Promo art for an upcoming game...

Rincewind · Sat 09/08/2003 15:30:08

Well, it's like this - Yesterday, after a long while trying to do something sensible in DXPaint, I finally gave up and resorted to my faithful companion - Ol' MSPaint, where I sat down and came up with a picture:

Now at first, I made it for my current mystery/thriller game, "Trailing Blood", but then I thought "Hey, wouldn't she look great with horns?" and so I added them and then an idea for another game came to me...

I'm not sure about the proportions, but rather I'm pleased with colours and the general look of it. Any comments or thoughts are welcome, as usual.

And the title is only temporary, until I think of something better.

Minimi · Sat 09/08/2003 17:45:26

ok, first of all as you may know, its not my favorite subject... but apart from that, I think you made a great detailed picture here! I like here better without horns though .... i guess

Ohw, and the head could be smaller, or the body bigger

She looks abit like the coneheads, but then more evil.

Rincewind · Sat 09/08/2003 18:29:19

Heh, thanks for dropping a comment, Minimi!
And I can tell you right now that it's not going to be a worship-satan-game... So there's no need to panic.

But she will be evil, though. That's for sure... Hehe.

I know her head is too big, that's a bad habit of mine when it comes to drawing people... And a bit like the Coneheads? Uh-oh... I'll try and make it a bit more realistic.

loominous · Sat 09/08/2003 18:31:24

Initially I only had some minor modifications in mind but once started I got a bit carried away (turned out a bit too generic):

Btw, no features has actually been redrawn, just modified, except for the eyebrows.

The process:

I hope the pic is selfexplanatory.

The difference between the second n third frame is that a cheekbone has been added as well as the bone around the eye (whatever name that one has)

The difference between the fourth n fifth is that a second shading tone has been added (under chin, under mouth, under nose, above eyes).

In the sixth frame the head has been shrunken vertically by loosing horizontal space in the middle of the nose and in the chinarea. (giving her less of a horseface)

The body in the first frame of the second row has been stretched horizontally.

Hope it ll give you some ideas.

Edit: Added some explanation text

Rincewind · Sat 09/08/2003 18:39:16

Wow.
Dude... I'm pretty speechless. I feel very untalented right now - But I'll just say thanks a lot! I'll print your little tutorial-thingie and then try to use it a guideline. Again, thanks! I think I got your points.

Mind if I refer to you as "Art-god" in the future?

loominous · Sat 09/08/2003 19:55:32

Glad you found it useful. Here s a small update:

After looking at her again I realized she looked too coquettish.

Only altered her eyes n mouth.

Rincewind · Sat 09/08/2003 20:39:55

Well, I tried to follow your picture, and managaged to get it to look similar, but still maintain a bit of my own style... Heh. Or something like that, anyway...
Thing is, I made her look a bit too old - My idea was that she was about 18.
Your update looks superb, though.

MrColossal · Sat 09/08/2003 21:16:04

awe!! i liked her before, she was nice and cartoony and cute! [just to say, i don't mean cute like AWE! Look at the widdle baby! I mean cute like original and nicely done]

she looks real good now also, but i dunno, i preferred the first one, hehe

however, she also looks great now. I think before when she was more of a cartoon the hair worked for her, but now that she's more realistic the hair has to change. and I think the horn on our right should be attached to her head and not kinda in the hair, if they are real that is and not supposed to be symbolic of her evilocityness

eric enjoys

Rincewind · Sat 09/08/2003 21:39:48

Heh, thanks Eric - I liked the first version too, until I saw Loominus version...

And the horns are real - She is a demon, all right. The story will revolve around how she is kicked out of hell for being too lazy and non-evil, and therefore has to create enough havoc and chaos(Probably involving lots of pointy sticks and elderberries...) in out world to be admitted in again... But that's just the rough idea - I haven't really had any time to develop it any further yet...

You might be right about the hair as well - I'm gonna try and change it.

loominous · Sat 09/08/2003 22:13:56

Rince:

When you use only one tone of shade n make it that dark it tends, in my experience, to make the person look very skinny, skinny in the way old folks look, if you re not very careful.

Another reason that she looks a bit old is that her eyelashes are very few n distinct, again like old women.

When it comes to shading a good start is to study how the human face is constructed. The shades defines the shape of the face and if the shades are wrong the face will look distorted.

Once you get to know the shape it s just, not that s it easy, a matter of litting it with one or two lightsources and shade the parts that the light doesn t hit directly.

Here s a quick sketch of the modelhead I pictured in my mind when I shaded your pic:

There s a really good book called 'Drawing the head and hands' by Loomis, on the subject that s also free. You can find it here:

http://www.fineart.sk/

(The server is down at the moment. It may be available at other places.)

I m reading it on n off myself n it has proved very helpful. He s written other books as well which I can also recommend.

Eric:

I agree that the style became inconsistent. If I d have began with the hair etc I think the change would ve become too big to be useful from an educational point of view. That n the fact that I m lazy.

Rincewind · Sat 09/08/2003 23:11:30

Ah - You are probably right. I'll try and lighten the shading a bit.
And thanks for the tips - They'll come in handy in the future...
I'll also check out that book by Loomis - I've heard about him before, but never really bothered to see what he's done. If I can get a hand on one of his books, I'll buy it.

Rincewind · Sun 10/08/2003 10:17:20

Just some minor changes(Eyes, hair, horn, lightened the shading...) , but she looks a bit better now. If I don't find any more errors, I think I'm gonna go with this version.

And also, as a small bonus, I did this one yesterday, as the total opposite of the Evil Woman-picture:

This one isn't for a game, though - I did it just for fun.

loominous · Sun 10/08/2003 19:11:40

I like the new version and the new character.

If you want her more sinisterlooking you might want to make the corners of her mouth point downwards.

One thing I forgot to mention about the agematter is the lips. To make her look younger you could give her fuller lips, a sign of youth or plastic surgery. Bigger eyes would probably also reduce her age.

About the new character, if you want her more realistic/cuter looking you might want to reduce her headheight a bit and center her eyes vertically so they re about in middle of the head.

Rincewind · Sun 10/08/2003 23:25:58

Thanks - I'm glad you like it.

I don't want her to look more sinister, I'm pleased with her expression as it is... But thanks for the tip anyway!
Make lips fuller - I'll do that.

Yeah, the new character is supposed to be a bit cartoony, and I wasn't really aiming at perfect realism...

But I know you're right about the eyes, I have been told that so many times by my old teacher... I just seem to forget it when I do a new picture...

I also did this sprite - Which will be how she will look in the game.

Too bad I'm really bad at animating...

Ginny · Mon 11/08/2003 01:32:50

Nice, I like the poster image. The 'good' sprite looks great, except.. what's that thing on her hair? It looks a bit like skin...

I love the sprite! Some hings I would change though:

1. The feet aren't realistic, unless she's doing ballet. They should be facing forwards. I know this is a little hard to do, but it isn't really.

2. The pose is a bit boring IMO, it would be more interesting if she was facing a little bit sideways. The head can still be like it is, it's the legs I think. Try making one of the legs a little bent down. The shoe on this one will face us diagonally.
Another thing I learned from Ian, the artist who created the art in Apprentice, is that people rarely stand straight like that, and would instead have their shoulders and hips bent down a little. The higher hip is on the same side as the lower shoulder, and vise versa.
Here is a link to the thread where he describes this:
http://herculeaneffort.myikonboard.com/viewthread.php?threadid=4

3. Just a small thing, her hands have a finger pointing out that looks odd, though would be appropriate for this evil characer

.
Also, the right hand (from our side) is a little too wide, there's an extra pizel or two where it connects to the arm.

noed · Mon 11/08/2003 18:53:16

Normally I would be the last person to suggest bigger breasts, but at first glance she looks a little manly to me. Overall I think she looks great!

Rincewind · Tue 12/08/2003 17:53:34

GinnyW:
Heh, the thing on her hair is some supposed to be a reflection, although it may not look like it...

About the sprite:
I know about the feet, I realized that after posting it here...

But thanks anyway!
I'm not sure I'd be capable to change the pose like that, but it's always worth try. (The link doesn't work, though - I'd really like to read the post.)
And it's not supposed to be a whole finger sticking out, but if it looks like it is, I can remove that pixel... Hehe.

Noed:
Perhaps you are right - I did use one of my male sprites as a basic model, so she still has some of the maleness, I suppose...

Ginny · Tue 12/08/2003 21:20:27

Odd, it works for me.
Try going here:
http://www.sonic.net/~schlae/herculeaneffort/
and going to the forum, then to Geberal and then to "Ian's art advice".

Rincewind · Wed 13/08/2003 17:23:39

Well, it just said that the page couldn't be displayed. I'll try again, though.

And also, a tiny update: (I'll be doing some more work on it later...)

12431 · Wed 13/08/2003 18:05:03

she kinda looks like one of my friends. but she wears a black leather coat. and she doesn't have horns (even though she deserves a pair)
besides that, she got basically the same clothing. (yeah yeah, whatever.)

looking forward to this game!