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Post by Cole Chang on Jul 16, 2011 16:58:40 GMT
Sorry, haven't figured how to do that yet...Don't worry, I'll figure it out.
However, if your interested in getting feedback on your writing by a very good online writers community, I know a couple of good ones.
Age and cliches are not indications of writing ability...Look at the Eragon series!
I like to encourage writing...I seem to only get the wrinting bug when I'm too busy to write.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jul 16, 2011 17:12:01 GMT
Just click on my avatar and it'll take you to my profile.
Eragon was also written when Paolini was in middle school and intended for a young adult audience. I don't really have a set audience 'cause I don't believe in things like that, but my current draft is probably something parents wouldn't want their kids reading. Having a rather detailed knowledge of anatomy tends to lend itself to gruesome and explicit deaths.
Okay! Quick little update on Ithin: Apparently, traditional jian fittings are hollow, of which I had no freaking clue. Considering the Rodell jian by Hanwei has a 2" longer blade and just as little distal taper (albeit its hilt is 2" longer, as well), but has hollow fittings, I think solid bronze fittings like I have planned will balance it out fairly nicely. Add in the fact that the average POB on a katana is about 5" for a blade 28" and I think the solid bronze furniture (all of which would be heavier than a thin iron tsuba and a few inches of thin steel put together) will probably balance out a 27" blade at around 3.5-4". Probably.
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Post by Cole Chang on Jul 16, 2011 17:24:04 GMT
None of my stories are meant for kids! Lol. My first attempt at online writing was erotica before I totally revamped that story into mainstream...still had some erotic elements though.
I think the POB is best determined by the fighting style. Katanas are primarily cutting and slashing while jians are jacks of all trades...is your protagonist a Kung Fu type or a samurai type of fighter?
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jul 16, 2011 17:51:05 GMT
Haha. Reminds me of a part I'm stuck on. Since I decided to split my first novel into two parts to better explore my main character's earlier journey for revenge (simple and uncomplicated, or so it seems; my main character isn't necessarily the "good guy"), I was really at a loss of how to fill the book in such a way that doesn't seem repetitious, so I figured "hey! Let's add some sex!" Things got really out of hand after that with the character and his lover sequestered in an alleyway when the man he was waiting in the alleyway for in the first place (to kill him, obviously; he's one of his targets) stumbles up to them so drunk as to be nearly blind. Well, considering I have an extremely vivid imagination, I got rather, ahem, explicit and I've been trying to tone it down.
If I had to say... Neither. He learned Sambo* as a child, which he developed into Systema* after the event that set the story into motion, was taught Muay Boran* by his lover, and is taught Wing Chun* in the second book as an extension of being taught better control over his powers. He was never formally taught the sword, picking things up mainly by observation, so he fights with a combination of German messer and Bei Shaolin Dao with some inspiration from Bei Shaolin Jian. It all coalesces into an art form that's extremely brutal and efficient; the character also enjoys a fair deal of flair as a method of psychological warfare. It's like saying "I'm so much better than you, I can dance around and still kill you." Plus, having grown up with a huge amount of prejudice (and often violence outside his village) directed at him for a multitude of reasons, he's had it engraved upon his bones to use anything and everything that will kill his opponent in the least amount of time, with the least amount of effort.
*These are the real world arts; I use different names in my world, but these serve as the basis.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 8, 2011 18:42:55 GMT
I've got 6 new designs to upload today, most of which were inspired by various artwork I've seen floating around (and as such, one of them's almost complete fantasy). First up is the M9 Combat Knife, inspired by, and massively scaled down from, the GRAW-2 Monomolecular Cutter, utilized by the M9E Gernsback (which gave it its name of M9, as opposed to the old bayonet) from the light novel/manga/anime series, Full Metal Panic!. The knife, I suspect was originally based on the Ka-bar, but with several modifications. Namely the fact that it's essentially a massive chainsaw (scaled against the Gernsback, which is 8.4m tall, the GRAW-2 is roughly 3m long), the different guard, and what would be a slightly more ergonomic and natural grip. I took those elements and scaled them down into a much more manageable medium sized knife as opposed to the near large bowie its scale would suggest in the source. Since I suck at art, the shaded area is a large fuller that I hope would make it a light, flickable knife despite its relatively large size. Also, a little design note I thought of while looking for different angles is the sheath: rather than a thumb break or other conventional retention systems (some of which I think would be a pain to undo quickly if you're unfamiliar with them), there would be two small magnets in each end of the guard, as well as in the corresponding points in the sheath. They wold be strong enough to retain it easily, but make unsheathing it simple and easy to do under stress. It's also my way of keeping a little of the sci-fi origins in tact. Second is the Iai Fighting Knife, another inspired by FMP; in this case, it is the IAI "Dark Edge" Monomolecular Cutter, utilized by the Plan-1065 Codarl. Interestingly enough, the Codarl is piloted by Gauron, the antagonist, while the M9E is piloted (initially), by Sagara Sousuke, the protagonist; I think it speaks leagues considering the vast differences in design between the two blades, mirrored by the differences between the characters. Anyways, this one was quite difficult to do considering the shape, though that is oddly the main reason I'm fond of it. The shape of the hilt is meant to provide a number of different grip options; saber (the way it is depicted as being used in the series when held in a forward grip), a secure hammer from the finger indention, and a very secure reverse grip (the way it is depicted as being used the majority of its appearances). The guard also features an interesting design in my mind in that they were meant to lock into the sheath and spring back into place when pressure is applied (such as when drawing the blade), but I couldn't figure out a way for that to be feasible. Next is the Regalis and, before I go into this one, yes, I know my art sucks. Anyways, I normally don't care for XVa styled blades, preferring a more balanced cut-n-thrust style, but this one just caught my eye for some reason and I wanted to make it a little more realistic. Fourth is one I'm quite happy with: the Ring Spear (see if you can guess where that came from). For some reason, I just love the shape of the blade and there's just something really attractive about rings on weapons. I don't know what it is, but they call to me. The wrap at the bottom is bronze wire to strengthen it since I know that'd be one of the weakest points of the whole thing and I chose eucalyptus burl for the shaft after seeing the gorgeous pattern of it on Brenno's Even Kings Die. Next is one out of complete fantasy, but there's just something appealing to me about it, the Deathscythe (or Dreadscythe; either one would fit). Yes, the ring is hollow and, yes, I know how much that would weaken it, so sue me; this one I did just because I thought it looked cool. Lastly is the one I'm most fond of, but wish my art skills were that much better to really make the design shine. It is Stigandr, a Type AE two-handed viking sword with a Type 14 blade; before you point it out, yes, this was inspired in part by Brenno's recent Quickened Fury, down to the measurements. However, that's really just the one that solidified the design for me. I've been in love with the idea of both a single edged viking sword and a two handed viking sword for some time now (years in the former, after I first saw the Albion Berserkr when I was just getting into swords, and about a year for the latter, after I first saw Brenno's Crimson Sleep); seeing Quickened Fury made me realize just how attractive I find AE hilts (Types R, Z, and L have been my favorites for some time). So, naturally, it all coalesced into one weapon. And, yes, I know the proportions suck. Anyways, Stigandr is actually a sword from one of my novels. In this case, it is the preferred weapon of the Hulern culture, a style of vikings with my own spin. Stigandr is Norse for "Wanderer", which is appropriate because the Hulern believe that their people are plagued by spirits, both benevolent and malevolent. Benevolent spirits can find you no matter where you are, but malevolent spirits can only find you if you stay in one place for too long (normally some multiple of 3 years), so being a wanderer would be ideal to them; malevolent spirits would never be able to find them and harm their relations, while the benevolent ones would find them no matter what. However, when much of your nation is a frozen rock in the far north with only 4-5 places that are habitable by humans throughout the year, being a wanderer is nigh impossible. So, they added a small innovation to the pommels of their swords: a small ring that sounds like a chime when struck. It is a pleasing sound that wards off malevolent entities while encouraging the benevolent ones to gather. Hulerns have also become infamous as sea raiders for pillaging coastal villages, not only for supplies to help them survive in their frozen hellhole, but in a gambit to gain a foothold on the continent, so as to be able to realize their nomadic ideals. As a side note to that bit of background, I also partially chose the two-handed, single-edged design to be their sword style as opposed to the traditional one-handed, double-edged design because I felt that the former would be more intuitive and easier to learn for a complete amateur since both hands control the weapon (so no need to fear cutting off the free hand) and the single edge means one less edge to keep track of. I thought it would be the perfect style to introduce to a culture, the Drakoneans, that hasn't held a sword in some 800 years.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 12, 2011 20:15:21 GMT
Quick Update. The other day, after seeing how really crappy Stigandr came out, particularly with how small it is, I contacted the excellent sword designer, MOK, to see what he could do with it; I also asked him about Harvey's sword when I realized that my measurements were off and the blade just seemed too long for the style (especially since, in universe, it was originally more of a glorified machete/execution tool, where a blade that long serves little purpose). These are what he came up with: I also went in and updated the new lengths on Ælfwing, using MOK's rendering, to reflect the actual edge length since 2" of the blade is covered by the collar.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2011 9:59:15 GMT
nice to see the swords together now, these are exactly the kind of swords i like, fantasy but still very real, i think in my BIG doodle collection there wil be swords that look like those. except for the bottom one, that something i never seen or thought about before, and i like it very very much.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 13, 2011 10:15:31 GMT
Thanks. I'm going to really try and force myself not to bug him about rounding out his renders of my designs with Ithin and Mé'aré (and I'm trying really hard not to even think about Iomhair and Ifearnán, since they could look really wicked with his touch).
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Post by MOK on Sept 13, 2011 10:36:40 GMT
Man, those are purdy.
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Sept 13, 2011 20:03:23 GMT
wow thats badass
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 13, 2011 20:58:32 GMT
Of course they're purdy, MOK! You made 'em that way. :lol: I'm seriously considering asking you to do my other four more prominent designs: Ithin, Mé'aré, Iomhair, and Ifearnán, but I'm trying not to since I don't want to bug you about it.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 20, 2011 15:05:26 GMT
Deleted both images; I plan to have much better posted in the (hopefully) near future, so these are just wasting space.
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jhart06
Member
Slowly coming back from the depths...
Posts: 3,292
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Post by jhart06 on Sept 20, 2011 15:24:17 GMT
Not bad man.. You're pommel on the bottom onf is epic, been trying to get a simiar shape for mine.. how did you do that??
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 20, 2011 15:33:14 GMT
:lol: Funny should you mention that. I just posted a bit of a mini-tutorial in MOK's Inkscape thread. I even went a little further and tried out that double fishtail you're trying. Here you go.
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jhart06
Member
Slowly coming back from the depths...
Posts: 3,292
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Post by jhart06 on Sept 20, 2011 15:50:52 GMT
Awesome, for some reason mine ends up not being long/curved enough, looks too angular.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 20, 2011 15:59:34 GMT
Try dragging the handles by a single square at a time. That way, when you see what you want, you've got it.
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jhart06
Member
Slowly coming back from the depths...
Posts: 3,292
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Post by jhart06 on Sept 20, 2011 16:06:25 GMT
Reading you post in mok's thread, i see why Mine was messed up, i was trying to alter a single object. Gotta run some paperwork for work, then it's to making this thing!!!
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 20, 2011 16:17:12 GMT
Good luck.
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Post by MOK on Sept 20, 2011 18:50:39 GMT
Hey, not bad! I really like Mé'aré, reminds me of some 17th Century Swedish two-handers.
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Sept 21, 2011 3:00:46 GMT
Thanks, MOK. I've actually decided to use the H/T Fullered Bastard as the base for the sword when I eventually get it customized, hence the slight redesign, even though I forgot to put the spine on the blade, so it looks more like a pointy XIIa instead of the XVIIIa it's supposed to be. Plus, I kinda screwed up on the guard and the grip is only half finished. I may seriously have to ask you to redo them at some point in the future if I can't get a better grasp of Inkscape.
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