Mermen: Fighter Portrait

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Sleepwalker
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Mermen: Fighter Portrait

Post by Sleepwalker »

Hi, I made a portrait based on the new Initiate sprite. Before i color it though I'd like to know if there's any anatomical/design issues or if it's not Wesnoth style etc.

Also, Is the mermen tail fins of the sprites based on any fish in the real world?
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mermaid_initiate.png
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Last edited by Sleepwalker on March 26th, 2009, 12:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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JW
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by JW »

That's quite good! :shock:

Very clean with a sweet style!
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by mnewton1 »

I like it. Nice job and as for the tale... I have no idea but it still looks awesome :mrgreen:

Edit: I think the tale looks great compared to the sprites tail but after looking at it again it looks like the nose is down a bit to far, or am I just insane?
Intianty.png
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Last edited by mnewton1 on January 18th, 2009, 6:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Turuk
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by Turuk »

Very nice start, I look forward to seeing this develop.
Sleepwalker wrote:Also, Is the mermen tail fins of the sprites based on any fish in the real world?
Not particularly, and even if that were so, the artist doing the portrait can always take his interpretation of the sprite in drawing it. So you have the freedom to use whatever you think works best.
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turin
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by turin »

It's quite good overall... clearly you have talent. But I have some problems with the proportions - they seem off to me. Specifically, it looks like a male body with female breasts attached. Michelangelo can get away with that; we can't. If no one else sees this problem, ignore it (I'm an artist but not a very good one :P), but I do think it is a serious issue, one that will require you to redraw certain parts of the portrait...
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by JW »

mnewton1 wrote:it looks like the nose is down a bit to far, or am I just insane?
You are.
turin wrote:the proportions - they seem off to me. Specifically, it looks like a male body with female breasts attached. Michelangelo can get away with that; we can't. If no one else sees this problem, ignore it
I see why you think that, but no. Women can have that body shape if they are quite toned. I'm sure you can find tennis players like that.
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Sleepwalker
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by Sleepwalker »

Thanks for the comments. :)

You might be right mnewton1, I moved the nose slightly up...

She looks too masculine? :o Here I was trying not to exaggerate the female form (As I have been guilty of in the past). Well, I made some changes; mostly making the abdominals wider and slimming down the waist and back slightly. Better?

Painted on the flat colors as well.

EDIT: You posted when i wrote JW. Well, I've made the changes now and it didn't get worse as far as i can tell. I imagine you would look quite toned if you swim for most of your time everyday.
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mermaid_initiate.png
mermaid_initiate.png (97.16 KiB) Viewed 6197 times
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by thespaceinvader »

Looks very promising =D A couple of issues, though: firstly, to match the mainline style, your line work needs to be coloured a darker shade of the base colour it surrounds. I don't know if you're planning on doing this already, but I thought i'd let you know. Second is a more fluffy issue: why would a mermaid have a belly button? Clearly she's mostly fish, and not a mammal in any way, and a belly button is a uniquely mammalian feature. But then, so a breasts... It's up to you, of course, but i thought i'd put the issue into your mind =)

Great work. Keep it up. I really look forward to seeing more from you.
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by Cernunnos »

Hi,

Nice work, about thespaceinvader comment, i think breasts are ok since there's not the part to get the milk from (can't find the word in my dictionary it tells breast too...) i hope you understand what i mean. As this way they make it part of a reminiscent human form or something like that.... (and -12 :D)
For the belly button on the other part you raised a good point.

As for the shoulders, i think you countered the "male" form of it with your modifications of the belly, which looks more female now, so i think a female devoted to fight may have about those proportions.

As usual, this is only my point of view.

Really nice, good luck!
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by Simons Mith »

While I'm a member of the anti-belly button faction, I think the sprite image probably works better with a BB. And as it's quite a noticeable feature, I suspect the portrait should follow the sprite.
 
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vonHalenbach
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by vonHalenbach »

Breasts without nipples make no sense. Either you remove the breasts, or you add some small nipples.

I would prefer to remove the breasts.
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by Lord.Bedham »

vonHalenbach wrote:Breasts without nipples make no sense. Either you remove the breasts, or you add some small nipples.

I would prefer to remove the breasts.
Thay have a belly button, that means they are mammals. Thay need breasts, thay cant be removed.
I like it without the nipples couse it may to displeasing, and it makes it daffy.

Let it like it is. Breasts without nipples, would i say.
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by Boucman »

I don't know, about the nipples... I would wait for jetryl/kitty's comment on the subject since its a political/cultural/artistical problem...

here are a few ways to deal with the problem...

1) no nipples : it's pretty common in art to have breast with no nipples to get a pg13 rating, and most of us are (unconsciously) used to it
2) add the nipples : the pose is not outrageous, and it makes sense for the character to be topless, it's not useless nudity and could go with an exception to the "no tits" policy, that is of course a decision for jetryl/kitty to take
3) add a piece of costuming that is not on the sprite : that is, hide the nipples. A topless unit is one thing, a topless portrait is another, and this is probably the least contrieved way of hiding the nipples
4) hide the nipples somehow : the most common way would be to give her hair long enough to hide these (in a french comic (trolles de troy) mermaids have a magical power that makes their nipples ALWAYS be covered by their hair)

I don't have a strong opinion in either way, and as stated earlier, that is really a decision for our art directors.

however these are the most obvious choices and they are all worth considering
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by thespaceinvader »

To my mind, Godiva Hair is the best way to get over the issues, though it is a little cliché, perhaps.
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Re: Mermaid initiate portrait

Post by Boucman »

let's pause any argument on the subject until we have some feedback from our art directors...

I personally would consider nudity to be OK on that particular image since it really makes sense for the unit to be naked. This is not a case of "chainmail bikini" where the female image is obviously used as a cheesecake...

but again, that a decision none of us here can make, it's a director job

so let's move on for the moment
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