Valkiers portraits: It's like I can touch you!

[Valkier]

I still feel like Stalrag's arms are short, but after furter thought, it may be emphasised by the fact that his armored pants seem to be attached pretty low on his hips, which in turn might lead to his crotch being a bit low? It's hard to really make sure but... in doubt, I personnally would bring his elbows almost as low as the belt (just a bit above it, maybe), and lengthen the forearms accordingly. Shoulders still feel small. It may appear a bit overgrown afterwards, but aren,t dwarves supposed to be especially bulky, and have seemingly large/long arms proportionnately?

I think that if I lengthen his arms, It's going to take away the whole dwarf then and make him look too normal sized. You're right, I did place the belt lower than normally is worn. I will raise that up and see if that fixes the problem. As for the shoulders? I looked at a lot of body builder pictures, and much past being rounded they start to look.. terrifying, and not in a strong way. I'll make them SLIGHTLY bigger, but I don't think they need to be emphasized much more than they currently are.

[Dragonchampion]

Uncolored lich looks like a Protoss.

but your work is awesome as always, Valkier.

[Valkier]

Uncolored lich looks like a Protoss.

but your work is awesome as always, Valkier.

I do sometimes feel as though I lack vespene gas.

Morvin and Sothian updates will have to do. I puffed out Morvin's hips a bit and fixed the perspective on Sothian's staff. Tomorrow I'll push the shading on all of them further and try to fix Stalrag's googleplex of problems.

[LordBob]

A quick thought on Morvin and Thera : from what I read here, they're immortals but still some kind of white mages, right ? In that case, would it be acceptable for you and esr to keep the egyptian-inspired clothing and leather gear, but shift the colour of their robes to white instead of greenish-blue ?

Also, regarding the dwarf berserker, I'd tend to agree with the bulk problem people have been noticing. I think it's a matter of:
1. model : I do agree body builders can turn downright scary and not give off a feeling of muscle power, because their muscles are swollen in completely unnatural shapes. However if you go for the kind of muscle displayed by weightlifters and rugby players (i.e. large shoulders and upper arms, important muscle volume, but with some amount of fat and soft shapes), then you'll have a powerfull-looking dwarf.
2. volume : I'd also emphatize the barrel-chest and thicker upper arms : thick (not necessarily fat, but thick) is important in dwarves, and visually it gives off more power than muscle alone could

[johndh]

Peanut gallery, reporting for duty!

Is it just me, or does Stalrag have an extra joint in his arm? I made a few marks on him to illustrate the point I'm trying to make, and I hope it conveys the point. The red line is where the deltoid (shoulder pad) seems to be pointing, and the green line is where the humerus looks like it would go if you extended it. The blue line is where it seems (to me) that the humerus would logically be based on the pose, and it may very well be what you're going for, but the arm muscles seem to contradict that. If the blue line indeed represents the humerus, then his triceps is (understandably) huge and his biceps is downright wimpy. I think if you moved the outline of the biceps from the cyan line to the yellow one, it would balance this out and create a straighter look.

stalrag_po.png (108.87 KiB) Viewed 4073 times

[Valkier]

A quick thought on Morvin and Thera : from what I read here, they're immortals but still some kind of white mages, right ? In that case, would it be acceptable for you and esr to keep the egyptian-inspired clothing and leather gear, but shift the colour of their robes to white instead of greenish-blue ?

Also, regarding the dwarf berserker, I'd tend to agree with the bulk problem people have been noticing. I think it's a matter of:
1. model : I do agree body builders can turn downright scary and not give off a feeling of muscle power, because their muscles are swollen in completely unnatural shapes. However if you go for the kind of muscle displayed by weightlifters and rugby players (i.e. large shoulders and upper arms, important muscle volume, but with some amount of fat and soft shapes), then you'll have a powerfull-looking dwarf.
2. volume : I'd also emphatize the barrel-chest and thicker upper arms : thick (not necessarily fat, but thick) is important in dwarves, and visually it gives off more power than muscle alone could

I'll keep the Stalrag stuff in mind for when I rework him a bit tomorrow.

As for Morvin and Thera: I don't see why it would be a problem. Would probably only take two seconds and a hue/saturation tool to do so. Morvin I'll do tomorrow. Thera I'll do next week when I go back through all the NR portraits and make final adjustments to them (IE. Make Hidel look younger, all evles have grey eyes, etc.)

What I'm hoping to do is use this week to finish up all the portraits I have started here, and next week I can get everything refined and smoothed out. I will be going back to classes starting the 21st of this month, so my time to easily work on this is nearing its end. As such, I ask that when you guys see errors in the portraits you post what is wrong, and possibly how you can think to fix them. I'm looking to one shot one kill problems once I start reviewing all of them. I doubt it will work that way 100% of the time, but here's hoping for miracles.

Johndh: I've noticed the same thing. I didn't place the point of the shoulder muscle where it should be or rotate it enough. Will be fixed tomorrow, and thank you for the paintover.

[Valkier]

Made his shoulder bigger and I believe fixed the angle of it. Also raised up his belt and armor a tiny bit in hopes it will stop making his arms look too short. Posting him now just to see if there's anything else you all would like changed since he seems to be the problem portrait in this batch. Will update as the night goes on.

Also did Morvin since he had his own share of requested changes. So far, I think his eyes may not be big enough and look too far apart because of it. As for making his robe white, I brightened it up a bit. I don't know if it still looks too green or not, however. I'll add some blues and some more "whites" (whites in quotation since white material is never actually white) and see if I can get it any closer to what I think LordBob was asking for. Otherwise I think he's on track.

Tallin: Changed him up a bit. The way his head was posed just wasn't going to give him very much attitude. I tried a somewhat cocky "bring it on" expression to him and I figure I'll see how that goes. Otherwise just trying to add little details here and there to him to make his otherwise common clothes more interesting to look at. His face still obviously needs some work done to it, but I think the basic shapes are all where they need to be. The raised arm is bothering me however. Not sure exactly what it is, but the shape and size just seem off. Will work on it tomorrow.

Ro'Sothian: Basically just cleaned up some areas and added some more depth and whatnot. I'm starting to get a nice consistency with the robes and shadows from his dangly bits. I removed the wheel, but may try adding it again later. It just wasn't doing anything for me anymore. I think I have an inconsistency with the sleeve on the staff holding arm. I'll be fixing that tomorrow.

[Tet]

I am searching for a chocobone portrait. Is it still missing? Keep up the good work.

[Zerovirus]

...Why would a chocobone portrait be found here?

[thespaceinvader]

Because valk's been doing the undead. No, tet, there is no such portrait to date.

[Valkier]

I've gotten a few requests for a chocobone. I'll probably work on it after a necrophage since so many people are interested.

Update to Rakshas: Tried to make him look a bit more fierce. Added some facial hair. At this point I kind of like him bald.

Stalrag: This guy is pretty much done. I need to render out his beard more and clean up a few areas here and there, but otherwise he's pretty much at the end. If any problems are found, feel free to post them. Either that or wait till sunday/monday when I repost every portrait for NR for final tweaks. Final details will be added tomorrow and outlining will be on Saturday.

Sothian: Much the same as Stalrag. I need to dirty him up a bit around the edges of his robes and on his skill, as well as scuff up his metal. Otherwise, I'll probably be able to outline and finish him up Saturday, barring any mistakes I'm overlooking.

Arthian: I didn't forget about this guy, just figured it was more important to get these other guys started. It won't take me long to finish him since I just need to add on to the new parts. Still, I figured I'd add in this update just because I think it looks neat.

[Valkier]

Nobody loves me anymore! Maybe if I give them a finished lich...

[Zerovirus]

Don't worry, Valk, I still love you.

Love the new liches. They are absolutely pwn, and manage to seem not so much villainy (as most lich portraits are); in other words, they have a character beyond generic malicious skeletal magic user. Nice work!

[johndh]

Peanutting again...

Is it just me, or is Rakshas' head kinda small and really far forward? I did a little paint-over to illustrate what I mean. Here, the tip of the nose and sternum are in the same position along the width axis, so they must be quite far apart along the depth axis. When I stand up straight and dangle a string from the tip of my nose, it's only about an inch from my sternum. For me to stick my neck out like that and hold it there, I'd get tired and stiff pretty quickly. (Or is this part of the Orcish "look"?)

rakshas_PO.jpg (33.96 KiB) Viewed 3434 times

[Valkier]

Peanutting again...

Is it just me, or is Rakshas' head kinda small and really far forward? I did a little paint-over to illustrate what I mean. Here, the tip of the nose and sternum are in the same position along the width axis, so they must be quite far apart along the depth axis. When I stand up straight and dangle a string from the tip of my nose, it's only about an inch from my sternum. For me to stick my neck out like that and hold it there, I'd get tired and stiff pretty quickly. (Or is this part of the Orcish "look"?)

The attachment rakshas_PO.jpg is no longer available

Orcs have a hunch on their backs. As for the head size, you may be right. I'll get him a little further along and see if LordBob (orc portrait designer) has anything to add.

Till then, here's a finished Stalrag. I have also been told I get to invent how ancient liches look. This means I am going to be nixing the current Arthian portrait in favor of whatever it is I design. My limitations? Not a whole lot, which means I get a lot of artistic license on this one.

Oh yes. Oh my, yes.