Royal warrior portrait

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LordBob
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Royal warrior portrait

Post by LordBob »

It's been far too long since I last painted a portrait, so this is me getting back into it. Still a detailed sketch at the moment. Mace forearm might be a bit short.

The Royal Warrior may not be the most urgent portrait out there, but I've been wanting for a while to give the loyalists a visual identity of their own. The main features aren't going to change - white and red, black steel and gold, sceptre of fire and so on. Instead I'm trying to give a purpose to the squiggly lines that I would before pass for ornaments. Flame patterns and gem-based geometric shapes because Ruby of Fire, ideally I would love to find an element of their heraldry that echoes the Wesfolk heritage. Lore people, I am looking at you.
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Whiskeyjack
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by Whiskeyjack »

Is there a reason to go for a Wesfolk reverberation? I'm asking, because in TRoW the Wesfolk are portrayed as destitute refugees represented with the outlaw units, while the army style units are of the Green Isle folk (Haldric's people as opposed to Jessene's). As such things go, I'd expect the army to develop in this tradition, but maybe the Royal Guard goes back to an elite unit originally formed of Wesfolk? I'll point Yumi here, as any plans for TRoW that might open up more fleshed out ideas are hers.

That said, the sketch looks great :)



Edit: Alright, seems Yumi doesn't have anything more substantial to offer at this point either.

Only other thing I can think of is that the unit currently uses the same sprite as Eldaric, Haldric's father, does for his short appearance in TRoW. So maybe something calling back to that specific valley kingdom (there are others like the kingdom of Southbay on the island)?

For the Wesfolk: they are associated with (almost) lost wisdom and hybris. Their dabbling in necromancy turned against them. Their great cities, far greater than even Southbay, were lost. They were proficient seafarers, Haldric's people actually learned all skills in that area from them. Not much else I can recall currently. No further symbols or artifacts are mentioned in mainline I think.
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nemaara
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by nemaara »

I wonder if something water-based might work. Merfolk are part of the faction and are also a big part of Wesnoth's history/alliances. It might contrast too much with the fire style you have here tho.

I haven't really studied how people designed armor in the past/what the functions of coats of arms are/heraldry/all that jazz, so maybe someone else has a better suggestion.
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by LordBob »

Thanks for the feedback.

Word of caution: I am not sure if and when a royal warrior is actually used in the game, other than Eldaric who already has his own portrait. But if I were shooting for Eldaric here, I would pick armour that looks less advanced since tRoW is supposedly in a distant past. This one is really intended for HttT and onward

As for the Wesfolk memento: the idea here is that the people of Weldyn (the HttT-era loyalists, of whom this royal warrior could be a champion or straight royalty) are descendants of both Valefolk and Wesfolk, who journeyed together to the great continent (at least this is how I remember tRoW). They later established their kingdom in part thanks to the Ruby/Sceptre of Fire, so it being part of their heraldry is a given. On top of this I want an extra flavour to add to their design, hence my looking at the Wesfolk side. I'm a bit confused about how you describe them though (it suits me still, since these are nice themes to use), because I thought I'd read in one of Yumi's outlines that the Wesfolk were, much like the orcs, slaves created by the lich lords (whom I associate with lost wisdom and great cities) and not a part of their people. But maybe I misremember or this has changed in the meantime?

Regardless, a reference to the Vale or the Green Isles themselves could very well be what I'm looking for.

Water might be too much of a contrast with the fire-based imagery of the Weldyn kingdom indeed. However I remember a discussion with Jetrel where he had suggested that the great continent should have multiple human kingdoms, or dukedoms, or city-states, rather than the one monolithic Weldyn (see : the knight lords Konrad and Lisa'r try to rally in HttT. Water and Merfolk-related elements could be a great theme for one of these. Maybe a powerful family has opted to put forward their sailor ancestry. Or a branch of the freshly-landed Valefolk / Wesfolk opted to establish a free city near the shore, where they prospered and possibly maintained relations with Merfolk
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by beetlenaut »

Hey, it's LordBob! And with a present too...
LordBob wrote: July 6th, 2020, 10:18 pm I am not sure if and when a royal warrior is actually used in the game
There are two royal warriors in mainline: Eldaric IV for two scenarios in TRoW, and Garard II for one scenario and some cutscenes in DM. Both of those characters have portraits already, but the help page for the unit type is currently blank. I'm sure such a flashy image would get plenty of use in UMC too!
LordBob wrote: July 6th, 2020, 5:16 pm ideally I would love to find an element of their heraldry that echoes the Wesfolk heritage
We don't know much about the Wesfolk before they became refugees, but there is this quote in TRoW that might be helpful:
Lady Jessene wrote:Haldric, we are an ancient people who lived in a land filled with all manner of man and beast. We needed vision that extended beyond the meager span of human years. The art of necromancy allowed our best and brightest to live forever, and our worst got to serve as mindless slaves.
I think "all manner of beast" could include wild animals or any kind of mythological creature. (This is current as of BfW 1.15.)
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by AOW »

Coooooooool guy.

Maybe adjusting right foot to make Royal Warrior stance more stable.
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by doofus-01 »

beetlenaut wrote: July 7th, 2020, 5:32 am I'm sure such a flashy image would get plenty of use in UMC too!
Yeah, this is probably a unit that would be very useful, even if there aren't a lot of current mainline spots for it.
LordBob wrote: July 6th, 2020, 10:18 pm Water might be too much of a contrast with the fire-based imagery of the Weldyn kingdom indeed. However I remember a discussion with Jetrel where he had suggested that the great continent should have multiple human kingdoms, or dukedoms, or city-states, rather than the one monolithic Weldyn (see : the knight lords Konrad and Lisa'r try to rally in HttT. Water and Merfolk-related elements could be a great theme for one of these. Maybe a powerful family has opted to put forward their sailor ancestry. Or a branch of the freshly-landed Valefolk / Wesfolk opted to establish a free city near the shore, where they prospered and possibly maintained relations with Merfolk
For the bolded part, and for UMC, maybe there could be a "base model", and heraldry could be an overlay or variation? :hmm:
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LordBob
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by LordBob »

Thanks for the feedback guys ! I'm on holiday at the moment, will try and make progress on this over the coming weeks. I probably won't fix the leg, though, AOW : the stance is good, I think it's more a matter of adding a ground with matching perspective to avoid confusion (it can be read as weirdly raised foot at the moment, I agree).
For the bolded part, and for UMC, maybe there could be a "base model", and heraldry could be an overlay or variation?
I had not considered the possibility, but this is a very good suggestion. I could release it with the cape and shield emblem as separate layers/files so that they can easily switched. Hell, if people out there are working with Photoshop I could even provide the heraldry as a flat layer inside an already-transformed dynamic object.
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by LordBob »

Royal warrior update. Progress is slow because I'm designing each and every decorative pattern. In fact I strayed from my initial sketch and may have lost myself into too much ornament, but what's royalty without some bling ?

Oh well, maybe I will recycle the simpler design for a future portrait. When I put this one next to the old royal guard and marshalls, the latter really pale in comparison.
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by Pentarctagon »

The detail is pretty amazing - the armor definitely looks like it's for royalty.
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by LordBob »

Thanks :)

Portrait's finished. I still need to add lines and crop it, but in the meantime here's the full picture
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GunChleoc
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by GunChleoc »

The shield looks a bit 2-dimensional in comparison to the armor. Maybe add a bit of shading/highlight to the surface, and not just the rim?
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by LordBob »

:hmm: You have a point.

I wanted to make it a flat painted surface, but this sort of ornament belongs in a much older/simpler style of armor. There should probably be at least some engraved metal to follow with the armor. Maybe I can make the golden sceptre plus part of that decoration extra plates that are riveted on top of the shield's body.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.
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GunChleoc
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by GunChleoc »

I think the shield being just painted without being more metallic is fine - it should respect the light source though.
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Re: Royal warrior portrait

Post by Mirion147 »

I'm not anyone important but i do have 2 observations that you may be able to clear up on my brain.

1. The hanging cod piece thing looks like it's facing us directly. This implies to my brain, along with the slope of the waist, that his hips are angled towards us directly as well.

2. Below the knee his legs look great, cylindrical, and well shaded. But then above the knees they look kind of flat. I'm not sure if this is from the boring (spinning? Not boring as in lame) pattern or not.

Just my 2 cents. We're in a change shortage though so it really doesn't mean much.
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