Florian-K on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/florian-k/art/Born-ready-671172928Florian-K

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Born ready

Published: Mar 26, 2017

3.9K Views

Description

▷ illustration: © Florian K. / character: © O.RLY, since 2017

"You're the guardian of this gate? But it leads nowhere."

"That's simply because you haven't started the journey yet."

This character was a lot of fun, but it also took me ages to finish him (due to the general lack of free time that still plagues me).

I think this might be one of the best poses I did for a character for a very long time. I did several sketches for an outfit/armor design, but they never seemed to fit. I figured that the character wouldn't wear heavy armor with giant plates. His emotional, happy and silly personality was better expressed in a design that doesn't follow regular rules of protection and that includes "weird" elements like a t-shirt and briefs. This design also emphasizes his agility.

SPECIFICATIONS

First weapon: Rhyton
Rhyta are very rare manifestations some Odems create by channelling Numina directly. Usually, Odem weapons are composed of matter and then infused with Numina to act as conduits for the Odem to affect the physical world. Rhyta however are extensions of the Odem itself. They're solely composed of Numina and carry them as vessels in a loop of channelling and dissipation. A Rhyton can assume various shapes, but disappears as soon as all its Numina are washed-out.

Second weapon: Odem Sword
Odem Swords come in various different shapes and sizes and possess special abilities. They're versatile, fast weapons with limited range and blocking abilities. If the agility and attack levels of the bearer are high Odem Swords can be used for critical, fast-paced attacks. Higher vitality levels enable the bearer to interrupt enemy attacks. Odem Swords also allow the bearer to preserve his moving speed and evasive capabilities while attacking.

└ Special ability: Valor
50% of the damage points inflicted upon an enemy by using the Odem Sword will be added to Clyde's Numen points.

Dog tag: Bamid Tag
Dog tags are rare highly magical items that provide a singular power under certain circumstances. They can only be used once and often come with a drawback.
If Clyde's life points drop below 10% while his Numen points are below 25% his Numen points are automatically refilled completely. His agility increases by 50% while his resistance decreases by 25%.
The Bamid Tag was created by the god of the meadows.

GEEKY ARS AETERNA LORE

Rhyta
In contrast to regular Odem weapons a Rhyton cannot be wielded consciously. Due to its intimate connection to its Odem a Rhyton often appears to act autonomously, based on the feelings and state of mind of the owner. The appearance of a Rhyton often causes distress, fuelling the aggravated state that brought birth to it in the first place even more. The visual representation of Rhyta are often described as frightening and grotesque. However, a person who's familiar with them and aware of the emotions that create them is usually not negatively effected and might even get a sense of elation while they're present. Such a person may not even see Rhyta as grotesque, because the appearance of a Rhyton can vary heavily depending on the viewer.

Rhyta that are created by an overwhelming sensation of stress and despair and that aren't allowed to deflagrate their Numina can completely externalize and become pseudo-autonomous entities that almost exclusively attack their owner. They completely change their features and abilities in a way that makes it impossible to put them in any of the standard categories for creatures. The pseudo-class Phobia was invented to classify them instead; although some argue that they rather belong in the Apocryphon class due to their ability to adopt features of other classes.

FITTING (?) MUSIC THEME

► League Of Heroes 4

It took me a while to find something that might fit the character. I was thinking of something driving, but not too grim or heavy. Something serious, but also happy and kinda playful. I like the 4th mix of this track, because it has no standard percussion at all (thus making it sound much lighter and elating and fitting the element of air and light) and the teasing, almost mocking strings are much more prominent and clean compared to the other mixes.

The dreamcatcher logo on his shirt belongs to the band Dreamcatcher. Really nice atmospheric alternative indie rock.
If you like you can buy a band shirt here.

Image size

1503x1150px 829.28 KB

Comments12

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Illogical-Lynx

Mar 18, 2018

Wow, I have to say, I've put off trying to write a critique on your work because it would be so damn hard to find anything to complain about haha
I'll just write you a general comment and nitpick any small things I come across while I'm writing it.

You have a very strong and well developed personal art style that realy compliments the character design you use. I really like the sorta punk aesthetic with the baggy, torn clothing, the piercings and the feathery frills and trailing belts. It's really consistent throughout the design and everything matches, the character's clothing looks like exactly what he'd wear.

Your cell-like shading is simple but very effective and well executed and the colour gradients in the Rhyton hands there show you definitely understand how do do less hard-edged shading if you wanted to. I think my favourite part for this is the fur around the waist though. You've used fairly few, but well detailed shapes to create a complex effect of several layers of fur which is very impressive. It's something that is quite likely just a personal opinion on your art style, but I do think the very large shadows defining the abs might be a little much, especially with a shirt that you can see from the wrinkles nearby is probably fairly loose. I understand that when you're shading smooth objects like muscles with just a single light colour and a single dark colour, you have to put the division at the mid point between the two, but this creates a very... patchy look that almost breaks up the shapes you're trying to create. Sort of like how camouflage breaks up the outline of a soldier. I'm not sure how intrinsic this is to the style you're using, but I would hazard a guess that perhaps your shadows could be a tad too large in that area? You might get more definition out of smaller, longer shadows.

You have a fantastic command of anatomy and perspective, in particular the Rhyton hands are really cool, both the perspective of them grasping forwards and fading back into the background. The armour wraps around the character nicely and I love the layered look on the legs. The only potential issue I might point out here is that I think the armour around the wrists and forearms seems to be in the same position despite the fact that the hands are tilted 90 degrees from one another. I don't have anything comparable to those bracers to strap to my wrists to figure out what the effect of that would be, but that amount of twist in the hand should produce quite an effect on the wrist and forearm.

Anyhow really, really minor quibbles. You have a really cool style that you produce to a very high standard and it compliments your character design well. Excellent work indeed!