Campaign art - The Rise of Wesnoth

[pauxlo]

I can only speculate, but I think the main argument for this 500x500 limit is to support small screens, which are not much larger than this, not a technical problem with loading bigger images.

[LordBob]

Done with Typhon's shading

[zookeeper]

Shouldn't Typhon have webbing between his thumb and index finger like the core merfolk (most notably the enchantress)?

[Astoria]

Something seems off about the colours... I don't know why, but it seems wrong...

[artisticdude]

I think it's because he looks darker than the core merfolk portraits?

[Simons Mith]

Merman anatomy question; measured from waist to tailtip, how long is a typical merman's tail?

[LordBob]

Damn, you're right about that webbing. Here's a revised version, along with a few other fixes that include the levels/saturation I usually apply to every portrait, but forgot about tonight.

Edit: Re:Simons : the answer is "darn long". I see where you're going with that question, but my take is that the result looks good enough to allow for a little cheating. Besides, anatomic variations can occur between mermen in the same way that some humans are taller or with slightly different bodily proportions.

[Sgt. Groovy]

There's a problem that his tail seems to stick out from his side, there is not enough impression of depth. I suggest less contrast and saturation for the tail.

[LordBob]

Duly noted.

Yet another sketch for Rithrandil. Given the 500x500 limitation break and a clever framing, this baby would definitely dwarf any other existing portrait.

[mameluke]

Maybe the webbing is taking to much of the finger and the thumb? like this he can never spread them, and also never hold a staff...

[Simons Mith]

@LordBob Sorry, I was trying /not/ to make it a leading question. Clearly I failed. However, while you imply you may have made his tail 'too long' for artistic reasons, thinking about it some more I'm not sure it actually /is/ too long. A merman rearing up on his tail is of a height with a human. In order to balance without legs, you probably need a couple of feet of tail in contact with the ground, and that tail section can't be too close to the end of the tail because it won't be strong enough. So a merman who can look a tall human (say 6 feet) in the eye probably needs to be more than 11 feet long. Allowing 4 feet for the upper body, that would only leave 7 feet for the tail, which I don't think is nearly enough. In fact, even 8-9 seems a bit stingy. That sort of suggests a) that a typical merman is 2/3 tail, and b) they're quite possibly twice as long as a human of equivalent height. So, plugging in a few ballpark numbers, I sort of think this fellow may be big, but I don't think he's unreasonably big at all.

[AI]

I can only speculate, but I think the main argument for this 500x500 limit is to support small screens, which are not much larger than this, not a technical problem with loading bigger images.

Yes, this limit exists to support small screens, even though wesnoth is also used on screens less than 500 pixels tall. The idea here is that that if the screen isn't big enough, we cut the top off the image. So you'd have to put the focus of the image below 500 pixels, but then you'd be able to extend the image upwards as needed, knowing it would either be displayed, or cut off by the top of the game window.

I'm trying to reach mordante about this.

[Atz]

I agree that the webbing on Typhon's left hand looks weird. To me it seems too tight given that his hand is barely open, as if it would prevent him opening his hand any further. It also looks like it might interfere with him holding things.

I think you can probably correct it by making the edge curve a little instead of going straight across, and changing the shading so it looks a little loose.

[LordBob]

Further niggliing about the hand-webbing will be ignored. Most if not every living tissue can stretch to some extent, so if it really deprives anyone of sleep, just imagine this one can stretch extra-long.

Revised version with slightly greyed and blurred tail, which ought to help telling the foreground from the background. And if it doesn't...Well, I'm willing to call it final anyway. The human mind is made so that we do not always clearly understand what our eyes see, especially with wriggling creatures full of strange body parts. This might just be one of those occasions

[StDrake]

let Rithrandil also have something that makes for a beard and that latest sketch is pretty ready to develop further

I'd go back to the Jevyan port while it's flat - wouldn't it perhaps be better if he looked rather more sinister or menacing than berserk?