Outsider Art for Bad Moon Rising

[Girgistian]

Arr, this comes a bit late, but his head is really huge compared to the waist and the hands, and the same goes with the previous portrait. They're also both very skinny, though if that was the intention then nevermind. As for the helmet problem, it's propably just too loose.
By the way, did you have samurais in mind while drawing the latest guy? The pose and the helmet-type somehow brings japanese stuff to my mind.
Also, I'd suggest getting rid of the metal part on the tip of the sheath, or at least thinning it somewhat. The foreshortening on the flat version looks very convincing, but the steel tip makes it look somewhat angled. Gööd wörk anyways, the faces in your portraits have started to show a little bit of diversity. Not a lot, but it's still progress.

EDIT: the problem with the sword might also be because of the hilt and the grip, though.

[Turuk]

This guy is close to done, maybe the helmet problem was lack of shadows?

That helped some! But I did some sketching of your character on my own to try and understand why I might be crazy, and I think I may have it (at least what bugs me). If I take the size of the man's face, and extrapolate those proportions to what I cannot see (what is covered by the helmet), his head ends up being pretty big. Even allowing for necessary padding, his forehead would go up fairly far and the sides of his head would extend to the sides a bit. Though the side is much less evident, it is mainly the top part of the helmet that gets me. If you do not care or see it yourself, that is fine if no change is desired. I am just happy I figured it out to put my mind to rest.

[/end of Turuk being entirely confused about what was nagging him.]


EDIT: Girgistian posted at the same time and basically nailed my thoughts on the head/helmet exactly.

[doofus-01]

Yet another General (2 more of them to do, though I think I'll try a rogue next.)
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[Zaphod]

Wow! The chainmail looks all purty and chain-ish. Shiny, too. Good so far!
The sword is bothering me a little. Sure, I play too many games with ridiculously oversized swords, which has warped my perception of size, but...it really does seem thin. Almost like a medieval lightsaber. Swords can be that thin, yes, but I think a general would have a wider sword. If you want to keep it thin for realism's sake, though, I could see why.

[Skizzaltix]

Actually, I think the problem with the sword is that it gets wider as it goes down... It should either get narrower or stay the same, IMO
Anyway, great job!

[Turuk]

The sword is bothering me a little. Sure, I play too many games with ridiculously oversized swords, which has warped my perception of size, but...it really does seem thin. Almost like a medieval lightsaber. Swords can be that thin, yes, but I think a general would have a wider sword. If you want to keep it thin for realism's sake, though, I could see why.

Ah, do not give into video game distortion! Swords are made huge beyond normal proportions in order to make them look "cool" and so you may be disappointed to find that the blade on a sword like that was probably only a couple of inches wide. Even the larger zweihanders were about the same or slightly larger, their difference coming in the length of the blade. The idea of a general having a wider sword is that seemingly unquenchable idea that size=importance.

My only question doofus is what is securing his breastplate over the chainmail? I know that it is stiff and secured at the shoulders, but I would imagine a strap around the body as well. Just my thoughts anyways.

[Skizzaltix]

Remember, folks--WINFF

Nice job, doofus! As mentioned before, that chainmail is looking good.
Though, there are two small things about his pose that seem strange to me... For one, his head is in a very stiff position... It almost looks like he has no neck. Should be fixed easily enough by lengthening the neck.
The other is that, although I can see that he's drawing/sheathing his sword... That's a really uncomfortable angle to do it at. Maybe if you were to have nearly the exact same pose, but with the sword at a bit more of an angle? Up to you.
Anyway, great work! Keep it up!

[Neoskel]

Nice job, doofus!

You gotta love out of context quoting.

Anyways, good job on this, though his head seems a tad large to me.

[Skizzaltix]

...Oops

I think I see what he means with the head--It's very, very close, but I think it may be just a tiny bit too large. Try lengthening the neck, though--I'm not sure, but that might fix it.
Also, his hair could use just a little more texturing, IMO. Right now it's okay, but it reminds me rather painfully of DreamWorks--Not the style you seem to be going for with your other portraits.
Anyway, great job, as I said before!

[doofus-01]

Still working out the bright parts of the metal.

The sword is supposed to be like a claymore in an unslung shoulder strap.

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[Simons Mith]

'Like' a claymore? Ah, maybe it's OK then, but a rule of thumb on weapon lengths for you; a broadsword with its point on the ground will come up to the top of your hip; a [censored] sword (hand and a half) will come up to the middle of your chest; and a two handed sword (incl. a typical claymore) would come up to your chin. So that weapon is a tad short for a real claymore. And that spike on the pommel is not a good idea at all.

Niggle; I think the 'grain' on his chainmail armour is too fine. It makes it look like fabric to me. Although I really like the metallic colour.

Observation; he looks like he's got unusually dainty hands and wrists. Like a woman's. You might want to make them a bit bigger, but OTOH I don't think he's outside the possible physiological range for a male. It depends on his role in the story; if he's a schemer rather than a slugger, it might be entirely fitting for him to be slightly less chunky.

[Edit: Considering it as a villain picture, I still think it's A1 in spite of the above.]

[doofus-01]

Thanks. I guess it's like a very short claymore, I'll remember that for next time. As for the hands, maybe shrinking the head a bit, as was mentioned earlier, will help. I am trying to avoid heroic proportions, but I'm not trying to make dainty dandies.

[Neoskel]

I hate to say this so late in the process, but his left arm seems unnaturally long. Holding my forearm against my face (wasn't as easy as i thought it would be ) the length from elbow to wrist is only an inch or so longer than from chin to the top of my head. His goes about another half a head before the wrist. My attempted contortions seem to agree with the length of his upper arm though.

You don't have to change it now since it's so far along, but it might be something to keep in mind for the future.

[doofus-01]

Yeah, and so making his head smaller isn't really an option. If he were a major character, I would redraw certain parts, including the arms and hands. But he's not, so if I ever want to get this project finished, I need to move on. Maybe I'll touch up the metal when I get better at that.
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And moving on, this is a rogue:
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[Skizzaltix]

Yeah, better to move on and revisit it later if you have the time and inclination.

I love that head! Great expression.
Though, you have the same issue you did before with his right forearm being a little long... Also, the way his left arm is thrown forward feels a little awkward to me--If you were to have the exact same torso position, but with the arm going back instead of forward, I think it would look great, and give the figure a sense of motion and life
Other than that (And this is really, really, nitpicky, so don't worry about it if you don't see it), the blade on the knife feels a little weird to me, given the handle design--IIRC knives with a symmetrical handle and guard like that tended to have a similarly symmetrical blade, and a longer, thinner one, rather than a thick choppy one like that... Alternatively, you could have a thick handle to fit the blade
Anyway, great job! Keep it up!