Kitty's random stuff: The South Guard

[doofus-01]

And Bjarn should be pretty much done as well, at least if none of you friendly nitpickers finds a biiig problem

Sorry if this is a nitpick, but it leaps out at me when I look at it: He looks like he either bleached his hair and has darker unbleached at the base, or he's wearing a wig. If the well-lit center of the hairline blended in with his skin, or if he had a widow's peak, I think the impression would go away.

Otherwise, they look nice. It is fun seeing multiple versions of Delfador. Or any character really, where it is believably the same person at a different age.

[kitty]

Tiny touch-ups on Bjarn (Thanks doofus!) and a shaded version of Arne...

[artisticdude]

Sweeeet. Although there is a line on arne's left shoulder that confuses me. I thought it might be intended as a stray strand of hair, but it looks rather out of place.

Just thought I'd mention it.

[Fog]

Its not a strand, but thats hard to see against the creme background of the forums. Its actually his hair countinuing to flow down his back.

Kitty, I must say, you've improved! Not to say that I dislike you're elves or that they're bad, but these are even better.

[Thrawn]

If it's a continuation of the hair, it's not colored yet--it comes through to me as the grey of the background I use...

Other than that, I can only keep extending words of praise--these are excellent!

[Captain_Wrathbow]

Kitty, I must say, you've improved! Not to say that I dislike you're elves or that they're bad, but these are even better.

Or has the style just changed a bit, and Kitty's work with it? Either way, Kitty is indisputably an awesome artist. Great job, the portraits are incredible, as usual.

[Iris]

It's just improvement through experience. Take a look at Jetrel's or thespaceinvader's sprites and animations for example, and their changes over time. This process occurs even for C++ coders and user-made content authors or writers, such as Taurus.

[kitty]

More random stuffs: Two portraits I felt were missing for Dead Water; the crazy silver mage and Gwabbo, the advisor to Kai Kirellis.


About Arne's hair: yes, that's a loos strand of hair... Honestly that's the kind of really, really unimportant tiny quibble I won't bother to correct. Sorry

Regarding the stylistic difference of the generic elf portraits: Partly Shadowmaster is right - those are ancient, I did those over two years ago... But even more important are the changed technical requirements, back then we displayed them at half the size and thus it wasn't worth putting all that much detail into them. So: When the time comes I would *love* to redo all of them! For now we must live with those slightly outdated ones...

[zookeeper]

Arne and Bjarn committed.

[artisticdude]

About Arne's hair: yes, that's a loos strand of hair... Honestly that's the kind of really, really unimportant tiny quibble I won't bother to correct. Sorry

Of course. Just checking to make sure it was a loose strand of hair and not an accidental brushstroke or something unintentional.

Celadon and Gwabbo both look great. No real critique on Celadon, although for some reason I get the feeling that something's off with the perspective of Gwabbo's melee weapon (I think it's a club of some kind? I forget...). Might just be me, though.

[johndh]

Two minor gripes about Gwabbo, and a question:

First, the scales. They don't seem like they're part of his skin, but instead like they stick out similar to ruffled feathers. Fish scales normally don't stick out like that. They normally lay almost flat against the skin.

Second, the club. Assuming he's meant to fight like a normal netcaster/entangler, then I think a heavier club would be more fitting. At the moment, I think getting hit with that would feel more like a slap than a bone-breaking strike, unless he's going to slash with the shark teeth (for blade damage).

By the way, what is the cloth part of his sleeve supposed to be made of? I'm trying to consolidate some merfolk lore and I was wondering what you have in mind for materials that they might use.

[Sangel]

Second, the club. Assuming he's meant to fight like a normal netcaster/entangler, then I think a heavier club would be more fitting. At the moment, I think getting hit with that would feel more like a slap than a bone-breaking strike, unless he's going to slash with the shark teeth (for blade damage).

The club appears to be based off Polynesian designs, which were not primarily designed to slap with the flat of the club. Rather, they were designed to strike with the edge, smashing bone. The shark's teeth are there to add a little rending of flesh, rather than as the primary means of causing injury.

[Dixie]

By the way, what is the cloth part of his sleeve supposed to be made of? I'm trying to consolidate some merfolk lore and I was wondering what you have in mind for materials that they might use.

I would say they look like alguas of some sort. Good job on the portraits from a peanut, btw!

[Golden_Soldier]

I would probably say that gwabbos chest is too flat

if you had been banging on heads with a club thing for along time do you think you wouldnt have any pecks? I think not

[johndh]

I would probably say that gwabbos chest is too flat

if you had been banging on heads with a club thing for along time do you think you wouldnt have any pecks? I think not

If merfolk swim like dolphins, then I'd be inclined to think they'd have very defined abdominals.

Merfolk writing:

"Short rising whistle, middle falling growl; short falling growl, long falling whistle," right?