Minimal Effort

I'm probably not looking at this the same way as some of the others do. Part of my process is to figure out what represents that character the most, get that down the best I can, then add a slight touch - for interest. It doesn't always work out well - Caemgen's nose and wing, Synapse's shoulderpads, VexXxa's... well something in there. But sometimes I really like how they turn out - Fenian's lips, Sister Psyche's hair, Amerikatt's tail, Comrade Hero's mask. They might work just as well without them, but I personally like adding those little touches when I can.

The other part that I like to remember, is that this is a superhero game, and there are thousands upon thousands of different designs. It's important to not only make a minimal design, but make one that as uniquely as possible represent the character, and that character alone. That's why I have problems with Suichiro's Burnt Matchstick, Fenian, and VexXxa, as well as Airhead's Synapse (?). If you start at the character, you might be able to see the minimal, but when you start at the minimal, it's a lot harder to go to the character.

An of course, there's the caveat that there is no right or wrong way to do these, I just like writing my thoughts out loud so to speak.

And because I think I can barely make a post here without offering something new, or at least updated, here's a couple more reminimals - which are actually just me cropping the originals down to remove other details.



BTW, I really love seeing how different people bring their own flairs to these. Airhead and Suichiro really do their best to bring things down to the absolute bare minimum (and occasionally beyond in my opinion), I like to add an extra piece to the minimum (with mixed results) I also have a tendency to go for the half-face, and others like to add extra textures and whatnot to help accentuate the pieces - like Christopher Robin's.

Oh, and my 2nd collage with the signature heroes - the pink and purple one is Numina. It's the Freedom Phalanx, she is quite hard to do because she's not as well known, and doesn't have any significant feature that especially stands out.

These are still cool and all.....



...but am I the only one who thinks a bit about South Park when seeing these? I could have sworn I saw a a Cartman in one of them on these pages.

naw, not at all...

Yeah, I don't think that we're ever going to see eye to eye on this. To me, once you start drawing the character, even in simple blocks, you've lost the point of doing a minimalist piece. To me, it's all about taking a non-human shape and making the audience realize that it's referencing one.

In that regard, I am unhappy with Sapphic's mini, but I don't see a way around it.

Black Scorpion, Westin Phipps?, GeeDubs

that last set was easy bubba. none of my characters are all that recognizable, to the forum at least not like burnt matchstick neko for caem's cadre. So i think that it's perhaps more difficult to breakdown the characters to something simply recognizable when the characters themselves are not recognizable. this makes sense. i think.

changing the perspective from the front shot like many of the examples to a profile or focus on a peculiar aspect (babs fist) of any character may help with recognition. I kinda wanna play around with this, but i also want to play around so maybe tomorrow at work, if i don't bring mids with me.

my 2 inf...

This was a tough one to figure out. Not sure if it fully worked or not.

Sorry for the late reply. Life's been... hectic since The Wife™ went back to work 2 weeks ago. Gotta readjust to that...

Anyway, this is an awesome concept and thread, Sui!! Mad props to you!! (Is, "mad props" still cool? Not that I really care... )

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubbawheat Yeah, I just can't stop doing these... btw, if you like these, I'll happily take requests (I can also move to a new thread if you don't want me stealing your thunder, Suichiro). Link goes to DA page with answers if you don't recognize them.

O_O You minimized me!! Cool!! Thanks!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by airhead Savannah Nightwolf - I'm not sure if I've seen this hero. Anyone got a link?

I'd say I'm crushed, but as I mentioned at the start of this reply, I've been kinda absent lately...

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Biggest Troll on the forums? I'll give you a hint:

How many am I up to again? I lost count. Another retread

For once, something that's easy!

Starting to slow down on these, running out of ideas on who to do. Just another collage to show off today.

arbiter

mynx

lady grey

adamaster

hami

hellion

skull (KILL!!!)

maybe that helps

Okay, I'll bite. This is a minimal effort, but the focus is on 'minimal effort' and not on 'minimal'. Been a long day.

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I think the color are off, i didn't have a reference handy...and was too lazy to look one up. You should still be able to figure it out.

I know what it is, but I want to say it's Arbiter Fabulous~

I don't think he would mind.

Not Jack, he's more pink. Looks like my minimal is an epic fail. It's the big ol' Dark Astoria giant monster.

Arc: 379017: Outbroken See all your old friends in the Outbreak Tutorial sequel!
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