[COMPLETED - ARMOR CONCEPT] Ebony shield (Dunmer Noble)

When I was designing this armor, my idea for the shield was to make it look somewhat like a schematic shalk - like I did with some of the armor plates (chest especially). I wish I had more time to write a proper post with ideas, I'll get back here later with references and so on ;)

All designs are looking pretty same.
If you want something new you could break shield's surface to many regular pieces in this case.



So shield surface could be made from many separate pieces/blocks of ebony? and when some element got broken it can be really simpler replaced. Surface would look pretty alike cube paving stone or that surface of buried chinese body (pics)

PICS

 

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This is a "typically dunmer" armour. You're lucky to have other very dunmer armours. Bonemold shields could be an interesting start for shapes. After all, it has the flavour of Morrowind. Just have them more refined so it looks richer, or with multiple layers (like skyrim's shield). 
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Don't forget that you have both tower shield and regular shield to design ;)

Great work so far. Keep it up.

Nexos

Chaos Child

I asked originally if there was a way and was told that there was no reference and that you'd left o.o I'm glad you didn't.

What the hell, who told you that? O.o Technically I'm still a concept art lead and I'm pretty active at least in terms of commenting in design threads, while only having little time for actual painting...

Here's the link to the original concept:
http://swietopelk.deviantart.com/art/Champion-of-House-Redoran-427277919

References I used for this particular armor were frankly rather few, but they were a big influence.
Overall, I wanted a mix of Skyrim ebony armor and Gah Julan bonemold shapes. I knew that if some Dunmer culture has an ebony armor, it would be Redoran, I also decided to use some scarab shapes, since ebony feels similar in texture (black but shiny, with a hint of purple). I made two concepts for Ebony, one for Imperial, and one for Native - this one's the native, and my concept for the other one was scrapped. Anyway, to the point.
This:
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Mixed with this:
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Mixed with this:
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Smooth refined shiny texture, runes and embelishments similar to the armor - possible use of amethysts ;) If it's to go with the armor, I'd definetly have it look similar to a beetle.

One thing to note - as it is a typically Dunmer shield I would change its orientation in relation to the arm:
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That's at least how I was planning on doing it before this job was assigned to you. Anyway, it seems to be a recurring theme in Dragonborn shields (not so much original Morrowind), but I think it'd make it just a bit more interesting.

I guess the thing is that it's too much of a copy of the front breast plate, and a bit "S"uperman.

Don't worry about the back of the shield right now. No one actually cares about how the shield is carried, and the engine will determine that anyway.

The shape has to remain believable, fluid. It doesn't  mean you have to reuse a shape that's already on the armor. The purpose of this task is to force you to re-interpret the work of the designer.

As you pointed out (and Dragomir confirmed), most of this armor's pieces are meant to remind of elytrons. It's compound of smooth and pinched shapes. The whole armor is slightly layered, a bit like ladybug wings/elytrons ( sorry for the manliness, Drago ^^ ).
In my opinion, you've described these aspects pretty well, but that's not something i find in your designs and shapes.

You could actually check for insectoid shapes. Some of them already look like shieds!

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and so on

https://www.pinterest.com/luisnelson68/insectos/

Keep it dunmer, too. Use, for instance, bonemold shield shapes. 

Don't worry about writing stuff at that point. Lore masters will annoy you soon enough.

EDIT: just added a few bad guys

Shield D with Es logo

 

Pretty much agree with all the points made here, except that the shield has to look big and heavy compared to the morrowind version - I think a shield would be used more actively to deflect blows than cover the owner's already well-protected body (the owner of such a suit, after all, is likely to be quite a skilled warrior, interested in being protected while dealing damage than being over-encumbered). I would say think more samurai than stereotypical world of warcraft tank. 

I found the following image of a jousting knight; the shield is large enough to cover the parts of the knight's body under threat from his opponent's lance, but light enough that even while bouncing up and down on his horse he's able to hold it out and keep it in place - using to deflect a blow rather than take and absorb its full force. This, IMO, looks way more badass than the alternative, below. Also IMO in skyrim all the heavy stuff was too bulky to the point of looking silly - historically well made suits of armour were pretty but extremely practical, streamlined and as light as possible without compromising protection.

Badass knight:

Warrior with huge shield, compensating for masculinity:

Yeah, I like A the best as well.

Editing this in for clarity's sake. I prefer A because it looks the most similar to the armour set and seems like it could be a functional shield despite clearly being modelled after the shape of a scarab.

Perhaps C doesn't fit the armor's design theme, but I'll be darned if it isn't cool looking!

'A' looks like an insect with incredibly thick armour, very fitting for the ebony set. The others are really cool as well, but just don't look as matching as 'A'.

In my opinion "A" is the best. It is very similar in shape to the old shield but it keeps new armor feeling. If I could I would change it's width for narrower one and delete/change those strange shapes at the middle. Maybe it is worth considering single one more connected to the lore.

Anyway, very good job. You're getting closer to the final design.

I agree with A as the most fitting in armor design. but C and F are more interesting imo. When you merge this forms to a bit more compact way, I think they could be the next favourites ;)

C for the small and C for the tower shield!

B for small and C for tower.

I like B for small and C for tower.

Could you guys be slightly more specific about what you like/dislike?
Also, bear in mind that they'll  be held like this.
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So you have to imagine them rotated by a faire counter clockwise 90°. 

I like the fact some of your designs keep the "spear holes" of the original one, while i liked the fact that they were not in the exact middle. Still not very fond of the two pointy ends at the top of B, which could be replace by sth rounder.

They really look like bugs, it's neat !

I like B for small, but I agree with Nexos and think that the little pointy things should be replaced with something else, or just removed. About the tower shield, I like C best, but would make a rounder head, again, and maybe a different kind of hole at the bottom, even though I don't exactly know how^^. 

I think the small shields are fine. For the 'tower shield' I would go with a shape like this... http://animalsadda.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Beetles-9.jpg

Not bulky, but tall and sleek.

A suggestion for the small shield. Holes are closer to the end, like in vanilla's design. silhouette and ornaments looking a bit more like a bug. 

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My two cents.

hmmh, I like it. But I would change the knob at the front edge into something else. My suggestion: simply erase it and a notch will come up at the front. Would even make sense, in real life you could hit and retain swords with that shields front...

I like them all, specifically C for small and A for tower, but I think the shape kinda limits what one can do with the design. It should be a very recognisable design. However, since this is ebony, it should look artisan level. Perhaps you could work in some more insect parts to make it look like a smithing master piece. Something like the image I have included. All in all you have done a great job. It's merely missing a finishing touch

I like C for the small shield and B for the tower.  I was thinking it would be cool for the shields to have a sort of sandblasted glass look where most of the shield could be a bit glossy and then certain parts would have a matte sandblasted look.  C and B look like they have elements that would work nicely for that.  Anyway, that's my two cents.

 

Still not fond of the two pointy ends at the top of the shield. The rest is going the right way. I'd be going with A.

For the small shield: I prefer the design of shield C. It highlights the nobles sense of protection of self; it complements the base armor's built-in body "shields" (on the head, the shoulders, etc.). However, the points on the top (toward the hand) appear bat-like, with a small head and two ears flanking it. Perhaps try to something akin to the Egyptian scarab head:

 http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/animals/images/800/scarab.jpg

For the tower shield: I prefer the design of shield B. The ovalish orb at the top leaves room for some type of gem or- perhaps- another layer on which you could paint specific Great House symbols. The "pincers" on the top of the shield almost harken back to Egyptian sculptures and paintings of their holy scarabs. However, the bottom of the shield is too pointed and stiff; it feels as if it were put there to add some balance to the top of the shield (which I think is good). Perhaps making the bottom points smoother and less jagged could prove helpful.

Thank you for working so hard on this; and thank you to everyone else contributing to this project. I know it is a huge time commitment, but I am always excited to see your progress!

Personally I like the mandible-like bits at the top of the shields - for me they really strongly reinforce the beetle look. For the tower I like the jagged bits at the bottom except that they're too square to fit in with the more rounded shapes in the rest of the shield. I think B and C are the best designs for both the small and tower shields (so hard to choose - I want them all in the game!). Tower shield B would look especially good if the more grey areas (on the black/grey image) have the sandblasted look Mcloganator was talking about.

My favorite for the regular shield is C, seems most flowing, while keeping it somewhat compact at the same time. Decorations in there serve a visual purpose in highliting the shape, rather than just being there. I don't mind the pointy things at the top, but perhaps you could experiment a bit more with their shape. After all, since they stick out they are important for the general silhouette. Making them pointy though implies that this shield is also used for punching, and the way it's mounted on the arm I think it's safe to imply that :D A bit like Uruk-hai shields from LotR, blocking just so you can punch at the same time.

For tower shield I'd go with a combo of all of them :P Let me paste it together roughly in Photoshop:
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Mandibles of C, top of A, and main abdomen of B, with the bottom changed a little bit and an experimental gem placement. I think it works as a nice accent. But of course, feel free to use any other ideas you might have, this is what I'd consider "best of all worlds" ;)
 

Dragomir, that gem looks really well placed and I know this is not a real shield, but gems on anything not ceremonial would simply risk being damaged or knocked out. Perhaps different shades of ebony would work but lorewise that might not be alltogether correct. It looks awesome though

I agree with Drago about the regular shield and I like his proposed design, too.

Ebony is supposed to be one of the more valuable metals in Tamriel, so it definitely fits the noble motif. Instead of a gem on the tower shield you could try a different type of metal such as malachite to go for that "gem" look since it is a common metal in decorations and jewelry (IRL).

The armor itself already has a gem though, look at the model and concept ;) Ebony is so expensive compared to amethysts that I doubt someone able to afford this armor would mind risking it being chipped or something. Perhaps making it a bit more subdued in looks would be okay. Or make it ebony too. After all it comes in many different variants, from oily jetstone metal to crystaline obsidian-like, and in different colours - Amulet of Kings is said to be very rare sort of red Ebony. So yeah, a purple shiny transluminent ebony crystal would fit in there and it'd still be strong.

 

I did not notice the gem in the armor. Now that I see it, I think the gem in the shield could still work; it gives a nice complement to the main armor set. But, a crystal-like version of the ebony metal could work just as well.

Very nice, I prefer C for normal shield. For tower I would mix the upper half of C with the lower half of B.

I think in both cases I'd be opting for option C. Though that'd make the shields much more ornate than the armor is, but I still wouldn't mind it ;)

I'm with FDT  - C for the small shield, upper half of C and bottom half of B for tower.

Very good work!

I prefer B for both, makes the ornaments less pronounced but still there.

I'm really digging both Cs.

Can't make a choice for the tower they're all looking really great. For the small shield it's an easy B for me

Keep it the same as the armour, I guess? Would look bad in-game if the armour and the shield had different colour schemes.

Yeah, when this shield is modelled the colour in concept art won't matter much, as it will just be the same colours and shaders. I'd leave the official concept as something between A and B, it'd the most readable - not too dark but somewhat contrasted ;)

Perhaps B with more glow would be even better. Keep in mind the armor in-game right now looks much different than that final render.

Prepare high res this could speed up modelling for tracing. Good work