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Hello everyone!, I am currently looking at starting my own miniature company called Underfire Wargaming. I have been just busy finishing up some schooling and i will be able to again start getting my company set up and rolling!. I however have had some quick concept art done of my 2nd faction ( i will need some time to find the basic sculpts of my first faction again :/!), and i am interested if your community could send me some feed back on the idea and concept art so far.


This faction would be around 35 to 40mm tall from feet to top of the miniatures, their faction background is still in the works, but basicly they are the result of a biological weapon unleashed on Humans and other races, which in turn turned them into what they are now. Basic idea in other terms, sci fi Gnolls / Werehyenas.

The first file image is probally the post i would go for , for the Officer the other two concept art poses i would of course change, however the last one i may keep.

Look forward to your thoughts!.

Thank you for your time , with best regards - Shawn , of Underfire Wargaming.

Nice pictures

Sort of Sci-fi Wolfen which were one of Rackhams better concepts. Look forward to seeing more

I am already a huge fan, they look awesome.

Can't wait to see more

Do you want feedback on the concepts, or the artwork itself?

Conceptually speaking, it's solid, if not entirely original. Wolfen-in SPACE, as already mentioned. That's not always a bad thing, Wolfen were awesome, and I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't mind a sci-fi variant.

As for the artwork, you really need to work on your anatomy and proportions. Your officer has no pelvis (are they all sterile?), their feet and hands are out of proportion with one another (for the hands, sometimes they look more 'wolfy,' and others more human), and the musculature in general looks weird (the officer's chest is a particular example, his pectorals should go lower, while the entire torso looks flat). You need to be more aware of where the neck connects to the body (right now, it doesn't look like they have much of a neck compared to how a real wolf or human would), and I would suggest working on where the entire back/spine would be (I think they should be a little more hunched in the back, but that might just be me). As a whole, the images do look flat. Your guns also need work. Their design looks messy and unfocused, with some elements just tacked on.
The fabric elements also need a lot of work. The fold lines are far too pronounced, and look unnatural.

If you plan on doing concept art for someone else to work off of, you should render each of these characters at different angles, as well.

 Fafnir wrote:
Do you want feedback on the concepts, or the artwork itself?

Conceptually speaking, it's solid, if not entirely original. Wolfen-in SPACE, as already mentioned. That's not always a bad thing, Wolfen were awesome, and I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't mind a sci-fi variant.

As for the artwork, you really need to work on your anatomy and proportions. Your officer has no pelvis (are they all sterile?), their feet and hands are out of proportion with one another (for the hands, sometimes they look more 'wolfy,' and others more human), and the musculature in general looks weird (the officer's chest is a particular example, his pectorals should go lower, while the entire torso looks flat). You need to be more aware of where the neck connects to the body (right now, it doesn't look like they have much of a neck compared to how a real wolf or human would), and I would suggest working on where the entire back/spine would be (I think they should be a little more hunched in the back, but that might just be me). As a whole, the images do look flat. Your guns also need work. Their design looks messy and unfocused, with some elements just tacked on.
The fabric elements also need a lot of work. The fold lines are far too pronounced, and look unnatural.

If you plan on doing concept art for someone else to work off of, you should render each of these characters at different angles, as well.

He said they were "quick concept sketches". I dont think deconstructing the anatomical details really is all that helpful. Take a look at John Blanche's work sometime, he practically has defined the look of 40k and a lot of fantasy, yet his "concept" work is hardly anatomically correct.

JWhex is right about the nature of concept art. However, as one who had done concept art for miniatures design for a couple of companies, and assuming that our OP commissioned this rather than did it himself, I'd observe that concept art for minis needs to inform the sculptor what the finished mini should look like.

To that end, the artist needs to focus more on key elements of the creature's anatomy and design. How do the masks fit on the head? What is the break down of their weapons? What does their anatomy look like under the fabric? What should the buckles look like?

Also, the artist needs to do some research on real life weapons - especially belt-feeding. There are lots of different types and it's not clear what sort these should be.

Anyone who fancies being a miniatures concept artist should definitely take some time to do their own sculpting: find out what it's like and how the process works. This will then inform the conceptual process.

R.

Mr Morden and ForestFire - Thank you both for such a strong response too the concept art !, i will defaintly keep you all updated as in the next few weeks i finally get this project moving again!.


Thanks Fafnir - My goal with my miniature lines is to be very original, i see too much copy and paste style ideas in the sci fi miniatures market and i want to be the guy bringing more diverse and interesting concepts and miniatures too all of your possible table tops !. As JWhex said however these concept art peices were done very quickly by a good friend of mine ( the longest time spent on one of them was 20 mins max)!,

However i also understand and thank you for your advice, it is very useful to know what could be improved on as well. As i agree also with what your are saying precinctomega, However my sculpter is very good at taking even the most basic sketches and rendering them into a 3D sculpt ( yes i am doing all my minaitures , except perhaps for a few very individual characters, in 3D autocad).

I think the heavy guns on the two other concept arts however seem to look fairly realistic ( though quickly drawn), they are quite well porportioned with the added fact these guys are fairly bigger and stronger than the average human, also i think we all remember some domineering companies out their and their idea of an extremly heavy portable weapon system . These heavy weapons are more based off the idea of both the German MG42 and the USA's 50 cal support weapon of the 2nd world war. However i can understand that in the next concept art sketches that better detail on the belt feed system may be a good idea.

All in all i thank you all for your responses so far, my concept artist has also read your comments and with now working on more detailed and accurate concept art for the faction!. I Mainly posted these first pics to haev something to show and to get a feel of whatthe community on here thinks and feels about the concept so far?.

Thank you all again for all of your feed back, and i will be keeping you all updated as work is being done on more detailed versions of the current concept art, as well i may get my 1st faction pics up here soon as well ! .

thanks again everyone and keep on letting me know what you think and feel about the concept so far!.

With best regards - Shawn.

These are not convincing as post-human creations. If the Space Gnoll concept is what you're looking for, just make them an alien race.

What is the purpose of the cylinders on the face masks?

AlexHolker - The final draft is still yet to come and i plan on them looking a little more human like, though we are also considering changing the fluff ( nothing is fixed yet!) on making them very much a pure alien race, so i will be getting this sorted out in the next few days.

I am going to have the cylinders redone abit into a more gas mask style look, as they were supposed to be more of a gas mask style use and design.

It looks surprisingly like GW2 Charr:



That being said, one of my annoyances with human-like sentients that have a decent amount of technology is clothing. Why do they walk around barefoot?

 Absolutionis wrote:
It looks surprisingly like GW2 Charr:

Spoiler:

That being said, one of my annoyances with human-like sentients that have a decent amount of technology is clothing. Why do they walk around barefoot?

Hih thanks for showing that, though their is some difference such as horns and whatnot , i am also having the faces redone to look much more hyena like, i currently think they look way too wolf like when their supposed to be more gnoll / hyena like.

That is an interesting idea as well, perhaps i will see about adding some foot ware for them as well, thanks for the feed back!.

I'm really liking these concet sketches. I'd be very interested to see the finished product. I'll also echo the sentiment that these sketches are highly stylized for concept work. Although, they do a good job of attention grabbing, and generating interest(at least for me).

I agree with Absolutionis, although I don't like the fact that most sci-fi races have a weird skin-to-armor ratio, these concepts are some of the best I've seen that have that element, however, I would like to see things get changed up and have some more armor added. Otherwise, it looks great.

Thanks for all the feed back guys!, i will defaintly be taking them all into consideration as i get a more finalized idea of the 2nd faction!. Also will also add another update when i get the accual 3D sculpts done up !.