Artistic tendencies

[the-small-print]

Hello there...

I sometimes doodle on photoshop or on paper in my free time, and have recently been having no-internet induced withdrawal symptoms from the server, so some of my doodling has begun to slant in the direction of Tolkien and UTT.

Just thought I'd post a little sketch I did of my character Elenuial watching the paths through Mirkwood, and thought it'd probably be quite cool if any other artsy people from the server would post relevant pictures (if they have any).

Anyhoo... here she is:

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Elenuial%20watching.jpg

Just a quick(ish) atmosphere sketch. I kind of mean to do them for a few of my characters, but lots of work on at the moment so no promises.

P.S.: Is it possible to actualy embed the image in the post? I'm allergic to links...

[DM_Kev]

Mmm, nice work. I'd love to use some 3rd party artwork for future and perhaps existing projects too.

[the-small-print]

Hello again.

Just done another sketch, this time in Painter, of my character Vesp, for all of you who know and loathe her. I'll turn it into a portrait once I've cleaned it up a bit and finished a few more areas (to me, a bit of work is never finished), but I think I've got the general atmosphere of it down.

Not claiming it's fine art or anything, just thought one or two of you might like to see it.

And again, if anyone else has something relevant, then this is the thread to post it in! Come on... there must be at least one of you...

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Vesp%20Ashara%20port%20np.jpg

[SNarfel]

I have spent time in the company of Vesp, and this does capture her in game "mood" really well.

[DM_Kev]

Very nice work :)

[the-small-print]

Hello.

Shame no one else seems to have anything appropriate to this thread, but here's another one form me.

This time it's my character Tinwen Eregaeron, sitting against a holly tree in Rivendell (her second name means 'holly-berry'). She was going to be playing her harp, but the composition worked better if I cropped it this close.

Anyway, here it is:

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/tinwen%20preview.jpg

[Jarmov]

A good one, Small-Print.
:)

[MilouOpo]

Looks good indeed ;)

[the-small-print]

Alright, s the last painting I did of Vesp was alright for atmosphere, but it was still rubbish. Hopefully this one captures her a bit better. It's certainly much closer to how I imagine her, even if her expresson is a little mild for her.

No matter, here she is:

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Vesp%20Vault%20preview.jpg

[SNarfel]

That is indeed excellent, she is rather an attractive lass, despite her tortured soul(?).

[Jarmov]

Mmm.... nice.

[the-small-print]

... just assume she hasn't had a chance to scowl yet.... ;)

[Shattered Verse]

Hey !... what about Braint ?

:)

[the-small-print]

Hey !... what about Braint ?

:)

Here she is....

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Braintpreview.jpg

This was originally part of a wider scene, where there are two dead Uruk-hai, and a big gash across her belly, but the scene wasn't working, so I salvaged her face.

This is something like the twelfth attempt I've made a portrait for her, which may explain some hasty elements, including her torc, cloak etc... Well, to be honest, I just wasn't enjoying this one enough to polish it too much, but this iis Braint more or less as I've always pictured her.

Portrait will follow shortly

[Shattered Verse]

That is brilliant!... in the context of the scene you described, I can almost feel her anger, her hatred slowly simmering and quenched.

Made me remember Larry Elmore and Clyde Caldwell and all their illustrations I loved when I was growing up.

Thank you.

:)

[the-small-print]

That is brilliant!... in the context of the scene you described, I can almost feel her anger, her hatred slowly simmering and quenched.

Made me remember Larry Elmore and Clyde Caldwell and all their illustrations I loved when I was growing up.

Thank you.

:)

Well, fortunately she's wearing a little more practical armour than the women in either of those artists' sites, but I appreciate the comment ;)

Yes... as I say, the scene wasn't really working that well; Braint must be the hardest of my characters to paint, because I feel obliged to include so much information in each painting that the overall composition suffers. I want to paint her sword, her torc (which is poorly represented here), her war-paint, an expressive face, shield and armour insignia, her figure and build, and her horse. Too much... *sigh*

Particularly since I picture an image in my head and then can't find fitting reference for things like pose and light, so I have to fudge it.

Anyway, I am an approval (or at least recognition) junkie, so thank you for leaving some feedback. I really appreciate it ;)

[the-small-print]

Hello again. No characters this time, I'm afraid, just a quick painter sketch I did of an Uruk-hai who seems to be quite upset about something.

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Uruk%20hai.jpg

No plans to make it into a portrait, but if anyone wants to use it, I might see about cleaning it up and adding a proper background etc.

[DM_Eönwë]

Excellent work! I'm speechless!

[the-small-print]

And for my next trick....

Here is Elenuial Mk. II. The first portrait I did of her caught certain aspects of her appearance, but failed to have an overall feel of reality to it, so I decided to do another one.

Sadly this face does not exist in this world, so there is no direct reference used for the portrait, though gyrfalconthegrey's Delainy portrait is the one I use for her sister, Eleri, so I had that open to catch a family resemblance, and the original portrait of her to keep her recognisable.

Anyway, here she is:

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Elenuial%20Preview.jpg

P.S.: Oh, and this time I actually used colour reference from an emerald and some moss for her eyes, so it's now a little more than just a poetic reference this time. ;)

Portrait will follow shortly.

P.P.S.: If you cover up the darker side of her face, don't you think she looks a little like Cate Blanchett? :)

[Mentat]

Amazing, she looks quite real to me.
In fact I know a girl(Gudrun) that looked just like that until about 2 years ago.
Unfortunately she decided to go for a gothic look, thus now the black coloured hair somewhat spoils the resemblance.

Elenuial, very intruiging, ...

But I cant see much of Cate in her, ... though Cate will always stay within the image of Elizabeth I.

Cheers

Keep on with the great work!

[the-small-print]

Thanks for the comments, I'm glad you like it :)

And just in case anyone wanted to see the two together, here is a link to Eleri's portrait by gyrfalconthegrey:

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Portraits.Detail&id=3504

[the-small-print]

*cough* Does anyone else have any thoughts on Elenuial's picture? It is really gratifying to get feedback, you know....

[SNarfel]

The face is exquisite, seems to lose proportion around the shoulders and neck. I really like the pendant, though the cord seems rigid, thus giving the impression that the pendant must be heavy.


Overall a very good composition.

[Kyle Morgan]

I agree, her shoulders are too small, giving her a childlike physique. Her neck could be more slender too.
Her face is great. It looks innocent and young while at the same time something tells she might be older than assumed. It may be the wisdom in her eyes, not sure.

[the-small-print]

Thanks, this is precisely the sort of comment I was after. It's really easy when you've created something from scratch to have a vague feeling that something is wrong, but it sometimes takes a new pair of eyes to tell you what exactly it is.

There are some other problems, like the catchlights (little reflections) in her eyes being unbalanced - the one on the shadowed side is brighter than the one in light - and the fact that I painted it on a dark screen, so on normal LCDs it appears brighter and more washed out, the balance goes a little strange.

I don't know if you noticed before, but Vesp looked grumpier when I painted her than she does on most screens. If you have a flat-screen, you might notice the further back you tip it, the moodier she gets :)

I'll have a go at fixing the problems some time soon, so consider this beta 1 ;)

P.S.: You're both right. That left shoulder is way too high and narrow, and some of the shadows I painted on her neck have brightened, making it seem wider.

P.P.S. : If anyone's interested, I saved steps along the way, from the initial pinky blur right up to the end. Does anyone want to see?

[SNarfel]

I would definitly be interested in seeing the progression stages.

[the-small-print]

Ok, well, here they are:

Stage 1: http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/Elenuial%20WIP/EN1.jpg

Ok, this is is just getting the general shape and base tones, so you have something to build up on. Note shadows for eyes and mouth. Important to have a rudimentary face right from the outset. Also note that I'm not using any white; any picture that you don't get get rid of all the white from will be likely to look scratchy and thin, so just add highlights back in later.

Stage 2: http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/Elenuial%20WIP/EN2.jpg

This is where you get an idea of light direction and background tone (if not colour). I was going to give her green eyes, so I put some green down as the background to knit the picture together. The features just give the impression of a face, so that there is something alive in the picture. I find it's always easier to paint a face that can look back at you.

Stage 3: http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/Elenuial%20WIP/EN3.jpg

This stage just adds a bit of form to the face and gives the eyes a little direction. It's all still very preliminary.

Stage 4:http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/Elenuial%20WIP/EN4.jpg

Ok, this is where she begins to take on a bit more life. Adding colour and lighting to her lips will instantly give her a more real expression and personality, and improving the tones on the face give a bit of form. At this stage I'm still working quite closely with the gyr delainy portrait and my own previous one of Elenuial to keep a family resemblance and recognisable features.

Stage 5: http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/Elenuial%20WIP/EN7.jpg

This is arguably the best looking stage. The essentials of personality and realism are there, whilst leaving much of it 'painterly' and suggested. This is where the idea of impressionism comes it - rough brush strokes creating an impression of something that can look more 'right' than the real thing. Also note that the image has been flipped here, to give a new perspective. It's quite hard to do this to something you've been working on for hours, because you usddenly thing 'Nooo! It's wrong!' Seriously, try getting an image you're really familiar with and flipping it.

Stage 6: http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/Elenuial%20WIP/EN8.jpg

Here you see the difficulty of digital (or really any kind of) painting. To make something better, you sometimes need to make it look worse first, as sown here, by adding golds into the mix and darkening the whole lot of the hair to build it up from shadows, which in the end always looks more real.

Stage 7: http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/Elenuial%20WIP/EN10.jpg

It's amazing what a difference adding catchlights does to a pair of eyes, not to mention painting in all the little muscle fibres of the iris. There are still several essential bits wrong, of course, but the hair tones are now looking better, with their gold-and-shadow base and grey secondary reflections. Interesting point: look at peoples' hair. It's never just one colour, there are dozens, hundreds in there, and it all varies wildly depending on light. The primary constituents of most blonde hair is dark brown and light grey.

Stage 8: http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/Elenuial%20WIP/EN11.jpg

Now this is a difficult thing; if you want to make a face look real, you need to add tone, light and dark in the right places, which is firtsly very hard if you don't have any real reference to go on, and secondly, it radically changes the look of the face, sometimes for the worse. I really overworked this (fortunately on a different layer) and had to fade it back a little towards what was there before. Added to that, changing from the dark screen I have to use all week to a decent LCD mashed thebalance and a lot of the shadows suddenly seemed too shallow, the highlights too bright, and the overall balance thrown. Still, you could always think of it as anethereal glow.

There are still some major problems with this, as Snarf and kyle have handily pointed out, among some others I've spotted myself, so it will need a lot more work, but I decided to stop it here for now, because once it's shrunk down to portrait size, many of the problems are lost anyway.

[SNarfel]

Thanks for that, very intersting and enjoyable to read about and see the development of the portrait :).

[the-small-print]

Hello again.

It's Eleri's turn this time:

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Eleri.jpg

She is, as always, a photoshop painting, this time done WITH reference, which explains why she looks more real than the others I've done, and also why she's not so detailed. When you have reference, it's so much easier to get something looking 'just right' without having to mark in every pore, and the end result often looks just a bit more satisfying. Also, it takes half the time, as this did. (less than half, in fact)

The model is Brazilian model Renata Maciel, who is also the model for Gyr's Delainy portrait, which is what gave me the inspiration for the character, though I have to say this painting differs from the photo reference (it's not a paintover or a filter or a copy, it's referenced).

Whether it's any good or not is up to YOU to judge, and please do. Leave lots of constructive comments.

P.S.: Her armour is constructed of articulated sliding plates and light mail, so that she can duck and dodge. It's not just another pretty, impractical design (though it does have its flaws).

[Kyle Morgan]

I like it. Looks more humanlike and very much female while Elves seem to be rather androgyn i think, but still very good.

[SNarfel]

Aye, again an axcellent portrait!!! :)

I like the mood in your portraits and this is no exception. The pose, slight tilt of her head, rather resigned look with blade in hand all seems to suggest that she is about to embark on an activity she feels compelled to do yet one disagreable to her and which she would much rather have avoided if at all possible.

Just a couple of things which very slightly distracted;

The shadow under the nose on the upper lip seems too pronounced, kinda makes her look like she has a moustache and draws attention to itself.

The left collar bone and neck muscle also seem over pronounced; may be the collar bone protrusion is just al ittle out of place and a bit too large perhaps, dunno.

[the-small-print]

Hehe, well thank you for your comments. Snarf, I think what's wrong is actually more likely to be the lighting on her armour, and possiby a bit of skin tone, rather than shadow, because for once I can say that the shadows on her face are correct. Still, I could always tweak it a little ;).

Might have made a little more detail apparent, but that huddled lump on the leaves is in fact the recent recepient of her reluctant attention. I tried to make a convincing kind of web of black blood on her sword, but I had trouble not making it look cheesy, so I deleted it.I intend to work on that sword a bit, actually, since I think it's the most blatantly 'wrong' thing in the foreground.

Kyle, thanks ;). However, I have always seen female elves as being evidently female, and male elves as being clearly male, though much more refined and beautiful than humans, and much more discreetly muscled than your average Arnie/Conan look - this is not to say that they should look gay (as they did in the film :) ), but more kind of lithe and catlike. Tolkien himself reacted with indignity when people kept presenting legolas as effeminate or androgynous, responding with a little rant on the refined masculinity of him

However, I'm going to completely sabotage myself here by showing you he work of Linda Bergkvist, who is a hundred times more skilled than me.


How's this for androgyny? (http://enayla.deviantart.com/art/Hajieelkhe-31663218) (male elf)

As for human? Yes, yu're right, the most elfy-suggestive thing about her IS her armour and the setting, so I agree on that point.However, the model is a particularly beautiful human, and that is more or less how I always saw elves - more human than pixie or fairy-like, but closer to 'perfect'; wiser, stronger, faster, more balanced, tougher and altogether more likely to survive for a hundred different physical, biological and psychological reasons.

[NukeBuster]

What about creating a custom avatar pack? With all the custom avatars presented here?

Would certainly ease the downloading.

[the-small-print]

I had thought to do that - consolidate all of the Custom Portrait thread into one download. They are all available in a 'server portraits' download on the vault, I think Dakota put that together, but it's three huge files contianing many good portraits, but also many not-so-good ones and copies of some you might have already. I'll see about sorting it.

[Bombadillo]

I don't think this really qualifies for the 'custom portrait' thread, so I'm posting it here. It's a picture of Lindis with Nera by an 'artisticlly inclined' friend of mine. It is just a rough sketch and I would not say this is exactly how I imagine her, but it's nice to have nontheless, so I decided to post it.


-

P.S. I take my hat off to everyone who has made my occasional time on the server very enjoyable. Lin's character development is somewhat stalled at the moment, but hopefully that may still change.

[Bombadillo]

Finding myself totally unable to edit the above message in any way. Is this normal?

[Nolëtáro]

Cannot edit your post after 40 minutes. I uncovered this... the hard way =_=

[the-small-print]

...also known as Seregram. Here he is Jarmov. ;)

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/JARMOVI.jpg


As soon as it's approved on the vault, I'll post a link to the portrait on the Custom Ports thread.

[timppako]

A very goodlooking picture small-print! I must add that it looks abit like the man himself. ;)

[DM Elessar]

*curses computer*

[DM Elessar]

So....Clint Eastwood is in The Grey Company? Makes sense..though not sure what he has replaced his .44 magnum with.

[Jarmov]

Thank you the-small-print! I like it a lot.

And yes it does look like Clint because I could not find a better way of describing Serendur to the-small-print - I am not a literary genius. *cackles to himself*

But I do hope he does not look too much of Clint in the smaller picture we see in game.

(And he has replaced his 44. Magnum with a huge maul)

[the-small-print]

So....Clint Eastwood is in The Grey Company? Makes sense..though not sure what he has replaced his .44 magnum with.

I knew it'd be you who recognised the source, though I was expecting something more along the lines of "Do you feel lucky?" etc. ;)



Though in my defence, this is intentionally painted to not look entirely like him, just a fair amount. :)

[Jarmov]

Though in my defence, this is intentionally painted to not look entirely like him, just a fair amount. :)[/QUOTE]

Yes, I thought so too when I saw the recent version. The first one looked exactly like Clint. :)

[Jarmov]

Though in my defence, this is intentionally painted to not look entirely like him, just a fair amount. :)

Yes, I thought so too when I saw the latest version. The first version you did looked exactly like Clint. :)

(damn, sorry for the double post)

[the-small-print]

Hello again. It's been a while, so I thought I'd exercise my doodling hand, and this time actually managed to find a really beautiful reference picture of the model Eleri (Elenuial's sister) is based upon, only at about the age (in sindarin equivalent of course) that I'd always pictured Elenuial and, well... it was too good an opportunity to miss.

I've not really been happy with any of my previous representations of her because they've always been done without reference and hence were always 'wrong'.

This one is looking far more promising, though I call it a work i progress because I haven't decided how to dress her yet. It's another eye-to-brush digital painting done in photoshop (but not a photo manipulation).

Anyway, squint, leer and criticise all you like; comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Elenuial3.jpg

[DM_Morgoth]

Nice one TSP

[the-small-print]

A little update.

You always hit a stage in these things where it stops getting much better; you make add detail and completeness, but you don't actually make it look that much better. This is that stage:

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Elenuial4.jpg

[the-small-print]

And another update: here is the semi-final version, which I've just made into a portrait. I'll ask for it to be changed once it's wound its way through the Vault's gargantuan vetting system. Anythoughts and contructive criticisms anone? Sometimes people spot things tha the painter missed, and sometimes the painter just likes to hear what everyone thinks...

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Elenuial5.jpg

...and yes, it is quite similar to the second one I posted, but with some improvements.

[SpymasterGend]

Very nice, tsp. Only one potentially constructive comment. Grey area at left is a tree trunk, correct? May reflect a bit much light if so into hair that side, and the darker engraving-looking bits in it at shoulder height look either lonely (if meant as bark texture) or unexplained (if other). She herself is incredible, and my comments above only reflect a minor distraction overall, probably not even noticeable in-game. Cheers.

[DM_Eönwë]

As I already stated on the vault, this painting is really nice. I really enjoy your work. Keep going on!

[the-small-print]

Right you are....

Here is Eleri again, only better this time.

http://homepage.mac.com/anaconda191/.Pictures/photoshop%20stuff/Eleriseapreview.jpg

Why be she nekkard? Model was wearing silly shiny pants. She is by the sea. You can work the rest out by yourself....

[DM_Kev]

Some fine work coming through there. :)

[DM_Morgoth]

Indeed, I can se how you become better and better ;)

[the-small-print]

Many donkies both.

[Kyle Morgan]

That's nekkid Merp elf at its best!

Turn around - go figure :)

seriously great work and awesome beauty

[DM_Kev]

Do you work in the creative industry the-small-print?

[Mentat]

awesome job TSP, and given at what level you started, amazing progress.
Ermm, never thought of Eleri beeing that sweet, ... *coughs* Need to adjust to that new view, I guess

[the-small-print]

Hehe, thank you. Yes, Eleri was always supposed to be a looker, just not very girly.

And no Kev, I work for student support in a university, which has absolutely nothing to do with painting etc. ;)

[DM_Eönwë]

Very impressive work, the-small-print. It really is time that you will get your Hall of Fame award on the vault :D