Skull's Custom Predator Design

[Skullsplitter]

Skullsplitter's Custom Predator Project


OK, why did you start this topic?
This topic is going to guide the proces of designing a Predator I had in mind for years, literally, but I never got around to to finalize.


So, realising it has been on the shelf for that long prompted me to finally tackle this and confront my demons with it. Time to get this monster finished!

Blocking out the Custom Predator (or: how to describe the features of the beast)

Keywords:
-Slender, lean, "dry"/sinewey body
-High Tech yet aboreal armor and weapons
-Weathered loin cloth
-Scars -> abdomen, arms, face?
-Texture -> reptilian/amphibian, smooth and coarse.
-skincolors -> reptilian/amphibian, contrastrich and dark, Jurassic Park?

Body
Slender but muscular, thin skin over sinewey musclegroups. Have him look old but in shape, much like a muscular Iggy Pop or a slender version of 63-ish Sylvester Stallone (but taller).
Well defined muscles to show his fitness, being slightly "dry" gives away his age, as well as him having discolored (and thus contrasting) scars over his body.

Skintexture
Reptilian scales and skinfolds, the skin of this predator is largely remiscent of that of toads, being bumpy with a smooth belly. Some smaller horns adorn his ribcage and his facial features.

Skincolor
Rich in contrast, bleak front (chest, abdomen), dark accents, some degree of shading/variation in opacity. Influences from frogs, toads, lizards and snakes.

Cloth
A weathered piece of leather as a loin cloth (welcome back, buttflap). Ripped, worn to pieces (holes in it) and various in length.

Armor and weapons
Smooth surface with hammered details/accents, high-tech (terminator style) combined with tribal influences (P1, P2)
Ornamental where possible, but always following function, allowing maximum range of use.
Weapons selected:
-Gloves (leather, fingerless, studded/reinforced with metal parts)
-wristblades
-railgun in left gauntlet, fires P2 type speartips.
-naginata/glaive
-disc
-(dual?) plasmacaster with med-kit
All weapons undergo a total redesign to fit the overall look.

Stylesheets will follow to illustrate what I have in mind, as inspiration and reference for the final design in the end.

What do I need you for?
Simply put: feedback, conceptual sparring. If you want to design too on this set-up, that's great, perhaps we can join hands.

 

[Armourdillo]

Sounds and looks like he's gonna be the bollox!!!!.........now you have given your secret design away......you will HAVE to get a move on before someone else copies your design!

....Looking forward to seeing him finished.


BTW.......is that a TOUNGE i see?

 

[CoolleKotten]

I like it!
The cannon has a nice wave, excellent design. The helmet looks good to, any bodyshoots with armor on this guy?

Kotten

 

[Uratz]

....now you have given your secret design away......you will HAVE to get a move on before someone else copies your design!

Heck yeah I'm gonna bite this! HAHAH!

JK I'd like to see you start sculpting dude!
Do a little bit a day and pretty soon You'll be done!

 

[Skullsplitter]

And here are my stylesheets I work upon

 

[Skullsplitter]

Been working on this some more, will post scans of the progress tomorrow

Objects of work till now: chestplate and thigh-armor

 

[T8001]

kewl like the style sheet idea, has inspired me to do something not sure what yet.
Anyways looking foreward to updates!

 

[Skullsplitter]

stylesheets = moodboard? Dunno, works either way IMO

Now I have to match my far cleaner/smoother thighpads with 80's style metal patches to my much more tribal (think part Galaxy Quest's Sarris, part Robocop, part P2) chestplate. So basically I have to mix the two

 

[Uratz]

Style sheets are great! Thanks for sharing. They help me even.

 

[Skullsplitter]

I have a high-res PDF, designed for A3 print. Downside is, it's about 126 MB.

 

[Skullsplitter]

As promised, my progress in design so far:

First I started sketching, get a little loose and just slap on a couple of thoughts.

Started out with the central figure, a Loomis figure with armor added. It was my guideline for the overall style and look, but very rough and first try.
After that, I started work on the thigh pad right next to it on the right. However I found it quite nice to look at, I wanted a more tribal look to it, and went from the rough sketch/proof of concept on the left to the next version, right hand side of the paper. That was the outline I wanted for my thigh pad.

Then I looked at the initial design, and back to my thigh pad. I thought the chest plate could use more edge, and started sketching the version that is seen upper left.
The first version of the thigh pad may be salvaged as part of the back armor, but I'm not sure yet.
The rest is just me doodling and try to find the right look.

Now I've got the outline for the thigh pad, I thought it was time to render a full scale one on a full A4 paper.
Result:

I wanted a mix between P1, P2, Terminator and generic tribal armor. I thought I succeeded pretty well.

I went back to the initial sketch and drew up a full scale chest plate loosely based upon that version.

However I kept the 80's vibe, I combined it with a more tribal look, wear and tear. When I compared thigh pad with this chest plate, I sighed and realised I had to re-do the thigh pad.

In this version I kept the shape, but I damaged it and roughed it up more.

Now, you might wonder why the **** I just draw lines instead of shading the thing properly.

One word: photoshop.

(Still WIP, just a couple of hours in. Color to follow shortly, same for chest plate)

I hope you all like it, and do leave critiques.

 

[predator666]

Cool concept work, looks great

 

[Uratz]

Nice We gonna see more customized Predator hunters from now. Just What I like.
For us Hunters this is the only Movie Character where we can basically customize and still be unique and recognizable.

 

[Skullsplitter]

Exactly my thought. I've been toying with designs a looong time, and always wanted to create a unique look, yet remain recognizable to the crowd.

Finally I'm really making some progress, as described I put this off for far too long . Besides this project I really would like to re-do my Rumpelstilzchin...

 

[Skullsplitter]

So you start dicking around in Photoshop after you've done the shading, and this is the best you can come up with.

Taking the lessons learned on that one to the chestplate, you move on. Cursing yourself for not sticking to the lines-only-design (since it makes it that much harder to use the magic wand to mask your shading)

Skipping right to the colored version:

Looking back at the thigh pad made me all "meh", so I loaded the file back up again and did a quick and dirty job to match the coloring better, resulting in this piece:

This speed suits me alright, so expect more updates soon

 

[Skullsplitter]

It's been too long, been too busy, but I'm back on track. Working on a total layout now, having printed my reference sheets into a book.

More updates coming this week, finally!

 

[RoguePredator]

Nice We gonna see more customized Predator hunters from now. Just What I like.
For us Hunters this is the only Movie Character where we can basically customize and still be unique and recognizable.

Agreed, having the Predator so that we can customize is such a fantastic way on showing how unique our own predators can look, from a variety of weapons, to armor and styles. I am loving the designs and definitely amp on seeing this project to life. The concepts are amazing, the color seems good I personally would of went with some bronze and copper colors with partial gold/green/silver, nonetheless great work.

 

[Skullsplitter]

Most likely I'll do a complete redesign per armor item when I have the layout done, I also have to redesign the body and head.

 

[tommy610]

you drew the one thats six years old on my birthday no joke haha

 

[Skullsplitter]

lol, remind me to send you a printed final design