[WIP]Skeletal Archer, portrait

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kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

@ Skizzaltix : thanks for the advice, I don't want to simulate eyebrows expression with the skull, but eye sockets are quite too wide open! I'll close them a bit.

@ Turuk : Bone removal is planned : this poor guy would have died from a lethal lateral attack when he was aiming, which perforated his chest and broke him a rib ! Soon to be added.

@ LordBob : I'm pleased you like the repaired aspect ! Actually, the pauldron was strapped in the first version, is still strapped on my sketch and will indeed be in the cleaned lineart :) ! There's also a piece of cloth to be drawn under it, because bones aren't puffy enough to fit the armor parts. Still wondering about the way I'll draw the bow.
Besides, I wasn't sure about the perspective of the head, will fix it!

Thank you for the replies.
Kao
Skizzaltix
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by Skizzaltix »

It really depends on how you want to do it--Play around a little and see what works.

Also, I've changed my mind--I like the idea of strapping pieces of armor directly onto bones. It looks cool.
kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

Tadaaa :eng: (again...)
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shoulder fixed
shoulder fixed
Last edited by kaoron on January 4th, 2009, 11:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Skizzaltix
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by Skizzaltix »

Great work! I love the tattered look it has.

Though, the way the right shoulder is placed really bothers me--Maybe it should be a little farther back behind the collarbone, given the angle of the shoulders and ribcage?
Anyway, good job! Keep it up :D
kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

Haha, you've got a point! I forgot to fix the shoulder position after the multiple chest redraws, should be okay now :)
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Sapient
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by Sapient »

This is very cool. Is that moss on his ribcage? If so, I love it. :D
http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/User:Sapient... "Looks like your skills saved us again. Uh, well at least, they saved Soarin's apple pie."
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LordBob
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by LordBob »

Great !! He looks really nice now. One last nitpicking though, regarding the bow : both ends are a bit massive, I'd say. Here is a reference picture of a bow and a link to a more complete series.

Image

Complete page here

You can also draw inspiration from those pictures to add detail to the bow, unless you intend to make an additional portrait for the Bone Shooter / Soul Shooter. In which case I'd give a very simple bow to the Archer and keep the more elaborate ones for upper levels. :)
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kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

Does this one look better? ( curved foreshortening is really a pain !)
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skelarch_draft2_line_complete.png
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kitty
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kitty »

looks better all the time :)

a few issues:
* since you decided to move the hand, it gets easily confusing with the spine/quiver/pelvis behind it, take care of that when shading.
* the pelvis looks very wide to me (even wider than the shoulders if i "read" it right), give him a masculine pelvis!
* the eyesockets. i know a couple of people already mentioned them - but they are really too big and to round. you gave everything so much detail and realism, only this focal part of the image is at the edge of cartoony....
* and the ends of the bow could be even slimmer

keep up the good work!
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LordBob
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by LordBob »

The perspective on the bow is really nice now (and so's the shoulder pad), but it looks brand new. Once you'll do the shading, don't hesitate to add rust and other signs of wear and tear like you did with cloth and armour. :wink:

Regarding the pelvis...I dunno. It's worth a try, but didn't bother me before Kitty mentionned it.
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kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

Thank you kitty :D

-I've noticed about the hand, may I thicken those lines a bit since it is in the very foreground, I'll also try to shade in a way that the hand is the element to be focused on, and not the bones/quiver in the background.
-I'm afraid to be guilty of laziness when I designed the pelvis... with no ref at all! I'll do what I can to... hey wait! Who said that archers couldn't be females ? However, it's quite wide, I agree.
-Eye sockets will be reduced and tortured a bit, but I think the biggest work is to be made on shading, to give some deepness.
-And finally... okay for the bow :)

My goodness! I will sure have a lot of work with this shading... doh!
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Turuk
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by Turuk »

In agreement with Sapient, I love the moss on the ribcage, and that you took a rib out and put a slice in the rib under that to simulate a violent death. Much more realistic, and not so clean (which is great for an undead). Keep up the good work, any other advice I had has already been touched on by those much more qualified.
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kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

I've tried to fix those last odds, here is the work :
skelarch_draft2_line_complete.png
Bow got thinner again
Eyes have been redrawn
Background arm proportions reduced a bit, I think it does a lot for the layout
Pelvis width reduced
Some ribs fixed
Buy bananas
Pay the phone bill
...
Oops

Kao
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Sapient
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by Sapient »

kaoron wrote:I've tried to fix those last odds, here is the work :
ow got thinner again
Eyes have been redrawn
Background arm proportions reduced a bit, I think it does a lot for the layout
Pelvis width reduced
Some ribs fixed
Buy bananas
Pay the phone bill
...
Oops

Kao
uh... I actually liked the previous version better, even though it was less realistic (because realistic skeletons aren't very interesting).
http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/User:Sapient... "Looks like your skills saved us again. Uh, well at least, they saved Soarin's apple pie."
kaoron
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Joined: December 28th, 2008, 8:42 pm

Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

Thanks for your reply Sapient ! Do you mean better as "much better, how could you do such a regression, you're in disgrace!", or "the previous one was much more thrilling to discover than this last attempt, but it's quite the same actually" ? I'd like to improve my linework if necessary, but don't fell confident enough to work on personal opinion tweaking.

If this one is really bothering to you, could you point out the incriminated areas ?

Kao
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