thespaceinvader's portraits - Ancient Wose

[LordBob]

My two cents about metal shading if it can help :

• Bronze isn't a very shiny metal. When polished, it will acquire a golden tint, so I'd suggest replacing most of your white reflections with yellow tints, keeping only of few spots of white
• One of the keys to metal shading is counter-reflection. For instance, consider the plate on his left leg. The outer rim of the plate, where it touches the background, could be in a brighter tint as if reflecting light from behind.
• Is your metal polished ? If so, there will be more reflection of light, but also of the saurian's arms, shield...

Anyway, here is a picture of polished bronze armour. The counter-reflection thing can be seen on the right of the body plate, or under the wrist.

[thespaceinvader]

Part of my problem is a tendency not to look for reference when I should >.<

I think part of the issue is that the bronze I've done is rather too yellow, as well as being a bit overly shiny. I'm going to try to get a fixed version up before this afternoon, since today is the last day I have to work on these before I head for home for a fortnight...

EDIT: as such, repaint attached. Removed the helmet and leg armour, added a new plate over the robe thing which matches the one on the sprite, completely recoloured the armour, and fixed up a few speculars around the place.

[Thumper]

It's only made of bronze, that's not exactly hard metal.

Wrong. Bronze is harder than iron. It gave way to iron because iron is easier to find, not because it's strictly inferior.

- Chris

[thespaceinvader]

Iron's extremely brittle, particularly wrought iron. It's an pretty poor metal to make... almost anything, actually, when it's pure. It shatters very easily. But it did beat out bronze, as you say, due to it being easier to find. But it's safe to assume that steel is the commonly used metal in Wesnoth. And steel is much harder and more durable than bronze.

Bronze also requires a lower tech level to manufacture, due to its lower melting point, and the lower melting points of its component metals (copper and tin).

On another note (thanks for the link, btw) bronze is a better choice for a species who spend a lot of time wading around in swamps, since it's more resistant to corrosion.

[Girgistian]

It definitely looks better without the helmet, and I see you worked with the colours of the armor as well.
Somehow the groin-armor bugs me, though, it looks like it's just a metal plate hanging from a piece of cloth, which isn't exactly my idea of balanced and easy-to-move-in armor. I'd suggest you to remove it as well, or just make it scale malish.
Other personal preferences aside, this looks really good.

[thespaceinvader]

It's a plate hanging from his belt by leather straps. I might change it into a lot of small separate plates, but that is a fairly complex thing to make, so I'm not sure about it in terms of the saurians' tech level.

, for reference.

[Girgistian]

I think that's supposed to be either clothing or leather with gold decorations, not actual armor. Really, a stiff, curved plate hanging from the belt won't really work, and since it's that low it doesn't really even protect anything. It's in the way if he tries to run, dodge or basically do anything with his feet except for stand in a certain pose.

[thespaceinvader]

Annoyingly (because I'm pleased with the shading on that piece), you're probably right. I'll change it to leather strips with bronze plates.

[Girgistian]

Annoyingly (because I'm pleased with the shading on that piece), you're probably right. I'll change it to leather strips with bronze plates.

Yeah, the shading's not at all bad (as far as I know) but *insert profanity* happens.

[thespaceinvader]

Etc.

EDIT: also, this allows me to better demonstrate to carrying over of the moon-and-stars theme from the augur. It's not terribly visible, but the moon is in three bronze parts at the bottom in the middle of the leather straps, and the stars are above, though most of the bronze bits are simple studs.

[Jozrael]

I was having the same concerns as Girgi but saw he'd already voiced them. Damn do you work fast and put out quality images. <3.

[Neoskel]

Oh wow, he looks really good now. It looks like this could work for all levels, unless Jetryl wants a diffeent portrait for the level one, i'd say you're all set.

[Girgistian]

Much better. The only things still bothering me is the green blob on his left shoulder-pad. I think I understand what you're aiming at with it, but I doubt bronze-reflections work that way. Maybe just make it somewhat the same colour as the spear-reflection. Otherwise it looks pretty good.

[thespaceinvader]

Eh, i'm happy with that tbh. I call this finished.

[JW]

The image looks better without the leg armor. I think the costuming needs no changes at this point.

There seem to be some places the shading is a little off. The shading on the head, especially the bottom left part of his neck, is one place. Compare it to the shading on the tail and you will see what I mean when you try to imagine the light source.

Also, I don't understand the spears: how is the head connected to the shaft? The shading on the heads also seems like an inconsistent style when compared to the rest of the work...I know this is a vague comment, but I'm not sure how else to put it.

2c of thoughts.