Hierophants concepts and world

Nu-Khemite: Egypt in the year 3212. Life is filled with toil and social unrest. Those on the lowest social rung live in the slums on the outskirts of the city and are slaves for those higher up. The merchant and guildsmen classes thrive in the inner city. The cities, three distinct districts, nestle the Nile which has since reformed as a giant pool, in the center of which stands the gargantuan Obelisk. Those of great social standing live above the cities in three giant, floating pyramids. Only those of the most powerful standing and whom control Nu-Khemite reside in the Obelisk.

The Sky Pyramids: Three colossal pyramids that orbit the Obelisk. Each pyramid controls a correlating city below for the time it hovers above it (4 months at a time). Only the rich and powerful may live in the pyramids, and each pyramid ascends by rank as well. The Pyramid of Earth contains wealthy merchants and rich socialites, The Pyramid of the Sky houses politicians and The Pyramid of the Sun houses royalty.

The Obelisk: The central power corporation of Nu-Khemite. This is the power source of the country and everyone must obey its order. No one is certain of who runs it, but its power is never objected. The technology that grants the Khemites the ability to live in the desert comes directly from the inner workings of the Obelisk. Also, the genetic splicing and research that created the Demites is carried out within its confines.

Demites: Spliced beings composed of human genes and the blood of ancient deities. The demites are half-man, half-beast. There are two grades of demites: Demite, which is a creature with the head of a God and the body of a man, and Demetian, anthromorphized God beasts. Demetians are flukes in the Demite process and are therefore regarded as inferior by true Demites. Demites may reside in the pyramids, and are revered by many, but they cannot breed and must turn to the Obelisk in order to procreate. Demetians, soiled by man, live in the lower cities and have the capacity to breed (albeit it is difficult and there are many unsavory incidents with Demetian spawn).

The Hierophants: A group of revolutionaries whose goal is to topple Obelisk and regain control from the sky pyramids. They oppose Obelisk's dictatorship and the oppressive nature of the Sky Pyramids. They fight for the poor and abused and seek to cure the social injustice. They are led by two young girls, Hage and Udjat.

The Embalmers: A rival group of extremists and terrorists. They are known somewhat as an urban-legend, though the inner circles of the Pyramids fear mention of them regardless. Their goal is to usurp power from the mighty, though their reasons for doing so are unknown. They are led by Mael and Soso.

Artifacts: Ancient artifacts that still hold some power that was bestowed upon them by the Gods. Originally the artifacts were controlled by the Obelisk, but in a previous generation and unsuccessful revolution a few artifacts were stolen from Obelisk and lost again to the sands. It is rumored that they had been modified by Obelisk so that even man could wield the power of the Gods.

Comics: Finals idea

So I think I'll be revisiting the sci-fi Egypt story from last term.... Here's some stuff to lay it all out:

A misfit group of guerrillas struggle to overtake the oppressive Obelisk Corporation that controls nearly all of future-Egypt in a dystopian sci-fi thriller.

The Hierophants is the story of two young rebel leaders fighting for survival in a desert world run by the Obelisk Corp. Also vying for Obelisk's destruction is a rival guerrilla group, the Embalmers, who have more sinister goals. These two groups inhabit a searing world filled with slaves, royalty and even the Gods. One group battles for the poor, the other for ultimate power, but only one can control the Obelisk.

I want to do an 8-pg intro for this in full color, so I've gotta get cracking. I need some solid thumbs because I won't have much time to tweak page design and I don't want to spill over the allotted 8 pages. I also need to do some research into settings since I have no idea how sci-fi I want to take this.

I'm Kind've thinking of making the metropolitan areas of the cities themselves like Rabanastre from FF12 or like Agrahbah from Aladdin, but we'll see. I need to get some vehicle thumbs done though since I doubt future Egyptians travel via camel back or chariot.

Tentative timeline:

April 19: Get all main facets of story in place and defined ie: descriptions of everything.
April 21: Finish thumbs and design sketches
April 26: Have all pages sketched
April 30: At least 2 pages inked
May 18: All pages and cover inked
Final day: All pages colored and printed/stapled as a final copy

boing...

Ok, this is mildly ridiculous.. I've been trying for 2 1/2 straight hours to get playblast to correctly save this as a functioning .avi, but to no avail. I had to resort to using a screen recording program which made this absurdly choppy, so sorry for the low quality. It may not be a very long animation, but I assure you it's much more fluid than what's presented in the above video.

ball preview

Now I just need to figure out how to export this as a video...

I am sorely confused

So, uhm, Autodesk 2011 is kicking my ass. It was my bad to think I could do this on my own... Let's see if I can get this done in time!

Ball rig storyboard

Ok, well here's my storyboard for 3d animation. I figure two balls should be more fun than one, but let's see what happens. I need to get some eyeball rendering on my little guys!

Some whiskey thoughts...

...So normally I wouldn't turn this into a personal blog, but I'm sort've drunk and thinking "fuck it", so let me get some things out. First off, don't ever take people for granted, especially when they help you in more ways than your mother ever did. Secondly, if they're not the right one, dopn't fucking date them, just keep waiting. You don't settle if you're not completely happy, especially if you do it just because you're feeling defeated. Finally, don't victimize yourself just because you're too lazy or scared to take responsibility for your shit or too cowardly to understand there are definite consequences for your actions. Everything you do affects someone, and you need to understand that. You are, in a distant way, responsible for someone's feelings so be careful with that! Ok, well now that my Jeremiah Weed is half way done it's a more appropriate time to say HAPPY MOTHER FUCKING JESUS RESURRECTION DAY, BITCHES.

Nu Khemite stuff

Uniform Refs

Hurrah for the internets! The Google has once again helped me in my quest to replicate Soviet Russia. Here are some varying uniforms, though I'll be primarily using the winter ones (Russia, is snowy, yo!).

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/uniform/uniform3.htm

Some Enviro WIPs

Trying to get the grey palette down...

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?76040-World-War-One/page25

Yessss, some awesome reference pics! This is completely the wrong war, but I love the juxtaposition of the quaint French town with the tension of the French soldiers occupying it. It's a much cheerier scene than what I'd like to have, but I figure it's a good starting point. Now I just need to make the weather cold and gray and make the townsfolk miserable and I think we've got an environment brewing away!

some doodles

Alrighty, so my little world is set in some similar period to WW2, so it draws a lot of influence from that era.
These cheeky little fellows are gluttons, flabby, squat bastards that eat anything in site, but particularly like feasting on dead or dying things (like wounded soldiers) because their fat asses get tired of waddling after faster, healthier prey. There's a Hitler themed glutton 'cus I thought he would be cuter with a 'stache.
The ashers are inspired by the prisoners at Auschwitz. They're emaciated, gangly and some are even charred. I figure they spawn from ashes and after a while they sort've just crumble away. They're mainly annoying, not dangerous, but they scare the shit out of troops in the old country none the less.
Why are dogs in ushankas so damn cute? My dog hates his... Anyway, some little enviro thumbs. I suck at doing urban stuff, and decaying buildings aren't any easier for me. Ah well, looks like I've got to be persistent until I get the hang of 'em!

too, too comfy.

Whoa, so I get home for break, start working on some environment thumbs, and totally decide that I'm being more productive at home than I would be in class. Sooo... I'll be working from home today. Sorry, Miles, but this is working out for me today! I suspect I'll be updating regularly this evening though so let's see what I come up with.

background things...

Ok, so I find myself very unmotivated to work on backgrounds if I'm not at home in my plush chair and hours to waste... I have zero work to show for myself from today, but that's ok, I'll just inundate you with some older examples of my BG prowess (lol). They're a bit outdated, but at least they're something.

As you can probably tell... I need a lot more practice on urban backgrounds...

WIP #2

Alrighty, got the Spring uniform down... Now I just need to repencil the USSR uniform and the damn wolf...and then the werewolves... and the guns. Hell, why not some damn bears and a tank too?

Ian, I need my lightbox back. Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed *grabgrab*

So I'm a little behind on coloring, but it's only because I spend time in other areas yet to be posted... also I'm just a lazy bastard.

Earthman

I've been tickled by this for the last two days or so. I love how sinister everything looks, and by how ostentatious money is. Also, try and spot how many Freudian sex allusions you can find!

PS, anyone ever notice how you can make random mouth-crap seem like significant philosophy by leaving large gaps in time during dialogue so no one can remember the last thing said? I CALL BULLSHIT.

...and one more before I head home...

character assignment wip

not too far yet, but getting some ideas down...

egotrip

My [professional] concept artist friend totally drew me as a badass. I wish I was that thin (and cool) irl...

well that's done

exactly.