New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

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Bhoren
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New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by Bhoren »

Hi! I recently started to help Battle for Wesnoth and I made, with the help of Zookeeper, a first art piece for the Orcish Incursion campaign.

Zookeeper and I agreed on a picture with a calm forest environment where you can see the reflection of an orc in an elvish blade laying against a tree.
The picture still have flaws and any critiques from other artists are more than welcomed.
The new story picture that require critiques
The new story picture that require critiques
I already know a few flaws that should (and will) be fixed (including the critiques made up to the 03/10). They are the following:
- The moss on the left and middle of the foreground tree should be more like dense moss (like on the right) and less like a paint spray
- The skulls on the shoulder spike of the orc in the blade reflection are too small and not really readable with the blurring (but up-sizing them would just make the whole reflection less readable I think, so I'm probably going to erase them)
- The angle between the guard and the blade of the sword feels off and probably is due to the width of the cutting edge and the wrong geometry of the guard (you can see a quick explanation of the wrong geometry here)
- The projected shadow of the sword should be at an angle
- There is an area on the tree that is not textured as the rest near the sword handle. This is due to the sword being downsized at some point.
- A reflection on steel surface wouldn't be entirely colorless
- A forest area would have more shadow on the ground and trees
- A sword hilt doesn't usually have bolts/nails, or at least not that much
- The cutting edge should have extra shine or evidence of wear & tear
- The reflection doesn't look orcish enough
- The mushroom doesn't blend in well

Here is a simple mockup to show how it would look in game.
Simple mockup to show how the picture looks like in Wesnoth
Simple mockup to show how the picture looks like in Wesnoth
I've also tried to test it in a 4:3 environment, but it ended in a lot of stretching. I suppose this can be fixed with some parameters in the cfg campaing file. If not, I could also make a 4:3 cropped version.
Last edited by Bhoren on October 3rd, 2017, 6:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Sapient
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by Sapient »

It's beautiful and I'm very excited to see new story illustrations. I am not really an artist but I think I have a valid critique which doesn't require much experience. If this is a forested area, I would expect that the shadows of some other trees would be falling somewhere across those two trees in the background.
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Eagle_11
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by Eagle_11 »

Looks like the sword has been driven into ground infront of the tree, rather than leaning on the tree. Still, can be used as is.
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Poison
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by Poison »

The sword looks amazing, not sure if it should have a nail(???) there (above the hilt) though, consider removing this because I don't think actual swords have anything there (just plain observer opinion, I know nothing about art).
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doofus-01
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by doofus-01 »

Hi Bhoren,

The sword looks great, I like the specular off the hilt. Two things I'd want to address:
1. The cutting edge doesn't have any extra shine or evidence of wear & tear, which would make it seem more like a weapon and less like a prop or CGI toy.
2. I couldn't have guessed the reflected silhouette was an orc, maybe you could bulk up the shoulders and lower the head?

Not sure if it is just a placeholder, but the mushroom doesn't blend in well, maybe needs more shadow on the gills and stem? :hmm:
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Bhoren
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by Bhoren »

Thanks you all for your feedback!
Sapient wrote:I would expect that the shadows of some other trees would be falling somewhere across those two trees in the background.
Yes, after looking at more picture of forests, it should be more contrasted and "shadowy". I'll give it a try
Eagle_11 wrote:Looks like the sword has been driven into ground in front of the tree, rather than leaning on the tree.
That is possibly due to the wrong projected shadow. It may look better after I fix it.
Poison wrote:not sure if it should have a nail(???) there (above the hilt) though, consider removing this because I don't think actual swords have anything there (just plain observer opinion, I know nothing about art).
I going to give one or two picture of hilt design that include nail/bolt, but I can't even find them back. So yes, it's neither usual nor realistic. I may remove half of them or even all of them and replace the empty space with marking on the leather.
doofus-01 wrote:The cutting edge doesn't have any extra shine or evidence of wear & tear, which would make it seem more like a weapon and less like a prop or CGI
Yes, exactly. After looking back at it, it feels like a dull and cheap plastic, especially next to the highly contrasted guard :/
I'll try fix that with better contrast and some highlights.
doofus-01 wrote:I couldn't have guessed the reflected silhouette was an orc, maybe you could bulk up the shoulders and lower the head?
That can be done.
doofus-01 wrote:Not sure if it is just a placeholder, but the mushroom doesn't blend in well, maybe needs more shadow on the gills and stem? :hmm:
It's not, but I do agree it does not blend. As you are saying, more shadow could do the trick, especially with this kind of light angle.

Again, thanks for the feedback, I'll start correcting this in a few days.
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The_Gnat
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by The_Gnat »

Hello, as people have pointed out there are things that a few things that can be improved, but I personally think it already looks awesome and I look forward to seeing more story art for an orcish incursion! (also don't feel pressure to make this picture look perfect it is already as good as much of the art which is in mainline currently) :D
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Daxion
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by Daxion »

Really like the picture.
I going to give one or two picture of hilt design that include nail/bolt, but I can't even find them back. So yes, it's neither usual nor realistic. I may remove half of them or even all of them and replace the empty space with marking on the leather.
Riveted hilt was a normal attachment method for something called "Langes Messer".
http://twerchhau.de/wp-content/gallery/ ... bieter.png

To me the guard looks very massive, almost crude for an elvish sword. Wouldn't a thinner curved guard look better?
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Poison
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by Poison »

Just to clarify, I was referring to the thing on the blade, the one with the tree shaped design, not the tiny hilt balls or whatever they are called.

Posting image for clarificaton:
Defend the forest_bladespike.jpg
Personally, I find the hilt amazing.
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zookeeper
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by zookeeper »

Poison wrote:Just to clarify, I was referring to the thing on the blade, the one with the tree shaped design, not the tiny hilt balls or whatever they are called.
It's a maker's mark, not a nail.
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Bhoren
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by Bhoren »

Since I keep trying to find some time to fix a few last issues I know but keep failing; I'm just gonna post what I have now and finish it when I can.
It addresses most of the problems you all told me about.
New updated version
New updated version
The blade need a few modification to make edges sharper, there is still not enough shadows for a forest area too.
What else should be modified?
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beetlenaut
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by beetlenaut »

Bhoren wrote:there is still not enough shadows for a forest area too.
As far as I'm concerned, the sword looks fine, but you're right about the forest. All I think you need to do though is just make the dark colors darker (with GIMP's "curves" tool for example). If you look at the histogram, you will find that you rarely used really dark colors, so that wouldn't reduce the shading much. I did a (very) quick edit to show what I mean.

Even without any more improvements, this is a good story image, and I look forward to seeing whatever you come up with next!
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The_Gnat
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by The_Gnat »

beetlenaut wrote:As far as I'm concerned, the sword looks fine, but you're right about the forest. All I think you need to do though is just make the dark colors darker (with GIMP's "curves" tool for example). If you look at the histogram, you will find that you rarely used really dark colors, so that wouldn't reduce the shading much. I did a (very) quick edit to show what I mean.

Even without any more improvements, this is a good story image, and I look forward to seeing whatever you come up with next!
I also agree with beetlenaut, the image looks great! :D
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Bhoren
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by Bhoren »

beetlenaut wrote:
Bhoren wrote:there is still not enough shadows for a forest area too.
As far as I'm concerned, the sword looks fine, but you're right about the forest. All I think you need to do though is just make the dark colors darker (with GIMP's "curves" tool for example). If you look at the histogram, you will find that you rarely used really dark colors, so that wouldn't reduce the shading much. I did a (very) quick edit to show what I mean.

Even without any more improvements, this is a good story image, and I look forward to seeing whatever you come up with next!
I haven't much experience with color correction (especially curves), is this better?
Defend the forest - fix 4.jpg
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Re: New "An Orcish Incursion" story illustrations

Post by matsjoyce »

Bhoren wrote: I haven't much experience with color correction (especially curves), is this better?
Maybe a bit more?
darker_forest.jpg
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