Art for Legend of Wesmere: Legmir

[kitty]

i'm in the process of doing portraits and story art for Legend of Wesmere.
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2911

i plan to do 17 portraits at the moment (in order of appearance):


stil missing:

o ???????

- you see, it's a little epic work...
(finished ones will be added to this post)

[kitty]

and here is the first one: velon. an elvish elder: basically too old to fight and too old to live.


any c&c, please?

[earthboy]

how old he is?

I supposed that elves were a long live race. Anyway, you drew your old elf well.n I hope you draw the other elves like you draw the elvish archer and elvish shaman potraits. But, I myself, would like the green cloth rather than brown.

[Darker_Dreams]

how old he is?

I supposed that elves were a long live race. Anyway, you drew your old elf well.n I hope you draw the other elves like you draw the elvish archer and elvish shaman potraits. But, I myself, would like the green cloth rather than brown.

I think the brown is exceptionally fitting for a character in the autumn of their life...

[kitty]

according to the help wesnothian elves live up to two centuries (if unharmed by illness, accident or war), then growing frail and passing away very quickly.
velon is in this age - he is tired of life. he doesn't even want to fight the orcs and bargain instead ...

it was strange for me to do an "old" elf, showing the signs of his age. i'm used to the tolkinesque elves who don't get old at all... velon looks more "human" because of this - physical decrease such as folds are very human and not very elvish to me.

[Jetrel]

o kalenz young
o kalenz old
o delfador young

Quick note:
Feel free to redesign Kalenz however you see fit. Costuming, especially - I'm not keen on the effete "cloak draped over the arm" that he currently sports. In fact, if you're up for it, I wouldn't mind a new portrait of kalenz for HttT - if one of the images from here is appropriate in age, i'd be game for using it.

I would like delfador to remain similar to the current HttT portrait in physical appearance - his costuming can be totally different, but I'd like his facial appearance, and that slight "Gepetto" look, as some have described it, to remain the same. I don't want our wizard character to be another damn merlin/gandalf clone; as much as those are endearing in their original, uncopied forms, they become tired in their cliched imitations. As a younger man, he's probably also a lot less bald - your call as to whether he has brown hair or black hair.



This first portrait you've made thus far is looking great!

[earthboy]

I think the brown is exceptionally fitting for a character in the autumn of their life...

And blue in the winter No, I'm just joking!
anyway, I agree with you!

it was strange for me to do an "old" elf, showing the signs of his age. i'm used to the tolkinesque elves who don't get old at all... velon looks more "human" because of this - physical decrease such as folds are very human and not very elvish to me.

IMHO, you should reduce the wrinkles (folds) of his face, white haired but with handsome face!

[cretin]

wow this is a huge undertaking kitty, good luck.

[Sgt. Groovy]

His appearance manifests well the frailty of someone who used to be great.

I'm little troubled with the foreshortenings of the both forearms, the shape of the arms underneath is too hidden, even taking account the puffiness of the sleeves. Few strategic wrinkles around the bend of the elbow might do wonders.

[thespaceinvader]

The saturated brown of the lineart for his various areas of skin looks very odd to me when it's next to the desaturated greyish skin tones you've used (which look great by the way, they really add a sense of age). Desaturating them a bit would be good. That aside, this is nice work =)

Must play LoW to see what all the fuss is about =D

[Sgt. Groovy]

On a second look, the lighting might need some tweaking too. The general light direction is as indicated by the blue arrow. The area indicated by the green arrow should therefore be in light, it's not in the shadow of the body because the arm extends forward.

Also, the sword, especially the hilt, could be a bit more illuminated to stand out better, because it's the foremost object of the image.

[Sapient]

I think the pose, clothes, and face all looks very nice! I am looking forward to seeing what you do with the otherss.

Groovy - I think you are right about the lighting issue in that corner, although I would have never noticed it myself.

[santi]

Great portrait. You might try to make his outfit a bit more "imperial-looking", i.e. more flashy: After all he is also one of the renowned typical elvish know-it-all snub that dwarves love so much
This is not really necessary though-in the storyline the forestthey live in is kind of isolated. I'm also not sure he needs a sword in the portrait. Though he does eventually fight and gives Kalenz time to escape
fighting is not his top priority

[santi]

Regarding Jetry's comment, LoW uses Delf twice: One when he is a very young mage, chasing Iliah-Malal and
saving Garard in the process, while the second saving Eldred(a bit before HttT). While we could use
the HttT portrait in the second case(or something close to it), it is completely inappropriate for the young Delf
that first comes in contact with Kalenz and gets a little gift that helps him fight Iliah-Malal...(end of spoilers)

[kitty]

thank you all for your kind comments!

i've got a revised velon and a new portrait for landar. landar is one of the main characters. he is descibed as a guy who is seriously unhappy with pretty much everybody: orcs, humans, dwarves and even weak elves. he is a important npc in the first half of the campaign, but turns evil later...




@ jetryl: that's a nice opportunity! kalenz is the next one, we will see if you will like my take on him... and of course i'll try to stay close to the established delfador look.

@ groovy: thanks for the critics! something bothered me about his arms, too - i repainted them.

@ spaceinvader: you're right about the lines - they were in my standart skin outline clour, but the skin is not in the standart colour... i made them more grey-ish.

@ santi: thank you for your comments!
if you have that kind of detailed imagination of one of your characters it would be really, really great if you could send/pm/post it here *before* i start drawing. that is why i asked you for character descriptions... changing e.g. velon's outfit and pose would mean that i have to start completly from scratch again . so please: if you have a detailed idea of how one of them should look like (colour, outfit, props, hairdo - everything), communicate it *before* i start working....
thus: should i do a new flashy, swordless velon?