[S] Rex Duodecim Angelus - Artists Needed

[Obselescence]

Notice: It is a really good idea to at least skim through the thread before jumping in on any of the discussion. Several things have already been discussed out, and it looks better for everybody if you do not accidentally revive a horse that was beaten to death only to beat it more.

LINK TO THE WIKI (Where you will find a complete list of assets made for [S]RDA)

Alterniabound, the latest amazing album for Homestuck, features a really cool song by the name of Rex Duodecim Angelus.

If you haven't heard it yet, you need to check this stuff out.

The idea of the song was to be the background music to the epic final boss fight of Hivebent, featuring our twelve favorite trolls against a 12x prototyped Black King. The only problem was that the battle doesn't exist. There isn't a flash for the music to play to.

Or, at least, there isn't one yet.

The goal of this project would be to piece together a Fan [S] comic for the Black King battle (to the tune of Rex Duodecim Angelus, of course), using the amazing artistic and creative resources of MSPA Forums. Hands up, everybody. This is something that has to hapen.



Now, in order to actually go through with this, we need several things. The first would be a storyboard, detailing the events of the flash in order, so that we actually know what needs to be drawn, what needs to be done, and so on.

So, through some heavy listening, I've taken the liberty of piecing together a basic storyboard:

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References for shape of Black King and Background:

Black King and Background

Black King's face and Trolls' Platform

(Backgrounds). Blue sky with lily pads and robo Aradias scattered around. Meteors in the sky. (constant throughout the flash).

0:00 - 0:14 (1-14s) - Shot of Black King's face (glaring menacingly with multiple eyes). Zooms out to full body.

0:15 - 0:30 (15-30s) - Pan shot of the twelve trolls, in order of introduction (Karkat, Gamzee, Terezi, Sollux, Tavros, Aradia, Nepeta, Vriska, Equius, Kanaya, Eridan, Feferi).
Everybody is angrily glaring back (about to get into the fight), except for Gamzee, who should have a zoned-out "What's going on?" expression.

(Backgrounds) 0:06 - 0:30 (6-30s) - Aradiabots teleporting in (ideally in sync with the warps in the music).

0:30 - 0:50 (30-50s) - Derse soldiers -- Bishops, Rooks, Pawns, warp/drop from ships onto the trolls' platform. Pawns align in formation. Shots of Bishops and Rooks in battle poses.

0:50 - 0:53 (50-53s) - GRIEF! lettering displayed.

0:54 - 1:10 (54-70s) - Shots of the trolls fighting the Derse soldiers. Karkat slicing a pawn in half with the Clawsickle. Eridan and Sollux blasting away a line of soldiers with Ahab's Crosshairs/Eyebeams. Tavros knocks over pawns with the rocketchair. Kanaya slices soldiers with the chainsaw... etc. As much as can reasonably be fit into a little less than half a minute.

1:10 - 1:15 (70-75s) - Trolls triumphantly standing over the bodies of the defeated soldiers. Look up in surprise and see incoming attack from the King.

1:16 - 1:33 (76-93s) - King strikes the Trolls' platform with tentacles. Shots of trolls dodging the flailing tentacles. Tavros may be hanging out of his rocketchair.

1:34 - 2:04 (94-124s) - Karkat looks up angrily and stands, rallying the trolls. Shots of Karkat fighting the tentacles. Slicing them in half, tentacles wrapping around his ankles. Tentacle sneaks up from behind him and knocks Karkat out at 2:04 cymbal crash.

2:05 - 2:12 (125-132s) - Terezi steps over Karkat (who is semi-unconscious on the ground). Shots of her grinning maniacally, holding dragon-sword cane.

2:13 - 2:22 (133-142s) - Terezi slowly walks to the edge of the lily pad platform, slicing at encroaching tentacles with the dragon-sword cane.

2:23 - 2:32 (143-152s) - Terezi leaps off the platform and plunges the dragon-sword cane into one of the king's eyes (the EYE-rony!) on the last note.

2:33 - 2:55 (153-175s)- Black King reels backward. Crabclaw cuts trolls' platform lily pad in half. The Trolls are forced to jump to different lily pads. Terezi could be helping a still-disoriented Karkat. Maybe Vriska fluttering with god tier wings. Equius might be strongjumping with Nepeta in tow. Tavros could have the spaced-out Gamzee as a passenger. Kings' remaining eyes might also be firing red-blue beams ala Sollux, forcing the trolls to dodge those too. Everybody reaches new lily pads safely.

2:56 - 3:15 (176-195s) - Tavros pushes Gamzee off his rocketchair and prepares to charge at the Black King with a lance. Shots of aerial acrobatics as Tavros dodges eyebeams and gets close to the Kings' heart. But in keeping with the nature of Tavros' character, he gets hit just before he's within stabbing range and flies out of control.

3:16 - 3:24 (196-204s) - Kanaya jumps onto Tavros' damaged rocket chair and rescues him (motherly), pushing him off the rocketchair and onto a nearby lily pad.

3:25 - 3:34 (205-214s) - Kanaya leaps from the damaged rocket chair and use her chainsaw to cut off the King's crabclaw.

3:35 - 3:54 (215-234s) - Shots of Equius and Nepeta punching/clawing at the Black King's face in accordance with the switches in the music.

3:55 - 4:12 (235-252s) - Switch to a shot of Feferi holding her hand out to Eridan, which Eridan takes reluctantly. Eridan begins charging up for a massive blast with Ahab's Crosshairs. Black King's secondary head receives most of the burst, and is shown heavily charred. Feferi takes the opportunity to jump and stab Black King in the heart with the 2x3dent.

4:13 - 4:35 (253-275s) - Black King, damaged now, raises up the scepter. Larger meteors begin to crash down, obliterating lily pads. Possibly a scene where Karkat and Terezi, standing together, jump up and slice a meteorite in two before it hits their pad.

4:36 - 4:55 (276-295s) - Aradia and Sollux levitate up with psychic powers. Make a big show of posing together, both of them with one armed raised. Pausing meteors are shown to stop in midair and start flying toward the King. King is hit by a shower of meteors.

4:56 - 5:07 (296-307s) - Gamzee stands up. Clearly no longer dazed with a wicked expression on his face. Stands dramatically at the edge of his lily pad, sways like he's sort of unstable, laughing as the music builds up.

5:08 - 5:13 (308-313s) - Quick flashing shots of Gamzee flying at the Black King with the Deuce Clubs . Eyes might be half-way open and bright orange as a kind of cross between stoner-mode and rage mode. Massive explosion seen on Black King, reflected by the "thunder" of the music. Black King is missing an arm and a large chunk of the right side of its body after the explosion. Ends with a shot of Gamzee zoning out again. It's been agreed on multiple times that the attack should not actually be shown (due to its mysterious and ambiguous nature), so the contents of Gamzee's attack should not be a point of discussion.

5:14 - 5:32 (314-332s) - King begins to flail around. Tentacles and its scepter-arm are attacking everything within reach. Shots of Robot Aradia clones being swatted out of the air. Lily pads of Tavros and Nepeta/Equius might be hit, with the trolls' status uncertain.

5:33 - 5:40 (333-340s) - Vriska dramatically steps up against the desperate King.

5:41 - 5:55 (341-355s) - Vriska shakes the Fluorite Octet and rolls it dramatically. Dice land on the floor, still rolling. One or two of them can be seen with the 8 faceup.

5:56 - 6:08 (356-368s) - Shots of trolls looking on in awe. Karkat with Terezi, Aradia and Sollux, Eridan and Feferi, etc. Mixed in are shots of individual dice, each with the 8 face up.

6:09 - 6:25 (369-385s) - All 8 dice are shown with the 8 face up. They begin to glow, charging up. Shot of the Black King's face, watching with obvious terror. Quick zoom-in on the dice in the final seconds, as the "charge-up" reflects on the music.

6:26 - 6:32 (386-392s) - Massive blue fire effect to again coincide with the music's "thunder". Full view of the Black King being hit by a ball of fire (possibly in the shape of Vriska's Light symbol). Possibly in a manner similar to Sepulchritude, which'd be fairly fitting as the end to a "giant demonic nearly-impossible-to-kill final-boss." Fade to black.

From this base and everybody's creative input, we'll hopefully be able to produce a storyboard that we can stick to -- allowing our effort to be focused on the nuts and bolts of actually building this thing.

The second thing we need is also really important: artistic talent. Flashes don't build themselves, and to make this project, it's going to be really critical that we get some artists on board to help produce the assets for this. If anybody thinks they can help, don't hesitate!


So, in a nutshell, we've got two basic necessities for [S] Rex Duodecim Angelus:

1. A concrete storyboard that we can all agree on.
2. Artists. The more the better.

All said, we're hoping we can produce something to be proud of.

Also something that will be really really mind-blowingly awesome.

So, yeah. Black King Fight Flash.

ARTISTIC ASSETS SO FAR:

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Black King:

-Crummy Black King Face/Body Shots (Obselescence)
-Better Black King Body Shot (Rotirt "YCobb" Kunset)
-Black King looking in terror at Vriska's final attack (Bellstrom)
-Black King Aerial View (felicitousArtisan)
-Bifurcated-eyes Black King (nsinned)
-Black King (felicitousArtisan)

Aradiabots:

-Aradiabot picture (t00swift4u)
-Warping Aradiabots (catastrophicGenesis)
-Aradiabot warping in (Sega)

Derse Army:

-Pawns dropping in. (felicitousArtisan)
-Rook climbing up (felicitousArtisan)
-Valiant Pawn (Mr_Ham97)
-Derse Soldiers (Kisuki)
-Derse soldiers POSING LIKE A TEAM (felicitousArtisan)

Dersite Fight:

-Sollux sequence (Morphosky)
-Feferi sequence (Morphosky)
-Kanaya sequence (Morphosky)
-Gamzee sequence (Morphosky)
-Dersite sprite (Jackie)

Karkat:

-Karkat slicing something up (quixoticKinetics)
-Potential Storyboard for Karkat scene. (Differential)
-Karkat leaping into action (PaperHelmet)
-Karkat with Black King Tentacle (takumireki)
-Karkat staring up (felicitousArtisan)
-Karkat slicing - sprite (Jackie)
-Karkat wheeling - sprite (Jackie)

Terezi:

-Terezi plunging sword-cane into Black King's eye (Bellstrom)
-Terezi Storyboard (Morphosky)
-Terezi descending on some hapless Pawns. (felicitousArtisan)
-Terezi pretending to be afraid (appleAerosol)
-Terezi with evil grin (appleAerosol)
-Terezi in the air (Vequl)
-Terezi leaping (The Leviathan)
-Terezi shot (chaosgraffiti)
-Terezi sliding - sprite (Jackie)

Tavros:

-Potential Tavros Storyboard (felicitousArtisan)
-Tavros charging (The Leviathan)

Kanaya:

-Kanaya storyboard (appleaerosol)
-Kanaya for battle (appleaerosol)

Equius-Nepeta:

-Equius Punching (quixoticKinetics)
-Equius tearing Black King tentacle apart (felicitousArtisan)
-Equius throwing Nepeta (Constonks)
-Potential Nepeta/Equius storyboard (egotisticSwordswoman)
-Sweatquius (capriciousReaper)

Feferi-Eridan:

-Feferi/Eridan posing in front of Black King (Differential)
-Eridan aiming with Ahab's Crosshairs (Sega)
-Eridan posing (felicitousArtisan)
-Feferi posing (socialGhost)

Aradia-Sollux:
-Potential Aradia-Sollux Storyboard (Roundy210)
-Sollux charging up (Sega)
-Aradia and Sollux posing together (Sega)
-Sweet Flash (Sega)
-Sollux throwing Meteors (bearhands)

Gamzee:

-Insane Gamzee Face (Bellstrom)
-Gamzee leaping with Deuce Clubs (Luka)
-Gamzee with Deuce Clubs (Phantom Gamer)
-Gamzee picture (Dudemaster47)
-Empty Sopor Slime Pie Tin (Sega)
-Potential Storyboard (BluddoSW)
-InsaniGamzee (romancePhilologist)
-Assorted Gamzee manipulations (Gonaaads)

Vriska:

-God Tier Vriska throwing dice (felicitousArtisan)
-Potential Vriska Storyboard. (t00swift4u)
-Vriska (capriciousReaper)
-Vriska Pose (socialGhost)
-Vriska sprite (Marquise outfit) and storyboard (Jackie)

Miscellaneous:

-Battlefield (luka)
More Battlefield Backgrounds (felicitousArtisan)
-Red Team Trolls posing (still need Blue Team) (Differential)
-Meteor (catastrophicGenesis)
-Grief Lettering (catastrophicGenesis)
-Meteors and Lilypads (catastrophicGenesis)
-Gamzee climbing onto Tavros' Rocketchair (aquaticTechnicality)
-Feferi helping up Eridan (aquaticTechnicality)

Also an IRC channel at #SRDA at irc.esper.net

[Vero]

As with the last thread, totally up for this.
Artist preferably, but I can probably sketch out some storyboard stuff if you need it.

[Ace Rimmer]

Also: as the creator of the last topic, I will kinda colead with obselescense. I will just be like a second eye with the project.

[GenetiXientist]

I will provide moral support, as I can't draw very well.

[Anonymoose]

YESYESYESYESYES THIS NEEDS TO COME TO FRUITION

[Obselescence]

As with the last thread, totally up for this.
Artist preferably, but I can probably sketch out some storyboard stuff if you need it.

All the artistic talent we can get. Whatever you're comfortable with contributing. Artwork, storyboard sketching, etc. Ideally, something would be claimed from the storyboard, so we can have a good idea of who's working on what.

[Anonymoose]

Ok so, is there anyway that i can help since i cant draw for shit? MAYBE PLANNING MAYBE

[Obselescence]

Ok so, is there anyway that i can help since i cant draw for shit? MAYBE PLANNING MAYBE

The baseline storyboard for things is in the OP. You're totally free to suggest ideas/things that can be improved for that.

[Anonymoose]

As with the STRIFE part of the storyboard, i would suggest that there be a ROUND 1,2,etc everytime that the Black King responds/attacks.

Also we would need heavy artwork for Gamzee's attack. I would suggest that he, for a second, goes into Murder mode for the brief time and attacks with a giant statue of the ICP?

WHAT AM I THINKING OF SERIOUSLY.

[Varkarrus]

I think this thread exists already

[Ace Rimmer]

... what was that.

Oh I see. We locked the old one and made this.

[Roundy210]

DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING IN I AM FOR THIS.

VERY MUCH SO.

[AProcrastinatingWriter]

I cannot animate, and even if I could I do not have the programs for it.

Still, I was thinking...after the clap of thunder in Gamzee's clownish part, there should be a few seconds during the rainy part where we see Gamzee go back to stoner mode. The Black King and all the trolls in the background have paused to stare at him all 'what the frick' like.

The battle starts again when the music picks back up/the honking stops.

Just a tiny humorous interlude is all.

[cobraCaduceus]

This MUST happen. Seriously.

[t00swift4u]

in this case wouldn't STRIFE instead be GRIEF

[Volpicks]

I like this idea, I think the current storyboard is pretty good too. I might be able to supply some art, maybe of the dersites and stuff.

[Paul]

I am watching this thread.

Hard.

[muppet.dance]

I will...lurk around this thread ad provide moral support?

[enragedFingernail]

Errm, I have Flash 8, so I can animate the pixel art after it's made at give you .fla's and .swf previews.

[Wessolf27]

Hrm... I don't think I can help with this, but there is something I always thought of whenever I heard the rain and lightning during certain parts of the music.

I think during those times, the Black King is actually reeling heavily or was struck by very powerful attacks (though in Gamzee's case he already struck the most powerful attack when it happened)

Also, do you think that you could also add in the Black King attempting to use the Vast Glub first on the trolls, with Sollux and Aradia attempting to stop it? (the moment the first rain starts, I guess that was Sollux and Aradia successfully stopping the Vast Glub from occuring) I think that happened in one of the logs.

[muppet.dance]

Are we thinking full on Hero Mode at all times for this or are sprites being mixed in as well?

[t00swift4u]

i miss sprites

[Differential]

I like this a lot and I wish I had the time to contribute arts. :c

Just a couple of thoughts: I always imagine Gamzee just kind of sitting on the platform through most of the fight. When he does attack, he's not full-on murder mode because he's still under the influence, so I think of his eyes as rage-orange, but still half-shut.

Vriska isn't wearing her godhood during the battle. She's shown immediately afterward in her regular clothes. When we found out that she had ascended, somebody on Formspring asked Andrew why she wasn't wearing her Thief of Light garb when she fought the Black King, and he said that she knows better than to ruin a good outfit. :P

When "Keepers" begins, I imagine Feferi reaching out to Eridan, asking for his help. At this point, she's already with Sollux and Eridan is resentful, but he grudgingly takes her hand and they attack together. The "Keepers" segment ends on a very ominous note, and I think it would be a really neat touch to use that note to show a fleeting, single-image flash-forward to Eridan's one-man science-murder rampage.

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Maybe the final image of Fef and Eridan attacking the Black King could be laid out in such a way that the two of them are on opposite sides of the screen. Eridan is firing Ahab's Crosshairs at the Black King, so the beam is in Feferi's direction, too, and for the tiniest fraction of a second the scene flashes to Eridan holding a wand instead and killing her.

I have all of the ideas for this. :I

[Obselescence]

I like this idea, I think the current storyboard is pretty good too. I might be able to supply some art, maybe of the dersites and stuff.

This would be very nice. Art contributions would really help in getting this thing on the road.

In fact, if anybody's thinking they might be able to make artistic contributions, it'd be really cool of you guys to claim something from the storyboard (maybe at this point something that's unlikely to change significantly, like the initial shots of the Black King). MSPA has some fantastic fan artists, so it'd be really cool if we could get the ball rolling on that.

in this case wouldn't STRIFE instead be GRIEF

You're right. :X I'll change that.

Also, do you think that you could also add in the Black King attempting to use the Vast Glub first on the trolls, with Sollux and Aradia attempting to stop it? (the moment the first rain starts, I guess that was Sollux and Aradia successfully stopping the Vast Glub from occuring) I think that happened in one of the logs.

There'd probably be something like a Vast Glub going on, but I have no idea how it'd be rendered in visual terms, so I'm just kind of shying away from the matter right now.

Are we thinking full on Hero Mode at all times for this or are sprites being mixed in as well?

This might be something just left up to artist discretion, but to be honest I think things are mostly going to consist of Hero-Mode-type stuff. The Black King would seem kind of difficult to represent against sprites.

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Just a couple of thoughts: I always imagine Gamzee just kind of sitting on the platform through most of the fight. When he does attack, he's not full-on murder mode because he's still under the influence, so I think of his eyes as rage-orange, but still half-shut.

Vriska isn't wearing her godhood during the battle. She's shown immediately afterward in her regular clothes. When we found out that she had ascended, somebody on Formspring asked Andrew why she wasn't wearing her Thief of Light garb when she fought the Black King, and he said that she knows better than to ruin a good outfit. :P

When "Keepers" begins, I imagine Feferi reaching out to Eridan, asking for his help. At this point, she's already with Sollux and Eridan is resentful, but he grudgingly takes her hand and they attack together. The "Keepers" segment ends on a very ominous note, and I think it would be a really neat touch to use that note to show a fleeting, single-image flash-forward to Eridan's one-man science-murder rampage.

This all sounds like good sense to me.

[Lyroc]

Not going to dissect your post to quote the "There'd probably be something like a Vast Glub going on, but I have no idea how it'd be rendered in visual terms, so I'm just kind of shying away from the matter right now. "
But I am just thinking a light lens flare, or just a visible ripple in the animation/drawing, and have it expand and be suppressed as so.
Just an idea.