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Post by MOK on Mar 25, 2011 4:06:24 GMT
I'm a graphic designer, and uLike is my semi-official brand for some of the more whimsical work I've been doing just for kicks and practice (although if somebody's interested in producing a cellphone with a rotary dial, gimme a call). Lately I've been playing around with Inkscape filters, trying to unlearn my l33t Illustrator skillz and get used to a different UI, and naturally some swords came out of it... First, a somewhat atypical Oakeshott Type XVIa (or maybe a hand-and-a-half XIV? who's to say?) with brass fittings. Mostly just an exercise in using the Button bevel, but I kinda like how it turned out.  Next a short fantasy sword with some faint ancient Egyptian or Middle-Eastern undertones. For some reason I want to call it the Moonmoth (it has absolutely nothing to do with the short story of that name)...  And third a heavy two-hander. I'm imagining this as around five feet long overall, a real dragon slayer, not for the faint of heart or body.  EDIT: And here's links to all the other designs I've posted in this thread, just for when you don't feel like wading through twelve pages of my prattling to view them.  (Gosh, I'm a little embarrassed about these older ones. Unless you want to see me learning Inkscape and sword design on the run, skip to the end!) tactical swordsthe Rosebuda type XVII two-handerthe Power Sword from Masters of the Universethe Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VIIa short fantasy leaf-bladethe first version of Buliwyf's sword from The 13th Warrior + Migration Era bowiethe Wehrwolfa modern leaf-bladed knifethe sword of Godric Gryffindor, from Harry Pottera short type X with type AE guardthe Wehrwolf with companion knifethe De-Animator 2012the sword from Heavy Metal 2000 and F.A.K.K.2the second version of Buliwyf's sword from The 13th Warriorthe titular sword from The Sword and the Sorcerera ball-pommeled type XIIIa with curved crossthe Slashera ball-pommeled type XIIIa with straight crossa panzerstecherthe Wartootha heron-marked sword inspired by Wheel of Timea falchion based on the statue of Perseusa disk-pommeled type XVIIIcExcessus, the Sword Sinister, from Nemesis the Warlocka type XIV longsworda double-fullered type XIIIaConan's sword from Conan the Barbarian 3Da type XIIIa warsword with a "cocked hat" pommela type XIIa with a "cocked hat" pommelan ear daggera double-bladed axthe Razorthe Scharfrichtertactical sword MKIIa Martian longswordthe Questorthe Tulip, a type XII, a type X, and an arming sword with an elongated disk pommelthe Sword of SolomonOrcrist, from Lord of the Ringsthe Dolphinthe Dire Wolf and the WolfsongTactical xiphosfantasy Renaissance leafbladethe Lion's PawSting from The Hobbit and Lord of the RingsSoljak long swordthe Lion's TailConan's sword from Conan the Barbarian 3D, take 2Dar's sword from The Beastmasterthe Eurotorondel-hilted short swordHadhafang |
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Mar 25, 2011 4:38:40 GMT
I like the first two, MOK, but the grip looks a little skinny on the third for me. Now, where's your tacticals that you designed in the other thread? Shouldn't those be here, too?
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Post by MOK on Mar 25, 2011 5:14:15 GMT
True, there's not much meat on the bones, there - just barely enough to cover the tang - but that's true of many historical swords, too, and I love the look. And actually, keeping in mind the scale of the whole huge thing, the grip only gets down to about an inch wide at the very narrowest point... Oh, right here! These are a bit more basic, just quick and dirty concepts, no fancy pseudo-3D shading or anything. The sheathed sword - all three models look the same on the outside:  Sword model TANTO:  Sword model SPADE:  Sword model BOWIE:  And finally, the sword disassembled down to its individual components:  |
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Mar 25, 2011 5:24:29 GMT
That's a good point. I thought the perspective of it might have something to do with it since you said it was five feet long.
If there's one thing I like about those tacticals, it's the number of carry options you have for them.
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Post by MOK on Mar 28, 2011 14:33:14 GMT
Yeah, convenience of carry is pretty high on my list of requirements for a thing to qualify as "tactical".  On a different note, here's another design, this time either a very large XVIa or a particularly pointy XVIIIc. It has a broad but aggressively tapered 38-inch blade of flattened diamond cross-section with a short and narrow fuller, and a total of 8.2 inches of grip and grippable pommel. I call this one Rosebud; I'm sure you can see why.  |
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Mar 28, 2011 15:12:14 GMT
Ooh, very nice. I don't normally care for such aggressive tapering, being a cut & thrust man myself, but that is very nice. I especially like that hilt styling.
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Post by MOK on Mar 28, 2011 16:11:05 GMT
Thanks! And I don't think you'd need to make any exception for the Rosebud, as it's totally a cut-and-thrust design. The blade starts out 2.8 inches wide and actually has a fair bit more belly than seems apparent at first glance, so even with the rapid taper it's still 1.6 inches at the point two thirds down the blade, around where you'd expect a sword of this type to have its "sweet spot" for cutting. That's actually a broader cross-section than on some dedicated cutting swords. Combined with a well thought out distal taper, I'd expect this thorn to cut every bit as well as it pricks. |
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Post by chuckinohio on Mar 29, 2011 14:57:56 GMT
Moonmoth is tailor made to have a gem of some sort inlaid in the round recess just forward of the guard, nice work.
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Post by MOK on Mar 29, 2011 16:28:04 GMT
Absolutely! That, or a medallion of some sort. I was thinking of a pearl, but there's no pearl that big in the world... but the similar receptacle at the end of the pommel, now that's made to hold a big pearl. |
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Mar 29, 2011 16:54:09 GMT
What about amber, MOK? You can get them in pieces as big as a baseball, as well as in colors other than yellow (red, blue, green, black, etc.). This is just me, but I think it'd look awesome if that slot was actually a cut-out of the blade, kinda like the materia slots on the Buster Sword from Final Fantasy, with a piece of red amber fit into it.
Also, I noticed you did a sheath for the Dragon Slayer; looks pretty good. Weird as it may sound, I thought the metal work on it was green at first until I actually looked closely.
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Post by MOK on Mar 29, 2011 16:55:58 GMT
Here's another two-hander. Somewhat more business-like but still a bit fancy, made for a guy like King Kull, judging by the inlaid motto on the blade... The blade is 40 inches long and of Oakeshott type XVII, hexagonal in cross-section for most of its length except for the last 9 inches before the point, where it turns into a flattened diamond shape. The guard is octagonal in the middle where it swells in thickness, but flattens out towards the thin, flared ends, which also bear inlaid symbols - I don't know, it's some Valusian talisman or something. The octagonal grip is 9 inches long, with 3 more inches of faceted pear-shaped pommel (also octagonal in cross-section) that you can grab if you need a whole foot of leverage.   |
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Post by MOK on Mar 29, 2011 17:05:36 GMT
Yeah, a deep warm red amber could go really well with the bronze and dark polished wood of the hilt. If the cutout goes through the blade, you could even make it into a lens for another extra bit of flash.  Yeah, it's just basic color theory: a neutral grey surrounded by a strong red will look green-ish. |
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Mar 29, 2011 17:38:45 GMT
That's what I meant. A complete cutout all the way through the blade. My only concern is how much it would weaken the blade, what with it being so close to the tang.
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Post by MOK on Mar 30, 2011 1:32:31 GMT
By the power of Grayskull, I HAVE THE POWER! ...to redesign a classic cartoon sword.  Yeah, I was a big fan of Masters of the Universe as a kid. One thing that always bugged me, though, was the Power Sword. It just looked so blatantly like a toy, and an ugly one to boot, that I could never take the damn thing seriously, even way back when I didn't know the first thing about real swords. So since I've been idle and bored all day today, here's how I'd do it. Now, He-Man did have a shield (and an ax), but we almost never saw him using it in the comics or the cartoon, so the sword should be fit for use on its own: to this end, we'll make it somewhat bigger, a longsword suitable for one or two hands as the situation demands. The new Power Sword is 43 inches overall, including 28 inches of cutting edge and a 7-inch grip, with 6 inches of guard in between. The blade is of a flattened diamond cross-section with slightly convex bevels, quite broad and heavy, a good match for "the most powerful man in the Universe".   While still clearly not meant for intense blade-on-blade winding action, the redone guard could actually have at least some use in parrying due to its protruding ends. I've cut the round bits down to two, made them more sharply defined and decorated them with concentric circles in silver inlay to add just a little bit of flair. The slightly waisted grip is oval in cross-section, wrapped with leather, and has three metal spacers instead of raisers, one at each end and a third in the middle. The squashed disk pommel has somewhat beveled edges, making for an octagonal cross-section, and bears an inlaid copy of the insignia on He-Man's... uh... breastplate sort of thingy. Now... is it just me, or does it look like a mix of Ancient Mediterranean, Celtic and Medieval elements to you guys, too? |
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Mar 30, 2011 11:35:32 GMT
It definitely does, MOK. But it also reminds me of the Atlantean from Conan. Very appropriate, I think, considering they're both somewhat barbaric. Speaking of He-Man, I liked the show, too, but I always felt they needed a drastic redesign of, well, everything; He-Man always looked rather fruity, if you ask me...
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Post by MOK on Mar 30, 2011 12:45:12 GMT
Well, yeah - apparently, He-Man originally was Conan the Actionfigurean. But Mattel couldn't get the license, so they recolored and renamed the toy and made up their own universe for it to fit in: in the early comics he was actually a wandering barbarian in a post-apocalyptic world, and only had half of the Power Sword (Skeletor had the other half). Then Filmation wimped it up for the cartoon, creating the shinier, happier, more parent-friendly version of Eternia we now know, and the comics (and toys) followed suit. No kidding, although at least it wasn't She-Ra... not that any of that bothered me as a kid. And now as a grownup it's just hilarious. The live-action movie still sucks, except for Skeletor. |
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Mar 30, 2011 13:09:27 GMT
That's interesting; I never knew that. The bit about having half the Power Sword and it being post-apocalyptic would actually make for a pretty awesome movie, if I do say so myself. But it seems just about everything went parent-friendly in the early 90s. I swear, the only way to get cartoon violence without some kind of feel-good message back then was to watch Looney Toons (did plenty of that).
Now, speaking of a live-action film, I just went and looked it up since I had no idea of its existence and it appears that they're making a new one. The only news I've got is what's on Wiki and the little that's on IMDB. But apparently, it's to be called Grayskull, is set for this year, and last year, Sony (who has the rights) hired Mike Finch and Alex Litvak to write the script. There's basically no info on it and it looks like it won't happen, but what little speculation there is on IMDB, it looks like Brad Pitt was considered for He-Man at one point.
Off topic, but it seems there's supposed to be a CGI Thundercats movie in addition to a brand new series. However, apparently Warner Bros. shelved the movie after the disaster of Speed Racer. It'd be interesting to see a redesign of the Thundercats sword (I don't remember what it's called); that one, I think, had potential since it had real proportions.
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Post by MOK on Mar 30, 2011 13:42:03 GMT
This happened in the early '80s - I think the original toys came out in 1980 (?) and the cartoon revamp happened two years later. (Not that I personally remember any of that, I was born in '79.) Wow. Sort of a weird casting decision, but I really think I could buy it. And I'm pretty sure Pitt could pull off the switch between Adam and He-Man, too, he's got the acting chops. You know, I never understood this dealio - a sempriniesque movie fails at the box office, and the execs conclude that movies of its genre just won't sell? Like it bombed because it was fantasy/scifi/whatever, and not because it sucked? Makes no damn sense. I just made a thread for that! |
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Mar 30, 2011 14:05:22 GMT
I was born in '90, so I barely remember most of the classic cartoons and movies like that. I think I've only seen about a dozen episodes or so of the earlier He-Man because of it.
It is a weird decision, but I also think Pitt would be better than Dolph Lundgren simply because he's got a more average build; where Lundgren is a muscle-head, Pitt is more athletic. He has the frame for a prince who's probably expected to do no more exercise than maybe recreational hunting, but a frame that also wouldn't look that strange on a mystical, sword wielding hero. He also looks young enough that he could pull it off, visually. Now whether he could make the audience believe it or not is another matter entirely.
It probably has something to do with the fact that it was an adaptation from a cartoon. Look at Last Airbender, every movie Uwe Boll's ever adapted, Speed Racer. I guess the consensus is that anything adapted from a cartoon or game is bound to be a piece of semprini, so why waste the money on it? If that's their thinking, I can understand it, but what they don't get is that, in cases like this, it's the director's fault for putting out a sempriniesque movie, not the source's fault.
I saw that. I thought about redesigning the buster sword when you mentioned it, but my art skills are really not that great (just look at the link in my sig). However, if I were to do it, I'd make it a bit more of a manageable size and include a massive fuller on both sides of the blade in addition to the materia slots; it'd make it a lot faster and easier to wield that way.
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Post by MOK on Mar 30, 2011 14:47:51 GMT
Hmm, yeah... or maybe make it more like a nagamaki, still very large but with an almost 1:1 hilt-to-blade ratio...
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