Patialvi Baba Reloaded

Have a wonderful 2014! 

Blizzcon 2013 Art Contest

Happy Birthday to me

All the Deceivers hate me

They yell "We'll kill thee!"

Don't seem very friendly

They roar and attack me

I am connected spiritually

The spirits dance, possess me

And I raise bear zombie

My bears growl, are deadly

The Deceivers die, some flee

Key Warden looks angry

Might have the Hatred Key

He spins forth furiously

But he's no match for me

He dies but drops no key

Should've run a higher MP

Happy Birthday to me

Witch Doctor - Zombie Bears

The Witch Doctor is the master of fire, death and disease. He is able to raise the dead from the ground to fight for him, including bears. These dead bears otherwise known as Zombie Bears are one of his most powerful allies against the forces of evil.

Sci-Fi Dude

Just practicing my line work. Using line weight to make the concept read better and look more 3D.

I have been busy with commissions but I will definitely keep you guys updated on the Mod as we work on it more.

Red vs Blue

I have been so busy last two months with a commission and an art contest. Nothing to show yet. I am sure I can share my contest painting once the results are out, in the next blog. The commission is still in WIP. Once its completed I will finish off Guru Arjun Dev ji's painting, which at this point is like 95% completed, and put that out there for you guys.
 
So for this blog, I just decided to just sketch stuff. I ended up revisiting the mutants, Fateh and Zora. I was actually working on Fateh since I hadn't quite differentiated him from Cyclops enough. I ditched the glasses and looked in my culture to see what he could be doing. So now what Fateh does is he practices meditation, and this allows him to bring energy from his navel chakra into his third eye, and projects that through his physical third dye. He actually has a physical third eye. He was always the religious type, very peaceful and focused man. He has been enlightened as well, which led him deeper into his faith. He is someone who hates fighting and only fights because he has to. In this concept he is without clothes, just wearing boxers and socks. His sleep seems to have been interrupted by a deadly opponent.

Here are some of the earlier concepts of Fateh Singh:
Fateh Singh with jacket and glasses
Fateh Singh green discharge

On the other hand we have Zora, who is completely irreverent and snide. Always looking for trouble, always looking for a fight. He is also very powerful, and knows it. He can not only manipulate ice but can also create explosions by manipulating the elements in water. The latter is much harder to do and so he generally avoids it. He hasn't changed much from his previous concepts. I like his look and his powers, so I kept them.

Here are some of the earlier concepts of Zora Singh:
The first Zora Singh sketch
Zora in the rain
Zora liquid oxygen

Bhai Baghel Singh 2

So after completing the first Bhai Baghel Singh speedpainting, I went back to it to work on it more. I tried changing up some compositional elements. I moved him closer to the Red Fort and changed the angle at which he approached the fort. I also added some cannons and armies in front of him (or behind him depending on how you look at it). However, after some serious consideration I found that the first composition works better. I mean there are things I like about this one that aren't present in the older one, but I think I handled the values much better in the older one and that gives it an edge over this one. I am going to stop here and continue to work on other paintings that are closer to completion, and take a break from it so that I can revisit it with a fresh eye.

Speaking of breaks I took a long break from the Battle For Hindustan mod. Hopefully the mind will get back to it soon and will finalize the things that it was working on.

Behold Optic Blast!

So firstly the progress on the mod is going well. We are slowly adding new content and polishing old one. Setting milestones for each week, each month and then reaching it, thereby constantly chipping away at the mod. I have pretty much stopped working on my paintings, and I am devoting all that time to the mod. I've never been more excited to work on it than ever before, and I've never realized the work it takes to make a video game (mod). It's pretty awesome!
On the side I've been playing Marvel Heroes and Smite. Marvel Heroes is all about beating up baddies and defeating villains with your favourite hero, and mine happens to be Cyclops (And Wolverine), and so the game inspired me to do draw them. I figured since I can't show anything from the mod yet, as it hasn't been finalized, why not show you guys some of the other things I do in my pass time.

Cyclops just about to shoot an optic blast. A work in progress.

Naga Warrior

I was working on the Punjabi units for the AOE3 mod when I started getting errors for some reason. I couldn't resolve it so I took a break from it and started working on other stuff. As I was experimenting with shapes I ended up a character somewhat like Samus from Metroid with these bulbous shoulders and a gun for one of the hands. I pictured him with like computer screen that he can open near one of his eyes, whilst his left gauntlet contains a projected keypad. Anyways, just some stuff to distract you guys with whilst I chip away at the mod.

Enjoy
 

Small Update

So this past month I've worked on the mod quite a bit, especially on the programming side of things. I implemented a pseudo-Mughal civilization into Age of Empires 3, along with tech upgrades for all the infantry and cavalry and started testing it, its strengths and weaknesses, home city shipments and unit performance. Its been quite an interesting experience, and I've been making several tweaks to the function of Mughal units, re-purposing them to fit certain roles in the Empire. My research on Mughals and revision of previously read material goes on. In addition to the Mughals, I have been working on Punjabi units, which I will share more about in the coming months.

Before I became fully focused on the mod, I worked on the textures of the Akalini model a little bit. Here is the work in progress. Again I'll be keeping you guys updated as I put more work into her.

Akalini, now in 3D

Low-poly Dragoon Gun

I've been doing lots of 3D modelling these past several months. Seeing as most of my previous models were rough and unfinished, I decided I wanted to take something to completion. So I began working on Akali and Akalini, and completed this low-poly model today. I am going to now begin texturing (or colouring) the model so that it looks more like the artwork. Alongside, I also completed a super small model of the dragoon gun (it doesn't need to be any more detailed) which one of the Sikh units will wield in the AOE mod. It is textured and is ready to be imported into the game.

Some of the things we want in the mod are not present in the game. There are certain guns, turbans, armours and beards that we cannot extract from other characters so these have to be modelled and imported. Now we are not going to be able to import custom character models like the one you see below with animations but we can certainly import props just like the Dragoon that will add much needed historical accuracy to our mod. Some of you noticed that Nihang's turban is not from the 1800s, that it's too modern for the period. You are correct, and we now have the tools and skills to correct that. But I am probably going to leave his turban alone until we get some of the other units completed first.

Akalini: Warrior Monk

Bhai Baghel Singh

So recently I haven't blogged as much as I wanted to.  It was a mix of not feeling like it, and not wanting to post rough, unfinished sketches of random things. These past few months, I have just been studying, composition mainly but also random things like frogs and trains. I feel like I need to work on my composition more and focus on having interesting, larger shapes in my piece. I also think that I should broaden my mind by studying things I haven't studied before. Don't get me wrong I have studied plenty of frogs when I used to live in India, hopping around in my bedroom floor. And I have studied trains, riding them back and forth, in commutes to my university. :D But to draw them is a different kind of study, and more mandatory as an artist., and that's what I have been doing since November.

But not having blogged, last month I decided to do a speed painting suggested by you guys who follow my work. Most people voted for Bhai Baghel Singh and sikh misls capturing the Red Fort. And so so last week I released the speed painting of this event. Check it out: