Livery

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Smithy
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Livery

Post by Smithy »

Livery?

As stated before the Loroi Warships carry a lick of Green and silver, due to their close synergy with the Soroin warrior class. So I always wondered why the interceptors aren't Orange and silver, or at least allude to the Tenoin that pilot them (I assume the reason was purely aesthetic [Through a splash of orange would of looked quite lush in my opinion]). Just a casual observation, and while I'm making them, may I inquire to a possibly fluffy reason to the mottled yellow, black, white, and red markings to the Umiak warships? Again I assume this some form of nod to their nomadic past. And still on the question spree, are their any other Loroi Ships which would bare a different livery such as Sector Command ships coloured in Torrai markings, and perhaps Cry of the Wind with an Imperial purple Motif?

And now I'm on a observation roll. Is it just me or do I see an allusion to the Kadesi multi-beam in Umiak shipbuilding? I could so see those Umiak Gunboats doing barrel roles.

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Arioch
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Re: Livery

Post by Arioch »

Each of the races has a distinctive color scheme for their ships to make "team" recognition easy for the reader (Loroi green, Humans red, Barsam blue, Historians white/purple, Umiak yellow, and Morat orange/brown). I have at times toyed with the idea of making the Emperor's personal squadron white, but I doubt that will end up happening, as I don't want to cause team confusion with the Historian vessels, and also I've already established that the black stripe on Black Razor is an Imperial Guard insignia. Tenoin orange for the interceptors would have been uncomfortably similar to the Umiak coloration, and might have caused some confusion over which side they were on, especially since they hadn't been introduced prior to appearing in the midst of combat. So I think it's most likely that all Loroi ships will be green, but there will be more opportunities for customized markings such as have been seen on Black Razor and Tsunami, to help distinguish between notable ships of the same class.

As for the in-universe context, Green is the traditional color of the (Deinar) military, and so is used both for the Soroin livery and the ship coloration. It's true that the Tenoin pilot the interceptors, but they also pilot many of the larger ships as well (including Tempest).

Umiak ship coloration is a reflection of the color of their own bodies, and the white/black/red "war paint" style markings are meant to give an irregular, tribal feel. These are the sort of markings that nomadic Umiak would have painted on their own carapaces, and you'll see some similar markings on some of the hardtroops themselves. My intention has been to have more variations in color for the Umiak ships (from a paler tan/yellow to a more reddish orange), and there will probably be opportunities for this in the future, but often I am finding that clarity means sticking with more uniform coloration. Especially since I did not expect to be hand-coloring the ships (they were originally going to be all CGI renders).

The Umiak and Kadesh vessels do have similar layouts, but this is not intentional. I think Relic was going for a slightly "buggy" look with the Kadesh, and that's certainly what I was going for as well, but I had other examples in mind.

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Smithy
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Re: Livery

Post by Smithy »

That makes a lot of sense for the readership, If the reader has to keep checking back to the insider to work out who he/she is looking at, I guess that would probably reflect badly on the comic. But I do think the races have a distinct feel to them so far, but then again I guess we have still yet to see the supporting races craft yet. I was meaning to ask about the markings, not so much the Imperial Guard black stripes. But the fact Moonglow seems to be entitled to mark her ship with what appears to be her own cipher/hairpin, I guess it is her privilege as a Commodore. Though from a reader, ie practical perspective, I guess it helps let the reader know the ships of interest and the character in question. Though Tempest seems to lack markings, but then again she is the last of her class and she is visually unique.

Personally I think the Emperor's personal Squadron would be visually arresting in a white colour scheme on the black of space, green is good, but it doesn't give that same artistic punch I find at least. But as you said if you fear confusion between "teams" I guess it would depend on the shape and style of the ship's aesthetics. Though Customised markings would look really nice and retain clarity. Though perhaps a solid middle ground is to have white markings on an otherwise green ship. It's still visually interesting and the reader still knows who's who.

I was really impressed with Umiak artistic approach in general, and I look forward to seeing the first glimpses of the Hardtroops (and the Umiaks lower half) concepts some time in the future. It has a really good aggressive feel to it. But as their ships have a very unique look and feel, I think a variation in tint, tone, and shade wouldn't/shouldn't confuse the reader. If anything it would help back up the knowledge that Umiak ships don't retire, the older ones could even go for a slightly more bleached look perhaps?

But in the end I guess that all takes time.

Absalom
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Re: Livery

Post by Absalom »

Certainly, given that some "unit markings" have already been shown, I think that it would make sense for at least some different units (e.g. the Imperial Squadron) to have their own custom "pennant" badges. This would even work well with the visual differentiation between the Loroi and Umiak, since it would make it easier to pick out sub-groups from their detailing. Perhaps the Imperial seal in white?

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Arioch
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Re: Livery

Post by Arioch »

Special insignia are usually associated with some sort of unit citation. Unit commanders have some discretion as to how these honors are displayed, and a cheeky captain (such as Moonglow) may sometimes be able to use the citation as an excuse to display her own personal device.
Smithy wrote: But in the end I guess that all takes time.
It's not so much a question of time, but rather the limitations of the cel-shading style. Because the colors must "break" into discrete regions of color, it's difficult to depict subtle gradations of color and make it clearly distinct from a gradation of light/shadow. So there's a limit to the kind of mottling or soft camouflage type things that you can do.

For example, my concept of Greywind had always been that she had gray-streaked blue hair, but I've never found a way to make that work with this coloring style, without looking completely stupid (or out of style with the rest of the comic). So she is just going to have to have all-gray hair. (Which is probably for the best, as it turns out.)

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Count Casimir
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Re: Livery

Post by Count Casimir »

Arioch wrote:all-gray hair.
Would she have been called Bluewind otherwise?
Ashrain is best rain.

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GeoModder
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Re: Livery

Post by GeoModder »

Only before the revolt that cemented her position as Emperor. ;)
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Smithy
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Re: Livery

Post by Smithy »

The illustrious silverfox..

Ah yeah, well I guess I don't really know that much about cel shading, I looked at your tutorials on the subject a while ago, but I'm pretty hesitant to get on the digital art scene. Not only that I have no real idea were I would begin, but I'm far too at home with pencils, brushes and chalks. So when I bumble on about tone, tint and whatever, I'm so used to working with oils (not that I've used them recently as they're disgustingly expensive) with a painting knife, it all seems pretty straight forward in my head. Either that or watercolour which I still actively paint, be it dry or wet brushing. Though I can see similarities with certain drier watercolour techniques and cel-shading.

I've been meaning to get into pen sketching, an old friend had a sexy set of retro rotring pens was probably part of the reason. I like the clean lines, but again I'm not sure I'll be able to quite make the jump from my comfort zone of sketching. I'll have to tweak my mark as well, because as far as I can tell pen lends itself to a slightly more measured mark, and I can a bit liberal with my 3b. Or maybe it's just my pencil hubris, but I'm not sure I have the time to properly experiment with them at the moment anyway, well I'll try and do some pen & inks in the future perhaps..

Oh and I read through again and I noticed the two lovely ladies grease monkeying away top panel page 42, and I realised I didn't recognise their blue livery, are they one of the supporting guilds, or is it just a tone shift in the dark hanger space? And lastly, what does one have to do to make my coloured rank tabs glow? Thanks!

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Arioch
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Re: Livery

Post by Arioch »

Smithy wrote: Oh and I read through again and I noticed the two lovely ladies grease monkeying away top panel page 42, and I realised I didn't recognise their blue livery, are they one of the supporting guilds, or is it just a tone shift in the dark hanger space?
They're really blue, but they were drawn ad-hoc and I haven't really figured out exactly what the details of the caste/specialization they represent are. My original idea was that there was a unified caste that covered all technical specialties, and had subgroups for the particular disciplines (mechanic, medical technician, engineer, etc.). This caste was originally called Doranzer, but then over time Doranzer became exclusively medical, so I don't really know where these techie folks stand at the moment.

[edit 02 May 2017] This engineering caste is currently called "Gallen."
[edit 06 March 2018] There is currently a uniform concept here.
Smithy wrote: And lastly, what does one have to do to make my coloured rank tabs glow? Thanks!
The key to making something look like it's glowing is to a) make the base color much lighter than normal (red would be pink or even nearly white), and b) make the outer glow darker than the base color (but still lighter than normal) and allow it to slightly obscure the other parts of the image (including linework, if there is any). So in Photoshop, the glow layer is on top of everything else, including the ink/linework.

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