IftU Portraits | Update: Shadow Master

Make art for user-made content.

Moderator: Forum Moderators

Forum rules
Before posting critique in this forum, you must read the following thread:
Post Reply
User avatar
Espreon
Inactive Developer
Posts: 630
Joined: June 9th, 2007, 4:08 am

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by Espreon »

You made Anlindë look great. One thing that annoys me is the effect in the staff... I would suggest putting sparkles or something around the staff since the effect seems to end abruptly...
Last edited by Espreon on November 1st, 2008, 3:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Girgistian
Art Contributor
Posts: 668
Joined: April 5th, 2008, 8:23 pm
Location: The lands of perkele

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by Girgistian »

Anlindë's left forearm seems really thick compared to the other one, especially since there's fur on the latter.
I'm not sure what you're aiming at with the staff but at least it's... different. I'd suggest keeping it pretty much the way it is, though. maybe add a few very small lighting effects and such, but not too much - the current slight luminousness is a nice touch, and makes her stand out from the typical fizzly-effects-galore mages.
For the dark gods!
User avatar
Quietus
Art Contributor
Posts: 474
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 3:37 pm
Location: Worthing, UK

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by Quietus »

Hmm to me the effect of the staff, is that the inside leads to a different plane or dimension :hmm:
User avatar
Iris
Site Administrator
Posts: 6797
Joined: November 14th, 2006, 5:54 pm
Location: Chile
Contact:

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by Iris »

I think you* are not taking into account that it is a work-in-progress. The effects are usually added at the end of the production.

Anlindë looks great too. Sure a huge variation of what kind of elvish characters people are expected to see in a campaign; helps break the artistic monotony of elvish campaigns.

However, I was reminded last night of an issue with Elynia's portrait and the unit stats. If she can gain a powerful 7-5 melee attack, aren't those clothes a bit thick? Or at least, that's how they look in the portrait. </nitpick>

Also, both her hair and skin look a tad oversaturated in my computers' screens. :/ </more_nitpick>

* targetting Quietus and Espreon.
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
User avatar
Iris
Site Administrator
Posts: 6797
Joined: November 14th, 2006, 5:54 pm
Location: Chile
Contact:

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by Iris »

Forget the comment about the oversaturation. It was due to the scaled-down thumbnail of the forum. :(
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
User avatar
kitty
Retired Portrait Director
Posts: 1290
Joined: January 2nd, 2008, 3:29 pm

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by kitty »

next update on anlinde. comments are appreciated like always, bla, bla, bla.



mica: ah, thanks for the explanation! i'll upload all the different sizes/versions in one batch when i'll have finished a few more.

esperon: the old effect was kind of a placeholder, i hope the new one works better...

girgistan: could catch about the arm! i thinned it a bit.

quietus: i'm not sure if you think if it is a good thing or not. to me it is, magic is always something out of another realm.

shadow master: i think anlinde looks so different from the rest of the elves because of her hair colour first of all - and that's in your description... about elynias battle suitability - her character has soo many aspects and i chose to concentrate on the ancient but young appearing, powerful but melancholic aspects. i have to admit that i forgot about her melee capabilities. but on the other hand i'm not sure if a girl who has lived in the wilderness for so long would own armour stuff at all. however, you'll have to decide if you want to use her as she is now. if you say that the portrait isn't usable just don't use it.
Attachments
anlinde.png
anlinde.png (205.94 KiB) Viewed 4953 times
aeilindae02.png
aeilindae02.png (121.27 KiB) Viewed 5908 times
torangan
Retired Developer
Posts: 1365
Joined: March 27th, 2004, 12:25 am
Location: Germany

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by torangan »

For me the elbows don't match with each other. Her left (in the background) is too low. I don't think the steeper angle allows for this position unless her hidden shoulder is in a very strange position. The joint seems to be at hip level while standing straight.
WesCamp-i18n - Translations for User Campaigns:
http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/WesCamp

Translators for all languages required: contact me. No geek skills required!
User avatar
Quietus
Art Contributor
Posts: 474
Joined: January 15th, 2008, 3:37 pm
Location: Worthing, UK

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by Quietus »

kitty wrote:quietus: i'm not sure if you think if it is a good thing or not. to me it is, magic is always something out of another realm.
Oh no i think it is a good thinng. I was just expressing my idea of what I thought it looked like.
Shadow Master wrote:I think you* are not taking into account that it is a work-in-progress
Answered in above statement
User avatar
Iris
Site Administrator
Posts: 6797
Joined: November 14th, 2006, 5:54 pm
Location: Chile
Contact:

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by Iris »

kitty wrote:quietus: i'm not sure if you think if it is a good thing or not. to me it is, magic is always something out of another realm.
Remember that this sorceress once dabbled with magic definitively from other realm. :P
i think anlinde looks so different from the rest of the elves because of her hair colour first of all - and that's in your description
Which is exactly why it is a Good Thing(tm).

/me is wondering how to get away dropping Anlindë's advancement to L4 without causing players to go ballistic; nor the portraits or sprite departments can afford more wings...
about elynias battle suitability - her character has soo many aspects and i chose to concentrate on the ancient but young appearing, powerful but melancholic aspects. i have to admit that i forgot about her melee capabilities. but on the other hand i'm not sure if a girl who has lived in the wilderness for so long would own armour stuff at all. however, you'll have to decide if you want to use her as she is now. if you say that the portrait isn't usable just don't use it.
I never said she had armour. She just has more skill with melee weapons than your generic druid or shyde, but that doesn't mean she wears armor. Armor would literally kill her, as it would to any other magic being in Wesnoth; this is something we defined in mainline relatively long time ago and I don't intend to break that rule. Remember that there are mainline units with little or no armor and great melee capabilities in relation to other units of their kind - the examples at the top of my head right now are thieves and Silver Magi.

The portrait is perfectly usable. The whole issue was just nitpicking. I cannot reject a cute face. ;) Argan couldn't, either. And in that matter, I cannot wait to see what you come up for the shaxthal "heroes" (Argan, Elyssa #2).
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
User avatar
kitty
Retired Portrait Director
Posts: 1290
Joined: January 2nd, 2008, 3:29 pm

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by kitty »

here are the three finished ones in 205*205 on black.



torangan: i don't see a problem with her shoulders - both upper arms are of equal length. her shoulders aren't straight but at an angle. she has her right one up because she holds the staff at a higher position and the other one lower. it is a bit obscured because the feather-y thingy is exactly the other way round.

quietus: thanks.

shadow master: i always suspected that you and argan are somehow interwined... but of course i am glad that this spares me the work to touch up elynia again. lazy me. and about anlinde - does that mean that she won't advance to l4 at all? will she get powerful amlas, then? and is that for a gameplay reason or just to spare art (which is a very good reason, too)?
Attachments
galas04.png
galas04.png (55.56 KiB) Viewed 5787 times
elynia04.png
elynia04.png (70.3 KiB) Viewed 5789 times
aeilindae03.png
aeilindae03.png (60.37 KiB) Viewed 5796 times
User avatar
Iris
Site Administrator
Posts: 6797
Joined: November 14th, 2006, 5:54 pm
Location: Chile
Contact:

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by Iris »

kitty wrote:here are the three finished ones in 205*205 on black.
o.O

Why your scaled-down Elynia looks better than mine (which looks like a peach, yeah)? Did you apply another procedure this time besides the usual scaling-down and sharpening?
i always suspected that you and argan are somehow interwined
o.O
(*fails to parse the sentence, goes to a dictionary*)
(*parses the sentence, but cannot link it to a meaning*)
and about anlinde - does that mean that she won't advance to l4 at all? will she get powerful amlas, then? and is that for a gameplay reason or just to spare art (which is a very good reason, too)?
I just discussed it with a few players and it seems that even today I cannot remove her L4 advancement without being burned alive by them. I wanted (specifically nowadays) to get away with it to spare art, precisely. Too bad

I tried to remove Sylph advancements from all players units long, long ago, and ended up in trouble.

Well, so it's up to you to decide whether to produce a specific portrait for her L4 status or get us away with the regular ground-based unit art.

My lazy self says go for the second, but my perfectionist self says the inverse. <.<

EDIT:

Commited in revision 2307. Thanks a lot. (Words are not enough, actually, to express the thankfulness of me).

Now I await to commit the transparent Elynia and Anlindë. Seems SkeletonCrew and Jetryl have a plan...
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
User avatar
kitty
Retired Portrait Director
Posts: 1290
Joined: January 2nd, 2008, 3:29 pm

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by kitty »

Why your scaled-down Elynia looks better than mine (which looks like a peach, yeah)? Did you apply another procedure this time besides the usual scaling-down and sharpening?
absolutly no idea - perhaps differences between phosho and gimp? or are you talking about the crappy downsized forum version?
(*fails to parse the sentence, goes to a dictionary*)
(*parses the sentence, but cannot link it to a meaning*)
argl, my bad, i meant intertwined, you know something like connected... my english spelling is pretty horrible, i guess.
anlinde | l4 | wings
i'm on the lazy side, i won't do a seperate winged portrait - there are soo many characters still missing and you asked about generic ones for some of the special units (about i'm not sure if i'll do them at all) and someday i want to finish this project and return to mainline work... nope. sorry.
User avatar
Iris
Site Administrator
Posts: 6797
Joined: November 14th, 2006, 5:54 pm
Location: Chile
Contact:

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by Iris »

kitty wrote:
Why your scaled-down Elynia looks better than mine (which looks like a peach, yeah)? Did you apply another procedure this time besides the usual scaling-down and sharpening?
absolutly no idea - perhaps differences between phosho and gimp? or are you talking about the crappy downsized forum version?
Differences between them. The scaling algorithm must differ significantly (Photoshop being proprietary software, they can use algorithms that will not be released to the public for free use).

And although I knew you meant intertwined, I do not see a connection between me and Argan other than that I created his character. ;)
Are you suggesting that he's a Wesnoth-world version of me? Okay, to be honest, that is pretty true. Let's not dig into this subject any further.

So well, I'll put myself to work/finish the Anlindë sprites before players start complaining about the blonde mainline sprites she currently uses. :P
Author of the unofficial UtBS sequels Invasion from the Unknown and After the Storm.
User avatar
kitty
Retired Portrait Director
Posts: 1290
Joined: January 2nd, 2008, 3:29 pm

Re: IftU Portraits

Post by kitty »

i finally found some time to start the next one, the aragwhaiti (i bet that i misspelled that again!) erathan. harsh in the beginning but later befriends our little heroes... the character description offered neither his age nor details about his outward apperance, thus i'm not sure if i nailed him or if i'm far off.

just lines and flats for now, duuno when i'll finish him... c&c is welcome like always.
Attachments
erathan01.png
erathan01.png (126.9 KiB) Viewed 5407 times
User avatar
Turuk
Sithslayer
Posts: 5283
Joined: February 28th, 2007, 8:58 pm
Contact:

Re: IftU Portraits | Update: Erathan!

Post by Turuk »

I will leave the C&C to those more qualified than me, but another good job kitty. It might even be stolen to be used to represent Aragwaithe in another campaign. ;)

Kidding of course, as I know you like your portraits to be used solely for their intended purpose, but just saying it's that good.
Mainline Maintainer: AOI, DM, NR, TB and THoT.
UMC Maintainer: Forward They Cried, A Few Logs, A Few More Logs, Start of the War, and Battle Against Time
Post Reply