Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

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thespaceinvader
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by thespaceinvader »

Bigger heads. That's what I found to be the key in making the dwarves look more dwarvish, rather than just like burly humans. That aside, they're looking nice, but I'd second maintaining a little nod to the past in Balgur's beard.
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homunculus
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by homunculus »

LordBob wrote:Alanin, human dragoon
"He's the guy Haldric sends to go with the dwarves as his personal representative of sorts, so he could have some special regalia, although of course it'll have to be something other than the sceptre symbol used in later times.
mermaid with trident maybe?
mermaid fighter, i know, impossible, but i doubt the humans were so well versed in merfolk lore either.
there seems to be a lot of merman fins symbolism (along with the sceptre) on grand knight later.
LordBob wrote:Thursagan, dwarf runemaster
"[...]And, of course, he should have a big gorgeous hammer. Karrag's portrait in The Hammer of Thursagan should feature the same hammer, so you might take inspiration from that. Having faintly glowing runes on its side would be nice."
on the old thursagan portrait it was not extremely clear if what thursagan had on the hammer handle was a real hammerhead or a smaller anvil used for finer work.
the hammer of thursagan being slightly dangerous in that it could corrupt the mind of the owner, and thursagan being portrayed as slightly crazy in the campaign, i thought using an anvil as a hammer was an absolutely neat detail.
and also, i think it does not make much sense that the dwarfs would let their most important artifact to be taken into some unsupervised hut in the wilderness by a mad dwarf.

so i have suggested that the dwarfs kept the hammer in their clan warehouse, and slightly crazy thursagan was in the wilderness with an anvil.
i don't know if anybody else except me likes this suggestion (and therefore the anvil look will probably be lost), but i hope you agree that the dwarfs wouldn't let such an artifact be taken into wilderness.
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by Pewskeepski »

[IMO]I think because Thursagan is a 'hermit', he'd probably have a longer beard.[/IMO]
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by Ellisae »

Hermitness would also allow you to put all kind of rubbish into his beard and make it knotted and stuff. It looks awesome in my head, though that doesn't mean it'll look awesome in reality. It might be worth trying.
I wanted to say that you could put twigs in it, but underground that seems unlikely. For that matter, where do stalwarts get the wood for their shields?

I'm not sure about Thursagan's pose. It looks like he's leaning on the hammer, but the hammer itself is (ad far as I can see from the sketch) also leaning forward. It also makes the picture as a whole seem unbalanced, due to the gentle slope of the cape/cloak on the left side. I'm not saying it needs to be symmetrical - that'd be boring - but a certain balance would perhaps help. I don't know. As it is now, it looks slightly like he's leaning into a very hard wind.

The other two look great, though it seems to me that Baglur's spear goes through his hand rather than his hand gripping it. Maybe move the shaft a bit to the right?
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by Reepurr »

Ellisae wrote:Hermitness would also allow you to put all kind of rubbish into his beard and make it knotted and stuff. It looks awesome in my head, though that doesn't mean it'll look awesome in reality. It might be worth trying.
I wanted to say that you could put twigs in it, but underground that seems unlikely. For that matter, where do stalwarts get the wood for their shields?
1. Thursagan lives in the middle of a snowy plain, not underground.
2. Uh. Trees.

Seriously, don't assume that dwarves never leave the underground! In both mainline dwarvish campaigns, you start out as a sentryman. Overground. Both dwarvish campaigns also lead you overground, especially THoT.

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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by Ellisae »

Fair enough! I don't play much other than elves. I probably should. Disregard that part of my previous comment, then. x:
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by LordBob »

Either way, trade or those large underground mushroom could be a valuable source of woodlike material. ^_^

Now back to other comments.

Baglur's beard will get larger by popular demand and so will his belly, but don't expect anything crazy : I'm not very much into the insanely overgrown beard of your average fantasy dwarf and appreciate how most generic dwarves in Wesnoth avoid it.
As to his armour, (Re: StDrake) the quality of any armour lies in combined lightness and resilience, not sheer weight. I'll explore multiple layers of steel riveted together, additional armour parts or sturdier padding, but thickness of the plate itself isn't an option.
(And also, you're getting carried away with the ear thing. There really isn't a plan for giving dwarves pointy ears...Unless...Could it be a plot of those wretched elves ?!! :roll: )

Durnstorn will get a different expression and better armour, but some amount of the padding will remain. I simply like it this way, so live with it ! Think he has a mail hauberk underneath if it can help you sleep :P
As to his arms, I'll enlarge the fists a tiny bit but there really isn't much to worry about :
* The cross-section of your upper arm isn't perfectly circular so the perceived thickness may vary depending on position
* The hand and wrist of someone barely change in size no matter the amount of muscle they develop. Sooner or later, you will come across people who have upper arms thicker than your leg attached to hands no larger than yours :shock:

Thursagan's hammer will remain mostly hammer-ish, though some anvilness will be a nice touch. As to letting him take it away in the wilderness. Well...Didn't it become so important in the first place precisely because it was his hammer ? I'ù not very much aware of wesnothian lore, but anyway, this thread isn't the right place to discuss it.
As to his gear, the guy is a genius runesmith, not a taylor. Besides, why would he waste precious time on things as mundane as patching up clothes and washing when there's so much hammering to do ?! :mrgreen: Based on the earlier description, I really envision him as some kind of loony genius tramp ^_^

Edit : reworked sketch for Baglur. Durstorn is getting completely redrawn, though it will hardly show in the final result : rescaling his head uncovered a series of inconsistencies in shape and proportion that made it simpler to just start over, but his overall design will remain unchanged
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by johndh »

Ellisae wrote:Hermitness would also allow you to put all kind of rubbish into his beard and make it knotted and stuff.
Long hair tends to tangle and turn into dreadlocks when it's not combed or cut for a long time, so maybe something like this:
http://www.dreadlockssite.com/forum/top ... z1Arp5ecIw

That guy has the look of a weird hermit that makes much of society a little uneasy, right?
It's spelled "definitely", not "definately". "Defiantly" is a different word entirely.
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by homunculus »

LordBob wrote:Thursagan's hammer will remain mostly hammer-ish, though some anvilness will be a nice touch. As to letting him take it away in the wilderness. Well...Didn't it become so important in the first place precisely because it was his hammer ? I'ù not very much aware of wesnothian lore, but anyway, this thread isn't the right place to discuss it.
As to his gear, the guy is a genius runesmith, not a taylor. Besides, why would he waste precious time on things as mundane as patching up clothes and washing when there's so much hammering to do ?! :mrgreen: Based on the earlier description, I really envision him as some kind of loony genius tramp ^_^
didn't the dwarfish legend say that the hammer of thursagan might have been the nameless hammer used to forge the dwarfish race (in the forge of the gods or something)?
so, if thursagan was a dwarf, and if dwarfs were not extremely fond of high fantasy involving time travel...
anyway, i have submitted my extended comments on the campaign in another thread.

otherwise, i would expect different people to have very different views on the subject, as for me (contrasting yours) thursagan looked more like an outcast genius who was proud and stubborn and a little bitter.
and if it is indeed an anvil he has as hammer head, on the old portrait he seems to be holding it more like: who are you to say that i do not have the right to wield an anvil as a hammer if i choose to?
the new sketch rather seems to say: let us get down to business and be nice, no need to make a big problem out of it.
or maybe it seems to say: the hammer is mine, i am covering it with my sleeves so that you cannot even take a good look at it, otherwise i am friendly while full of secrets.
i guess you would have a hard time pleasing everybody, i understand this is just my personal opinion.
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by thespaceinvader »

Baglur looks great =D
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by StDrake »

mm yep, much more unique look now ^_^
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by LordBob »

Accounted for comments on Rugnur. He's ready for shading, I belive.
Note that I added a one-handed hammer hanging from his belt, so he gets to keep his great axe. I tried a shorter handle, but it didn't work with the composition.
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by StDrake »

how about a wider handle then? might give a similar visual impression (it'll just work out funny seeing as the sprite uses its hammer two-handed, its axe one-handed..and the portrait exactly opposite :D)
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by thespaceinvader »

Could you please bump the size of his head up a bit. 5 to 10 per cent should do it. He still looks a little too human in his proportions compared to the mainline portraits for my taste.
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Re: Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

Post by LordBob »

Mmh... :hmm: No to both.

His head is already inflated by 5% compared to the previous version and with another 5, it's freaking enormous. Besides, after double-checking most of the generic set, he doesn't look much more human to me. :|

As to the axe, one of the mistakes that were pointed in the earlier version was precisely the exaggerated thickness of its handle... :roll: If anything, I might make the blade even smaller. Either way, I don't have to rigorously match the sprite and this much feels like enough.
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