Ghost sketch

[Mathijs]

Hey there everyone, I've made a rough sketch of a ghost, tell me what you think, perhaps it can go beyond a sketch

small_ghost.png (84.06 KiB) Viewed 6526 times

oh, I'm also unaware if there's already a portrait for a ghost in mainline, currently I'm running the stable version... I couldn't see any on first sight here, so I assumed there were none yet?

[thespaceinvader]

There's not yet, but that's one of my first projects for the summer (and I've a sketch already in mind from a long-departed artist).

You've got the idea right here, but the execution is still lacking something - you'd need to pay a lot more attention to how cloth folds and hangs around a figure to get this close to mainline level. Particularly in the arms and the hood. Remember, it's not just a floating cloak, it's a cloak inhabited by a semi-invisible dead bloke...

Since this is unlikely to make mainline without some major improvements, I've moved it to the Workshop. But you should give a try at improving and finishing it - it certainly shows promise. Keep up the good work =)

[Mathijs]

Hm yeah, seconds after I posted I realized this was the wrong forum :p
Anyways, you're right about the cloth, and I also noticed that the sprite for the ghost has something of a scarf around his neck, that seems a good idea to add some more detail (& later on: color) to this one.
I'll excersise at drawing cloth, and give this guy a try. That'll be for this evening though, got to study now

thx for the quick reply

[Lord Ork]

I think a ghost portrait is a very difficult one for a beginner. When you have to colour it, you'll have to be very skilled with the effects. Good luck.

By the way, I didn't imagine pockets on the ghost's cloak (or even buttons). I think it is more like a shroud.

[thespaceinvader]

If you check the sprites in relation to the Dark Adept, you'll see the source of the cloak. Which reminds me, i'd better compare the DA portraitsbefore I go too far on drawing the final ghost...

[Mathijs]

So much for studying :p
second try, with correct style, no more cape, but a hooded cloak, still no scarf but some folds

I was going to make the face very translucent & blurry, so I havn't payed too much attention to it... half is to be bare skull the other half is fleshed

[Lord Ork]

If you check the sprites in relation to the Dark Adept, you'll see the source of the cloak. Which reminds me, i'd better compare the DA portraitsbefore I go too far on drawing the final ghost...

Why that? Are ghosts supposed to be deceased dark adepts? I understand that it was easier to copy one for the sprite, but I don't think that means that it should mimic the DA also on the protrait.

I like a lot the idea of the second attempt. If you achieve a great transparency effect on the face it will rule a lot! On the other hand, is its body a bit small?

[Mathijs]

I like a lot the idea of the second attempt. If you achieve a great transparency effect on the face it will rule a lot! On the other hand, is its body a bit small?

thx, about the size of the body, he is missing most of the lower part of the cloak. Or are you talking about the width of his chest? I didn't figure ghosts to be wide-chested, rather fragile and eerie... (in theory they could have any size of course, just the general idea of a ghost)
if you like the idea of a half-living half-dead face, I could do something similar for his hands?

[Mathijs]

aaaand another update, added scarf, some more detail into the hood, broadened his chest, changes in his cloak, ...

[Neoskel]

That dead guy is stylin' man.

He looks like hes posing for a picture with his 'hand' on his 'hip' like that. And that crooked smile.

[Mathijs]

hmm... a dandy ghost?

I thought of the fact he's looking straight at us... it's nicer if he'd be somwhat facing to right, however, I've forgotten of that aspect entirely when inking this guy... here's the result: give my feedback!!

[thespaceinvader]

Check your facial proportions. You're committing the very common newbie mistake (I did it a lot. Still do, occasionally) of making the eyes WAY too big. The shape of the lips and chin looks a little odd, too.

You could do with variable line weights, too. Otherwise, this looks good - still to mainline standard, but you're improving - I'm sure that there would be any number of UMC developers who'd love to have you practice your skills on their campaigns =)

[Neoskel]

I'd like to note something interesting i just noticed: When i looked at your second sketch, it looked wrong to me. When i looked at the third one, it looked right. Lastly, when i looked at your most recent one, it looked wrong again.

I realised that this is because in general, a character with part of their face disfigured is represented with the disfigurement on the left side of their face. It's sort of a convention. (Examples: Two-Face, Prince Zuko from Avatar)

It has ties to old superstition about right being all good and left being all bad. The old word for right is dexter, which has a whole host of good connotations (for example it is the root of the word dextrous). Even the word 'right' itself has good connotations. In contrast, the old word for left is sinister which is loaded with bad connotations(i don't even need to list any examples it's so prevalent). So it's the left side that is shown with whatever disfigurement while the right side is whole.

Pertaining to the topic at hand this means that having the skeletal half on HIS left hand side will look more 'correct' to most viewers, while having it on his right hand side would be a bit 'rebellious'.

...

Well, i thought it was interesting.

[Mathijs]

this is a very bare outline, hadn't really put any effort in thinner or thicker lines, except where I knew from my sketch they had to be thinner
and yes the eye, well ehm, his right eye is looking good anyway :p lol guess I'll google me some good-eyed people

about the looking wrong or right, it might be something else, e.g. his pose, I'm constantly flipping the view to check if the image feels right to me,
so the fact that it feels wrong when flipped might have to do with proportions... I'll have a look at it tonight, today I do really need to study

[Mathijs]

Alright, some things have changed again: smaller eye, better mouth, nicer scarf details, one hand(!), nicer hair, some more thinned lines, ... and probably some details I can't think off...

hoping for another round of feedback! (don't tell me he's missing a hand )