#steelheart redux behind the scenes

[emberglowfox]

Would you mind explaining your design process on Zarian and the models like him in general? Did you have any particular inspirations for it?

sure!

basically, when i designed robot zarian / the DRACOs in general (which were also the first things i designed for redux), i had never designed an original robot, like, ever. this is the first drawing i ever did, just kind of feeling out what 'robot dragon' conjured in my head:

which was cool, but it wasn't quite what i wanted. the silhouette wasn't robot-y enough. so i started trawling for inspiration.

i took (and still take) a LOT of inspiration from the robot designs of horizon zero dawn, which is one of my favorite fictional worlds of all time. i liked the simultaneous sleekness and clunkiness of them. they felt advanced, but not flawless. i also let real technology inform some of my decisions. since the DRACOs were meant to be robotic single-rider mounts, i looked at motorcycles a lot. this first full-body pass was made by photobashing pictures of motorcycles together, which i then drew on top of. the head is very hzd-inspired, and while it wasn't the right vibe again, the single eye stuck.

once i'd decided i liked the single eye but not the head shape i currently had, i did more exploration on it. these sketches are from when i was sitting sleep-deprived in a cafe:

(the head ended up being a fusion of the top two. the jaw spikes were meant to be included, but eventually just got kind of fused into the jaw-piece.)

here are the first drawings of him with that head, when i was also trying to figure out how he would emote with only a single eye and the ears:

and over time, i just... kept drawing him, keeping some things the same, changing some things to fit my shifting tastes. through just on-going trial and error, both visual and "what elements do i need for plot / story things", he evolved over time, until i got the zarian we know and love today.

(this model is a bit out-dated now, but most of the main bits are there.)

#3d modeling all of the robos has also been a huge help bc it forces me to really think about them in 3d space #and also the mechanics that make up their moving parts #its why they change so much every time i model them bc i realize a bunch of things need to be changed. HA #this is long but i wanted to talk about it. hope it helps #zarian #ask #hypervein #i need to redo zarian a bit i havent been 100% on the wings. i like the outer bits not the innards theyre underdeveloped. been meaning #to model him properly anyway #steelheart redux #steelheart redux behind the scenes

[emberglowfox]

Would you mind letting us know how Stealheart Redux went from (what looked to be) a more typical dragon rider story to more high-tech / robot themed? I would love to know how that process kinda went, cause it seems like a bit of a jump. A good one in my opinion, but still :3

gladly! this is a fun answer because i know exactly how and when it happened. part of the fun of basically this entire thing being developed in a discord server with my friends (it's a personal server, we just have an infodump channel i fucking live in LOL) is i can track basically every new development down to the minute, because i tend to go straight there.

basically, the long and short of it was i'd been trying to plot the story for about six months and was still dissatisfied. it was still regularly going semi-major overhauls, and i felt directionless, like i was fighting against the story itself. so i took a step back and tried to figure out why that was. one thing i hit on was the timeframe.

steelheart, the ORIGINAL concept, is derived from an old (extremely expansive, basically oc world) au concept i came up with for fandom stuff years ago. THAT story was set in ye olden hand-waved medieval times. when i started drafting original steelheart, the oc-ified remake, i wanted it set in modern times, for the fun of it.

but i didn't really... change anything else about the story in consistency with that. i just kept trying to jam plot elements that didn't fit anymore into the new holes.

after leaving it alone for a month or so while focusing on other things, i decided to come at it from a new angle: completely embracing the time period, instead of awkwardly trying to get around it. i ended up going more 'future' than 'modern', clearly, but it ended up working out fantastically, and while the story still isn't done, it's a hell of a lot stronger in literally every aspect than predux (what i call original version) ever was.

as proof, here's the discord messages:

(this is also where the name 'steelheart redux' came from!)

#also accidentally gave myself a robot obsession but ive been having a blast w that so. no downsides #great question! thanks for letting me talk about this hahaha #steelheart redux #steelheart redux behind the scenes #i guess. ha #ask #hypervein #“is your name in your friend discord just sparks” no. lol #“you know redux isn't a verb right” found this out like last week acutally dw abt it

[emberglowfox]

Hey I just wanna say that Steelheart Redux is like, the coolest thing ever and I'm obsessed with it and so, so excited for if it ever becomes like, a comic or something

THANK YOU!!!! im glad people have been enjoying my sillies

and yes, comic is indeed the plan! it's still undergoing heavy workshopping behind the scenes, so no estimations on how soon things will start happening. but if you're interested, the comic itself and directly related things are eventually going to live at @steelheart-redux.

#can't believe i'm actually making a webcomic. the one thing i swore up and down i would never do #(bad at making comics and terrified of long-term projects) #but like. fuck it we ball. i have to tell this story or i'll break in half #sparks speaks #ask #gardenergulfie #steelheart redux