Trifecta MK Three

Here it is - the final word in armoured over-the-topness.

This is where all my love and effort goes. The first two Trifectas were mere stepping stones to this point.

Quite a number of changes in this version. Not just the sleeker look, the guns have been upgraded to railguns (so they no longer need muzzle brakes) and the turret has been shifted to the rear of the chassis. This means the crew now operate from the rear, which has necessitated a few more alterations. The engine has been relocated to the middle of the chassis, which separates the driver from the rest of the crew and means communication can only be achieved via radio. I wasn't keen on this - it felt like too much of a flaw. If the electrics failed (ie through battle damage), then the driver and commander would not be able to communicate with each other and would not be able to fall back on something like shouting directly at each other, as there is now a noisy engine in the way. However while re-reading over one of my books on artillery, I found that there are vehicles that use radio between driver and commander, so my concerns were at ease since this occurs in real life. Having the crew at the back did also mean the rear armour would need to be increased for added protection. This would add weight and potentially affect the performance, but since this is a cartoon, I'm ignoring it completely.
The side skirts were not only another means of increasing the armour, but helps to make the MK III look more like an armoured beast (in my opinion) and also saves me from having to draw the damned wheels.
The addition of the 50 cal machine gun (on the turret's right hand side) was something I only added during when I drew these images. Figured I may as well up-gun the MK III a little more. Oh, and that thing on the back of the turret? I have no idea what it is. I added it because it helped to add detail, but have not thought about any kind of functionality. The best I can think of is a stowage compartment, but it's placement makes it difficult to easily access.

In other news, I have scored myself a new animation job, starting next week. So you know what that means - my blog's going to get neglected again! However I'm not going to let things get as bad as it did last time. It just means I may not be updating my blog as frequently for a while. We'll see how things go.

Trifecta MK Two

Ok, here's the Trifecta MK2. The Universal Alliance is learning by this point. The armour has been slightly improved and substantial muzzle brakes have been added to each barrel. However firing all six barrels at once is still ill-advised.

I'm a bit 'meh' with the MK2. I don't think I'm quite finished with the design. The idea is that it's meant to be something of a 'middle ground' between the looks of the MK1 and the MK3 and I feel that this could do with a bit more refinement.

Trifecta Battletank Mark One

TRIFECTA, MOTHERFUCKERS!!

Sorry, got a bit carried away there.

I loves me a Trifecta. It's an iconic part of the Dogs Of War series (even though they don't appear until the middle of series one). It's a tank fielded by the Universal Alliance, basically in the role of an overpowered siege unit. Like the Tiger tanks used by the Germans in World War Two, the Trifecta is a representation of the power and might the Universal Alliance holds.

If you think slapping six barrels on a tank is a dumb idea, just remember this came from the mind of a 14 year old. A lot of ideas are dumb at that age (you should have seen some of my early Dogs Of War scripts. Actually, no - you shouldn't). However despite now being much older and wiser, the Trifecta is something I still hold on to dearly.

Influenced by the twin-barreled tanks from the Command & Conquer games, the Trifecta was something I came up with early on in development of Dogs Of War. In a way, I came up with it before Dogs Of War actually became 'Dogs Of War'. Since then it has almost become a character in its own right. Over the years I have tweaked the look and design which led to the decision that the Trifecta would go through several variations over the course of the series. The pictures here are of the MKI. I know it looks like a box on wheels, but that was intentional. The MKIII is intended to be the sleekest of the three, so I went back to the MKI design to ugly it up a bit.

I'm quite attached to my Trifectas (if that wasn't already obvious) and have always been a little paranoid someone would create something similar, but so far I've been lucky. The closest anyone has gotten was the MARV tank from Command & Conquer 3 - Kane's Wrath and that pirate ship (I forget the name) with the six bow-mounted cannons from the Pirates Of The Carribean films. However to my surprise, it turns out that six-barreled tanks actually did exist in real life. Well, they're classed more as an artillery piece than a tank, but a tracked, armoured vehicle with 105mm guns - that's close enough. It was called the M50 'Ontos', developed by the US army during the 1950's. Interesting design, but different to that of a Trifecta.

So anyway, my Trifecta is now out there on public display, for all to see. I can sit back, knowing I can now claim originality so if anything like this pops up in someone else's work, I will assume they got the idea from here - whether or not that actually ends up being true.
Grr! My Trifectas! Mine!

Road Rovers - animated!

Fuckin' Finally!

It's done! I created a thing! My animated short featuring the characters from the Road Rovers series is complete!

This took WAY too long to complete. Not because it was difficult, but because I was working in the animation industry. I started this in early 2013 and had animated Hunter, Colleen, Shag and an alternate version of Blitz's sequence. Then an animation job came up which I immediately jumped on. (The Day My Butt Went Psycho animated series, if you're curious) After that, my personal projects took a bit of a back seat. I still wanted to work on my own stuff, but after doing animation all day five times a week, I was worn out and wanted to do something else to unwind.

After a while though, I wanted to get some of my stuff done. I pressed myself to get back to work and finally completed this clip. I hope it's alright, Exile and Blitz's clips (the two bits left to do since working on the animation job) feel a bit scrappy, but I attribute that to being burnt out from work.

I had planned to put this up without sound - I felt that the visuals were enough. However a workmate mentioned it would be a good idea to add sound. I was reluctant, as I just wanted to get this done and recording/sourcing sound effects was another layer of work I had hoped to avoid. He did though have a point so I caved and set about getting and adding sound. I would have liked to add music and sound to the title sequence, but I don't have my music equipment with me and there was a particular car screeching effect (incidentally, probably the same one they used on the Road Rovers series) I wanted but for the life of me could not find and no other effect I found sounded ideal.

Here's the link. For me this is a great sense of accomplishment, I've actually finished something and now I can move on the the next project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUsyHWdqr2E

DoW Vol1 page 15

This is the last page of the graphic novel samples I'm putting up. Hopefully this will give you all a taste of what Dogs Of War is about. What will happen when Stylene confronts these other two? Ooohh! Mysteryyyy!

I may have gone overboard with the chrome effects on the magnum, but it's one of the few artistic tricks I have. Oh, and just to clarify, 'UA' (mentioned in the second last panel) is short for 'Universal Alliance', the enemy force in the series.

Anywho, I hope you've enjoyed my work. As I've said before, I would love to be able to do this continuously, supported by Patreon backers, but it's the matter of gaining the awareness I need to ensure there's enough interest.

I've got this blog and I've recently created a Tumblr account (though as of this moment I am yet to put anything up), but I need more. I'm very close to completing an animation which I will put up on my Youtube account, where I can add links to my blog/Tumblr. That could be something.

Feel free to spread the Dogs Of War love around. You're more than welcome to share/repost my work onto other sites, as long as it isn't for commercial purposes. Grrr