Here is a concept art for a set of characters to be used to create a "secret" intro video for our game, Ash of Gods. These creatures are ancient to the world and take a fundamental part in its story, and it will up to the play to figure out what part exactly do they play in it. They are supposed to be the villains though not so black-and-white which some more complicated motivations than to spread evil.
All these we have tried to show in their appearance. What do you think of the result?

Hello everyone!
We have stopped working on a new character design a while ago and need some feedback from you folks.
This guy`s name is Krieger, and he should make an impression of an old battle-hardened war dog.

Hope to see some constructive criticism.

Art by Vladislav Samoylikov & Igor Podmogilnikov

I like Coronzon, I see him as a fragile man with a never ending fight inside which is why he sees so much of himself in others. Those around him are his mirror to the soul, sorry, I've had some wine.

Wow, I love the artwork, so much Character and heart. I'd play this game just to learn more about the characters.

The last animation picture you posted, the top right animation seems a bit odd, at the end he puts the knife back in his satchel and the does a 'ah ha! you see!' kinda move. seems strange to me.

also, who is the main antagonist? the one you mentioned seems so.... well I won't say. It's just I've always been entertained by cool antagonists, ones that seem ironic almost, they capture my imagination. Like that first picture you posted at the very beginning, he would make a bad ass antagonist.

Also, the women are really hot.

Sorry for a late response - got a bit cought up here.

I like your view on the Coronzon, we saw him more as a one-dimensional I wouldn't say "evil" but "malicious" character. Maybe we should develop his personality further.

Puting the dagger away might seem odd because he is doing that continiously, but in the actual game he will be mostly casting (as he is a wizard), thus he won't be using dagger that much.

The main antagonist? Well, it's hard to say. You will have an opposing force with the Reapers being its leaders, but you will find out during the game - there is no "evil" party per se, just various groups with their own goals. Does being on one of them automatically make it "good" and the confronting ones "evil"? Or what do you think defines a side of a conflict as "evil"?

And yes, we try to keep our charcaters attractive without going over the top with it.

The one on the left is apprenticing/ face like a scull. Next to him, she wants to strike fear into the hearts of those who make eye contact with her and lours them in from afar. The center is confident in his conduct, the paradox of such makes him the worst and he has no obvious weakness to exploit. Next to him, he is the most intelligent and strong, but he has deep seeded insecurities and thus fumbles. The last girl, she loves the sport of the kill. She is quick to betray as she has been betrayed most severely.

I really like your read on the characters, you almost precisely described their personalities, wow. Though I wouldn't go into details not to spoil everything, as finding out who are these charcaters and what is there agenda is a core part of the game's plot.

The new character for our game is ready. There have been a lack of female heroes in our most recent posts, so the time has come to share with you the beautiful Philia, a mysterious herbalist and talented witch doctor. Hope you like it! Artwork by Vladislav Samoylikov

Could be just me, however it looks like the image isn't showing. Clicking it takes me to a site that wants a password.

Thank you, it should be fixed now.

Also here's a new miniature which is necessary for rotoscoping of this tough highlander.

Personally, while I like the style and the art (the animation really looks lifelike), I am not so sure about the moves themselves.

The whole moveset looks very "telegraphed", like no one with the smallest hint of martial arts training would be hit by that stab.

Its ESPECIALLY damning as the fact that daggers can be used to stab someone MULTIPLE TIMES PER SECOND, and attacks with daggers from expert users are really hard to read even by good martial artists makes this animation look like this is a total amateur in both daggerfighting and martial arts.

That kind of "telegraphed" moves would maybe pass with swords, if you really want more "showy" animations than realistic ones (realistic sword fighting also tries not to telegraph the next move). For daggers... no.

Have a look at how the experts use daggers on youtube and awe at the speed of their movements. Now, if that makes SENSE in game animations, IDK. It would make the animation hard to read, which would be realistic, because you shouldn't really see what a dagger user is doing until his target falls over and you can count the stab wounds on his dead body.

You might want a more showy style, slow down the dagger stabs to make them more readable. Never should a dagger user however have to "wind up" a stab like this. Actually, AFAIK dagger usage usually does not involve a "lunge" as a dagger is most deadly used in closer proximity (however, I cannot vouch for the parry daggers in the age of the rapier not being used the same way as thrusting swords were, which includes the lunge as pretty much the standard movement to attack).

This is nitpicking, of course. But you asked, and really, artistically there is nothing I could complain about with most of your newer work, so I am nitpicking to have something to say ;)

Thank you for your input :)

We actually do have people on the team who are into fencinf/historical reconstruction and they did raise similar questions but the thing is that we need to find a trade of between how artistic and realistic the movements are. We went for the former (so we've recorded an actor for rotoscoping not a fencer) as it allows us to have more artistic somewhat exaggarated moves. We feel like it works better with the fantasy setting and 2D cartoon-like animations.

Do you think this might be a problem for some people?