Team CHOW II: The Happy Little Trees

[ALH]

Browsing though some of the others threads has left me slightly concerned with our own portraits in an area i seem to have neglected to crit this far-

CK- your thief's design and rendering so far is very nice, however, in his current form...i'm not getting thief from him, at all. At the moment I would think he was perhaps some sort of elfin soldier or guard as he stands very alert and upright, theres nothing all that sneaky or devious about him outside of his pointed anatomy, the character himself doesnt tell us much. The fact that his good/evil versions are pretty much identical means we dont get much insight into his personality or how he is different beyond a palette swap.

Note that im of course not suggesting a wild action pose- the group theme is more subtle- but we also need to be able to see a fair chunk of this mans story without reading his blurb, integrate it into his costume and weaponry if needs be - this is first and foremost a character design task not a portrait illustration one.

I know you probably have something awesome up your sleeve that i've not seen yet as i've been away, If you have any of that behind closed doors hit me up on messenger so my concerns can be alleviated!

[{CKL}]

Duly noted. The "dark" portrait, at the stage posted is just a color shift, I'm changing his gear to more troll-like weapons and attire. The "light" portrait is supposed to be elven in nature. A play on his duality. As far as being thief-like, I was approaching it more from a gaming stance. He's a dexterity based character. So if you were to take him out of the context of our plot and just present it as a player character portrait he could fall under several different categories: thief, assassin, duelist, ranger, brigand, etc. I didn't really want to do the skulking thief with a big dagger type setup because of the limitations of interpretation. I'm not sure if you've played many of the black isle games, but my favorite player character portraits from their series often straddle several different possible classes. Remember, our actual plot isn't a part of the contest scope, it just helps us conceptualize. All that being said, I will try to incorporate something that hints towards his current purpose as a thief, but portfolio-wise I'd keep his purpose more ambiguous.

Edit: At this point I just hope we make it to the finish line.

Edit2: Being a half-breed troll/elf, I envision him spending a lot of time out in the wilderness during the day hours and spending only late night hours within city walls. So, I think I've envisioned his class to be a hybrid ranger/thief.

[ALH]

So if you were to take him out of the context of our plot and just present it as a player character portrait

I think this is where we're crossing channels, I'm approaching this from more of a ' this is a specific NPC/side character who the protagonist either encounters in a quest, has as part of his party or hears tales of in the lore ' direction. Even though the CA game is one which will very likely rely on the more interchangeable kind of character portrait for something like its battle system, its still important to tell a story with your character, to make them a person worth getting to know instead of another blank NPC.

Interchangeableness and straddling many classes is good for an MMO, or for defining a player 'type' but for a key story character (which we must assume our characters are if not just so they stand out in voting ) in a 'single player game' it can be rather dull. Oblivion. Everyone looks the same. snoozefest.. Your thief doesnt have to be hunched over clasping a dagger to tell his thiefy story, but *something* to show us who he is is nessecary, so that at the least he is a character worth telling tales of and not just an avatar.


Remember, when the actual game is made, if any of these characters were 'chosen' they would be changed to fit the overarching world anyways, Its better to give too much character information than try to be so ambiguous that they fit into every slot.

That felt like a lecture good lord, i hope it doesnt sound like one D:

[{CKL}]

Ah, I see where you are coming from, I was hinging on this, which is like the third or fourth sentence in the brief:

This time, we are creating fantasy portraits for player characters - with good and evil versions!

I'm not thinking in terms of NPCs. I'm thinking of instances where the player has an idea of who and how they want to play, they then select from a variety of portraits provided.

Edit: Would have been nice to have this conversation like 2 and half weeks ago, yes? Lol.

Edit2: I sure hope my design stands out, or I've been wasting some time!

BTW: Have any of you checked out the guidelines again, Manley just stated that a third or so of the teams weren't in compliance. I'm not sure if we'll need the framing and gallery style setup, they seem to only want portrait style (vertical) images with size specifications about the same as zhanglu's. Which, I think, should buy us more time. If that's the case.

[blackcherry]

Thought I'd post to show you guys where I am with both versions. I'm struggling a bit with picking colours...which may sound stupid but it seems to be a stage that always causes me problems. I'm probably just too fussy.

Good healer:



For the colours, I was thinking light coloured clothing in warm tones. For his cloak I was thinking of having it made up of feathers? or if not I guess fur or fabric. I was planning to go for a sort of tribal look? Any thoughts before I start on it. Background's very rough, and I'm open to suggestions for it, but I think an outdoor scene would be good, but nothing too complicated.

Dark healer:



I've developed him a bit more. For colours I was thinking darks reds, black/greys, dark greens. Unsure about the background.

I'm also wondering what colour to do his hair, but I guess I can play with that at a later stage.

As the whole painting process is my least confident area I'm a bit unsure of how to tackle this with the time frame left. I've probably got myself into a bit of a panic to be honest so any advice, tips etc on how to tackle this stage would be great!

Oh and seen as we're not going for the whole portait look now has this changed anything about how we plan to present it? Are we still going to go for the back to back look? only not so fancy with the frames etc.

EDIT: Due to the whole 'rules/guildelines' points that have just been raised, is this going to alter our designs at all? Are we going to need to make their role more apparent now?

[ALH]

Ah, I see where you are coming from, I was hinging on this, which is like the third or fourth sentence in the brief:

This time, we are creating fantasy portraits for player characters - with good and evil versions!

I'm not thinking in terms of NPCs. I'm thinking of instances where the player has an idea of who and how they want to play, they then select from a variety of portraits provided.

Edit: Would have been nice to have this conversation like 2 and half weeks ago, yes? Lol.

Haha, yeah, it would have been handy. I guess I should have printed off the rules and re-read them a million times, normally i'd have picked up on something like that too, drat. Next time I do one of these i'm making sure i do as much as I can on paper, doing everything digital makes it too easy to forget things buried away on page 1.

I will plead that my crit still stands though, he looks pretty but even without personality cues to make him a true 'character', its hard to tell that he is a thief right now, and we dont want to appear to have two close range 'fighters' ..


From the topics thread-

daestwen
'This isn't directly for the game project no, more to inspire those working on it and get their heads in the game. :]'

:p

[ALH]

Blackcherry, i dont know if it was said in thread of on msn, but our general colour scheme is warm and earthy somewhat monotone and desaturated. Stick to browns and warm greys for now and we can help reign in the rest.


I think we're due for a team meeting to help round up these things...

[{CKL}]

ALH-I will definitely take the crit into consideration as I pull towards a final image. But just to play the devil's advocate, a thief is a viable close range fighter...muahahaha...okay enough wasted energy on backbiting. TO WORK!

Cherry- For the outside scene think about the time of day it is, blue sky and green grass can actually be very hard to do and be taken seriously. Think maybe dawn for good, dusk for evil? Play around some, we'll help if you need it!
EDIT:About the format, just stay on course, just know that you don't need to paint up a frame for it.

[{CKL}]

Skype meeting on the 22 at 8pm your time?

[ALH]

Should be good for me unless something crazy pops up again, but im not anticipating anything this time..

[blackcherry]

Should be fine for 8!

[ALH]

Good team meeting everyone!


Heres my update on evil side- considering textures etc- 'evil' is far more reptillian and harsh, while 'good' is going to be all velvety and huggable, like a little teddy bear.

Totally should have done evil first, this is so much more fun than the good side of things. I recommend everyone does one then pimps out the opposite while its still in development, especially if you're stuck for where to go next, it really gives you a sense of perspective as to how you can adapt your character - as it stands, my 'good' version has fallen to more of a base role, and is set to get even more snuggable :3.

If anything comes up this week to throw me off my mojo now that i've got it back...>O

[ALH]

This thread needs more boobs and furries.

[{CKL}]

Summoner Wips. Really rough ATM. Light will have a bear-like creature. Trying to quickly get them up to specs so I can spend some time on the creatures.

[blackcherry]

The summoner's looking awesome CK really like the look of both versions, dark especially.

Here's my progress. Good healer is almost done, need to finish off a few bits and then touch up/correct certain areas and sort out the background.

I'm working on getting the dark version to the same stage now, so I should have a day or two for finishing off and touching up then. Need to make some adjustments along the way so he resembles the good version a bit more.

[ALH]

ooo! The good healer has turned out well, very fairytale. I could picture him attending a church fete and doing a bit of morris dancing. Possibly too colourful to fit in with the group? but we'll be able to judge that a little better when theyre all lined up.

I would suggest a few more twigs were brought over to the evil side, possibly his belt/satchel, since the moment theyre TOO different from each other, to the point of looking like different characters, perhaps brothers.

[{CKL}]

Cherry- I really like where your good healer is going! He looks festive and full of life. I agree with Sarah about the color, but it's not that big of an issue I don't think. Do you plan on adding a small background in the dark portrait?

[blackcherry]

Thanks guys! I'm glad you like the good healer If it is a little bright, I can always tone it down at the end. Guess I may have overdone it with the whole summery, happy feel, lol!

ALH: Yeah i agree about the dark version thats why I said I'll need to match him more as I go along. I've been working on it today. I'm going to alter his cloak to be similar to the good versions, and I've added in a the belts and a bag now. Going to give him some sort of head deco as well I think. So far he's looking a lot better. I'll post my progress soon.

CK: I will add some sort of background in for both of them. I'll paint it in for one of them then duplicate it across and make alterations to suit. I probably won't do anything too fancy though, some small bushes/plants or something along them lines.

[nimzicki]

Looking good cherry

And me, bbllarrgghh, changed a bit since anyones seen this I guess :

[{CKL}]

Looking good Doris! Be sure to flip and fix, I think you'll find a thing or two to tweak. The background is looking better too. Maybe add a few more touches with the yellow on the armor to balance out that purple. I'm interested in where you'll take it in the dark portrait. More doom, less gloom?

[ALH]

Evil is pretty much done, minor tweaks aside - Its lost vibrancy as its gained polish. Good is being pushed around, the pose doesnt have the same warmth as the original and still needs cute-ing up a notch.

[secret_science]

YES!!!! Saggy old woman teet! My absolOOT favorite!

[{CKL}]

ALH- Sweet! BTW, I'm going to do a winged creature for the good summoner! Any suggestions? (I'm going to shorten that staff considerably and turn it into a staff/perch)

This will be my last update until I am complete. Long line-up that needs to be finished!

[snootchy]

looking great fellas, work through the hurting, no pain no GAIN!!!!

Doing great keep up the hard work all!




TEAM Chönyid bardo!

SSG 69 ARTGASMIC FORCE
Mission: To push our skills to evolve to the point of giving you visual orgasm.
Eon l grenappels l snootchy l bleupencil

[SMILEFACE]

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[ALH]

I knew nipples would draw in a crowd


CK- how about a kakapo? Theyre not exactly the most frightening, and they cant fly, but they have a woodland cutesyness.



Though if you want to show the character as being very small in scale, something like a finch/tit/wren would be good.




Goldfinches in particular fit with the colour scheme

[nimzicki]

A Finch! And you called that bear a pussy!

[ALH]

that bear was a stoner, the finch has a pointy beak of death.

[blackcherry]

ALH: Your character looks awesome, both versions! I like the evil one the best though. Also I really like how the background connects both together, looks really good.

CK: That's a lot of designs you've got there! Good luck if you're going to attempt to do them all.

On the background are we going to have it like ALH's so it links both versions of the character or just keep them similar? I think connecting would be kinda cool if we could do it. It would be a good way to present them.

Here's my dark elf now. Got him looking kind of wintery to counter the summery look of the good version.



I'll probabably post next when I consider both versions finished to get feedback for any possible adjustments

[ALH]

They gel much better now! I'd edit the feet on the evil version though- he appears to have gone up a couple of shoe sizes!