Ragazzi, qui di segiuto vi annuncio la nuova email che mi è giunta direttamente dalla
total war...
THE ART OF WAR
Happy New Year! This month sees the welcome return of our popular Game Save challenge, plus an exclusive interview with an Empire: Total War artist and the chance to win a copy of the fantastic new book 'Machinima for Dummies'.
Before we get started, fans of our recently announced Viking: Battle for Asgard will be pleased to learn that our official Viking Forums, MySpace Profile and Facebook Group are now online!
EMPIRE: TOTAL WAR ARTIST INTERVIEW
Mark O’Connell from TotalWar.com recently had the chance to speak to Michael Kutsche about his Empire: Total War artwork which has graced the covers of GameStar and PC Gameplay magazines in Europe.
TotalWar.com:Did you work from any in-game references from Empire: Total War when drawing the grenadier?
MK:There were some historical book illustrations of grenadiers for costume reference in the beginning, but no in-game references.
TotalWar.com:How did you decide upon the pose that the character is in?
MK:On a magazine cover there’s only some space where the image is fully visible, you have to find a composition that fits perfectly between the text and headline. In most of the cases the briefing demands eye contact of the character to the viewer. The challenge is to meet these requirements without losing the natural, loose feel. I wanted to catch the mood of a movie-like shot but still keep everything stylised somehow.
TotalWar.com:Did you come up with any other concepts before going ahead with what became the final design?
MK:The first sketch had the muzzle of the rifle reaching out of the page.I started again and turned the pose a little. It’s often that the first sketch is the best approach; from there I do little changes and proceed to finalization.
TotalWar.com:Is the face based on / inspired by a real-life person?
MK:As you can see in the pic above, I took the chance to expose myself on the cover? :)Usually I paint without taking reference photos; since I can think, that’s the way I paint, but in this case it was a good solution.
TotalWar.com:What techniques and programs were used to create the artwork?
MK:Sketches with pencils on paper. Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Corel Painter X with a Wacom Cintiq 21UX.
TotalWar.com:Can you talk us through each of the following work-in-progresses, and how they got to each stage:
MK:
1. The first thing I did was a line drawing to become aware of the silhouette, proportions, posing etc.
2. Going over to colorizing in Photoshop and painter.
3. Working on details and changing mood of colour.
4. As I said before, I restarted again on the character, ‘cause the muzzle had to be in focus.
TotalWar.com:Were any artistic styles from the time period of influence?
MK:Yes, I had some old master paintings of battle scenarios in mind, but I didn’t want to just copy that style. I’m a big admirer of all periods of art, but mostly contemporary art.
TotalWar.com:Do you have a background in working with traditional media?
MK:When I find some time between projects, I often shut down the computerand enjoy playing around with oil paint. It’s always good to hold something in your hands that exists only once in this universe.
TotalWar.com:How long did the Empire artwork ultimately take, from concept to completion?
MK:5 days.
TotalWar.com:Finally, what is it like to see your artwork published on the front cover of a magazine?
MK:Of course it fills me with pride! I remember myself drawing a world of knights, skeletons, robots and cowboys when I was 5, so it’s cool to finally make a living with it.
TotalWar.com:Thanks for your time!
MK:You’re welcome!
CREATE A CALENDAR UPDATE
Congratulations to Jacob Oleksów in Poland who won January’s Create A Calendar Competition. February’s competition is now underway, so get your creative juices flowing for a chance to win some fantastic Total War prizes! Full entry details and January’s downloadable calendar wallpaper are available here
GAME SAVE CHALLENGE
Back by popular demand, we are pleased to reveal our latest Game Save Challenge. To celebrate the release of Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms, we have set our latest challenge in the Britannia Campaign.
Faction:Norway
Turn:61
Florins:-24,000
Difficulty:Very Hard
Summary:Norway is in pretty bad shape and losing thousands of florins per turn. All the old Norwegian lands are now English, they have a lot of ships and a few merchantmen, but these are scattered
Challenge:Can you conquer the ENTIRE map within the next 100 turns?
Click here to download the Norway Game Save Challenge!
We’d love to hear how you get on, so head over to our official forums to talk about the challenge and update us with your progress!
COMPETITION: FOR DUMMIES!
Machinima is a cinematic technique involving the rendering of computer-generated imagery from a video game. ‘Machinima for Dummies’ is a fantastic new book that provides clear direction on how to make these movies yourself. There is even an entire chapter dedicated to creating epic historical battles using Medieval II: Total War!
For a chance to win a copy of the book, simply answer the following question:
Q.Which Total War game is featured in the book ‘Machinima for Dummies?
Send your answers along with your full name, age and postal address to: totalwarcomp@creative-assembly.com.
The closing date for entries is midnight on 31st January. By entering this competition, you are confirming you have read and agreed to our Competition Terms and Conditions found here.
That’s all we have time for this month, so stay tuned to
www.totalwar.com for all the latest Empire: Total War and Medieval II: Kingdoms updates!
Take care,
Mark O’Connell
(aka SenseiTW)
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è in inglese ma spero ke qualcosa la capite...
purtroppo nn so comne postare le immagini...