ShimmeringSword

Crossbow Concept Sketch

Here's another concept by Bishop.
The Crossbow is an interesting one where it looks a little odd on Battletech, give it some sub arms and it fits right into Appleseed, or in Patlabor. It's a mech where we could have really changed it up, but I like keeping in the odd "gundam" for varieties sake and establishing what our outliers can look like.
Bishop did a good job of keeping it faithful, then I drew over a few tweaks and applied management feedback.

And yeh, the torso is sitting ...

Hunchback 3D Render

Chris Lowrey just finished up the Hunchback model. Came out great right?

Still needs to be cleared before a full turntable is done, but I wanted to show off a test still shot he did.

Black Python Concept Sketch

Some have asked if I'd keep doing design work after the kickstarter, or if I'd finish off more of the remaining unseen. Yes and yes.

Here's a Black Python I completed recently.
This is one of the worst looking mechs in the franchise IMO. The melted lumpy form of a fighter jet riding on top of pipe stilts and sheet steel.
Luckily that means no one can tell me I "went too far", when there's nothing sacred to save :D

I took the YF-23 as inspiration for a jet torso and ran from ...

Thank you for your support!

Amazing pledge growth the last 2 months. Welcome aboard to everyone that has signed on, and thank you to all those who have bumped up their pledges lately. Going from $1 to $2, or $2 to $4 really adds up when it's a crowd. What's extra impressive is how few have had to reduce their patronage due to the tough time we're going though, so I really appreciate everyone sticking around.
By the end of the year I expect we'll hit $1000/mo funding, at which point (combined with me managing to pay o...

Thug Concept Sketch

Double post today, you can probably expect these to go live on a kickstarter update soon.

The Thug has had a lot of nice renditions in recent history, fan art included. However I felt each still had some weaknesses, so I went in to combine all the best parts of the lot and see if I can nail the ideal look.

Made it nice and chunky to sell the assault bruiser, otherwise it was a less painful process than I feared. Did I do good?

Spider Concept Sketch

Time for this goofy mech.
I wanted to see how well I could preserve the old look. Luckily my past experience with the Osts and it being a SL mech started me out with a good direction. I also happened to draw my own spider maaaaany years ago, so I pulled a little from there too.

Gonna have to explore how to properly solve the back details in 3D, as Id prefer all those fins make sense haha.

Did I do the death trap justice?

IS Heavy Battle Lance

Here's the whole crew.
Who's gonna be fielding that Axman for close in bruising?

IS Heavy Battle Renders

While the big mechs might be more flashy, I'm really into the Bushwacker here. Such a hodge podge of shapes that come together so nicely.

Nightstar sculpted by Alan Blackwell.
Cataphract designed by Marco Mazzoni and sculpted by Chris Lowrey.
Axman designed by Marco Mazzoni and sculpted by Alan Blackwell.
Bushwacker sculpted by Jordan Cuffie.

A Third Assortment

*higher resolution can be downloaded now*

I believe this group shot has grown about 50% since the last one. I did try compositioning one between then and now but it wasn't quite looking nice experimenting with 6 rows. I stuck with 4 rows this time, and only had to put the Rifleman with the mediums to even things out a bit.

Next time I need to either go to 5-6 rows (breaks up the weight classes messily), or start splitting things up into an IS shot and a Clan shot. Which way would ...

Guillotine Concept Sketch

Here's the Guillotine design by Alan Blackwell. Has a bit of draw over by me, mostly on the torso and left arm.

It's been a long lineage of diverse goofy faces, but that dies today, sorry not sorry :P

Cataphract Turntable

Time for another turntable rendered out by Chris Lowrey after he sculpted the Cataphract.
Marco Mazzoni designed this one, then my usual oversight on the process.

Came out great didn't it?!

Reminder that in the attachments for these turntable posts is an mp4 file that plays a lot better than the gif. It's a smaller file size too.

Exterminator Concept Sketch

Exterminator time.

This one is a challenge because its shapes are so distinct, but those same shapes are what make it look really goofy. Yep, I know a fair number of people are going to be upset about me softening the blade chest look, but while that's the no1 iconic part it's also the no1 goofiest part (beside the easily fixed egg torso).

I think this still looks like an Exterminator though, definitely a distinct look compared against other mechs. Luckily the arms and legs are a ...

Hellhound Concept Sketch

Here's the Hellhound/Conjurer.
This one IMO has never had good art, the CCG art was passable but kinda vague, a weak mini. Even the loose VMI source sketch isn't great.
Personally I wanted to go with the MW4 Hellhound, but management wanted that Wolverine heritage, so the plan was to run with my Wolverine concept and meld in the good parts of the Hellhound.

Not a mech I'm too invested in so my feelings aren't strong, but I think it came out nicely. You like?

Marauder IIC Turntable

Look at this pretty thing. Another turntable render in from Chris Lowrey, sculpt by Alex Immerzeel.

Nightstar 3D Renders

While they're not hard to make, it is somewhat time consuming and a fair bit of fiddling to make all the multi angle renders of finished sculpts, hence I haven't posted them for every mech. BUT, I knew you'd all want to see the Nightstar as soon as it was ready. So here it is!

Alan Blackwell did a good and swift modeling job on this one, and it looks great in a moving pose.
I tell ya, coming from the era of fighting egg and potato minis, comstar and star league forces might get "mos...

Cyclops Concept Sketch

One eye to stare at them. One eye to take a gauss rifle.
Cyclops is here. Not really much to this one, as just like the MWO version once you start applying some modern sensibilities to it you quickly get the minimalistic assault brick it wants to be.
The only tricky bit was the head, figuring out if the round eye can be broken away from (not really), then what to do around it to make it interesting. It's a command mech with a ton of senor equipment, so I added extra pods up front to sel...

Dragon Concept Sketch

Enter the Dragon!

Lets be real here, I mostly copied from the Dragon Marco Mazzoni painted for the Succession Wars TRO cover. Enhanced and refined a bit from there.
Main change was giving the right arm an upper arm section. I think the big raised gun arm version looks interesting, but not quite amazing enough to warrant breaking from the stats. I have given it a stubbier upper though.

I think the Dragon for once kinda shows the dragon visual themes with its fire (lrm) breathing...

Friend Patreon Plug

Two of my art friends (after much coercion by me) started a patreon page for their WoW fanfic they've been working on for fun. They were putting in so much effort and making a lot of cool illustrations, I said they should monetize it a bit haha.

So if you like smelly troll boys (and goblins and orcs), reading, audiobooks, and memery consider checking them out.

patreon.com/stormbringerssaga

You Asked

You received.

More snib snab for ya. Very tempted to make an idle bobbing and clawing animation gif for this haha.

Crab Concept Sketch

First I gave you the big snib, now I provide you with small snab. Crab time!

For as goofy as the old crab looks, not much is fundamentally wrong with it. A nice coat of improved surface details, better joint mechanics, and beefy claws works wonders.

But wait! Stop right there you grog! One thing I have to ask you to forget ever happened is that silly bit of lore claiming the pilot can eject out the ass of the mech. Not only is that not "safer", there happens to be a fusion reactor...

Enforcer Concept Sketch

I know Bishop is itching for me to show this one off, so here it is :)

I'm really curious how you all feel about this Enforcer. Sometimes through all the iterating on a design it can become a little hard to know if you're hitting the right direction. And this isn't a snub on Mr Myers either, he'll confirm I had a fairly heavy personal hand in this one haha.

For me it's hard to identify what makes an Enforcer because while it has a few "key elements" they're all pretty generic. A b...

IS Fire Support Renders

Individual renders time!
We just cleared a lot of design sketches, so brace yourself.

Enjoy.

Almost at the $800 mark!!!

Wow guys we're almost there! I knew I could eventually work my way up to levels like this, but not this quickly haha. Lets keep going!
I'd like to thank everyone who has decided to stick around and tough it out through the covid pandemic entering full swing, but I also totally understand those who have needed to withdraw their support. Times are tough for many, and I'm one of the lucky few who's life was already built around working from home with sustainable income sources. A big source o...

Stalker 3D Turntable

Chris Lowrey rendered out another one of these turntables for you guys.
Stalker time, his second sculpt for the team.

Looks amazing doesn't it? Best stalker ever IMO :)

King Crab Concept Sketch

Here we go, finally approved after a few tweaks. The King Crab you've all been waiting for.
Personally I prefer blocky arms, but curves was the call.

This one will definitely be joining the ranks of short assault mechs, but will be overall huge.

Like it?

Hunchback IIC 3D Sculpt

Ok I know you guys are itching for that Stalker, but I'm giving you this death machine instead :)

The Hunchback IIC, sculpt worked on by Jason Spykerman and myself.
Came out really nicely I think. Rather chunky/blocky as far as smaller details go but I think that works for a mech designed to go down. Easier bits to manufacture and replace, rather than a big clean shell. Still has decal space on the lower legs and forearm shields.
Also because the X-cut haters keep saying they're f...

Longbow 3D Turntable

Chris Lowrey has joined the team and sculpted the Longbow and Stalker so far. We just finished hammering out the quality parameters for some fancy turntable video renders he can do for us.

Check out this awesome gif! Then download the mp4 attachment and enjoy it in even better quality, for way less file size haha. If your video player of choice doesn't loop it smoothly, any internet browser will if you drag the file into it.

What do you think of the great missile death?

Fire Falcon Concept Sketch

You want crab? No crab for you!
You may have a cute but fast and deadly Fire Falcon though.

This one was a breeze going through because I'd done a fun redesign on it years ago. So much of the old art (CCG) was either terrible, or inaccurate (lineart) that it leaves a lot of room for creative interpretation.
Key goals were a nicer nose, and retaining the huge SRM ports.
It's also to my knowledge a rarely used mech so I don't expect any grogs to be clinging tight to it. A least, ...

He Snib

He Snab

Trebuchet Head Vote!

You've seen a hint of the Treb earlier, but before it's final we've got something to settle.
Internally some like the clean lined dome the avoids a pinched look in the front/top), while others want the old school angle change part way that delivers the vader bucket look.

Which do you prefer?
Also...