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shoxxe — COM - Learning to Fly
Published: 2009-05-12 01:09:44 +0000 UTC; Views: 3848; Favourites: 57; Downloads: 149
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Description
Commission forStarring Deechan (left, who's pretty much a regular around here) and her adoptive daughter Sandra (right), in a casual life snapshot. Mainly, driving your first hoverbike. :3
The gist of the picture was to give it the proper high-tech feel of Deechan's and Sandra's setting, and I tried to place a lot of that stuff in there.
HOVERBIKE: Yes, yet another piece of machinery that I'm not supposed to be doing. Guess I need the practice. I took my inspiration from the vehicles that can be seen in Dragonball, and also from today's mopeds. Two big antigrav engines underneath, with a rear array for propulsion (not shown). And some retractable struts when the bike's turned off, of course.
HOVERBIKE KEY: That thingie held by Deechan - of course inspired by to day's USB drive devices for a good electronic key.
OUTFITS: I created both outfits on the fly as I was making the picture, with lots of different elements like tight suits and some funky looking jacket in Deechan's case. High tech suits aren't that easy to design... I hope I won't run out of ideas for those! o_O
HELMET: Pretty much ripped off from the space suits of the Gundam Seed anime.
LAMP POSTS AND PARKING METERS (background): The lamp posts themselves are made up of a combination cohesive light and antigravity, thus enabling the meters to "hang" onto them in midair. Since the entire lamp post is made of light, it has a very effective illumination radius. The meters themselves are upgraded to a card slot and thumb print activation combo.
PAVEMENT: Perhaps a little off the wall, but I came up with some kind of high-resistance polymer "tiling". More resistant than any road covering known until then. Resists to insane amounts of pressure, yet is soft enough on impact not to feel like stone or metal (thus somewhat lessening crash injuries). The development of hovercars and bikes heavily decreased the need for traditional road materials. In addition, it keeps its shape, cleans up easily, and you can just "peel and replace" damaged parts when the need arises.
I didn't plug ALL the little technical holes that the lamp posts/meters/pavement might may have left for proper working - I'm not that much of a technical specialist after all.
Apologies for the long comment, but I think it was necessary to figure out everything that's in the scene (like those creases around the bike's support struts as they dig into the high-tech pavement).
has posted a colored version here:
[link]
Deechan and Sandra are property of
Lineart by shoxxe/Stephane G.
Related content
Comments: 23
Combined talents of shoxxe and dinguheado... the coloured version is superb, I am overjoyed and honored to have it
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I would tend to agree we make a pretty good team. XD
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Wow, I think you put almost as much effort into the description as you did the pic! 
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It helps a picture if you come up with half-plausible ways it can work!
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Really awesome work. The perspective and the lines look perfect.
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Nice of you to say that... especially since I eyeball the whole dang thing... o_O
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>> Will there be a "Learning to Swim"?
There will be more of Sandra in the future, that's a definite promise, maybe interacting with other members of SpecOps in the Shards universe.
I agree that this was a -really- good job. Deechan picks up Sandra when she's only 4 or 5. For this commission, which takes place 10 years in the future relative to the current timeline, I tried to imagine how that little kid would grow up to be a teenager, and that image was captured perfectly right here.
Starting with Deechan, she is noticeably taller and better endowed than Sandra, so you can use that contrast to infer that Sandra is still a teenager. Her suit is well designed and looks very much like something out of Gundam Seed or Bubblegum Crisis. Her bearing is mature and her expression is perfectly captured mix of skepticism and concern.
Looking over at Sandra, the first thing you notice is her confident and excited expression that is on the verge of triumph (she knows she's going to get the keys even if Deechan is hesitant to give it to her). Her clothing is what I would consider to be teenage-ey, up to the latest in fashion and not afraid to bare a little skin here and there. I especially like the "split skirt" she's wearing over top of her pants, that's a real nice touch for clothing.
As for the bike... I dunno about you, but the man draws machinery just fine. I see no problems with it. It has enough design elements to make the scene interesting to look at, instead of flat and boring.
This is kickass in every way... I love it.
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Will there be a "Learning to Swim"?
Seriously, though! You've done a really good job. I remember that you said that you have problems with machines, but I think the hoverbike was done really well.
The perspective is very good too. Kudos.
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Yeah, I seem to be getting into that tech business slowly but surely... I try to keep in mind the designs of Dragonball when drawing vehicles - I feel they're simple enough but work well.
As for the "Learning to Swim", see 's follow-up comment on this pic.
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I liked the perspective used here, the scenery matches up really well with the chars. The hoverbike was well rendered ^^
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Yeah... I was told to keep the bike "simple", but frankly, I didn't want to draw a big, box-like, featureless thingie! o_O
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Before I read the comments, I thought Deechan had stolen Samus's helmet. XD
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Now that you mention it, it does look a bit like that. :3
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Hmmm... Your first hoverbike flight... just hope she practices above the road, not twenty thousand feet in the air like in Fifth Element. That way... after she screws up, she'll at least have some ground under her.
"Can already picture her crashing through someone's window while having lunch or dinner. She'll lift her helmet off and ask if she can have a bite."
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The antigravity most probably has a limited range of effect, either as part of the technology, or as a voluntary "safety setting" for civilian hoverbikes.
So they should at maximum be able to jump over a tall fence.
The authorities do not enjoy getting splattered civilians all over their pavement and buildings.
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This is correct, in the "Shards" universe, civilian hover vehicles will always have a limiter installed to prevent them from going any higher than, say, 3 or 4 feet off the ground. Of course, people can disable the limiter if they know how to, but flying around at will is a big tip off to the authorities that someone is using an illegally modified bike... so....
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