Pod's: Ant-Man & the Wasp released

[area34]

I don't have it in front of me but I know from skinning Holocaust that his skull is a separate part but that's if you want a big skull to skope.

[Podmark]

The X-Force project has finally moved onto Wolfsbane:


Still have to do a wolf version and maskless version, and there's a couple adjustments I need to make but the main costume is essentially done. I will also be skinning an reskin of her original New Mutants costume for release. Big thanks to miguelyanke for helping me with the skope.

I like Wolfsbane, she's probably my second favorite New Mutant behind Cannonball. Her role in X-Force was pretty much a mess though. She never really felt like she belonged in the plot and I found what happened with her bizarre and random. I expect she'll be moved over to New Mutants after Second Coming so hopefully she'll be better used there.

I have 2 of the X-23 reskins done. Still have to finish one more and I have another costume I need to do, but I think for the time being I'm going to concentrate on skinning the X-Force costumes so X's release will be a ways off. Still haven't sat down and tried to skope a gun for Cyclops but otherwise he's all done. After I finish up Wolfsbane I'm moving onto Archangel.

[AfghanAnt]

Wow is that what Rhane looked like in X-Force? So creepy. I love it.

EDIT: Typos

[murs47]

So creepy. I love it.

Ditto. Excellent job on this Pod.

[Podmark]

Wow is that want Rhane looked like in X-Force? So creepy. I love it.

Yeah it is, but if I recall correctly the mask only appeared in about one scene when she wasn't in wolf form.

[laughing paradox]

I loved the development of Rhane in X-Force.. but it was a story that could have been told with the New Mutants and not in X-Force. However, the story involving the Asgardian wolf prince was perfect and harkens back to the old New Mutants/X-men story in Asgard.. they even had a What IF?.. issue dedicated to it. However, I'd rather see her in the New Mutants.. Rhane is many things, but she's not some werewolf assassin.

Anyway, I am loving the way the suit looks.. the seams and everything look great. I'm looking forward to your classic Wolfsbane too.

By the way, as a suggestion for X-23's belt, you can try Tommyboy's Black Widow mesh.. her belt could be alpha'd in a way to look like X-23's belt.

[Podmark]

In a different book Rhane's plot could have been fine. But in X-Force it was like everyone else was doing one very focused thing and she was doing a completely unrelated thing. And of all the members Rhane didn't belong even being associated with the team - even more than Josh.

I checked out Black Widow, but I don't think it will work well for what I want to do. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[miguelyanke]

U're welcome dear Pod! it was a pleasure to me to make that skope , hope to see the final version.

[cascarudo]

cool 

[herodad1]

i'd love to see a new strong guy.

[Podmark]

i'd love to see a new strong guy.

Sorry nothing planned right now. The new X-Factor outfits do hold some interest to me, but I won't be skinning them any time soon.

[Podmark]

Archangel preview:


Warren is one of my favorite X-Men and I think this is the first time I've skinned him. I'll be skinning his San Fran costume too. I liked what they did to him in X-Force, it allows us to have the best of both worlds.

Elixir is next. I'm trying to finish the X-Force skins before Second Coming ends. Got 11 weeks to skin Josh, Neena and Telford.

[Previsionary]

I like it, Pod, but I don't think he looks broody enough. he needs a really mean look while in that costume.

[murs47]

Excellent, more X-Force goodness. Why the blonde eyebrows though?

[Podmark]

I like it, Pod, but I don't think he looks broody enough. he needs a really mean look while in that costume.

Yeah I agree. I'll work on that.

Excellent, more X-Force goodness. Why the blonde eyebrows though?

Well Warren is blonde. I'll look over my issues again, see if there's evidence which colour his eyebrows should be. The problem is that artists tend to give characters simple black eyebrows regardless of what colour they should be.

[deano_ue]

I would try adding some more highlights to the wings, to enhance the metallic look. the detailing good but they just look a little flat

[murs47]

Well Warren is blonde.

You've got some nerve lying to me.

Ya, Choi and Crain do different things for the eyebrows. Crain makes him eyebrow-less, but on the cover for issue 5 or 6, he gives him blond eyebrows. Choi gives him a faint black stroke. I guess I'm just used to their depictions of Warren in Death mode. Anyways, can't wait to get my hands on this one.

[Previsionary]

Yeah, old archangel used to have his blonde eyebrows prominent. Current Archangel has thin, almost non-existant, black ones (See his transformation in New Mutants #12 to compare).

[BentonGrey]

Wow Pod!  Really nice Angel.  I've never seen that version of him before, but I sorta' like it.  Anyway, I'd have to agree with TUE, his wings could use a bit of shine, but other than that, he looks great!

[John Jr.]

Great colors! Specially the blue face.

[Scorpion13mk2]

It may not be accurate, but I like the eyebrows. Nice contrast.

[laughing paradox]

Nice job, Pod. I like what you did with the head mask.. the top of a mesh's head is always such a pain in the butt for me.

[Blkcasanova247]

Coolness Pod! And he doesn't look just "broody"...he looks like a guy with murder on his mind...constantly in PO'd mode. Also you should really "chrome" ot those wings. Glistening and deadly like any blade. Hey maybe do "Bloody splatered" variant skins for them.

[Podmark]

Good idea UE, I'll revisit the wings. Might have adjust the refl too, the way I did it is causing some parts to appear too bright and others too dark in spots.

For the eyebrows, I'll do some research on them, but right now I still prefer to stick to the blond eyebrows. I think what I might do is make them thinker and darker though.

Nice job, Pod. I like what you did with the head mask.. the top of a mesh's head is always such a pain in the butt for me.

The top lines on the mask took some work to do, my first attempt looked terrible. That area is a mess mapping wise so I had to do a lot of back and forth with the character tool to get them it to look decent.

Coolness Pod! And he doesn't look just "broody"...he looks like a guy with murder on his mind...constantly in PO'd mode. Also you should really "chrome" ot those wings. Glistening and deadly like any blade. Hey maybe do "Bloody splatered" variant skins for them.

Yeah I'll work on the face and wings. No blood splattered version - I'm not confident I could pull it off.


UPDATE:
I've looked through my X-Force issues and I've decided to keep the eyebrows blond. Most of the time the eyebrows are just black but there's a few closeups where they are blond and history is on the side of them being that colour. I am going to adjust them to be darker though.
I may also redo the wings. Sometimes Warren had a simpler wing design, and I may give it a try.

[The Enigma]

I always thought the blonde hair and eyebrows worked better on the blue anyway. Warren's always been one of my favourite characters, especially after he got a bit edgier with the new wings. I agree with casanova about working on the wings a bit more as they don't have the same flashy coolness I've seen in some of your other metal work. Still, it's a great start.

[murs47]

UPDATE:
I've looked through my X-Force issues and I've decided to keep the eyebrows blond. Most of the time the eyebrows are just black but there's a few closeups where they are blond and history is on the side of them being that colour. I am going to adjust them to be darker though.
I may also redo the wings. Sometimes Warren had a simpler wing design, and I may give it a try.

I'm happy with any decision. I've been waiting a long time for these X-Force skins.

If you need a hand with any warping or things similar like that(Telford's head tattoos come to mind, that seems like a nightmare) let me know. I can try using the 3D tools. Just putting that on the table.

[area34]

I hope you don't simplify the wings to much. From what we can see right now I think they look fine. If you want to just up the reflection effect, I've lately gone the route of using 65-75pixel airbrush and making streaks of a mid-range color on top of a flat color then using a tighter brush(like 10-20) of a closer to white color down the middle of the streak. It would be tedious to do each feather that way but you could do a couple steaks under those details and it would still give a good metallic sheen.

[Podmark]

I hope you don't simplify the wings to much. From what we can see right now I think they look fine.

You guys might not even see them. It's something I'm going to try.

New skin:


Elixir is the member of X-Force I was most invested in. He was a character I liked from New X-Men and I grew to like him more in X-Force - a team he only slightly belonged on more than Rhane. He brought a different perspective to X-Force and I thought he was used well in a supporting role - save his fourth coma.

I based this skin on Choi's art. Crain did a different version of the costume but it seems to be really simple and Crain's artwork became really murky by that point and he rarely focused on Elixir. This does create a conundrum though. I designed the first four X-Force skins after Crain's work and he gave the team black and red belts, but Choi gives the team black and grey belts. Should I amalgamate the Choi design and the Crain belt for team consistency?

I may take a break before tackling Domino and Vanisher. There's a special character I'm considering skinning in the next two weeks. Also I've got finals in the next two weeks so I may not be working on skinning much.

[murs47]

Very nice Pod. Josh developed even more during X-Force and really balanced out the violent nature of the other characters with his pacifism(most of the time). I wonder what's next for him?

Should I amalgamate the Choi design and the Crain belt for team consistency?

Ya, I think that's the way to go.

[laughing paradox]

Elixir looks great. The boots/knee pads section looks very cool. A combined design from the two artists is definitely the way to go.

Oh, and boo & hiss at waiting for Domino longer!