Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

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Aldarisvet
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by Aldarisvet »

Hi, Lordbob.
As it was pointed out earlier, it is really impossible to use the scabbard of the Kaleh's sword with that sword that Kaleh has.
It looks nonsene, or Kaleh have the magical scabbard that can contain items that are greater than it.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by beetlenaut »

The_Gnat wrote:their style may not fit in with the normal art
LordBob pretty much defined the Wesnoth art style.
The_Gnat wrote:it is standing rather than being cut at the waist like most units.
A lot of LordBob's portraits have feet in their original versions. Don't worry. He'll cut the images off at the waist before they get put in the game.
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LordBob
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by LordBob »

Ah. ^_^

@The Gnat: it is as Beetlenaut says. I paint the full figure because I want it that way for future reference in my portfolio, but I will indeed crop them in the end. In fact I've been taking this approach for several years now, going as far back as Eastern Invasion, so most of my recent portraits also exist as HD full-figure paintings.

As for the quality... Well that is something I would have a hard time fixing. I do give my whole to every image, so it's no surprise that these elves would shame my early loyalist portraits. :)
In all seriousness though, Kitty's elf portraits are what really initiated the Wesnoth style the way I see it. I referred to them a lot when I started here, but I have drifted in style over the years. My current artworks are loaded with details that often get lost in the final portait size whereas the old shading seemed simpler and more stylized, and lines have all but vanished from my process. Compared to the current one, the initial style did not have such a high entry barrier and that may have been a good thing. :hmm:

@Aladrisvet: Kaleh's scabbard is a problem indeed. I am aware that the complex shape of his blade could not fit in there, or in any traditional sheath for that matter. I imagined it to be more of a cover for the blade (see sketch below), but the portrait fails to convey that. I know it needs a fix.
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Aldarisvet
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by Aldarisvet »

Thank for the explanation. This conception looks interesting but is far from the practical usability. Because that 'thorn' in the middle of the blade would be uncovered and could harm the wielder.
Form the practical point of view it would be much more useful just to make a larger traditional scabbard with the form at the end of it that would suit that double curved end of the blade, and also large enough to let that 'thorn' in.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by skeptical_troll »

I really love your work (both these and your story art), and I think that Kaleh's is turning really great.
I share Aldarisvet's perplexity about the middle spike on the back of his blade. Is it really necessary after all? I suppose it is just decorative as I can't see practical uses. Also, the first time I saw it I instinctively thought of a giant bottle-opener :) but maybe that's just me. Perhaps it could be smaller, or less sharp?

The other impression I have, although I can't put exactly my fingers on it, is that there is some tension on his left hand and the way it rests on his flank.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by The_Gnat »

LordBob wrote:Ah. ^_^

@The Gnat: it is as Beetlenaut says. I paint the full figure because I want it that way for future reference in my portfolio, but I will indeed crop them in the end. In fact I've been taking this approach for several years now, going as far back as Eastern Invasion, so most of my recent portraits also exist as HD full-figure paintings.

As for the quality... Well that is something I would have a hard time fixing. I do give my whole to every image, so it's no surprise that these elves would shame my early loyalist portraits. :)
In all seriousness though, Kitty's elf portraits are what really initiated the Wesnoth style the way I see it. I referred to them a lot when I started here, but I have drifted in style over the years. My current artworks are loaded with details that often get lost in the final portait size whereas the old shading seemed simpler and more stylized, and lines have all but vanished from my process. Compared to the current one, the initial style did not have such a high entry barrier and that may have been a good thing. :hmm:
Thanks for responding and clarifying! And i I love your portraits so don't worry about the entry barrier ;) (quality over quantity!)

Also someone said once that artist got paid for their portraits, is that true?
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by LordBob »

In part only.

Wesnoth does commission artists for sprite animations and portraits, and I am probably the person who has been commissioned the most over the years as far as portraits go. The UtBS revamp is such a commission, by the way.

However, not all artwork is commissioned. A large amount of portraits are volunteer work (that includes over half of my total production, I think), and the story art I am currently working on is something I contribute out of my own free will.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by The_Gnat »

LordBob wrote:In part only.

Wesnoth does commission artists for sprite animations and portraits, and I am probably the person who has been commissioned the most over the years as far as portraits go. The UtBS revamp is such a commission, by the way.

However, not all artwork is commissioned. A large amount of portraits are volunteer work (that includes over half of my total production, I think), and the story art I am currently working on is something I contribute out of my own free will.

Awesome!! So not only are you a great artist but your also generous!! ;) We all (well at least me) really appreciate your work! :D
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by Wussel »

Since you mentioned the story art:
I would have 2 suggestions concerning 2 pictures.

The old King and the troll:
Just let a fellow change the code of the szenario. Basically the orcs bring in a caged berserk troll at the end of the szenario short before end of turns.

3 fellows in swamp:
Make version of the art. Technically the blit function would work to. Just show, what the player has. There is only one outlaw lady and one dwarf in the army. Is there an alternative route without swamp? Maybe water? Just check if the charcters could be blit on a different background to. That would really put story telling to a new level.

Alternatively you could take the art as easteregg. Only display, if player has all three characters.

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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by johndh »

As far as the spike on the back of Kaleh's blade is concerned, something like the sheath of a Pulaski makes sense to me:

http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm08232347/

Basically just a cap on a strap attached to the rest of the scabbard.
It's spelled "definitely", not "definately". "Defiantly" is a different word entirely.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by LordBob »

Wussel wrote:3 fellows in swamp:
Make version of the art. Technically the blit function would work to. Just show, what the player has. There is only one outlaw lady and one dwarf in the army. Is there an alternative route without swamp? Maybe water? Just check if the charcters could be blit on a different background to. That would really put story telling to a new level.

Alternatively you could take the art as easteregg. Only display, if player has all three characters.
I like the idea of easter egg and/or evolutive art, that's something worth looking into. Re: the alternate route, there are indeed 2 scenarios with entirely different maps and also 2 separate paintings - the other one is titled "the midlands" and is on the previous page of the story art thread.

Also thanks for the scabbard suggestion, I didn't know such items existed.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by Wussel »

Just replayed the campaign.

Are you drawing a troll (Grogg), fish(wo)men (Esnoo, Melisand), nagas (poison bow, guardian) and red/silver mage (Elyssa), too?

About standing pictures in game (like the troll whelp). Did you try to display them without floor fragments as background? It works for me with the saurians. There is the defeated Asheviere on the floor, too.

The blackish overlay (text background) does work for me as kind of floor in an optical way.

Here is my politically totally uncorrect attempt to fit the Kaleh sketch on a 600x600 square (in game screenshot only). I find a perspective focus on the upper body more convincing. Therefore I shortend everything below the elbow by 10%. On a regular Wesnothian canvas the scabbard would be mostlikely cut away anyway.

Spoiler tag for political uncorrectness
Spoiler:
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by LordBob »

That would be a great use of the full figure, I love it. 8)

However, do remember that the vast majority of existing portraits never had their legs drawn at all and those that do have them are barely a tenth of the full crowd. Cool though it may look, I'd bet having a full figure next to one who is cut at the waist would look really weird, so I wouldn't consider making it the norm unless we're redoing the full cast of unit portraits.

Revisiting those few standing portraits with a background may be an option, however.

Re: UtBS cast. Not everyone is going to have their portrait. The troll is likely going to be a generic - not every player meets him and his part is relatively minor, if I remember correctly. Elyssa will have her own portrait though, and Melisand might get one although we already have an awesome cast of generic merfolk so I'm not sure I'll bother. Additional nagas are something I would like to take care of in the future, but they won't be a part of a UtBS commission.
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by doofus-01 »

LordBob wrote:That would be a great use of the full figure, I love it. 8)

However, do remember that the vast majority of existing portraits never had their legs drawn at all and those that do have them are barely a tenth of the full crowd. Cool though it may look, I'd bet having a full figure next to one who is cut at the waist would look really weird, so I wouldn't consider making it the norm unless we're redoing the full cast of unit portraits.

Revisiting those few standing portraits with a background may be an option, however.
It may be a moot point, but I just want to mention that screen resolution becomes more of an issue the bigger those images get. The current cropped-near-the-waist style seems like a better compromise, so that those of us without a fancy monitor can still see details. (Probably will be relevant for mid/low-end Android users for quite some time, regardless of what great display technology becomes available.)
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Re: Lordbob's commissionned work: UtBS

Post by vultraz »

Resolution isn't an issue; they can be dynamically scaled.
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