Orc Portrait Series

[thespaceinvader]

Fair enough. IN the end, it's your decision =)

The noses are the best part of these, I think - just the right level between human, ape and wolf.

[Girgistian]

Plainly, no. Girgistian's orc noses are more on the pointy side, whereas my sketches are drifting towards flat-nosed : this I can correct, but the overall nose design isn't changing. Girgistian, TSI and others had enough of a hard time stabilizing the facial features of Wesnoth orcs : I like the result and I'm not going to jeopardize their efforts.

Ah-thank-ya-very-much, good sir! I am most pleased to know our efforts were not in vain. I also generally like what I'm seeing here so far, even though I might not exaggerate the muscles that much... Still, the bulkiness gives them a lot character. The overly confident postures also fit the race like a glove. Looking forward for more of these fellas

<edit: typo>

[beetlenaut]

Grunts rarely (if ever) have speaking lines, so I don't know that we need multiple variations for them. Level 2 and 3 orcs, on the other hand, could use all the variations you can create. Maybe you should add some gear to these two and make them higher level portraits. (Not that it would be bad to have multiple grunts--I'm just trying to save you work!)

[thespaceinvader]

There will only be one generic portrait for for each level - all of the rest will be included at the discretion of campaign authors. So it doesn't really matter which level the represent - anything grunt line will look right usually.

[kitty]

Great suff! Those two Grunts look really orcish

I'm glad that you took the slightly ape-ish route for the faces, that will go well with my goblins, their smaller cousins, which are mostly chimpanzee influenced.

For the head enlagement, I agree with tsi - the biggerized head looks a lot better. The small one is too much like a caricature. They are far enough from normal human anatomy to not rely on such extreme measures.

And of course I'm in love with all the costumeing detail like in all your work!

[LordBob]

I'll give this head thing another thought, but I'm still not convinced...
Anyway, I've been working on two more lineworks. Here's one of them, meant to replace the top right grunt of the initial set.

[thespaceinvader]

Looks nice =) But i'd maybe go with a heavier, more cleaverish blade, that currently looks a little slim and light for an orc =)

[lostnumber]

Looks nice =) But i'd maybe go with a heavier, more cleaverish blade, that currently looks a little slim and light for an orc =)

agree. These are orcs, not samurai

[kitty]

Much better than the previous version of him!

Apart from the bigger/meaner sword some dramatic wind for the cape could work nicely.

[Jetrel]

Looks nice =) But i'd maybe go with a heavier, more cleaverish blade, that currently looks a little slim and light for an orc =)

Yep. Also, kitty's comment on the cape - I agree it could use a little more wind.

[LordBob]

Wow, shame you all agree on the cleaver thing, I reaaaally like the feel of that blade.
Gush of dramatic wind coming your way shortly. Might bring in a new linework.

[Thrawn]

Just a small comment, but the nasal (nose protector thing) seems to be going down at a different angle than the breath (the line in the face of the helm.) Also, the nasal seems to be facing the viewer directly, while the rest of the head/helmet is viewed at an angle.

Otherwise, awesome--I personally don't mind the katana.

[AI]

The reason it looks off is simple: the orc is strong but not very quick, which makes a light blade a complete waste of strength, even if it fits quite well with his pose.

[thespaceinvader]

Something like a cutlass would make sense - broad, heavy, designed for close quarter brawling not artifice. Only longer.

[Blarumyrran]

This is getting way offtopic considering the final answer will have to be the distinctive kind of huge fantasy sword he has on the sprite anyway; but i have never understood why are wesnoths orcish grunts so advanced. On sprites they look far better armed than eg the civilized spearmen. They are fully covered in ostensibly heavy armor while spearman have a bit of leather and a couple of metal plates; their weapons are swords while the civilized spearman cannot afford them, leaving orcish grunts the appearance of relative luxury compared to HUMANS (Low-quality swords, you might say; but they are still swords, and they are huge!). Maybe its more of a rant how wesnothian humans somehow live in a whole different, practical & costly universe, unlike the rest of the races who follow the rule of cool no matter their intended level of life quality. Eg wouldnt a much more fitting weapon be some lame axe instead? & capes add a whole new layer of apparent expensiveness...

the portraits make their stuff look somewhat cheaper tho, i like that.

[/rant that you may ignore at will; i do have the feeling that as the grunt sprite has looked like the space invader it is since the start of the universe, it will never be changed anyway, but i just had to say this]