thespaceinvader's portraits - Ancient Wose

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thespaceinvader
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by thespaceinvader »

Revision? What revision? I never said anything of the sort =P

Anyway, my procrastination time out from revision over the past few days has resulted in this: a long-awaited (by me, if no-one else) reworking of my Dwarf portraits, starting with the Thunderer/Thunderguard. I've retained a few elements I really liked from the older version (particularly the belt-and-braces look leading to the thick leather shoulder armour over chainmail. The latter will be a bugger to ink and colour, since the random-dots method I've used in the past probably won't stand up over such a large area) whilst completely changing the thunderstick's inspiration.

It's based on a medieval hand cannon (specifically, this one), which is a much older and more esoteric version than previously. It's still recognisable as a firearm analogue (to avoid arguments about whether they're actually firearms or not...) but looks primitive and unusual. And, it's a thunderstick. The extra bit attached to the outside unlatches and hinges out to become a stand, and the canisters attached to his belt are food for the beast inside, or paper cartridges being kept dry, depending on preference.

I intend to have the Dragonguard using a much more musket or blunderbuss type of weapon, probably with very little changing from the previous version.

I also might put burning slow-matches braided into his beard, like Captain Teach.

What do people think?
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Thundererv2.png
Thundererv2.png (67.67 KiB) Viewed 4818 times
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TrashMan
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by TrashMan »

Ohhhh...purdy!
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Skizzaltix
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by Skizzaltix »

Good work!
I'm having a little bit of trouble figuring out how his right hand attaches to the arm, though :hmm:
Also, given the position of his left hand, shouldn't that arm be completely hidden behind his body?
Anyway, great job! Looking forward to seeing this completed.
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Sgt. Groovy
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by Sgt. Groovy »

Pretty good, but it doesn't immediately look dwarvish. The problem may be that the head is too high, below is a quick hack to see how shorter neck would look.

Basically, I think the hand cannon idea is good, but if the function of the folding stand doesn't look obvious, it might be better to ditch it (I reserve judgement until it's more detailed). Also, the match-in-beard idea sounds cool.
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Thundererv2.png
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Tiedäthän kuinka pelataan.
Tiedäthän, vihtahousua vastaan.
Tiedäthän, solmu kravatin, se kantaa niin synnit
kuin syntien tekijätkin.
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thespaceinvader
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by thespaceinvader »

I already put the head down a lot on the neck compared to the reference. Also, bulked out the shoulders a decent amount and thickened the trunk. He's currently only about 5 heads high, more or less. I'll drop it a little more, though.
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Turuk
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by Turuk »

Perhaps rounding the skull a bit more? Sort of like orcs differ from humans a bit in their shape and makeup, what about making the dwarf skull a bit rounder and not quite as long (tall), given they are considered short, stout and hardy? It might aid in shortening the figure in the viewer's perspective.

Just a thought, this may or may not work.
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by LordBob »

Several aspects of this picture disturb me. Here's my few suggestions, hope they can help

The most annoying one : GO BACK TO YOUR REVISION YOU PROCRASTINATING OFFSPRING OF A SLOTH-LIKE CREATURE :P

Other not-so-minor technical aspects:
- Altogether, the body proportions are those of a human with no neck. Shorter people actually tend to have a higher head-to-body ratio: if you want the reader to immediately identfy as dwarfish, you'll have to exagerate proportions of the head especially, and possibly the hands as well. :wink:
- /agree with Groovy : currently, the folding stand isn't recognizable at all and rather looks like a random bit of tube. I approve of your concept, but the result just doesn't do justice to it.
- As has been said, his left hand dosen't work. Eventhough the position is anatomicaly correct, you drew the hand in an angle hardly compatible with the rest of the body - drew it in the plane of the paper. The way he is now, it will seem much more natural if the perspective shows his knuckles and first phalanx.
- As to the left hand, it'll feel more natural if you show a minimum amount of forearm and some of the second phalanx (though the later can be done through shading).


What ? You read the entire post ? Back to revision I said!!! :evil:
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thespaceinvader
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by thespaceinvader »

It's way too late in the day to be revising.

Unfortunately, though, i didn't get to your crit before my current round of edits. I'll address them in a mo.

I hope that the folding stand will be clearer with shading. I'll get shot of it if it doesn't come out that way.

So this one's mainly to show the chainmail, and line colourations (which do clear things up a bit).
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by LordBob »

Last minute thought about the folding stand : provided that I do understand what you have in mind, I'd suggest altogether removing the lower attach, or replacing it with string / a leather strap. Mechanically speaking, the system you drew only allows a limited movement which keeps the stand parallel to the barrel. I think this is what makes it hard to read it as a folding stand for me.

Edit : Turuk is absolutely correct, I completely missed that missing screw. Still, I'll stick to the opinion that others might as well, especially in the smaller help files portrait. I hope you can come up with a more obviously detachable attach :)
Last edited by LordBob on January 11th, 2009, 12:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Turuk
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by Turuk »

LordBob wrote:Last minute thought about the folding stand : provided that I do understand what you have in mind, I'd suggest altogether removing the lower attach, or replacing it with string / a leather strap. Mechanically speaking, the system you drew only allows a limited movement which keeps the stand parallel to the barrel. I think this is what makes it hard to read it as a folding stand for me.
If I may, LordBob, I think you are missing the right side of that piece of metal connecting the stand to the cannon itself. The bottom part (under the screw/bolt) is open, meaning that the dwarf can quickly pop the latch off and let the stand move to a position perpendicular to his weapon.
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thespaceinvader
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by thespaceinvader »

Indeed. It's a very simple latch system where the metal strip is free to rotate at one end and hooks over a screw at the other. The stand hinges at the barrel end to whatever angle is necessary. I thought about a leather strap or something, but this method seems to be the most practical in terms of quick, easy setup for the thiunderer.
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by Skizzaltix »

I did notice the latch there, but all the same I sort of feel like something different might be a little more obvious to the viewer :hmm:
On the other hand, I'm all with you on the fact that it's the quickest and best-looking mechanism--If you could find some way to make it more obvious, that would be awesome :)
On the chainmail, what if you were to color it with a darker base color, and then draw in the highlights, rather than the other way around? Feel free to ignore this bit completely, I'm pretty much just thinking out loud here.
Anyway, great work! Keep it up :D
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by LordBob »

Another last-minute thougt: now that I understand better the latch mecanism, I think the confusion is due to your current latch looking very much like the upper mobile junction. I'd suggest drawing a more complex and/or more hook-like mecanism .
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thespaceinvader
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by thespaceinvader »

I suppose an actual hook might look clearer, possibly like this one only a little less... modern-looking.
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Re: Since I don't have an active topic ATM... Portraits!

Post by Turuk »

My only thought is that a hook like that, unless it is parallel to the ground, might be apt to fall out. You could argue that the weight of the stand will keep the hook in place (sometimes true), but a wrong nudge or bump and the stand would be released. I see this as problematic as the dwarf would probably want to be able to fire his gun from the shoulder as well as with the stand, so he does probably not carry it stored all the time (where it would be safe from being bumped and unhooked).

What if the latch as it is in the portrait could be emphasized by thinning the metal bar and widening the opening a tad on where it surrounds the screw, thus drawing attention to the use of the metal bar as a latch?
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