Three wise magi (sprites + portraits)

[Sleepwalker]

The old sprites were slightly unbalanced. Jetrel's tweak was a bit overdone though, especially on the lvl1. The lvl2's cloak looked more back-heavy than it might have done because of the cloaks stiffness, that unit was in the greatest need of rebalancing.

You have become much more skilled, i'm really impressed by the beasts you made, but for these rogues I'm not convinced your style is "better". Yeah I got some critique you might not like reading. It is a matter of taste (or art direction whatever) but they clash a bit with the current style (As I am sure you already know and is doing intentionally). It's not up to me to decide if they are close enough but I would guess they are. With this rendering they look more realistic but it comes with the cost that its harder to make out the small details.

You say you want to make the faces more expressive though I'm not sure what your aim is here. I like your poses, they give nice character. The lvl1 has a innocent air about it (might be dues to puffy cheeks) and the higher levels got (in lack of better words) an professors air of superiority. But for the face it's hard to read any expression at all (not better or worse than mainline).

The eyes are hard to make out, except for the black dot of course. At first glance it looks like that's the only part of the eye. You have to look really close to see the green iris as well as the whites. The same goes with the green you added to the face of the lvl3 to make him look more sickly, it's very hard to make out.

I like the outfits, poses and design etc, including the beret. Not sure if the scroll is easily identifiable as one though. I think the swords could use some darks to represent for example reflected ground. Personally I would increase the heel size of the farthestmost boot a pixel.

Many units have different looking boots/ shoes... They don't all have the space marine boots if that is the type you have strong negative feelings for. I think they fit some units and are crisp and easy to read.

It's fascinating the thing you do with the bits of supersaturated color you put in small places... Is it just something you came up with or learned from some other source?

[LordBob]

To be perfectly honest, I find this realistic rendering difficult to read when applied to human-sized figures. It works well with large creatures that have a (relatively) simple shape, but once there are many details crammed into such a small space, it gets messy. For instance, it took a while (and zooming in) before I figured that the L1 is holding a parchment. They're beautiful and finely detailed, but maybe the outlines are a tad too thin, or colour contrasts not exaggerated enough ? Either way, they don't read as well as most current mainline sprites do.

[Blarumyrran]

Level2 & Level3 swords will have a standing anim (magic bubbles/smoke like this: ), to imply the Magical attack of their swords.

But for the face it's hard to read any expression at all (not better or worse than mainline).

I meant facial structure; hints towards nose, fat, forehead, chin, cheeks; most mainline humans have heads that look like spheres or bags, with two black holes for eyes (1, 2) - the distinguishing features between the faces of mainline humans are only eyebrows & hair/beard, but there's enough space for hints towards actual features.

The eyes are hard to make out, except for the black dot of course. At first glance it looks like that's the only part of the eye. You have to look really close to see the green iris as well as the whites. The same goes with the green you added to the face of the lvl3 to make him look more sickly, it's very hard to make out.

changed the level3 head. Anyway a player will always recognize a head, and on the head he will seek out two eyes, and through them he should have a good guess of where to look for a nose&mouth&rest - so I think it is only important for the player to be able to immediately locate the two eyes, the rest should be there to help the player construct a face in his mind if he so wants (the baggy/spherical heads of mainline humans do not help with that enough) - i don't think the player has to exactly understand what i wanted some particular pixel on the face to mean.

Not sure if the scroll is easily identifiable as one though.

it took a while (and zooming in) before I figured that the L1 is holding a parchment.

Agree, fixed

They don't all have the space marine boots if that is the type you have strong negative feelings for.

Yeah those are the kind that I meant.

[8680]

The L1 seems overly tilted toward the viewer, as if viewed from higher and nearer than the others.

[direfish]

These guys are cool. But they look like they're from a completely different game. Wesnoth has a certain style (which i've personally grown to love a lot), so you have to conform to it or change all the other sprites to maintain art consistency.

[taptap]

And suddenly shadow mages are really cool ...

[homunculus]

12 ) level2 flavor text mentions that the occupation harms health (perhaps like Dark Adept's does), level3 flavor text mentions that the occupation often drives insane. Flavor-wise I really like that - I like to think that Rogue Mage & upgrades are really quite aimless/indecisive/wimpy, even though they don't think themselves to be[...]

Well, someone who discards both mainstream magic and the necromancy canons, and decides to learn magic his own way, is likely to have some guts and competence, and probably also a somewhat high opinion of himself.
As I understand, you mean that they have "I am following neither canonic side and I know why" attitude, but really they are aimless and wimpy, and they don't really have a point in their ways.

The level 1 is hard to read.
The level 2 head looks good, but both lev 2 and 3 look more like protestant priests to me, not like rogue magi.
I liked the originals best, I remember I was surprised how much they looked like 'my own way'-magi (though not necessarily aimless) when I saw them in the campaign, even though they were not so well drawn (which implies that my opinion might be biased because of that).
I think the original lev 3 has gray hair combed back, and seems to be an old man with dignity (and no canonic mage robes nor any particular fashion style like the previous redraw had).

[Blarumyrran]

The L1 seems overly tilted toward the viewer, as if viewed from higher and nearer than the others.

Agree, fixed

its harder to make out the small details

there are many details crammed into such a small space, it gets messy

The level 1 is hard to read.

Fine; made the center of level1 less overlapping (removed scarf on chest, pointed the sword outwards)

both lev 2 and 3 look more like protestant priests to me, not like rogue magi.

They do have Leadership.

[em3]

both lev 2 and 3 look more like protestant priests to me, not like rogue magi.

They do have Leadership.

Burn.

I like those sprites. They don't really match usual Wesnoth style, but are classy indeed. Reminds me of how Windsong sprites are different yet pretty.

[Dixie]

Somehow, those sprites remind me of Battle Ogres... Huh.

Well, they are pretty cool, I especially like the parchment, but my main concern is the robes. They're pretty dark and we can barely see any detail... Maybe you could keep some very dark darks for the feel but have some brighter highlights/slightly different color scale? I dunno... I'm also not convinced about the berets, for some reason... Hmm...

[beetlenaut]

Wesnoth sprites are supposed to have larger-than-normal heads, but I'm afraid you've gone too far with the L2 and L3. Maybe you could get away with the L2, but the head on the L3 is about one third the height of the unit. Detail is great, but you don't have room for this much of it. I also can't see any detail in the robes. They are dark enough that your monitor settings probably affect how much you can see.

[enchilado]

The feet of the level 1 look oddly round to me... what if they were something like this?

[Blarumyrran]

my main concern is the robes. They're pretty dark and we can barely see any detail

I also can't see any detail in the robes.

Yeah that's the main reason I tagged the level2&3 as wip. Fixed.

The feet of the level 1 look oddly round to me

Hm maybe; changed the shape a bit, not sure if for the better

what if they were something like this?

No that is very ugly.

Wesnoth sprites are supposed to have larger-than-normal heads, but I'm afraid you've gone too far with the L2 and L3. Maybe you could get away with the L2, but the head on the L3 is about one third the height of the unit.

Okay; sized them down. I think a big reason why level3 head seemed big, was that it looked like the beard would cover much of the head... I removed the beard from the side.

Anyway, I think they're done by me, other than shadows & standinganim (magic bubbles/smoke from the Magical swords of level2&3; I won't be doing any other animations).

[artisticdude]

I seriously love your pixelling style... it's very clean and readable, and it's really refreshing how you define shapes with shading and colors instead of single-pixel lines.

The only thing thing I'd be a bit concerned about is the fact that the lvl2 and lvl3 (the lvl2 in particular) appear to be looking up to the ne/nw, rather than to the se/sw. Perhaps even the lvl1 suffers from this to a lesser extent.

[8680]

The L1 still seems overly tilted.