Giant Mudcrawler portrait

[Djehuty]

Hello everyone .
(note: my english is not as good as it could be so please correct me if you find mistakes )

This is my first post so first of all: LONG LIVE WESNOTH.

I've being playing wesnoth for some years and always wanted to contribute (until now i was kind of a leech ).

Well now I'm one step closer to do so, only thing missing is your approval and guidance

This is a sketch of (let me guess... a chicken?) the giant mudcrawler, i just finished.
Even if there is just lines (color is only to help visualizing) it took me plenty of time to do it (my drawing powers are rusty )

So here it is

Giant_Mudcrawler_beta.png (85.08 KiB) Viewed 4658 times

Please critique and help me improve (so i can, one day, look some Todd Lockwood from above )

[LordBob]

Hi there and welcome to the forums.

There's potential in your work ; you have a steady hand, I can tell you know what you're doing and it would certainly have found its place in the previous generation of Wesnoth portraits. However, I also find it cartoonish and a little classical -if not poor- design-wise. It's more a Disney villain than the kind of semi-realistic portrait we're aiming for.

Nevertheless, it doesn't mean you won't
a: find unofficial campaign developpers interested in your work
or
b: be able to improve to mainline standards

Taking a look at portraits from Kitty, Valkier, TSI or myself ought to provide a reasonable hint of what we're looking for. I suggest you go back to the sketchbook for now, I'll be looking forward to seeing how your design improves.

[Fog]

Hey, It's an alive mud glob with a face, whats wrong with it looking Disney?
Don't worry, LordBob must be in a bad mood today. Please don't let him discourage you. I like it .

[Djehuty]

Hi there and thank you for the reply.

By poor design wise what does that mean? (really don't know )

This was supposed to be just the sketch. I've seen the games portraits and of course i wouldn't leave the draw this way (if that's what you where referring to).

I posted it this way to be criticized before starting to put color, to see if the position is right, proportions, if you like the position of the elements, well to be discussed . Like I've said my skills for drawing are rusty and so i take many time doing even simple things (to add that this is my first digital image, I'm still learning gimp) so i thought to go step by step. if this stage is approved i go to the next part.

By the way i was aiming for the option b so i would like to ear (in this case read) more opinions. I just LOVE the work you portraiters (don't think this is a real word) do (except for some units, technically good i just don't like them but just an opinion like any other ) and i really take what every people here say into account.

and my hand isn't that steady, i did erased and redrawed many times, resized some parts..... et cetera

[JustinOperable]

um, LordBob is co-portrait director. I think his opinions are a bit more important than to be brushed off as a Oh he's just in a bad mood. In any case, I think it's true, although I'm not sure exactly how I'd attack a mudcrawler that didn't look a bit cartoony. You could maybe try to break up the shape language and use some less round shapes in some areas, also giving us some hint at least to the tones might also help to give it more of the right feel.

[Valkier]

Lordbob is usually pretty spot on in his assessments. "Bad mood" doesn't really translate well in to "Tell the new guy to take a hike."

The line quality and such on this looks good to me, but I can't really say much more than that. Put some color on it and we can give you much more accurate critiques. I'd like to see it look more grotesque than it currently implies. Also, making the eyes less evil looking may end up making it look more creepy to the viewer, as the current eye shape is expected and easily forgotten.

[Djehuty]

Ok.

I'll assume you all like the pose of the muddy (for friends ) and start putting color to it (and try to not take long )

[LordBob]

I don't think you should. My earlier post was written hastily, but that doesn't change its meaning. Please let me develop before you rush into shading steps that will come to waste.

Fog's comment is a perfect example of what I meant by 'poor' : "It's an alive mud glob with a face". That's not what we want players to see in Wesnoth Art. Consider for instance Valkier's recent Draug portrait : pierced with arrows and the sword of a (late ?) foe, it tells a story on its own. You can spend some time staring at it and still find out details you've missed. This is what I would like to see in your mudcrawler.
Admittedly it's true to the sprite, but the sprite itself could do with a revamp and therefore I think we are allowed some liberties. Does it need a face ? And fingers ? It's a "magical construct" according to the unit dictionnary, which doesn't necessarily translate into "humanoid being".

As to the "disney" look, I think it has to do with the eyes and mouth. Many people will have seen the very same expression off of the face of every ghastly tree in every haunted forest ever since we were kids. Valkier nailed it exactly !

Now don't think I don't want you to keep trying. If I had meant to reject your contribution, trust me you wouldn't have missed it. I actually believe you may have it in you to produce art of mainline quality, but that doesn't mean I'll be less demanding. On the contrary, I won't let go until I'm certain we've gotten the very best out of you

What I do like in your sketch is the pose, the way something seems to be rising from a pool of mud. This I think you should keep. Also, regardless of the effort required, you disciplined yourself in order to achieve a drawing with clear lines and decent proportion.This is what matters. Drawing doesn't have to be easy, it just has to show result and to any artist this means "hard work".
However, I would like you to try a few more sketches in an attempt to make your portrait more "interesting" to the viewer. Draw inspiration from volcanic mud, consider showing bits of whatever could lie trapped on the bottom of the mud pond...Let your imagination loose ! Depending on how you're used to working, this can be done by switching immediately to shading, or going back to your pencils. This is up to you

[Djehuty]

Oh thats what you ment NICE

When i was drawing it i remembered maybe i should put some grass in the blob mix (or maybe the head of the missing chicken, i swear i've heard clucking ).

Ok. Major hand break on color. New sketch on the stove (i really like this smile)

Ps: and YEAH Learning and closer to participate in the project (love this smile too so i'll repeat it some more times )

[PeterPorty]

Try not to smiley spam... just saying...

[Djehuty]

OK. quick update (and i'll keep the smiley short)

Giant_Mudcrawler_beta.png

Sorry couldn't resist. I'll get back to the real deal now.

[Sapient]

Maybe instead of trying to make it scary, you should just focus on making it look gross and sad. I am thinking of something like Morla from the Swamp of Sadness.

http://desmaenok.silverhalogenide.com/?p=852