In This Thread, I Pretend I Can Draw. (Fanframe Concept Art) [Feedback Appreciated]

[Kinperor]

Hello, 

 

As you might know (its statistically unlikely that you do), I've did a concept for an earth frame named Pangea. Since the thread is fairly old and that the traffic on the Fan Concept subforum is fairly low, I wanted to start a new thread to discuss my art. This thread is only about the art, feel free to visit the other link if you have ideas for abilities or even about the design. Both are fair game there.

 

Pangea as a concept is as much a Warframe idea I had as it is a subject for me to practice my amateur artist skills on, hence why I want critical feedback.

 

So mainly, I am interested in hearing critical feedback on how to improve my art, and maybe the design for Pangea. I am not interested in hearing about how my arms, hands and feet look weird, I am already aware of that and will work on it in the future. Same with the proportion. Unless you have some specific suggestion to help me deal with these issues, I don't think it is pertinent to address it here since it's already on my to-do list.  

 

I am however interested in hearing feedback about specific aspect of the design: namely, the helmet, the energy color (flashiest green) and the paint. 

 

So here's the actual image (see further down for comments): 

 

 

 

About the green stuff willy nilly: Part of the armor (brown area, lower torso and skirt) was inspired loosely by a samurai armor, which featured "stitches" to hold the plates together. I wanted to try something different with energy, where instead of random spots on the Warframe, they would look like they had a purpose, namely stitching together the armor. Now, this artistic decision makes sense to me mainly because Pangea's abilities can add or remove his own armor (as in,  the armor stat). So the energy holding his armor together makes sense in that context (although it is pretty unusual for Warframes). The yellow plates are meant to be metal plate, and hence have no stitches. That's my reasoning. Also, do note that there is less stitches on one side than the other. It's done on purpose, because I can't decide which looks better (better or less) and I wanted feedback on that too. 

 

About the helmet: I originally wanted to do an helmet similar to the Barroth's head (google it), complete with material similar to rock. However, as I progressed with the design, I dropped the rock material, because I thought it was a hamfisted way to deliver the thematic. I tried to replaced the "crown"-like design with armor plates instead, and I am not sure it transitioned well. I am currently planning to design alt helmets, that much is certain, but I still want to know what people think about it. 

 

About the blue paint: Sticking to the thematic of earth and rock, I scarcely used natural and sleek curves. I wanted hard lines as much as possible, and wanted a paint that stood out. That's what I came up with. 

 

Last note about the armor plating: It was occurring to me that maybe people could find the armor and the actual "body" was too disjointed, and not organic enough. Personally, I am again working off the logic that armor is something fluid for Pangea, that he can remove or stack to his liking, so it doesn't really matter how organic it looks. For that matter, part of my inspiration for the plating came from heavy machinery, earth moving vehicles and the like, with segmented pieces not unlike a tank tread.  

 

That about covers up what I had to say.

 

Thanks for reading, don't be shy about commenting. 

 

EDIT: Replaced the art, with some modification. 

 

Edited April 2, 2014 by Kinperor

[Kinperor]

The green part is not meant to be skin, but I agree it does look a bit confounding. I couldn't think of a way to render it as part of the armor instead of plain skin. 

 

The yellow part on the helmet is meant to be metal plates. It could be better conveyed as well. 

 

I thought at first that the neck area looked kind of empty, so I wanted to add blue lines. In a fit of anatomy zealousness, I wanted to put lines where the main veins are, along with the windpipe part of the neck. Not sure if I want to touch this, but I'll keep it in mind. 

[Kinperor]

Yeah, I guess an underlayer is the best description. That, or a regular body suit, like you would see on Mag for instance. 

 

I am not sure what you mean about the neck lines, they have curve, save for the middle one? Do you mean that they do not properly follow the neck shape? 

Edited March 31, 2014 by Kinperor

[Kinperor]

I'll try changing what you brought up, but I don't quite see what is wrong with the neck. I'll try to smooth it out.

 

As for the armor, he can't really strip it all off, but yeah, that's the concept. 

 

Thanks for the feedback! 

[Kinperor]

Updated the art, I dropped some tears when I realized that I accidentally merged (and saved) the layer for energy with the lineart. 

 

Otherwise, I removed some energy and changed the shadows above the neckline. 

 

Next project is to design one or two new helmet, but I'll do that in a new and separate piece.