By Way Of Introduction ~/~ Gundam MSVs & Code Geass KFVs

Mwulf · Mon Jan 08, 2007 5:58 am

My Original First Post wrote:I've been messing around with sort-of an alternative-sequel to Gundam Seed... and, of course, I started fiddling with different mecha-variations. I'm not very skilled or knowledgable at *how* this is done, but I've been trudging forward with photoshop and think my result is at least halfway decent.

I started out simple... this is a recoloring of the Blast-Impulse Gundam with a few minor changes to the backpack and hip-armor.

I also made a Strike II Gundam with a larger aile-striker pack that's integrated with the unit's torso, and a modified Izumo-class mobile suit carrier.

Before I was made aware that such a thing actually existed, I made a Proto-Savior. Yeah, I know the coloring sucks. I haven't bothered to redo-it because I opted to change the design a bit more for my last piece....

Lastly is the Gundam Messiah--RENAMED TO BLUE-BREAKER. The gold things are for funnels ala the S-Freedom, though no funnels are drawn in yet. I'm also working on a pic from an alternate angle as well as the MA mode.

As I've said, I'm just playing around and don't really know what I'm doing... I welcome and invite any advice/criticism/suggestions/comments you might have!

Camille Vidan · Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:16 am

The coloring is a bit unusual, but I like it. What techniques did you use on these ones? Did you draw them on paper first?

Nightwing03 · Mon Jan 08, 2007 7:25 am

^^ Thats some quality mecha art u got there, the only thing i would advise is to change some of the colours like the messiah gundam, they look abit too...bright. but apart from that everything else is top notch work

Turinu · Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:03 am

The only thing I see wrong is the lines on the Impulse Gundam. Those could be fixed to make it look better.

Aside from that I love all these images, s'pecially the Izumo Class Refit.

Mwulf · Mon Jan 08, 2007 3:19 pm

I don't have a scanner so the actual images aren't "drawn" per se. Generally I'll make a small sketch in my notebook to help me cement the idea in my head and then I'll find an image to base it off... for example, I used a digital camera to take a photo of a 1/100 Savior model and then outlined the model in MS Paint with one layer, and then made another layer making the changes from my sketch.

I don't have much skill with a mouse so I'm pretty much limited to using a series of straight lines.

Ravager · Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:51 am

It would help a lot if you found online linearts of Seed MSs,but i have no idea where to find them since they only do UC,AC MS here most of the time

Dark Duel · Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:53 pm

Good stuff. Just thought I'd mention though, that the wings on your Izumo refit would block its dual Lohengrins.

Yuusha Tokkyu Might Gaine · Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:29 pm

Dark Duel wrote:Good stuff. Just thought I'd mention though, that the wings on your Izumo refit would block its dual Lohengrins.

Maybe they fold in before each use of the Lohengrins?

Toxicity · Mon Jan 15, 2007 12:10 pm

Nice work, I like them all. You actually make CE technology look cool.

Mwulf · Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:28 pm

Bizzare double post... Ignore this one.

Mwulf · Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:29 pm

Yeah, I guess so. Truth be told I dislike most of the CE stuff myself... it's just that I decided to try my hand at a Gundam fanfic (really just me penning what I think would be a cool gundam series) and used CE as a starting point... e.g. I used destiny's characters because they're already there... as kind of a replacement series for what destiny could have been if it were good. I can post it here, if anyone's interested. I think it's pretty cool, but that's just me.

Yuusha Tokkyu Might Gaine wrote:
Dark Duel wrote:Good stuff. Just thought I'd mention though, that the wings on your Izumo refit would block its dual Lohengrins.
Maybe they fold in before each use of the Lohengrins?

I was thinking of it as more of a high-speed carrier, sacrificing firepower for speed... so the wings ~replace~ the Lohengrins.

~___~

I've been playing around with lots of new stuff, so I'll share a bit of what I've done right now.

Firstly I rechristened (and repainted) the Proto-saviour as the JAS-NTX-06 Blue Breaker It carries 10 autonomous weapon pods and is designed for aerial combat. The "weapon pods" are NOT like funnels... think of them as giant missiles that are highly manueverable and controlled via a psycommu-type device.

I've always been a big fan of the "fat" mobile suits, so I tried my hand at making one... I'm not too pleased with it, but I think it's a good start for something that might (eventually) become rather cool. I give you the JAS-OMS-04 Hussar It's a design emphasizing armor above all else.

Then I have my "Zaku" series... begining with the JAS-OMS-05 Centurion (Early-Type) which I kind of like design-wise, though the colors are a bit off.

Following that, I have the JAS-OMS-05 Centurion (Late-Type) and the JAS-OMS-06 Centurion II

Finally we get to my favourite designs at the culmination of my Centurion line... the JAS-OMS-09 Janissary it may not be too terribly interesting at first, but then you have the Janissary Kai.

JAS-OMS-09z Janissary Kai (1)
JAS-OMS-09z Janissary Kai (2)

The wings don't add too much speed or manueverability, and serve chiefly as armored shrouds for the two GIANT funnels. Each funnel has a large beam saber at the tip (more like a beam lance, really) along with a rotating beam blade (like a chainsaw) around the base... it's designed as a re-usable anti-ship weapon... it cuts through warships and returns to the MS. The gold-disc in the center of the torso is a beam canon... it fires more like a laser, for sustained durations of time, and is designed for anti-infantry and anti-armor attacks.... coupled with the usual beam saber/machine gun/beam rifle combo it makes the Janissary able to tackly ANY kind of enemy... an ultimate multi-role moblie suit.

Deus EpS Machina · Wed Feb 28, 2007 12:50 am

From the looks of those images...youre trace vectoring model photos. Am i correct?

Mwulf · Wed Feb 28, 2007 1:11 am

To get the basic shape, yeah... then I add my own stuff. For the most part, though, I have to add-on to preexisting designs because I cannot actually draw anything on my computer... (no scanner, tablet, whatever)

Deus EpS Machina · Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:34 am

I do a lot of that kind of vector art myself...take a photo of a model kit and vector it. Iv also done some original mecha that way too...so here're a couple of tips:

1) colouring: Colour on one layer which has the lineart at 1 px. When youre completely done making the paths with the Pen Tool, Stroke it on mainly 2 layers (you may have more than 2 if you wish). The first layer should be 1px width; this is your colouring layer as the lines are thin, and you can easily use the Paint Bucket to drop paint in as many areas as possible.
Do not worry about fading away the lines as you should have made a second lineart layer with a 3px width....make this second layer of a thicker layer...3px is fine...This is the layer that will overlap the first layer and you mustn't colour on it as it covers the faded lines of the first layer:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/E ... copy-1.png
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/E ... Ifinal.png
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/E ... omcopy.png
Also, stroke onlyin black...seriously, any other colour just doesnt seem to work.

2) Stroking: about that second overlapping layer...to give it a nice artistic sketchy touch...when you go to stroke it, check "stimulated pressure". Do this only on the 2nd layer though...it should look like...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/E ... amcopy.png
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/E ... INEART.png
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/E ... ineart.png
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/E ... _1copy.png
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y207/E ... aicopy.png

see the difference in the line width? thats what Stimulated pressure does.

Mwulf · Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:39 pm

Thanks for posting your own stuff here.... it really brings home just how crappy my work is....

Ah well, maybe with a little practice I can close the gap a little!

I haven't found the "simulated pressure" thing yet, but I did go ahead and re-outline (and maybe make a few tweaks) some of my designs and toss in a new one.

I basically outlined it in 1 pixel black in one layer, made another layer outline in 3 pixel width pen, and then copied the first layer and put the duplicate in the middle to color in so I can re-use the same PSD for multiple colorings.

I remade the centurion, changint the shoulders, torso and head a little bit and replacing the legs. The shape of the right leg is a bit off... but it's practice.

Then I used a different coloring scheme (one that I like better... it's more "earthy") and added a beam saber, though it looks like it ~might~ be too wide.

Then I re-colored the ZAKU.

And then I made my own version of the ZAKU, which is pretty much identical (The only way I could like the original design more was if it was an MS-06fz) with propellant tanks and "neck" thrusters.

Finally, I did a less-traditional angle drawing of a ZAKU-Gunner. I tried to make it in the same colors as the last, but they're not quite identical... still, though, I really like the color-scheme.

Tiga · Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:53 pm

your doing some pretty nice Ms ^-^

CHASER · Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:17 am

Very nice, especially the Gunner ZAKU pic. As for the ZAKU prior to it, there's a reason why its backpack is pretty much nonexistant; it needs the space to mounts its packs >>

I like the Centurion though, I don't see any problem with having a thick sabre, just means a wider beam blade

Mwulf · Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:03 am

Yeah, the problem is are the hands actually wide enough to grip the beam saber? And yes, I know my hands are just big black blobs. I've only drawn moderately-acceptable hands once--and that was on Jesus--I've taken enough flak for it.

I'm thinking maybe the beam saber could do something like this... to make the hilt narrower and keep the blade itself pretty big.

The saber sould angle itself forward and the hilt would pop outward (foward) so all the arm would have to do is move straight up under the chin to reach it instead of over the shoulder.

CHASER · Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:37 am

I think that would make the sabres somewhat flimsy (in the narrow bit) or physically weak (being mostly hollow tubes). You could always have something like... a standard sort of thickness, though having a broader piece at the end that emmits the blade wider and possibly flatter.

Although, if you meant that as just a solution for how the hilt looks in the lineart, that doesn't fix much

Though the first thing that catches my attention with that suit is how pointy its skirt armour is, then there's the head that's pretty nice too. And there's nothing wrong with blobs for hands, they sometimes come out better than ones where you can't tell what's a finger and what's... something that isn't a finger... I want to stab english sometimes.

I wish I do art like that, though it's made itself apparent that I'm mostly good at colouring

Antares · Wed Mar 07, 2007 8:13 am

The final version of the Zaku Gunner indeed looks awesome, and it is also a non-standard pose which means bonus points. Nice work, keep'em comin'!