LordBob's commissionned work

[Groggy_Dice]

Side note regarding the staff: unlike any of the human mages, his doesn't look man-made. This was done on purpose, in order to reflect the fact that he receives the Fancy Stafff of the Super Defender of LightTM in [acronym=Delfador's Memoirs]DM[/acronym], and from what I gather said satff is quite ancient and not necessarily man-made. Though that's my take on it; if there's already an established appearance for the staff, I'll comply, of course.

Hmm... After I played Delfador's Memoirs, I wondered why he only had a regular staff in HttH, not a special one with magical attacks. Then I noticed that in Heir's introduction, he flees the field with his staff still planted in Eldred's body, and figured that must be where he loses his staff, that he is so distraught that he leaves the staff behind. That would explain why we don't see the superstaff in HttH.

Of course, DM was written after HttH, so the idea of the superstaff probably didn't exist originally. Delfador's stats could be retrofitted to have a magical staff attack. He would usually be using his lightning attack anyway (not on defense, though), and it might compensate for the fact that he now needs more XP to AMLA.(Similarly, the rewrite will presumably retrofit the fact that Delfador knew Lionel, and possibly that Delfador killed Asheviere's father as well as her son.)

I gather from the fact that you're taking over the rest of the HttH portraits that Kitty will not be completing the campaign. I guess we haven't heard anything from her in a while, hopefully she'll find time to do more work on Wesnoth.

[DMB]

Man, I have to say, your artwork is absolutely phenominal. I love the brutish Trolls, the Ogres are hideously grotesque and Mal Raval looks terrifyingly incredible. Delfador looks kind of like an old man that throws food to the pigeons in the park...while holding an enormous staff and wearing wizard robes of course.
The only complaint I have for him is he does look very frail and wiry for a man who practically runs across half the world fighting hundreds of enemies grabbing at the chance to rip them limb from limb and...well. He looks old.
But I suppose he looks like a very able bodied old man if you look at him out of that respect, and being the greatest mage that ever lived I would assume his magical reserves can give him physical strength and not just magical strength. And as I recall the game mentions Konrad seeing Delphador and commenting on how "For the first time in my life I saw weariness in the old mage" or something to that effect, so my only complaint is kind of invalid now that I think about it.

Well all I can say is keep up the good work!
On a side note, seeing as Dragoons and Cavaliers have the same portrait would it be too much to ask if there are any plans to give Cavaliers their own custom portrait? If there already is and you've got someone planned great, nevermind then, but if not I vote for the magnificent Lord Bob to do it. I can't get enough of his artwork. It really brings a tear (of joy) to my eye to see how much this game has progressed over the years. It's better than half the games companys spend millions developing and that's because of awesome, skilled people like Bob thatadd so much finess to a great mechanics system. The game would be amazing with just the units and terrain and balancing, but without portraits it would just lack something. That one thing that makes Wesnoth as fantastic as it is.

[LordBob]

Hehe, thanks DMB.
There's never a "never' when it comes to doing additional portraits, only a matter of how much time we have. So there might be a new Cavalier portrait in a far future, but there are more pressing needs right now.

Regarding the effects of Delfador's staff ingame and retrofitting it in HttT, it might be a good idea but I think this discussion would best be left to the campaign maintainer(s), perferably in a more appropriate forum.

Anyway, here's Delf in his former archmage robes, such as one might have met him in the days of his splendor at Weldyn. I've made them so that they match Kitty's young Delf portrait. Overall, I had the notion that he might reveal those later in the campaign, once Konrad/Lisar openly make their claim for power, though I'll leave the decision of when exactly that should be to more knowledgeable people.
Also, this portrait can be used in DM, where I believe we do see a bit of an aged Delfador doing the storytelling.


Next will be his action portrait, which will hopefully reassure those of you who worry about the effects of age on him.

[Dixie]

Portait is awesome! Good work! The only thing that bothers my eye is how his feet (especially HIS right one) look a bit disproportionately big. And somehow, I feel like the white bit (a sock of sorts?) should actually be his heel, so for me it feel as if he was in the process of putting (or removing) his shoe...

[DMB]

Now that Dixie mentions that..yea I can't unsee it. His ankle kind of looks like his heel. Maybe not make it jut out so far? Or twist his foot more.
Or just leave it, we won't see his feet ingame so it's not really a huge issue.
But yea, the robes look great, and I'm looking forward to his combat portrait. Keep up the good work!

[thespaceinvader]

Don't sweat the feet too much, they probably won't be in the final cut of the portrait.

[homunculus]

Shoulders seem too broad, esp. the right shoulder with the highlight on it, and the body looking rather lean with the cast shadow at the side.

About the brown collar and shoulder on their own (without the body), isn't the collar thing supposed to cover the shoulder? And wouldn't it look weird if it didn't? Like Delf was wearing robes from when he was a child. I mean, I don't think there is a need for the shoulder to extend so much that it would have a highlight on it.

The green Delf seems better (has a shadow on the shoulder where the highlight is in the blue one).

[LordBob]

Yeah, it's true there's something weird with his foot. Feet are among the body parts that give me the most trouble, even moreso than hands. Fact is, I'm often modelling poses with just a mirror and over a short distance, which induces perspective distorsion in the lower regions and some second guessing.

Homunculus, your comment is spot-on as ever. I'll make sure I fix that shoulder.


In the meantime, a study for his "action" pose. Light(n)ing conditions may vary, but with that you ought to get the overall idea.

[Sapient]

Great! Now all he needs are two big stone tablets.

[Adamant14]

Yes, really great.
Those portraits will give HTTT a new kick.
I cant wait to play through it again, when the new Delfaldor portraits are added.
I'm sure the images will have an awesome effect in game.
Thank you.

[tr0ll]

not sure if it is the colours or the body proportions or what, but when i first looked at that last portrait i thought it was a woman. it definitely is an action pose though!

[zookeeper]

Looks pretty good to me, but if I had to pick something to comment on, it'd be some details of the pose which seem somewhat youthful or athletic; knees bent with feet far apart, arms stretched out to the sides (although I wouldn't change those), upper body arched backwards... it doesn't seem like something that an old mage would physically be capable of. Of course he presumably amplifies his physical capacity with magic, but I'd imagine that to mostly apply to stamina, strength, reactions and that sort of thing rather than the mobility of his joints.

As for looking like a woman, I think that's mostly because of his slim waist and the way he sticks his butt out, making his pelvis look wider than it is. Straightening his lower spine (stomach in, pelvis forward) might do wonders to help with that (it'd also straighten his upper body overall). Narrowing his stance slightly wouldn't hurt either, I think. Even with those kind of adjustments, it'd still be a very action'y pose, just not quite as athletic.

[thespaceinvader]

I recognise it's foreshortening, but I think the hand's come out a little too big - we've not often done depth-of-field tricks like that, and I think it's going to stand out perhaps a bit too much.

[rmj]

I agree with the comments about the feminine appearance and the hand being too large.

I think the robes on the right need to be altered, they drape down as if he is merely standing there.

And for my personal taste, I find him too colorful in those blues and purples. He may be a mage of the royal court, but still his modesty would shun ostentatiousness.

[LordBob]

knees bent with feet far apart, arms stretched out to the sides, upper body arched backwards...it doesn't seem like something that an old mage would physically be capable of.

In light of recent discussions over the neutral pose, this is a bit problematic. Either we decide that he's old and it shows everywhere, or we accept that he's fit enough for a number of activites, including short bursts of live action.

The thing is, I've gone through the exact inverse process in the design phase because exaggeration is a key part of any good drawing. Eventhough the reasoning behind it is perfectly logic, what you propose is easier said than done: if I just "tone down" the pose to account for lower physical abilities, the result will very likely be different from what's expected. Instead of conveying old age, it might lose much of its dynamism and simply be less interesting for the viewer.

In other words, if I wanted the pose to properly show his age while retaining its dynamism and interest, I would have to make major changes, maybe crook his back or have him lean on his staff while casting - in which case other voices might arise, claiming that he looks too old this tilme...

I'll still give it a shot, but I really can't promise anything...


Oh, and I'll also look into these folds, silouhette & hand matters.