Heavy Infantry portrait

Post by **thespaceinvader** » November 4th, 2007, 5:21 pm

Don't know if it's used anywhere, but it's not been done yet, so i thought i'd have a pop.

Just lines and flats atm. Went for a heavily armoured look, with the same purple as on the various armour detailing in other loy portaits for the shield face. Need to sort the spikes on the mace - i've tried already, but they were WAY too big, and i wanted to get some feedback first. The face i've gone for is meant to look pretty battered - i envision these guys as training by wrestling, boxing etc, so they wouldn't exactly be pretty... Overall i'm fairly pleased with the general image and layout, but not too sure about some of the line weighting, and the boss on the shield.

Weeksy · Post by **Weeksy** » November 4th, 2007, 6:11 pm

I'm not liking the arm transition on our left, especially with its being behind the torso. For the mace you might try bumps like the pegs attaching the head to the shaft, or perhaps a non-spherical head and no spikes.

Post by **Blarumyrran** » November 4th, 2007, 6:12 pm

a bucket helmet would be better imho. (or at least modify it to cover the whole face; right now the turnable part could only cover eyes)

Post by **thespaceinvader** » November 4th, 2007, 6:41 pm

NO, that's another bit i'm unhappy with. I'm going for short spikes on the mace.

The swivelling bit on the helmet is supposed to go right down to his chin, leaving a gap for the eyes - the slit down the centre would be the same as the one down the middle of the helm on the sprite. I might not have designed it quite correctly, though...

Post by **Sgt. Groovy** » November 5th, 2007, 6:29 pm

To me the helmet looks a bit small to hold his head (there should be some room for padding too), and the face should be somewhat more inside.

The face looks pretty good, lots of character, but the chin could be a bit more "square", to make clear that these are really puffy and robust guys.

The elbow joint is in weird position, the round knob should be the end of the "axis" of the joint, and where it is now should be a bit of an opening, showing mayde some chainmail.

Overall, more line width variation is needed.

I would make the head of the mace smaller. I know it's huge in the sprite, but the portraits are supposed to be closer to realistic proportions, and maces like that really weren't all that enormous.

But it's a good start.

Post by **thespaceinvader** » November 5th, 2007, 8:04 pm

I might revise this so that more of the face can be seen - i wanted to have the helm face up as in the previous version, but i can't get it to look right. Maybe i need some better references...

Added spikes to the mace which i'm not totally happy with either...

This gets a big ol' meh from me overall. Wholehearted revisions in order tomorrow.

Bob_The_Mighty · Post by **Bob_The_Mighty** » November 5th, 2007, 8:59 pm

I think it's pretty damn good so far. I have no advice to give however...

Post by **thespaceinvader** » November 5th, 2007, 9:34 pm

Rework will be up sooner than i thought. I'm working on the lines now...

Post by **thespaceinvader** » November 5th, 2007, 10:19 pm

If i can get this up between forum crashes...

More realistic plate armour and a helm which ought to close over his chin... Spiky mace. Could shrink down a bit. Shield boss unedited, needs fixing. Some of the lines might need extra weight, but i need to work out where to apply it. Might also need to edit the shape of the back of the helm in order to fit the back of his head...

I envision the armour getting more and more into full plate as the unit advances - this one's currently a mail hauberk with breastplate, gorget, helm and scale-type armour down the arms and legs. The Iron Mauler would be full all-over plate, jousting-knight type.

It's getting better...

the_revenant · Post by **the_revenant** » November 5th, 2007, 10:51 pm

Hmm i think i preferd the visor down, relates more to the sprite, but what you are doing is great work.

thespaceinvader wrote:If i can get this up between forum crashes...

lol thats getting rather annoying, its been down all day for me =[

Post by **thespaceinvader** » November 5th, 2007, 10:58 pm

I prefer up partly because i like the face i've drawn and am loath to hide it, and partly because it strikes me that if a trooper was talking to his commander (which is the most common use of the line troop portraits - they don't often seem to talk to the enemy in my experience) he'd raise his visor out of courtesy.

It also allows, in the unlikely event of this being used as a hero unit with multiple expressions, for those multiple expressions.

Long story short, i like it this way so =P

The new visor was originally drawn down, so if word from on high is that down is preferable, i can work that one up quickly enough.

the_revenant · Post by **the_revenant** » November 5th, 2007, 11:05 pm

thespaceinvader wrote: Long story short, i like it this way so =P

Lol okok, you're the artist

The face does look rather good i must say, though the portrait itself seems a bit dark, though that may be my shytey monitor (it tends to tone everything down). I had trouble seeing the outline.

Post by **thespaceinvader** » November 5th, 2007, 11:15 pm

It is a little dark, but the sprite is dark, so... The shading and highlighting (well, on most of it, the colour that you see will be the shadow colour, i think...) will make it less so.

Post by **irrevenant** » November 6th, 2007, 3:50 am

thespaceinvader wrote:I prefer up partly because i like the face i've drawn and am loath to hide it

Personally I agree with the_revenant. He looks much cooler with the visor down.

I know it's tempting once you've done all that work to use it, but that's not always for the best.

BTW, if you do go with the visor up model, the raised visor looks like it's twisted too far around his head - it should line up roughly with the bridge of his nose.

P.S. I think his head is too low in the helmet, too.

Post by **thespaceinvader** » November 6th, 2007, 9:46 am

I had both those thoughts myself...

His poor face >.<