Community Create-a-Side

[BLANDCorporatio]

And now for something completely different.

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Yep, it's a stab at the capitalist pigs logo. And I daresay, of all the things I polluted this thread with, this one actually looks good ... but not as a logo. In my opinion, a decapitated head isn't fit for that purpose, unless A.B.C. can provide a capital pun.

[A.B.C.]

That is excellent, Bland; I agree, the stray into stylizing has proven to be very clean and endearing.

And I see what you did there! It's a, uh, a decapitalized...de-capital...erm...you know what, I'll brain storm a new logo. All the same, I can see that on the side of Schmucker with ease. Again, well done!

[LTDave]

Some great art in this thread. Bland, what program are you using?

Cheers

[BLANDCorporatio]

Thanks y'all!

LTDave: I use Inkscape. I'm still learning the ropes, as I used Flash before. It really is the case that you work differently in one or the other; basically, Flash is awesome for Fills, Inkscape is awesome for lines. Alas, never the twain shall meet, for technical reasons.

So anyways, how about a look at the Commie Devils?

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Indeed, very harsh to look at, due to the stylistic choice. But whatev, I'm gonna stick to my newfound stylish guns. Maybe redo some of the SG chars.

Did I mention I'm practicing to illustrate a webcomic? I'm practicing to illustrate a webcomic. Worst case, it will be Sugary Brother and Infernal Geoffrey, but with a bit of extra speed and simplification of style- the keyword here- it may even, le gasp, turn decent.

[A.B.C.]

Did I mention I'm practicing to illustrate a webcomic? I'm practicing to illustrate a webcomic. Worst case, it will be Sugary Brother and Infernal Geoffrey, but with a bit of extra speed and simplification of style- the keyword here- it may even, le gasp, turn decent.

That's actually really awesome. Go for it!

I use Flash, myself, and can agree that it's a lot harder to make lines on it, and pure Flash illustrations tend to be easily recognizable. That being said...



Real quick sketchdump of some basic ideas. Will probably flesh them out later, perhaps over the weekend, since it turns out that SAT2 is immediately after the APs...

[BLANDCorporatio]

I use Flash, myself, and can agree that it's a lot harder to make lines on it, and pure Flash illustrations tend to be easily recognizable.

One thing I don't like is their smoothing algorithm for the Pen tool. You can't live without it, I certainly can't, but it just has a mind of its own in a way that, say, Inkscape's doesn't. That is, Inkscape has a better idea of what I wanted to do, and adjusts accordingly.

I also don't like the fixed width only for the Pen tool in Flash. One way around it is Convert Lines to Fills, followed by Optimize with a hint of smoothing, which produces a nice quill like effect on the strokes ... as long as they are left visible, cause Convert to Fills is a bit buggy.

Anyway ...

Spoiler: show

and that's of course a Gyro Scope, the Eye in the Sky of the Steam Gentlemen.

I'll be gone for the weekend so I'll pass the baton on spartwork to A.B.C., but for only two days you'll get to enjoy my absence. New sketches, possibly of Capitalist Pigs or Commie Devils, will ensue then, as well as (more likely) some redoes of Zep and Baldrick.

[A.B.C.]

Sides of Erf! It is clear that peaceful coexistence is no longer possible! The Pigs and the Devils have mustered their forces, but while neither is willing to break the long stalemate they shall instead fight war by proxy. Huge alliances are gathering this turn, and an Iwon Curtain is being drawn across the face of Erf. No Side shall be safe from the onslaught that shall follow! Master class Shockamancers for both sides are being drawn from the Magic Kingdom for huge sums! Total annihilation is nigh! The only way to save yourselves...is to JOIN!

AND we have background. I shall be making my own personal side sometime soon (Something to do with kwakens, I'm thinking...) while the great big conflict of our setting is established. Who shall YOU align yourself with?

[LTDave]

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My first experiment with inkscape. Just Some Guy, you know.

[LTDave]

Some heroes for a proposed side - allies of the Pigs, the WASPs.

Spoiler: show

Suggested units:
Frat Boys
Soccer Mums
SUV heavies...

[five-thirteen]

Oi' figured you'd get mor of tho'se fancy sides an' such. Oi geuss wes Wobblys have gots te' get out there!
(I sincerely apologize for the accent)

Name: The Wobblys

Theme: early British-american 1900's peacetime culture , I've always wanted to weaponize it.
Logo: The granite fedora, a symbol of Tenacity
References Several songs, books, and movies from the period, some wordplay and cockney accents.
Play style
A defensive, semi-diplomatic side with mining being prevalent, when they go to war they lean towards siege and ambushes. most of their units can dance fight.
As far as units go:
Weasels- Medium sized fast units that wear grey fedoras, they gain a low-class veil when stacked.
Sweeps- The workhorse of the army these flying lancers with dirty faces and the dance-fighting special are used as scouts and ambushers.
Boldews- The army's heavies floating metallic spheres which can act as siege.
Casters A Luckamancer named Robert and Chaplin, a Foolamancer. Thinkamancers and Dirtamancers are regularly hired out of the magic kingdom.
Philosophy- focus inward, effect outward. They're middle-of-the-road laid-back warlord types who focus on high-value targets and embrace the titans

On the boldews; I was working on a hidden city type side before this, (weirdamancers on floating rocks were too good to pass up) They're more of a placeholder right now while I try and come up with another heavy. Also, the devils should totally run a caster named Cheryl Nobelle
(assuming this works for the ERFUS/ERFUSSR time period)

[five-thirteen]

And now, allow me to present to you the symbol of the Wobblys; the Granite Fedora!

Spoiler: show

@A.B.C. That's some seriously good art, I like the erfworld feel with your unique style.

here's the Diwigible

Bland, as a RA2 player those blimps are scaring the heck outta me

[BLANDCorporatio]

I have returned, with a picture of the Piggy Bank heavy unit

Spoiler: show

but I really should try to redesign some SG chars. Will do so, hopefully, the next few days.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Before redesigning anyone though, I wanted to try something new. I present to you a Metal Golem, also a warlord of the SG for some reason, Till Lindemann:

Spoiler: show

and for once I'm very pleased with how the face turned out.

[A.B.C.]

Bland, that is SCARY. In a good way.

I think I'll make some Wobblies and WASPs after I don't have all of this finals schoolwork to do. Until then, the Commie Devils need more representation!

Theme: Communist Devils

• Logo: ...Hammer and Sickle? Something a little more creative might be in order.
• References: Soviet Russia, communism, Lenin, Stalin, Khruschev, all that jazz

“Play style”

• Offensively inclined, they have lead several campaigns against their mortal enemies, the Capitalist Pigs
• Financed by sucking neighboring alliances dry of their Schmuckers and maintaining a massive amount of low level cities
• Survives through relatively wide tracts of hexes between cities, allowing the razing of their own to prevent capture. Uses an impressive alliance as a buffer around them. Has a well-sized military force of its own.
• Mainly swarms of cheap, disposable units. They have access to limited Turnamancy, usually for converting vast swathes of enemy infantry, although their casters aren't very good at it.

[BLANDCorporatio]

First things first, a portrait of Rosie Lugosi

Spoiler: show

yep, there's a vaudeville-or-something performer of that name IRL. "Striking, but not conventionally good-looking", as a friend described her. I'm afraid I didn't quite get the proportions right, and not as a consequence of stylization. Drats, she looks too close to the UV. But anyway, practice.

So yeah, Rosie Lugosi. She's a Warlord of the SG, promoted from their knight-class unit, the Hazmat Trooper (aka, Hazzie). Hazzies use a variety of abilities to shock, poison and disrupt bonuses like Dance fighting, which is very useful since the Steam Gentlemen Do Not Dance. (Only thing about them is the way they walk).

Rosie, as you may guess from the outfit, has a similar set of interests as Wanda, only without the Mary Sue issue of the world revolving around her She's more fun to be around as she's not fatalistic or dour, but does not suffer fools gladly. Sharp tongued and sharp witted.

Right back to thread stuff-

Bland, that is SCARY. In a good way.

Thank you, I try.

the Commie Devils need more representation!
{...}

“Play style”{...}

• Financed by sucking neighboring alliances dry of their Schmuckers and maintaining a massive amount of low level cities

Yep they need more rep and allies! (Are they Royal?)

Anyway, I'd disagree with that last assessment. Historically, the USSR provided subsidies for various satellites (like Cuba). To claim that the USSR economy, such as it was, was based on tributes is a bit unfair.

Possibly incomplete is the assessment that they relied entirely on cheap mass production of military gear. The Soviets did have some interesting high tech kit, for example supercavitating torpedoes and closed circuit rocket engines (the latter they dumped in a warehouse in a fit of sore loserdom), and while it's clear who has the best air fighters (US) it's also clear who has the best fliers (USS- uhm, now Russia).

[A.B.C.]

Anyway, I'd disagree with that last assessment. Historically, the USSR provided subsidies for various satellites (like Cuba). To claim that the USSR economy, such as it was, was based on tributes is a bit unfair.

Possibly incomplete is the assessment that they relied entirely on cheap mass production of military gear. The Soviets did have some interesting high tech kit, for example supercavitating torpedoes and closed circuit rocket engines (the latter they dumped in a warehouse in a fit of sore loserdom), and while it's clear who has the best air fighters (US) it's also clear who has the best fliers (USS- uhm, now Russia).

Bleh, that's what I get for listening to public education. ("We're totally objective here! Also, communism is the work of Satan.") I was told that Comecon mimicked the EEC but basically screwed everyone but the USSR over. Thanks for clearing that up!

As for the cheapness, I just now realize I didn't explain it that well in that I imagined the bulk of their units to be more numerous and less effective than the Pigs, but with equal (or racing, eh?) levels of "high" tech, like the aforementioned rockets and torpedoes.

Considering the whole class equality thing, they're probably non-Royals.

Making plans for a Chinese frenemy ally of the Devils. Not sure how to combine Mao's moments of incredible intelligence and incredible stupidity...

[Nihila]

Making plans for a Chinese frenemy ally of the Devils. Not sure how to combine Mao's moments of incredible intelligence and incredible stupidity...

Intelligence based on Luckamancy? Perhaps he's the Chairman of the council of Casters, and he uses Luckamancy to make all decisions, resulting in some stacked good rolls... and the astoundingly bad ones.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Since the Commie Devils weren't getting enough love, I brought a commissar to help convince you to join them.

Spoiler: show

Just sign the dotted line in blood. Or else you'll find out what's under that black mantle.

Considering the whole class equality thing, {the Commie Devils are} probably non-Royals.

Oh. What a pity. Are the Pigs Royal then?

[LTDave]

I think the Pigs have to be Royal - Camelot and JFK...

[BLANDCorporatio]

I think the Pigs have to be Royal - Camelot and JFK...

In a way that'd be swell, as it allows an in-char easy decision for the SG in this meta-conflict.

In a way that's not so cool, because so far people wanted to make sides aligned with the Pigs. Come on you guys, the Communists need some lovin'!