I guess I can just put all the art stuffs for Ellysium in one thread....?

Here's my first worthy attempt of a white angel concept... I looked up some half plate images but this is all from imagination. I'm guessing Barinellos wants the ranks to be progressively ornate, so maybe this guy could be the level three enforcer, keeping the peace on the streets.

Capes wouldn't really fit with the wings.
The wings are way too far down as a result, looking more like they're coming off the hips than they are from his back.
Aside from that, the tabard is too thin and the half armor thing going on with the top half just... doesn't work aesthetically. The shield too, is a bit odd. (and I probably would have left the fauld off, but that is more just preference than critique)

The last thing I have to say as far as critical notes goes is that his wrist appears to be as thick as his upper arm, and his forearm seems entirely too short. It looks like it was maybe an attempt at foreshortening, but I can't place it exactly. Combining that with the more accurate anatomy everywhere else, it sort of stands out..

That isn't to say that there aren't some really good parts to this. The snake blazon works, the helmet is pretty much exactly what it needs to be, and I'm loving the belt. The sword looks pretty good too. Technically speaking the sense of volume and muscle beneath the scale mail is really well done. Your upper body anatomy too, is really well put together, though my comment on his left arm stands, which is somewhat peculiar since his other arm is really well done.

I really wish you'd shown me this before you put so much detail into it, because I feel bad that so much of your work might have ended up being done extraneously.

No problem.... this is drawing practice for me, so i don't mind at all that he needs redone.... but yes i will make next attempts a bit more less hardlined. Now off to google so i can find out what some of those terms are! hehe

btw... you are a very astute guy! lol you pretty much nailed how my attempt went, like the arm and stuff.... my thoughts exactly! I'm glad you like the head... I was worried it was too RoboCop-esque.

I was going to make a Cowl... and then it turned into a cape harness thing... blah which i then remembered that capes suck and then felt let down soft when i realized his wings could be cape-like...

what do you think the best way to show his wings is?

Doing things light helps make changes easier. Figuring out how to adapt work will help develop skills too. I speak from experience.
Nah, that's pretty much what I was aiming for. Well... not robocop in particular, but this dehumanizing appearance by removing the eyes. You nailed that well.
Yeah, I picked that up, but it just sort of clustered things a bit. Aside from that, the cowl/cape thing would be better suited for the archons under the angel command.

It's... a bit of a tricky question, but ultimately, I feel like making them this basic background presence would be best. Just the impression of the wings with some general shading to give it a sense of depth.
Or you do a piece with the angel in question in the air, rather than a standing piece.

Some brief suggestions for doing a seraph of this rank: stick with the breastplate and belt, those are both solid, the helmet works well too.
The tabard needs to be fuller, and not having the skirt will let the tabard work better too, since it means you can have the tail coming through and it won't compete for attention against the fauld.
The chain-mail probably shouldn't go any further than the elbow and either a gauntlet or vambrace would better suit the forearm.
Importantly though, is to keep a sense of symmetry to the piece between each side. Top and bottom can be a little unbalanced because of the way the wings will create a basic unity to the thing.
I'd array them evenly rather than have them sprouting from the same spot.

One idea I've always like was the idea of a combination flail/thurible to play up the religious iconography, though it'd be best to just have it on a chain rather than have that affixed to a haft.

The subtle touches of accents work well, but I think you might be able to play those up just a little more. I know he's supposed to be fairly low ranked, but you'd still expect something like that.

For a few visual cues that might help inspire you, I'd say look to Knight Exemplar and Azorius Arrester (well, lots of the azorius cards. Azorius Justiciar or New Prahv Guildmage too)

I... hope that wasn't too much.

Mondieu... its difficult for me to just "sketch"...

I like the color scheme on the first one there...

Third times a charm...

I'm leaning towards a 'brutish mannerism with undertones of an thug-like posture.

Indeed...

Pip Pip, Cheerio!

Well, your helmet is sadly not as accurate as it was in the first one. The pseudo beak was pretty key to that, rather than that blocky look. The lack of an ear sort of stands out too.
Aside from that, the tabard is actually TOO wide now, looking more like a robe than what was essentially a quick way to tell one force from another. A tabard is more or less just a long rectangle sashed at the waist. (Part of this has to do with the competing attention the spaulders are generating with the overhang of the fabric. That's the sort of armor that you'd want on top of everything else.)

The thurible also sort of missed the mark by the inclusion of the... the hell is that anyways? All I can think of is that weapon Kirk fought the Gorn with.
The best suggestion I have for a reference in executing the thurible idea is Satyr Firedancer, except with religious overtones instead of fire.

Aside from those notes, things look good. I think... ultimately, the chain mail is actually making things too busy when all is said and done. Just solid plate armor up top would probably be better.

i laughed until i cried after i read that....

try again....

Here's an amalgam....!

Still not quite getting the tabard right:
http://www.monde-medieval.com/2616-thic ... tabard.jpg (though without the duotones and blazons naturally)


I actually liked the look of the other thurible a lot better (seriously, that one above was really boss.) The sort of loose, effete hold on it doesn't really say "warrior" to me. The layering perspective on your body also needs some work, particularly that far arm. The spauldron should wrap around the shoulder, not stay on top of the breastplate. It isn't big enough for that. (actually both of the shoulders look like they could use a little more work)
Besides that, the helmet has drifted a bit further from what it should be. It keeps drifting farther down for one, when it should really only come to the nose and end on something like a beak for it. Part of this might just be the lack of background detail where the helmet should continue to wrap around the bottom of the face.

The gloves are looking pretty damned good. I just wish they had a bit more of an armored feel. The Seraphim don't use much in the way of leather. It's either heavy metal or fabric.
The wings have a good sense of presence too without having to go into a lot of detail.

I seriously hope I'm not discouraging you with all the notes. I know you say you like the drawing practice, but after that last comment, I wasn't sure how to take it.
If, for the moment, you'd like to shelf the seraphim and work on one of the other angel flights, I'd be cool with that, or we can continue here.

Damn.... I really want to play with this in photoscape, but i'll skip it since i got a reply first, and i understand your comments completely so lets continue with another drawing with them in mind...

Night,

oh... the last comment was because i understood how gimmicky the weaponry looked.... it was just a sketch that was more a study for the gloves which the weapons were an afterthought / study for the flail..... i knew he looked like he was hula dancing....

the last one was an even better study for the gloves, which will be gauntlets...

If we can just make it seem like he's disgusted with the smell of the flesh carmelizing on his flail.

I'll go first!

This is the main contour sans heavy detail.

I'm not crazy with the thurible... still need to figure out how the chain attaches.

I'm fairly confident with the top half.... i like the helmit, but that's up for discussion, as well as the place ment of the tabard( kinda coming out of the kneck right now, wasnt sure if i would like the look of it going over and around the chest plate- but now i think it could work!), and how and what type of leg armour (?)/ crotch fittings.

I would rework the legs, particularly her's a him's right one.... maybe bend it and try to pull off more of a flight/ hovering situation.

The gauntlets need an advanced study to determine how they are armoured/jointed.

I don't like the tail of the tabard right now cuz it looks like an uncircumcised penis!

Well that's it!

Sorry i have not been reading much as i could... i need to be voting.

So, these are my notes.
First, the overall shape of the helmet is right, but it comes down too far in the front. It really only needs to go as far as the nose, not all the way to the chin. The ear looks a little bit low too.

The shoulders and arms are looking pretty solid, particularly the shoulders, and I can't really make any statement about the gloves for reasons you've already spoken of.

My suggestion about the tabard, and really to some degree the shirt too, is to focus on only the cloth coming from the front and back, and make it much much longer. If you got rid of the shirt/robe's overhang, and brought the attention solely onto the tabard tail in the front and the back, it wouldn't be competing for detail and attention. I'd also lengthen that particular piece of cloth down to about his knees. It might help to lower the belt too, since it looks like it's sitting right on his ribs right now. That also helps relieve some of the issue you'd be forced to deal with in terms of where the shirt and pants meet. Another reason to let the tabard hang lower is so you don't have to worry about the codpiece either.

And just a suggestion, but having some excess chain coming through his off hand might help balance out the thurible's composition. If you want, doing some loose loops of chain might work. As for the head of the thurible, it looks good to me, so...

The off leg could probably stand to be bent as if he's stepping up onto something rather than sticking out like that too, that stance looks... peculiar.