Portraits unearthed
Parys
Member Posts: 205
I would like to show you early version portrait of Cernd, Anomen, Viconia and Mazzy.
I dug them out from BG2 Demo files.
The most interesting are Anomen and Cernd. Especially Cernd, he looks like an indian shaman. What a interesting concept! And what do you think about that?
I dug them out from BG2 Demo files.
The most interesting are Anomen and Cernd. Especially Cernd, he looks like an indian shaman. What a interesting concept! And what do you think about that?
35
Comments
Cernd
The old shaman theme is indeed interesting though his head looks really tiny. Admittedly it might be due to his clothes but illusion or not it does look weird. Ultimately I think Cernd is better with his current more youthful portrait, as while he tries to be wise and somewhat mentor-like he doesn't succeed as much as he'd like to believe.
Anomen
Somewhat similar to his actual portrait except his close cropped hair makes him look a bit like Keldorn. Could have denoted some sort of obsession on his senior, where he would try to emulate him to become his knightly ideal but for the final Anomen a more boyish look fits better.
Viconia
Her eyes are enormous and her cheekbones really sharp, making her look more like a Dunmer than a Drow. But because the portrait is less stylized than TES models or artworks she dives straight into the Uncanny Valley as far as I'm concerned.
Mazzy
She has elven eyes but aside from that she just looks wrong for reasons I'm not quite able to determine. I just know I feel disturbed by the portrait o_O
Anyways nice find, it's interesting to see how the final characters' design changed from the first drafts.
Anomens eyes are too small for his head and too close to each other.
Viconia has too big eyes but other than that she looks okay.
Mazzy has her eyes slanted downward at the nose. If she had them a bit more regular she would have been fine.
Are the portraits in the demo really with the text and without colour? That is just too bad.
The Radiant Heart emblem looks a bit weird and Anomen's eyes are far too small. And he looks a lot like Keldorn, yes. Maybe this was a Keldorn portrait?
Viconia is nice, sultry and seductive and dangerous. I loved it the most. Then again, bg2 Viconia portrait is SO iconic.
Mazzy-Gaah! Burn it, burn it with fire! Sorry, looks too alien and uncanny valleyish to me.
However, it does make her appear to be elven, which is a plus. In BG2, Viconia is the only elf or half-elf whose portrait has distinctly human facial features (except for the Smurfette skin color).
However, if magical leather lingerie somehow projects some sort of protective force-field around the wearer (and who's to say it doesn't - after all, it's magic!), then that properly counts as armour even if it doesn't look like mundane armour. Since Viconia is written as a sultry seductress, it seems to me quite in character that she might deliberately choose magical armour which looks more like lingerie.
As for the portraits; my first reaction was
After taking another look, I still don't like Mazzy, Anomen and Viconia's drafts. Probably because of their eyes feel like they're creeped out of the Uncanny Valley. The same for Mazzy's tentacle hair which appears to move on its own.
I however wouldn't mind to have Cernd's around. It appears to be perfect for Totemic Druids and Shamans alike.
I can't see half-naked as being in character for either Anomen or Valygar; they're not written as showy seducers, for example. On the other hand, I reckon it'd be quite in character for Coran or Eldoth to be portrayed half-naked (with a "Mithral Codpiece +5" or whatever). That's not how the devs chose to portray them, but I'd have been fine with it if they had done this.
However, at least one of the officially-supplied male protagonist portraits has a largely-naked torso, and there are plenty of half-naked males in various widely-available portrait packs. You specifically want that if you're rolling a Kensai, since they can't wear armour, and it's likewise suitable for a Monk, but also some of the widespread male portraits seem to be intended as more orthodox warriors (because they're part-armoured, so not Kensai or Monk) and yet also substantially uncovered, so presumably these latter must be relying on "it's magic, so it can protect and reveal skin" just as Viconia credibly might.
So no, it's not only female characters to whom this applies. "Methinks the gentleman doth protest too much." I think it's a long time since it was only ever female characters who were portrayed half-covered, if this was ever actually true at all.
*ahem*...i mean, nice find.
Both very good work!
Personally, I would love to see that Viconia portrait fully restored.
Viconia looks like an amateur drawer's first attempt at elves, before they are able to get the proportions of the common elvish traits right.
Mazzy is just fucking wrong. It looks like an alien, or how a grey alien who have never seen a human would think people looked if described to him by a giraffe. The eye placement, the nose shape, the ratios... It's just way into the uncanny valley.
Cernd is the most okay. Doesn't look at all like the character Cernd to me, but of course there is the familiarity clause to think of. Something is up with the jaw/chin though. He looks like he simultaneously has a very wide jaw yet no jaw at all (and not in the sense some people have turtle chins either). It doesn't look unhuman or wrong, and i kinda like how it's not Mr Strongjaw Manlypants that so many fantasy images does, but there is something up with it.
"Look Uncle Lenny, I get it, you like big, hard things, and no I will not show you mine."