Campaign art - Sceptre of Fire

[LordBob]

I'm glad this picture receives such welcome . I'll wait until I can pull off another one like that, though, just to be sure it wasn't sheer luck.
Compared to earlier portraits, this one was referenced from multiple pictures, which helped tremendously when trying to get the colours and lighting right. Plus, I've gotten some good advice from Kitty and Valkier, and it pays.

On a more serious note, I don't know if I should stick to this style for future portraits. Even with added lines, it'll still look very different from anything else I've made so far. We'll see...

[homunculus]

Respect that you can draw so well, however.....

[...]On a more serious note, I don't know if I should stick to this style for future portraits. Even with added lines, it'll still look very different from anything else I've made so far. We'll see...

If you do stick to this style for future portraits then, as an additional bonus, it will totally eliminate the forum threads where people ask for portraits for their UMCs
Anyone can just take a photograph, smudge-dodge-burn, and there's the portrait.
And people who play the UMC will say: 'Hmm... this UMC has portraits, probably made my LordBob himself.'
My own self-portrait made by that method in about 20 mins, in spoiler.

Spoiler:

smudgedodgeburn.png (33.32 KiB) Viewed 4313 times

Edit: ha, actually I think I suddenly understood what it means that light takes on a red hue from the blood while passing through the skin at an angle: highlight--yellowish--reddish--full shadow.

[Xalzar]

Respect that you can draw so well, however.....

[...]On a more serious note, I don't know if I should stick to this style for future portraits. Even with added lines, it'll still look very different from anything else I've made so far. We'll see...

If you do stick to this style for future portraits then, as an additional bonus, it will totally eliminate the forum threads where people ask for portraits for their UMCs
Anyone can just take a photograph, smudge-dodge-burn, and there's the portrait.
And people who play the UMC will say: 'Hmm... this UMC has portraits, probably made my LordBob himself.'
My own self-portrait made by that method in about 20 mins, in spoiler.

Unfortunately every time I see a saurian I realize I forget my camera... but next time I will take a shoot at it, and then modify and use the portait for my UMCs.

Seriously, where do you find photos of saurians or trolls?
[/irony]

LordBob's portrait was not realized in that way though... the differences between his and your portait are huge and evident. LB's one is a great image, but I agree that maybe it's better not to stick with this style: every other portrait then would need total rework, and I personally think the style is too realistic and it contrasts with terrains and sprites which aren't so.

So, congrats LB for your impressive skills, but maybe let's stick with the previous style for the Wesnoth portaits... (obviously I am not an expert... if Kitty or others do not agree with me, follow their advice).

[LordBob]

Leaving aside the realistic style for now, here's a WIP for king Haldric II which, in the end, ought to resemble my previous style a little more. It's still painterly, but less rough and a litlle more colourful. The lighting is supposed to emulate that of a candle, with faint daylight coming from his right.
It's still a lot in progress, but not too far from done now. What's left to do :
- Finish his hands, face and hair, with added skin texture and age marks
- Detail his sword and crown
- Do the pattern on his cape
- Review overall lighting for better volumes
- Edit : also, a few proportions and posture adjustments

[Lord-Knightmare]

His right leg seems to be bent a way too much, but overall nice story-image. And to my view point, Haldric II seems to be leaning a little.

[em3]

His right leg seems to be bent a way too much, but overall nice story-image.

I think it might stem from long time spent on horseback...

[Atz]

Posture looks a little odd to me. I think it's his neck and head position... if I look at his head I get the impression that he's leaning forward or slightly hunched, but his back is straight.

[LordBob]

Some progress on the subject, with a bonus close-up on his face. I've fiddled with overall proportions and body volumes, so the posture might feel better now. There remains a week spot on his left arm that I have to take care of, other than that he's pretty much done (except the lineart, of course).

One thing that might change is his age. I've considered he's in his early thirties at the beginning of the campaign, which would make him over forty-five in the latest scenario. Dunno if this fits the actual timeline.

[zookeeper]

Good, good.

According to the timeline he'd be at most 25 at the start of SoF. I'm not sure if that's possible to move forward by 5 years or not.

[LordBob]

Ok. Here's a final version which accounts for his younger age (less grey hair and a slimer face, which I hope makes him a reasonable forty), along with a few minor fixes and the lines. I'm still not happy with his (our) left arm, but I fear it's a weakness of the pose itself, so unless I feel like starting over that arm, I guess he's good to go.

[Xalzar]

It's a pity we lose his marvelous shoes...
You've done a great job in ageing Haldric II (but by now we are used to awesomeness in your works ).
I concur something strange is happening with his arm, but I think is his right the more problematic (for the position, surely possible but not very very natural)...
But are nitpicking details... for me (and my opinion counts nothing I know ) it's good to go.

[thespaceinvader]

Something strikes me as odd about the way his head sits on his neck - it makes the former look very deep, like it's longer from nose to back than it should be. I think his neck's too broad. Maybe you could skrink it a bit. Otherwise, nice.

[Pewskeepski]

Oh my! Your portraits are getting so great, they hardly resemble the other wesnoth-style portraits

[LordBob]

Oh my! Your portraits are getting so great, they hardly resemble the other wesnoth-style portraits

Why, thank you. Unfortunately, in the long run this is likely to become a problem should I fail at sticking to our canon style. I enjoy immensely what I'm doing here, but I'm not sure how this portrait would fit in-game next to, say, my loyalist peasant. I'd be interested in hearing players' view on this, actually.

TSI, you're right about that neck thing. The problem, I think, is that I lost track of the shoulder & trapezius line when drawing the collar of his cape.
Anyway, I'll wait for further reviews before I finalize him. In the meantime, here's a revised sketch for Alanin, with clothes and armour that better match the timeline.

One question : does his 15-years-older self appear only in the epilogue, or does he have some screen time in late scenarios as well (in which case I'll produce a horseback paintover & epilogue portrait) ?

[zookeeper]

One question : does his 15-years-older self appear only in the epilogue, or does he have some screen time in late scenarios as well (in which case I'll produce a horseback paintover & epilogue portrait) ?

Most of that 15 years elapses gradually during the campaign; when they get Thursagan back to the city about 2 years has already passed, then they spend 2 more years mining and cutting the jewels, then "several years" trapped in the Shorbear caves. His ride back to Wesnoth and Weldyn takes an unknown amount of time, but I'd suppose it can't be allotted more than a year.

That doesn't really easily account for the full 15 years of course, but yes, he has screen time throughout the campaign so he should rather age gradually than all of a sudden in the epilogue. If paintovers to show aging are easy to do, then we could use as many as you're willing to make, but I think 3 in total (initial + slightly aged + a bit more aged) would be quite good enough, with a separate unmounted one for the epilogue. But note that the epilogue would use both the aged horseback version as well as the unmounted one, so his age should be identical in those two.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that the fact that Krawg appears in the epilogue while Alanin and Haldric talk might be rather incompatible with the idea of them talking inside (as opposed to outside in the courtyard).