Hamilcar Barca - concepts for Wildfire Games (update 3/26)

[bwkeough]

It's been a really long time since I've posted anything in the section, so here goes nothing!

Since November I've been helping out hobbyist/mod group Wildfire Games with unit concepts for their ancient history RTS 0 A.D. ("the year zero"). It's a freeware game set for a summer 2006 release, but unlike most freeware projects, the execution is nothing less than full-on professional. You can take a look at their webpage (http://www.wildfiregames.com/0ad/) and browse through the media section. (http://www.wildfiregames.com/0ad/page.php?c=40)

Here's three images I completed recently:

Hamilcar Barca, Carthaginian general and famed elephant fighter, father of Hannibal Barca:
http://nand.net/~keough/sketchbook/HamilcarFIN.jpg

The Mauritanian Mahoot that drives Hamilcar's elephant:
http://nand.net/~keough/sketchbook/mahootFIN.jpg

Hamilcar's elephant:
http://nand.net/~keough/sketchbook/warelephantFIN.jpg


There are a couple sketches showing all three pieces of this unit together, as they will appear in the game, in my sketchbook, page 3 (linked in my sig.), along with many more images. I'm still working on a finished color for the combined unit, hopefully to be added to this thread soon.

Thanks for looking and please, gimme some crits!

**edit/update**
here's a little more work on the war elephant, some color modifications and leg corrections:
http://nand.net/~keough/sketchbook/warelephant2.jpg

and here's a new image of all three pieces of the elephant unit together:
http://nand.net/~keough/sketchbook/hamilcar_elephant.jpg

I didn't correct the Hamilcar image at this time, but I hope to be able to in the future.

[Odds]

hey, i like the character's themselves, but the colors you used in the background and in the character don't do the sketches any justice. you should use a much less saturated palette, and not so many blatent colors such as: pure green, pure
red, or pure yellow. i understand these are quick, but i think they'd look much better without the color. keep it up :)

[bwkeough]

odds- thanks for taking the time to comment and I'm glad you like the drawings. But I'm not sure I can agree with you regarding my color choices. I spent some time thinking about your comments and I see bright, vibrant colors everyday. The only time I don't is on grey, overcast days with low-intensity sunlight. Hamilcar's plume and the elephant's blanket are the only areas where I made a conscious decision to use a bright color and those are man-made objects that were often dyed with colors as intense as their owners could afford.

On the other hand, if you think these color choices unbalance the palette and draw unwanted attention to unimportant details, that would be something else.

[Veles]

I have nothing against colors, and I know these are just skecthes, but man, the stance of Hamilcar is killing me. It's totaly unrealistic. Noone stands like that. You should draw him standing in a contrapost or at least some demi-contrapost, like Mauritian. Or he should stand completly still like a soldier, head up, one arm hanging motionless against the body, the other holding spear tight, heels of his feet tiped together. But now, his feet are almost parallel, looking in the same direction, which gives the lower part of his body very stiff and soldier-like stance, whilst the upper part of his body looks relaxed and casual. I don't know... perhaps I critique too much... :\ but this realy looks like a problem to me.

[Veles]

I'm realy sorry to ruin otherwise very good picture like this, but IMHO this is how his left leg should go:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y1/Veles/Criticisam/HamilcarFIN.jpg

Or here, even better, take look at this Greek spear-carrier (doriphor) and see how his left leg is slightly behind and bended. He is not walking, but standing in a relaxed stance whit all of his body weight is shifted upon a single leg.

http://www.ac-reunion.fr/pedagogie/aa/images/pedago/Hist-art/ha-grece/doryphore.jpg

[Muttonhead]

Well, I am not sure if I agree that his left leg needs to go back that far, I happen to think both legs need to come forward a bit. It IS possible that a person can stand with an even amount of weight on both legs, though not typical, and generally not very dynamic. I happen to think he is just leaning forward too much, but a more dynamic pose might be in order as well.

Beyond that, I do think your work is coming along nicely. The mahoot is the strongest piece. The elephant's back leg needs some serious work though. It doesnt look natural and is bent back too far.

I think what might help your colors is to avoid the trap of: This thing is red, so here's some red. Grass is green, so here's some green, etc. What makes color so much fun is that there is more than just red in red. Also, colors are largely determined by what color is next to it. So a grayish red might look more like purplewhen compared to a piece that is largely composed of dull greens...... (That may not be entirely accurate, but you get my meaning).

Keep churnin it out man! I like watching your progress....

-Sean

[Odds]

yes, that's right bwk... i think what i meant is that the flats are kind of weird in that they flatten the image. if there's a bright there's gotta be a dark too, to hint at form. yea.. that's it.

[bwkeough]

alright, I see what you guys mean about the color now. I think I'll have to collect more landscape reference in general and I'll keep an eye out for the color palette as well.

yeah hamilcar is a bit stiff and diagramatic. i've found myself concentrating too much on relaying all of the info the historian wants me to include for the modellers and skinners that I've sacrificed dynamic movement. At the same time, I didn't want to go too contraposto because that often looks either lazy or wimpy to me, things I wanted to avoid in a general.

there is something goofy about that rear-most elephant's leg, I'll have to check my reference and see what went awry. Hm, it looks like has two knees in that leg...

Thanks!

[Saga]

I'm more interested in the costume style that you have. It must have been interesting to research the differant styles in order to be historically correct (since you are working on a realistic game) I wonder what kind of cultures will be featured in this game.

[bwkeough]

saga -- actually, I don't have to do too much research. we have a couple of guys in the group whose primary duty is to find out what each unit type will be wearing, what type of weapons they carry and how they were used in combat. I'll do a little digging around for photo reference, if the description of something isn't enough. To my knowledge, the civilzations in the game will include the Carthaginians, Romans, Hellenes (Greeks), Celts and Egyptians. There might be more, but those are the ones that come immediately to mind.

new and updated images above (in 2 minutes, anyhow).

[Balton]

technically these pictures are ok to me but think of the subject matter you're treating! I'd expect Hamilkar Barcas to look more impressive! His name is still known to us after 2000 years so he should be portrayed more intresting.
I'd probably be pissed off if one of my historical heros(or at least his father) is portrayed "that boring" in a game. ;)