Portrait Obsession Options

[Rabain]

You comment a lot on foreheads.

We'll maybe not a lot or maybe I was just reading through the previous posts again last night and it stuck out in my head when you mentioned it that you had mentioned it before.

Maybe I make portraits with large foreheads without really noticing...maybe.

[Vlad]

Aiko is a cartoon character from DAZ. But it's possible to morph her and apply some nice textures to achieve less *cartoonish* look.

[jastey]

You comment a lot on foreheads.

Yes, but on most other occasions I thought the foreheads in your portraits were too small.

[Rabain]

@Vlad: The whole 3D character modelling is something I'd like to get into at some stage. The only program I've actually messed around with is Poser. Do you have a favourite/recommendation?

@Jastey: who has a perfect forehead?

[Rabain]

Neht Alternate without the red X for those who want to use it as a PC portrait.

Attached File(s)

 SirNeht.bmp ( 203.73k ) Number of downloads: 55

 

[berelinde]

Jastey, did you find the portrait you were looking for, or are you still looking for a custom portrait for your own use?

[jastey]

Jastey, did you find the portrait you were looking for, or are you still looking for a custom portrait for your own use?

Which portrait request are you referring to? I am always looking for Ajantis alternates, if that is what you mean.

[berelinde]

Of course that's what I'm referring to

A little known fact: I'm a frustrated portrait artist who wound up a chemist through a series of unfortunate career decisions.

No promises, but I'll see what develops.

[Rabain]

berelinde: do you do portraits for BG? I know its not Art but I find it relaxing to take my mind away from things for an hour or two.

Something I did yesterday using a 3D portrait:



I know the eyes aren't right...somehow.

[jastey]

Of course that's what I'm referring to

I once also stated I would like to see a handsome male half-orc. I would still like to see one, although it won't be for a mod (none that would ever get online available, at least, as I don't have any intention to release a one-day NPC).

I imagine him to be of male and somehow sexy appearance, a bit like a male opposite to Rabain's female half-orc (see this post: http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?...post&p=7599 ) (Rabain's male half-orc was too boyish for my taste: http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?...ost&p=7865)

[Rabain]

Are there any of the male portraits that I've done that would make a good base. Its fairly simple to ugly someone into a half-orc...Ajantis perhaps....?

[jastey]

Its fairly simple to ugly someone into a half-orc...Ajantis perhaps....?

LOL
I'll have a look and let you know.

[Rabain]

I had a go at another half-orc who doesn't quite turn the stomach but has still been through the wars:



It needs work yeah...

[berelinde]

Rabain--

There are probably 2 things about the eyes of the dark-haired elf you do not like.

The first is postion. This is going to sound odd, becuase we are used to thinking about eyes as being a quarter to a third of the way down the face from the hairline, but I assure you that this is true. Eyes are located almost exactly midline on the head. Yours, in general, are too high up. Some of that distance is taken up by forehead, the rest by hair. Look in a mirror without tilting your head to any angle. You will see what I mean. This might be the reason it is sometimes so hard to accurately portray foreheads. If you place the eyes too high up on the head, the portraits tend to look artificial. If carried too far, with a low hairline, the subject can look like he or she suffers from microencephalism.

The second thing is the amount of white showing beneath the iris. In a person at rest, without surprise or emotional upheavals and not suffering from fatigue, the top third of the iris is covered by the upper eyelid, and the lower eyelid will just meet the lower edge of the iris.

The eye color is a bit bright, but elves do have bright eyes, so there is no need to tone it down.

The half-orc looks great. Again, there is a slight tendency to have the eyes slightly too high up on the face, but as this is a half-orc, this is not a flaw. If you will allow me to point something out: the half-orc you have drawn has red blood. I know this because his lips are pink. Skin is fairly translucent, so you might want to make his skintone a little more olive, tending to tan over the cheekbones and tips of the ears where the skin is thinner. But that's a judgement call. It is very nice as drawn. Apart from the obviously orcish bits, I would not be surprised to see this picture in a yearbook.

I'll see what I can do about getting some artwork up for viewing. Most of the work I've done to date has been portraits in street clothes, of real people who might object to their images showing up on the 'net, but I'll see if I can put together something for general consumption.

While we're on the subject of proportions, the neck is as wide as the head and the face. It appears narrower because of fore-shortening, but it is easy to overdo it. When I draw, I like to start out with the neck as wide as the head and see how it looks. Most of the time, I do not need to change it.

I am not criticizing your work. Your portraits are quite good. I have never tried modeling with computers. I do my portraits in conventional mediums (usually pastel, since I happen to like pastels) and then I scan it or take a digital photograph.

Something I truly admire about your portraits: You have captured the fact that one side of the face is not a mirror image of the other side. Everyone has slight irregularities that way. One eye might be ever so slightly more narrow, or the person might smile a little more on one side than the other. Including the most subtle suggestion of this makes the work more believable.

[Rabain]

Thanks for the pointers, much appreciated.

I mostly just look for photos online and use people as my templates. I don't really consider myself an artist, I couldn't draw a human face from scratch if my life depended on it (well I've never actually tried!).

I am always in awe of people who draw/paint portraits...I seen one lady in spain doing portraits/sketches for tourists on the street at night... she had this one portrait out as a example and it was the most beautiful portrait of a girl I have ever seen...she wouldn't sell it to me...it belonged to the girl...she wouldn't give me her number either!:)

[berelinde]

You have discovered the secret of many portrait artists: working from a picture can be easier. For one thing, you can blow up the picture and use graphite transfer paper to mark the reference lines. Cheating just a little bit, but it's quick and it's painless. Drawing from life allows you to capture expressions with more realism and emotion, but few of us have that opportunity.

Working in large scale and then reducing also allows you to capture a lot of detail that mechanical limitations might otherwise impose.

BTW: I particularly liked your pink lady in the first post. You seem to have captured an element of unconscious grace. I would use this portrait for a female illusionist, perhaps.

I'll see if my boyfriend's mother would let me scan the portrait of him that I did for her. I could put him in leather armor, and he could pass as a ranger.

[Rabain]

I did this yesterday, it started out as being something really simple...sticking a head on someone but then it turned into something that kept me at my computer until 1am and it still looks odd...

[berelinde]

Yum!

Wow. That's one nice pic.

If I can stop drooling on the keyboard long enough to type something before my computer shorts out, I might observe that the thing that strikes you as odd might be the apparent narrowness of the body. In this case, I think that might be more of a clothing thing. Long vertical lines in the shirt draw attention to the length and make the torso appear more narrow. The lips might also be a little too bright. People's lips become paler with age, brighter with...ahem...exercise. So maybe this guy's been doing some kissing lately?

BTW--what medium do you use? Do you do everything on the computer or do you scan something you've painted? I ask because I've got a current assignment I'll be working on this weekend, in pastels. With the sponsor's permission, I'll post the result. Keep in mind that often critics make the worst artists.

[berelinde]

What do you think of this? I toned down the blue element in his lips a bit. Another thing you might want to do is look at some guy's chest. Particularly that cleft between the collarbones. But that's more than I can manage in 5 minutes or less.

Attached File(s)

 someRL.jpg ( 54.79k ) Number of downloads: 46

 

[Rabain]

Thanks, I generally try to find a photo of someone online with a particular expression and then match it up with various items of clothing garnered from game portraits (BG,IWD, NWN etc) and other fantasy images I've collected. I then used Photoshop to amalgamate them all in as seamless a fashion as I can.

To get rid of the photo "feel" I end up recolouring the skin, eyes, lips, hair etc and I usually end up with something thats a bit off as with the lips above.

As for the narrowness I was trying to keep the impression that the character is not particularly buff, a different class to your usual straight fighter/paladin. Perhaps a kensai or monk whose slight figure would be more in keeping with their philosophy that fighting isn't all about bashing things.

For those who might be interested in these things the photo was Travis Fimmel, he's a fairly well known male model and also recently played Tarzan in the remake TV series (the one that had a blond Lucy Lawless as his aunt and Mitch Pileggi as his ruthless Uncle...Jane wasn't bad looking either...actually she might make a decent counterpart to this portrait...).