wizzardz: completed.

[Quietus]

Am I the only one who has noticed that the red mages aren't remotely RED anymore?

There's a reason for that. Red is a team color, afterall. Look at the TC thread in the Art Dev forum if you want to read about the whole evolution and Jetryl's reasoning.

Hmm i was under the impression that is was more psychological. Red might represent anger, hence why the red mage is the offensive of the two mages, whereas white may represent calm and innocent. Didnt have a chance to check the TC thread though

[kitty]

got some time to shade her - what do you think?
(and i gave her a sickle kind of staff...)


concerning the red of the red mage:
please have this kind of discussion outside of this thread. it hasn't anything to do with my portrait but only with the sprite... and it crowds this thread unnecessary. (my two cent are that the tc decision is comprehensible and the design is beautiful, but the unit description still talks about the "rudy cloak of the master" - perhaps it could be updated to match the sprite )

[thespaceinvader]

Very nice work - i really like the staff. It feels like just the touch this needed for completeness. I think i prefer the closer crop, BTW. It'll preserve the details a little more at the final size.

[cretin]

oooh man that is a beautiful staff. It is my personal opinion, but i imagine that red and white mages so to say use more "refined" magic, which is reflected in their staves. less wild than druidic.

also agree on the closer crop.

anyways thats a great portrait your an amazing artist.

[Neoskel]

I wouldn't worry about the 'ruddy cloak' thing. The cloak is ruddy, i.e. it is reddish.
It is a reddish brown or ruddy brown.

So this portrait matches well. And top notch work as always!

[kitty]

here is the first stage of my female white mage...

any obvious flaws? or other comments?

[theotherhiveking]

here is the first stage of my female white mage...

any obvious flaws? or other comments?

I had to read that it is female..


First i thought it was a male... A heavy metal fan.

[Blarumyrran]

again, the staff differs from the one on the sprite

it should still be an ankh of some sort on the portrait too.
also, that white gradient thing behind the staff, its cleanness looks kind of cheap.
maybe the gray robe should be of brighter shade too, to stress shes a _white_ mage. (as there is also a silver mage)

[kitty]

@ theotherhiveking: could you elaborate a bit on *what* looks male to you? or do you just want every female figure in a fanatsy game to be mannequin like beautiful?

@ syntax error: thanks for the crit!
comments on the colours aren't helpful at this stage - they are just the base. ignore them until i call it shaded. same goes for the gradient - it is a rough base... but i'll keep in mind to make her bright!
concerning the staff: i find it pretty near - only difference are that i left the crossbars out. i didn't even get that it is supposed to be an ankh (for ankhs have only one crossbar and aren't circular). and ankhs are part of a very different culture - what's the connection to wesnoth?

[turin]

I had to read that it is female..


First i thought it was a male... A heavy metal fan.

Same here. I think it has to do with the chin being rather wide and the eyes being so high on the face, though I'm not sure.

Also, the way the hand is holding the staff, it doesn't look like any wrist could possibly attach it to the arm. The angles seem wrong.


BTW, I didn't comment earlier, but really nice job on the red mage.

[kitty]

i did a quick revision based on turin's comment: lower eyes, smaller jaw, lightened up the wrinkles and made her shoulders more narrow.

but i fear that she only looks younger now. nearer to a boring ideal...

[AI]

While the staff isn't an ankh, it does look like it's based on it or is some sort of important symbol, meaning life, good, light or something like that. Maybe you can reflect it somewhere else in the portrait.

I can see what you're going for with regard to the face, but this is only an L2, so she can be a bit young, though the new version may have pushed past that point.

[TL]

@ theotherhiveking: could you elaborate a bit on *what* looks male to you?

Wide chin, broad forehead, high hairline, thick jowls, heavy eyebrows.

No one really expects all portraits to live up to statuesque ideals of perfection, and it definitely adds a lot of character when you deviate from that. It's possible to include a lot of character while still remaining aesthetically pleasant--"Hollywood ugly", not real ugly. In the first version she looks a bit more cronelike than matronly.

Don't get me wrong--I appreciate your drive for realism and am pretty OK with the original white mage draft, but I think you may be in danger of merely instituting a new double standard in place of the old one you are (rightfully) discarding. It's kind of hard to say, since mostly you've been working on portraits of timeless and elegant elves anyhow, but if that's the direction you're taking on human women I fully expect you to start uglying up a bit on the male portraits as well.

[Sangel]

I love what you've done with the Red Mage. Your interpretation of her staff is particularly nice; I also like the way you've picked out the hemlines with ornamentation. I think that's a good way to show the high status that mages hold in their society.

i did a quick revision based on turin's comment: lower eyes, smaller jaw, lightened up the wrinkles and made her shoulders more narrow.

but i fear that she only looks younger now. nearer to a boring ideal...

You're right Kitty, the revisions have mostly made her look younger, and only slightly feminised her. I'm not entirely certain why she looks so masculine, but I can speculate.

I believe that what you intended to be eyebrows are probably being interpreted by the mind's eye as eyebrow-ridges. Not only are heavy eyebrow-ridges a distinctively masculine feature in their own right, they also have the visual effect of "lengthening" the nose; a long nose also being a stereotypically masculine feature.

It's possible that you'll be able to eliminate this perception through the normal process of shading, though of course that would mean additional work if the shading alone was insufficient to fix it.

On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with having a few portraits of women with somewhat masculine features - Lord knows there are enough ridiculous stereotypes of women out there in Fantasy. It's really up to you how far you want to go in achieving a more feminine facial appearance.

[thespaceinvader]

I like it =) the priestly look is there, as is the motherly look to my eyes - i suspect some of the masculinity will go with the shading, as the fact that she has a bust will be more obvious.

I can't wait to see what you make of the MoL =D