After having spent so much time over the past two years trying to identify the best way to replicate the BG1 and BG2 portraits, I decided to unravel the mystery. We already knew that the BG1 portraits were photo manipulations, but there have been frequent arguments as to whether some or all of those in BG2 were the same, or if they were true paintings made from scratch. Easy solution: contact Mike Sass. He was kind enough to send a response, proving once and for all that all of the portraits from both games were photo manipulations:
"Hi -----,
Thanks for the note,
That work was really done a long time ago, and was my first digital paintings. For BG1, I made sketches of the poses and then used people and spouses from around the office as models, photographing them.
For BG2, I thought that the faces in BG1 didn't look heroic enough (as they were essentially game developers faces), so I found various photos as a starting point, then tried to stylize them with color and make them look more like game characters. I had recently bought a book on the painter Jacek Malczewski, and I used alot of the colors he uses in his works.
Your recent attempt you sent looks very good; probably the closest I have seen to the BG2 portraits. If you just add some random reflected colors from Jacek, they will look quite close. At that time I was just using old version of photoshp and airbrushing the pixels down. Now I use Corel painter and real oil paints.
Many awesome portraits here! Going to be using a few certainly.
I've been looking around for a more "rugged" portrait for a male PC. Could anyone Baldurize a portrait of Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher 2 or 3? He's a badass with the long white hair and all.
Edit: New future goal : Geralt, Dandelion (unkitted bard, low stats) and Triss (sorceress). Heck, throw in Zoltan and Ciri and Yennifer and I'v got myself quite a party! Ah the dreams of youth.
I have to admit, that your works, @Isandir , are on par with the portraits from Pillars of Eternity since we now can see them in the beta.
Your works are amazing! You can simply work for the game developer, I think!
If Beamdog wanted me to make portraits for any of their projects, I'd be more than willing...
@Danathion: I'll likely experiment with Pillars of Eternity portraits at some point. I actually thought all of the PC portraits were going to match those of the NPCs they've previewed, so I was a bit disappointed to see the varying styles. If I do make alternates, they'll probably be modeled on this one:
That is still my favorite portrait I’ve seen so far for the game. I like the style, but even more, that face just tells me an entire story about the character. It makes me want to get to know him.
I was hoping for the same thing you were @Isandir, for the reason @Ravenslight has highlighted. Sadly many of the beta portraits, for me, are lacking in that quality to compel an emotion and convey a story. As a whole I find them rather uninspiring.
I look forward to seeing your work sometime in the future.
Isandir, in my opinion that Imoen portrait is definitely among your top 5 so far, amazing baldurizing there... Great work, and I can totally see her as Imoen!
PS: Damn what an incredibly strong portrait! Thank you for uploading it man!
Just google cynthia & baldurs gate and it comes up in images. I am looking for someone to help me enhance a few old portraits from the original games aswell, let me know if anyone here can help me,
If anyone here is still accepting requests/challenges for "Baldurizing" pics (*cough* @Syntia13 *cough* @Isandir *cough*), perhaps someone could apply their magic to this pic here?
I'm hoping to have a female jester portrait ready in time for IWD:EE.
Here comes another one. Done completely from scratch with some refersence on my commisioned drow portrait. Corrected some features like nose form, so now this character bears only slight resemblance to my face. Anyways, it took quite a while and still work in progress, since I'm not completely satisfied with hair strands. Yeah, I officially hate painting hair. Neck anatomy is also screwed, but I'm planning to fix it.
Hello to all the wonderful artists here! Is there someone who would like to try their hand at baldurizing this picture of Alona Tal? It'd be great if you could make her look more painted, put a background behind her, and maybe give her some clothing (she's supposed to be a magic user though, so no heavy armor please). My photoshop skills are, sadly, too low for something like this. Kind thanks to anyone who decides to take this on!
I prolly won't be able to go on another pic-making binge, but I think I can manage one or two now and then. So, for @SharGuidesMyHand Change of background or tweaks to color of clothing can be easily done, if this is not to your satisfaction:
@jenne - bit of a rush-job, but hopefully it's good enough? I had no idea for a background, and left the generic one in - if you have anything specific in mind, I can insert it with no problem. Can also change the color of the dress.
I prolly won't be able to go on another pic-making binge, but I think I can manage one or two now and then. So, for @SharGuidesMyHand Change of background or tweaks to color of clothing can be easily done, if this is not to your satisfaction:
So I've been feeling a bit festive as of late, and I don't have a terribly festive portrait to sate my desires. So I was thinking perhaps the fine artists of the forums could help me out. I humbly request three modifications of my current avatar (made by the ever-talented Isandir) for the fine holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. My ideas for each are...
Halloween: My foxy persona wearing a jack-o-lantern, his snout and ears poking out.
Thanksgiving: My foxy persona wearing a stuffed turkey on his shoulder.
Christmas: My foxy persona wearing Santa's hat, obviously at a jaunty angle.
Here's the portrait for those willing. As always, credit for the portrait goes entirely to Isandir.
Comments
"Hi -----,
Thanks for the note,
That work was really done a long time ago, and was my first digital paintings. For BG1, I made sketches of the poses and then used people and spouses from around the office as models, photographing them.
For BG2, I thought that the faces in BG1 didn't look heroic enough (as they were essentially game developers faces), so I found various photos as a starting point, then tried to stylize them with color and make them look more like game characters.
I had recently bought a book on the painter Jacek Malczewski, and I used alot of the colors he uses in his works.
Your recent attempt you sent looks very good; probably the closest I have seen to the BG2 portraits. If you just add some random reflected colors from Jacek, they will look quite close. At that time I was just using old version of photoshp and airbrushing the pixels down. Now I use Corel painter and real oil paints.
Take care,
Mike"
Your works are amazing! You can simply work for the game developer, I think!
I hope to see your interpretation of their unique races in the near future Isandir!
I've been looking around for a more "rugged" portrait for a male PC. Could anyone Baldurize a portrait of Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher 2 or 3? He's a badass with the long white hair and all.
Edit: New future goal : Geralt, Dandelion (unkitted bard, low stats) and Triss (sorceress). Heck, throw in Zoltan and Ciri and Yennifer and I'v got myself quite a party! Ah the dreams of youth.
@Danathion: I'll likely experiment with Pillars of Eternity portraits at some point. I actually thought all of the PC portraits were going to match those of the NPCs they've previewed, so I was a bit disappointed to see the varying styles. If I do make alternates, they'll probably be modeled on this one:
I look forward to seeing your work sometime in the future.
PS: Damn what an incredibly strong portrait!
What I am looking for is just an elf type of warrior in a fancy chainmail armor.
I'm hoping to have a female jester portrait ready in time for IWD:EE.
Anyways, it took quite a while and still work in progress, since I'm not completely satisfied with hair strands. Yeah, I officially hate painting hair. Neck anatomy is also screwed, but I'm planning to fix it.
Is there someone who would like to try their hand at baldurizing this picture of Alona Tal? It'd be great if you could make her look more painted, put a background behind her, and maybe give her some clothing (she's supposed to be a magic user though, so no heavy armor please). My photoshop skills are, sadly, too low for something like this.
Kind thanks to anyone who decides to take this on!
I prolly won't be able to go on another pic-making binge, but I think I can manage one or two now and then. So, for @SharGuidesMyHand Change of background or tweaks to color of clothing can be easily done, if this is not to your satisfaction:
Wow, she looks perfect, thank you! If it isn't too much trouble, perhaps you could put in some darkish clouds for a background, something like this:
http://megahdwall.com/high-resolution-wallpaper/sky-cloud-blue-clouds-hills-desert-nature-free-hd-323828.html/attachment/sky-cloud-blue-clouds-hills-desert-nature-free-hd-323828-2/
or this:
http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-content/photos/000/531/cache/53100_990x742-cb1394660970.jpg
or something similar.
Many thanks to you, dear artist!
Your welcome!
Here's the cloudy version:
This is really beautiful! Now I'm off to start a new playthrough with it
Halloween: My foxy persona wearing a jack-o-lantern, his snout and ears poking out.
Thanksgiving: My foxy persona wearing a stuffed turkey on his shoulder.
Christmas: My foxy persona wearing Santa's hat, obviously at a jaunty angle.
Here's the portrait for those willing. As always, credit for the portrait goes entirely to Isandir.
Many thanks to anyone who is willing to assist!