art...(spoilers all RotE books)

['thul]

'thul first put this in the "everything else" section, but then these beings realized that it fit more naturally in here... Now do feel free to comment, criticize and generally reply to this topic...


These beings felt like sketching these past few days, especially since their internet connection broke (and is still broken) some days ago...

rather than the usual projects, they decided to try imagining what a tailed and crested Elderling might look like... The below images show the result... Unfortunately 'thul could not make the skin properly scaled nor have the slickness and shine that scales should have... Nor could they make the eyes glow as Elderling eyes tend to do...

Reason for tail? Dragons have tails, why should there not be an Elderling with such as well?

the images are all clickable to see larger version, and the last image is just one with various technical details... Due to image count limit, these beings had to link the last four images, though...











view from behind
close-up of crest
untextured version
technical specs

[Farseer]

I'm most impressed, 'thul beings!

What really jumps out at me, aside from the skills you show in creating these images , is the difference in our interpretations of 'crest'. I had just imagined *LST spoiler*

Spoiler

Malta's

to be a crown or tiara-like formation (fit for an Elderling or dragon 'queen', I suppose), running from right to left, but your interpretation makes a lot more lizard-serpent-reptile sense...

What was everyone else imagining?

[redchild]

^Since you mentioned tiara, I can envision a kind of crest that begins with a protrusion in the center of the forehead and wraps around the head with smaller or larger protrusions, like a circlet. I've always imagined the crest as more of a bony protrusion with small spines along the top, much like that of a dilaphosaurus', but much smaller and narrower:

[Image: DNCPn.jpg]

But then again, who says every Elderling has to have identical crests?

Great work, thul. I don't think I've ever seen any art depicting Elderlings before. If I may nitpick, I think the tail is sitting a bit too high. Tails should be extensions of the spine but yours seem a bit stuck on because it's not in the right place. Here is a monkey skeleton where you can see how the tail flows from the spine:

[Image: neziq.gif]

Otherwise, good job!

Perhaps you can even go farther and play around with the proportions of her anatomy and facial features to make her even more inhuman looking (though I do concede it is difficult to distort the anatomy/facial features while still keeping a figure's elegance.)

['thul]

These beings did ponder on doing the elderling lengthening of limbs (hands, feet, etc) but they never got around to it. rescaling hands and feet is troublesome business to do without warping, but it might be possible...

when 'thul think "crest" they automatically think along the head... they are uncertain what they would name one perpendicular to that, but they would not call it crest.

as for the tail... these beings did not have access to internet while making that elderling, so they could not check the exact location of the tailbones, but its fairly close to where it should be, so long as one considers the fact that it is bent fairly well upwards at the top. if the Elderling had been bent over like your skeleton, the tail would have had a similar position as on that skeleton. It appears to be placed somewhat higher due to the leggings, as they give the appearance of lowering the position of the sitting muscles.
the image here shows the actual position of tail in reference to sitting muscles:



These beings have now started a much more complex project... making a character that actually appears in the books... though not as she appears in the books...
The character they're trying to recreate is Thymara, only with more mature wings and fully scaled. (half-scaled is a bother to do, since each surface can only have one texture, so all the textures at the seams between skin and scales would have to gradually change.)


Are there any details these beings need to remember including when creating her? Anyone willing to help dig up descriptive details 'thul can utilize?

(you can take this also as an opportunity to enhance the wiki article on her...)

['thul]

After looking up various images of dragon wing anatomy, 'thul realized that the original wing design cannot work, since it has a bone where no bone would fit.

here is an image of what it currently looks like, with the incorrect bone marked out. It is fortunate that 'thul had not added the joints yet, since they can now avoid having to make the mistake of adding a joint that works for that incorrect wing design.

[redchild]

Here is a comparative chart I think can help you with the wings:

[Image: bat-wing.gif]

The bone you picked out should actually be the "elbow" of the wing.

Hope this helps and good luck!

['thul]

these beings looked up various other setups and chose one of them, with a mix of the two bottom ones, like this image. The bones haven't been fully connected yet, and the joint for the hands is still undecided, but the general layout is done.
   

the bone marked in red in the previous post is now gone, since having a bone growing out from the elbow that is not the lower "arm" bones would be wrong.


Still looking for details on Thymara's appearance, as these beings do not want to make the face wrong...

on that, these have a debatable question...
Thymara's claws.
Are they merely thicker, longer & black replacements for nails?
Or do they replace some parts of the fingers themselves?

[redchild]

I've been speeding through Dragon Haven the last few days...

Spoiler

and came across a comment by Carson on Sedric's hands and feet becoming longer and slimmer as he was transforming.

['thul]

Yes, that is frequently mentioned... Elderlings do not operate on the classical human 1:1.6 proportions...

'thul have not worked on that body the last few days, but they'll make sure to make such changes, even if it'll take time...

one part they struggle with figuring out is what her face looks like...

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Forgive me my belated response, but that is some skill with computer graphics you have there, Thul. Although I tend to imagine them with a more scaley skin...