons are often pictured with two breast so it doesn´t seem to be dogmatic.

Hi MCM,
thanks for the reply - I always tend to work too much on the details and faces are more or less just added. Seems I´ve done too much costume-studies ;)

I will add from time to time - depends on my work - more concepts of my army. If it´s worked out enough I will talk to a friend and ask him to sculpt lead-figures but this can be in quite a long time.

BTW I seldom find the time to critizise other works. I just want to tell Mindcandyman that I think that you´re making really great progresses. I wish I would have the energy to work as hard on me ...

Fipse

[MindCandyMan]

Thanks fipse I appreciate it. I don't want to bog down your thread with words about myself but thanks a lot I appreciate it.

[Fipse]

Here we are again,

from time to time now I will pester you with more of my amazon-stuff - it´s a training project I´m working on now and Jester knows how stubbornly I can work on something if I finally start to work ;).

http://www.kriegsherren-von-og.de/webpics/velites.jpg

As I said above I´m thinking about a concept for a lead miniature army. Every town militia has its unique design and abilities and if the player choses to take a specific militia he can choose special light skirmishing troops, too. These are based on the classical, greek Peltasts with the typical moonlike shield.

Here we ave a Peltast of the romanlike militia. This figure is based upon the Velites of the consularian, roman armies. These have been light skirmishers with javelins who wore the skins of wolves and bears.

I just wanted to do some lineart and colour it in PS - so this is the result. A picture like this I can imagine for showing a character in a RPG or as a coloursheet for lead-miniatures. I wanted somehow to show the colours clearly just for this reason. I don´t like the right forearm - it has a wrong bend and the legs are again a little on the short side (my girlfriend shouldn´t have told me, that I´m always drawing women with impossible long legs ;)).

Next time I will get back to painter again or I take my acrylic inks or maybe heavy inking ... so many ideas so few time :(

C&C as usual highly appreciated ...

Fipse

[jester]

Oh yes, I know your stubborness... :rolleyes: ;)

I don't think the legs too short but the hands look small and the one at the javelin has a strange whole between that stick and the root of the thumb.

:beer:

:D

Jester

[Fipse]

Here we are again with another amazon ...

At the moment I´m experimenting with colours. Yesterday I took a fast sketch of mine and overworked it with Painter and oil pastels. I read Prometheus article on the use of light and colour and tried to get some grip on it. Here´s the study using the velites design I showed before.

http://www.kriegsherren-von-og.de/webpics/velites-2b.jpg

I would like to hear what you are thinking about my use of colours ... in fact again I didn´t take much care about anatomy issues.

Fipse

[MindCandyMan]

I think you're starting to get there fipse but it looks a bit too washed out to me. I don't know anything about color theory at all but it always looked better to me when people went for a washed out look and kept the focus to maybe one or two colors...you can add other colors in but make brown, gray...etc... the overriding color. Not sure if that is even right though.

[Fipse]

Hi MCM,

thanks for your reply. Yep, you´re right ... it has a washed out look. I just tweaked the contrast a bit in PS and it looked completely different. I´m really not used to painter yet and Oil-pastel seduces me to work washed out ;). I definitely saw that I used too much colours in the background. Maybe I put the tweaked pic in here, when I get back home and have my FTP-data around to show the difference.

Normally I tend to very saturated colours, this time just vice versa :).

Fipse

[MindCandyMan]

Yeah definitely post the new version when you can. Keep up the good work fipse.

[Fipse]

So here it is ... It´s definitely no new version but just a little tweaking in the gradation and contrast but I think I see now what i haven´t when I posted it firsttime. I think I won´t alter much anymore, after all it´s a study and I think i gotta move on.

I definitely should have lost the plants on the rocks ... they´re just deflecting from the main picture.

http://www.kriegsherren-von-og.de/webpics/velites-2bb.jpg

Of course anymore C&C is welcome as usual.

Fipse

[MindCandyMan]

It still has a washed out look to me for some reason. Perhaps the colors you used are to polarized? Perhaps to mix with the gray of the rock you should have gone with some dark umber tones or something a little less opposed. I think the yellow doesn't mix and match well. I don't know though...I don't know enough to really comment well on color theory. Maybe ask prometheus or another pro to come check it out and they could put their finger on the problem...not quite sure. Keep experimenting and yeah sometimes you need to just let things go and move on hehe...I know exactly what you mean. Keep up the good work man.

[jester]

Hi Fipse, I agree with MCM about the washed out look. The plants bother me that much but I think a shadow would do nicely to separate the figure from the background and to make the painting look more 3d.

:)

Jester