Adventure Game Studio

Creative Production => Critics' Lounge => Topic started by: Dave Gilbert on Sat 10/06/2006 17:51:20

Title: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Dave Gilbert on Sat 10/06/2006 17:51:20
How many pics can I post in one day?  Here's a character portrait that I've been futzing with over the last few days.  An indian woman, named Rajshree.  I'm trying to keep her expression on the sad-end of neutral.

I'm really unhappy with the nose thus far.  She looks like a Mrs. Potato Head.  I'm trying to make her a bit more attractive.  Not super hot, but somewhere up neat the "nice to look at" level.

Here's my progress thus far:

(http://www.davelgil.com/ags/raj.gif)

edit 1: Made the neck slimmer, and adjusted the eyebrows

(http://www.davelgil.com/ags/raj2.gif)

edit 2: Changed her expression, and lowered the facial features so she's no longer looking "up"

(http://www.davelgil.com/ags/raj3.gif)
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: ManicMatt on Sat 10/06/2006 18:01:08
(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b37/manicmatt/lady.jpg)

Ignore my colourings.

Okay, maybe I made up nose up too high, just take off some details there.

And my bit inbetween the nose and mouth looks a bit like a moustache, so sod that too..

Tooked her jaw in a little bit.

Widened her mouth slightly.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: vict0r on Sat 10/06/2006 18:18:53
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/raj3.PNG)
Made the nose rounder/more natural, and removed some weird black outlines from her hair.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: ManicMatt on Sat 10/06/2006 18:21:34
Try as we may, all three of our drawn noses aren't right.

Vict0r, yours would be fine if she was facing slightly to the side.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: vict0r on Sat 10/06/2006 18:28:22
Actually, if you look closer she is actually facing slightly to the side. The mouth is 3 pixles closer to her right cheek, than to her left one. Same with eyes.

Hah!
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Dave Gilbert on Sat 10/06/2006 18:28:43
That nose isn't bad Victor, and definitely looks more natural than my inverted "V".  Actually, I originally intended for the right side of her face to be covered a bit by hair, so she's not turned to the side.  :)  Matt - I love the eyelashes!  An awesome touch!
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Mr Flibble on Sat 10/06/2006 18:29:34
(http://www.fotosearch.com/comp/CRT/CRT168/15277-02CV.jpg)

Just a reference image for ideas.

You might want to highlight her hair somehow as well, it sorta blends into the background at the moment.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Dave Gilbert on Sat 10/06/2006 18:30:48
Thanks flib.  I originally used this as a reference:

(http://www.r-e-a.com/images/face-indian-woman-3.jpg)

She's not traditionally dolled-up in a sari or anything, but I wanted her to have indian features.

I know what you mean about highlighting, but I want to get her "right" before I start shading/highlighting her.  It saves so much time that way.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Mr Flibble on Sat 10/06/2006 18:35:22
I saw that image when I was looking but I went past it because I didn't think it was "stereotypical" enough to charicature. I think the main features that would make her click in your players' minds as Indian are the eyes. Typically, Indian women have large, oval shaped eyes. I might do a paintover if you don't mind...I've got nothing better to do  :-\

EDIT:

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Indianbird.png)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/Indianbird.png)

What I didI was going to add a little red dot to her forehead, but since you didn't include one I assumed she didn't wear one. Her neck might be a little thin in retrospect.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: passer-by on Sat 10/06/2006 19:45:59
More than the eyes I notice the eyebrows on faces, they are more characteristic and they tone the eye expression and the cheekbones. Maybe you could do something with her eyebrows so she looks more "Indian"?
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: pslim on Sat 10/06/2006 20:20:51
I did a paintover, using vict0r's paintover as a base.

(http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6790/rajedit0tz.png) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6790/rajedit0tz.png) (http://imageshack.us)

I changed her hair from gray to brown and tried to keep as close to the original style as possible.

-tweaked the overall shape of the hair. Some places just didn't seem to flow naturally.
-shortened the height of the head and brought the nose more toward the mouth, as in the reference photo
-made the bulb of the nose more narrow, as in the reference photo
-gave the eyebrows more arch
-hid the right ear behind her cheek to go with the slight turn of the face
-made her lower face narrower (though it could still stand to be even narrower, imo)
-highlighted hair to give it more sense of shape


Hope this helps. :)
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: ManicMatt on Sat 10/06/2006 20:23:53
I'd say lighten the skin tone, it's too dark.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Babar on Sat 10/06/2006 20:30:42
For some reason, pslim's edit seems to have the most "indianness".

Heh...I used to have vicious arguments with my room-mate about the nicest looking way to draw noses. I think the consensus in the end was an flattened U shape (or bowl shape) for the front view.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Dave Gilbert on Sat 10/06/2006 23:14:51
Psim's edit, with Flib's shading = awesome!

(http://www.davelgil.com/ags/raj4.gif)

I made her a bit brighter, and also gave the poor girl a shirt to wear.

Thanks for the help, everyone!
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: pslim on Sat 10/06/2006 23:24:12
Fun, fun! Looks great, Dave.

I just noticed that the women in both of the reference pics have apple cheeks. It might be worth experimenting with shading under the cheeks to suggest that? Just a thought.  :=
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Dave Gilbert on Sat 10/06/2006 23:33:20
To be honest, I like it as it is.  In the scene she's in, she expresses emotions of sadness and anger.  What's great about her current edit is that she could be either of them.

Aand... witness the magic:

(http://www.davelgil.com/ags/rajprog.gif)
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: The Ivy on Sun 11/06/2006 00:11:11
Just some ideas (thought I'd include a "before and after"):

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/rajedit.PNG)

(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/rajedit.PNG)

She didn't strike me as looking especially feminine.Ã,  The big problems were the heavy shading around the eyes, the prominent jaw, and the "line" mouth.Ã, 

In my edit I also changed the shape and colour of the eyes a bit, raised her eyebrows, widened her neck, rounded out the shadows in her face, raised her shoulders, and cut down on the heavy nose shading.

Hope this helps!


Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Exorph on Sun 11/06/2006 04:12:09
Quote from: The Ivy on Sun 11/06/2006 00:11:11
and the "line" mouth.

If gthere was one thing that always annoyed me about Disney cartoons is was the complete lack of lips on the male characters.. I personally have never seen any difference between how male and female mouths look unless lipstick is used.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: sergiocornaga on Sun 11/06/2006 09:26:23
I think The Ivy's edit looks a lot more Indian than most of what I've seen so far.
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: passer-by on Sun 11/06/2006 10:09:19
Quote from: SergioCornaga on Sun 11/06/2006 09:26:23
I think The Ivy's edit looks a lot more Indian than most of what I've seen so far.

The cheeks are still low, though, maybe less shading under the outer corners of the eye and towards the temple? What does she look like with arched eyebrows?
Title: Re: an indian woman portrait
Post by: Mr Flibble on Sun 11/06/2006 11:06:29
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/indyeye.png)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/indyeye.png)

Just an idea I had for the eyes. Otherwise, things are looking good however she could still use a little more shading on the neck. Also, the light and dark brown shades of brown don't blend very nicely, I tried some new values but I couldn't get a nice balance. I think that the colours I used in the background of this eye edit may have my new values for the browns, I don't remember if I deleted them.