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Post by Elheru Aran on Feb 9, 2011 22:47:37 GMT
No guidelines, no guarantees. If you don't like it, I keep it; if you like it, it's yours. I will go through as many variations of design sketches as you want, then do a full drawing or two before a final drawing which I would send your way (the only copy I would keep is a scan).
I warn you I'm not necessarily the best at curves either, but I'll work with you until we have a sketch that you like...
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 9, 2011 23:28:24 GMT
I'll have to keep that in mind, since I'd like to get one of my designs spiffed up, but I have to decide which since I wouldn't be able to pay for any others (though if I get some money and the fee's in my range, I'll certainly be knocking on your door; figuratively, of course). Ah, true, but you're still far better than I am, if my past work is anything to judge by: i128.photobucket.com/albums/p179 ... 1297293558
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Post by Elheru Aran on Feb 10, 2011 21:33:40 GMT
I can assure you my fees are pretty reasonable, especially as I haven't even started but one commission so far I work on a pretty individual basis per customer. PM me with specific details whenever you're ready for your freebie, and you don't have to commit to anything more than that if you only want the one done; if you like it well enough... Tomorrow I should be able to post another sketch or two... including a ring-hilt WoT sword, as requested!
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 10, 2011 22:29:30 GMT
I'll do just that; I have to see which one I want to do most for the time being. I look forward to it. By the way, speaking of sketches, I meant to ask this some time ago, but that cleaver sword; what exactly was your inspiration? I'm rather curious since it's an unusual design. As I mentioned, it looks somewhat like a fantasy dadao (which I notice you cited as per the pommel), but it also resembles Otmin's Falchion from the first Chronicles of Narnia movie.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Feb 11, 2011 13:10:22 GMT
That is actually what that cleaver came from for the most part. I tried to do a ring-pommel to offset it, but got disgusted with the shape. It's harder to do a nice broad taper than it is to do a skinny curved sword...
No comments on the latest batch? Sad...
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Post by Elheru Aran on Feb 11, 2011 19:53:46 GMT
Right then, update time! I warn you, there are more pencils and they're kind of rougher. I haven't had as much time lately to do finer work. But what the hey... hope you like. A guard: Viking style grip, loosely inspired by a Vince Evans piece: A scimitar and dagger that I designed to complement each other. Hmmm. I think the blades are a little too thick... aside from that they're cool enough. One of my first designs a while back, actually... needs some refining... A sort of messy type XVIIIa. Pommel too large, but otherwise... Another WoT sword. Kind of shot for a Swiss saber look with it. I think the quillions are too long, though? Dun dun dun dun..... The ring-hilted long sabre! What do you think, y'all... As a parting gift: I present a three-legged gorilla in armour. Enjoy! (Yeah, I was too lazy to draw in a third leg... go figure. And it's all inaccurate and whatever. Sue me, I had fun drawing it...)
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 11, 2011 20:22:03 GMT
That's some excellent work on the ring-hilt, Jeff; I may have to save that for a custom piece in the future. I really like the cross-piece on it. It's not too wide and overpowering (one of my pet peeves with Euros that comes from my sword history being katana and Chinese swords), but it's still substantial enough to do its duty. Is that a habaki or a ricasso on it? I'm leaning towards ricasso since the lines on it remind me of the riccassos on Type XIX swords, but you never know.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Feb 11, 2011 20:46:33 GMT
Fancy habaki. I realized that if this was going to be derived from an already-existing katana blade like a number of my other designs, I wouldn't have a traditional ricasso to work with. So, I designed a habaki that looks like a ricasso, more or less... I was shooting for a type XIX look, actually. If this was going to be a custom piece, on the other hand, I would just have it made with a ricasso. I dig the little lines that are on the ricassos of many XIXs like the blades on Albion's Next Gens. A subtle, tasteful bit of decoration always goes a long way with me. Of course, my artistic preference puts Nouveau over Deco... take that as you like...
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 11, 2011 21:32:07 GMT
No sweat. I happen to love the XIX style; the long, slender straight blade that tapers to a moderate tip with its decorated ricasso that bespeaks as much beauty as function, it's just a gorgeous blade style while still managing to be deadly. In short, it as an elegant weapon, from a more civilized time. :lol: I designed a sword of my own, Aelfwing, with the ideas of a lightsaber in mind and the XIX blade just leapt out at me; oddly enough, it's also a ring-hilt.
As for using an existing katana blade, well, that's what my Ithin will use and, since Kris Cutlery has a whole line of bare blades, I've considered designing other swords based around the katana blade. Particularly their 26" blade and see about remaking the collapsible sword (albeit not collapsible) from the 2009 Star Trek movie.
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Lunaman
Senior Forumite
Posts: 3,974
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Post by Lunaman on Feb 17, 2011 8:12:18 GMT
Really nice stuff Elheru, the detail work is just superb. Very satisfying designs overall--especially the wheel of time swords and the viking longsword. Mmmm.
Looking forward to more stuff from you. MORE MORE! The hardest part is devoting the time to it--I barely have time to sketch anymore, would love to see some more hand-drawn work lively up this corner of the forum.
As for the next project, I say rework that scimitar+dagger pair, man. You know you want to...you can feel how nice it will be......
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Post by Elheru Aran on Feb 17, 2011 21:29:34 GMT
Glad to see you in here, Luna...
I might just do that. I have two other swords in mind though, both greatswords-- one based on the Katzbalger, another a Gondolin-styled High Elven zweihander. Hmm?
Also working on an actual version of the ring-hilt long-saber. Wood, of course, but should be interesting for all that...
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 18, 2011 0:31:34 GMT
Hey, Jeff, by the Gondolin High Elven zweihander, are you talking about this thing? 'Cause I'd love to see your version when it's done. I dunno why, but I always loved the way Weta (and subsequently United Cutlery) did that piece.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Feb 18, 2011 13:45:20 GMT
Funny thing is I actually have one of those in progress, but nope. That's not Gondolin work (insofar as we can go by the movies), incidentally; that's from Gil-galad's realm, also High-Elven but from a somewhat different school of design that apparently focused on a slightly more Asiatic aesthetic. See Hadhafang, Aiglos and Haldir's unnamed sword.
The Gondolin aesthetic, as established by the films with Sting and Glamdring, seems to be more along the lines of straight leaf-blades. Hopefully they'll have a similar look for Orcrist in 'The Hobbit' when it comes out, sometime in the next couple years...
By the way, that Elven nagamaki handles like a PIG, or at least my wooden version does. That's if you use it the way they were in the movies, with their hands wide apart. Makes for cool wide sweeping strokes, but recovery time is lousy. As a battle weapon it would've handled much better with a shorter grip. It really honestly feels like a machete when I choke up on the grip while holding it with one hand, as far as I can compare wood to live steel anyway. Now, if it'd been a longer blade with shorter grip in a similar shape to what it's got right now, that would've been far more tolerable...
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 18, 2011 13:57:36 GMT
Ah, gotcha. I haven't read the books (I've only read about half the Hobbit and a few pages of Two Towers; the print was tiny as hell in the paperback versions and it gave me wicked headaches. I'm hoping to rectify that by getting them in hardcover, particularly the really nice leather bound 50th anniversary edition of LotR), so I'm not 100% on the different styles of Elven work.
I know Brenno did his own interpretation of Orcrist. I'm not very fond of it since I'm not really a leafblade person (however, his Foe Hammer is gorgeous and I may commission one some day), but I think he did quite a nice job of it, though that's from one who has nothing to really base it on but a vague memory. Perhaps they'll look to his design? Albeit, I do think that the movie swords were quite nice in and of themselves, particularly Narsil/Anduril.
I figured it would unless you wielded it like a very short naginata. As for that whirling stroke, that would probably only serve a decent purpose for mowing down the front lines of the enemy as in the first movie.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Feb 18, 2011 14:23:13 GMT
I personally find leafblades excruciating unless the curvature is very subtle. I started a repro of Glamdring a long time ago with nothing more than a few reference photos in 'The Weapons and Warfare' book. And you know what... I actually got it correct within a quarter of an inch, length and width! Good scaling skills FTW (there was a picture of Ian McKellan holding Glamdring, and I extrapolated its length and size from that...). The only part I really messed up was its grip length, but eh. Ahem. Anyway, Gondolin is mainly from the Silmarillion; the 'Hidden Rock' was an Elven enclave that remained hidden (no, really?) for centuries, if not millennia, until revealing its hand at the battle of Nirnaeth Arnoediad against Morgoth. Thousands of soldiers came to the aid of the High King of the Noldor... and lost, unfortunately. Then betrayed by one of its own, the city of Gondolin fell to the forces of Morgoth; it's actually a fairly epic story (as in 'cool'), which you can find in, I think, the 'Book of Lost Tales' part 2. Elven heroes are a hand-to-hand match for Balrogs, apparently. So, the idea was that, obviously the city was sacked. Somehow the three Trolls in the Hobbit ended up with weapons from the city; perhaps they were there, who knows? It's a funny coincidence though that they got King Turgon's own personal sword-- Glamdring. If this is the one you refer to www.fableblades.com/Orcrist.html I can't blame you for not liking it, the leafblade is okay but the hilt... mmm. That squarish ricasso doesn't do much for me either. I agree though, Foe-Hammer is very nicely done. Anyway, if I do a High-Elven zweihander, it'll be more or less in that style. The trick will be in working out the leaf-blade; the longer you go with those, the harder it gets. Something short like a gladius or Sting, no trouble; something long like a greatsword... eeeeh. You can't have the furthest-in point of the leaf blade (not sure what the technical term is for that part, 'waist'?) be much more than a quarter-inch, 3/8's of an inch in from the furthest out point, or it'll look too thin. Then you have to think about the point-- how acute do you want it to be? Because the Gondolin swords seen so far have fairly sharp points... but does that really work on a 36-40"-plus blade? So, yeah. It's quite a challenge to get a leaf-blade that actually looks nice and practical. If you look at, say, John Lundemo's Celtic Wolf, and compare it to movie-Glamdring and Hiroshi's leaf-blade, you'll see that they're actually pretty similar in outline as opposed to Mike Harris' old Gus Trim leafblade. And Mike has said that since he got it, he's re-profiled it by grinding down the 'leaf'... what it comes down to is that for a leafblade to handle well, it can't diverge *that* much from a standard blade. That's how I see it, anyways!
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Feb 18, 2011 15:16:45 GMT
Ah, yes, that's my problem with them, too. If the swell of the leaf is just "Blam! In your face!" then I find myself disliking them for no other reason than that. Haha, I thought I was the only one who did that. I managed to figure out the exact size of the (in)famous Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII by measuring a 6.5" image of Cloud Strife and then extrapolating it based on his "height" (Enix lists his height as 5'8") and found out that while it's still a massive sword (62" overall with a 46" blade), it's quite a bit smaller than everyone seems to think. The reason people think it's so huge is that if it were full scale, the blade would be 6" wide. If you made the blade thinner, width wise, and got the distal taper right, it'd actually be just a fancy claymore, really.
Ahem, anyways. Regarding the Fable Blades' Orcrist, it was originally a long dagger in the novels, right? So that guard and pommel aren't so bad, but the round grip would be a bit of a problem if you wanted to do anymore than stab. Odd as it sounds, though I know they're basically the same sword, I find Foe-Hammer to be a much better sword than the plain old Glamdring. I dunno, maybe it's just the unfullered, rather slim blade or the rather abrupt end of the pommel.
As to the zweihander, I see your point. You could take a look at Wes' leaf-blade staff sword design. Although the blade is quite a bit shorter than what your after, I think he got the waisting down pretty nicely. It had quite the acute point, but it wasn't too acute, like some longswords, particularly the XV and XVa's. I know the purpose they served, and served it well, but frankly, I dislike points that acute. They look so fragile and the blade almost completely unsuited to heavy duty cutting.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2011 15:17:37 GMT
i totally love your designs,being a sword designer myself (not that anything of mine has been made, i just love drawing swords) i wondered how you had the patience to draw all those celtic knots and details. i always give up when i'drawing those knots.
once again,love your designs.
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Post by Dampiel on Jun 25, 2011 0:45:59 GMT
That would be Sting. I'm rereading the Hobbit and so far Orcrist is only ever referred to as a sword.
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jhart06
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Slowly coming back from the depths...
Posts: 3,292
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Post by jhart06 on Feb 20, 2012 19:15:04 GMT
Bit of threadomancy, but i finally and completely read this thread... Holy crap you have some gems in here man! The ring pommel and boar design are awesome, and i am in no way partial to boars.. *hides tattoo* no sir.. impartiality here.
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Post by Elysian on Feb 21, 2012 7:09:13 GMT
Very nice work, do like the looks of the ring pommel on that last one. Wish I could draw that well XD. I guess I'll pounce on the freebie art while that's still open. I'll shoot you a PM for something rather Interesting when I have the main jist of what I want, and need a bit of artistic input to complete the design. I can almost certainty guarantee there will be a rapier-hilt and a ring on it somewhere, along with a broad blade, and a deep sori... Yup, plenty of curves on this one... :lol: By the way, does an accompanying dagger qualify for the one freebie, or is that extra...?
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