Gungan Cutthroat WIP

JawaStu

Member since: 2007
Location
Cheshire, United Kingdom

Continuing in my quest to make Gungan's cool/sexy/scary and anything but Jar-Jar-like and inspired by this week's Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day, here is my latest...

He's a Gungan Pirate, but unlike my Gungan Pirate Captain I've decided to avoid real-world, stereotypical costumes and affectations this time. Instead he has more in common with my Gungan Beast Master. Since I imagine these pirates strike underwater, often swimming to attack their targets, their attire needs to be more practical allowing them to swim and move easily.

I'm hoping to do a series of the characters that might make up a crew and I also plan to design some vehicles such as one-Gungan submersibles and self-propulsion units and if I can figure it out, a submersible Gungan Galleon! Any ideas welcome here. :)

Not sure yet whether I'm going to work this one up in just pencils or go with full digital colour, but I'll try and keep regular updates of my progress here.

Comments

Asok

I almost want you to just do these in pencil; it looks awesome! Just like Ian McCaig used to make.

Boshuda

TNJadeonar

Its looking good already!

I definitely agree with the light weight and loose outfit. Reminiscent of Rogues & Thieves leather & woven material type armors for ad&d games which need to be stealthy and silent. In this case, to be able to swim in the water fluidly like a reptilian and unhindered / unencumbered. The wrist guards / bracers are an interesting touch - reptilian hide? ;)

I'm looking forward to see'ing how you finish it. Whether its just pencil or colored, just go with it - whatever feels good for ya.

Evan Black

Looking great! I can easily imagine him poking his head out of the water as some deadly advance scout bent on ruining the peaceful relations with the Naboo. ;)

Drig

Wow... Delivered GunganStu!
Always amazing...

I do like that you went with the traditional gungan attire. I all ready feel like I want to use a Gungan Pirate vessel in a campaign. Thanks JawaStu!

TNJadeonar

Couple musings and ideas, now that i've thought about it a bit...

I recon it'd be pretty tough to make a Gungan pirate look rough and scruffy like a human pirate, notably being the lack of unshaven facial hair. Although, to make a Gungan pirate crew, you could try adding a bit of details here and there:

  • say like some gold ear piercings - ringlets, chains, medallions (comes with rank & prestige)
  • some cut & burn scars, an eye patch - either with the ol' leather strap or even bolted or pinned over the socket being the Gungans are amphibian in nature.
  • Hey - what about other things than the ol' standard eye-patch cover, say a clam shell or shellfish or piece of tusk or wrap of seaweed?
  • A wooden peg-leg might be a bit too cliche, but perhaps a crafted limb replacement out of some large fish bone or sculpted seaweed?
  • Ragged, torn, patchwork clothes.
  • Ok, we've got a scout / boarding crew type pirate here in the works, slim and lean. What about some stocky, muscular bruiser Gungans as pirate strong arms? Theres gotta be crew that can carry the heavy loot into their cargo hold.
  • Female Gungan Pirate chef. Does that string of four words conjure anything for ya?
  • Pirate Captain,
  • 1st Mate,
  • QuarterMaster,
  • deck hands?
  • blood thirsty gungan pirate in the heat of battle
  • On a lark here, given the pirate fantasy usually consists of 99% male crew. What if that was mixed up a bit, with here being Gungans? A crew of equally mixed gender?
  • What about some design for an amphibian skull and crossbones?
  • Dunno if a left or right hand replaced with a 'hook' would be too cliche or not, or maybe something else and clever would work, using the aquatic elements around.
  • Dunno if the typical pirate captain's parrot and/or monkey would be too cliche or not. wonder if theres anything native to Gungan waters or Naboo's plains instead?
  • personal propulsion units - squid or octopus shaped? no? Jellyfish, starfish, crabs, lobster? swordfish? A live & tamed aquatic creature with a harness? A SeaHorse - literally! (probably where the TradFed STAPS design originated from)
  • one man submersables - something like a shark or manta ray? sea otter? crab? lobster? frog?
  • For a pirate Gungan Galleon... A sleek squid shaped ship might look alright, with a bulky central mass for crew and cargo hold, though might strike an uncanny resemblance to the SeaQuest. Hmm, what about something of a tortoise shape? (The Imperial Aquatic Terrain Armored Transport / AT-AT Swimmer also bears slight resemblance to a tortoise, but very mechanical. Anything Gungan would no doubt look and appear organic in shape)

Anyways, just a bunch of random ideas. Maybe some of them are useful, or even further inspire more ideas. Sky's the limit, and it really boils down to you Stu - you've got this very unique knack for portraying Gungans above the stereo type. It will be interesting to see this series of Gungan pirates progress, from your imagination and mind's eye. ;)

:edit: reformatted into list form

JawaStu

Cheers Terras! Some brilliant ideas there!

Gungans can have something akin to facial hair, check out Captain Tarpals "whiskers", those little tendral things growing from his top lip, which according to the Ep.1 Visual Dictionary indicated maturity. This is something I used on the Gungan Pirate Captain, (currently on the front page) you'll notice he also has tendrals growing from his chin and tied together with jewelery. You'll also notice he has none on the left side of his face where he is hideously scarred - Perhaps they were ripped off in the attack or he was attacked when he was younger before they had grown.
So there's definitely plenty of room for interesting facial-tendral configurations amongst my new crew! :)>

Exotic Jewelery, trinkets, shells, bones, and allsorts of nasty scars and disfiguration will be a common feature. Also I reckon the crew will be mixed gender, and mixed race, lets not forget Boss Nass's Ankura lineage, the more frog-like Gungans. And even mixed species - I have in mind at least one other amphibious alien mingling with the Gunga-natives! :) There will of course be some thick-skulled heavies onboard too.

A parrot, I have the perfect Naboo species for that... a Peko-Peko!

You're spot on with the Self-propulsion units, I'll looking at some aquatic species for inspiration there. Foremost in mind being squids and rays. Same goes with the other vehicles... sleek and deadly looking. For the Galleon I've been considering something in he shape of one of the sea monsters from the planet core, an gigantic Opee Sea Killer or Colo Claw Fish. What better way to strike fear into your enemies?
Something Tortoise-like could be very interesting though, with more emphasis on defence and refuge than attack.

So many things to think about, but it's also very exciting! It's good to know I'm not alone on this one too, which should help me maintain my motivation! :D

TNJadeonar

Arr! you're definately on a roll here :)

Mon Calamari? Quarrens? In one holonet post, some time ago, I tossed up and entertained a Starwars style SeaQuest idea, with the SeaQuest style submarine, and a mixed crew of MonCal, Quarren and Gungan, and maybe a few other amphibious / aquatic based races (aside from humans and others). Ahh, here we go - SW Homage SW Campaigns, post #70

I totally forgot about the Opee Sea Killer and Colo Claw Fish. I really have to brush up on my Naboo wildlife! That'd definitely seem more exotic. Or - could try 2 vessels, one being a parred down smaller attack frigate - armed to the teeth, and of course the larger ship err sub with the larger cargo holds. Its an idea to ponder at least.

Its a good thing theres this new blog feature. I'll definitely be staying tuned. Its fun to 'bounce' ideas back and forth on projects. I do it all the time on the various projects i'm working on, be it an rpg campaign, or rpg material, vehicle designs, or be the guy to get ideas bounced off at. Thats what helps keep the motivation flowing. :)