Ellisae's portrait attempts - Eastern Invasion

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Ellisae
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Ellisae's portrait attempts - Eastern Invasion

Post by Ellisae »

As the title reads (EDIT: read, in past tense), I am wondering whether the "Under the Burning Sun" campaign requires updated portraits. My reason for asking is that I would like to contribute to this game, and while I am primarily a 2d computer artist and believe I might perhaps maybe be almost good enough to contribute, there seems to be a large effort to update campaign portraits going on already, by people far better than I. I have used the search function, but have found no mention of UtBS, however.
I did not want to start sketching while I might not have a reason to, even if it would be practice and thus not completely wasted effort.
In case you do not want, or need, new ones for this particular campaign, or in case a project is already underway to make them, I would like to ask: What, if anything, could I help with then?

Attached is an example portrait that I made for my own use; an elvish halberdier, just so you know what kind of work you could expect. Obviously, I would make desert elves; this was made for use in campaigns in which I play as wood elves. I had adapted the style slightly in this one, to fit the other elven portraits.
Attachments
ElvishHalberdierDialogue.png
ElvishHalberdierDialogue.png (144.57 KiB) Viewed 6534 times
ElvishHalberdiersmall.png
ElvishHalberdiersmall.png (52.43 KiB) Viewed 6534 times
Last edited by Ellisae on June 27th, 2011, 12:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Astoria
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by Astoria »

Ellisae wrote:As the title reads, I am wondering whether the "Under the Burning Sun" campaign requires updated portraits. My reason for asking is that I would like to contribute to this game, and while I am primarily a 2d computer artist and believe I might perhaps maybe be almost good enough to contribute, there seems to be a large effort to update campaign portraits going on already, by people far better than I. I have used the search function, but have found no mention of UtBS, however.
I did not want to start sketching while I might not have a reason to, even if it would be practice and thus not completely wasted effort.
In case you do not want, or need, new ones for this particular campaign, or in case a project is already underway to make them, I would like to ask: What, if anything, could I help with then?

Attached is an example portrait that I made for my own use; an elvish halberdier, just so you know what kind of work you could expect. Obviously, I would make desert elves; this was made for use in campaigns in which I play as wood elves. I had adapted the style slightly in this one, to fit the other elven portraits.
That looks amazing! I'm not an art director, but yes, UtBS needs portraits. Just try starting with the most important characters. Take a look at the core files to see which campaigns still need work. ;)
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artisticdude
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by artisticdude »

LightFighter wrote:I'm not an art director, but yes, UtBS needs portraits. Just try starting with the most important characters. Take a look at the core files to see which campaigns still need work.
Whoa whoa, hold on a moment here. I can't remember what (if anything) is happening with the UtBS portraits, but I'd advise you to wait until you hear from someone who would know the status of the campaign's portrait plans before starting in on this project. Because sometimes certain artists already have plans to work on a certain campaign, and it'd be a shame to have to waste all that work due to duplicate efforts.

You obviously have skill, and IMO you mimic the Wesnoth style very well. But again, I'd wait until you hear from someone who knows the status of the campaign's portrait plans before jumping in on this. If there are already plans for this campaign's portraits, I'm sure your talent could be useful in a number of other mainline campaigns. :)
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Zerovirus
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by Zerovirus »

That is very very impressive work. The head took a second for me to read, though- the nose-guard isn't immediately obvious, and I was confused as to where the other eye went.

Based on your avatar, it seems you are able to capably frankensprite as well. Care to post some of your sprites?
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homunculus
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by homunculus »

the right upper arm, btw, looks quite long to me.
actually it just looks dislocated, if you have it in layers it might be easy to just shift it upwards and adjust the edge of the cloak.
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Espreon
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by Espreon »

Yes, Under the Burning Suns needs updated portraits; however, it is not ready, for the desert elves need to be redone first. Sadly, the plans are still not complete and probably will not be complete for quite a while.
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by Zerovirus »

Both. I've been waiting for the green light on a revamped list of UtBS sprites for a while. Of course, I won't have time to do sprites for a long time after today (school tomorrow)... I was rather hoping something would get to my end before christmas, but meh. There's other spriting-related matters for me to tend to anyways...

...Did Artisticdude delete his post?
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by thespaceinvader »

If not, I would think we could find somewhere else for you to contribute, this is very impressive work =) Leave it with me, I'll review what's still to be done and get back to you.
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by Captain_Wrathbow »

[peanut_gallery_comment]
Even if you don't end up contributing to mainline, there are tons of UMC creators who would love to have some of your talent in their projects.
[/peanut_gallery_comment]
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Ellisae
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by Ellisae »

Alright, thanks for the quick replies. (:

In regards to the critiques on my halberdier - I am aware there are a few problems with her, I just never intended for it to be used by anyone but myself, so I didn't feel like putting the energy in it required to polish it up. Still, thank you! I had not seen any issues with the head (probably due to tunnel vision of sorts, it happens a lot, especially when I focus on details). The arm thing is probably a bad habit of mine; I have rather long arms myself, and learned how to draw arms by looking at my own. It is a valid point, as I am rather a bit taller and skinnier than most people. I will fix it if I find the time; it's not very high priority to me for aforementioned reasons.

Zerovirus wrote:Based on your avatar, it seems you are able to capably frankensprite as well. Care to post some of your sprites?
To be honest, that's the first one I ever made, though not quite the first time I put elements of different sprites together - they just weren't related to Wesnoth.
I do have one other that I put together in a break between school assignments, though. I will post both, since you asked. Neither have a lot of time put into them, really. The fighter wasn't made with any particular goal in mind, so she's pretty simple and useless. Halberdier was, again, made for my own use. I would put more effort into it if it was used for anything.
Attachments
Robed fighter.png
Robed fighter.png (6.04 KiB) Viewed 6431 times
halberdier.png
halberdier.png (5.83 KiB) Viewed 6431 times
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LordBob
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by LordBob »

Regarding artwork, Wesnoth has become increasingly demanding over the past few years. So your skill is promising, but still requires polishing if you wish to contribute for mainline. For instance, there are several issues in this elf (edit : some of which you're aware of already), mostly related to the overall layout of the picture : the volumes of the cape leave little place for his left arm ; his right upperarm is rather long ; there's a symetry problem with the breastplate ; finding a coherent lightsource is difficult...Nevertheless your shading is good, your lineart is clean and precise.

In other words, you are most welcome to contribute, but know we won't go easy on you : you'll have to surpass "I didn't feel like putting the energy in it required to polish it up" once you're aiming for mainline :wink:


Now as for which portraits need work, this thread gives some clues. My two cents :
- if you're at ease with monsters and the like, the generic troll line is lacking every unit above the adult troll (i.e Troll Rocklobber, Warrior, Hero, Great Troll and Shaman)
- campaign-wise, The Eastern Invasion needs replacement and is unclaimed.

If you wish to work on the campaign, please contact its maintainer prior to doing any art, in order to check with him which portraits are required and what his needs/ideas are.
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Jetrel
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by Jetrel »

This portrait looks quite nice, and looks extremely close to our 'canonical' style. Kitty and lordbob may have some additional input (for example, a few things feel off about the position of face/ears), but in general this is very pleasing work, and we'd love to have you onboard. As you say, there are a number of nuances where you're not quite as good as kitty/lordbob, but I think you'll be good enough if you're patient and willing to work with their critique.

In matters regarding portraits, you'll of course defer to them, rather than me.

UTBS is one of our primary campaigns; it's not one of the most desperately-in-need of a redo, but .. in a statement of grand compliment to our current portrait artists, we're running short on those. :mrgreen: So it would be an ideal one for you to contribute to, especially if you feel like doing elves. TEI and SotBE are two others; being mostly humans and orcs, respectively.
Espreon wrote:Yes, Under the Burning Suns needs updated portraits; however, it is not ready, for the desert elves need to be redone first. Sadly, the plans are still not complete and probably will not be complete for quite a while.
Overruled. If a current part of our project hasn't made progress, that's no excuse to prevent someone else, who IS able to make progress, from contributing. Even if you're referring to reworked unit lines, I can make placeholders; we are not turning away someone who wants to kick butt, just because you haven't gotten your ducks in a row yet.

Edit: If they're overhauling the entire campaign, that's another matter altogether.
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by artisticdude »

Zerovirus wrote:Both. I've been waiting for the green light on a revamped list of UtBS sprites for a while. Of course, I won't have time to do sprites for a long time after today (school tomorrow)... I was rather hoping something would get to my end before christmas, but meh. There's other spriting-related matters for me to tend to anyways...

...Did Artisticdude delete his post?
Yeah, upon further consideration it seemed rather pointless, so I deleted it. Sorry about that. :P Actually, I've been wanting to animate something recently, so when the time comes I might try and help out with some UtBS animations. Although it seems likely that that time isn't in the foreseeable future... :|
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Guidrion
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by Guidrion »

At first, I thought it was a Kitty portrait. :shock: Your style is extremly close to her first works for Wesnoth!

Compare:
http://exong.net/wesnoth-attach/files/l ... 05_133.png

I have faith that, with attention to improvement that our artmasters adviced, you can become a great wesnoth portraitist. I really hope you'll stick around. :D
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Re: Does UtBS need portraits?

Post by StDrake »

Hey, stop picking on the lass, canonically elves ARE tall and ski..err slim ;), there'd been ugly elven ladies made for mainline not long ago so i don't see why this one shouldn't have some anatomic degenerations.
And don't you lot think you're starting to treat BfW too much as your property(if it's anyones i'd attribute it rather to Dave don't you think)? And more yet - looking at art too much through a masters master? Most non-artistic people wouldn't notice such details (or maybe it's just me and my disgraphy that I don't give a damn about disproportions..though the facing of chest vs bottom and volume within the hidden arm cloak are a little odd)

The general rule on art should be - if it's better, it might go in even if others are already on it - so don't be afraid to have a go with some of those portraits, regardless of others. Look at what's been going on with the ancient lich portraits - one big contest and tons of pretty portraits in effect (which are a tasty morsel for UMC makers even if they don't end up in mainline)

..and of course there's plenty of room for UMC art (including my faction kitties)


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