Mefisto in vegetative state

[Sgt. Groovy]

I like your tracing very much. This is the effect I hope to achieve in the end. I'm still learning GIMP. What technique did you use?

I used the tracing tool of Inkscape. If you want your lineart to be that sharp, you should do them in vector program instead of a raster one. I suggest you start with Inkscape, it's free and very powerful (it's like the vector equivalent of GIMP).

I've written a tutorial about vector inking in the Wiki, that's a good place to start, though you'll have to learn the basics of Inkscape first. But you can also trace your lineart in GIMP (if you'll do it with your 1200x1200 version, you should get even better results than my example). The procedure is as follows:

1. Select the dark areas of your lineart drawing with magic wand or select by colour tools.
2. Do "Select -> To Path" and you should have a path that encloses the lines or your drawing.
3. Create a new layer, then in the Paths window (you'll have to open it from the Windows menu), do "Path to Selection"
4. Flood-fill your new selection with a solid colour.

To wet your appetite, here's what you can do with that technique:

[Mefisto]

-Sgt. Groovy

I followed your clues and got the smooth, antialiased lines (picture 1). Then the next problem occured: how to fill spaces in the pictures in efficient way to avoid to have semi-transparent pixels of outlines? I tried to do this with fuzzy selection in GIMP and the result was ugly. So I tried to do quick and dirty colouring with Photoshop at my work, using "polygonal lasso" for selection of area of interest. Still, the result is not so good, because some pixels are omitted (picture 2).

Wouldn't it be better to leave the outlines non-antialiased for the quicker selection and filling of areas with bucket, than making the shading and in the end merging all the layers and doing the antialiasing?

[thespaceinvader]

Use magic wand select to grab the area (the area must be continuously bounded by its lines) or the freehand select. Increase the selection size by a pixel or two (Select > Grow) and fill on a layer below the line art. You might have to clean up the occasional missed bit, but this generally works well.

ALternatively, you can accomplish a similar trick using a layer property (Multiply, i think) on your lineart layer, but i find the former way easier, though it's probably more time consuming.

The trouble with your suggestion is that anti-aliasing after the fact is quite difficult. better to get the lines done first and shade on a separate layer =)

[mnewton1]

I really don't like the hair color. I think that you should tone down the red in it and his face also looks very pail. I think he needs more contrast as well. It is a great start.

[thespaceinvader]

Looking at it now, his neck seems a little long, and he doesn't seem to have much in the way of trapezius muscle. But that aside, this looks very promising.

As regards colour choice, i think you may have a few too many colours - reducing the number of basic colours would unify the image a bit more. Making the green down the tunic join and the inside of the cloak share another colour from the image (the blue or one of the reds) may help.

Keep up the good work =D

[Mefisto]

The number of base colours will be reduced because I have already too many layers and the image is huge. The hair will be much fairer. The face will be rather pale - because this is the way I imagine an aristocrat child. Maybe he looks now slightly effeminate but for level1 unit it is not that bad. I experimented with properties of magic wand and bucket in GIMP and I think that the selection and filling of areas will be easier and quicker now. Still the most difficult task is ahead of me. I'll post the image in more advanced phase. Now I'm trying to design a decent pattern fot fencer's doublet.

About orcs - I'm working on the dynamic poses and designing the armours and clothing.

Below is something for fun.

[zookeeper]

They're...orcish fencers? Well, that'd be something new for sure.

[kitty]

good to see you keeping on working on your fencer!

but you didn't fix the arm at all apart from that the scarf doesn't seem to warp around the neck and the way you pictured the hair looks very dishevelled and not as looked after as i'd expect from this kind of character. and as already mentioned the colours look a bit random and too saturated but shading will change the base colours massively anyways (and don't care about comments like somebody doesn't like the ahircolour - that's just a personal opinion no valid criticism)

regarding the antialising discussion - how big do you work? i recommend working *really* big - then little mistakes etc. don't matter at all after scaling down.



but the orcs really cracked me up

[Mefisto]

I'm working on 1200x1200 pixels. Maybe this is the reason for the arms looking not good, because I got lost in details and failed with left arm proportions. I modified it many times. You see what is the version number . Still you are right about it and about the neck too. I'll fix it, probably by redrawing the sleeves from the scratch. About the hair - if the portret is to be consistent with the sprite, it needs the fairer hair. With probably more red component in it.

The orcs are Asheviere's new courtiers .

[Turuk]

Even if just for fun, those are pretty interesting concepts. Though for Warlord2, I did not realize that John Travolta from Grease was used as your basis.

Really, the third one could be used for a supporting position, as some sort of Orcish advisor or noble, though possibly less effeminate decoration on the collar.

As kitty mentioned already, while it is nice to match the sprite in even small details like the hair, players realize that the sprite is a single snapshot of the many different types of duelists or fencers or spearman or archers. So details like skin tone (unless it is an extreme change), eye color, hair color and the like are less important to be matched exactly.

[Mefisto]

I didn't think about Travolta I imagined the second orc as Polish noble in kontusz, dancing polonaise. Well, nevermind.

I continue the work on Fencer. I redrew the doublet and changed some colours. And I think that now it is looking good. I start with applying patern and shading. I the final version the colour of the doublet will much lighter.

[mnewton1]

I like it, but why a yellow cape?

[Turuk]

I like it, but why a yellow cape?

The cape is a lighter color of the same orange found on the doublet. This makes sense as usually nobles would want to be fashionable, and would probably choose color schemes that compliment each other.

[Skizzaltix]

...And it also ties in nicely with his neckerchief and the edging on his clothes.

I like it! I haven't checked out this thread in way too long.
I really like the pose and the way the cape is positioned--It gives the portrait a great feel--But I would think that a noble would wipe his sword on a handkerchief or somesuch, instead of his cape?
Not a very important point, but possibly something to think about--I can think of a few semi-plausible explanations, though, don't let it bother you if you like it as-is.
The other thing is that his left trouser leg appears to be wider than his right... I'm guessing this is because they're wider front to back than across the side? All the same, maybe if you were to widen his right trouser leg a little bit, it would help him look a little more balanced? Not sure.
Anyway, great job! I can't wait to see what you do next/

[Mefisto]

...And it also ties in nicely with his neckerchief and the edging on his clothes.

I like it! I haven't checked out this thread in way too long.
I really like the pose and the way the cape is positioned--It gives the portrait a great feel--But I would think that a noble would wipe his sword on a handkerchief or somesuch, instead of his cape?

There was a handkerchief at the beginning but I planted a cape instead - because I wanted to give a long blade to this fencer and I didn't like the composition of whole (the whole body on the left and only a thin blade and a hand no the right)
Besides, who would care about small, thin kerchief when you just got a tough battle.

The other thing is that his left trouser leg appears to be wider than his right... I'm guessing this is because they're wider front to back than across the side?
Anyway, great job! I can't wait to see what you do next/

An explanation.