Curse

chobomaster · Jul 08, 2007, 06:04 AM // 06:04

Hello. I completed a few commissions for some of the patrons here and thought I could share them with you all.

Aidan Thurifuge:

Christopher Snow:

Dont Mess With Me:

All were done in both Painter IX and Photoshop CS2. Unfortunately I can't do any more for a while but perhaps some day..

Thanks for looking y'all

Mistical miss · Jul 08, 2007, 06:48 AM // 06:48

Sweet, interesting style

SPIRIT OF THE SEA · Jul 08, 2007, 02:34 PM // 14:34

Wow thats awsome I love the ranger with the stalker

Messy · Jul 08, 2007, 02:41 PM // 14:41

Thanks a million Chobo, I really love it!! It's definitely a different style... Like Van Gogh came to Guild Wars

Really really cool.

I hope I can catch you in game today

Commander Ryker · Jul 08, 2007, 02:56 PM // 14:56

Loving mine....it's a different style then what's been done and variety as they say, is the spice of life.

To Spirit, Orson is a lynx, not a stalker. He gets very offended when called otherwise.

SPIRIT OF THE SEA · Jul 08, 2007, 05:47 PM // 17:47

lol sorry didnt know

Morag D · Jul 08, 2007, 08:00 PM // 20:00

something totally different again! wow, I like your style, very nice pictures

Xeroxz · Jul 09, 2007, 12:18 AM // 00:18

I love it, if you ever wanne make some ingame money for such a picture let me know

^_^; i'd be glad to pay 50k to 100k for it

StarrTheInsane · Jul 09, 2007, 12:44 AM // 00:44

Very nice color on all these. Great lighting and active strokes! You absolutely nailed the style. I love Aidan, thank you!

chobomaster · Jul 09, 2007, 01:20 AM // 01:20

Thanks all for the comments! Glad you all are enjoying your portraits. I have to say it's weird that everyone talks about the "style" in which I do these, since I never really thought of them that way. It really is something that just happens unintentionally.

StarrTheInsane · Jul 09, 2007, 04:21 AM // 04:21

Impressionism: Characteristics of Impressionist painting include visible brushstrokes, open composition, emphasis on light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subject matter, the inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles. -Wikipedia

Your work is similar to:

Morisot
Monet
Manet
Renoir

And I can tell you that's something special in these times. Not many people can do it. Nowdays, if it's not taking a close stab at photo-realism, it's more of a cartoon. Most artists are more concerned with the figure and the precision of detail (like I tend to be) than of the color, movement, light, and emotion. I think it's very important to capture those things, especially for someone who was willing to spend money (be it in-game) for a portrait of their character. It means there IS emotion there and it's not just some pixels on a screen. I, myself, fall short in that department, because I get caught up in so much detail that the emotion sometimes gets lost.

Your work has been very inspiring!

chobomaster · Jul 09, 2007, 10:54 PM // 22:54

Wow, those are very kind words.. but I dunno if I deserve to be compared to Monet or Van Gogh & the others.

But you're definitely bringing up a subject that I'm very concerned with. Stylized or cartoon drawing is one subject, but when it comes to painting what you're really doing is painting light as the human eye sees it, and the objects it hits to form a scene/portrait are totally incidental. It's an idea that was practiced by Velazquez and the Impressionists took it to the extreme, seeing the world almost like a machine. I'm not saying I rank with them, but I guess you could say I'm after the same thing.

The trouble is when you are trying to make things up that are not really in front of you, ie pretty much all fantasy illustration. I tried my best with these portraits but there is still a lot for me to learn about the subject.

Xeroxz · Jul 09, 2007, 11:28 PM // 23:28

chobo how did you make these? ^^;

chobomaster · Jul 10, 2007, 02:43 AM // 02:43

Not sure what you want me to expand upon..

but I used a tablet all the way, no pencil sketch scanning, if that answers your question

StarrTheInsane · Jul 10, 2007, 03:42 AM // 03:42

Mine's an Intuos3, what's your tablet?

Xeroxz · Jul 10, 2007, 12:20 PM // 12:20

that tablet of urs allows you to draw that in colors and everything?

*must get one* ^^;

chobomaster · Jul 10, 2007, 06:36 PM // 18:36

Well technically you should be able to do these with a mouse too, though your strokes might not be as accurate or nice. For the painterly strokes, they're mostly the "artist oils" tool in Corel Painter.

Starr - I'm using a graphire4 6x8. but man do I want an intuos

Garreth MacLeod · Jul 10, 2007, 07:05 PM // 19:05

Those are really nice looking. That is a nice style you've got there. They do look like impressionist paintings

StarrTheInsane · Jul 10, 2007, 07:06 PM // 19:06

The Intuos3 is SOOO worth the price! My grandfather wanted to get all the kids iPods for Christmas a few years ago, and he asked if I could use one. I said, "Well, I don't really have anywhere to go that I don't have my laptop with me...so instead..." I only asked for the small one, but he insisted on the 6x8. I'm so glad I got this size.

Right now I'm using Photoshop CS. I tried Elements 2 and 3, but I liked the interface on 2 better. With CS you can pretty much customize everything, so it's not a problem. My first was Adobe PhotoDeluxe 2.0. It had a very noob-friendly interface for a graphics editor.

chobomaster · Jul 11, 2007, 09:55 PM // 21:55

Thx Garreth

Starr- that's pretty awesome. I bought them wholesale and sold the rest to pay for mine

. Anyway, I'm wondering, do you know exactly how the intuos performs over the graphire? I know it has 1024 pressure levels. But what exactly is the tilt feature.. does it mean your angle of tilt to the tablet cause the stroke to be thinner/thicker like calligraphy? Does it also take into account the angle of rotation, like say you have a star shaped brush -- will it rotate if you twirl the stylus?

I guess what i want to know is, does the intuos make it feel more like you're painting with a brush?