The VG Resource

I'm not really sure if this is improving or not, but here is my next pass.



I haven't put any arms on him, mainly because I'm unsure as how to place them without losing the shape of the torso or "neck" area.
As for why his legs are now green, most chess sets I've used have pieces with green felt attatched to the bottom of the them, to reduce
scratches on the board. I figured that if a pawn came to life, that felt could probably double as pants.

Also, the right version has darker tone outline, but I don't think I like it.

The head looks somewhat egg-shaped. But it is definitely better with the outline.

Alright, so, my initial idea hasn't seem to have been panning out the way I hoped.
I've decided that maybe instead of giving a chess pawn human features,
I'd give a human features that resemble a chess pawn.

this is what I have so far:



To get away from the all white problem I was having, I added more color to him.
I like what I've got, but I feel like there are still problems with it.
I'm sure you guys can point those out for me.

Is he supposed to be a centurion? If he is, he is missing the helmet. Also, I don't quite know what's going on with the head; he seems to be cocking it to one side like a curious dog.

He wasn't meant to resemble a centurion, but I see the resemblance.
His "helmet" is hair; It's supposed to be a very round bowl cut sort
of hairstyle. I see what you meant about the face; he was a little lopsided.
Here is my next pass.



So, I've changed his hairline, and made his face level. I've also changed the red to blue,
which hopefully removes the Grecian influence. I've also changed the neck flare piece
to be a little more symmetrical. How is it looking now?

there's a big problem with the shapes of his arms. the back arm looks noodly, and the front arm just looks broken, or like the top part is supposed to be a sleeve ending off. give the back arm a point and move the front arm's elbow point down.

Centurions aren't Grecian, they're Italian as they were infantry from the Roman Empire. Anyway, I'll second what CBL said but why have you gone for a bowl haircut? It just seems slightly odd to dress someone in armour, then give them a haircut from the 90's.

(05-12-2012, 01:04 PM)Curlyw42 Wrote: [ -> ]a bowl haircut?

Because chess pawns have a round bowl head

@CBL Yeah, the top is supposed to be one of those puffy oldfashioned sleeves, and I thought the arms were off. I'll give that a try.

@Curly Greek, Italian, some sort of failed european empire.
As for the haircut, He is supposed to resemble a pawn piece, and the "head" of the pawn is a round ball:



So I decided on a bowl shape haircut. As for armor, Chess is a war strategy game, so I figured it would be prudent to give him some sort of protection.

@Previous I knew someone would get it.

Ah right, I see. In that case I'd shorten the hair a bit so he looks less feminine.

(05-12-2012, 01:30 PM)Sevenstitch Wrote: [ -> ]@CBL Yeah, the top is supposed to be one of those puffy oldfashioned sleeves

no, that's not what i'm talking about. i'm saying the top part of the arm looked like a sleeve.



this bit. right here. if i were to color that bit like the sleeve above it is colored, without changing the outline...



i get this. doesn't that look like a longer sleeve, without changing the shape at all?

i recommend trying to hold your own arm in that same position in front of a mirror, and studying how it bends, especially at the elbow and wrist joints.

Woah, yeah, that is a lot better, and much more readable. wish I had been watching the thread while I was editing..

This is what I came up with, but I'm afraid it just made the problem worse, and seeing your edit, I think I'd be happier with something like that.



I hate to shorten the hair though, because right now he has that whole "Round Head" thing going on, and if I shorten it, his head will change into an oval or egg, like my earliest attempts.

EDIT:



I've lengthened the sleeves, and altered the hairline some. I also gave him a
nose, just because I thought that maybe the face was too flat.

EDIT EDIT: Heres another pass. I'm trying some more color options.
What do you think of this?



I kind of like the leather look, myself. I also did minor adjustments to the hair, and tweaked the armor some.

I'd actually keep the hair as is AND the pawn looking androgenous. After all they can promote to queens.

Am I the only one thinking the armor has a different/extra light source than the rest of it?

That's a good point and yeah, I thought it might be a little too shiny, but I don't really want it flat grey either.
I'm not sure how to go about fixing that, really.

EDIT(BLEH): Soo, I played around with it a bit more, and I'm sure I don't like where it went,
but I figure I might as well show it anyway.



I remade the whole head and face area, gave the armor a redo, and changed palettes again. I don't really care for him like this, honestly,
but it is different, I guess. I'm afraid that he may have diverged to far from my original idea though: I mean, when you look at him,
do you think "Oh, a chess pawn! I get it!"? Should I keep going with this one, or go back to the pass before it?

The body is good, but I'd say you're better off with the old head, the new one's sort of lost its charm.