Loyalist Portrait Series

[Cloud]

Final cavalryman lineart. There are 6 rider portraits left to do, so I'll focus on improving the next ones rather than saturate myself on perfecting this one. Special thanks to Cloud and Southernoracle for your insight about horse ridding & gear, it's a lifeline in the face of the upcoming series.

Cloud: note taken about the reins. Still I won't touch them for now : adding lines near his left hand would make the drawing hard to read. I prefer to imagine that the tail you mention falls on the other side of the horse's neck.

No problem, I thought I'd mention it so you knew, glad to have helped

As for the crossbow stuff I have very little insight, I would go out and test how easy it is to reach something around that area from horseback, but I need to keep white hairs off my clothes for now! My first impression is that it's better there than in front though, even if it is awkward to reach it's less distracting for both horse and rider, and a good enough rider could reach it with a little ingenuity, the only possible though I'd have is to switch the bow and bolts around, as it'd be easier to grab hold of a large bow than a small bolt from further away. Of course as always it's up to the artist in the long run .

( N.B.: Having a larger version makes it clearer to see that there is a tail and where it goes )

[Turuk]

To chime in again about the mounted use of crossbow, the invention of the ratchet and pushlever mechanisms to draw the crossbow made it it easier to use crossbows from horseback. Granted, you have to take into consideration that these were often smaller than normal crossbow used by someone on foot, but they also were usually fired from a much closer range. As to the idea of being able to reload effectively, it is the same as when the mounted troops started to employ pistols or carbines from horseback as well. The rider would often have a place in front of his saddle where he would store the crossbow or later pistols, while a sleeve type holster was used for the carbine. It was basically used to fire right before they crashed into the enemy, and could be reloaded as they regrouped to wheel around and come back into the fight. One shot may not seem like it is worth it, but if a troop of horseman can fire at once they can do significant damage to disorder their enemy and improve their chances of success at the charge.

[LordBob]

Note duly taken. I'll try a lighter crossbow when I get to the cavalier.

In the meantime, here's a work in progress of the master with longer arrow.

[thespaceinvader]

Looking great. I love how rich his tunic seems.

[Pipeman]

Yep, he looks lovely already. He will be awesome, when finished!

But maybe you rethink the arrow-fletching and the position of his sword. It would be very hindering between his legs.

[LordBob]

Dropping off-topic, but I've just realized that the committed version of the pikeman is 400*400, which makes him a lot smaller than the other loys.
Here's a revised version in full size, which can be committed any time.

[kitty]

yep. the tunic's pattern is great! technical curiosity: is it handpainted or an overlay?

and don't forget to turn his nose's direction. i really hope you'll manage to finish him in time!

[thespaceinvader]

Committed that change, LB.

[Sgt. Groovy]

How does one [censored] a crossbow whilst on horseback?

By operating the handle, obviously.

[Boucman]

Pipeman : this has already been discussed...

About the crosbow, I think the size is fine, but you might want to remove the foothandle...

no matter how he reload (either a very light crosbow where you can simply pull the string or a complicated one) he won't use a foothold on a horseback.

[mameluke]

you might want to remove the foothandle...

As long as we don't have serious historical infos, I think the artitst has artistic liberty

[Turuk]

As long as we don't have serious historical infos, I think the artitst has artistic liberty

? That was the point Boucman was making, there is historical information that proves that a horseman using a crossbow would use one that was smaller, and with a pushlever or ratchet mechanism which would mean he could actually reload it without dismounting from his horse.

[SouthernOracle]

LordBob, the leg correction does make him look better. My last technical note on the saddle would be that it sits slightly too far forward on the horse, and I'm sorry I didn't realize that when I first posted. The saddle sits just behind the 'withers' of the horse, which is a bony ridge at the base of the mane (you may or may not know). However, I believe this is just a nitpick at this point: as I look at this piece my eyes go first to the head of the horse and then to the riders chest, letting my peripheral vision to complete the picture. That said unless you're hunting for problems, you won't readily see any.

Since you're creating comrades for him, I'm including some links you may find of use (just doing a quick web search). I believe the info will make things easier for you. Wesnoth gets better and better. Thank you!

Illustrated history of saddles
http://nicholnl.wcp.muohio.edu/dingosbr ... story.html

You guessed it..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_anatomy

[LordBob]

Finished the shading of the masterbowman, the bowmen line will be complete in 1.6.

Kitty: the tunic has a flat hand-made pattern in a separate layer with "overlay" blending. I'm not patient (or crayzy ) enough to do it all with raw colours in a single layer.


Back to the riders I go. I will adress the remaining cavalryman concerns when I start shading him: for now I'll focus on other linearts.

[thespaceinvader]

Looks great.

Though i was kind of hoping for some gold filligree on the helm... I'll wait to see what kitty says before i commit.