The South Guard: Story pics and Portraits

[lostnumber]

It seems to me that Gerricks Glaive is still missing a tip? Was that intentional?

It does look a little odd to me, kind of like you just stopped drawing it a few inches before it was finished

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I have no idea what you are referring to. It has an edge rather than a point, but it doesn't looks odd at all to me.

[scavenger]

It seems to me that Gerricks Glaive is still missing a tip? Was that intentional?

It does look a little odd to me, kind of like you just stopped drawing it a few inches before it was finished

A glaive, which can -as a weapon- take many shapes -it's edge being curved, but beyond that there are many different types. It is a chopping weapon, and not really meant for stabbing (like with a spear). I gave mine a flat top, but there are also types of glaives that have a rounded top or even a hooked one.

In the original portrait, Gerrick seemed to have some sort of pointy spear, which must have been an error, as the unit sprite clearly caries a glaive.

[thespaceinvader]

Enough niggling about the weapon. It looks like a glaive to me.

[LordBob]

Hi there and welcome !

I see some very, very, very nice work here, thank you for your contribution.
I have to say I'm not too fond of the breastplate design for Gerrick, because the imitation of abdominal muscle is so roman empire and therefore would be a better match for the merpeople units.
Another advice I can give would be to thicken his chest by showing more of his back : to me, he currently looks like a very thin man in a very large breastplate.
The waist guard might also benefit from some more attention, and I agree with the earlier "big pauldron" comment. I think it should take on the shape of the shoulder - it currently looks as it's resting on it with a precarious balance.

[scavenger]

Hi there and welcome !

I see some very, very, very nice work here, thank you for your contribution.
I have to say I'm not too fond of the breastplate design for Gerrick, because the imitation of abdominal muscle is so roman empire and therefore would be a better match for the merpeople units.
Another advice I can give would be to thicken his chest by showing more of his back : to me, he currently looks like a very thin man in a very large breastplate.
The waist guard might also benefit from some more attention, and I agree with the earlier "big pauldron" comment. I think it should take on the shape of the shoulder - it currently looks as it's resting on it with a precarious balance.

Thank you.

Gerricks breastplate: Actually I based this one on the unit sprite, which seems to suggest a "muscle" shaped breastplate if you look closely. While it deviates from the regular Wesnoth kingdom armor style, I just assumed since Gerrick was a sir (knight), he just had a custom armor. Maybe he even got it from the Merfolk... There is a Merfolk settlement nearby the River Fort...

Regarding the other details commented on, I sadly (as previously mentioned) lack the time right now to fix these things myself. I have to move on to the other portraits. And should I find some more spare time beyond those, I'd rather spend it on more story pics.
However, since these are all GPL licenced pics, anyone can come in and fix it to their liking (this is actually one of the great things about a copyleft license in this case).

new update: Elithiel portrait finished ("mad" variation to follow soon)

[Iris]

Erm. O_o These portraits are very nice! Shame that nobody pointed me to this thread before. Have they been committed to trunk already*?

* That's an indirect for "why they haven't been committed yet?"

EDIT: ah, okay, "when the set's more complete".

[thespaceinvader]

I think Ethiliel is getting a little too...cartoonishly proportioned... for my taste, what with the tiny waist and huge hands and slightly large lips, not to mention the superheroine-sized breasts and abs straining at the closure of her top. I know you free paint, but maybe showing WIP shots for early critique would be helpful.

It's by no means an outright blocker (and shading-wise, the image is excellent) but fixes would be good =)

Keep up the good work.

[kitty]

Wow! You look like a great addition to our art team! So, a warm welcome from me, too!

Stilewise your stuff is a bit more cartoonish and lacks the outlines we use for the rest of the mainline work, so choosing a campaign was a good selection to start with, here we can tolerate a bit more variety (but still consistency is one of our main goals!).

You know the nitpicks one can have on Gerrick and Deoran looks a bit too young to me as well, but both are more than good enough to go in as they are, since you said you don't have time for revisions.
But I'm not as happy with Ethiliel. Her proportions are very, very cartoony and I wouldn't like to see women pictured that stereotypical in wesnoth at all. I 'm really proud to have non-stereotypical and non-sexist art in our game up to now and I don't want to change that. Widen her waist, shrink her breasts etc. Please! Pretty please.

I look forward to seeing more work from you!

[Sapient]

This reminds me of this discussion: http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 32#p379832
I think the primary mistake is going too closely by the sprites.
On the sprites, some details (such as the feminine figure) must be exaggerated to be visible.
You can use what you know about the character and not feel bound or limited by the details of the sprites.
If necessary, the sprites can be changed afterall.

[Redeth]

Great stuff to look at and tinker with!

[scavenger]

You know the nitpicks one can have on Gerrick and Deoran looks a bit too young to me as well, but both are more than good enough to go in as they are, since you said you don't have time for revisions.
But I'm not as happy with Ethiliel. Her proportions are very, very cartoony and I wouldn't like to see women pictured that stereotypical in wesnoth at all. I 'm really proud to have non-stereotypical and non-sexist art in our game up to now and I don't want to change that. Widen her waist, shrink her breasts etc. Please! Pretty please.

It is one thing to be nitpicked at every single contribution ("Deoran looks too young", "Gerricks armor looks too Roman"). I can live with that. Sure, my style is a bit cartoonish (I'm actually a comic artist outside of this project), but so was the whole of Wesnoth at one point. The sprites are still very manga-ish, and so are the portraits of the tutorial campaign. And check out the portraits of "The Rise of Wesnoth" and "Under the Burning Suns".

However you called my work -specifically the Ethiliel portrait- stereotypical and sexist (albeit indirectly). This irks me more than a little. I did not come here to be insulted.

I see my drawing style is not (and will most likely never be) compatible with the standard Wesnoth style, and therefore I see no reason to continue producing more work for this project. Feel free to keep tinkering with the material I put on here, and use it as you please. I have uploaded the high-res material I created so far with this post.

Goodbye.

[CoolGoose]

I don't usually post, and i might be banned for this, but I hope you're not so drastic in your day to day job.

People just suggested some improvements, if you as an artist can't cope at all with suggestions regarding your work, and you believe you're perfect and that your style is the best, then, excuse me, but maybe you should only do SOLO work without being involved in any teams.

In any case, best of luck.

[thespaceinvader]

It's sad to see someone so promising up and leave when their work is critiqued. But that is the environment in which we work, and a thick skin is more or less a requirement of the job. The overriding thing when working on game art is the quality of the game, and currently that means trying to find the most coherent look we can for our portraits.

It's a great shame to see you go, but if that's what you feel you must do, so be it. I hope that you can see past

Bear in mind: the portrait standard you work to is not set by the sprites (matching styles between portraits and sprites is like matching styles between architecture and clothing design - possible only at the most superficial level), or by the current campaign portraits, which are being replaced slowly. The portrait style is set by the generic unit portraits, particularly, the elves, humans, dwarves, orcs and merfolk.

I let you know early on that our portrait director kitty would have final go/no go on what got committed from your body of work. I'll leave it up to her to let me know what of it should be committed.

And for the rest: no further comments regarding this from the peanut gallery please. They will be deleted without notice.

[scavenger]

It's sad to see someone so promising up and leave when their work is critiqued. But that is the environment in which we work, and a thick skin is more or less a requirement of the job. The overriding thing when working on game art is the quality of the game, and currently that means trying to find the most coherent look we can for our portraits.
[/color]

Agreed, I have worked on collaborative projects before, with success. It's not that I think my stuff is superior to anybody else's, rather that it is not compatible. No hard feelings about that (just "the sexist" bit annoyed me).