Awesome, thanks a lot. I'm already looking for a good model to implement all the advises you gave me. I hope i will find one soon, can't wait to see the results.
Hi, friends, one of the most beautiful sets of custom portraits I've ever seen is this one by Plasmocat:
I am using these in my current BG:EE playthrough, as I often have in the past. What is striking to me about this portrait set, is that not only are the npc's "beautified", but the portraits' quality is increased by an order of magnitude in brightness and vibrancy. In-game, these portraits just leap off the screen at me, and make the beloved characters "come to life" even more than the originals did.
I also agree with the artistic decision that Minsc should be black, as is Dynaheir. Another famous BG photoshop artist, Enkida, also makes the same decision.
I am posting this here for a couple of reasons:
1) I was hoping to find some of Plasmocat's work for BG2 portraits. I plan to use her portraits for BG2 for every character for which there is one available, but it appears that many of the links at both G3 and SHS for her portrait downloads are now broken. So, I was wanting to ask if anyone knows what's up with all that? Is Plasmocat wanting and trying to withdraw her work from the public? Does anyone know anything?
2) Also, I'm pretty sure it was someone else here who first pointed me to Plasmocat's work. I seem to remember downloading my initial Plasmocat BG1 portrait set from that old Drop Box project. What is the story with that? I think I heard that there were some issues with work being put into the Drop Box without artists' permission, and that some of it was copyrighted. Is that what happened?
@Foggy, thanks, I've seen those from G3. What I was hoping for was a chance to save copies of the portraits without actually running a Weidu mod that would start messing with my game program. Is there an option in the Weidu downloads to extract the portraits without rewriting anything in the program (and that mod is likely incompatible with EE in its programming anyway)?
It was while searching for such a download that I encountered broken links, and also, some hits that led to shs yielded broken links.
I did find the G3 downloads, but they all yielded a G3 mod with no visible option to collect the portraits without running a mod.
You can run the weidu install and point to any other directory than game portraits like to your desktop, the install will be aborted but the files will be extracted to that directory and you can browse them and copy paste whatever portrait you chose from there into the game portraits folder.
@belgarathmth: I loved many of Plasmocat's portraits as well when I first found them a few years ago. If you or anyone else does manage to find a site of hers, I'll add it to the list at the beginning of the thread.
@booinyoureyes: If you're able to get a version of that picture (or a different one) at a higher resolution with greater clarity, I could make something with it. Using it now would be possible, but it will look more painted and less BGish.
@souma: It's on my to-do list, really! (It's just not that high on the list right now...) I'd probably add a written tutorial with screenshots on my website before doing a video. I frankly just hate how I sound in recordings, even though I've done some voice-over work for my job.
Portraits by Amalthea from NWN Vault, thought these would fit well in BG2. Added small size version for the ones that may turn pixelated when automatically resized on a HD monitor. As @Isandir already mentioned, the automatic resize function should really be improved.
So...are we not allowed to baldurize famous people anymore? If this is the case that I apologize in advance and any artist can completely ignor my request.
I do have a request for any artist to take up the challenge. *cough cough* Isandir *cough cough
I would like to baldurize this beauty. So what I would like to request. 1. Full plate, silver with gold highlights (cant believe Im saying this but...cover them lovelies) 2. A gold crown 3. glowing white eyes Kind going for a Paladin Queen kind of thing. No holy symbol though.
@Foggy, I recognize the second one on the top row - that's an alternate portrait of the famous Aribeth, probably the most loved and interesting NPC in Neverwinter Nights - and another good study in paladins, like Keldorn. In Aribeth's case,
she actually falls as a paladin, and it's a beautifully tragic story of how it happens.
Most people seem to think the Neverwinter Nights OC story was kind of copy pasted together just to get the game out the door and showcase the Aurora toolset, but I think Aribeth's story is pretty good. Really, I'm in a minority who thought the NWN OC story was actually pretty good.
Also, is "Amalthea" the same person as "Amaurea"? Those portraits look a lot like Amaurea's style, especially the top row.
I actually use the James Purefoy one as my bard (it is an excellent picture, and I usually dislike the use of celebrities... this one is just too good)
There are actually two versions. The one I use for my Blade is not in armor like that one, but a cloth shirt. Both are excellent.
@Foggy, thanks for the corrected information. I'm not sure why I'm connecting that portrait with Aribeth, but I'm almost sure I've seen it used for her somewhere. Maybe I just did it myself a long time ago because I thought it would be a good picture for her, and then I forgot about it.
@booinyoureyes, Amaurea's bg portraits are awesome. They are very zoomed in on the faces, such that one of their advantages is that you don't have to worry about matching sprite colors to portrait colors, if that sort of detail bothers you.
@Astafas your wife reminds me of Rachel McAdams Very elegant
She thanks for the compliment! People more often mention Scarlet Johansson or Mila Jovovich. Very much off topic for the thread, but here's a snapshot from a masquarade last year (with her permission, of course):
@Astafas your wife reminds me of Rachel McAdams Very elegant
She thanks for the compliment! People more often mention Scarlet Johansson or Mila Jovovich. Very much off topic for the thread, but here's a snapshot from a masquarade last year (with her permission, of course):
Uh-oh!! I think we may need to close this thread too! Astafas is sharing portraits of others without getting their permission!!
What? It's his wife? And he got her permission...? Uh, okay then. Move along. Nothing to see here!
Comments
Awesome, thanks a lot.
I'm already looking for a good model to implement all the advises you gave me. I hope i will find one soon, can't wait to see the results.
I am using these in my current BG:EE playthrough, as I often have in the past. What is striking to me about this portrait set, is that not only are the npc's "beautified", but the portraits' quality is increased by an order of magnitude in brightness and vibrancy. In-game, these portraits just leap off the screen at me, and make the beloved characters "come to life" even more than the originals did.
I also agree with the artistic decision that Minsc should be black, as is Dynaheir. Another famous BG photoshop artist, Enkida, also makes the same decision.
I am posting this here for a couple of reasons:
1) I was hoping to find some of Plasmocat's work for BG2 portraits. I plan to use her portraits for BG2 for every character for which there is one available, but it appears that many of the links at both G3 and SHS for her portrait downloads are now broken. So, I was wanting to ask if anyone knows what's up with all that? Is Plasmocat wanting and trying to withdraw her work from the public? Does anyone know anything?
2) Also, I'm pretty sure it was someone else here who first pointed me to Plasmocat's work. I seem to remember downloading my initial Plasmocat BG1 portrait set from that old Drop Box project. What is the story with that? I think I heard that there were some issues with work being put into the Drop Box without artists' permission, and that some of it was copyrighted. Is that what happened?
Thanks.
Drop Box thread was deleted for plagiarism and Copyright infringement, but Plasmocat work was always available for download at G3 site.
There are 3 different Plasmocat portrait packs: http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?app=downloads&showcat=31
It was while searching for such a download that I encountered broken links, and also, some hits that led to shs yielded broken links.
I did find the G3 downloads, but they all yielded a G3 mod with no visible option to collect the portraits without running a mod.
@booinyoureyes: If you're able to get a version of that picture (or a different one) at a higher resolution with greater clarity, I could make something with it. Using it now would be possible, but it will look more painted and less BGish.
@souma: It's on my to-do list, really!
The last one feels like a possible Aerie imo.
I do have a request for any artist to take up the challenge. *cough cough* Isandir *cough cough
I would like to baldurize this beauty.
So what I would like to request.
1. Full plate, silver with gold highlights (cant believe Im saying this but...cover them lovelies)
2. A gold crown
3. glowing white eyes
Kind going for a Paladin Queen kind of thing. No holy symbol though.
Thanks in advance
Most people seem to think the Neverwinter Nights OC story was kind of copy pasted together just to get the game out the door and showcase the Aurora toolset, but I think Aribeth's story is pretty good. Really, I'm in a minority who thought the NWN OC story was actually pretty good.
Also, is "Amalthea" the same person as "Amaurea"? Those portraits look a lot like Amaurea's style, especially the top row.
Amalthea is a Portuguese IT guy who did several NWN custom portraits http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Interviews.Detail&id=8, while Amaurea is a US lady who painted BG portraits mostly, there is indeed some style resemblance, especially with the portraits done for BG2, the ones of James Purefoy as Marc Anthony and Heath Ledger from A knight's Tale are my favorites of her work.
Amaurea's BG Portraits: http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=684
Amaurea site: http://www.freewebs.com/amaurea62/
There are actually two versions. The one I use for my Blade is not in armor like that one, but a cloth shirt. Both are excellent.
I have to check out more of Amaurea's stuff
@booinyoureyes, Amaurea's bg portraits are awesome. They are very zoomed in on the faces, such that one of their advantages is that you don't have to worry about matching sprite colors to portrait colors, if that sort of detail bothers you.
What? It's his wife? And he got her permission...? Uh, okay then. Move along. Nothing to see here!
/sneaks out the back door while no one's looking
One of, if not the best female barbarian pictures I've ever seen IMO.
She's convincingly powerful and ferocious while still retaining some feminine sensuality.