[WIP]Skeletal Archer, portrait

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doofus-01
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by doofus-01 »

No one else criticized it, including at least two people who would know better than me, but the pelvis bone looks like big armor plates. If that's what they are, then never mind. But if that is not intentional, maybe you could raise the bow a bit and move the bottom cropping up.
kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

Here is a better view on the pelvis area : 3 pieces of plate armor, an enormous belt hanging from the rear iliac crest.
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Sapient
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by Sapient »

kaoron wrote: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
I'm not an artist, just a coder. I thought the previous version was really good enough to start shading. But with this latest version, I disliked all of the changes you made (arm, eyes, pelvis, etc). If you want to improve the eye sockets, you should be trying to make them more sinister (like adding a hint of bony horned ridges maybe). A plain human skeleton is rather plain-looking.
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kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

Wow... really no one change you loved ? :cry: For the arm and eye sockets, I won't do anything : because the anatomic improvement regarding the arm is now so obvious to me that the previous version hurts my eye, and because eyesockets are designed to be a hint for shading.
I didn't do much with the ribs, maybe it's why you didn't evoke it, was just some odd-pixel removing.

Actually, the pelvis is the only one I'm not that much satisfied with, I'm trying to shade this last version however (mainly because I don't have the high res previous version backed up :oops: ). If it's really odd I'll do something.

So I just said I was trying to shade... here is the work (still in progress, don't look at the ribcage that much, I still don't know how I'll texture that moss) :
skelarch_draft2_color.png
skelarch_draft2_color.png (158.2 KiB) Viewed 5816 times
Since I'm not experienced at all, I hope there is no huge flaws, please tell me if so.
Since it's been a lot of hard work, if it's OMG amazing... don't hesitate! :lol2:

Kao
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by thespaceinvader »

Looks pretty good to me. The only thing i can see that's up is that the skull overall seems a little squashed, and the brow-ridge doesn't stand out enough.

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/ada ... icture.jpg is a good reference for it.
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Turuk
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by Turuk »

Also, the size/shape of the skeleton's left eye (the viewer's right) is a bit oddly shaped and bigger than the other one by a noticeable amount.

Good progress on the skeleton though.
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LordBob
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by LordBob »

Regarding moss and the ribcage, a quick note that might help you.

- The result will look more realistic if the ribcage isn't uniformely covered in moss/rot/whatever.
- Think that it'll likely have grown on other bones as well. Thus, the greenish tint would appear elsewhere on the skeleton and balance the picture (right now, he seems to mear a green shirt)


Also, the metal texture for armour pieces is fine, but would look older if you added a touch of rust
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kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

@ thespaceinvader & Turuk : Okay for the skull's shape, I'll sharpen some ridges and do something with the eye.

@ LordBob : thank you for the note. Regarding metal plates, I added some rust, but it seems to have been thinned down by my overall tone layer. I'll give it more strength.

Once more, thank you all for critique and nice replies :)

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

Post by kitty »

as i already told you - starts to look good :)

some additioanl technical criticism apart from what the boys already said:
- the eyesockets are on different planes, one is angled downwards, the other upwards
- the shape of the eyesockets is much more realistic now, which is great but i get somehow sad vibes from it, perhaps you could experiment a bit more.
- the metal just doesn't look like metal right now, rather like dark grey plastic... look at some ref.
- and what is the red area below the pauldron? i don't know what you want to depict with it.

keep at it!
kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by kaoron »

Thank you kitty :)

Regarding eyesockets (specifically near the nasal bone I imagine) , they are both angled upwards as shaded, but the thick linework contradicts. Going to be reshaped.
I was afraid of dark plastic aspect, should certainly add some highlights. If someone's interested, I found great refs for worn & rusted metal : http://www.ambroseantiques.com/armour.htm

And the red area is a piece of cloth :cry: . Ok poorly highlighted so far, and remains rather flat, but rendering lateral/back-lighted cloth is haaarder than I thought :mrgreen: .


I would also like to have your feeling on the reshaped pelvis area, please :)

Kao
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Re: [WIP]Portrait, first contrib.

Post by TrashMan »

thespaceinvader wrote:Looks pretty good to me. The only thing i can see that's up is that the skull overall seems a little squashed, and the brow-ridge doesn't stand out enough.

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/ada ... icture.jpg is a good reference for it.
Maybe his head was bashed in when he died? After all, aren't most undead former soldiers?
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kaoron
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Re: [WIP]Skeletal Archer, portrait

Post by kaoron »

Metal, rust, bow. Couldn't manage to shade the skull correctly yet, however it's been slightly improved.
Neither convincing moss texture, I'm still working on it :mrgreen: .

Kao
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Last edited by kaoron on January 7th, 2009, 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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doofus-01
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Re: [WIP]Skeletal Archer, portrait

Post by doofus-01 »

It's looking good, but it is a little difficult to see against the black background. Particularly its right hip, and the rags on its left shoulder.
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Turuk
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Re: [WIP]Skeletal Archer, portrait

Post by Turuk »

Agreed, and something is still wrong about his left eye. I think it's the viewpoint you are giving it, as the lower left corner (near the nose) lacks a defining line/shape of any kind so kind of seems to blend into the skull. I will leave it up to those who have greater knowledge of anatomy, but it seems to clash with how the right eye is drawn.


:hmm: There is no right hip? I converted the background to white and noticed a few interesting things about the figure, such as the lack of a hip and the little bits floating around the body.
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kitty
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Re: [WIP]Skeletal Archer, portrait

Post by kitty »

getting better! now i can see that it is cloth on his shoulder. i wouldn't try to make it transparent, some normal fabric will work as fine and be more easily readable. what bothers me most at the moment is the ribcage, the ribs don't feel as if they had volume right now - make them pop.
(and i don't really understand what you want the armour around the pelvis to work like, it looks like metal but i don't know how it closes and what it is good for.)
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