Dune Burner portrait

[MathBrush]

I’ve been following Kitty’s art tutorial and have started working on a portrait for the Dune Burner. I am only in the early stages but wanted to see if the basic concept could work.

Would this basic concept work? Or does it look like some of the overall placement is bad? (The torch is smoking rather than aflame, and the weird lines at the bottom of the shawl thing are where it’s twisted, which will make more sense once shadows are in).

(I know that is likely won’t get used once finished, but I figure I can only work up to mainline-level portraits by trying and failing then getting better).

Edit: I’ve made some modifications to the base design:

Edit2: okay, I’m trying out the inking stage (smoke will be added later)

Edit3: looked at the cloth on the arm and the left hem (following egallager’s suggestion). Also did the thick/thin thing kitty suggests

[egallager]

Seems like a good start so far, my main feedback would be just to focus on how the cloth hangs on the character's body. Looking forward to see how it progresses!

[MathBrush]

Thanks! I tried to fix a couple of spots and I’ll be happy to continue trying that.

I’m on the flat color section of Kitty’s tutorial. I had envisaged using grey a lot but the other portraits for Dunefolk are colorful and kitty suggested color matching them, so this is what I have so far:

This is based on the Dune Explorer portrait:

I’ll wait till tomorrow to work on the next steps in case anyone wants to comment on the color choices. My next steps would be recoloring the lines and then the painting part.

[doofus-01]

Hi MathBrush,

An important FYI that LordBob has been commissioned to work on all the Dunefolk, including the burner. The few existing portraits will be renamed to secondary alternatives. No problem if you want to keep working on secondary portraits, but the gaping hole will get filled (relatively) soon.

For your current work:
- I'd keep an eye on that wrist and hand holding the bucket - that bucket probably has some heft and momentum, so he'd probably have a stronger grip, more of a fist and a straight wrist.
- The belt/sash is very flat (even for a flat-color image), most noticeable on the edge under his left elbow, where the belt and shirt above & below are bounded by one smooth outline.
- For the thick/thin lines, it doesn't seem quite right. Really think of the lines as very localized shadows. It also helps to avoid using lines of uniform size, that end abruptly, unless you have a very good reason for it. It's not clear what that reason would be for the lines on the cloak folds, for example.
- Tangents are bad, they connect things and form structure that you don't intend. The top of the stick and the edge of the cloak are just that. Rotating the stick more upright should fix it.

[MathBrush]

Thanks for your help!

Knowing that there will be an official Dune Burner portrait series makes me feel better. Now I can just work on this as practice and not worry about it having to match anything; I can throw it into one of my campaigns.

I'll try carrying out your suggestions tomorrow. Thanks for your suggestions! The lines one seems the hardest to understand, I'll just have to look at more examples in the future.

[MathBrush]

Okay, I tried working on the things you suggested and moved onto the next part of the tutorial, recoloring the lines.

I tried bunching up the fabric above and below the belt, tried thinning out the lines a lot more, and separated the torch.

For the hand, I did some experiments with holding heavier and lighter weights, and I found that my hand often kept that same position, but the rope dug into it more, so I tried recreating that. I think your suggestion would improve the picture but I doubt my ability to tilt the hand without redrawing everything and messing it up.


Doing this has shown me how much I still need to learn about digital art. This is my first real digital composition; I’ve been doing pencil while saving up for a tablet. I finally got one but it does not support pressure sensitivity, which means I need to find a better way to handle line weight.

So I’m going to keep working on this portrait, and I appreciate your help, but I understand it won’t be up to snuff! And anyone can feel free to move this to the art workshop category.

Edit: I’ve tried the painting part:

[MathBrush]

Well, here’s my finished version based on the tutorial. I’d be happy to get any feedback that could help me with future portraits, but for now I’ve realized that I need to practice a lot more.

[doofus-01]

It doesn't look bad, someone might want it for UMC if you post the transparent version. Parts of it (the lower robe/tunic, the bucket and strap) look unfinished, but it's also good to know when to walk away. A couple things that might help next time:

1. Size - kitty mentions 3X, and that is good for the particular style she was using. Later portraits have sometimes had more detail, it doesn't hurt to use an even larger starting size like 5X-6X. Whatever you choose, get calibrated on what will happen when down-scaling and try to avoid weird ratios like 2048px/400px. 400px should be your target for this guy.

2. Cropping - For message dialogs, you don't want top-edge or right-edge crops, since there is no border or background. In your image, the smoke and bucket will have obvious crop edges.

3. Lines & color fill - The jagged/pixelated edges on the strap and cloth make me think you aren't taking full advantage of the line work. You should have the lines on a top-most layer, you can hide small imperfections of the color-filled borders on lower layers, make sure the edges extend under the lines. If you use bucket-fill on the lines, make sure you've locked alpha first or you will get those jagged edges. Don't count on down-scaling taking care of this for you.

[MathBrush]

Thanks, this is really useful! I had the lines on the bottom layer, didn't even think of putting them on top. And the other things are helpful too, I was just kind of fumbling around. I appreciate you taking the time out to help!

[Heindal]

Very cool, I like your portrait. But it somehow looks like a priest with incense sticks. Still an amazing piece of art.

[MathBrush]

Thanks, Heindal! It was my first serious work of digital art (I mostly do pencil) so I've been going back and learning more about digital art in general. Maybe one day I'll do some portraits for non-mainline stuff like add-on campaigns, once I improve.