A Tale Of Two Brothers - Portraits

[West]

I suggest, if you're using a mouse, that you use the polygonal lasso tool with anti-aliasing on for your shadows. It makes selections from point to point, so you just click your mouse along with very small and precise short lines.

Yes, well, I've tried that way, and using paths to create selections as well. It just feels very awkward. Admittedly I'm not used to working that way and it might be just a question of practice, but as you say...

But a Wacom is better.

I'm probably going to buy one next month. I've been looking at this one, as it's fairly large (A6 sounds very small) and reasonably priced. I have no idea if it's any good though.

Also, you're bothering because its all good practice.

And fun. Lets not forget fun.

Not that much fun ATM I'm afraid, so I've been trying the painterly style for a bit instead. This is not a new version of the portrait, it's just practice.

[Ranger M]

I'm probably going to buy one next month. I've been looking at this one, as it's fairly large (A6 sounds very small) and reasonably priced. I have no idea if it's any good though.

That's the size up from what I have, and it gets my reccomendation (the only dissapointment that I had with mine was the size, too small).

Not that much fun ATM I'm afraid, so I've been trying the painterly style for a bit instead. This is not a new version of the portrait, it's just practice.

And it looks great.

[Eleazar]

I use the smallest sized wacom, and though i've tried the larger ones, there is no advantage for me.

It all depends on your drawing style. If you are used to using physical media at large sizes, like a 24x18 in sketch pad, you may need a larger wacom to avoid retraining your muscles.

Otherwise, the larger wacoms are just a waste of money, unless you want it as a status symbol on your desk.

[torangan]

I think this is a very interesting picture with a lot of character. The eyes are too bright compared to rest and ears/cloth could use some more details but the overall feeling made me stop to look at it for a while.

[Jetrel]

I use the smallest sized wacom, and though i've tried the larger ones, there is no advantage for me.

It all depends on your drawing style. If you are used to using physical media at large sizes, like a 24x18 in sketch pad, you may need a larger wacom to avoid retraining your muscles.

Otherwise, the larger wacoms are just a waste of money, unless you want it as a status symbol on your desk.

I use a Wacom Intuos (1?) 6x8; in terms of pressure sensitivity, etc, it's about the equivalent of the modern graphires, perhaps less. 6x8 is _more_ than enough space for me.

The only logical upgrade would be to a "cintiq", with the built-in screen, though those are way out of my price range right now. And to tell the truth, there are actually advantages to viewing the drawing on a different surface as that which you write on - one of the big ones is that your hand never gets in the way of seeing the drawing. I'm not especially motivated to want one now, though I might get one if I become a professional at art, just to explore any upsides I can't see from here.



Major warning: When you first get the tablet, it will be very difficult to acclimate yourself to drawing on a different surface than you're looking at. Once you do, which takes a good deal of practice, all of your old "muscle memory" for art will function in the new space. You don't have to relearn how to draw, but it does take some getting used to the new tool.

I'm too lazy to think of a good analogy. Suffice it to say - don't write-off the tablet as "not your thing" after using it for only a week or two - it really takes a while.

The eventual goal of being able to sketch straight into the computer with no scanned paper image has, I think some interesting advantages, but I'm not familiar enough with it to say anything meaningful, right now.

[West]

That's the size up from what I have, and it gets my reccomendation (the only dissapointment that I had with mine was the size, too small).

...

I use the smallest sized wacom, and though i've tried the larger ones, there is no advantage for me.

It all depends on your drawing style. If you are used to using physical media at large sizes, like a 24x18 in sketch pad, you may need a larger wacom to avoid retraining your muscles.

Otherwise, the larger wacoms are just a waste of money, unless you want it as a status symbol on your desk.

Hmm. Well, I've never used a tablet in my life so I don't know what to make of those opposing statements. I have no idea what I might need or feel most comfortable with. As for media sizes I almost always work at a pretty small scale; I use A4 sketch pads and my drawings are seldom more than 3/4 of the paper size. The Arne portrait, for example, is just 15 centimeters high. So maybe an A6 tablet would suffice, but then again maybe not.

Major warning: When you first get the tablet, it will be very difficult to acclimate yourself to drawing on a different surface than you're looking at. Once you do, which takes a good deal of practice, all of your old "muscle memory" for art will function in the new space. You don't have to relearn how to draw, but it does take some getting used to the new tool.

I'm too lazy to think of a good analogy. Suffice it to say - don't write-off the tablet as "not your thing" after using it for only a week or two - it really takes a while.

The eventual goal of being able to sketch straight into the computer with no scanned paper image has, I think some interesting advantages, but I'm not familiar enough with it to say anything meaningful, right now.

Thanks for the warning. That is indeed helpful advice as I have a habit of giving up on stuff if I can't make it work, or get comfortable using it, within what I consider being a resonable amount of time. I'm not endowed with a lot of patience. But it can't very well be any harder than drawing with a mouse... can it?

[Ranger M]

Hmm. Well, I've never used a tablet in my life so I don't know what to make of those opposing statements. I have no idea what I might need or feel most comfortable with. As for media sizes I almost always work at a pretty small scale; I use A4 sketch pads and my drawings are seldom more than 3/4 of the paper size. The Arne portrait, for example, is just 15 centimeters high. So maybe an A6 tablet would suffice, but then again maybe not.

Note that mine had "had" in italics (I probably should have bolded), I can use it just fine now, the main dissapointment was that I was expecting it to be bigger, and actually it being small foced me to zoom in to make detail, which is good because it means that you can see what you are doing better. I am fine with the current size, although I wouldn't complain if I got a bigger one (it's the like difference between a laptop screen and a desktop screen, you prefer desktop because it's bigger, but really you can use both just fine without too much noticable difference)

Thanks for the warning. That is indeed helpful advice as I have a habit of giving up on stuff if I can't make it work, or get comfortable using it, within what I consider being a resonable amount of time. I'm not endowed with a lot of patience. But it can't very well be any harder than drawing with a mouse... can it?

If you don't find it easier within a week of using it regularly then I will eat all my hats (evey one).

[West]

Sorry about the lack of updates lately, but there is something wrong with my monitor -- most likely it's dying, as after all it's around eight years old (21" LaCie CRT). I'll need to find some replacement before I can get back to doing some serious work. I do have an old 17" that is just gathering dust, but switching to that one after having had a 21" for years does not sound exciting... :/

[Jetrel]

If it's any consolation, I've gone through 4-5 monitors over the time I've been at wesnoth. This is what I got for using crappy, refurbished/acquired-used CRTs.

My next screen was a $300 19" LCD from some company I'd never heard of. It had a strange whining noise it produced when sleeping, and after a year, the screen began to fail.

I recently (a few months ago) replaced it with a very similar (identical resolution) Viewsonic LCD, for about $230 or so. This screen behaves a lot better, and even has a standard DVI plugin, something LCD screens strangely lacked for too long (which struck me as strange because a pure digital signal is closer to what LCDs have internally than a VGA connection, and because almost all laptops already have, afaik, a pure digital signal).

[West]

If it's any consolation, I've gone through 4-5 monitors over the time I've been at wesnoth. This is what I got for using crappy, refurbished/acquired-used CRTs.

My next screen was a $300 19" LCD from some company I'd never heard of. It had a strange whining noise it produced when sleeping, and after a year, the screen began to fail.

I recently (a few months ago) replaced it with a very similar (identical resolution) Viewsonic LCD, for about $230 or so. This screen behaves a lot better, and even has a standard DVI plugin, something LCD screens strangely lacked for too long (which struck me as strange because a pure digital signal is closer to what LCDs have internally than a VGA connection, and because almost all laptops already have, afaik, a pure digital signal).

Yeah, well, a new monitor -- LCD or otherwise -- is not anything I can afford within the forseeable future. At least not a good (and big) one. The downside of having a big monitor for a while is that you really don't want to go back to using something smaller. A 19" LCD sounds nice though, that's probably about the same view area as on my CRT.

edit:

As I really can't do any work in PS at the moment, may I direct everyone's attention back to page 4 of this thread and the image bjarn-sketch3.png. I did never recieve any comments on that one and now would be a good time for me to spend some more time with pencil and pad instead of the computer. Opinions?

[Jetrel]

Bjarne's sketch looks fairly good. As far as technical matters go, there's nothing I can see, at a glance, that looks obviously, copiously wrong.

http://exong.net/wesnoth-attach/files/b ... h3_127.png


I think, with the hairstyle, I would keep the essential style of the hair similar, but add enough curl to the hair to break things up slightly. I would also let the ears stick through the hair. This is merely a matter of opinion; you're drawing the picture and it's completely your call as to what hairstyle he should have.

[Jetrel]

Since this campaign is visible on every download of the game, I'm going to try and piece together a "useable version" of at least the Arne portrait, before 1.2. All I have to do is fill in the hilt on West/Pekka's most recent image, and it should be useable.

West - feel free to make further improvements; I'm just doing this really quick, to get something ugly out of 1.2.

[West]

I haven't worked on these portraits in a long time. I was so unhappy with the results that I couldn't really bring myself to work on them. The other day I decided to give it a new shot however, just to try a different style. It's not cel-shaded, nor is it quite painterly, but something inbetween. Let me know what you think.

...do I have to mention that it's not finished?

BTW: If anyone feels that s/he can do a better job coloring these images, let me know and I'll provide you with high-res scans of the originals.

[West]

Another new version. Is the armor looking any better?

[torangan]

I like the latest version more but I'm can't judge on artistic or realism based opinions. Just personal taste.