Shagnak
Shagadelic
The portraits are fine. Go with it.
As opposed to the rest of the game?MacBone said:I'm not crazy about the first two character portraits. Neither is bad, but they both seem more amateurish than professional. Each seems flat compared to the third portrait you posted.
The "artistic quality" isn't relevant here - and few people are commenting on that. In terms of quality, I don't see anything wrong with the portraits. My issue is with what they're saying, not how they're saying it.Lomer said:...to judge the artistic quality of the pictures...
Again, I don't think the criticism should be viewed as aimed at the portraits. It's aimed at the usefulness of those portraits in the context. If a carpenter makes a wardrobe, and is criticized with "I can't sit on that.", it's no reflection on his skill as a carpenter - merely of the (mis)direction of his talents in the context....it is not a good idea to criticize so strongly the work of a potential member of your team...
That's probably good advice, but I'd still say it's important to know what the intent is - they're good portraits if and only if they achieve what's required in the context.Sometimes the concept artists post their work for preliminary discussions with their colleagues on boards such as http://www.conceptart.org/forums , so you may ask your proposed artist to look for advice there. Please note that the discussions there are much “softer†and constructive compared to the feedback you received on the Codex’s boards.
I often prefer my mental visualization of character portraits better than rendered ones. I have encountered this phenomena repeatedly in films made from books. The imagination is a powerful paintbrush, especially when the text descriptions are at the level they seem to be.
Eh, if VD wants to go for the "hey, here's something I did in my spare time" look for AoD, that's a valid objection. Sure, that would be a true statement, but seems like he wants this game to be the best that it can possibly be. Teudogar's portraits aren't outstanding, but they're adequate.Lumpy said:As opposed to the rest of the game?MacBone said:. . .they both seem more amateurish than professional. Each seems flat compared to the third portrait you posted.
Also, could everyone stop posting shitty alternatives? Because they're, uh, shitty.
The Codex represents the core audience. So if someone is competent enough to judge the artistic and other qualities, it would be these fine people. I know that Bethesda teaches us that only mighty DEVs are competent enough to judge stuff, but we tend to do things differently.Lomer said:I think that the portraits are decent. That being said, I don’t believe that portraits or concept art should be discussed with the community in the manner you’re discussing the gameplay mechanics. Although most of the members of these fora have some general idea what they want from an RPG, very few of us are competent enough to judge the artistic quality of the pictures.
Well, I like his contribution and respect his desire to help, but I will not overlook flaws and pretend that everyone who works for Iron Tower is the most gifted individual ever, whose skills shall not be questioned.I agree with Roqua that it is not a good idea to criticize so strongly the work of a potential member of your team...
I'm very familiar with conceptart.org, that's where I got several artists from. The discussions are softer there, of course, but this is the Codex. I was terrified when I posted the first screen, to be honest, but I came to love the straight forward, often brutal, but always honest and very helpful criticism.Sometimes the concept artists post their work for preliminary discussions with their colleagues on boards such as http://www.conceptart.org/forums , so you may ask your proposed artist to look for advice there. Please note that the discussions there are much “softer†and constructive compared to the feedback you received on the Codex’s boards.
Vault Dweller said:While we are working day and night ensuring that the combat system suckage doesn't exceed 80%, some guy decided to draw some portraits for us. I have my reservations (a lot of reservations, in fact), but what do you all think?
Give all character's equally detailed ones, or do none at all.
You are so full of shit.They aren't great, no way around it.
Give all characters talking heads, or none at all?Elhoim said:QFT.
Claw said:Give all characters talking heads, or none at all?Elhoim said:QFT.
Hey, that sounds like the logical conclusion.