I'd previously invested a large amount of time making two orange SG 553's; one was successful! (the Tigermoth.) The only downside of which being that in my own estimation I may have watered down the chances of success with my other design:



...variety is essential in growing interest and keeping the offering fresh... I don't like to write things off unneccessarily so I retraced my steps, re-evaluated the current stock of finishes and set about modifying the design whilst incorporating some user feedback.


Although several people contacted me to correct it, someone suggested making a version without it. The letter forms look cool because I don't understand them - to me they are mystic esoteric symbols - but to someone else it probably reads 'toilet brush' or something blandly utiliatarian. Also have you ever bought a T-shirt because it had a cool illustration but resented it having text? I get this feeling all the time and it reminded me of that... long story short - I've removed the large symbols from the magazine and scope, but kept the tiny symbols on the forestock mainly because they fit so well between the dividers.

Changing from one colour to another wouldn't work as its mainly the receiver that progresses and the rest of the weapon would look strange. So I've focused on noise: I've changed the way the colours interact by starting with a cyan base and applying two greens for the beginning and end states with a pale cyan noise colour, this results with the underlying cyan diffuse map bleeding through as the noise progresses - it can easily be made stronger by adjusting the col3 variable - I've kept it subtle. Overall the patina remains the same hue but becomes darker and pretty beat up from FT-WW onwards.

Some parts of the patina area are brown so Ive had to figure out the corresponding albedo base colours by multiplying with the col1 RGB value in PS and shifting the base underneath - I've got it pretty close through trial and error.

Fair enough - I've made the magazine the same colour as the receiver. You may have spotted that the weapon is also green now, just like Puff... I guess its more 'authentic' this way... Anyway, there is another green SG called army sheen but its a sour scheme further diminished through ubiquity. This is more vibrant and closer to emerald - which is a problem in itself as there is already an 'emerald dragon' for the P90, its a different illustration style and colour but to avoid confusion I've renamed this one 'Dynasty Dragon' - the green hue and linework reminds me of antique oriental artifacts and thats the angle I was going for.

In replacing the Kanji I've added cloud details to the magazine and moved the dragon on the farside of the scope to be player facing. I've also added a dragon detail to the weapon butt. I've added wear to the inked dragon on the grip - its a tricky one this as Ideally it would wear down to the wood instead of a grey base. Luckily the wear is patchy and it passes off as gritty dirt, which all things considered is marginally better than remaining pristine through all stages wear.

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All feedback is welcome so please comment below!
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