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thomastapir β Bioaztech Variants
Published: 2010-02-21 03:52:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 1263; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 13
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Okay, not to belabor the point, but here's a side-by-side comparison showing the original asymmetrical version; a symmetrical version with the right side mirrored about the vertical central axis; and a symmetrical version with the left side mirrored about the vertical central axis. I'm curious to hear which, if any, you prefer. Sorry for the redundancy here.Symmetrical right (current Gallery version): [link]
Original asymmetric version (Scrapped): [link]
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Comments: 31
i like the three... you know a ceremony triunvirate being the azymethrian on middel or principal ona Β the mirxorixtchle and the mirxolefticue flank him on ceremonies three ominous figures radiating power and fear... perhaps?
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The center one looks best to me, mainly because of the hands. It's a neat and unique concept!
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That was my personal favorite variation, partially for that reason. Thanks very much, I'm glad you like them...Thanks also for the fave!
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It's neat how well these line up when flipped! Usually drawings seem to get skewed in one direction or another, making it difficult to mirror successfully. Heck, I even tried it on a photograph of my own face, and it didn't work out this well. Taught me a disconcerting lesson about how asymmetrical my face is, though.
Anyway, it's interesting how the different variations have subtly different characters. The middle one feels my like he's in trance/worship mode. His expression is rather soft and spaced out, and the dangling...things on each elbow suggest heavy, hanging robes to me, emphasizing his priestly qualities. He also got the more smoothly-textured limbs and the shallower chest, making him seem calmer.
The variant on the right seems more warlike to me. He has the harder expression, and his more wide open mouth brings a war cry to my mind. His barrel chest and his fists are also quite warlike, and the hanging loops bring to my mind whips, nunchucks, or curving swords. His body texture is also rougher and tougher.
Those are my thoughts. I think you chose correctly with the middle variant.
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Yeah, this was kind of an odd one for me in its high degree of symmetricality and the head-on portrait view! I even used organizational lines to make sure the sides of the body matched up, which is why it was fairly easy to "mirror." I generally eschew those kinds of highly symmetrical poses as too static and just...not very interesting, I guess. But it felt like the "right" thing to do with this one, and it became such an overwhelming feature that it seemed natural to eventually mirror them with perfect symmetry.
Oh wow, I'm so pumped that you got that "priest versus warrior" impression in B versus C...That was EXACTLY my own impression, and although incidental (as an artifact of the "mirroring" process), I was actually really happy with it because it fit both with the idea of the character taking on these different ritualistic personas or identities and with that idea of a sort of dynamic metamorphosis taking place at different phases in his trance ritual. Almost like in Tai Chi or other forms of meditation that involve rhythmic breathing, where the energy pulls "in" with the breath for a sort of compressed on contracted "defensive"/passive mode, then expands "out" with the exhalation for a more dynamic or "offensive"/active mode. Yin and yang, alla that.
Have you ever looked at yourself in one of those reflecting mirror sets that let you see your face as it looks others, rather than "reversed"? It's quite a startling difference, and not the same at all as seeing a photo of yourself!
I'm glad you're with me on the middle variant, you are one of only two other people who agreed with me on that...So let's say our opinions outweigh all the others!
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Argh i love these - very much something i'm working towards as well.
It's tricky territory because you run the danger of slipping into "Chariots of the Gods/von Daniken/Stargate"-type cheesyness but the whole Meso-American view of the cosmos and their rituals are just so inticing to warp and play around with in a scifi way!
I'm going for "what if an Aztec-like civilisation survived, became dominant and evolved thousands of years in the future?" in some of my imaginings.
I'm working on a big pic right now depicting a festival in a city of that type - would love your opinion on it when it is done! By the way i also imagined they would create their own creatures to worship and for rituals so i love that you had similar ideas!
Oh and just to add my two cemts: i'd say symetric body and head - the one on the right - with asymetric hands.
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I think once you venture into the realm of synthetic organisms that have been fabricated not just for practical or utilitarian purposes, but also for a cultural role, it opens up a lot of really exciting possibilities...At that point you can pretty much design "life as art."
I do love the classical Von Daniken paleocontact craziness! Another area rife with creative potential...Any time you introduce ancient cultural motifs into a sci-fi matrix, exciting things are bound to happen. The latest National Geographic has an article on the Nazca glyphs that I'm hoping to draw some inspiration from. I'm a little chagrined that the stupid, lowest-common-denominator "Stargate" version (of the paleocontact theme) has become so entrenched in popular imagination, because there's clearly so much more that can be done with it. Ah well, that seems to happen with the best of pretty much everything. : /
I look forward to seeing your big festival city when it's done!
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Hi Tom, seriously late reply but did still want to respond:
I guess the Von Daniken thing has it's ups and downs, on the one hand it indeed opens up great possibilities - on the other you (or rather i) have to explain to people about a hundred times that yes Ancient peoples really were brilliant at mathemathics and astronomy... get's a bit tiresome but i'm one of those people that just can't let stuff like that go 
I once spent about three hours explaining rocket propulsion to a friend of mine who thought that rockets wouldn't work in a vacuum.
That being said i love mixing mythology and sci-fi - most of my favourite books are in that realm as well. Also love some of the sillier stuff as well, one of my favourite Star Trek eps is the one where they meet Apollo, last of the Greek gods, and then Kirk kicks his ass of course!
Also on a "cosmic origin" theme i wanted to share this with you as well: [link] Thought you might get a kick out of it - life on earth evolving from space-poop!
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Mirrored left, 'cos then the headdress looks like a skull. You know what, the whole thing looks really Lovecraftian and cephalopodic as well as gutsy.
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Yeah, I can see that! I actually prefer some of the limb articulation and wrapping of the meaty elements and such on the mirrored-left version, I just wish the finish quality was better on that side. Thanks for the input!
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You could re-draw...
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You know, usually by the time I get to the point where I figure out what's wrong with the actual drawing part of the drawing, I've already done so much digital post-production in terms of scaling and skewing and cleaning and cropping and curves and color balance that it would be more effort than it's worth. Probably more economical just to start over from scratch at this point.
...I was showing my buddy Jeff some of the more imaginative icons here on dA, but I think I'm just going to leave that the way it is.
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That's kinda what I meant. Oh BTW ...
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What the hell is that??
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Now I'm replying to the wrong messages! What do you think those are Tapir? Combine life in the more northerly climes with steroid use....
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EWWWWW FURRY BITCH TITS!!!
This is what happens when we let polar bears eat our leftovers. Though I suppose some nice friendships can also develop: [link]
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I see that they are practising their bear hugs.
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I think the asymmetric or the mirrored left look best.
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I considered it, but I think that might be overkill. I mean, I've already posted this three different times, with diminishing returns in terms of response. I'll just let the comments trickle in and go from there.
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I meant so you could keep track of what people think more easily. What else are polls for, right?
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Yeah, I just don't want to irritate people by nagging for fresh input on the same old thing. I try to limit my polls to subjects with broader appeal and conversational potential.
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Hm. Well, if you don't really want to, that's up to you. 
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Thanks for weighing in...I've got to start keeping a tally here.
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Still the asymetric one. What is your personal favourite?
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I'm going to have to go with middle, mirrored right, for 20, please, Alex.
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