@SharGuidesMyHand Ha! I never noticed that. I actually think the vanilla BG2 portrait of Minsc is fine on its own. But unfortunately it bears a strong resemblance to someone I know IRL who I have a very bad association with, lol. I thought this one worked well as an alternative for Minsc. (Now if only I had mad Photoshop skills and could put Boo on his shoulder there, or his bicep or something.) XD
If anyone here is looking for a bit of a "challenge," perhaps someone here could give a "Baldur's touch" to this picture here:
I'm thinking of using this pic for a gnome multi-class (cleric/thief or cleric/illusionist).
I'm not looking for anything fancy, I prefer the face to remain largely the way that it is - I suppose that I just want it to look less like a photograph and more like artwork so that it fits in with the other BG portraits.
Here's a larger version of the same pic, if it helps:
Thank you! I am genuinely delighted that you would register for that reason. Now that you're here, please do contribute more! I was never a member of any forum until this one, and there are some really great people here who have built an incredibly supportive community.
Well, I am a member of only one forum on the internet, a roleplaying community with a great deal of D&D and PF presence. I'm not sure in which ways I could contribute to these forums, but I'd be happy to try, of course. I'm not very knowledgeable on Baldur's Gate, to be honest, but I am in the process of trying to craft a portrait or two, myself.
That said, there is one thing I am attempting to do, which is to "baldurize" Halga and give him some plate armor. I wish I could find similar images to these with a better resolution. Alas, this is what I have to work with, and any advice would be welcome!
Ok so. I have never, ever tried to do anything like this before, my source was sort of poor (low res and grayscale), and on top of it I didn't have a lot of time to spare. But a first experiment:
I know this is a longshot, but if anyone happens to know or have any idea where I can acquire some higher res versions of these two portraits (or know of a way I can increase their resolution manually) I would greatly appreciate it.
@Ser_Elryk: I couldn't track down better versions when I just did a search, which is unfortunate considering how neat that Branwen picture looks.
Ok so. I have never, ever tried to do anything like this before, my source was sort of poor (low res and grayscale), and on top of it I didn't have a lot of time to spare. But a first experiment:
@Dan_Napier: I'm sure if you explore the forums a bit, you'll find some good D&D conversations going on - and not necessarily with a focus only on BG. As for the portrait, you picked one with the trio of difficult elements: low resolution, black and white, and bearded. Taking that into consideration, that's actually an incredibly good result, especially since you've never made one before! Adding color when none exists is always tough, and you did a very good job smoothing out the hair.
It's tough to nail down many specifics in portrait-making, and the best recommendation I can give is to simply experiment with the various tools in Photoshop (or whatever program you're using). I personally get the best results from heavy adjustment of contrast and shadows, and painting over images using the mixer brush tool. I recently started using the airbrush as well to add more tones to skin.
If you hop back to the old portrait thread, I did write a post that at least went over a few of the basic techniques I use. As you begin to try different tools and methods, you'll start discovering what works for you.
If anyone here is looking for a bit of a "challenge," perhaps someone here could give a "Baldur's touch" to this picture here:
I'm thinking of using this pic for a gnome multi-class (cleric/thief or cleric/illusionist).
I'm not looking for anything fancy, I prefer the face to remain largely the way that it is - I suppose that I just want it to look less like a photograph and more like artwork so that it fits in with the other BG portraits.
Thanks in advance.
As much as I'd like to try some of the challenges you and others have been putting up in the thread, I have a loooooooooong to-do list. I don't know if I'm ever going to get to all of the NPCs as I'd like... Hopefully @Syntia13, @vierrae and some of our other artists will come back soon!
Thanks for the tips and the appreciation, @Isandir! I did look around a bit and read your previous tips as well. I'm not skilled enough to put them to good use just yet, especially not working with such a small image as I presently am, but after another hour or so of work I think I managed something decent! As an addendum, I also rolled a 99 on this Paladin. Pretty happy with the outcomes so far.
I only need the courage to give him some armor now. Maybe just some chainmail leaking beneath the coat...
Thank you, @Ravenslight! I appreciate your, uhm, appreciation!
Really, it was somewhat hard, but not nearly as hard as thought it'd be (especially when you remember most slights fade away in-game). I'm sure that with a favorable image, with a good resolution and baldur-esque lighting, it'd be a breeze to come up with something fitting. I mean, when I get all loose ends tidied up, that is. He still has no armor, after all.
This awesome Half-Orc portrait is courtesy of Kim Sokol's Gallery on Deviantart. I really want to use it for my next playthrough, but I lack the software/skills required to give it an appropriate background rather than the simple white framing.
If anyone feels inspired, I would greatly appreciate having a Baldurized background added in a palette that suits the existing image. Note that I will be cropping it to 210x330 to focus in on the face, but I wanted to include the original image to provide the best resolution.
So I've been improving my drawing skills as of lately and did some portraits for other project, then decided to baldurise one of them. This one is drawn from scratch, because I find photomanipulation boring and not so good for practice. Used several pictures of Madds Mikelsen as reference. May as well baldurise my other works, if you, guys, find it to your liking.
Now with the PoE release, new and new portraits are made, a lot of them are suitable for BG/IWD, of course. These are the most interesting I've found recently:
http://dasgleinich.deviantart.com/ made custom portraits for his Pillars of Eternity created characters, and these portraits could be used for a custom party in BG as well (or each of them could be used for a charname):
http://dasgleinich.deviantart.com/ made custom portraits for his Pillars of Eternity created characters, and these portraits could be used for a custom party in BG as well (or each of them could be used for a charname):
The last one wears the Helm of Balduran, so it would be perfect.
I do realise noone is really interested, but oh well. I decided to redraw this portrait. Just because. But in result of saving the file something went horribly wrong with initial colours. Gah. And I am also in process of painting Xan's.
If anyone here is looking for a bit of a "challenge," perhaps someone here could give a "Baldur's touch" to this picture here:
I'm thinking of using this pic for a gnome multi-class (cleric/thief or cleric/illusionist).
I'm not looking for anything fancy, I prefer the face to remain largely the way that it is - I suppose that I just want it to look less like a photograph and more like artwork so that it fits in with the other BG portraits.
Here's a larger version of the same pic, if it helps:
Thanks in advance.
credits to artastrophe for the image i used as a background for the face
Thank you! I am genuinely delighted that you would register for that reason. Now that you're here, please do contribute more! I was never a member of any forum until this one, and there are some really great people here who have built an incredibly supportive community.
Well, I am a member of only one forum on the internet, a roleplaying community with a great deal of D&D and PF presence. I'm not sure in which ways I could contribute to these forums, but I'd be happy to try, of course. I'm not very knowledgeable on Baldur's Gate, to be honest, but I am in the process of trying to craft a portrait or two, myself.
That said, there is one thing I am attempting to do, which is to "baldurize" Halga and give him some plate armor. I wish I could find similar images to these with a better resolution. Alas, this is what I have to work with, and any advice would be welcome!
credit to artastrophe for background image (hence the tatoos)
Comments
EDIT: I just noticed that even his own sword wears an earring - is it Lilarcor??
If anyone here is looking for a bit of a "challenge," perhaps someone here could give a "Baldur's touch" to this picture here:
I'm thinking of using this pic for a gnome multi-class (cleric/thief or cleric/illusionist).
I'm not looking for anything fancy, I prefer the face to remain largely the way that it is - I suppose that I just want it to look less like a photograph and more like artwork so that it fits in with the other BG portraits.
Here's a larger version of the same pic, if it helps:
Thanks in advance.
That said, there is one thing I am attempting to do, which is to "baldurize" Halga and give him some plate armor. I wish I could find similar images to these with a better resolution. Alas, this is what I have to work with, and any advice would be welcome!
@Dan_Napier: I'm sure if you explore the forums a bit, you'll find some good D&D conversations going on - and not necessarily with a focus only on BG. As for the portrait, you picked one with the trio of difficult elements: low resolution, black and white, and bearded. Taking that into consideration, that's actually an incredibly good result, especially since you've never made one before! Adding color when none exists is always tough, and you did a very good job smoothing out the hair.
It's tough to nail down many specifics in portrait-making, and the best recommendation I can give is to simply experiment with the various tools in Photoshop (or whatever program you're using). I personally get the best results from heavy adjustment of contrast and shadows, and painting over images using the mixer brush tool. I recently started using the airbrush as well to add more tones to skin.
If you hop back to the old portrait thread, I did write a post that at least went over a few of the basic techniques I use. As you begin to try different tools and methods, you'll start discovering what works for you.
I only need the courage to give him some armor now. Maybe just some chainmail leaking beneath the coat...
Really, it was somewhat hard, but not nearly as hard as thought it'd be (especially when you remember most slights fade away in-game). I'm sure that with a favorable image, with a good resolution and baldur-esque lighting, it'd be a breeze to come up with something fitting. I mean, when I get all loose ends tidied up, that is. He still has no armor, after all.
*sad panda*
If anyone feels inspired, I would greatly appreciate having a Baldurized background added in a palette that suits the existing image. Note that I will be cropping it to 210x330 to focus in on the face, but I wanted to include the original image to provide the best resolution.
http://dancinfox.deviantart.com/art/Kivan-423331014
http://me9999.deviantart.com/art/Kivan-329249388
http://i.imgur.com/FV3gk5r.png?1
and more detailed view
I use this one for Neera. She's pretty wild mage, no?
This wasl drawn from scratch as well.
by http://lucanii01.deviantart.com/
by http://i2ebis.deviantart.com/
by http://markwester.deviantart.com/
AND:
by http://coupleofkooks.deviantart.com/ (also, have a look at amazing DAI-inspired portraits there, for example:
Also edited my older work. Works better now, imo.
And I am also in process of painting Xan's.
credits to artastrophe for the image i used as a background for the face
credit to artastrophe for background image (hence the tatoos)