JustinOperables Portraits- Great Troll

[JustinOperable]

Fair enough Turuk. And thanks, Sapient, I overreacted a little. I got plenty of helpful criticism as well. I don't think moving the thread is necessary.

[SouthernOracle]

I apologize if I'm part of the cause of your discontent. I did not think it was something funny nor did I post smiley faces. The reason I made the correlation was because of the smallish head with the limited canopy as well as the slender upper arms. The Wose appears more like a thick oak tree, in my opinion, and that's how I arrived at my conclusion. It wasn't meant as discouragement but as a notification.

On that note, your expanded canopy does improve the image, and your wooden technique works very well. It just seems the branch arms would be thickest near the trunk.

[Noyesdude]

O.o Sorry didnt mean it in a bad way.. I think it would probably be hard to NOT make it look like an ent when you try to make it look realistic. sorry again

The Wose appears more like a thick oak tree

Yeah thats sounds more like what I think of as an wose.

[JustinOperable]

The forearms of the wose in the sprite are larged than the upper arms as well, that's why I made them like that, not to copy the Ents. Do you think thickening the trunk would actually improve the image or is it just different from what you would have expected. Also, what do people think of using birds or something like that to convey scale?

[Girgistian]

Birds or "something" sounds like a good idea, yes.

[JustinOperable]

Threw in some base colors for the trunk since people seem more or less okay with that, if one of the art developers wants me to add a leaf beard or thicken the trunk, then I'll repaint it some, but this is sort of a rough of what I'm thinking.

edit: it darkened quite a it in posting, so keep that in mind.

[beetlenaut]

Your take on the wose is great. I especially like the face.

To make him seem larger, you might consider lifting his back arm to show his hand--kind of like what is in the sprite. It would help to fill the frame which gives more of an impression of size.

[Noyesdude]

Do you think thickening the trunk would actually improve the image or is it just different from what you would have expected.

Hmm right now to me it doesnt look "treeish" I think making the trunk bigger to make it look more like a tree than a person would make it look more like a wose. But this is a comment from the peanut gallery so... other than that looking good.

[JustinOperable]

Here's a version of the lineart with one arm grasping a boulder, i think if done right, that could help add scale as well. Which one do people prefer

[SouthernOracle]

That's definitely on the right track. Like you said, having something else in the frame to reference scale really helps. Now I have the impression that his is pretty tall, if that boulder is as big as I think it is. Previously, he seemed to be just twice as big as a man. If you continue with this idea, the trunk is fine. My nitpick concerned the trunk of his head - my eye wants to extend the thickness of his head a few centimeters left so it somewhat blends with the shoulder, rather than having a dedicated head. You're the artist, I'm just offering ideas.

[Girgistian]

The overall bodily appearance looks pretty good so far, but the boulder's probably not acceptable. As it is now, it looks as if it's wielding the rock as a weapon, moreso a throwable one. Since woses don't generally seem to hit things with huge stones nor have a ranged attack, I suggest using something (like the birds you mentioned, or squirrels, or just something that can't be misinterpreted as a weapon) else to express his size.

Also, for the colouring phase, please note that trees are generally not very saturated. The basic idea of a tree (as seen in cartoons, for example) is usually a very saturated brown and lush oak, but real life ones are typically somewhat grayish and mossy. A good colour example.

[zookeeper]

Since it seems to be rather difficult to portray the huge canopy and enough of the rest of the body in the allotted max 500x500 space, here's a random idea that might be worth considering. Do with it what you will.

Basically, the idea is that the main branches that form the canopy aren't branching off from his head, but from his (upper) back, and the head is a kind of a separate branch. It allows you to shift the canopy much lower instead of having it just as an afro around his head, make it a bit larger overall and maybe shift it to the left a bit too to save on horizontal space as well.

[CountPenguin]

the branches coming out of his back look really nice. if his head is also a branch though, i think it could be even cooler if he still got a mini-afro

[ink]

I think zookeeper idea is the right track personally. As for the boulder, it's a good idea, but it may be too perfect. too round. It would be good to feel that it's been ripped of the ground. We could see some earth falling from it fro example. Also the line of the leaves shouldn't be ticker than the rest

[Simons Mith]

Just an observation - his 'hair' looks a bit afro because it starts at head level. But for a wose, I'm sure you could start his 'hair' at chest height and have the face mixed in amongst the greenery.