BT attempts portraiting

Make art for user-made content.

Moderator: Forum Moderators

Forum rules
Before posting critique in this forum, you must read the following thread:
Post Reply
User avatar
nemaara
Developer
Posts: 333
Joined: May 31st, 2015, 2:13 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by nemaara »

I have several comments. Please keep in mind that your portraits are already reasonably good and usable as is. You do not have to edit them more if you don't want to. I'm offering this critique because I think you have the ability to improve on your art.

These first comments are directed at the red demons. I've already commented on the shape of the demon muscles when they were the sketch format - I believe we came to the conclusion that it's fine to have them look different than human muscle in shape. That being said, the joints (visible knee in the male portrait and the elbows) look a little thin to me in the colored versions. This is not really a big deal, but just something that look a little bit awkward.

The bigger thing that I've noticed is the shading is a bit off in several places. While you now have a more defined light source (I won't nitpick more than that), there doesn't appear to be enough contrast to me in some areas, making the muscles look unnaturally smooth (almost like blobs of fat! :lol: ). This is especially the case for the female portrait. Another example is the male head, which is not shaded very much at all. This would not be an issue if the rest of the body also were not shaded, but since you have an intense light source to the bottom left, it looks strange to have the head not shaded very much. On the other hand, the neck and shoulder area is shaded quite well.

The next comment is about the blue demons. I think they look fine as well, but the thing that bothers me the most is that I'm guessing that you tried to draw "ghostly fog" around them. I think it looks fine in the female apparition and nightmare portraits, but I can't help but think it looks like lightning elsewhere. My guess is that the shading issue is exactly opposite of that for the red demons - there's too much contrast, making it look like electricity rather than some spooky dream-like power. Some sketchiness still remains in some part of the portraits, especially the male ones.

About the female fiend - overall, it looks fine. I would say that the face looks a little bit cartoony compared to the other portraits, probably on account of lack of facial bone structure (e.g. cheek bones, eyebrow ridges, etc.).

I'm aware that coloring portraits is hard (I know from firsthand experience - I can draw sketches, but most certainly can't color them to save my life :annoyed:), so I have to commend you on doing a good job with them. Again, I'm only offering critique because I think you have the ability to do even better. ^_^

If you don't mind, could I add these portraits to Genesis now under the CC BY-NC-SA license (or if you prefer, CC BY-NC-ND?) and change them out if/when you decide to update them?

P.S., you might find this article on shading useful http://www.proko.com/how-to-shade-a-dra ... rWxU-jwZPY.
User avatar
BTIsaac
Posts: 428
Joined: December 7th, 2017, 7:30 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

Well i could adjust the red demon a bit. As i mentioned before, the most complicated part is transferring between work and home computers, which is why i do it rarely, and when the files piled up. The lack of contrast on the red demon's head is, like his left arm, an oversight. If it works for you, you can add them of course - it can be replaced with an updated version later.

For the blue demons, the light blue wasn't supposed to look like a ghostly fog. The intent was something similar to a corona discharge like effect in the wake of them crossing a boundary between two planes of existence - hence why parts of them just fade out. I agree that for the demoness line it does resemble lightning a bit, even though i would have drawn it differently if that was my intention.

With the female fiend, i tried to make her look more dynamic. I could add more detail during the coloring process, but if i have too many lines, things can start looking really ugly, especially if I'm not using default expressions.

Since there's no getting around this one, what exactly is the difference between the two licences and which one are you using?
User avatar
nemaara
Developer
Posts: 333
Joined: May 31st, 2015, 2:13 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by nemaara »

CC-BY-NC-SA refers to the license which allows others to use your art for non-commercial purposes, as long as they share it under the same license. They must also credit you and document any changes they make to the artwork.

CC BY-NC-ND is more restrictive in that other people are not allowed to make any derivatives of your artwork without permission. They also may not use it for commercial purposes.

I use CC BY-NC-SA for most of my sprites because even if I draw large portions of them from scratch, some parts are frankensteined from other sprites, and I referred to a lot of mainline sprites while drawing structures. It would be silly for me to release them without allowing derivatives, since they are somewhat derivatives in themselves. :lol:

Your portraits are drawn from scratch, so it's really up to you whether you want to allow derivatives or not. :hmm:
User avatar
BTIsaac
Posts: 428
Joined: December 7th, 2017, 7:30 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

CC-BY-NC-SA it is then. I mean a lot of the stuff here seem to get recycled, and there's no point asking me every time, especially since I'll probably give permission anyway.
User avatar
GunChleoc
Translator
Posts: 506
Joined: September 28th, 2012, 7:35 am
Contact:

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by GunChleoc »

Anything you derive off mainline can't be licensed as NC, because NC is a nonfree license and as such incompatible with the GPL. CC-BY-SA is the way to go for those.
Creative Commons Nocommercial, any version (#CC-BY-NC)

This license does not qualify as free, because there are restrictions on charging money for copies. Thus, we recommend you do not use this license for documentation.

In addition, it has a drawback for any sort of work: when a modified version has many authors, in practice getting permission for commercial use from all of them would become infeasible.
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html
Wussel
Posts: 624
Joined: July 28th, 2012, 5:58 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by Wussel »

Well no money making with BTIsaac, Nemaara or me! Just face it ;) Reality is harsh sometimes 8)
User avatar
GunChleoc
Translator
Posts: 506
Joined: September 28th, 2012, 7:35 am
Contact:

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by GunChleoc »

Fine by me - you can't legally reuse mainline assets then though, because you're violating their license. NC is important to you, and software freedom is important to mainline. The two are incompatible.

There is a reason that allowing NC licenses was debated at some length when the new policy was introduced, and confusion like this this is exactly it.

I'm not pointing this out to make things difficult for you, but to avoid problems down the line when you have already spent a lot of time on the art and then might have to take it down.
User avatar
BTIsaac
Posts: 428
Joined: December 7th, 2017, 7:30 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

Well none of my stuff is reusing anything. When and if I do reuse mainline stuff, they can still go under a separate license, right?
Wussel
Posts: 624
Joined: July 28th, 2012, 5:58 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by Wussel »

Yup, if you do edits of mainline stuff it will stay GPL. It will not change to CC-whatever. We are speaking about separate art pieces. Not campaigns. I am not sure what GunCleoc is intending at all. Maybe he has some agenda, which he is not telling us.
User avatar
doofus-01
Art Director
Posts: 4121
Joined: January 6th, 2008, 9:27 pm
Location: USA

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by doofus-01 »

Wussel wrote: April 1st, 2018, 11:47 am Maybe he has some agenda, which he is not telling us.
Stick it to the man, fight the power, don't be a tool of the system. :|

Allowing NC and ND does complicate the "anything goes" attitude that has reigned in Wesnoth for the last decade. GunChleoc isn't wrong for urging caution.
BfW 1.12 supported, but active development only for BfW 1.13/1.14: Bad Moon Rising | Trinity | Archaic Era |
| Abandoned: Tales of the Setting Sun
GitHub link for these projects
Wussel
Posts: 624
Joined: July 28th, 2012, 5:58 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by Wussel »

Anything goes was never the maxim of Wesnoth. Creating versions of art pieces was a total no go not so long ago. People stayed away out of fear of the [censored] they would start. That includes YOU. Please do not make me search a citation.
User avatar
nemaara
Developer
Posts: 333
Joined: May 31st, 2015, 2:13 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by nemaara »

BTIssac, I've added the portraits for the red demons and the blue/apparition/nightmare demons to Genesis under CC BY-NC-SA. Thanks again for drawing them for me! ^_^
User avatar
BTIsaac
Posts: 428
Joined: December 7th, 2017, 7:30 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

No problem. The fiends are currently in progress, in fact the male fiend is mostly done. I'm just having a bit of a problem with the flames).
User avatar
GunChleoc
Translator
Posts: 506
Joined: September 28th, 2012, 7:35 am
Contact:

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by GunChleoc »

My agenda is to save you some heartache - I don't want you to get into stupid licensing trouble after having invested a lot of work into a lovely piece of art. Sounds like you guys have it covered :)
User avatar
BTIsaac
Posts: 428
Joined: December 7th, 2017, 7:30 am

Re: BT attempts portraiting

Post by BTIsaac »

Sigh. Slow progress. I seemingly hit an artist's block and can't seem to be able to get the lighting on the female fiend right.
Post Reply