PaintBG Introduction and Samples

I don't have a DA account, so I'll say it here.

Your hooded Edwin is.. awesome  

Very nice set, and probably the one I'll be using for the remainder of my current BGEE run.  I did make a minor edit to Viconia to darken her skin, redden her eyes,  and whiten her hair.  Doesn't quite match the "warm" feel that the rest of the portraits have, but I just prefer her that way.  Still, excellent work, especially the part where you avoided the style clash by remaking all of them at once.

Very nice set, and probably the one I'll be using for the remainder of my current BGEE run.  I did make a minor edit to Viconia to darken her skin, redden her eyes,  and whiten her hair.  Doesn't quite match the "warm" feel that the rest of the portraits have, but I just prefer her that way.  Still, excellent work, especially the part where you avoided the style clash by remaking all of them at once.

Do you mind sharing the render of your "darker" Viconia ?

Edited by Aranthys, 01 January 2013 - 06:33 AM.

That's more a question for the OP.  I can't see the harm in editing portraits for personal use, but some people aren't so hot on seeing their work changed up and distributed, particularly without prior consent.  If Lava and artastrophe are okay with it, I'll post my recolor.

I'm not the one to answer Arta should be here around and let's wait and see what's her decision

I don't have a DA account, so I'll say it here.

Your hooded Edwin is.. awesome

awww yay; so glad you like him!! (I ended up painting over a DIFFERENT older portrait I had floating around, actually. ^^) Thanks for reminding me to take care of that.    <3

That's more a question for the OP.  I can't see the harm in editing portraits for personal use, but some people aren't so hot on seeing their work changed up and distributed, particularly without prior consent.  If Lava and artastrophe are okay with it, I'll post my recolor.

Okay, so, um hmm hmm... that is a really hard one for me to answer, actually. xD I don't want to sound like a diva (or a douchebag), but I have to admit, I get a really weird feeling if I see my work edited/tweaked/re-used ("not so hot" is probably a good summary, haha)... although I couldn't say whether it's a control issue or just stemming from elaborate insecurities on my part. ^^; (In any case, I can't help but assume that's partly what's behind my offer to provide alternate versions myself. )  I actually had similar suggestions regarding Viconia back when I first posted her, so it was something I was thinking of addressing anyway. (I did post an alternate of her with red eyes at least--but I understand that's only part of it.)

And for me, a major part of it is how the image works as a whole: I would prefer to start with a fresh approach rather than just making cosmetic tweaks that might stand out/be more jarring if they weren't part of the original color scheme/overall plan... I was thinking about painting a more classic drow female anyway (red eyes, white hair, and trying to adhere more closely to 'obsidian-colored' skin.... although skin has so many varying tones to it that doing literal black skin was impossible to do naturally; I wanted to practice that a bit more anyway...).

And omg I'm rambling. xD I realize I must sound so defensive, aghhh!! The last thing I want to do is be a jerk about it or anything! So yeah, you're totally right, there's no harm in it for personal use, and I would never want to begrudge you that... I just seem to have a hang-up on distributing it, maybe??  I made Viconia to fit how I pictured her, and it is entirely understandable to me that not everyone else sees her the same way. But I guess I'd like to submit my own variation of that more traditional drow coloring rather than having someone take over it for me. (Although I would also understand if my substitute version didn't work for everyone either. ^//^; )

So, um, I guess I don't even know! I'm so sorry. But I do have some free time tomorrow... I think it would be fun to give this another try... so if you have any more detailed suggestions or anything else I should take into consideration (such as her outfit, even! Yellow's a pretty weird choice, but it made sense in the original to set off her violet/blue skin nicely. ;D), let me know.

And I guess... I understand that so much of BG's enduring enjoyment is due to the fun you can have with customization and just endless options... and I know I've encountered plenty of variations on the original portraits, some of which were quite good. So I'm starting to think I should just try and get over it, lol... I'm inclined to blame my hesitation on my being much closer to a "starving artist" than a more legitimate respected/established one; without that security to fall back on, I think I just end up feeling extra clingy overprotective. ^///^ But thank you for taking my crazy sensitive artist sensibilities into account, lol... and I'm incredibly flattered that this is even meriting a discussion and that people are interested... so, really, thank you guys; it's been very inspiring. <3 Maybe I just need a little time to get used to the idea. ^^

((Sorry sorry sorry that was a horrible non-answer. xD If you want to send Aranthys (or whoever asks) your render, I would feel like the biggest asshole in the world to try to stop you! But maybe hold off on posting it anywhere publicly til I attempt one myself, hehe. ))

Edited by artastrophe, 01 January 2013 - 05:21 PM.

Bless you artastrophe! You have every right to feel that way about your art. You've worked very hard on it, after all. And I'm sure everyone understands

I'm a huge fan of your work, btw. I can't wait for some free time to try out all these beautiful portraits. And I look forward to any portraits you make for the PC, when/if you get your mojo back!

@artastrophe

No problem with that answer at all.  It's your work, and you are certainly as entitled to say nay as yay on that topic.  I really only mentioned it as a way of commentary anyway(making my own edit seemed more polite than requesting that you adhere to my preferences).  I usually try to restrict my alterations to publicly available resources, but aside from my preference in coloration, your Viconia is the best I've seen anyone make, so it seemed a waste not to use it even if never sees a hard drive other than my own.

But since you mentioned it, I would be keenly interested in seeing your take on a more traditional drow look.

As for suggestions...  well Shar's symbol is a black disk with a purple border, so that might be a good start for clothing.  For me, the thing about your Viconia that stands out the most(in a good way) is the facial expression.  Not really malicious, but certainly a guarded, suspicious look that really fits her personality(when you get to know her better in BG2), so you've certainly got that down.  I guess the big thing that most drow attempts get wrong(for me, at least) is that while using actual black doesn't really work(as you mentioned), using blue usually ends up making the subject look more smurf than drow.  I usually try to split the difference and use a desaturated dark blue to start with, though since my stuff is all photoshop edits, I'm not sure how well that would work in an actual painting.

Which I guess means that I don't really have any particularly useful suggestions...  

Edited by Scars Unseen, 02 January 2013 - 05:29 AM.

These are pretty darn awesome!

This artwork is soo awesome.. 

/me bow downs in respect

Thanks (speaking both for me and Arta )

Hooly! There's so many of them Amazing, guise!

I especially like the picture with them all together, but that's cause I'm a packrat and they all look like parts of one set, so my "gotta catch them allllll" brain mode activates x3

They add a whole different layer of realism to the portraits in game and I love it. <off to dA to look at the big sizes, though she already recognizes dat Edwin>

Edited by Echo, 05 January 2013 - 06:32 AM.

Thanks It was a pleasrue to code these

Just registered to say I downloaded this and absolutely love it. I love how it catches all the characters iconic looks and/or personalities, yet has a style all of it's own (Kinda inbetween BG and IWD, which is fantastic imo) and even has some unused PC avatars as well.

Two questions:

*Will this be updated for the new NPC introduced in yesterdays BG:EE update?

*Is the Woman1 picture supposed to be the 'canon' Jaheira? Since, other than her painting, she's supposed to be blonde haired and green eyed? The alternate Jaheira portrait in my original install looked more like a gnome or pixie, with the stern, auburn picture in a sub folder.

no, it's not Jaheira This portrait replace BG1 Jaheira in BG2 (in BG2 is considered player1 optional portrait). It's not used if you play BG1 as it's not Jaheira Same goes for some other like Minsc or Viconia. Not sure if you know what I mean xD

Will tell Arta about the drow NPC I suppose thay yeah - we'll prepare some new but not like now We're considering adding some mod NPC portraits But it's not like now and nothing is ready, so... those are just our plans

Thanks and we're glad you like the mod

Thanks, guys!! I guess I need to get around to actually sizing/bitmapping everything now, but I have a few updates done (including tattooed version of Minsc, hooded Edwin, the darker Viconia). Adding tattoos to Sarevok has also been requested, so I'll probably throw that in there, too.

As far as new portraits, I'm always working on something (whether or not it's anything usable is another story ), but I can get started on the new NPC for sure! The thing is, I can't find anything on it anywhere, even knowing it's a drow... the only search result I get in regards to drow is "Baeloth" who I think is from the Black Pits questline? And (at least my) update notes didn't mention anything about a new character... so if someone could give me some more info, I'd be happy to. Otherwise I could just draw a generic drow male who is presumably evil... but of course it'd be nice to have a bit more of a clue so I don't mess up expressions like with Dorn and Rasaad hehe...

But in any case, I would like to practice painting drow, anyway; I saw that the Forums had "Ust Natha" portraits as one of the future fan art challenges http://forum.baldurs...-rules-sign-ups and thought that would be a bit of fun... so I was kind of in a drow-painting mood, anyhow! ^^

And thanks again to everyone for the kind words/suggestions! <3

Edited by artastrophe, 15 January 2013 - 04:34 PM.

Thanks, guys!! I guess I need to get around to actually sizing/bitmapping everything now, but I have a few updates done (including tattooed version of Minsc, hooded Edwin, the darker Viconia). Adding tattoos to Sarevok has also been requested, so I'll probably throw that in there, too.

 

As far as new portraits, I'm always working on something (whether or not it's anything usable is another story ), but I can get started on the new NPC for sure! The thing is, I can't find anything on it anywhere, even knowing it's a drow... the only search result I get in regards to drow is "Baeloth" who I think is from the Black Pits questline? And (at least my) update notes didn't mention anything about a new character... so if someone could give me some more info, I'd be happy to. Otherwise I could just draw a generic drow male who is presumably evil... but of course it'd be nice to have a bit more of a clue so I don't mess up expressions like with Dorn and Rasaad hehe...

Here's Baeloth's picture/char sheet. I'm not a huge fan of evil parties (although a NPC or two may sneak into the group), Baeloth is actually damn interesting. He's kind of like an over the top, alliterating, magical lanista, who loses his cool just eeeevery now and then and drow enough that even Viconia is like, 'Whoa.'. You'll want to pick him up as Edwin and Baeloth kind of have a bit of a one-upsmanship rivalry that looks like it could become full-on awesome in BG2.

http://img28.imagesh...48/85329505.jpg

I understood you Lava. I was just wondering, because she was supposed to be a blonde but the artist made her a brunette in the first game and they fixed it in the second. The Woman1 picture just kind of accidently looked like she was (sorta, kinda) supposed too! Anyways, it's close enough that it will become my new Harper for the time being. And I've bookmarked this page and the deviantart page so I can check up now and then to see when this new thing you were talking about eventually hits.

Thanks a lot, Mykra!! I may have to try to pick him up first; you've definitely got me intrigued! And not just because you mentioned Edwin, I swear.

As far as Jaheira being blonde, I hadn't thought about that at all-- although her hair is a bit lighter in BG2; it apparently wasn't a remarkable enough difference for me to notice. xD (And I didn't have the game/paper dolls available to reference at the time, oops.*) Although it's sort of a coincidence that we used that (sorta kinda) similar blonde portrait (supposed to be a gnome, btw!) as an overwrite for Jaheira's extra BG1 portrait, hehe... but anyway, it's also kind of funny, because one of the pictures I found to use as an inspiration for Jaheira was http://waga27.devian...et=60#/d25ty5u, which happens to be blonde. ^^

*and apparently Khalid has orange hair, which I just noticed on this playthrough... now that might actually require a drastic change. x3

I'm more active on dA than here/ more likely to update that first... but when I post anything officially downloadable I will mention it here. The problem is, I have some of those portraits done and already posted on dA, I just haven't gotten around to the drudgery of resizing and renaming and formatting bitmaps so I was waiting til I had a pile of them I could go through all at once. So you'll see the art first on the dA page, even if it's not properly usable yet. ^^; But thanks for watching!! I'll try to get around to it in the next day or two, and hopefully be able to add Baeloth on there then, too.

And yeah, definitely looking forward to meeting this drow, muahaha.... think I'll try to do that tonight!

Huhhh not sure if I missed something... stayed up three hours to fight through the Black Pits and it was nothing more than horde mode?? (Although I kind of suspected that, which is why I had avoided it til now. xD) That got old pretty fast. Did I miss the part where you could get Baeloth to join your party? >_>; IN ANY CASE... at least he seems like a pretty interesting character. There's no shortage of mad mages in BG, is there? At least I have a much better idea of his character now. Should be way more fun to paint him than to play his gladiator games. ^^ Have to wait til tomorrow, though, since he made me stay up all night already.

Edited by artastrophe, 15 January 2013 - 11:02 PM.

Huhhh not sure if I missed something... stayed up three hours to fight through the Black Pits and it was nothing more than horde mode?? (Although I kind of suspected that, which is why I had avoided it til now. xD) That got old pretty fast. Did I miss the part where you could get Baeloth to join your party? >_>; IN ANY CASE... at least he seems like a pretty interesting character. There's no shortage of mad mages in BG, is there? At least I have a much better idea of his character now. Should be way more fun to paint him than to play his gladiator games. ^^ Have to wait til tomorrow, though, since he made me stay up all night already.

Looking forward to ginger Khalid though!

Edited by Mykra, 16 January 2013 - 02:13 AM.