Delfador's Memoirs portraits

[esr]

Delfador's Memoirs has been mainlined; announcement is https://mail.gna.org/public/wesnoth-dev ... 00015.html here.

The announcement mentions that we have some gaps in the art for the campaign. Most of the art has already been done, with her usual impeccable quality and taste, by Kitty; but she's very busy, and perhaps someone else will feel moved to pick up one of these odds and ends.

Only one portait is still missing:

We have a portrait of the wose Ur-Thorodur, but it can't be transparentized so we probably need a new one. Low priority; if there's a generic Wose portrait, we could use it.


(Edited to reflect that six of the needed portraits - the Oracles, the Tomb Guardian, Ghost, Lionel, Leollyn, and Sagus - are done.)

[kitty]

A further information interesting for a willing artist would also be the amount of text/lines/scenes those charcters have (aka is it really worth investing hours of drawing in four different oracles when they only appear in one scenario speking two lines maximum and the like).

And good luck finding an artist

------

Presently what we have is a take on Aldar from LoW with some frankensteining -- I changed his hair color and the shape of his beard.

Arg! You were this butcher?! I have stated this serveral times: if you want a slight variant of one of my portraits please don't start frankensteining - just ask me, I will most likely do it for you gladly. I know that I can't prohibit that, but please...

[esr]

A further information interesting for a willing artist would also be the amount of text/lines/scenes those charcters have (aka is it really worth investing hours of drawing in four different oracles when they only appear in one scenario speking two lines maximum and the like).

I will edit to indicate this...and have now done so.

Arg! You were this butcher?! I have stated this serveral times: if you want a slight variant of one of my portraits please don't start frankensteining - just ask me, I will most likely do it for you gladly. I know that I can't prohibit that, but please...

Sorry, I don't follow the forums closely and didn't know this. Now that I do, I will perpetrate no further "butchery".

[JustinOperable]

Hey Eric,

Well I am up late and saw this post. I sketched a little and came up with this rough concept. I don't know if it's the sort of thing you're looking for but, it seems like it's worth starting the discussion on what an important character should look like. I tried to give it somewhat of a buddha sculpture face but also with a little sneer of superiority as reading the transcripts making the dead Magus seem very aware of his power.

I will likely try my hand at something else and hopefully keep working at this if you like it at all. If not, at least it's one tree that's been barked up.

[esr]

Well I am up late and saw this post. I sketched a little and came up with this rough concept.

It's not what I had visualized, but I kind of like it.

The eyes and mouth work, but the skull dome looks out of proportion to me - too small. Was that a deliberate stylistic decision?

I think something like this might fill the bill, with good coloring.

[JustinOperable]

It was partially stylistic and partially because I was trying to portray a perspective of the mask above the viewer but I didn't make the contour lines of the eyes follow that perspective so it just looks like the top of the head is really small. I changed it, I hope you like it better

I'd love to keep working at it. What changes in the drawing could make you happy with it? Also what exactly are you looking for in the rendering? Do you wan the whole mask to be a highly saturated electric blue, or stone with veins or cracks of glowing electric blue or another color with a blue glow or something else?

[esr]

It was partially stylistic and partially because I was trying to portray a perspective of the mask above the viewer but I didn't make the contour lines of the eyes follow that perspective so it just looks like the top of the head is really small. I changed it, I hope you like it better

Yes, I do. Could you try a third version with the dome maybe 10% larger than it is now? At that size I think it would balance the jaw and lower face better.

What changes in the drawing could make you happy with it?

Hmmm. I have a bit of a negative reaction to the roundels around the mask: are those supposed to represent something that will be more interesting in color?

The sort of chin-beard thingy he has is interesting. Could you try making it a bit more rectangular, for a bit of an ancient-Egyptian or archaic Mesopotamian look? That would be really appropriate for this guy.

Also what exactly are you looking for in the rendering? Do you wan the whole mask to be a highly saturated electric blue, or stone with veins or cracks of glowing electric blue or another color with a blue glow or something else?

I can visualize it, but it's hard to describe. Um, do you know what Cerenkov radiation in a pool of heavy water looks like? It's a sort of eerie, uniform, sky-blue glow. That's whit I see in my mind - that electric sky-blue glow with a faint white-blue nimbus effect just visible around the object, as though the magical construct is leaking small amounts of energy into the air around it.

Hm, I think I'm describing a light color with high saturation - does that sound right?

[JustinOperable]

Something like this? Only obviously taken to a more refined level? This is my take on it after looking at photos of Cerenkov radiation. Also, the little round thingies were meant to be floating runestones or something like that. Some way to really drive home the idea that this thing is a magical construct and not just a talking mask, that it actually has these sigil stones that hover around it. I drew one of them up real quickly to show you what I mean.

Let me know if I should continue in this vein, and if there are any more drawing changes you'd like as I intend to really refine the linework and drawing in general before taking the rendering further.

[esr]

Something like this? Only obviously taken to a more refined level? This is my take on it after looking at photos of Cerenkov radiation

Headed in the right direction, but Cerenkov is a lighter blue, a sky blue or almost cyan. And we'll need that, because a dark blue would tend to fade into a black background. We want this to pop out of the dialog box, not sink into it.

Also, the little round thingies were meant to be floating runestones or something like that. Some way to really drive home the idea that this thing is a magical construct and not just a talking mask, that it actually has these sigil stones that hover around it. I drew one of them up real quickly to show you what I mean.

Hmmm, like ioun stones from Jack Vance's Dying Earth novels. Ever read those? I'm gonna guess you'd like them.

Idea good, execution needs work. The sigils would be really hard to see at portrait size. (Anyway, we don't want runes for this; wrong cultural reference.Hieroglyphic-like signs would be better.) Do you think we can give a similar message with a halo or nimbus effect, either around the stones or the mask or both?

[Turuk]

Forum size is roughly portrait size in game, so would they not appear fairly legible as hieroglyphs to the viewer?


Also, concerning the right blue color, Esr, do you mean the lighter blue which can be found along the sides of the objects in the water?

[esr]

Forum size is roughly portrait size in game, so would they not appear fairly legible as hieroglyphs to the viewer?

Huh? The dialog box images are really that large now? If so, maybe.

Also, concerning the right blue color, Esr, do you mean the lighter blue which can be found along the sides of the objects in the water?

Yes, that's it.

[thespaceinvader]

It would probably be a little smaller int he final version - 400x400 is the general maximum, with larger ones reserved for really big stuff. But there shouldn't be a problem reading the sigils at that size.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

We want this to pop out of the dialog box, not sink into it.

What dialog boxes? Those were done away with. In the current dialog system, the portraits hover over the regular game screen with no background at all.

[thespaceinvader]

i dunno how you've missed this development, esr o_O

But these links ought to enlighten you somewhat:
http://www.wesnoth.org/images/sshots/wesnoth-1.6-3.jpg
http://www.wesnoth.org/images/sshots/wesnoth-1.6-5.jpg

[esr]

Yes, I know they're (visually speaking) bands rather than boxes now. But I don't have a good feel for the size of the portraits.