Art Needed: Qesicans Faction

Qes · Post by **Qes** » August 26th, 2007, 12:38 pm

Hello wonderful, blessed, <insert preffered compliment here> artists of Wesnoth!

I have followed Eleazar's "how to's" to the best of my abilities, but am in need of Unique and Competent art.

Unique I can do - Competent I cannot.

I humbly request that You grab my Era from the server (Qesicans Era), and have a look.

It's got lots of placeholder art from the Gallery - and Eternal actually supplied a few units for the Monk Line.

I would however eventually like to have a comprehensive and full-flavor "feel" to the faction, as I'm sure every faction-maker does.

As of now, it looks and feels like a hodgepodge.

Pro's and Con's of making art for this Faction:

Pros:

-You dont have to do it all.

In fact I may not wish for someone to do all the units and animations. This is because there are 3 "Castes" within Qesican society, each with their own art, history, style, etc. As such, if you simply prefer to tackle one of the Castes - that'd be absolutely fine.

There is also a "caste-less" line of units, only 3 units long, that would be seperate from any of the "Caste" unit styles.

-It's undergoing playtesting and not in the "what-if" stage.

-It's has very unique play style.

Con's

-I cannot offer any critiques other than "oo i like it" or "i'm not quite sure that fits."
I know enough about art to know I know nothing about art. And I dont mess with Artists, that being said, I would still want some influence on what it winds up looking like. (The 4-armed red squid thing someone made for my "Longshield" unit was very cool, but I eventually decided to stick with humans, for example)

- I cannot provide any unique art myself, outside of some very sloppy editing.
When you look at the Qesicans, the blademancer, staff-monk, blade-monk, and pebblemancer, have all been altered by myself to make them look better - but by no means are they "good" I'm pretty good at "copy/paste/rotate" etc, but thats about it.

-There are currently no 'other' animations done save the single necessary for the files to function properly. Which means "more" work instead of "less"

Any and all help or attempts are welcomed. And I will leave it (primarily) up to the ART community to decide what's the best if several people submit ideas and animations.

Thank you for your time,
-Qes

Temuchin Khan · Post by **Temuchin Khan** » August 27th, 2007, 1:55 pm

I'm not an artist, but I thought I'd give you a tip: Maybe you'd have more luck if you offered an incentive to the artist. For example, several months ago, jdsampayo offered to compose music for somebody's campaign in exchange for that person doing art for his faction, and he did get some volunteers.

So: What are you good at, and can you bargain with it?

YaymeQ · Post by **YaymeQ** » August 27th, 2007, 6:00 pm

good idea good idea! Yeah, what do we get? (And how good do we actually have to be?)

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » August 27th, 2007, 7:59 pm

Perhaps Temuchin Khan post brought up a wrong picture.
Well it is more like one had washes the other and I try to stick to it.

I would grap the shield line quality is more or less known. Some like it some not.

YaymeQ · Post by **YaymeQ** » August 27th, 2007, 8:18 pm

Okay okay ... not trying to be greedy or anything, sorry.

Shadow · Post by **Shadow** » August 27th, 2007, 8:30 pm

YaymeQ wrote:Okay okay ... not trying to be greedy or anything, sorry.

No need to apologize.

Qes · Post by **Qes** » August 28th, 2007, 10:23 pm

If someone has a faction they need text for: that is my talent.

I can write flavor texts fairly well, and can do brief descriptions of whatever needs describing. Whilst prose and poetry are subjective as any art, I can middle in them as good as any blind painter could - so I offer that.

Otherwise, my meager philosophical existence has little else to slake the lust for tangible objects or goods.

-Qes

I did some quotes for a CivIV mod called "Fall From Heaven II"
here are some examples of my work.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_RECRUIT
"Whose life is inexpendable? Who's family is unimportant? Who among us would allow our brethren to die if we would only save our own skins? We are the best! We are the chosen! It is for us to fight! Look at your families, do you think you could tell them you cared not enough for them not to fight? Victory does not come from the soldier who is eager to fight, it comes from he who fights only that his children may live."
- Captin Svorlen Majj, a recruitment speech on the eve of the 4th Lord's Crusade.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_BANISH
"I will feed on your flesh and dine on your souls! I will bathe in your comrades blood, and revel in the defilement of your flesh. You will watch as i feed on your brethren, and consume your souls and spirit. I am the doombringer."
-Doombringer Althos, introduction to new arrivals from a Banish spell.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_SUMMON_CHAOS_MARAUDER
"What does it do?"
"It....Maraudes things. Chaotically."
"You dont know, do you?"
"Look it says in the book, cast - then demand - then run."
"But you cast, then ran, and now demand..."
"Right. Do YOU want to go back and tell it what to do?"
"It looks mad."
"No it looks chaotic, go talk to it. Tell it we need it to sack a city."
-Kuriotate Adept-brothers Lars and Kobe Lort before the sacking of 2 Kuriotate settlements and a Cabalim Stronghold.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_VITALIZE
"And I stood in the valley, as I was commanded, and sang the songs of rebirth. I sang until I slept. And upon waking I sang once more. Water and food were brought to me, and I slept beneath the stars. I sang the songs of old. And I sang the songs of new. After two-hundred days in the wastelands I looked down and saw something green. Something grew in those days, and I sang for 200 more.
-Druid Yu Po on revitalising the Jusli Desert

TXT_KEY_SPELL_DOMINATION
"Come to me......
Bring me your sword, bring me your wife,
bring me adoration, bring me your life.
You are mine, fall in line,
only death will you wake.
Chattle and Swine, I will dine
on your mind, honey and cake.
never to cease, never to end,
never to question, always to bend.
Come to me...."
-Wispers of Mindbender Chlototh the Wicked.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_INSPIRATION
"What reason is there to wait? If you and I are to dance why do we remain still? If you and I are to kill, what stays our hand? Why you have come to this place, is irrelevant. When you move on, is inconsequential. Who's illusions could you prefer, when you might create your own? Why play at life, when you could live it instead?"
- High priest Sunn Lao to his would-be assassin, and student thereafter.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_CONJURE_FIRE_ELEMENTAL
<Feed me...>
"You heard it, feed it."
"What do you want me to feed it, its made of FIRE."
"I dont know, grab some wood."
<Feed me.......>
"It sounds hungry. Hungry and impatient."
"Wood's not enough...maybe we need something more, something bigger."
"This was a bad idea."
"You're the one who wanted to know what fire thought."
<Feed me.............>
"Yeah it thinks 'hungry'. I know that now. We should get rid of it."
"We need something to feed it with then."
<FEED ME!...>
"Is that Orc-encampment still over on the other side of the ridge?"
"Maybe it likes orc-housing?"
"Maybe it likes ORC."
- Flin Hornsby and Glen Metrol, Orc-bane and Ugly-Killer.

YaymeQ · Post by **YaymeQ** » August 29th, 2007, 3:22 am

Wow that's pretty cool. Sometimes flavor text is my favorite part of a game ... Though I never thought of doing it myself ... of course, I've never made anything either ... I tried a unit the other day ... you really don't want my help XD lol

Post by **irrevenant** » August 29th, 2007, 9:01 am

Qes wrote:I did some quotes for a CivIV mod called "Fall From Heaven II" here are some examples of my work.

Your text is cool. I have a couple of corrections and suggestions, though.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_RECRUIT
"Whose life is inexpendable? Who's[1] family is unimportant? Who among us would allow our brethren to die if we would only save our own skins? We are the best! We are the chosen! It is for us to fight[2]! Look at your families, do you think you could tell them you cared not enough for them not to fight? Victory does not come from the soldier who is eager to fight, it comes from he who fights only that his children may live."
- Captin[3] Svorlen Majj, a recruitment speech on the eve of the 4th Lord's Crusade.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_BANISH
"I will feed on your flesh and dine on your souls! I will bathe in your comrades[4] blood, and revel in the defilement of your flesh. You will watch as i[5] feed on your brethren, and consume your souls and spirit. I am the doombringer."
-Doombringer Althos, introduction to new arrivals from a Banish spell.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_SUMMON_CHAOS_MARAUDER
"What does it do?"
"It....Maraudes things. Chaotically."
"You dont[6] know, do you?"
"Look it says in the book, cast - then demand - then run."
"But you cast, then ran, and now demand..."
"Right. Do YOU want to go back and tell it what to do?"
"It looks mad."
"No it looks chaotic, go talk to it. Tell it we need it to sack a city."
-Kuriotate Adept-brothers Lars and Kobe Lort before the sacking of 2 Kuriotate settlements and a Cabalim Stronghold.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_VITALIZE
"And I stood in the valley, as I was commanded, and sang the songs of rebirth. I sang until I slept. And upon waking I sang once more. Water and food were brought to me, and I slept beneath the stars. I sang the songs of old. And I sang the songs of new[7]. After two-hundred[8] days in the wastelands I looked down and saw something green. Something grew in those days, and I sang for 200 more.
-Druid Yu Po on revitalising the Jusli Desert

TXT_KEY_SPELL_DOMINATION
"Come to me......
Bring me your sword, bring me your wife,
bring me[9] adoration, bring me your life.
You are mine, fall in line,
only death will you wake.
Chattle[10] and Swine, I will dine
on your mind, honey and cake.
never to cease, never to end,
never to question, always to bend.
Come to me...."
-Wispers[11] of Mindbender Chlototh the Wicked.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_INSPIRATION
"What reason is there to wait? If you and I are to dance why do we remain still? If you and I are to kill, what stays our hand? Why you have come to this place,[12] is irrelevant. When you move on,[12] is inconsequential. Who's[1] illusions could you prefer,[12] when you might create your own? Why play at life, when you could live it instead?"
- High priest Sunn Lao to his would-be assassin, and student thereafter.

TXT_KEY_SPELL_CONJURE_FIRE_ELEMENTAL
<Feed me...>
"You heard it, feed it."
"What do you want me to feed it, its made of FIRE."
"I dont[6] know, grab some wood."
<Feed me.......>
"It sounds hungry. Hungry and impatient."
"Wood's not enough...maybe we need something more, something bigger."
"This was a bad idea."
"You're the one who wanted to know what fire thought."
<Feed me.............>
"Yeah it thinks 'hungry'. I know that now. We should get rid of it."
"We need something to feed it with[13] then."
<FEED ME!...>
"Is that Orc-encampment[8] still over on the other side of the ridge?"
"Maybe it likes orc-housing[8]?"
"Maybe it likes ORC."
- Flin Hornsby and Glen Metrol, Orc-bane and Ugly-Killer.

[1] who's-> whose.
[2] This is kind of an awkward sentence. Alternatives would depend on what you wanted to emphasise. Something like "We MUST fight", perhaps.
[3] Captin->Captain
[4] Comrade's or Comrades' (depending on whether there is one or more comrade)
[5] I (capital letter)
[6] don't (apostrophe)
[7] "the songs of new" isn't valid grammar. "And I sang songs that had never before been heard" maybe?
[8] no hyphen
[9] Should there be another "your" in here for rhythm purposes?
[10] Chattel
[11] Whispers
[12] No comma. If you want to indicate a pause for thought or something use ellipses "Why you have come to this place... is irrelevant."
[13] Comma

My talent is nitpicking.

Post by **shiremct** » August 29th, 2007, 9:32 am

Though I never played Fall From Heaven II for civ4 I know it had a lot of respect with the community; It's pretty cool you made some contributions to it.

I'd be willing to try to make some stuff for you but I'm not sure my style would fit well with your faction. I'm pretty new to the spriting, so I can't really do a wide variety of styles well, but maybe my style would fit a line of units for you, I don't know.

You can find my stuff in this thread
http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17313
There are images throughout and [hopefully] the further ones are improvements on the former.

Qes · Post by **Qes** » August 29th, 2007, 10:32 pm

irrevenant wrote: [1] who's-> whose.
[2] This is kind of an awkward sentence. Alternatives would depend on what you wanted to emphasise. Something like "We MUST fight", perhaps.
[3] Captin->Captain
[4] Comrade's or Comrades' (depending on whether there is one or more comrade)
[5] I (capital letter)
[6] don't (apostrophe)
[7] "the songs of new" isn't valid grammar. "And I sang songs that had never before been heard" maybe?
[8] no hyphen
[9] Should there be another "your" in here for rhythm purposes?
[10] Chattel
[11] Whispers
[12] No comma. If you want to indicate a pause for thought or something use ellipses "Why you have come to this place... is irrelevant."
[13] Comma

My talent is nitpicking.

All those corrections were made before final entry - i just copied and pasted my rough drafts from the other forum.
-Qes

Qes · Post by **Qes** » September 7th, 2007, 11:01 pm

Bump. As its still very true - and really the MAIN thing lacking in the completion of a faction.

<Looks around for pity>
-Qes

BloodIssyl · Post by **BloodIssyl** » September 7th, 2007, 11:06 pm

Your current art looks good enough to get a working version out there.

Post by **irrevenant** » September 8th, 2007, 4:35 am

I used the left hand of your monk as the base to develop some hands for the Dark Adept (here and here).

There's now at least a vague chance that it may be included in game, so I just wanted to confirm that you're okay with me using it that way. As you can see, I redrew basically the entire thing, but I wanted to make sure.

Thanks.

Weeksy · Post by **Weeksy** » September 8th, 2007, 5:21 am

Irrevenant, if you look at his posts a little closer, you'll see that those are actually from Era of Myths by I don't know what author, and then modified by Eternal. Still, it's cool you found it here, and probably the only way, as EoM is still so far into beta there won't be much use downloading it for a while.