Portraits

[Eastside Character]

I like portraits from P&M mtw edition, but I would wish for all of them to be more uniformistic. That's why some time ago I decided to try to paint some portraits. Training time have passed, and now I feel what I will show at least wont be embarrasing for me.

These portraits are both adult and old versions, so when chracters are 16-49 and 50-death.

Making those portraits is a bit timeconsuming so the progress will be small, but I don't see anything else progressing pretty much faster so that should not be a big problem for the whole of mod. Anyway what do you think about my idea and about those portraits I made?

Regards
EC

[SwordsMaster]

I like the style of the pictures, but they are a bit cartoonish... (Sorry EC )

[Eastside Character]

I agree, it's probably because I didn't want to work my "s" off while making them. Simplified still appeal to me. But hey, if most people thinks makes no sense making them, still be making some others (but for other "things").

Regards
EC

[SwordsMaster]

No, I think they are cool, keep making them please. It is always possible to edit them a little bit or something

[Eastside Character]

Allright SM, but this thread now has sth like 60 views and only you expressed your opinion. Either you visited the thread like 40 times or more, which I doubt, or nobody wants to share their opinion. Come on people, if you view this thread and view the portraits, say what you think. I dont mind criticism as far as its reasonable, any suggestions are welcome as well. Think about it.

Regards
EC

[Sundjata Keita]

the portraits are ok but I think it would be easier just making pictures of people look like paintings or something. These look a lot better if you do them all - just put frames round them and put some wrinkles on the old people

[King Clas]

Hey they are good. I dont mind them being a bit cartoonish just aslong as they match the overall design and all the other graphics in the game. However I supose thoues portraits are mostly emissary pics since they dont look very much like generals. /Clas

[BadMan]

I think they look good, but they perhaps lack a *little* detail. Perhaps you could add a few wrinkles to the older versions, and maybe put the frame on. The idea of a "painting" really appeals to me, and it sort of has a feel to it that would probably fit in well with this mod. Also, perhaps you could see what it looks like if you edited it with Photoshop or something to make your images look a little more like a painting (with brush strokes and what not).

Just my opinion, but either way I think they look good.

[Sundjata Keita]

Yeah thts pretty much what I said and I took the liberty of trying brushstrokes in photoshop a long time ago but they don't really work. I will be happy with these in the final mod

[Eastside Character]

You're right about the cartoonish thing and about that there should be more details. I've been thinking of it myself, but haven't been actually doing much lately in this matter. I have only one new portrait, which is more detailed I think, but the whole collar thing seems a bit simplistic to me, I may have to work on it a bit more. Actually to paint the backbroung and his clothing took more time than the face itself.


And next time I'll try to add frames.

Regards
EC

[SwordsMaster]

I actually like that last one more. It looks much better.
I'm thinking that maybe its the bright colours that give it that cartoonish look. If the colours were more worn out and dark it would look more serious.

Anyway, are we going to have different portraits for every faction?

[Sundjata Keita]

Yeah I like the new one better. I think it's because of the shading. I can add a frame if you want, just tell me what type of frame ie. from a photo, cartoony, simple etc.

I think you are fussing way too much over this. When I played rome total war I hardly even noticed the portraits so they are no big deal. Honestly the collar is fine and no-one will notice any mistakes and everyone seems to like them anyway.

[Eastside Character]

Hey all,

Latety I haven't had much time for modding. Last two days I've been drawing a little tho. Here are some samples:


I'm satisfied with them.

These here are of the size of portraits in game:


As you can see they are pretty small, therefore I decided not to go into details too much when making any new portraits. Working on them will not be regular and all, simply bacause it would mean me doing it for a loooooong time, and that would be way too boring. So I'm just going to be making them from time to time, and I think before this mod is done there will be enough.

Portraits are culture specific as far as I know SwordsMaster.

Regards
EC

[hoggy]

They look excellent. Have you thought maybe about doing bald versions in photoshop then on new layers doing hair/moustaches variations etc. It would make your portraits go alot further. Top portraits anyway.

[Sundjata Keita]

The one on the right is amazing! Good work. It looks better because the shading is more realistic and more defined.

[SwordsMaster]

Yup, these look much better. Good job!

[Eastside Character]

Thank you all.

Have you thought maybe about doing bald versions in photoshop then on new layers doing hair/moustaches variations etc. It would make your portraits go alot further.

Yeah, I've been thinking about this, only that what stopped me from doing it was I thought the portraits might look too much alike and hence be kinda funny? Anyway I think I'll have to make an experiment, make some few variations based on one bald head, and see what happens... How did you know I make them using photoshop, is it hmmm... evident in any way?

It looks better because the shading is more realistic and more defined.

I've figured its the shading too.

And a little trick, one of the faces of the portraits I made is that of myself, I only adjusted the hair/facial hair. Always wanted to be a king or something.

Regards
EC

[SwordsMaster]

And a little trick, one of the faces of the portraits I made is that of myself, I only adjusted the hair/facial hair. Always wanted to be a king or something.

Imagine the disappointment if you pick up a few of the bad vices...*shiver*

[Eastside Character]

I tried the layered method for using the same face in combinations with different hair and other details. Here is an example how can it be.

What do you think?

Regards
EC

[Narayanese]

Looks good, they're somewhat similar to those paintings of ancestors you see in castles (but not as sooty). It's plain to see that it's the same person, so you ought to give them to different cultures (eg the middle one catholic) to lessen the chance of having two family members look just the same (I rather much on the portraits when I play and tries to familiarize myself to each familymember, so it's nice if they're all individual).

Here's a little crude experimenting with your picture.
Looks a little funny with painting as a background.

[SwordsMaster]

*applause* very good EC, they are getting better every time. We´ll have to have the rest of the game graphics in the same style. Are you up for it?
Nah, just joking.

Actually where are we going to ge the RTW unit infopics from? just upload the existing ones? But they are all different styles, sizes, etc...

[Eastside Character]

[quote=Narayanese]It's plain to see that it's the same person, so you ought to give them to different cultures (eg the middle one catholic) to lessen the chance of having two family members look just the same (I rather much on the portraits when I play and tries to familiarize myself to each familymember, so it's nice if they're all individual).[/'quote]

Making them different cultures is what I was thinking about when considering the whole idea of having same face/different details combinations. The one on the left would be like Greek culture, middle could work for most/all catholic/protestant factions, the one on the right could be like a diplomat for western european factions, or a general if wore armor. Anyway I'm not going to be making like 10 guys with the same face, some 3 or 4 is very much enough, and I will make them differ considerably. As a sidenote tho, I'd like to point out that within a family tree people would often look similar, like father like son, it happens pretty much often I suppose. Take a glimpse at some european dynasty portraits and you see some of them do look similar. Also take into consideration in RTW there aint as many portraits used as only the family memebers use them (and not like in MTW all units). All in all i want to say I think its not wrong if there are like 2 'cousin' portaits per culture.

Here's a little crude experimenting with your picture.
Looks a little funny with painting as a background.

Seriously, I dont think backgrounds should be that detailed. I like mine better.

*applause* very good EC, they are getting better every time. We´ll have to have the rest of the game graphics in the same style. Are you up for it?
Nah, just joking.

Actually where are we going to ge the RTW unit infopics from? just upload the existing ones? But they are all different styles, sizes, etc...

I'm glad you like them. I too think its getting better, its simply bacause I finally grasped the proper style, or a style I was aiming at.

The rest of the graphics, hmm, yeah I've even been thinking about it, only that its gonna take some time, and you know, first this then that, one at a time. The things (graphic things) I thought I could do are different event screens, the interface, some other screens and a bunch of stuff like ancillary pics etc. etc. I will do it, later.

About the infopics, I think the best way would be to render the units used in mod, just like it is in vanilla RTW. I like painting and drawing and all that, but drawing nice and detailed infopics for sth like 200 units or more, is just too much for one person. I think the rendering method is the best here. I know that eg. for Sengoku Jidai theres that Tomte guy who prepares units infopics, but hey, they have like 20 or 30 units max. In P&M tho, some factions have more than 20 units (take your native Spain for that instance).

Regards
EC