A rough life - portraits

[Jacques_Fol]

Thank you very much, this will do just nicely!

I'm happy to report that Luxor has been added to the image gallery and a new update with all the portrait art so far (and other campaign improvements) has been uploaded to the Add-ons server, as more fully explained here.

I will, of course, add the Bombasan portrait and any others as they are made, and am looking forward to finding out what he looks like. Thanks a lot and keep up the great work!

[bera]

Allright, that was some sort of a break..

Just when you announced the campaign was available I got it and played a bit. There were some problems with portraits back then however. Goblin portraits had a funny looking pixelized white aura. So I'm attaching clean versions, sorry about that. Also, Pollock's portrait didn't show up, I don't know if you fixed that though.

[bera]

And, I finally have something for King Bombasan. As I'm posting this I noticed I should rather have leveled the upper arm plates - will fix that while shading - ; apart from that I hope it looks ok.

[StDrake]

not sure about the fingers on the right hand (our left), they seem to be a bit mixed up, and though it doesn't look bad i wouldnt be able to grow a moustache over such a beard like that irl, maybe if you lifted it a bit and didn't surround it with beard from 3 sides, 2 is ok
apart from those minor details it looks ok

[thespaceinvader]

Is he a dwarf or a human? If he's a dwarf, you can maintain consistency with mainline by using the Elder Futhark set of runes, rather than inventing your own.

[Jacques_Fol]

Allright, that was some sort of a break..

bera! What a pleasant surprise! I was afraid real life snatched you away, very happy to see you're back to producing mode.

Just when you announced the campaign was available I got it and played a bit. There were some problems with portraits back then however. Goblin portraits had a funny looking pixelized white aura. So I'm attaching clean versions, sorry about that. Also, Pollock's portrait didn't show up, I don't know if you fixed that though.

Did you play it for the first time? I hope you liked it! Storywise, it starts picking up complexity (relatively speaking) from scenario 5 onwards, and it will be polished up (and perhaps developed) a bit more for the 1.1 version - there's been quite a lot of activity on the ARL coding thread.

I will, of course, replace the images with these ones. And I'll look into the issue with the Pollox portrait. He appeared fine on my computer, so I'll have to investigate what went wrong - shouldn't be hard to fix.

And, I finally have something for King Bombasan. As I'm posting this I noticed I should rather have leveled the upper arm plates - will fix that while shading - ; apart from that I hope it looks ok.

I think that, minor details aside, he looks great! He's just the sort of a dwarf that one might see wooing an elvish lady. Very impressed.

The minor details have already been mentioned by others (I guess the other dwarves usually have thicker fingers), I would just add that the robe could perhaps be made a little more regal - he is a king, after all. Perhaps some embroidery might help, and changing its colour into a more regal one.

By the way, elefeece (as seen here) has taken on the challenge of drawing Kyoko. For the time being, however, I'm reserving the three images of Jacques, and thought that, after all the work you've put into bringing these characters to life, you might want to take him on yourself. I would like his images to really shine, so it might be even more of a challenge to make him "perfect", but I think you should have first choice if you wished to tackle him.

Finally, can't pass this up:

Is he a dwarf or a human?

What? You mean you haven't played the campaign yet, tsi? Shocking news!

Just joking, of course. He is a dwarvish king of a far-eastern disposition and a contemplative philosophical nature who once wooed an elvish lady and made her his queen. So, I suppose he is a rather strange dwarf.

[thespaceinvader]

A bigger head and bigger hands will add to the impression of dwarfishness.

[lostnumber]

The portrait of the king does not currently look like a dwarf to me at all.

[melinath]

The portrait of the king does not look currently look like a dwarf to me at all.

Agreed. Also, Elder Futhark would be sweet *and* loreful. Use?

[lostnumber]

Also his hammer looks weirdly deformed to me.

[bera]

Well, thanks guys, took most of the c&cs into account: Enlarged hands and the head (his upper body is 2 heads tall now). Also I decided to have him a lavender cloak. That's because in medieval times purple dyes were quite costly to produce so that only really rich or royal folks could afford them. Only thing I didn't effect into change were the runes. First, I don't like the crude shapes of Elder Futhark, and wanted runes which had more of a swirling character in them. Second, the ARL campaign takes place in some far away island etc, and I don't think consistency is required.

Anyways, looks ok to me. So unless someone notices something really gross I'll call it finished.

[Aura]

The shading on our left hand looks really dark and a bit off.

[Jacques_Fol]

I like him. If you wanted to play a little more with the face, there's something that bothers me (just a little bit!) about the contours of his face meeting his facial hair - it looks a little boxed-in, as if the beard was glued on. Is it the thick straight-ish line that demarcates it or the shading? I don't know. I think that part of the face (and the eyes) looked slightly more realistic on the previous portrait.

But, like I implied, I would also be happy to include him as he is now, if you didn't wish to touch him any more. Thanks!

Any new plans?

[bera]

Aura: Reason I made it darker is to give the hammer a glowing look.. I know it could have been done in a better way like using some of Kitty's tricks, but umm, I guess I was lazy to look at them

Will do Jacques. Didn't use any references for him, and the beard also worries me a bit, shouldn't be hard to fix. Once I finish this I am considering to have a go at the first of Jacques portraits, youngest one. So, anything in particular you wish to be corporated?

[Jacques_Fol]

Excellent news. I don't have anything particular in mind, just that he should look a like a thief. In words, one could say that he should have a "furtive look" about him, but I don't know how that is best conveyed in image (googled the "furtive look" images and found the phrasal expression to apply to many different facial expressions, none of which seemed spot on to me - hooray for diversity of opinion). Perhaps the expression of the female thief/rogue drawn by Kitty (seen as the first portrait here) could work as an inspiration, transposed onto a young male, of course.

I would also have him be young, but not too young, so that later transitions would be easier to achieve without "ageing" him too much, so maybe mid twenties? (When you come to the later incarnations, you may consider whether growing a beard would help in that department). He should also be quite slim, not bulky, and - of course - he should be handsome, although not necessarily in a typical "Hollywood hero" fashion. And the portrait should of course be top-notch, but I'm certain you can do him justice.

So, finally, we are about to meet the main protagonist of the campaign. Can't wait!