Dwarf Portraits

Weeksy · Post by **Weeksy** » February 20th, 2008, 11:03 am

It could be dwarves are special, but his eyes are open rather wide.

Post by **thespaceinvader** » February 20th, 2008, 2:05 pm

POssibly the irises are a little too small for the eyes. I'll make them a touch larger when i work on them.

EDIT: reworked with fixes for issues mentioned. Also, i noticed that the pauldrons weren't actually the same size, so i made his right one a little larger.

RE-EDIT: Sketches for Ulf/Berzerker and Guard.

WRT the ulf, i know that an agressive posture is not normally appropriate for a unit portrait, but i think this is one case where an exception could be made - these are units which according to their descriptions work themselves into a frenzy before battle, so angry shoutiness kind of works. The area around his mouth needs a little thought, i kind of messed up the on-paper inking, but i'll fix that when i ink digitally. I want to add tattoos, but i'm not sure about what of. Suggestions (and references) greatly appreciated. I was thinking some form of celtic-inspired tribal type designs, but outside that, not many ideas. His chest probably needs bulking out some more, and the torso making a little shorter. Probably the head scaling down slightly in relation to the body, too.

Guard: this is not the final costuming. I'm going to rework this guy to have a studded leather cuirass of some sort, and less impressive shoulder armour. He will retain the chainmail shirt, though. This is more to show off the pose than anything else, i rather like it =D I'll do at least one further portrait for the stalwart/sentinel, with much heavier armour, and probably posed with the shield facing camera, at least to some extent.

MULTI-EDIT: Would something liek this be better for the gryphon's hood/bridle?

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » February 20th, 2008, 4:25 pm

The coloring is well done the Ulfzerker looks nice so far.
Though one thing the white highlights of the beard on the left sight could be reduced a bit. To indicate the different lightning.

TL · Post by TL » February 20th, 2008, 5:43 pm

Heck, by Ulfserker standards he's looking relaxed and cheerful.

The guard is on the whole pretty good and I like the idea of the pose, but I think you may need to experiment with the exact position of the spear. I understand what he's trying to do, but with the spear's current position it does not look balanced--neither the spear nor the arm appears to be supported. The spear's center of gravity needs to be on top of his shoulder, which means there needs to be a lot more spear sticking out behind him (this probably calls for a longer spear). Also, he may need to bring his arm up a smidge to keep the spear closer to the horizontal, particularly if the spear remains relatively short. You may want to experiment some yourself, though; when I was attempting that pose my best spear stand-in was a broom, which I cannot guarantee is perfectly equivalent. The spear definitely does need more length/weight over the shoulder, though.

Post by **thespaceinvader** » February 20th, 2008, 5:51 pm

I did experiment with the pose, but didn't actually take reference images. I might have to... My prop was heavily weighted at one end (it's a ForceFX lightsaber, a surprisingly versatile prop which has also stood in for the thundersticks...) probably more so than a spear tip would, which throws the pose off a little. I'll work on it.

On another note, slight edit to the Thunderer's beard.

In other news, GIMP is really infuriating sometimes. And i need my new laptop to arrive >.<

Post by AI » February 21st, 2008, 3:13 am

His eyes still look off.
Other than that, I think you made the difference between mail and plate clear enough. (can't say for sure though, this CRT is absolute horror)

Karo · Post by **Karo** » February 21st, 2008, 6:49 am

AI wrote:His eyes still look off.
Other than that, I think you made the difference between mail and plate clear enough. (can't say for sure though, this CRT is absolute horror)

The eyes are different shapes (one's almond, the other more ovoid), and there's too much white showing. The eyelids should partially cover the irises.

Regarding the gryphon bridle: That's exactly what I was thinking of.

gabbro · Post by **gabbro** » February 21st, 2008, 7:44 am

Again, I must preface this by saying you are a much better artist than I am, and I couldn't do what you create. Nice job. So please take my impression/opinion for what they're worth...

Regarding Thunderer, I like the body much better than the head, and feel that certain tweaks to the head could lead to an excellent portrait. But with the body, there are two lines near to where the elbow bends that looks too thin... out of place... maybe give them some more folds? I like the uneven buckles..

Regarding the head, many of your facial features seem too strong, and the lines too stark. I've seen this in your THoT thread too. Maybe lighten things up a bit, make wrinkles and creases more subtle. The facial hair is great, but perhaps too plastered to the skin. Maybe make it come off the skin rather than stuck to it. Eyes should go into, and be apart of, the face, not added (currently too big) features.

Not sure I believe someone can be bald and have that much hair going over the ear... but this is a dwarf, and I will suspend belief. I would love to see a version w/ hair (not bald), but only if you are inclined and have time.

I really like the shoulder plates attached to the leather. I wish I had a pair of those.

peace.

Post by **kitty** » February 21st, 2008, 10:01 am

those sketches are looking nice! really dwarfen!

i'l just comment on the thunderer for now. i hope you don't mind that i did a quick paintover to try some things. (if you mind, i'll delete it)
all matters are only details (he is good as he is), but in the end all details add to the impression

- made the facial lines a bit lighter
- added detail to the ear
-rotated him a bit more backwards
- tried to change the eyes (not sure about them)
-darkened his beard (at least on humans beards can have significantly different colours than the hair of the head) to make it stand out more.
- added a grey strand - as far as i know beards don't get grey everywhere a bit, but start on some point
- loosened the hairline

Telvannia · Post by **Telvannia** » February 21st, 2008, 11:14 am

Oh its meant to be a grey strand, i thought it was a bit of beer froth until i read your post.

Post by **irrevenant** » February 21st, 2008, 11:41 am

You really are improving dramatically, Space Invader.

February 22nd, 2008, 11:05 pm

Thanks =)

Kitty: i'm not a fan of the grey tbh - in this style it doesn't blend in enough to not look like giant shiny highlights to my eye. The alterations to the various hairlines are good though, i'll work them into my next version. I agree the ear detail needs to stand out a little more, again i'll work that in to the next version.

Gabbro and kitty: your comments about the eys are dead on. They are a little too large. I'll shrink them a little, and bear that in mind for the rest of my portraits - i tend to make eyes a touch too large, a side effect of starting out with anime style drawings and spiderman sketches =D

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll probably do some more on these at the weekend - busy couple of evenings planned.

EDIT: Another thunderer rework. Fiddled the eyes, hairlines, beard colours, fold lines at the elbows.

Post by **thespaceinvader** » February 24th, 2008, 7:18 pm

New: Dragonguard.

Weeksy · Post by **Weeksy** » February 24th, 2008, 11:23 pm

I'm not sure what it is, but part of his head seems to be looking more towards the viewer than the side of his head is.

Post by **yobbo** » February 25th, 2008, 12:08 am

I like your latest thunderguard and dragonguard versions a lot

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A couple small (really not important) details I think would look nice are:

* are the thundersticks made out of wood? If so I think a very slight wood-grain pattern would improve them (very slight). If not they could do with being a little more shiny.
* The highlights on the dragonguard's beard are nice. But overall the areas of his beard that are in shadow look a tiny bit flat. It could use some, err... darker lowlights to compliment the highlights. Especially on our very left-hand side.

The new eyes on the thunderguard look good. The eyes on the dragonguard are even better

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