BT attempts portraiting

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nemaara
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by nemaara »

Take your time, I'm stuck on some code for Genesis II anyway. :whistle:
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BTIsaac
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

Well, that being said, i have an inked sketch of a demon lord ready to be scanned. The other inked sketch is a forest spirit - i mentioned way back that i intended to draw one, and we did talk about seeing how well i draw fairies.
I also have three uninked sketches, including an alternate demon lord (even if the stormguarde and the harbinger use the same portraits, two versions are still required for story purposes), and a black demon/demoness.

On an unrelated note, it looks like only the male Helion's portrait was updated in the database. Yeah, i probably should stop nagging.
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BTIsaac
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

I'll post the other sketches once they're done.

If the Demon Lord (Harbinger/Stormguarde) doesn't look, well, demonic enough, it's because I had Elorran from AtS in mind when drawing him.
Spoiler:
I have an alternate version planned that looks more evil. Not so much for the two separate unit types, but rather to match their attirude towards the player in different scenarios.

The forest spirit isn't exactly the most indicative of how I would draw fairies, due to this particular unit's distinct lack of attire, and the fact that she's probably supposed to be more spirit-like than the other fairies. But that also means she's easier to draw, and besides, it's at least a female character that both looks human and doesn't look like she's trying to rip your spine out.
Attachments
Sigh. Hands. Why does it have to be hands?
Sigh. Hands. Why does it have to be hands?
Demon Lord lt.jpg (22 KiB) Viewed 10371 times
Is it just me, or is that shoulder weird?
Is it just me, or is that shoulder weird?
Forest Spirit lt.jpg (19.61 KiB) Viewed 10371 times
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nemaara
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by nemaara »

The demon lord looks weird to me. This time I don't have something I can point out specifically about it, maybe it's the pose, maybe it's the proportions, I don't really know. :augh: (But I do think the head is decent).

In the faerie spirit, I don't think it's the shoulder that's strange, it's the upper arm beneath it. It's bending in exactly the wrong direction (perhaps the bicep is in the wrong direction, if that's what it's supposed to be?), so the curve of the arm should be toward the body instead of away. Or, if you want it to look like she is holding her arm out like that, the shoulder needs to curve differently. Also, the thigh is a little thick in the middle, especially compared to the tiny calf below it (and that knee looks a bit odd, like there's no flesh around it and it's just bone - it's a little thin). Rest of the body looks pretty good though! ^_^
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BTIsaac
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

I think i see the problem with the demon lord. It's the weird perspective. I don't know how i did it, but apparently parts that are supposed to be closer are smaller while the parts that are farther are bigger. I can see why that's difficult to describe because it's pretty freakish and really messes with perception (it would however make for some dope surreal painting, so i'll keep that in mind :hmm: ). On the plus side, this is actually easy to fix. As is the dislocated right leg.
Or, if you want it to look like she is holding her arm out like that, the shoulder needs to curve differently.
Well, yeah. That's what i said. I don't think the knee and the calf need fixing. This being a forest spirit and all, all the added foresty and spirit-y bits will end up obscuring that part anyway. I'm gonna fix that shoulder and tigh though.
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BTIsaac
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

Ugh. Okay, so turns out, i ended up under a lot of stress due to work related issues to the point where it's affecting my performance. I'm gonna have to put the portraits aside for another couple of weeks.
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BTIsaac
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Corrections to older portraits

Post by BTIsaac »

Okay, I'm back, and I have stuff to post.
So first off, here are a few corrections I made to existing portraits, namely the Red Demon, and the Female Dreamwalker and Dreamweaver.
Attachments
The hair now has the intended ripple effect like in the case of the male variant.
The hair now has the intended ripple effect like in the case of the male variant.
DreamweaverF.png (347.01 KiB) Viewed 9839 times
The hair is now darker and less silky
The hair is now darker and less silky
DreamwalkerF.png (320.75 KiB) Viewed 9839 times
Better lighting on the head, removed that weird dark line on the arm
Better lighting on the head, removed that weird dark line on the arm
Red Demon.png (188.7 KiB) Viewed 9839 times
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BTIsaac
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Fire and Inferno Demons

Post by BTIsaac »

And here are the portraits for the Fire and Inferno Demon/Demoness. It occurred to me that there's a distinct difference in the flames, as before. Hm. Maybe the next correction will involve making them look more uniform or something.

I also experimented with new shading techniques, especially Lord Bob's metal shading tutorial. I think the lighting may be all over the place, and that might be yet another thing I'll need to fix.
Attachments
Fire Demon.png
Fire Demon.png (277.4 KiB) Viewed 9835 times
Inferno Demon.png
Inferno Demon.png (303.68 KiB) Viewed 9835 times
Fire Demoness.png
Fire Demoness.png (166.76 KiB) Viewed 9835 times
Inferno Demoness.png
Inferno Demoness.png (231.47 KiB) Viewed 9835 times
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BTIsaac
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Incubbus, Shadow Demon

Post by BTIsaac »

And finally, here are these two. I know the Shadow Demons have male and female variants, but as I said earlier, I don't think two portraits are necessary here. The reason why the shadow demon looks the way it does is because I tend to think of something very specific every time I hear "Shadow Demon". If you prefer something more spooky and ghost like, I could draw a new one and this could be used for something else.

Not much to say about the incubbus though. These guys have story dialogue, so I tried to put a lot more effort into them, and a lot of details were lost, partly due to the blue flames (there are wings under there, they're just not very obvious). I added both that and the black water the dreamwalkers had, plus a more solid and ornamental dreamcatcher, to signify whatever passes for a higher rank for dream demons.
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Shadow Demon.png
Shadow Demon.png (304.54 KiB) Viewed 9831 times
Incubbus.png
Incubbus.png (421.57 KiB) Viewed 9831 times
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nemaara
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by nemaara »

I'll put these in, thanks for the hard work. ^_^
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The_Gnat
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by The_Gnat »

Hi BTIsaac! I haven't been on the forum for a while and just noticed your portraits and am really impressed! They look awesome!!!!!! 8) 8) 8)

Congrats! :D
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BTIsaac
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

They could be better. After doing this for 10 years I only now discovered the magic trick most photoshop pros rarely talk about (although Bob and Kitty's tutorials helped a lot), and my first experiments with it resulted in some pretty amazing things.
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BTIsaac
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

Okay, so here are a couple of sketches I held off posting because I didn't want to upload too many stuff at the same time. These are the alternate Demon Lord portrait and the portraits for the Black Demon/Demoness.
Attachments
Demon Lord 2 lt.jpg
Demon Lord 2 lt.jpg (16.61 KiB) Viewed 9243 times
Black Demon lt.jpg
Black Demon lt.jpg (13.38 KiB) Viewed 9243 times
Black Demoness lt.jpg
Black Demoness lt.jpg (15.25 KiB) Viewed 9243 times
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BTIsaac
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

Okay so I haven't posted much lately. And I haven't really gotten much done either. I did finish the Forest Spirit and Black Demon portraits, using the new techniques and I AM (mostly) satisfied with the results. One of the two Demon Lord portraits is still in progress, I'll finish it last, hopefully there will be some update from Nemaara till then.

The two portraits below are for the Sprite and Fairy Shaman. I figured I give fairies longer and pointier ears and antenna-hair to make them more distinct from regular female elves. I think I'll also go with modified versions for the Fire Fairy and Forest Nymph and draw distinct ones for the Dryad, Guardian and Siren.
Attachments
Not sure why this feels off
Not sure why this feels off
Sprite lt.jpg (17.96 KiB) Viewed 7961 times
Note to self: fix lips in post
Note to self: fix lips in post
Shaman lt.jpg (19.09 KiB) Viewed 7961 times
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GunChleoc
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Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by GunChleoc »

Not sure why this feels off
I think everything above the waist looks great - the lower part doesn't fit the upper part. Must be a perspective thing or something. Also, the rear of the thigh looks weird. The lines of the arm could also be a bit less straight.
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