Now Viconia looks like a male 70's/80's rockstar dressed, or rather make-upped, in a way that emphasizes female characteristics.
I orchestrated a war to slaughter thousands. I have felt the cold embrace of death. I have witnessed the horrors of the abyss. But you, Viconia... you scare me. - Sarevok
A spoiler for those who take pleasure in viewing unaesthetic compositions and would rather see lens distortion, wide-set eyes and/or a blue-skinned bosom.
It's awful I mean, you did what was possible and even adapted to BG2 traditional portrait, but if Mazzy, modified Anomen and he/she Cerdn look at least intriguing (Cerdn) or simply beautiful (Mazzy), this one is a pure horror, well described by Scriver's remark.
I think the thing that seems the most amiss about the proto -Viconia to me is that feeling of amateurishitude I mentioned in my first post. To explain, the reason I call it amateurish is because I get the same feeling from looking at stuff I've drawn myself, especially faces. It's like, all the parts of a face is there, and they don't exactly look bad in themselves, but there is something missing that sorta binds them together and makes it a face. So it just doesn't end up looking like the whole of the face belongs together. It's really hard for me to explain, but it's like that with how the Viconia pic looks to me.
As for all the artists, I really appreciate the effort you're putting in to "restore" the images. You are doing great work, please don't take my criticism as directed at your skill, as it has much more to do with the how the pictures looked in the original.
It's like, all the parts of a face is there, and they don't exactly look bad in themselves, but there is something missing that sorta binds them together and makes it a face. So it just doesn't end up looking like the whole of the face belongs together. It's really hard for me to explain, but it's like that with how the Viconia pic looks to me.
That was my sentiment on Mazzy I think Viconia looks good ! She looks like a real person, not like a model, and to me it's a good thing Maybe the "left" part of her face is a little weird, her eye is too big compared to the other, and her cheek is a little off, like, "too hollow" (it's hard to describe that sort of thing in English, sorry )
Anyway, I love this discussion ! And Cernd is awesome
Yay! But why did I read that in Jill Valentine's voice? Oh my cod...
I thought it funny that I could make Vicky look like this and went for it. But that ain't the end of this story! The pics I posted are full of troll, obviously. I got the armour mostly drawn, but the rest is just a very sloppy copy-paste off the newer Viconia. Including the bold black crayon I'm currently busy working on the next release of Diablo II Enhanced Edition something else and made these during one quick coffee break or another, seeing that nobody else was inclined. Will post a final version a bit later on, mayhap in a compilation with my other unreleased portraits. Right now, one of my neural networks is still working hard on analyzing 50k+ shots of Scarlett Johannson in search of facial structures that could possibly turn this hideous-alien-monster-looking-70s-rocker-transvestite Viconia into a more or less usable alt portrait. 50k+ randomized female faces, I mean
Okay so she looks a bit different now. I also used the armor from original Mazzy because I was too lazy to give good colors to it and they are very similar anyway.
I totally can not see why they changed her looks...
shouldn't his hair / facial hair be a bit darker? I would add some brown shades.
Yes Anomen's hair is a darker brown, but looking at the 'in progress' art, in which his hair is a lighter grey, perhaps it was originally intended for him to have light hair.
This 'in progress' portrait looks more like Keldorn though.
His hair is definitely weird somehow. For example I didn't realize, that he may have a pony tail, not cropped hair, until i posted the colored picture. I tried to remain as close to the original pic as i can, and from that i guessed his hair blonde or grey. I went with blonde in my edit. Nevertheless, i updated the above post with a less shiny haired version, which match better the shade of his facial hair.
For reference here is my edit in greyscale and the original monochrome portrait:
Now, that i look at that, maybe there hides a bigger half smile behind that "gr"...
The longer I look at that portrait, the more I see Winthrop in it. Judging from the facial plumpness, I bet they have the same body type as well. Even his armor is as clean as an elven arse!
BTW, I think the problem with the portrait is that it should change if Anomen is rejected by the Order. I guess he wouldn't use this... badge or however it should be called. It should appear only if he's accepted, I guess.
And people complain about her finalized portrait ... I think we dodged a bullet there :V Though I guess with a different face and a, uhm, boob job this portrait make actual make for a nice addition to the game. Either way, nice work!
It's like the original artist couldn't decide whether to have her standing straight on to the viewer or quarter turned to the left. So her shoulders are turned, but her chest is straight on. Her head and neck are centered above her shoulders, but not above her chest, and her collar is shown straight on, but is centered on her turned shoulders instead of her straight chest.
Comments
Otherwise, the Youtube video cut the last part, so here's the monochrome portrait at the finish:
And now you know why
As for all the artists, I really appreciate the effort you're putting in to "restore" the images. You are doing great work, please don't take my criticism as directed at your skill, as it has much more to do with the how the pictures looked in the original.
I think Viconia looks good ! She looks like a real person, not like a model, and to me it's a good thing
Maybe the "left" part of her face is a little weird, her eye is too big compared to the other, and her cheek is a little off, like, "too hollow" (it's hard to describe that sort of thing in English, sorry
Anyway, I love this discussion !
And Cernd is awesome
I thought it funny that I could make Vicky look like this and went for it. But that ain't the end of this story!
The pics I posted are full of troll, obviously. I got the armour mostly drawn, but the rest is just a very sloppy copy-paste off the newer Viconia. Including the bold black crayon
I'm currently busy working on
the next release of Diablo II Enhanced Editionsomething else and made these during one quick coffee break or another, seeing that nobody else was inclined.Will post a final version a bit later on, mayhap in a compilation with my other unreleased portraits. Right now, one of my neural networks is still working hard on analyzing 50k+ shots of Scarlett Johannson in search of facial structures that could possibly turn this hideous-alien-monster-looking-70s-rocker-transvestite Viconia into a more or less usable alt portrait.
50k+ randomized female faces, I mean
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5CKw6-dMXtY/UEVZvXyGA0I/AAAAAAAAAHk/_f74Alnogho/s1600/medusa-clash-of-the-titans.jpg
Looks like this another version of the test portrait found in BG2 and onwards:
This 'in progress' portrait looks more like Keldorn though.
I tried to remain as close to the original pic as i can, and from that i guessed his hair blonde or grey. I went with blonde in my edit. Nevertheless, i updated the above post with a less shiny haired version, which match better the shade of his facial hair.
For reference here is my edit in greyscale and the original monochrome portrait:
Now, that i look at that, maybe there hides a bigger half smile behind that "gr"...
Again i didn't try to make the original "better", just tried to remove the watermark and colorize it.
Enjoy
Though I guess with a different face and a, uhm, boob job this portrait make actual make for a nice addition to the game. Either way, nice work!
Yeah. No.
Well, there's always Edwin Mesmer. That was is quite good and almost ready to be used. :P
And here's a version without the watermark.
I suppose that really is ready to use. :-)