@SamuelVarg Nice one, I like the color scheme. I think that helmet/circlet should be much darker, since it's shadowed by the hood, same as half of Ed's face, but otherwise it's great. Speaking as a person who struggles with drawing/coloring metal, I say: Well Done, Sir.
In my head he read background is a symbol for Bhaals blod that CHARNAME and maybe not a reflecting light. So it depends on the source of the light.
I think what he is wearing is a tiara, of sort, made of silver. So maybe it should reflect a little red orange from the gloving stones from his bracers?
@SpaceInvader - This is true but usually in the case of big computer game companies, the artist forfeits his/her artwork once he sells it to the game developers and game developers rarely care to follow up on art edits unless they're infringing upon their trademark.
Personal artwork is almost always certainly followed up on though. People don't like their own stuff being messed with. I certainly wouldn't.
I'm not trying to be a pain - just giving a friendly warning.
I got your point and I agree with you to a certain point. But I don't see any harm if somebody puts a picture on a public site and that same picture gets modified for a private use (without making money out of it).
@SpaceInvader - I would agree if the painting wasn't signed. That usually is a surefire message of "This is mine, leave it alone."
Most artists do not mind you using their images for non-commercial private use, myself included - I would still ask though. There are other artists who do not like it at all. There are some on DeviantArt and other art websites who I have seen defending their work quite passionately. There is an artist named 'Nathie' on DeviantArt who has a disclaimer on all pieces of her work.
I remember I had a portrait posted up on the NWN Vault some years ago, and a month or so later I had found a carbon copy of my image uploaded onto the vault, but with slight changes (Red eyes, different background). I don't normally get annoyed about these things, but I couldn't help but think: "He could have asked me first the cheeky git". I had the vault remove it. I felt a bit petty, but I had worked hard on that image and it felt like somebody had just drawn a mustache on my own 'Mona Lisa' and then take credit for it. A little bit of courtesy can go a long way - all he had to do was ask or give me some credit.
Copyright can be a serious thing and unless you want to run the risk of angering somebody, all I can suggest is asking them first. Artists don't usually care that people use their work for personal use but it can a different issue altogether if the art is changed in any way.
Ok but if you want to take credit for a hypothetical picture, then a simple request won't change much. The modified version will travel through the Internet and none will know which one is the original version. I perfectly understand the point of view of the artist that would like some kind appreciation for his work. But the fact someone wants to use/modify the picture is already an implicit appreciation. That's why if you had a Mona Lisa, you would make sure no one can steal it Anyway, this thread is already full of modification requests.
I've spent some time building a collection of portraits. Since there are so many, and I would likely use so few, I decided to be very picky about which I added. And, I might as well share them I think. These are my top 12 that I've found.
First 5 I found from this thread/forum, that I'll also upload in this post for completeness:
I used the original picture as a base to paint the portrait nearly from scratch - I kept the bracer and the leathery... corset?... thingy, because I like its ornate look. Red robe to match Neera's in-game look, and Shield Amulet, because I hadn't tired of showing it off yet. ;P
That's better.. The default Neera is odd. The coloring and lack of detail is odd. The clothing on your revision as well as hands and staff are good. I still don't like her face, it seems to still be missing too much detail to me
I always thought Neera's portrait matched the original Baldur's Gate standard very well. Each to their own I guess.
Oh, yes, the BG:EE portraits do fit in among BG1 ones very well. The thing is, I prefer BG2-ish look, and I'm redoing as many BG1 portraits in this style as I can, mostly for my own use; In my current game all my companions have a new look, including Rasaad. Since I plan to run with Neera in my party next, I needed a new look for her as well.
You can see veins on the face and furrows of muscles underneath, more developed eyebrows, *battle/travel scars, even more shading of the facial regions..
*some people like them, some don't
Again, your portrait is a huge improvement over the original in my opinion
@smeagolheart Oh, I see. While some of the attributes you mention come from Keldorn being much older, experienced and a man, I understand what you mean. Unfortunately, at this point in time my skills and knowledge of human face are not sufficient to do any better than I did without life-like reference. There is an awesome on-line course teaching about drawing human faces that I keep meaning to go through; hopefully one day I will, and (again hopefully) I will then be able to add more nuances to faces I draw.
@Syntia13@smeagolheart - I prefer the BG2 portraits also, but I also love the lighting on the original BG portraits. It is something BG2 sorely lacked.
Whereas the faces were of the highest quality in BG2 there was a habit of re-using the same 'cloudy blue sky' background - which I hated.
My favourite portrait in the entire series of BG was Sarevok's portrait. It combined the beautiful lighting of BG1 with the intricacies and detail of BG2. I have tried to model my own portraits off this example.
Don't be too hard on yourself @Syntia13 - I like your work. I do however think that you should be a bit more liberal with your shadows and definition lines. Some contrasting darker colours would really bring your work to life.
Also do you use textured brushes? I find those really help in providing a life-like effect to skin. Skin is never one base colour. I plan on uploading a tutorial at some point of you're interested?
That new Neera one, I thought that was a gender-swap portrait, it looks a bit..less feminine, almost like a girly elf dude-like. Shield amulet and robe color are very nice touches, though. I love the original portrait, Neera looks so innocent, serene and cute (love those almond eyes!) she definitely should have had a CHA score higher than 11. I guess she can be a little rash, and may talk quite bluntly but still..
Comments
Tried a quick thing with Edwin.
Thoughts? Might do this again with a higher resolution and put on hour at doing it more thoughtfully.
I think that helmet/circlet should be much darker, since it's shadowed by the hood, same as half of Ed's face, but otherwise it's great. Speaking as a person who struggles with drawing/coloring metal, I say: Well Done, Sir.
Thanks for great input.
In my head he read background is a symbol for Bhaals blod that CHARNAME and maybe not a reflecting light. So it depends on the source of the light.
I think what he is wearing is a tiara, of sort, made of silver. So maybe it should reflect a little red orange from the gloving stones from his bracers?
Just playing with thoughts ...
Here is my attempt.
Personal artwork is almost always certainly followed up on though. People don't like their own stuff being messed with. I certainly wouldn't.
I'm not trying to be a pain - just giving a friendly warning.
But I don't see any harm if somebody puts a picture on a public site and that same picture gets modified for a private use (without making money out of it).
Most artists do not mind you using their images for non-commercial private use, myself included - I would still ask though. There are other artists who do not like it at all. There are some on DeviantArt and other art websites who I have seen defending their work quite passionately. There is an artist named 'Nathie' on DeviantArt who has a disclaimer on all pieces of her work.
Follow this link: http://nathie.deviantart.com/art/Decipere-308934623 to see what I mean.
I remember I had a portrait posted up on the NWN Vault some years ago, and a month or so later I had found a carbon copy of my image uploaded onto the vault, but with slight changes (Red eyes, different background). I don't normally get annoyed about these things, but I couldn't help but think: "He could have asked me first the cheeky git". I had the vault remove it. I felt a bit petty, but I had worked hard on that image and it felt like somebody had just drawn a mustache on my own 'Mona Lisa' and then take credit for it. A little bit of courtesy can go a long way - all he had to do was ask or give me some credit.
Copyright can be a serious thing and unless you want to run the risk of angering somebody, all I can suggest is asking them first. Artists don't usually care that people use their work for personal use but it can a different issue altogether if the art is changed in any way.
I perfectly understand the point of view of the artist that would like some kind appreciation for his work.
But the fact someone wants to use/modify the picture is already an implicit appreciation.
That's why if you had a Mona Lisa, you would make sure no one can steal it
Anyway, this thread is already full of modification requests.
@RogueParadin You aren't the first to notice...
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/3943/best-imoen-portrait/p4
First 5 I found from this thread/forum, that I'll also upload in this post for completeness:
5 are from the Magic 2013 game:
1 is the Fallout:New Vegas poster boy:
And the last I found while wandering the internet. Original source is here, I think: http://nekro.cgsociety.org/gallery/902122/
(you can get a much bigger version at http://syntia13.deviantart.com/art/Neera-then-and-now-377669004)
I used the original picture as a base to paint the portrait nearly from scratch - I kept the bracer and the leathery... corset?... thingy, because I like its ornate look. Red robe to match Neera's in-game look, and Shield Amulet, because I hadn't tired of showing it off yet. ;P
@smeagolheart Um... there's one nose, one mouth, two eyes and two eyebrows... what else is needed? (This may not sound like it, but it's a serious question).
Compare :
You can see veins on the face and furrows of muscles underneath, more developed eyebrows, *battle/travel scars, even more shading of the facial regions..
*some people like them, some don't
Again, your portrait is a huge improvement over the original in my opinion
There is an awesome on-line course teaching about drawing human faces that I keep meaning to go through; hopefully one day I will, and (again hopefully) I will then be able to add more nuances to faces I draw.
Whereas the faces were of the highest quality in BG2 there was a habit of re-using the same 'cloudy blue sky' background - which I hated.
My favourite portrait in the entire series of BG was Sarevok's portrait. It combined the beautiful lighting of BG1 with the intricacies and detail of BG2. I have tried to model my own portraits off this example.
Don't be too hard on yourself @Syntia13 - I like your work. I do however think that you should be a bit more liberal with your shadows and definition lines. Some contrasting darker colours would really bring your work to life.
Also do you use textured brushes? I find those really help in providing a life-like effect to skin. Skin is never one base colour. I plan on uploading a tutorial at some point of you're interested?