Steampunk Samurai [IMG HEAVY]

[El P.I.G.]

Hey all! My friend and I are working on a huge collaboration for our senior graduation project at school. The whole goal of the project is to polish our skills at translating our 2d work to 3d, just getting the 'concept to completion' process down really solid.

Our project focuses on a fantasy feudal Japan. The technology is 'steam based' off an imaginary energy source, very much like how Mako worked in Final Fantasy 7. The characters are traditional Japanese based and then 'suped up' with the steam tech. So in this sense, the characters are somewhat advanced, but also very traditional.

The story is based around Norse mythology, so some of the names are still unchanged (such as Loki and Freyja). I'll post that up later (the story)... I'll cut the bull and put up some artwork:

Emperor Anido

This character would be the 'Odin' of our concept. We have made him an emperor character...

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/anido.jpg

Concept drawn by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/anidohed.jpg

Concept drawn by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/anido_iso.jpg

Isometric drawn by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/hed_iso.jpg

Isometric drawn by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/anido_face.jpg

Portrait by Josh

Josh does these in Photoshop on the Wacom, hard to keep up with (he hauls ass) but the guy delivers!

We plan on taking as many of our concepts into 3d as possible, since that is our weaker point. At the moment we have only time for 5 characters, but if this gets good feedback we plan on continuing on some sub-characters that are written up....

Here is Josh's model of Anido:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/anidomodel/anidoquar.jpg http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/anidomodel/anidofront.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/anidomodel/anidoside.jpg http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/anidomodel/anidoback.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/anidomodel/anidohed.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/anidomodel/anidowire.jpg

The model came out to about 3091 polys. At the moment we're shifting gears and beginning to texture, but any feedback is greatly apprecaited.

I have more stuff to upload, so please comment and keep coming back! This is for our portfolios so we really want it to kick ass!

[El P.I.G.]

We also have 2 characters that will represent Loki and Thor, we haven't renamed the Loki one yet (suggestions anyone?) but Thor is now 'Tahora' (gratefully accepting suggestions on these cleaver names).

Loki was designed out by Josh and i did Tahora.

Loki

Loki is heavily outfitted with the steam technology we concepted out. Here is some more of Josh's work:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/sps.jpg

The original drawing that kick-started all this, by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/sps1.jpg

Head study by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/sps4.jpg

Another head study by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/helmet.jpg

Mask concept by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/arm.jpg

Katar concept by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/armorcolor.jpg

Concept by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/arm2.jpg

More Katar development by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/iso.jpg

Isometrics by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/loki.jpg

A final head study

Josh Modeled out Loki also for this project:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/steampunk_model/kquar.jpg

The Katar coming out to 700 polys

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/steampunk_model/rh.jpg

Loki's head, by Josh, 520 polys

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Tahora_008.jpg

The complete Loki model in comparison to the Tahora model. Loki by Josh, Tahora by Phill

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Tahora_007.jpg

I modeled out Tahora based off some really rough sketches, nothing as polished up as Josh's work. Tahora is almost completely steam technology, except for his head. His body was replaced after being severly injured.... Kinda Darth-Vaderish i guess...

Here is a head study Josh did up to model Tahoras face from:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/TahoraFace.jpg

We're planning on texturing these guys out last so they get the best attention. If any suggestions come to mind please speak up!

I'll have more stuff up in a bit.

[El P.I.G.]

This is the main female lead we are planning on renaming. She is Anido's servant more or less. Sleeping with her grants you long lasting life (not immortality though, you can still be killed). This plays into how Tahora is still able to live being just a head.

Anido has lived forever and wanted to sire heirs to his throne through Freyja so they would be all powerful. Unfortunately, the three children she bore were all disfigured. These 'beasts' are played up as their own characters (check back for later posts) and the offspring of these beasts are used as Anido's minons.

Here is the concept Art Josh did up for Freyja:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/freja.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/frejahed.jpg

We've been tweaking the model here and there to get the face to match the illistrations. Critiques are very apprecaited on this:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/freja_model/frejafrontfin.jpg http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/freja_model/frejaquarterfin.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/freja_model/frejafacefin.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/freja_model/frejawirefront.jpg

Modeled by Josh, 4094 polygons.

[El P.I.G.]

Part of the story focuses on the beasts spawned by Anido and Freyja. They will become 'world destroyers' if allowed to life, so Anido has them all killed of. Part of the game concept is getting these beasts revived to overthrow Anido.

The 3 beasts all had offspring with Freyja (twisted right?) and the offspring Anido uses as assassins, spies, etc.

One of the 3 beasts was Fernir, a wolf/spider creature of sorts:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/wolfhed.jpg

Fernir's Head by Josh

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/Fernir_001.jpg

Fernir by Phill

We are considering modeling this guy out if we have the time, but for the moment nothing is final.

The spawn of Fernir are smaller, spider/wolf creatures that disguise themselves as common folk. They are used by Anido as assassins.

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/WolfSpiderC_001.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/WolfSpiderC_002.jpg

These were drawings i did to visualize the offspring. There are still some variant costume designs i'd like to do.

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/wolf1.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/wolf3.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/wolf2.jpg

He came out to 3900 polys and i haven't thrown smoothing groups on him yet. The costume elements also need to be modeled out, and i'd like to have a few different mixes of parts to work with.

Here is the current cast of characters right now scaled for comparison:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/allmodels/all_front.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/allmodels/all_quar.jpg

Right now we have to cap off the modeling of characters so we can get texturing and rigging. We have a small animation planned but we're depending on another person so it might not be as great as we want. If anything we will animate idle animations for a interactive concept document.

I'm going to post up the other characters anyways. Even after we graduate Josh and i would like to continue the project for our portfolios.

[El P.I.G.]

This character is pretty popular in Japanese mythology. After doing research on the backstory for Steampunk Samurai, we came across the story of the Kappa (written down on the second drawing). We figured we could incorperate him into the game concept as a character that teaches you special skills.

Unfortunately, due to immediate time constraits, we can't get around to modeling Kappa out right now. If the project picks up however, he will be one of the first 'extra' models that we will make.

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/Kappa_000.jpg

Josh's Kappa concept drawing

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Kappa_001.jpg

My head isometrics and info on Kappa

[El P.I.G.]

This is another one of the 3 beasts from Anido and Freyja.

This beast is a mix between a woman and crab... we're throwing in some other features in there to get a behemoth look going for her.

Rough sketches:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/Niflheim_002.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/Phill_Daily/Niflheim_001.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/Niflheim_003.jpg

Niflheim spawns a race of half demon half women that Anido employs to seduce his enemies...

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/geisha.jpg

[Pencil Soldier]

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[CENOBITE]

Well... hello...

Wow... I must say that Josh is doing a great job at creating a authentic Japanese 'look'. so many American artists' work turn out looking, uh, 'Golddigger'- like. This on the other hand looks straight out of Akihabara.

I especially like how the faces use the polys optimally, yet still show quite a bit of personality.

I look forward to seeing more from this project!

[egerie]

oh wow *copies thread URL and batch sends emails it to co-workers*

I've been apropriately pointed out some possible source of inspiration. Do you know the european comic the "Métabarons" saga ? Juan Gimenez does a fantastic, intricate job on it.

[bwkeough]

Wow. I can't think of any word to describe this besides magnificent. When I get home from work, I'll be saving this whole thread for reference on how a concept presentation should begin. Where do you guys go to school and what program do use for the modeling?

[remedial]

:jawdrop: These are amazing! I'd also like to know about your school's program and what not, any prospects/plans for after graduating? great stuff guys!

[El P.I.G.]

Thanks for feedback guys, it's much apprecaited!

-CENOBITE- Josh IS A MACHINE. I was amazed at how much artwork he produced when i put of this thread and looked at the overall outcome so far. He really has a knack for taking the project ideas and running with them. Sometimes he says he wants to get out of the anime-style, i'm sure he'll apprecaite your complemnts.

-egerie- I wasn't immedaitly in the know about 'Métabarons' but i did a search on google and quickly remembered. We had used some of Travis Cherist's Lady Tron skeches for inspiration and had the Métabarons stuff on hand too. Awesome work indeed! Thanks for the lead, i picked up some more artwork form the search, every little bit helps. Juan Gimenez DOES kick ass.

-bwkeough & remedial- Josh and I attend the Art Institute of Phoenix, you can check out their propaganda here:

http://www.aipx.edu/default.asp (Art Institute of Phoenix Website)

Go to the 'Programs' tab, Josh and I are in the Game Art and Design cirriculum. The primarily teach 3d StudiaMAX and maybe 3 classes of Maya total. Right now we are working in MAX even though it seems like the industry is leaning twords Maya these days...

As far as after graduation, all we definately have planned out is a fat vacation. Then i'm not sure. We don't have very strong 3d yet so this project is hopefully going to help us inprove. We showed artwork at GDC and the top crit we recieved was to get our 2d and 3d on the same level. We'll be sending out what we finish up with and then continue to work on Steampunk Samurai until we get some bites. Just have to see what happens.

Thanks for the replies all!

Here is some envrionmental stuff that has been cranked out.

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Steam_Furnace_001.jpg

This furnace concept Josh did up as a background piece. I then modeled it out:

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Steam_Engine_001.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Steam_Engine_002.jpg

This came out to about 4480 polys.


We're also making a throne room for Anido. We had an animation proposition that would feature Loki and Tahora duking it out in here, but at the moment it doesn't look like we'll have our animator. We decided to keep the environments anyways.

Here is some chair I modeled out while waiting for Josh to do a throne concept:

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Mini_Throne.jpg

And here are the Throne Concepts Josh made up:

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/anido_throne.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/anidothrone.jpg

Some liberties were taken when modeling out, but the main elements of Josh's drawings were retained:

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Throne_001.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Throne_003.jpg

I'll have renders of the throne room up later today. Later all!

[LUBU]

Hey, this is Josh, the MACHINE [..all of your base are belong to us..] and Phill's co-worker.

I have heard of this site alot and now Phill has thrust it upon me..i feel a bit outta my league here but, we hope to have more updates as soon as they develop..CHEERS!:chug:

[El P.I.G.]

Hell yeah Josh, i was wondering if you'd show up.

I called up Killing.People and we'll get that poster done Friday, so don't make any plans.

The throne room will be done in an hour or so... not too long now. I'm going to pick up Frank Miller's 'Ronin' for reference this afternoon and probably get ahold of you for some work update.

[LUBU]

--hey piggy, gimme some concepts to play around with for the poster design..compositions, the characters that will appear on it, actions of the characters etc.

[thomasaurus]

these kick so much ass!

[JoshuaTheJames]

VERY fun thread!

-Joshua

[El P.I.G.]

Thanks for the complements guys!

-Lubu- I'll try and get some sketches down at Arush tomorrow and i can scan them in and thow them up for you. We need to get the logo wrapped up. I took another crack at it tonight, i'm getting burned out on type at the moment:

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Logo_003.jpg

If you have any thoughts/revisions on this just tear it up. I'm wanting to finish this up.

And the Throne room i think i can quit modeling on. We really should have just rebuilt this. There were lots of places to cut polygons but i didn't want to cause the geometry was already unwrapped. I think it looks acceptable right now... too much time i think is getting spent on these environments in general. If we're not doing the animation they are totally second to our focus (the characters). So i'm going to give them all a rest and catch up to your unwrapping Josh.

Here's where it's at. There's a spot on the wall that i'm noticing that didn't get welded up right:

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/ThroneRoom_003.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/ThroneRoom_004.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/ThroneRoom_005.jpg

[Gray]

:eek:

Simply amazing. There is so much good stuff going on here. To.... amazed... to..........say.....more...

[LiL QoH]

I'm suprised not a lot of people have replied to this. As far as costume design goes, I think you hit it on the nail. Cept the only that is really bugging me is the fact you went overboard on the women in the greens head dress... it's just simply too big, and would like to know how it stays up on her head with what little hair she has

[Ian Mack]

So much cool stuff!

I'm afraid I don't know enough about 3d to comment on that. Your drawings however I enjoy alot. A very loose style and they show alot of information @ the same time!

Keep @ it!

[tyboogie]

great concepts, designs, and overall very impressive. keep it up--ty

[El P.I.G.]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

- LiL QoH- I can't really claim there is a practicality to the headdress on the female character. She is supposed to be the prized maiden of the emperor and we wanted to feature a very 'regal' look. Functionality we didn't even think of. Funny how that works since we have already created her in 3d. You got us there. If you have any suggestions we're all ears.

Josh and I are getting ready to execute a movie-style poster for the project so we're wrapping up most of our main character's designs. We want to also create some nice, polished up artworks for each character, like what you'd see in a capcom game manual.

Here is the soon to be finished up artwork for Niflheim. I did the inks over the initial concept sketch done by Josh. Her design is pretty much hammered out now. Take a look:

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Niflheim_005.jpg

There are also a coupel designs for the swords of the warriors that we're going to model out. Here is Loki's:

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Loki_Sword.jpg

I need some sleep. Later folks.

[LUBU]

Here is the Niflheim..up close and personal.


http://gondiaz.com/LUBU/spsconceptart/n.jpg

[Klon]

Wow these are amazing. Just curious but was most of these drawings done with a mouse or a tablet .

[LUBU]

Phill's drawings are mostly done the good ol' fashion traditional pencil and ink..how this boy can ink is beyond me..and I do most of my work on a wacom tablet..I think i'm a little too dependent on it. You can't ctrl + z without making your drawing look like shit (that's the case with me anyways) :rolleyes:

[TARGETE]

Its amazing to see the progression of design to 3d model, thats alot of work I salute you guys.

J.P.

[Johannes]

Stunning stuff! I have no comment to match it!
This is some real concept-art stuff!
:D
PS - thats some "vagina dentata" on the nilfheim character! DS

[El P.I.G.]

-TARGETE- Thanks for the complment, it means alot. It's our goal to get this process down pact... expect some textured models soon (crosses fingers).

-Johannes- !?!?! "vagina dentata"!?!? NO! It's uh... um... CRAP!!! WE'RE FOUND OUT!

Just a minor update on the weapon models, Loki's sword is ready to go:

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Loki_Sword_00.jpg

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Loki_Sword_01.jpg

[heiesuke]

all of this stuff just lookx incredible!!!

[ulithiarid]

I am just in awe at the moment! U've made me want to learn 3d so i can 'flesh out' my characters :>

What program do you think is the best to start learning in?

[El P.I.G.]

Thanks for the kind words fellas!

- ulithiarid - I learned on a really basic program called Truespace when i started to get into 3d. It's a bit simple and limited but has a great learning curve to get your bearings in 3d. Right now we're working in 3d Studio Max and it's pretty vast as far as what you can do with it. By all means we're hardly doing anything great here compared to what can be done if you know the program well enough.

Lubu might have some additoinal imput since he's capable in Maya which is another mainstream program. But those are the only two we're fimilar with at our level.

Best of luck though, it's really fun when you get into the swing of it.

Here is Loki's sword, nearly done with the textures. I still have to finish the flint and trigger pieces.

http://gondiaz.com/Steampunk_Samurai/Textured_Sword_Loki_01.jpg

[Mykro]

Simply terrific work. This stuff is great. I would love to see this as a game. After seeing the throne room especially.
Keep it coming!
Oh, and while it's true that this stuff is fairly basic for well-rounded MAX users, it's the design that makes even your lowest poly model a smash.

[tegehel]

Impressive stuff. I can't wait to see final textures on all the models.

C.

[Faxtar]

:eek:
All of this is just awesome. I cant wait to see a model of Niflheim, her design is very creative. btw whats the trigger on lokis sword for? It looks great. Keep going!

[killing.people]

http://members.cox.net/wisdim/d15.jpg
http://members.cox.net/wisdim/d03.jpg
http://members.cox.net/wisdim/d04.jpg

drawing:
josh piszczek (lubu)
inkwork:
phillip gonzalez (el p.i.g.)

character concepts created by josh and phil.

dig painting:
cory robinson (killing.people)

congrats to josh and phil who graduated today!!
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/smilies/party1.gif http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/smilies/party1.gif http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/smilies/party1.gif http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/smilies/party1.gif http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/smilies/party1.gif http://www.conceptart.org/forums/images/smilies/party1.gif

good luck out there guys! :chug:

-killing.ninjas :)

[took]

I'm incredibly impressed by all of the above.

[pHargrave]

Great stuff. Good use of low poly count in the right places. Seeing the straight edges and vertices almost becomes part of the angular style. Nice job.

I can't wait to see the textures, or some more detailed color studies for them. okay, nevermind...just found it.

To really make the color sing, I'd recommend varying the temperature of color in the shading. For instance, look at the boot of the lefthand character in the finished piece....I'm comparing the highlight color to the shadow color... The shadow color is the same Hue same Saturation, only with a lower brightness. Try a shadow color that has a slightly cooler hue or less saturation as well as being darker. That'll take what is already a good rendering and really make it pop.

I'm obsessed with color. :) Hope that helps.

[pHargrave]

here's what i mean:

http://www.255zerozero.com/images/forum/temperature.jpg

[pHargrave]

....or cool highlights and warm shadows... I have a feeling I'm going to be dreaming about color all night long :)

http://www.255zerozero.com/images/forum/temperature02.jpg

[Carnifex]

i'm totally in love with these...AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek::eek::eek::D: D:D:D

[killing.people]

pHargrave:

eh nice! im new to color, i really like what u did to it! damn the third looks nice .. do it to the rest of it now :p

i had two weeks to paint the poster, it ended up being 20" X 22"! and i had finals of my own to work on, it was rough! i wish i would've had more time to work on it !! that is how it got printed, save josh and phil added a logo in the bottom right. i was late to the portfolio review this year so i didnt get to see it :( - i do hear they are mailing me one ;)

we had planned for two other characters in there, i just couldnt paint fast enough! :p

there are parts that are still flat in the piece - i needed to paint over the dark lines/edges, i had worked on "loki" now named "roki" (badass on the left :p) for 13 hours straight! i worked on it up until they came over to get the file and get it printed. that was the longest i had ever painted in one sitting. i had a bunch of breaks, maybe two hours worth - i was really prud of myself, it was the first time i had been falling asleep while painting. :D the clouds were really rushed and we kept them rough on purpose for some reason, i would have liked to see them rendered out better and more depth added to them.

but i am glad i got an opportunity to work with two great artists before they left our school.

thanks for the comments,
and again best of luck to you two!

-kp

[qball]

Hey guys,

I think you guys are awsome and am glad you are getting the props you deserve from here. The instructors have always agreed you that guys were talented by yourselves and now that you are together....well, wow. This is the reason I voted the way I did for best protfolio (Though I wish I coulda voted for both). It's amazing you didn't win. We have....err had so much talent and drive at the school with you guys.

In the words of Darth "The student has become the master." (I here Lucas is going to change that from "student" to "padawan" in the dvds to be released.)

Congrats on Graduating and GL out there,

Qball

[OrangeCatNinja]

fucking. amazing.

[shadow]

damn i totlayy love this. im tryin to write a story right now and illustrate it and this helps me alot thanks guys for posting, again totally amazing

[WhackZero]

its amazing that you guys don't have jobs yet.

when you get a job, hook me up :D

[Jamaludin]

wow, amazing looking work. Really good, and a cool concept to work on as a matter of fact. Good job, and good luck

Cheers !!! :bash:

[Grendel]

amazing stuff guyd

[character]

congratz on your graduation. great concepts in here along with great models. good luck and the best to you =)

[alex_86]

OMFG, that is so damn sweet man. Ya I actually didnt see this post before, but not nearly enuff ppl replied. How long did all of this take you? This is all some really wonderful stuff, and I'm glad i looked at some of the earlier posts.

[malicious]

i've said it before (elsewhere), and i'll say it again, you guys are all my heros. way to go on graduating lubu and el pig. don't want to sound like too much a kiss-ass, but i've been a fan of all three of you guys since i first saw your stuff on mark's board. same goes for rude and whack0 and all the others. rock on.