TAM artwork

[jb]

Cool!

I agree with Bob about one thing, we have to find a way to give him more lines.

We can auto-recall him for some future missions, where he can speak to the natives or some such.
(assuming he lives that long).

[bera]

Aha, here comes Mocco, flats.

I wish to put a tattoo on his right forearm, any suggestions?

Till then, I'll start something for the local fat milita leader (gah.. so sad I can't check their names).

[bera]

some preliminary shading on Mocco+anatomical fixes (his right upper arm was so long.. !)

edit: oh and I'm still open to any creative designs for Mocco's tattoo, otherwise.. I will go for something lame as I'm very ignorant about them (for those that do not know the campaign, he's a jailer on an island prison, with a somewhat kindly heart - at least to his own kind.)

also flats for the peasant leader of spice village (you know who?):

[FAAB]

edit: oh and I'm still open to any creative designs for Mocco's tattoo

I would propose 忍 (rěn). How to write it
It is a quite standard tattoo amongst simple Chinese people having a tough life. It means "endure sufferings".
The character itself is quite self-explanatory as it represents a knife on one's heart.
But it might not be creative enough for you

[edit]Some details on my proposal:
My proposal is *not* to design the ogres to match Chinese (stereo-)types. I just think we can use some Chinese elements on the ogre design as mainline is using Indian ones for the naga. Naga are not looking like Indians but they used that flavour in design to make it more special. So would the ogres.

I proposed that idea because while "endurance" contains a mental aspect, that is still mainly physical quality, so it matches the ogre's profile. On top of that, seeing endurance as a virtue by people not trained at martial arts, implies some kind of fatality ("we will always suffer, so be able to endure is a quality"), that fits well to the ogre position in wesnoth where they are scarcely survive in a world ruled by other races and are usually beaten up in stories.

On the character itself, I just discovered that in Japanese, the character reads "nin", which is the one we find in the world "ninja". So you might be reluctant to associate your ogres with ninjas. Though I don't know if Japaneses would make direct link to ninjas when seeing the character.[/edit]

[Frogger5]

I'm worried about ogre 5's lower right arm turing out flat. Apart from that, nice work.

[bera]

That's a great idea FAAB!

Frogger: I wasn't done with shading. But I can't agree more, my anatomical knowledge is far from good and that reflects to shading no matter what Though it's my hope what I'm posting below is somewhat adressing the flatness you mention. Oh and this one I will call finished. At the moment my biggest concern is the way I executed the tattoo - I had a look at some photographs depicting tattooized Chinese characters and mine is a bit on the blurred side compared to those, so as not to make it too very Chinese (not sure if I succeeded). I am not sure of the consequences of using Chinese on portraits either, but I really loved FAAB's idea myself as it's quite on the original side for me ... Besides, I must reflect over the Chinese traits of this particular ogre (the cleaver, eyes, skin tone, body build), though it wasn't deliberate in any way; so FAAB's idea is a good touch over all those. But do let me know if my tattoo has problems/or any political reasons not to make such tattoes, so that I can correct/change it.

Also I'm putting the shaded peasant. I don't remember any portrait I have worked so fast before, and I'm satisfied with the outcome His skin tone kinda reminds me boiled shrimp, but hey he's a farmer spending most of his life laboring under sun - keeping that in mind I decided to keep it as it is - in any case if it hurts anyone's eyes it's a simple fix.

Next is sir Gaddon (honest this time).

[artisticdude]

I realize I'm a bit late to this party, but the peasant's arms are rather short IMHO. Your elbows should reach all the way to your waist when you hold your arms like that. Unless he has a really low-slung belt? Or maybe I'm just reading the pose wrong.

I really like the way you rendered the tattoo, I find it quite realistic.

[kitty]

Nice stuff going on here!

Just a quick comment on the ogres. Watch the way you draw their hands! Hands tell a lot about character and your ogre hands seem a lot too slender and elegant to me - make them big and short and stubby and the whole figure will appear more ogrely brutish!

[Bob_The_Mighty]

Good work Bera. The peasant is really nice, even if his clothes look a bit clean. Would it be a pain to add some grime or mud splashes? He looks a bit monkish at the moment, though his expression is spot on.

There's something about the ogre's face that I find odd or unfinished, but I'm not sure what. Not very helpful, sorry.

As for Gaddon, I'm not sure he's the best candidate for a portrait since his appearance in the campaign is very brief. However, if you've already started it's not a problem. I realise we've not given you a lot to go on, so here's a few suggestions of characters that could do with a portrait at some point:

Alderot
He is an old friend of the pirate brothers, though he still maintains a cautious distance from their affairs. He runs a disreptuable port for drunks, gamblers and pirates. He should be fairly old and perhaps a little tubby - but shows signs of having had a rough life in the past.

Athena
A elvish druid who oversees the fountain of life. She is rarely all-there, often distracted by visions, etc. Basically a hippy chick who speaks entirely in annoying rhymes.

Renaldo
A Duelist with ambitions of ruling Farrow. He is a deft statesman, but a sword-fighter too. Clever, and independently-minded.

Hilldon
The pirate brothers' former right-hand man, he now runs his own racket. A thief with little courage and less honour, a devious brat.

Hope that's all useful. Keep up the good work.

[bera]

Been busy... now I'm back

kitty: thanks and yes, I agree on your overall observation on hands, will try to do that.
FAAB: I see. Honestly I have no idea what we mean by ogres in Wesnoth. I suspect they are a species of sorts, though their cultural traits etc hasn't been elaborated much by the community. Though it seems we are on the same track, granting them some minor elements from chinese ethos should do well. I'm wondering by the way whether I should wrap his forehead with a headband or not

Bob: It's not a big bother to give the peasant's dress a weathered look, no. Will do. On the other hand I wanted to work on Gaddon because I wish to practice metal shading After this one I'll either start on those other portraits or a story screen.

So, flats for Sir Gaddon:

Thought of him as a middle aged brute. Should I put on a cloak or any ornaments/devices to make him look more lordly?

[johndh]

Honestly I have no idea what we mean by ogres in Wesnoth. I suspect they are a species of sorts, though their cultural traits etc hasn't been elaborated much by the community. Though it seems we are on the same track, granting them some minor elements from chinese ethos should do well. I'm wondering by the way whether I should wrap his forehead with a headband or not

AFAIK, the following is canon (depending on how much the devs altered it before or after committing it):

"Ogres are a wild and uncivilized race who dwell mainly in the wilderness of the Great Continent. Physically, they resemble humans and orcs but are larger and stronger. Even their adolescents are a match for most men. Ogres are distrusted in many populated areas and usually either avoid them or are driven out by force. Instead, they lurk the mountainous areas on the edges of civilization, where hungry ogre bandits provide a constant threat to travelers and caravans. While ogres are not particularly intelligent or quick, their toughness and physical strength make them a valuable asset in the armies of other races. They are especially valued by more ruthless commanders who don't mind the ogres' brutality. Little is known about their biology or society, if they can truly be said to have one, but they are said to attack alongside wolves and other beasts. Whether this is a sign of cooperation, domestication, or simply mutual opportunism is not known."

In game, they're encountered usually in the mountains away from human and elven settlements, unless they're serving in some army. The unit descriptions indicate that warlords capture them when they're young and raise them to fight. I would suspect that they're abused in much the same way as fighting dogs -- trapped in a cage, beaten and malnourished to make them mean. Thus, scars and other signs of abuse and poor hygiene could work for captive and newly-freed ogres. Their armament suggests to me that they are eat the flesh of their enemies. If you want to explore a little more in that area, I think giving an ogre some severed ears, hands, or scalps hanging from his belt as a trophy would be fitting with the character of a battle-hardened ogre warrior. I know of no ogre settlements encountered or mentioned in canon, but I doubt anyone else is making their meat cleavers and striped pants for them, so presumably they do have some somewhere.

So yeah, I hope that helps.

[bera]

Gah.. I wish I had bothered myself reading about all these, now my ogres seem so out of place... thanks a lot though johndh.

I decided to work on a couple of more flats, for Renaldo and Hilldon, respectively (yay, movies turn out to be such great source of reference! My models for both of these were from 1984 Robin of Sherwood TV series )

I am of a mind to work out the remaining flats before I proceed with shading any of these. Besides, they're far open to C&C, just in case..

[jb]

Bear: you are a machine, pumping out great art!

Fantastic work.

Edit: I really like that last peasant.

[bera]

*cough cough* that's supposed to be Hilldon, the no good scoundrel, not a peasant... but thanks a lot for the encouragement jb!

I'm putting the flats for Marko and Alderot. Bob said Alderot should be old, and this is as old as I could dare to go (something 50s?), as I thought he should still be of an able body running all that racket on the island. Oh and, later on I will probably garnish his otherwise so-plain looking dress with some pattern while shading.

I'll now start the flats for Athena (grand, my 1st female wesnothian portrait), and then initiate shading starting from Gaddon - speaking of which, I suppose, I'll take my liberty to decorate his armor to some extent.

[Frogger5]

The facial expressions on your portraits don't vary much at all, thus all the characters appear to be very similar.