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New Concept Art


Darkness_Falls

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Well, I finally got my scanner to work so I thought I'd upload some concept artwork I've been working on the past week or so! Woot! :) Mainly just rough sketches, but hopefully helpful...?

 

Thief-mod1.jpg

 

guard2-mod3.jpg

 

Misc-a-mod1.jpg

 

Misc3-mod1.jpg

 

Thief2-mod2.jpg

 

Lamp-mod1.jpg

 

Room-mod1.jpg

 

Museum-stand.jpg

 

Guard2a.jpg

 

PS: Any feedback on the above is appreciated. Also, there's going to be a lot more time spent in creating lamps, lights, candles, candleholders, chairs, tables, wall patterns, stained glass windows, etc., then what was barely touched on here. Just didn't want anybody worrying.

 

Side Note: I look at 'concept artwork' as general guidelines to help create the game. The museum sculpture stand image above, for instance, has a big magnet over it (to slowly lift the glass box when activated). This may or may not be something we want to include in the game -- it was just an idea. For example, our thief could have a goal that says "Figure out how to steal the Bafford Scultpure" or something, and our thief would then have to find a secret switch that lifts the glass enclosure up, revealing the sculpture. We may or may not want to do something like this. As well, in the concept artwork, the magnet looks like hell. I envision more care and detail going into the actual magnet if it were implemented, perhaps even hiding the fact that it's a magnet by making it look like a beautiful, ornate hood above the sculpture that provides light to the sculpture or something. So, you see, please just take my concept artwork as brainstorming sessions and possible ideas rather than an edict saying "We need to do it THIS way" or "I feel this way is the best." So, as more and more drawings come, take what you will from them for use in DarkMod. I just want them to be helpful!

 

Cool?? :) Cool.

 

PPS: The 'miscellaneous room' one was done with colored pencils. I know it's not the best clarity. Just wanted to do a rough room. I need to get myself a "digital pen" for my PC! Drawing with a mouse is kind've challenging, otherwise I'd do stuff more often on the PC.

Edited by Darkness_Falls
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I like the sculpture stand and the lampost. I think you should shrink these low-detail sketches down though and then just embed them in the message. They would look much better smaller anyway, and there is no fine detail to lose.

 

Are you good at doing furniture? Renzatic is going to need some furniture for his room at some point. Problem is, we only have DeepOmega doing modelling at the moment, and he is pretty busy with the thief model. That's why I haven't been putting out much art at this stage.

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Wow, a man of many talents.

 

Coming up with concepts for furniture by doing some research into the relevent time periods is something that needs to be done. I like the museum stand for that reason.

 

The concept art for T3 involved a lot of dynamic sceans and good use of colour, that gave designers a lot to work from. In comparison, that shot of the room with the light on the wall is really bland, in terms of colours, archetecture, and overall feel.

When the concept art was drawn with the camera at a really dramatic angle, you might think "well, the camera angle itself isnt' saying much - your viewpoint moves around all the time in the game", but what you really should be getting out of the image, is looking at it at a whole, and it gives you a feeling, and then you say "well, how can I somehow translate that feeling into the game, and give the player that feeling when they play the game?" I think that is the true power of concept art.

 

We need something that says something new. Well not real new - we know what the Thief world is like - dark and moody, with brooding shadows and atmospheric lights, and ominous sillhouettes. But see how the concept art took that "theme" and gave it its own character?

It's not easy but that's what I think we should aim for. A unique style of our own.

 

I can see these sketches are just drafts, but they're a good start.

Edited by Domarius
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Right on, yeah I agree with all that was said. I'll try to get them to be smaller images later tonight or tomorrow, and have the images show up in the post instead of as links. Good idea! Not a problem. [uPDATE: Done.]

 

I agree that the room is bland and I actually, honestly, kind've hate it. It looks better in-person, when standing way far away (LOL) -- actually kind've looks real. BUT (and this is a big BUT) it does lack A LOT of the dynamicism and moodiness we all know and love about Thief. Fortunately, I already realized this and won't be doing another room like that ;) I think I did that room as almost a "study," if you will. I was using Thief 2 as a reference and was seeing how they did the panels on the wall, etc., though I know I erred on a couple things. When i look at that room though, I'm like 'borrrrring' :D

 

I have a feeling the drawings will get better over time. I'm actually working on a different room scene right now that I think you might appreciate more when I'm done. There's more life and moodiness, in general, to it -- and it feels more Thief to me. I'm using PhotoShop and the coloring will be much better. Once I get a digital pen, I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot more cooler things, too.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. Let's rock this thing!

Edited by Darkness_Falls
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I have a feeling the drawings will get better over time. I'm actually working on a different room scene right now that I think you might appreciate more when I'm done. There's more life and moodiness, in general, to it -- and it feels more Thief to me. I'm using PhotoShop and the coloring will be much better. Once I get a digital pen, I have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot more cooler things, too.

Awesome. Yes I was just going to suggest those things - learning photoshop more and getting a graphics tablet.

 

Using photoshop should be quicker to create more impressive looking artwork, once you have the hang of it. I can tell that the T3 concept artist primarily uses the "colour dodge" tool, which gives everything a glowy, shiny look. Very nice if you don't over do it.

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I could make a few props, mostly simple stuff like beds and tables since I'm only an intermediate at most when it comes to working with 3DSMax. It'd be a good learning experience for me and it'd help out the project a bit since, like Fingernail said, we're short on 3D modellers at the moment.

 

Also, has anyone here heard of Speedtree? I've been using it to make some excellent low poly tree models (example heah), you can't get much simpler than this.

Edited by Renzatic
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I unfortunately found out the digital pen/tablet I want is like $450. LAME!!! That won't be happening for a while. Unless we could make it a 'DarkMod business expense' LOL. Just kidding.

 

EDIT: FYI, my concept sketches will sometimes show 3 or 4 different things on one image. For instance, the 3rd pic down from the top -- with the guard walking, a window on a wooden wall and a street lamp -- shows 3 different unrelated things that I drew on one page. It's not supposed to be one continuous scene ;) Just thought I'd clarify before someone accuses me of 'lack of continuity' or asks 'why does it go from stone to wood.' :D

Edited by Darkness_Falls
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We could start sending out chain letters.

 

"Dear Sir or Madam

 

Today is your lucky day! When you woke up this morning I bet you didn't expect to recieve a GOOD LUCK LETTER in the mail today, did you? Oh, I'm sure you didn't. Most don't. But if you have belief in your heart and follow the 4 easy steps below then you can have all the FAME and FORTUNE you can handle. Here's what you need to do:

 

1. Make 10 copies of this letter

2. Insert a crisp 50 dollar bill into an envelope and forward it to

 

The Dark Mod

2114 Mack Smith Street

Seattle, Wahington 37404

 

3. Send the 10 copies of this letter to your closest friends and family

4. Wait for FAME and FORTUNE

 

Those that followed these simple steps were repaid beyond their wildest dreams! A man in Texas sent this out to his 10 closest friends and recieved a BAR of GOLD from the SKY which was worth 10,000 DOLLARS! How easy could it be?

 

Yes, friend, it truly is that easy. But the price of failure is equally as great. A stupid kid like you from West Virginia decided that chain letters were for chumps...CHUMPS...and threw it away without forwarding the letter OR the money! 2 days later he fell into a combine harvester and got his legs chewed off. Now his friends call him stumps....STUMPS! If he had just sent his letters he would be running through amber fields of grain holding on to his SKY GOLD!

 

So what will it be, friend? Will you send your letter? Better decide soon, time is running out

 

Sincerely

-Fingernail"

 

I think it could work.

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:lol:!!!!

 

Renzatic ~ You sound like a seasoned veteran at this. Is there something we should all know?? :)

 

PS: Fingernail - It might be worth a shot, eh? More seriously, of course. We could put links up in this forum and the DarkMod home page. And not just to go toward digital tablets or whatever, but the project in general. I'm sure we could all use a something, whether it be a video card, RAM, speakers, art books, digital camera, or whatever. No matter how big or small the donations, if any were to come, it'd be helpful for the project, I'm sure. Don't expect anything to come, though -- these things usually don't work. Do you think it would alienate our fans?

Edited by Darkness_Falls
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I don't think it's a wise idea. Not only does it get tricky handing out the money (if any), it also seems a little unprofessional. At the very least I would wait until we have some serious stuff to display.

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In all seriousness I don't think it'd be a good idea. It doesn't seem right to ask a fanbase for a free mod to fork over cash to provide equipment for the team, and it could potentially piss alot of people off. Like Fingernail said it seems unprofessional, we already have everything we absolutely need to produce the mod, anything more will seem self indulgent.

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I couldn't live without my Wacom. Most of the art you see on my website has been done with Photoshop. I use a 5x8 tablet now, but my first one was a 4x5 I got off the internet for about $70, and it was a great way to get started. In fact, I still have some art on my site that I did with that early tablet.

 

Examples:

http://www.mindplaces.com/evighe.htm

http://www.mindplaces.com/raeghin.htm

Edited by Springheel
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