Curse

obastable · Oct 09, 2010, 02:35 PM // 14:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konig Des Todes

Hmmm, perhaps something to go with King? Make it more apparent who's speaking and what about in the opening, then go off into a tangent. Honestly, I read the lines before your explanation, and I thought it was Morgahn (or some other general) gone insane (the "golden feathers" said to me Morgahn since there's "wings" on his armor).

Which is an interesting thought to go up on, now that I think of it...

Golden feathers = a pretty quill. Goes with the ink, both in reference to a book. Referencing the quill twice is a bit redundant, though .... I'll have to fix that.

Also, depending on time constraints (kids and work do this to a person), the poem will be submitted with a picture. Still giving this part thought, but my working idea is to do Mad King Thorn sitting at a desk & writing the poem, primary focus on the parchment (of course) and maybe see his hand(s), with his head/shoulders visible as a reflection in a mirror hanging over the desk. I don't know if I explained that very well ...

Dutch Sunshine · Oct 09, 2010, 03:18 PM // 15:18

Nothing to do today so another update:

Thistle Xandra · Oct 09, 2010, 04:05 PM // 16:05

Thanks, konig des todes! I saw the video and that's where I got the idea to submit the story. Thanks for the suggestions; i've been switching back and forth with the capitals, but I'll settle on whether I want those caps or not and just stick with it.

Actually, I haven't posted the lore of Halloween and spirits, but kinda alluded to it in the snippet. The story takes place during Halloween (more obvious in the stuff I haven't posted), when the spirit world is actually stronger than the living world.

edit: @dutch - looks great but I'm not sure if it's the image quality of my comp but it looks like the king's head is mostly yellow so the left top is mostly just a yellow blob instead of shaded like I'm assuming it's supposed to be (like in your previous WiP).

sorry, writing this as I'm eating my bagel about to run out door so I'm only commenting on one work instead of more!

Konig Des Todes · Oct 09, 2010, 04:57 PM // 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minami

DS: It might be a better idea to scrap that brick background. Your poster seems to be about 20 centimeters (~8 inches) tall.

Unless that's your intention.

The bricks used in GW are effin huge though. Take a look at common walls.

I think it would be better to take an ig screenshot of a wall. and put the posters on that.

Edit: I see Dutch has changed the background already though. Looks good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thistle Xandra

Thanks, konig des todes! I saw the video and that's where I got the idea to submit the story. Thanks for the suggestions; i've been switching back and forth with the capitals, but I'll settle on whether I want those caps or not and just stick with it.

Actually, I haven't posted the lore of Halloween and spirits, but kinda alluded to it in the snippet. The story takes place during Halloween (more obvious in the stuff I haven't posted), when the spirit world is actually stronger than the living world.

In lore, it's actually wintersday where the spirit world (or rather, the Underworld) is stronger. Also, Cantha doesn't have halloween - but you can make that work.

As to the caps, I typically follow the "House of Style" GW2 blog entry - it's less of a hassle. In which races and profession names are lowercased. Hero, unless at the beginning of a sentence, should be lowercase as well.

Death By An Arrow · Oct 09, 2010, 04:57 PM // 16:57

deviantArt Link

Alright, here's what i've finished in the past hour or so. I added shadows to some of the background pumpkins because I feel like they're gunna be the hardest. Behind the light source but still visible = lots of slight tweaking.

After turning off my sketches layer, i realized i missed a bit of the king's outline. I'm saving that for the very end cause I imagine it's going to happen everytime i do a pumpkin. so why do it 6 more times when i can do it all once? ^^

I'm really struggling with making the indents feel real. Any ideas/suggestions?
58layers

Minami · Oct 09, 2010, 05:08 PM // 17:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konig Des Todes

The bricks used in GW are effin huge though. Take a look at common walls.

I think it would be better to take an ig screenshot of a wall. and put the posters on that.

Edit: I see Dutch has changed the background already though. Looks good.

I never noticed that the bricks are huge in GW. I don't think many people would pay attention to/think it's wrong if there was a poster somewhere on a house wall in-game and it looked way too small compared to the bricks.

However, on DS's picture, it just looked weird, since it's a picture manipulation made with game screenshots. People focus on those kind of things in that setting.

Of course, he can do whatever

It just confused the senses on his pic.

Minami · Oct 09, 2010, 05:11 PM // 17:11

DBA, are you using colors to color the shades on your pumpkins, or are you using the dodge/burn tools?

EDIT: Making a mockup for ya now. Hold on.

Death By An Arrow · Oct 09, 2010, 05:52 PM // 17:52

@ Minami
I'm putting colours overtop of the orange base i put down at different opacities. For the back pumpkins i just used a really dark brown. Which could be why it was mistaken for burn, I see the similarities.

what did you have in mind about it?

Minami · Oct 09, 2010, 05:57 PM // 17:57

All right... since I don't have access to all those layers (

), excuse the messiness.

For the lines, make sure they follow the normal line path, like a real pumpkin has. Draw a circle (or dot) on the top of the pumpkin, and on the bottom. Then draw big curved lines from one point to another. Then you can erase the parts that are not visible.

One suggestion, don't be afraid to use very highly contrasting lights and shadows. I fiddled a bit with some settings in your pic too, and I'm sure you can see how much it adds to the ambience of MKT's colors.

Usually, the pumpkin lines are not very visible, but there should be some since some of the light will be reflected from the other pumpkins back to MKT.

I hope this helps a bit

EDIT: Also, I just extracted MKT's pumpkin head from the bunch and fiddled on that selection on a new layer, that's why the edges look a bit weird.

Sorry for drawing on your pic

Death By An Arrow · Oct 09, 2010, 06:07 PM // 18:07

you are an amazing person q.q
thats pretty much exactly what I needed help with summarized into one post (with illustrations 8D)

I'm a light handed drawer so I always feel like my darks are way too dark because I've adjusted the image so that my highlights are bright.

i also like the orange you changed MKT too. it made me realize it looks like he's rotting.. LOL

let me give the lines and adjustments to MKT a try first, and I'll re-upload it. Im gunna leave the background pumpkins for now to see if i'm essentially doing it right (so that if i'm still doing it wrong/not as good as I can, i'm not redoing all the pumpkins each time)

shady tradesman · Oct 09, 2010, 06:13 PM // 18:13

Just a small update for now. I'll have a better one later tonight I think.

Also, check the WIP album here: http://s1110.photobucket.com/albums/...hadytradesman/

That's for the index in the first post.

The armature is currently on a base and will be moved into position today, so that final decoration can occur. I'm very excited.

Minami · Oct 09, 2010, 06:14 PM // 18:14

Glad I could help

If you don't mind, I also tried to shadow and illustrate with the first two pumpkins how the light should fall on them. It's also just a super quick draw, so I hope you see what I mean.

EDIT: D8 Dangit, I misread your post... >_< You were talking about the pumpkins behind him, not in front of him... V_V Sorry

Thistle Xandra · Oct 09, 2010, 06:48 PM // 18:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konig Des Todes

In lore, it's actually wintersday where the spirit world (or rather, the Underworld) is stronger. Also, Cantha doesn't have halloween - but you can make that work.

Thanks for pointing that out about wintersday! I haven't played long enough to have taken part in that, so I wasn't aware Wintersday trumps Halloween when it comes to the spirit world.

Guess I'm going to have to claim artistic license

Death By An Arrow · Oct 09, 2010, 06:54 PM // 18:54

Hah, that's quite alright Minami; that's almost exactly how i had it planned

now that I can see in to the future with your help, I see some editting that needs to be done on that farthest back pumpkin, shape of the shading-wise that is.

heres a link to the change I made with your help (i actually think it looks as if you drew it. I have a tendency doing suggestions word for word, so I looked at your example and pretty much tried to recreate what I could see :x)

Here's my current update after Minami's initial aide
What do you think? ^^

Minami · Oct 09, 2010, 07:00 PM // 19:00

^_^ Glad I could help.
Looks better, looking forward to see the other pumpkins being done

And no worries, I can see that you didn't just copy the quick version I did.

As for myself, I'm awaiting feedback from an artist on DA. I hope I can realize the suggestions she'll make.
I need to hurry with my pic

Thistle Xandra · Oct 09, 2010, 07:06 PM // 19:06

@Death by an arrow: I kinda liked your WiP6 better than 7 because now the King's head looks too dark, like it got cooked and burned dark, when I figure you just want shadowing. Maybe a shade in between?

@shady tradesman: that is so cool... seriously excited to see the final effigy with all the details

@konig des todes: after thinking about it some more, I now know what to do to make it work and I definitely think it'll make the story a bit better. Thanks again

I also haven't heard of House of Style, will have to check it out

Death By An Arrow · Oct 09, 2010, 07:20 PM // 19:20

@Thistle I see what you mean by the burnt/cooked feel, but I think it might just be because the other pumpkins aren't finished. I think with the darker colours the mood of the piece changes from sort of a light-hearted, stack of pumpkins where small children are walking around picking the ones they want to carve into sort of it's midnight on the farm and MKT is stuck in the pile and still can't leave.
It might be a little more clear when I tweak the background and more pumpkins though

Your story is coming along nicely though; I'm excited for potential fight scenes I had playing through my head while I was reading it ^^

Thistle Xandra · Oct 09, 2010, 08:16 PM // 20:16

@Death, that's probably it. I think it's the brightness of the other pumpkins that are throwing me off

BTW, I really like how you did the lines and the face on the MKT and those pop out much better in WiP7 (it's just the shade throwing me off :P).

Thanks for the comment on the story... i actually have some fight scenes playing out in my mind, but I know I won't be able to put them down right in words... hopefully I can put enough down so the battle will still be epic in my readers' minds

Dutch Sunshine · Oct 09, 2010, 08:51 PM // 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Minami

^_^ Glad I could help.
Looks better, looking forward to see the other pumpkins being done

And no worries, I can see that you didn't just copy the quick version I did.

As for myself, I'm awaiting feedback from an artist on DA. I hope I can realize the suggestions she'll make.
I need to hurry with my pic

Minami, could you perhaps check if the current background/bricks are better? I really need some feedback on them, it's at the top of the page (26)

Konig Des Todes · Oct 09, 2010, 09:30 PM // 21:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thistle Xandra

@konig des todes: after thinking about it some more, I now know what to do to make it work and I definitely think it'll make the story a bit better. Thanks again

I also haven't heard of House of Style, will have to check it out

Here's a link. Basically it just covers what's proper and not in the world of Guild Wars - and how GW1 is wrong in this to the nth degree and they're fixing this with GW2 and why it should be how GW2 has them and not how GW1 has them. It also talks about stories in general and how GW2 will be more focused on that than in the past, but that's irrelevant to this topic.

It's minor, but I find it annoying to see capitals ever since I started writing. I blame the english major in me.