Hiroi Sekai: The Vast World of Creation

[Hiroi Sekai]

Spoiler for LAAAAAARGE!!:

Just a little project I'm working on- iM@S cards!

[Tong]

Great sketches! Your drawing skills are maximum.

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by Tong

Great sketches! Your drawing skills are maximum.

Hey, thanks! Much appreciated.

[Hiroi Sekai]

Wow, how long has it been?

How.
Long.
Has.
It.
BEEN.

As of late I've been a little lacking in the drawing side because I'm planning on continuing my Bachelor of Visual Arts in uni very soon; I want to develop my own style as opposed to borrowing existing images to reference. So what HAVE I been up to, then? Well, writing...and designing (kinda).

"Writing" as in my (and Echoes') blog, Hiroi Sekai. If you're interested in reading up on some entertaining stuff presented in a somewhat new way (via segments), then be sure to check it out.

Bigger still is my old project, which was a fangame of the Ace Attorney (Phoenix Wright) series. These games always entertained me back then, and having played them again recently, I can say I love them just as much. I must say that a lot had gone into the project, but when my old lappy died a while back, it took the project with it. Luckily, it's all back up and running (thanks Sofiel, for fixing the laptop and salvaging a majority of the files), and now I'm going full steam at it.

There's the trailer for it, created by one "immo-love" of deviantART a while back. Basically, this project is requiring me to learn basic programming, write an entire story from start to finish, compose scenarios that match the gameplay style of the original games, scout for voice actors, find assistance for the music, spriting and programming departments, and best of all, design original characters. Here is the page detailing what it's all about, if you're curious.

Right now, I do have a nice and reliable bunch helping me out with this project. We're mainly working on getting a playable demo out to the public, since it takes so long to make and they've been surprisingly patient. Progress is a little slow due to school, but right now I've been cooperating with a very talented DA artist to create concept arts for the characters I've been creating. While all of the characters have been created in description, we're now working to get all of artwork finished. Let me tell you, drawing's tough, but designing characters from scratch? Wow. I had to think of everything from the eye colour/shape to the hairstyle, and down to the clothing, stature, pose and accessories as well. It's crazy fun I admit, but since I'm not really fashionable myself, it's been an interesting process indeed.

So below are the concept arts, in each step that they've gone through. If you like them, be sure to visit sikiie's DA page and check out her other works. Hey, maybe you might even feel like commissioning her for your own ideas. It's nice to see that traditional artists still exist today; EVERYTHING is computer art these days.

Spoiler for Katherine:

First concept sketch after receiving details. I found it flooring that she got it so near perfect on her first try.


Fully lined version, and this will go through to be coloured. The "LT" on her uniform stands for "Lordly Tailor", an exhibition company that showcases rare artifacts in events.

Character Description: Katherine (Kat for short, named after the Cat's Eye gemstone) is an ex-thief who had run into trouble with the law in a previous occasion for attempting to steal a priceless gem. After serving her time, she insisted that she had no intentions of stealing again, so she was set up as a guard in the Lordly Tailor exhibit, where a priceless gem would taunt her and a set of hidden cameras would provide proof of her rehabilitation or crime.

Spoiler for Helen Ritz:

Concept sketch after sending details. Quite a good portrayal of the information sent, but this one did (and will continue to) go through a few more changes.


Lined version to set in place before colouring. Everything else is good, but she was set to wear a beret with a flower that matched the ones on her shoes, so that edit will be made before colouring.

Character Description: Helen has a mysterious past that even she can't seem to remember. After a traumatic experience in her earlier years, Helen went missing from her home and chose to take up a pen and become an author. Her dark but captivating stories are very popular with masses, and she's had offers to write for companies. Being a quite humble and gentle lone wolf, she refused and decided to keep her stories pure.

Spoiler for Alice Jupiter:

Concept sketch after sending details. There were a couple accessories missing and the eyes seemed a bit large, but all of those have been edited.


And there you have the edits. She wears a thin watch on one wrist, and on the other she wears a bracelet that has a special coin attached, which she loves to flip to make easy decisions like whether to eat cereal or eggs for breakfast. Somehow the stripes on her stockings were lost along the way, but those will be edited back in.

Character Description: Alice is a rising pop star in Japan, and along with her closest friend Risa Saturn, the two have been known as an unstoppable duo in the idol industry. Alice loves to concern herself over topics like cute things and fashion, and she's got an overly peppy attitude that is best portrayed through her songs.


So yeah, I'll add to that list as updates happens, but as you can see, my design choices are funny and the artist is crazy awesome. That's all for this update, but there's another 10 characters to be designed from scratch, so be sure to check back!

[Kimidori]

Wow.......
THIS. SOUND. AWESOME!!!

Hope i will get to play this soon, how long you think the development gonna take?

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by Kimidori

Wow.......
THIS. SOUND. AWESOME!!!

Hope i will get to play this soon, how long you think the development gonna take?

Thanks^^

That all depends on meetup times, progression rates and amounts of free time that everyone can get. Basically, I need to finish the word-for-word script, the programmers have to get together to import characters and code every action taken in game, and on top of that the artist, voice actors and hopefully soon-to-come composer and spriter need time to do what they do.

Basically, there's a TON of work that goes into this, so right now I'm just going to say that the full project will still be going for quite a while, but the entire first case is planned to be released as a demo as quickly as possible. Can't really give a date for when that is either, unfortunately. Sorry!

[Hiroi Sekai]

So, what happens when you have a night where you just don't feel like writing? You get a night where you try to fill that void with a mass of colours! I took one of the concept sketches, printed it out, coloured it in like a crazed kindergarten student who is on the run from the mental institution guards, and then scanned it in again.



I think it turned out okay; it was a good overview that allowed me to decide on which colours to go with for the final product, and I felt like a kid again- it was fantastic. Anyways, this isn't an official update to the concept sketches, so please don't be wetting your pants or sending me death threats about how the colouring looks.

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

please don't be wetting your pants or sending me death threats about how the colouring looks.

You're not the boss of me!

Colors look really good, I like how her overalls are lighter colors, while her knee socks (or whatever they're called) and shoes are bright red. I think that's the hair-color I imagined her with when you showed me the sketch too.

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

Awesome stuff

Holy shit. So you basically managed this whole project on your own?

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by Echoes

You're not the boss of me!

Colors look really good, I like how her overalls are lighter colors, while her knee socks (or whatever they're called) and shoes are bright red. I think that's the hair-color I imagined her with when you showed me the sketch too.

I AM the boss of your family though! I CONTROL YOUR MAAAANIEZ!

But yeah, thanks. There's a couple colours I'll consider changed for the actual official colouring, but this was just good fun.

Originally Posted by Forsaken_Infinity

Holy shit. So you basically managed this whole project on your own?

Managing, yes. I am getting a lot of help so production credit is shared, but the story and concept I've been coming up with for quite some time now.

[Kimidori]

lol, i just realized that this is PW: Remnants of the Past, i have read about this back at the day i'm lurking at court-record, glad to see it still alive after 4 year of development

I'm really sorry to hear about the laptop, i think one in a while you should backup all your coding to an online backup service like adrive, amazon cloud or google docs.

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by Kimidori

lol, i just realized that this is PW: Remnants of the Past, i have read about this back at the day i'm lurking at court-record, glad to see it still alive after 4 year of development

I'm really sorry to hear about the laptop, i think one in a while you should backup all your coding to an online backup service like adrive, amazon cloud or google docs.

Haha thanks, the laptop issues are a thing of the past (stuff like Google Docs, Amazon and such weren't really well known when I had my first lappy, unfortunately...). Now the big fight is against time.

Oh yeah, and the art's evolving! Really lucky to have such a talented artist helping out here. The ones without colour are just the concept sketches which will definitely progress into the coloured versions later on.

Spoiler for Alice Jupiter, Songstress of the Cosmos:

Spoiler for Cassandra Orion Pea, Astronomer to the Stars:

Spoiler for Helen Ritz, Writer With a Shrouded Past:

Spoiler for Katherine, Loving Sister and Elusive Thief:

Spoiler for Mei & Yoko Nakago, Sharp Twins of the Blade:

Spoiler for Risa Saturn, Gentle Glimmer of the Wind's Song:

[Mr.Raw]

Awesome drawings papermario Have you tried coloring them digitally? ;O (With Painter or Photoshop?)

[Krytonis]

These are one of the best drawings I have EVER seen! Amazing! Good Job! You are alot better than me!

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by Godlike1889

Awesome drawings papermario Have you tried coloring them digitally? ;O (With Painter or Photoshop?)

Originally Posted by Koominator

These are one of the best drawings I have EVER seen! Amazing! Good Job! You are alot better than me!

Hey thanks, but I just wanted to clarify that those actual drawings were not done by me. I came up with the concepts and colours, and sikiie from deviantART is the artist here. My own decently shabbier drawings are further back. xD

And nope, I haven't considered colouring them digitally since we're hoping to directly use these in a second trailer later on for the game.

[Hiroi Sekai]

Oh yeeeeeah, productivity! Now on board with the project is a talented music composer, Calum Bowen; definitely, definitely check out his work here. If you've ever heard of Up Up Ubi in the App Store, you've probably heard some of his tracks already.

Aside from that, I kinda wanted to get an early start on the upcoming AS banner competition, and since one of the gradients had a decent gap of votes, I used it in my first composition. Will definitely post it in the future collaboration thread to get some C&C, but I thought I'd show it here first anyways.

[Rennir]

Render size is too small The general area is fine, although a bit small for my tastes personally, but the size of the render needs to be bigger. I would advise against trying to fit the entire body into the banner as it weakens the focal. Try adding the upper body or up to the shoulder. Otherwise, I don't see any problems with it Nice job with the text

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by Rennir

Render size is too small The general area is fine, although a bit small for my tastes personally, but the size of the render needs to be bigger. I would advise against trying to fit the entire body into the banner as it weakens the focal. Try adding the upper body or up to the shoulder. Otherwise, I don't see any problems with it Nice job with the text

Hey, thanks for the C&C I do have to say that I borrowed the render from another of my earlier works, so I guess I cheated it a little. Will go back and cut out a new render for sure. I'll also have a look to see if I can move it around and such.

[blaze0041]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

Aside from that, I kinda wanted to get an early start on the upcoming AS banner competition, and since one of the gradients had a decent gap of votes, I used it in my first composition. Will definitely post it in the future collaboration thread to get some C&C, but I thought I'd show it here first anyways.

Originally Posted by Rennir

Render size is too small The general area is fine, although a bit small for my tastes personally, but the size of the render needs to be bigger. I would advise against trying to fit the entire body into the banner as it weakens the focal. Try adding the upper body or up to the shoulder. Otherwise, I don't see any problems with it Nice job with the text

Perhaps you could use the full body (smaller) version of the character as part of the background, then have the bigger (focused on the upper body) version in the foreground as the focal point? Just my two cents.
The background deco looks very nice. It's a little hard to describe why, perhaps it's the colours and it blending in with the background?

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by blaze0041

Perhaps you could use the full body (smaller) version of the character as part of the background, then have the bigger (focused on the upper body) version in the foreground as the focal point? Just my two cents.
The background deco looks very nice. It's a little hard to describe why, perhaps it's the colours and it blending in with the background?

Thanks for the notes, I actually tried for your suggestion and could not produce something at all >.< I am disappoint in meself.

Either way, I fumbled with stuff and tried making two other versions: