Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

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zookeeper
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by zookeeper »

Yeah, just using the generic Naga Fighter portrait for the Naga Hunter seems like the best choice. I'm not even sure if it's possible for any of them to speak (in UtBS), anyway.

Eloh and Garak are great. I think there's still something uncanny about Nym, but it's one of those things that's hard to explain. But that's obviously something that can be tweaked later if there's need, as right now there's other more important things to finish up.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by LordBob »

doofus-01 wrote: April 22nd, 2018, 12:26 amAre her hands supposed to show corruption/withering?
The initial idea was to show tense claw-like fingers and some creepy unidentified stains on her skin, however I don't know if the result reads well enough ? I'm thinking the dark tones of the stains are masking the position of the fingers and create an illusion that they're stumps :hmm:

In the meantime, WiP for Elyssa. I based her face on the portrait Kitty made for the sequels, other than that she's pretty much your generic wandering mage/historian/archeologist.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by beetlenaut »

I definitely see the historian/archaeologist, but I wouldn't guess her type to be red mage from this. I don't see this woman hurling fireballs.

Edit: If she were holding the staff, it would probably be clear enough.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by The_Gnat »

beetlenaut wrote: April 23rd, 2018, 12:47 am I definitely see the historian/archaeologist, but I wouldn't guess her type to be red mage from this. I don't see this woman hurling fireballs.
I agree to some extent. The portrait currently (and I am sure it will change so this comment may become irrelevant) is perhaps a bit weak looking. Somewhat like a lvl 1 mage.

However, looking at some of the other portraits I would say that is not entirely because of her attire. Perhaps she appears too young to be a powerful magi. Then again I don't think it matters, and probably not everyone will try to advance her to lvl 4 as soon as I did so it is fine having her look younger. And once her attire is detailed and battle hardened I am sure she will look very great like every one of LordBob's portraits. :)
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by doofus-01 »

The_Gnat wrote: April 23rd, 2018, 12:55 am Perhaps she appears too young to be a powerful magi.
She's got a paunch and a receding hairline, she doesn't look that young. As you say,
The_Gnat wrote: April 23rd, 2018, 12:55 am And once her attire is detailed and battle hardened I am sure she will look very great like every one of LordBob's portraits.
zookeeper wrote: April 22nd, 2018, 6:31 am I think there's still something uncanny about Nym, but it's one of those things that's hard to explain.
I also get a strange feeling, I think it has to do with how much tension is in her face. It is hard to explain, so this GIF, whatever its merits, is better than whatever verbiage I could come up with.
Nym-face-demo.gif
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by Iris »

The_Gnat wrote: April 23rd, 2018, 12:55 amPerhaps she appears too young to be a powerful magi.
IftU/AtS spoilers:
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by The_Gnat »

shadowm wrote: April 23rd, 2018, 5:23 am
IftU/AtS spoilers:
Yes I agree, but against undead a unit with fire is significantly better than a unit with pierce ;)
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by vultraz »

Hmm... I think I agree with doofus RE Elyssa. She looks a bit too old here to be young.

Not sure what he's talking about RE Nym, though, since that's not the latest face edit?
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by The_Gnat »

vultraz wrote: April 23rd, 2018, 7:27 am Hmm... I think I agree with doofus RE Elyssa. She looks a bit too old here to be young.
Okay, so we need a younger but more formidable looking person :lol: ;)

No, I think it is best to wait until the next update of this portrait to make any comments because it could emerge as anything at this point.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by Wussel »

About Elyssa: Hurray!

Please make cloth variants for silver and great mage line!

You could start her with a reddish dress which moves to grey or brown accordingly. Some added silver or golden bling would do nicely! Maybe some staff variations? Maybe hold the staff in the left hand for level 3 and level 4? (Something what is changing the outline (silhouette?) of the portrait for variations is always nice for me).


About Nym: Maybe we should put both faces in the game? Would be great! Timid/tense Nym and happy Nym!

About the elderly female mermaid: We definitely need her!

About the nagahunter and the troll with attitude: We need a more strategic approach here. Both would be great to have, not because this campaign needs it, but Wesnoth would benefit at large.

Especially about the nagas: Maybe we should ask Kwandulin or Doofus to pick it up?

By strategic approach I mean: If you go to all the campaigns you will see that we have a lot of male white mages with attitude. So basically I would suggest to recycle them for other campaigns too. Female mages with character are a lot less available. Same goes for trolls and nagas as characters.

Since LordBob did this amazing job on the trolls, It would probably nice to ask him for a character troll (Gronk). For the character dwarf, we could proberbly recycle Burin?

For those unfamiliar with the campaign: Most people choose the troll side and Gronk got his own campaign about his travel back home. And nobody can draw trolls like the master.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by vultraz »

Wussel, please do not make demands. You don't know what has been done, nor what is being worked on.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by zookeeper »

I don't think Elyssa's clothing/equipment is a problem. I mean, you would expect a lone survivalist mage wandering across post-apocalyptic deserts to look considerably different than a mage fresh out of the academy. Sure, if you only saw the portrait you might not guess her unit type is Red Mage, but if you see a Red Mage who has that portrait who says she's into post-apocalyptic desert archeology... doesn't seem that ill-fitting to me at that point.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by The_Gnat »

zookeeper wrote: April 23rd, 2018, 9:35 am I don't think Elyssa's clothing/equipment is a problem. I mean, you would expect a lone survivalist mage wandering across post-apocalyptic deserts to look considerably different than a mage fresh out of the academy. Sure, if you only saw the portrait you might not guess her unit type is Red Mage, but if you see a Red Mage who has that portrait who says she's into post-apocalyptic desert archeology... doesn't seem that ill-fitting to me at that point.
I agree especially considering this is a long time later. Perhaps in the time since the days of a single sun the order of the magi had changed somewhat. They apparently had become quite arrogant trying to create extra suns ;)
Wussel wrote: April 23rd, 2018, 9:04 am About Elyssa: Hurray!

Please make cloth variants for silver and great mage line!
It would be good if possible and if i remember correctly the placeholder for her did have a variant, but I do not see it as essential.

Also a troll would be nice but there are already extra troll portraits that could be used and time is in short quantity. :)
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by Iris »

She isn’t even part of an organized order of magi because there isn’t any such post-Fall unless you count the Iron Council. She operates completely independently of any tribe or anything of the sort.

And yes, I definitely do not think an alternate version for her Silver Mage advancement is worth the extra effort, not mention that we have less than 2 days left now (props to LordBob for somehow being able to get all the faction units and main characters done under such a tight deadline — I would be about to explode from the stress alone by this point). She’s not going to be the first (background) character in mainline whose appearance in dialogues remains unchanged after leveling up in spite of their sprites being replaced in the process.

Also, to reiterate something I told vultraz through another channel, I don’t feel her hairline has any bearing on her actual age. There are a lot of women and men with different hairlines everywhere (some much younger than you’d expect).
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by LordBob »

So, been trying a few things. Vultraz suggested pants (instead of robes) could be a thing as we have extremely little women with them, to which I kinda agree. It's practical clothing for travels and the change in fashion may help differentiate her from your run-of-the-mill academy mage with staff & robes.

Speaking of, losing the staff entirely might be a thing (option C). Vultraz also suggested that she be armed with a dagger or something to tone down the "harmless" look and I like that idea as well. It doesn't have to be reflected in her stats, or can be replaced with an impact weapon (that's what mages have aside from magic, right ?) such as a club or short mace.

Anyway, I'll roll with C for now. If it turns out no-one gets she's a mage then I'll throw in the colors of B or D at a later date.
zookeeper wrote:I mean, you would expect a lone survivalist mage wandering across post-apocalyptic deserts to look considerably different than a mage fresh out of the academy. Sure, if you only saw the portrait you might not guess her unit type is Red Mage, but if you see a Red Mage who has that portrait who says she's into post-apocalyptic desert archeology... doesn't seem that ill-fitting to me at that point.
Quoting this for reference because it's exactly how I approached her design. Thanks man ^_^


Now, re: Elyssa variants and additional portraits.
Like shadowm pointed time's running out so that would be for a later version. My priorities at the moment are to wrap up base Elyssa and the merfolk priestress for 1.14, anything beyond that is bonus (that includes Nym's moody face btw. I agree she still needs to be tweaked and want to do it, but I can't afford to get swamped on her right now). I have a couple more things I'd like to pull off, that's if I can find the hours.

Beyond 1.14, I would like indeed to make one last troll portrait, so our guy here could be it if he appears in another campaign. The dwarf too, darves are fun to draw.
As for a silver/great mage Elyssa, doing an alternate version isn't too much work under normal circumstances - change cloth color, lining, some jewelry, and voilà.
But, I'm not sure either it's worth the effort. The thought is nice and I would have a ton of fun doing them, however in most campaigns not even the main protagonists have that. So far we tend to change a protagonist's portrait either to reflect their emotional state or because they undergo some drastic change in the story - die and become a lich for instance. I think that's more important than to merely stick to the hero unit stats and class.
As for Elyssa, if she were to play a more prominent part in the campaign and her status as a mage became relevant to the plot, then sure. But unless I'm misremembering she is rather secondary in UtBS at the moment, aside from showing up in the sequels.
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