Tahuva Drawing

[Axilus Prime]

I decided to post my favorite BZPRPG char, Tahuva. His pieces are not to scale, he's not THAT much bigger than an ordinary toa. Imagine Toa Inika Jaller next to him, but with Tahuva only a head and shoulders taller. Bulk mostly to scale though.http://images.wikia.com/rtwstory/images/d/df/Tahuvapic.jpgI don't know how to do source code, so there's the bare link. Sue me. Comments and (contructive) criticism appreciated.A few pieces involved are the springy tubes, Hordika Feet, Visorak Legs, Inika thigh and upper arm armor, Mistika jets (those are the things on the hips), Baranus V7 wheels (on the sides of the legs), Glatorian Hands, Nuparu Mahri Shields, Piraka Webbed Feet, Brutaka's foot cover thingies, Bohrok Eyes, etc. If it looks like a familiar piece it probably is. Head is a Kadin crossed with Optimus Prime's face (because he wears a Kadin). Weapons not in the drawing, the Lewa Nuva Katana on his shoulders are just part of his armor.

[- JL -]

Looks more like transformer than Bionicle. I don't like the mask - looks too much like Optimus prime. Plus, who wears a faceplate when they wear a mask?

[Axilus Prime]

Well, I made sure to make it out of only existing Bionicle pieces. The large armor pieces are mostly Axalara/Jetrax/Rockoh smooth pieces. The things on the insides of the limbs were present in Takanuva '08 and Toa Mata Nui. As for the faceplate thing, since masks are supposed to have mouths that open and close (at least in the movies), I gave him that to protect in combat a bit and to mirror Optimus, just because Optimus is awesome.

[25K Now!]

It's a rather good picture, but it isn't very Toa-ish. He doesn't look very much like a Toa, nor does it look like he wears a mask. You've basically created a LEGO version of a Bayformer, with Optimus' body built using BIONICLE/Hero Factory parts except for the head. I don't really see the BIONICLE-ness in it except for the pieces.By the way, I preferred Rodimus Prime.

[Axilus Prime]

Oh well. At least now you can better imagine Tahuva walking around and talking in the BZPRPG. (The look in his eyes in that pic is there in almost every scene he's in anyway)But who the Karz is Rodimus Prime?

[25K Now!]

... Oh yeah, you're a Bayverse fan. You don't know about the first ever Transformers movie.Anyway, a way to improve it is to remove the face plate and make his head more Kadin than Optimus Prime. This is BIONICLE, not Transformers. Keep some elements of Prime in the face, but make the Kadin the most noticeable part of the head.

[Wotz]

It's a great drawing, but there are some things I can see that need improvement:The aforementioned adding of Kadin features. Perhaps you could take away the face plate and replace it with the Kadin mouth? His head is ridiculously big I guess it allows you to get more detail in there, but it just seems out of scale.His feet are in a rather awkward position, and it doesn't really look like they can lie flat on the ground.The hands are a tad small.On to the good stuff:I like how you've blended the old Tahuva design with Optimus' movie design. Tahuva appears to have turned into a bit of an Optimus-y character, what with all the Prime (Pyro) dynasty stuff. The movie aesthetic looks quite Bionicle-ish to me anyway.The detail on the recognizable parts is great. I like how you used Visorak feet for his abdomen, and the Onua Mistika shields on his legs.You should try and get that Kadin in there, otherwise it just ends up looking like Optimus Prime with some Bionicle parts thrown in.

[Meiko]

When I first saw it, I thought it was Optimus Prime, which is like the only Transformer I know by name. :PIt's pretty cool, and I'll love to see it when it has been colored. I assume you have already built it, because the scale looks a bit complicated.Also, I think the proportions are a bit off in the sketch.

[Axilus Prime]

Oh, I didn't know you had seen the original Tahuva. Friar Tuck vetoed him so I had to make a new version. Thanks for all the comments!Oh, and I don't have even a fourth of the parts I used for this, so I can never build him. XDThe reason for not putting in a Kadin was a big smile and too many spikes wouldn't fit Tahuva's personality.

[25K Now!]

A big smile and spikes doesn't fit Nuparu either, but he still has one.

[Vezok's Friend]

Ok, so that gives us all an idea how Tahuva looks like. (Do we imagine he is voiced by Peter Cullen now as well?)As far as the drawing goes, it is neat, but there's still a lot you could improve. Mostly, the proportions and the perspective on the legs are both off. His upper thighs are way too short and his torso and legs are overall too small for the rest of his body. The common rule of thumb is to assume a humanoid body's shoulder-width is 3 times the width of the head. The Elbows should come down to in-between the bottom of the rib-cage and the hands should come down to about halfway down the thighs. Perspective-wise, you started with a simple 2D full-front perspective on the head and upper body, while on the legs the viewer is suddenly looking at them slight from above. You want to keep a consistent perspective throughout your drawings, after all.Just my two cents, I hope it helps a bit.Otherwise, just keep drawing and your sketches will start to improve.

[Axilus Prime]

I can see your point on the proportions and perspective. The more I look at those the more I find strange. I did fail on the shoulders, but the head was so hard to draw I didn't want to start over. (Lazy me...)Thanks for the advice, and yes he does have that peter cullen voice. (His original vetoed incarnation had a Mask of Light Tahu voice)

[Skarloth]

Optimus Prime much? XDI don't get the Lewa Blades on his shoulders, and his hands seem a little bit badly proportioned. Very elaborate though, and it doesn't look like I can say much more than Vezok already has. -Skar

[Axilus Prime]

Optimus had these two things on his shoulders that weren't as sharp (go get a pic of him) and the shoulders looked kinda bland and flat without them, so I added them.

[Uncle K.]

Optimus had these two things on his shoulders that weren't as sharp (go get a pic of him) and the shoulders looked kinda bland and flat without them, so I added them.

Maybe you shouldn't base it mostly off of Optimus Prime from the new movies? :shrugs:I know I would prefer to see your originality come out; show us what your imagination can get up to in one drawing. If you're more creatively attached to in, then generally, so we shall be also.I agree with VF one hundred percent, don't follow transformers for proportions, I mean, the originals were boxes and the new ones were not made to be realistic- if they were really made of metal their arms would have sheared right off their torsos from the weight, for one example. The only real thing that Bionicle characters can easily get away with proportion-wise is head size, since the Toa started things off with large heads it's generally accepted. However: the bigger you go with the overall body size, the smaller the head should get. Not overly small, but it will not have the same ratio of head-to-body size as a Matoran would, if you will.His pose is a little iffy, like his lower half decided to go for a swim but neglected to inform the rest of him. For the straight-on approach of the top, it would be better to match it with the feet, including placing them on level ground, and keeping the toe/claws the same size: perspective is flipped on the left one.I don't have too much of a beef with his construction, except the inclusion of the overly transformer bits- I looked long and hard for any wheels, which just come out of nowhere. His arms are especially at odds, the flame decals should probably go, mostly to save yourself the temptation of coloring him red and blue. But at least there are no windshields!I took the liberty of looking up your profile for him, and I lament the lack of any weapons. The flame axe and triple-barrel-blast-rod come to mind as being pretty interesting, and I would like to see what you envision the latter to look like. I also don't know why the knuckles weren't already present... simple attachments that would make his hands much more proportioned. If he really is only slightly bigger than a Toa they would be the size of maybe two fingers. Don't work on a large robot scale if the end product should be something drastically smaller.Okay, lastly, I just want to say, his personality in your bio is extraordinarily similar to the Bay Optimus, I implore you explore other stories than Transformers. Please, for your sake.

[Axilus Prime]

Good points, all of them, though I did intentionally add Optimus elements to him. The first Tahuva I made was vetoed, so I combined him with Optimus and powered him down, and Friar Tuck approved. Oh, and I do go into other stories quite a lot. Bionicle for one, Dragon Ball Z, and many of Dervian's moves are clearly based off of Naruto. As for original chars, there's Kahua and Shohu. (Kahua may seem similar to Gaara but the way he uses his Iron Sand is very different). They did make Sideswipe and Ironhide quotes respectively, but they weren't based on them. Unlike Tahuva who is intentionally based on Optimus. The wheels seem to beef out his legs in my opinion..