So I heard you like Betrayal at Krondor...

[Hekateras]

Wow, it's been a while since I received critique more than a paragraph long.

I think it's partially due to the vibrant colours you use, I'd love to see a bit more bleakness there. Nothing really realistic, just a bit more grime; I see you tried with the blood smears but whatever effect that could have is ruined by the fairy-tale blue sky (you could've picked a more pale shade of blue, fits the Northlands better).

Wait a minute, fairytale blue? You're sure it's not your monitor settings? Because I'm seeing a relatively pale, frosty blue here, and that's more or less how it's turned out in print, too. But noted.

Also, you could practice a bit with facial details. Gorath's face should be more rugged, not as shapely, pure and clean as you had shown him; some shading on his face would do well, a subtle bruise perhaps as well. His ears could be more jagged, his stare could be more grim; in your rendition he looks more like a Final Fantasy character rather than a guy whose first memorable mention in the game is when he strangles his own kin with shackles ;D.

Point. If you look closely, though, he does have that scar mentioned in his description.

If you don't enjoy a realistic approach perhaps try drawing something more abstract? Distort all the shapes instead of trying to redraw some sort of an ideal version in your head. Distort proportions in a way that fits the mood, make the sky sickly green, make his ears sharp as knives and longer than his head etc, you get the idea. Whatever you pick, remember to try to make all the elements - colours, characters, scenery etc - serve in creating a mood you desire. What can be seen on the drawing is not an end but only a means to an end - the aim of every piece of art is to guide the viewer's impressions. The more conscious you'll be of how different things affect the final impact of what you're doing the better your drawings will get over time.

I like trying to go for realism, though - or at least, it's usually a good idea to become solid at realism *before* branching out and distorting that realism. Thanks for the advice, though.

EDIT: Tried giving your Gorath a bit more Icewind Dale'ish look via photoshop, it was rather a failure but here it is:

Desaturated it, desaturated the face and the ear alone even more and applied a low opacity cutout layer on the face then fooled with RGB curves to make red highlights more highlited and the rest of the colors more bleak.

Erk. Does it look green to you? Because I'm seeing a lot of green there. o_O I do like the slightly darker and bleaker look, thoughl, even if it's less realistic, what with all the bright, reflective snow around.
Thanks for the critique, at any rate!

 

[Monocause]

OK, OK, it's not 'fairytale' blue, could've been paler anyway ;P And yeah, the greens were more pronounced in the ps'd version, I kinda like the effect.

Snow is no longer bright and reflective when dark and gritty characters approach!

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

I still don't get how you think an elf is supposed to look ancient, especially when about 1/6 of his face is shown.

I wanted to teach you a lesson by posting a million pictures (at least) of proper ancient elves that would blatantly prove how young and effeminate your elf looks. So, without further ado, I Google imaged "elven elder"...

I got this.

I guess you're alright after all.

 

[Blu3vib3]

Bam. Series of headcanon pieces started. It's James. There's also a broody piece of fiction behind the picture, as with the last one.

 

[commie]

Nice. Didn't know that James was a Joo.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Nice. Didn't know that James was a Joo.

jimmy the itchy hand

 

[Wyrmlord]

Did anybody else imagine the Midkemian Kingdom characters with some kind of a melodramatic Spanish accent? You know, because of the funny moustaches?

"I be signor Locklear, and I go where I please!"

Plus, I imagined the moredhel as sounding Russian. Since they are villainous people coming from a cold place.

 

[unusual]

Hello all.

Anyone know " rations " hex code? Im dead chapter 6 sleeping glide. :-(