Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

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JustinOperable
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Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by JustinOperable »

So I've been trying to figure out what I really want to work on in Wesnoth, and it keeps coming back to campaign portraits for me, and I think one of the Campaigns with portraits that are the least like the mainline style is Rise of Wesnoth, couple this with the relative importance of the story and it became clear to me that I wanted to tackle the Rise of Wesnoth portraits as my overarching project, much the way Duh took on the Hammer of Thursagan portraits, or TSI, Kitty and Bob have taken on a faction. So here's the first stuff I have to show.

The first is a portrait of Haldric. I'm trying to experiment with different processes, this time I tried to approach applying the "paint" more like Kitty without smudging, and low opacity strokes, I also started without line art like Valkier does and will apply the lines later.

Second is Lich Lord Jevyan, this is is being retrofitted from a portrait of Mal Ravanal I was working on until Jetrel told me that Campaign wasn't high priority for replacing portraits. Luckily Liches look a lot alike, so I erased out a bunch of it, and I'm just showing the skull and whatnot for kicks and to hear what people think.

Note that throughout this process I intend to try to maintain some kernal of the original designs in the new portraits. Whether or not they need replacing, artists spent time and effort on the older portraits so I wanna honor that effort some by trying to retain a resemblence to their original designs and not just remake entirely different character designs.
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Haldric.png
Haldric.png (92.03 KiB) Viewed 5208 times
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Mirion147
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by Mirion147 »

First of all, awesome! I've always enjoyed playing this campaign (although I'm yet to completely finish) but new portraits might just give me the nudge I need to finish the campaign.

Now, as I'm not an artist I might be wrong, but it seems to me that compared to most of kitty's portraits, that you highlights are a little to bright. Kitty usually has low saturation and not super bright highlights, especially for skin. (also, for Haldric, remember to keep the striped pants, as these are a part of Wesnothian lore.) Also, for Jevyan, you may want to add some colored lighting (as Valkier does) so as to keep him looking at least somewhat like the skeletons.
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catwhowalksbyhimself
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by catwhowalksbyhimself »

for Haldric, remember to keep the striped pants, as these are a part of Wesnothian lore
That's not really necessary for the portrait as you see it here. It simply doesn't show his pants at all. I see no reason why it should, if that's the way he chooses to do it, as long as the striped pants can be assumed to be there slightly out of view, which it seems obvious to me is the case here.
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Mirion147
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by Mirion147 »

Well I was just saying, if the pants show then remember the stripped pants.
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JustinOperable
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by JustinOperable »

I'm experimenting with process. Kitty and Valkiers styles are their own, I'm not trying to imitate them.

Here's another version with some lines added.
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Sangel
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by Sangel »

Wow - that's looking very cool. You've achieved a very "painterly" effect, and in a good way. Do you paint in life at all?

Leaving critique to the more experienced artists, it occurs to me that this style would be very well suited to story images - "historical paintings", if you will, of key plot points. The portraits are higher priority, naturally, but if you wanted to flex your creative muscles after finishing them, well-executed story images are the surest way to give a campaign that "professional" feel.
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StDrake
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by StDrake »

but portraits make up parts of the story as well, though it is sadly true that wesnoth is lacking a lot of that..cutscene graphics

well back to the point - it's not too easy to say much about it since it's still visibly WiP, but i'm worried about what's happening with the fist behind
-one concern is that the outlines are starting to be very edgy, angles too sharp on those fingerbends
-another is the palm edge below the small finger - try to clench your fist like that, it will rather refuse to look like this - the muscle of the palm would rather extrude a bit further, not narrowing down immediately before the line of the finger, more likely somewhere halfway around the fingerbone
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kitty
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by kitty »

That's a great initiative! :D TRoW's current portraits aren't bad per se, but they are really badly out of style by now. So: much appreciated!

Haldric looks remarkable already. I really like how much volume he's got! The face is also so much better than what you did before summer - you seem to have studied and learned a lot since then!

Nitpicks: The ear is too small and the rear hand is also small and seems unshaped.
I like the way you rendered the skin very much, it looks mediterranean. But watch out when rendering the hair, cloth and metal, the hair is a flat mass atm, the cape is way too shiney and the metal seems to be mainly unfinished.

I look very much forward to seeing what you'll do for the rest of the campaign!



Mirion147: Leave such stylistic detail nitpicking to us ;) Justin is a proven Art Contributor and knows how to produce pictures within mainline style. E.g. the coloured light on skeletons isn't a must at all, tsi's deathknight and my lich don't use it at all.
Sangel/StDrake: We will cover story art when the time comes. Atm we are finishing the generic mainline portraits and then we will work on the mainline campaigns' portrait art (like Justin started here). After that is finished we will start putting well-directed efforts in story art... There is still so much to do...
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Mirion147
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by Mirion147 »

Well, I was just saying that since he mentioned that he was trying different things like you/kitty and Valkier. And yes, I greatly enjoy his ogre portrait. I leave the technicallity to people of upstanding skill such as yourself ;).
Take a look at the Era of the Future!
Current factions: The Welkin, The Brungar, and The Nordhris!
^This is old news lol but I don't care^
New news -> Up the River Bork Campaign!
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JustinOperable
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by JustinOperable »

Did some more painting and boosted the contrast of Haldric. Still plenty to do. Also, started on Jessica, but I need to change her some, her expression is boring and not very narrative. I intend to work on multiple pieces at a time. I'll continue working on both of these and probably start Eldaric while I'm waiting for critique.
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Haldric.png
Haldric.png (111.79 KiB) Viewed 4907 times
Jessica.png
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CountPenguin
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by CountPenguin »

maybe its just me, but the golden part of his chest armor seems off centered
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Valkier
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by Valkier »

My colored lighting was a b***h to do and do not recommend it to anyone who hasn't had a lot of experience doing so. That aside, I don't expect anyone to try to mimic my skeletons. If I had to make a suggestion to others drawing them, it's that they are hard to do any expressions with. I used lighting as a means to show the eeriness and insanity of the one, because that's pretty much one of the few things you can do. Otherwise, you can either make them look calm or insane by jaw position alone. But it's your project and style. What works for me may not work for you.

Haldric is shaping up well. Just keep refining him. I'd maybe take a look at the armor on his shoulder as it looks somewhat more restrictive than it really needs to (the armor wouldn't let him raise his arms above his shoulders) but that may be a design choice.

Jessica's head looks a little big. The rest isn't finished enough to make much of a comment on.

Jevyan is looking great around the face and the cloth is on its way. the arms look like they're in a very awkward position however. It looks like you went for a sort of cursing the sky stance? Try moving his arms further out and having his forearms lean back towards his face. I think it would make him look much more tormented/menacingly psychotic. I could give a more accurate critique when his body is drawn in however.
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Peter the Great
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by Peter the Great »

For Jessica don't you think that maybe her clothing is a bit more tight than is realistically possible? Even tight clothes don't look like that and you have folds on her garment in other parts implying a loose fitting robe.
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JustinOperable
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by JustinOperable »

More Haldric, Beginning of Eldaric. Eldaric has a number of perspective errors with his armor I need to fix before I get too carried away, but I have gotten comfortable showing unrefined stuff on here.


Also, I wanted Kitty and/or Jetrels (or the campaign creators) opinion on a few things, namely whether or not generic portraits should be used for the 4 Elven Council members, the Archmage and the "Knight". The Elves aren't crucial characters but I certainly wouldn't mind painting them, the Knight and the Archmage don't even have names so I don't know if they should have new portraits, but I will paint them as well if it's necessary. Oh also, the Wose, should we use tsi's wose or should I paint a new one.
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Haldric.png
Haldric.png (122.03 KiB) Viewed 4713 times
Eldaric.png
Eldaric.png (116.56 KiB) Viewed 4713 times
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kitty
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Re: Justinoperable- Rise of Wesnoth

Post by kitty »

You're quick!
I'd get crazy working on so many projects/portraits at the same time - but if it's working for you, that's great!

For your questions: It's your decision in the end - If you have the time and stomach individual portraits are always preferable over the generic ones :) But yeah, Archmage, Knight and Wose have really low priority while the council could get a lot of character through your art.



As I already said - Haldric looks really good! The main area that still needs improvement is the armour. It just doesn't look metallic right now. You have way too many fuzzy little brushstrokes going on there. Aim for smooth rendering plus hard highlights! And don't just make it black in the darks, don't forget about reflections etc. (Do you make it up as you go or do you have a reference you follow loosely?)

I'm not sold on Jessica yet, she seems really calm and serene, I remember her character much more lively and saucy! That goes both for her pose and expression. Apart from that the too big head and strangely tight cloth have already been mentioned.

Eldaric looks great! I like his expression a lot! The metal rendering will be crucial here ;)
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