Loyalist Portrait Series

[Cloud]

Personally the horse seems fine to me (and I can't see anything wrong with the rider, but I feel less qualified to say definitively) even the head... then again I'm used to a Welsh Cob (sadly gone to horse heaven* now) and a Pony, but then again the Calvaryman line (to my unprofessional eye) is more of a scout-y line than the knight line so they would have medium weight horses (much like a Cob) rather than full on warhorses (bigger horses can take more weight but are slower. An elven steed, for example, would probably be light weight breed).

Don't forget you can add markings to the horse if you want (I think I read that you were going to do a grey** horse for the paladin, which is a nice variation) I'm sure you know coat colour isn't restricted to grey and chestnut(/bay). (wikipedia is always useful if you like to research these things, though if you do you probably have already been there, done that and got the cookie)

* Well he didn't do anything bad in his time, except maybe fright at llamas, donkeys, water troughs and horse eating plastic bags!
** Greys of the age used for fighting are more likely to be more white than grey, but it because their coat lightens as they age.

[LordBob]

Wow, tha's reference if I ever had any! Thanks Kitty and Cloud for the insight.

This page has slowly become my ultimate armour reference. You'll see that most armours actually have thin, tight-fitting greaves, compared to the modern plate worn in your reference
Still, the thigh of the cavalryman can afford getting larger

[Cuyo Quiz]

By now you probably deserve a personalized title, i believe.

Or maybe, after providing the horses .

[LordBob]

Work in progress for the dragoon/cavalier linework. I think I finally got the shield's position

[Mabuse]

good lord, that halberdier is a mean guy !

very nice loyalist portraits

[DEATH_is_undead]

Work in progress for the dragoon/cavalier linework. I think I finally got the shield's position

I think it should go more behind the rider...

(Just an opinion, kinda looks funny to me. I don't know though, without the color/shading, might look better.)

[Blarumyrran]

Theres the possible problem that your lvl1 cavalryman looks better armored than a lvl2 swordsman, while the latter would be more powerful ingame?

[JW]

Theres the possible problem that your lvl1 cavalryman looks better armored than a lvl2 swordsman, while the latter would be more powerful ingame?

Well, the Cavalryman does still have better resistancies than the Swordsman. 30/40 v 20/20 IIRC (but -20 to pierce). Anyway, I haven't directly compared the images, just throwing the idea into play.

[LordBob]

To tell the truth, I've already considered tweaking the swordsman in order to give him additional plate (so as to match the pikeman), but this won't happen before the riders are done. If you take a closer look (and it should become obvious with shading), the cavalryman has his arms covered with only a shirt and vambraces, whereas the swordsman has steel gauntlets and a full brigandine. Anyway JW is right about their armour stats so I won't strip the cavalryman, who also has to look heavier than his horseman cousin.

The dragoon's shield position isn't random : I'd like the typical cavalrymen heraldry to show on this portrait. Plus, when battle is near, behind your back isn't where a shield comes handy

[Dragonchampion]

I am amazed at the quality of your work . How can you get that detail on a computer, save for a stylus and handwriting recognizer?

[thespaceinvader]

I don't know why you're saving for a stylus and handwriting recogniser. Graphics tablets (stylus tools, essentially, but with pressure sensitivity) are a basic tool of the digital art trade - in fact, the lack of a graphics tablet has so far prevented more than one very good artist from being able to contribute

[LordBob]

What he says. Graphics tablets really are the starting point for a digital illustrator, unless you're incredibly patient with a mouse and gifted with vector.

Anyway, Horseman flats. The horse has a larger head now ; toughening him into something Duhh wouldn't label a pansy horse is up to the shading

[Turuk]

I would suggest you take something from DUHH's recently drawn daemon-horse for his elf for inspiration.

[Cuyo Quiz]

Just to get an option out there, if armouring is a worry, you can go transition armour:

Brigandine was a cheap way for a mounted man to be armed, and it could be pimped with velvet, silver, blasons, etc. Knights, mercenaries and garrisons did it.

Bulbous breastplates were made with two pieces that slid one over the other in the front. You can have the lower piece be steel and the upper be brigandine.

[Boucman]

small remark about the horse's pose..

he seems to be "unbalanced on his right" in other word he seems to be slightly leaning on his right with his neck and head slightly looking rightward.

this is a very natural pose for a horse that is turning toward the viewer except....

I would expect the rider to be "pulling the reins" slightly to direct the horse. No need to actually "pull" horses are trained to react to slight tension, but the right rein (toward the viewer) would seem to be more natural to me if it was tensed instead of lying on the horse's neck

that's really minor, do as you see fit