45 replies to this topic

[Davoke]

These made me cry from joy. I tried doing some ortho style views of some unseen and really enjoyed, but they pale in comparison to these beast mode drawings. Awesome work zap

[Odanan]

Zaptruder, on 31 December 2012 - 11:08 AM, said:

Hello all.

It's been a while since I last drew a mech, but after seeing some of shortpainter's work from his thread, I was inspired to start sketching up some of my own. Where better to start than the ever popular and ever lamentable unseens.

I'd like to make my way through the unseen list (or at least the ones from the 3025 TRO which are the ones I care about), so I'll use this thread to post my works here. I apologize in advance for the rough sketchy and generally unfinished looking nature of the work... I like to keep my concepts sketchily ambiguous so as to draw additional details from misinterpretations and misreading of lines. Also, I'm just not that great an artist.
My intention is to redesign the unseen in such a way that they could maybe appear in MWO, using my interpretation of the design language established by Flying Debris/Alex Iglesias in the overall shapes and forms of the mechs. I'm less concerned about making it pass muster with some legal jerks (after all, they're not going to actually be used as anything but fan art); but I do at least somewhat keep that in mind; I'm more concerned that the designs are immediately recognizable as the mechs that they're meant to be.

To that end, I try to keep the general relative proportions established by the original designs, while modifying the shapes and details to befit a more modern form. Secondary equipment such as the Warhammer's search light, some times hands (especially if its a hand holding a gun shaped weapon) is sometimes discarded; equipment might be moved around (I'll try not to).

I'll start with rough sketches of the redesigns, and then seek some community feedback and approval and iterate to a general level of satisfaction. After that, I'll move onto plan and elevation views of the mechs, and model up basic shapes of the mechs and sketch over them. I'll pretty much leave it there; I don't have the skill or patience to actually model the mechs in fine detail. Once that's done, I'll move onto the next mech or two and proceed until I get bored, the community gets bored, or I run out of unseen to redesign.

Warhammer: As you can see, I've moved the location of the cockpit from beneath the hunch in the head to the hunch itself, as well as deleted the search light. It changes up the feeling of the Warhammer quite a bit, but it retains a very recognizable silhouette and overall geometry.

Marauder: I used FD's version of the Catapult as a reference for the proportions of the Marauder... It is a little ambiguous, but otherwise I think it works quite well. I don't think anyone can mistake this for anything but a Marauder - even though it's a much chunkier looking mech than the finely proportioned lines of the original. Its cockpit is located in the forward section, under the cowl, as in the original Marauder (but not the Zentradi Battlepod); the various lines above it are just panel lines to break up the surface of the upper center torso.




Here are the originals just for reference - are they different enough that we'd be able to resee them with designs like this?



3/Jan/13
Battlemaster BLR-1G



Quite happy with the result. A tad sporty looking, might tweak the feet. But this one was done relatively quickly. It's different enough from the original version that you wouldn't call it the same mech - but it is still recognizably a Battlemaster. And it's got weapons in the right places as well.

And original for reference


4/Jan/13
Locust LCT-1V



It's probably wouldn't pass the MWO gameplay requirements muster given the lack of torso twist.

But the way I've designed it - the center ML and arms can rotate on the horizontal and vertical axis; meaning you can actually track weapons fire beyond just where you're heading.

Give it an increased turning speed, and the mech could be quite viable in game, albeit a little different to play with.

Original for reference:


5/Jan/13

Stinger STG-3R



I started working on the Macross series of unseens starting with the Stinger. I'm quite happy with the way it's turned out. As always, the intention is for you to recognize it as whatever unseen mech it's meant to be instantly... but no one part is supposed to look like the original... and the overall design continues the theme that I've established; of mechnically visible internals (at the joints) with armored fairings bolted on top.

Note: Neck is fixed - the cockpit visor is around the head/upperbody level, while the lower torso and legs of the pilot sits recessed in the neck. This is done because I have a scale sheet that I've been updating with each new drawing; and you simply can't cram a human in just the 'head' portion of this mech alone. That's ok though - none of the other mechs I've drawn so far have moving heads! Not even the Atlas has a mobile head.

I've taken the liberty of painting this one in Marik Militia colours - similar to the Stinger that appears in the old Camo Specs booklet.

Original For reference:


Phoenix Hawk:


Reference:


Shadow Hawk:

Reference:

Thanks for looking all.

Your mechs are terrific!

Marauder = beast!
Locust = the most charming little thing. I wish the MWO's Locust was something like this...
Shadowhawk = the Alex Iglesias' design is strangely similar to this one, which is great.

grml666, on 02 September 2013 - 04:04 AM, said:

Well I really like your interpretation of the Locust. Because my biggest doubts about the new Locust is to set an accent, compared with the other lights. If it isn’t faster than ~150kph it doesn’t make sense to play it instead of a spider or commando.
I suggest an extreme fast mech (e.g. 170-180kph) no torso twist but an incredible acceleration and anchor turn ability.

No torso twist it's unfair with any mech. Don't recommend.

[Davoke]

Personally, I highly appreciate the fluid look of your mechs. The BattleMaster is standing there all swagger like, looking like he's about to murderpunch some smaller mech. The Stinger looks like it could take off in a run and look (relatively) like a human. The Phoenix Hawk looks like it could throw some realistic punches and kicks. I love it.

[Vanguard319]

I like the Phoenix Hawk, and it looks different enough from the original to be worthy of being a reseen design.

[MustrumRidcully]

Zaptruder, on 13 January 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

Thanks. No chance of seeing any of these mechs in the game though. They'd really rather just side step legal wrangling in the courts irrespective of how likely they are to succeed. Also, the original stinger never had an AC2... it has a medium laser and 2 machine guns.



Cheers. It is mosquitoish, and quite insectoid... but it definetly makes me think 'Locust' still, and makes you think similarly



Cheers. I think I might have to revisit the Phoenix Hawk after I'm done with the rest. In some respects, it's kinda cool... but on the flipside, it's lacking an important element of good design; a certain rhythm and balance to the details. Too many details, and the overall silhouette is basically a quarterback in football gear. Too humanoid. Admittedly, the Veritechs are quite humanoid, but they still had their own distinct robotic qualities.


Anyway, here's my very belated take on the Shadow Hawk. I wasn't actually happy with it for a long while, hence I stopped work on it. But then I finished shading it and coloured it up. Seems to work quite well. Retains much of the qualities of the original Shadow Hawk with new blockier but more workable details. Weapons are also more realistically sized: medium laser is now a medium laser sized weapon. You can see the SRM2 on the head. And LRM-5 Pack also appears.

Sharp eyed among you might realize the weapon locations are flipped. I flipped them to draw them more easily... but forgot to flip the image pack to add the text on it. Not a big deal hopefully!



Cheers. No new designs for a while. But going to try model up the marauder and warhammer in 3D.

I think PGI should also sell "left-handed" versions of their mechs.