Myrddin Emrys' Art

[MyrddinEmrys]

Hello there,

This is the current version of a character for a campaign I am working on. The unit type will be Mage, allowing all advancement paths (red/white, silver/arch).

images:

• The sword is optional, as it is an item that can be acquired during play.
• There will probably be an alternate version with an orb of light instead of the fireball for the White Mage path.

Any thoughts?

[ghype]

i am not an portrait artist, but i like them. So even if I comment on it you shouldn't take it for granted.

will this be a portrait for the mainline mage or will you create a custom sprite for it as well?

[MyrddinEmrys]

I'm planning to use the common mainline mage.

Edit: I will, however, add a sword attack animation, albeit probably not a very sophisticated one.

[ghype]

once you get it going with your campaign and portraits, i can help you with spriting this character in case you need help and want to modify the existing mage

[MyrddinEmrys]

once you get it going with your campaign and portraits, i can help you with spriting this character in case you need help and want to modify the existing mage

Thanks for the offer
Fortunately, the entire Red Mage path uses the same structure for its melee attack anims as the Lvl 1 Mage, so I'll see if I can simply draw one sword and have it replace the staff in each of them. The White Mage path is a little trickier, and I am not sure yet how I will approach that. If I have problems there, I'll get back to you

Also, I now have a colored and shaded version of the portrait, critique welcome

Spoiler:

Standard version.

White Mage version. Should the glowing staff be reserved for Lvl 3?

[ghype]

the details on the wood are nice and i like her armour set as well.
i get a vibes of Ciri from the Witcher. I like it.

there are a lot of white shades (hair, skin blouse) maybe get there some more colour somehow somewhere.
also i guess a portrait artist ( i am not one ) might say never draw sprites from a frontal perspectives as in how the body is shown just as you shouldn draw vertical or horizontal weapons, but again ... i am no portrait artist

[MyrddinEmrys]

the details on the wood are nice and i like her armour set as well.
i get a vibes of Ciri from the Witcher. I like it.

I've never played The Witcher, but thanks

there are a lot of white shades (hair, skin blouse) maybe get there some more colour somehow somewhere.

I see what you mean with the white shades. The best thing where something could probably be tweaked is the shirt. I can, however, not seem to find an appropriate alternative color for it that still has some contrast to the rest of the clothing and makes sense considering the personality of the character – she is a very practical person and doesn't give much about fine clothing, therefore a material that is obviously dyed wouldn't fit in my opinion.

also i guess a portrait artist ( i am not one ) might say never draw sprites from a frontal perspectives as in how the body is shown just as you shouldn draw vertical or horizontal weapons, but again ... i am no portrait artist

While a sprite from straight frontal perspective might indeed look weird, for portraits it is a different matter entirely: There actually are numerous mainline portraits from frontal perspective, such as the female elvish archer & marksman, the master at arms or the orcish crossbowman. While a sprite has to look good in the context of other sprites and the terrain beneath it, a portrait is relatively context–free visually, leaving the perspective mainly a choice of dramatic effect. For the master at arms, for example, the fact that he is a character who would lore-wise specialize in one-versus-one fights makes it interesting that you look at him straight from the front, as that is the perspective an opponent would see him from – this makes him more intimidating.
Also, straight lines in pixel art are tricky because they might draw attention to the image's pixely nature, while most techniques used for portraits don't have that problem.

[ghype]

There actually are numerous mainline portraits from frontal perspective,

yes you are right, it was really no critique, i was just trying to think as portrait artist, clearly i am none haha


about the shades of white, i guess we can take a look on how CD Project Red (maker of the witcher) handled Ciri.
Here is an example of how she was portrayed.

You might see some parallels. I guess your mage has pretty pale skin for an human. If it would have piky ears you might say she is an elf. so maybe add a more rose tone in the skin mix and if not, than at least darken the very white shades on her skin. Though now that i look at it again, her skin colour seems pretty fine.
Another thign CD Project Red did was to make her blouse not white but a bit more gray-ish. In-game the blouse even appears to be rug-ish.


So i don't know, thats all i can suggest

[MyrddinEmrys]

You might see some parallels. […]

Yes, there definitely seem to be some similarities, at least in terms of clothing.

In fact, my character's blouse is also not 100% white, but a little beige-ish, but I'm not sure myself if that difference is actually perceptible like this.
Originally, it was a darker beige, but I happened to accidently disable the layer holding the color and found that I actually kind of liked it more that way, so I made it lighter

So i don't know, thats all i can suggest

Well, thank you for taking the time!

[MyrddinEmrys]

After being away from Wesnoth for a while, here's an Elvish Monk I made some time ago for a project I abandoned. I'd still like to use him at some point, but in my current project he doesn't fit thematically.

Image:

monk.png (142.43 KiB) Viewed 3857 times

Note: By now I know how a hakama is actually worn, at the time when I drew the above I obviously didn't