thespaceinvader's portraits - Ancient Wose

[JW]

I'm sorry, I just have to post how awesomely huge that guy's belt is. It totally works and looks good, it just makes me smile for some reason.

[thespaceinvader]

It emphasises the size of his belly and holds up his awesome tools. I like it =D

Also, shading update. Face and beard done. I've tried to make him look older and more experienced than the previous dwarves, to reflect his high status in society and long years of learning his craft.

EDIT: preliminarily completed. I await crit, I hope we can get this chap ready before the release...

[Edguy_Forever]

I'm no artist, but from a physiological standpoint, it seems to me like the left shoulder is still a little bit small for the stance he is in. since his body is facing straight forward(with maybe a little tilt) in the picture, shouldn't you be able to see a bit more of his shoulder? I could be wrong.

[Lord_Aether]

I don't really like his expression, it looks kinda like he bit into a really sour lemon.

[Skizzaltix]

I don't really like his expression, it looks kinda like he bit into a really sour lemon.

That's very interesting, Crispin. Do you think it likely to happen again?

Nice! I love his face, especially the eyes and nose.
Though, there's something about the spike on the back of the hammer that makes it feel like it's not part of the hammer--I think possibly it's because that kind of hammer, in my mind, has a symmetrical head, and so the spike just looks tacked on, especially as there's nothing to balance it (In fact, I wasn't really sure what the spike was up until now/maybe the version before)...
Could be just me, though. Anyone else see it?
Anyway, great work, and I look forward to seeing all these in the next release!

[Turuk]

I think the impression you are perceiving from the hammer spike is because it seems to to curve back into a traditional hammer head (to my mind) at first given the shape, but then sharpens into a small point. Basically, the part after the blue runes seems to be a different curve than the part preceding. If this was altered, it might make it look like the point was being formed the entire way.

[Skizzaltix]

Yeah, actually--I think Turuk just hit the nail on the head there.

I was also wondering, wouldn't those pliers be liable to fall out? Possibly raise the lip of the pocket up to just below the button...
Anyway, looking forward to the next version

[kitty]

starts to look good! his face has a lot of character, really disapproving. and i like the shading on his right glove a lot - very voluminous!

nitpick time:
* his face (which i actually like a lot) clashes with his body type. the face belongs to the emaciated and parched type of old man while his body shows clearly that he is rather well-nourished. you need to give him a face going with his body.
* other problems with the face are that the transition to the beard looks very hard and unnatural and that the wrinkles are too strongly concentric and geometric.
* the beard needs to follow the shape of his body (i think i mentioned this already a few times...)
* the metal thingies on his apron - are they purely decorative or are they pouches?
* the glowing runes don't work for me, the way you depict them now just makes the metal appear blurred.
(* not really a crit: generally if you want to have a costume design appear more elaborate, you don't need to add more bling at any cost. just introducing more layers of fabric often does the job, too. just add some padded material poking out beneath the apron, some other tunic looking out beneath the chain mail etc.)

[thespaceinvader]

I'll try for some slightly chubbier wrinkles. but as I've said before, I don't intend that the dwarvish body structure is fat - they are the shape they are because of their bones and organs, not because they have excess fat.

How exactly do you suggest making the beard follow the body shape more? I've done what I can with it.

They're armour plates, and a location for the runes. They could maybe stand to look a little flatter.

I'll see what I can do with the runes - they need more love i think. A lighter, less transparent glow, and some more physical magic effects (maybe little crackles of lightning) would help there.

And i'll try to fix the shape of the hammer a bit, but I'm reasonably happy with it at present.

I'll move the whole pliers pocket up a bit, skizz, good catch.

[cobra]

I don't really like his expression, it looks kinda like he bit into a really sour lemon.

That or he looks like he is a snobby dwarf.

[Turuk]

Possibly. In order to solve this riveting debate, we should just wait to see what TSI posts up next.

[thespaceinvader]

Updated. The shape of the hammer spike has changed, the magic has become significantly more of an effect and less of a last minute blob, updated the wrinkles to closer match the reference, made further changes to the beard (though not major - i really can't figure a better way to make it match the body shape)

And yes, he's intended to be quite sneery. He is significantly older, wiser and better than thou, and it shows =D

If it comes to the stage where we're still picking nits and the release is pending, I'll commit at whatever stage we've reached and make any further changes to trunk after 1.6.

[Turuk]

That's a great job on the spike for the hammer, whoever or whatever you used as reference was an excellent source, and I would advise using them for such again in the future.

[thespaceinvader]

I will consult my brain in future then =P

And certain orange-clad IRC dwarves, too...

[Sgt. Groovy]

How exactly do you suggest making the beard follow the body shape more?

It's admittetly a tough task. One should think the beard as a tubular object, which falls straight down initially, and then turns toward the viewer. The perspective of any pattern on it's surface must then change along its length accordigly (a schematic diagram below).

They're armour plates, and a location for the runes.

For armour, they seem a bit unpractical, since they leave wide and very obvious gaps in between. Also, they should be weighing down the fairly loose material of the apron, which would be visible as folds and wrinkles.

If the runes are supposed to glowing magically, you should make them much more saturated. High saturation makes colours stand out and look light-emitting, even when they are not bright (as in having high value).

The structure of the chainmail is fairly good, but the contrast in reflections should be much higher between light and shadow. The light parts are essentially specular reflections from individual rings, and now they are as bright on the shadow side as on the light side.