Action Hero - Shakti, The Dark Mother (Nudity)

[petekasim]

Action Hero - The Dark Mother (Heroine)

Artist: Peter Kasim

Several years have passed, and Shakti now sits atop a throne-like structure in a small, corrugated iron hut. The washer woman perches in a corner tending to a broth and chanting clandestine prayers whilst an overpowering, noxious smell fills the room. She has been enacting this ritual, day in, day out, for almost four years.

For Shakti is a Godess, the earthly embodiment of Kali (the Dark Mother herself!) - if the villagers are to be believed. And why shouldn't they believe it? She has sprung two extra appendages, bright with an organic array of glowing colored patterns. Instead of hands, the winding tentacles have grotesque mouths and small but intimidatingly numerous teeth. Her skin has retained that "divine" blue hue and Shakti has taken on inhuman strength. Her body and breasts have become a kaliedoscope of tough, barnacle-like growths. In addition to the physical transformation, Shakti has developed the exceptional ability to intercept patterns of thought, sensing an individual's true intent before they are able to act upon it.

However, in reality, this "Dark Mother" is no godess, but rather a mobile fortress designed to protect the organism that grows within; her blue skin merely a signal of steady asphyxiation. How long she will endure in this malign creature's lifecycle is uncertain.

For now, the inconspicuous mountain village is her abode; a village that is at once a home and a crematorium. The locals are her worshippers, a sect of ostracised Aghori cannibals who's very existence - for over a thousand years - has been devoted to Kali, the godess of death and destruction.

Despite the attention, the worship, the food and gifts, Shakti has not forgotten. She has not been swayed. She remembers more vividly than ever the blight and corruption of the city, the years of turmoil, and those men; the five degenerate policemen who led her soul-mate to a secluded corner, beat him so severly that he was more pulp than person, and left him to die.

Her strength peaking, and cloaked in a chadr* in order to avoid unwanted attention, she embarks for the city streets to prey upon debauched gangs, unscrupulous factory owners and corrupt officials. All she yearns for is that the trail will lead her to the murderers who have festered in her memory for what feels like an eternity.....

*large cloak, traditional Hindu garment



I'm pleased to finally get to upload my work for the Action Hero contest! I have been creating a character and scenario set in modern day India, and have been consulting a friend of mine regarding some details of Indian culture. Unfortunately I'm no expert on the topic, so if any Indians see this please feel welcome to criticize any mistakes and set me straight! I really hope to deal with the subject matter with due care and attention.

Here are some of the quick sketches I have made to get the creative juices flowing:

[petekasim]

Some preliminary work. Things are definately hit and miss with the anatomy, I've never modelled a female before and it's been surprisingly difficult to adapt! Still, very early days...

Comments and crits would be very helpful, cheers!

ZSphere progress


Le sculpt, a bit dodgy in places, requires extensive tweaking and general chin-scratching

Started on the face, deciding what I want her to look like.

The tentacles...

Joined in a series...

Experimenting with the look of the ugly thing


ZSphere hands = FIDDLY


I had to cheat a bit and leave ZBrush to help create the basemesh for the tentacle/caterpillar thingy. I created a segment using ZSpheres and exported it to an external app to sew all the parts into a long chain. Couldn't think of a better way around it using ZBrush, due to the adaptive skin behaving REALLY strangely when I tried to make the entire chain inside ZB....

Anyway, I'll be working my ass off over the next few weeks so please do watch this space

[wethand]

looks nice so far.
the proportions are good. looks like an older woman

ah yeah, and welcome and good luck!
have fun!

[leandroloaiza]

the concept looks realy good and the proportions looks good keep in the path

[maxinkuk]

Hi Peter, I just read the story and I was really gripped by it. Very good setting, I really felt the inspiration there. And the sketches are great, searching for an idea, jotting. And then finish of in Zbrush, which allows to sketch in 3d.
The ugly tentacles already look very ugly (it's a compliment) and the woman's model is a very good start. Best of luck.

[SolidSnakexxx]

Really interesting setting and good character. Look forward for more.

[dustbin1_uk]

Woah! Fast work!! Well done!

[petekasim]

A small update, I've been working on the hands and feet. I'm going to retopo soon and begin refining the model once I've established a pose I'm happy with.

Many thanks to everyone who left comments, I'm really keen to get feedback

wethand: thanks, I made her features quite defined as a starting point. I might soften them a bit when I begin working on the expression

leandroloaiza: many thanks, I hope the proportions are reasonable, I'll spend most of my time tweaking once the pose is sorted

maxinkuk: cheers! I'm glad you got into the story, I spent a lot of time fleshing the character through several pages of notes. I knew I had to make a character I cared about, otherwise I'd lose interest half way through the contest.

SolidSnakexxx: thank you!

dustbin1_uk: cheers!

Anyway, here's the rough forms of the feet. I'll retopo and then pose them before I go any further

[Moni-Poroni]

Hey petekasim, iI really like your concept...
and you´ve done a good job so far
I love the details on her feets and legs
Best wishes
I´m looking forward for more

[petekasim]

Thanks Moni-Poroni for the kind words. Hope you'll like the hand, too

C & C please guys, it's really hard to be objective about this so all your fresh eyes would be such a great help,

thank you!

[maxinkuk]

Great hands, no critics from me.

[Hamilcar]

wow awesome work so far

[Y/Haüss]

Very refined Sketches and Sculpt!
Congratulations!!!

[petekasim]

maxinkuk, Hamilcar, Y/Haüss, thanks for the input. Good to know things are generally going in the right direction

I've been messing around with ideas on paper, here are a couple that I liked. Don't know if I'm crazy, but I really like the idea of adding a second figure as kind of a "prop" to show off the girl's tentacle attack.

What do you guys think?

[SolidSnakexxx]

I really like the one with the tentacle hitting the opponent head. Not sure about the 2nd character and the rules though as they call for a single character.. But the pose does look more complete with one.