C.H.O.W# 406 Airborne Assassin

[vibhas_virwani]

Coincidentally i have been work on a Z brush sculpture , The butterfly , an infamous female airborne futuristic assassin character concept/sculpt . I'm obviously not going to use any of it for this CHOW , but i just thought i'd
share the image / ideas through it as it was kinda on topic ( except for the steam punk part ) . I hope or rather maybe just thought that at least somebody can dig out inspiration from it . I may try this CHOW though since i have more time these days !!
Epic work everyone !! Comments and crits about my Z-brush WIP sculpt are wayyy more than welcome , i'm planning to add a lot more hard modelling kind of stuff like on her lower legs , all over her armour by the end actually .

[lawnchairbear]

This is my first time posting on conceptart so I'm a little nervous. I'm still trying to figure out interesting silhouettes and shapes to use for these couple of first drafts. I'm having a little difficulty getting the dexterity and darker seriousness of a typical assassin character since steampunk equipment is generally quite bulky and loud. Critiques and ideas welcome!

[Scrub2Dub]

First few sketches, apologies for the poor quality, the work scanner was not great at picking up the soft lines, so i had to ramp up the contrast in PS.

I decided to go with a stealth based design, someone that could fly between airships and cities unnoticed and use the ninja's old school array of weapons to kill from both close and afar, on foot as well as airborne, and then disappear into a crowd easily without standing out. A female was the obvious choice, as a male would be unable to hide the flying contraption.

Think mary poppins, but without the magic. Boot jets fire in the boot housing for propulsion as well as to heat up helium in the attached canister, the helium inflates the pants and causes it to act as a hot air balloon. The Umbrella rotates free of the handle for a helicopter effect allowing the assassin to stay upright and change her flight path and direction.

the first page is all about the legs and the flying contraption hidden under a victorian style hoop skirt. The second details the gauntlets and what our unassuming assassin might look like. Not unlike any other steampunk lady on the street.

[Moirae]

Raganosis: It does have a modern vibe, a bit like a warhammer 40k Callidus assassin / death cult assassin. I think if the suit looked more of a matt leather look rather than pvc it would look more steampunk. Maybe a few Victoriana details to have it look a little less dieselpunk.
vibhas_virwani: I know very little about 3d work, but looking at the design I would say the boots are very detail heavy, whilst the other pieces of armour are fairly plain in comparison. I would maybe make them a bit simpler for more unity throughout the costume. (or make other parts, like the gauntlets more detailed to match. But back on subject, stick some propellers in those hoops and change the costume and you have the basis of a solid design.
lawnchairbear: Welcome to C.H.O.W, no need to be nervous, relatively few of us bite. Have you played a game called "Dishonoured?" It's a stealth game with steampunk overtones. The lead wears a clockwork skull mask, so there are lots of ways to get that sinister feel. Also the bulky / noisy nature of steampunk combined with stealth is the kind of contrast I strive for in these topics! Often the best ideas come out of trying to solve such contradictions. Ask yourself what you want your character to do, is he to blend in with the crowd, or hide in the shadows with big dark cloaks, or hop along rooftops?
Scrub2DDub: ​ A very well though out and plausible design. How are you going to show all these hidden elements in your final piece? Are you going to do two versions, maybe with a cutaway to show all the mechanics beneath her skirt? Your design maybe too good in the way that looking at your piece, viewers won't realise she's meant to be an assassin at all!

[AbrahamDHR]

I just found I have some problems with steampunk hehehe, I don't really feel so confident on this, but here there are some silhouettes exploring some shapes. Feedback is welcomed!



Spearman247: That flying system looks interesting! Hope to see more of it

Lawnchairbear: I really like the D and B designs

[Scrub2Dub]

Moirae, I've given it some thought, came up with several different poses and ideas. One is of the assassin dangling upside down taking a shot with her walking cane which is a blowpipe. That would show the flying contraption but kind of hampers view of the rest of the design.
The other one is a bottom up view of her descending, the skirts would flutter up slightly allowing a better view of the flying contraption. As for how to show she's an assassin, i was gonna try and get her mid assassination attempt.

It's hard to display properly for sure, cause the whole point is that she has to look quaint and unassuming. I was not aware a double with cutaway was possible. It would make it alot easier to illustrate. I'll see how the other options work out, and if they don't i might just go for the cutout double

[someguy216]

So I'm curious, what quality are the WIP's meant to be and what in fact can the WIP's be? Do they have to be equally refined as the final? Do they have to be previous iterations of your final piece or can they be concept sketches and/or different views of the character?

Sorry but I'm new here and I didn't see anything in the rules clarifying or expanding upon this.

AbrahamDHR: I empathise, steampunk is a rather awkward genre for the visual library as its so rarely used other then maybe in anime. At least their are plenty of films based around the 19th century but not much to draw inspiration for the "steam" side of things without resorting to looking at other people's designs.

[Moirae]

Scrub2Dub: About halfway down this link of previous c.h.o.w stuff is "Goblin assassin" with a nice cutaway. You Don't even have to paint it again, copy your image and draw over it! http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...Winners/page21
Someguy216:Wips, are just that, works in progress, they can be anything you have listed, from gesture sketches to halfway colouring in images of your final design. There is no quality threshold, just anything you would like to show about how you got to your final design. Feel free to look at past C.H.O.Ws to see what other people have posted. Don't forget you need to include two wips with your final work in the finals thread.

[Discorave]

Small update.

[Pixelgrotte]

I've work with one of my sketches. It is not the final one but I like it

[glow-arch]

hello, this is the 1st time i'm trying this...totally missed the ninja requirement (lost in the way...)
cheers ! critics are obvioulsly more than welcome....
glow

[spearman247]

This is my WIP so far. I decided to go with butterfly wings made of paper fans. I also decided she would have a white mask and long hair, to look more like a Eastern-inspired dark spirit. I also created a story for her, to help figure out her design. She started off as a poor slave girl working in the sweatshops, until one day she killed one of the foremen who was constantly beating her. She killed him in his sleep. The next day, a mysterious stranger showed up, and bought her off the sweatshop. He began training her to be assassin. As her skills grew, she became more confident, inventive, and strong. She specializes in taking out male targets, and takes particular joy in killing men who are unfaithful to their wives. She donned a haunting white mask to hide her appearance, and her killings have given rise to the myth of a female spirit with long black hair who comes and kills men who are unfaithful to their wives. She is now a well renown assassin for hire.
Attachment 2203655

[Pixelgrotte]

I can't open the attachment

[Sparekiss]

somequick silhouettes and notes to get down my basic idea and thoughts!

sohow I liked to approach this is that his flying device should always be readyto go and instantly deployable, always on him while he's doing his assassinstuff, part of his suit and really something that you can walk in a small roomwith. and also part of combat and assist mobility in general, not just his means for long travel. though it should be consistent enough for both.

Ithelps me to figure stuff like these out first, before I start focusing on aspecific look, to make my guy more believable and relevant to the context. so about that i was thinking maybe im going for more of a tactical military type rather than outlaw rogue or something. these guys are like the city's soldiers how i see it. still going for the bold and extremey feel of a ninja though. and has to be stealthy of course! but more like spec ops guy and very professional.

Feedbackwould be much more appreciated than you think! I just signed up yesterday and this is my first post!

[Riverdog]

Ah! Everyone's WIP's are so cool! I don't really have time for this one but I am feeling super inspired seeing everyone else's awesome work.