NOV 09 "War never changes."

[bat1987]

Just when u thought that these Nazi skins can`t get any better...Keep them coming :thumbup:

[Carravaggio]

The Silence! A superhuman who's voice has the power to heal or destroy. He can command the matter of reality to a limited degree, ordering substances to be destroyed or reshape itself, essentially healing allies and damaging or outright destroying non-living targets. His sonic powers also allow him limited flight and protection from damage.
His name comes from his inability to speak in any audible (to us) way. his silence is the cost of his awesome power, the limits of which have yet to be tested.
I included the unwrapped face shot because i spent an hour trying to make him look Asian, and then its almost indiscernible on the mesh, so thats what he was supposed to look like.
Actually now that i have looked at it again, i do believe he looks suitably Asiatic. Thoughts?
Three members of the Church to go...and they are all females!  :wub:

EDIT: and here is a WIP of one of them...

This makes use of IPS's awesome VX_female base, without which i wouldn't even attempt this skin...funny i only notice these things away from photoshop...does her hair look too big, or too high?

[GGiant]

 :eek2:

[Dr.Volt]

YES!!!  Carr, Silence looks AMAZING!!!  I very much like his costume (the green and white work together well).  The cross design is very kewl as well.  And I like the fact that he looks semi Asian.  He could look even more Asian if you ask me.  And this would fit well with the distribution of Christians throughout the world (with tremendous expansion occurring is Asia).  For example, Christianity in Korea, I am told, is experiencing tremendous growth.

As to the female WIP...she looks great as well.  Her hair doesn't look too big, and I like the style of it.  Is it supposed to be "Virgin" perhaps??

Keep 'em coming, man.  Your smokin' hot right now. 

Peace!

[Outcast]

It has been a while since i last looked in this thread. Glad to see you have added quite a number of new original characters since then.  :) I'm really impressed with your creativity Carravaggio. They all look great!  :thumbup: Now that your getting the hang of using NIfskope, I'm sure they will only get better and better. Keep up the good work!  ^_^

[jtharris86]

Yea both look amazing...The designs are Carratastic.. I really like "The Silence" though. Great job with coming up with his powers.

[AfghanAnt]

I really like the Voice but I agree about the female character's hair. It looks a little big for some reason.

[catastrophe]

Nice!

love the the seriousness in his face, the eyes look dull in a good way :)

cant wait for the website

[Tomato]

I like "The Silence" but I would still take some time and match the shadow under the hair to the mesh, without it the forehead looks odd with just the one dot of shadow. Also, add some sharpening to the eyes. I suspect most of the blurriness of them in the preview is standard-itis, but even judging by the section of the skin shown you could still use some enhancement right there.

[Carravaggio]

Valid points guys, I've had another go at the girl in pink's hair, and i'll have another crack at the Silence's face. He was meant to be plainly Asian but if its slightly ambiguous then i haven't done the job right. Tomato, that's some good feedback, thanks i'll get on that.

Paladin, the most senior and powerful of the female members of The Church. originally designed to have purely defensive powers, I'm now leaning towards making her a female powerhouse to match some of her male teammates.
The deep blue colour was a happy accident, i was aiming for a different hue, but i ended up liking this one more than any other i managed to put together.
This lady is going to be somewhat older than the others, in her 60's, but her power keeps her fit and healthy. Think Brit's sister for comparison.
The real challenge will be the face, how do you make a lady mature, powerful and attractive all at once? I'm thinking i'll need some photo reference. Anyone think of any celebs that fit that bill? I'm not much on Hollywood actors, if they haven't played a superhero i probably dont know them from Adam.

[detourne_me]

looks great Carr,  i think both Brit's sister and Ultimate aunt May would be good references for you

[AfghanAnt]

I really like the colors. When are we going to see some faces?  ^_^

[Dr.Volt]

Celeb's that fit the bill for Paladin from your description?  Here are two of my faves:

 

Jaclyn Smith (61 years old!) and...

 

Jane Seymour (56 years old!)

Both GREAT looking ladies for their age!  I recommend them them as references.  LOVE the colors and design of Paladin's costume/uniform.  I dig the Celtic Cross...which I actually wanted for Believer's costume...but I digress.  If you keep Paladin's hair grey, I recommend that it be snow white.  I just think that would look cool.  And I don't think her hips have to be quite that wide.  Look at the picture of Jaclyn Smith's figure and you can see that an active woman in her 60's need not have wide hips.  And, Smith has no metapowers!  A good reference might be the way that Frank Miller drew Wonder Woman in the Dark Knight returns.  WW was atleast 60+ years in that graphic novel...and yet she appears tight and trim.  Ofcourse, I don't know if Miller is holding to the whole Amazons don't age thing.  In any case, if you want to show age, I recommend that you put subtle lines on her face.

And...hmmmmm...I do like the idea of her powering up a little.  She did sound a tad too defensive power heavy in orientation before.

Oh, I agree with Tomato-san, let's see some faces!  Btw, I still don't think the pink girl's hair is that big.  But ok....

Just my spare change today.  Great work, Carr!

[Nymph]

Why make her offensive?

Paladin's (In my knowledge) are known for wielding Light and using their shield's to protect people.

Why not give her a cool defensive ability like casting shield's on her teammates or taking the damage her teammates are supposed to be taking?

So she can have the full health you can give her and make her have a small healing spell. That way she still is a powerhouse (can take a hit *understatement*) and the name and defensive powers still work well.

With that, I believe most people would see her as intimidating and invulnerable because she is so healthy and strong.

[Ares_God_of_War]

I 2nd the Jane Seymour look for Paladin. I really enjoy what you've done with these holy warriors as of late

[Dr.Volt]

Why make her offensive?

Paladin's (In my knowledge) are known for wielding Light and using their shield's to protect people.

Why not give her a cool defensive ability like casting shield's on her teammates or taking the damage her teammates are supposed to be taking?

So she can have the full health you can give her and make her have a small healing spell. That way she still is a powerhouse (can take a hit *understatement*) and the name and defensive powers still work well.

With that, I believe most people would see her as intimidating and invulnerable because she is so healthy and strong.

Wow...very interesting comments.  Yeah, defensive powers could be a nice contrast.

[Carravaggio]

Nymph, that was originally the plan, but i've shifted the concept around a bit. The purely defensive powerset will instead go to the Virgin, the girl in pink (to show she is 'pure' etc. by being completely non offensive in her powers) and Paladin will be instead a hard hitting character along the lines of Bishop.
Volt: Thanks for the suggestions, but he hips ar ea result of the mesh, I can't change that :)
More to come in a week or so

[Nymph]

OMG! I love that name but why pink????

Why not white and gold? (the two colors associated with angels and purity)

But ya I see it now.       (Oh! You know what would be a cool idea? To skin a Purity Ring on The Virgin's left hand.)

What color will the last girl be?

[Carravaggio]

The idea behind the Virgin is that she was originally an out of control pop diva living a life of excess, (like britney, lindsay, paris etc.) who, after a brush with death involving drug use, checked into a clinic to get straightened out. While in there she found God, and genuinely accepted Christ into her life. Soon afterwards she began to exhibit her powers, finding that her touch could heal, and she could protect others from harm.
The pink is a tie back into her Hollywood days and her pop background. Now she tries to act as a positive role model to young girls, trying to undo the negative images she contributed before.
I'm not sure what a purity ring is...google time...
the last woman is at this stage planned to be either white on white or white and pale yellow to suit her persona/powers.

[Nymph]

A Purity Ring is a "Love must wait till marriage" ring.

You keep it on your ring finger till you get a wedding band.

[Dr.Volt]

Volt: Thanks for the suggestions, but he hips ar ea result of the mesh, I can't change that :)
More to come in a week or so

D'oh!  My bad!  Lol!!

[Carravaggio]

Last one :)
The Ghost, ethereal Vision-like Church member, she is quiet spoken and oft overlooked by others.
He powers include reducing her density and visibility, as well as affecting her opponents perceptions.
Faces on the way, AA, just need some time to dedicate to it. i can justify an hour to make a costume but not the time it takes to research, construct and paint a face to a point where i'm happy with it.
My University course finished in five days (!), and then I will be done with tertiary education. After that i hope between job hunting I can make up for lost skinning time.

[AfghanAnt]

Congrads and I can't wait to see the faces.  ;)

[Carravaggio]

A slight departure, a small team of patriotic French heroes, (no surrender jokes please Cap).
Five heroes planned, this guy is the leader, and the rest of the team is made up of his son (probably on Syn's awesoem Quasar mesh), a shield slinger (blame all the awesome shield meshes Ren graces us with), another skin on the alpha flight Guardian mesh and a French woman (vx_female most likely). the hope is to be able to skin this group without having to resort to skoping, as the original meshes are good enough without it.

Still a bit of work on this guy, who is as yet unnamed. mostly small details (and his face and hair, placeholders at the moment) to be fixed and a few more highlights and he will be done.
C&C most welcome.

[GGiant]

Cool! But his face could get some blemish. :mellow:

[YoungHeros]

Where do you get all these good idea from?? :blink:

[bat1987]

I like what u did with his face, he looks really arrogant...

[GGiant]

Where do you get all these good idea from?? :blink:

Would that be his brain? :P

[YoungHeros]

Where do you get all these good idea from?? :blink:

Would that be his brain? :P

I have a brain too, but I don't get these ideas. :P

[Carravaggio]

Nah its just that i have nothing better to do :D
Its just from years of reading comics and thinking about this sort of stuff. After a while it comes naturally. You get an idea in your heard and it shapes itself. When you go to draw it, to design a costume your hand makes aesthetic shapes, forms and elements that your brain likes the look of.
Most of my characters are unmasked. It's an unconscious thing, but i like the look of a full body costume and a bare face/head, which probably springs from my long fanboy love for Superman. i also think a lot of my costume designs are top heavy, that is the majority of the detail and colour focus is up top, usually the chest and arms (notice i use a lot of long sleeve/spider-man arms, if you know what i mean), simply because i like the way it looks. I don't mean to, but it happens.
When you build your own visual library, elements and designs that you like, you will be able to just pull them out and assemble them in little time.
As they ALL say, practice makes perfect :) You want to get better at anything you have to spend time at it. Look at my first skin on page one, the one i made back in 2000/2001. Its a shocker, but i kept at it. You do that and you can be as good as anyone else here.