High Elf cleric - WIP

Oh man...that shield looks so not good =( Compared to the rest of the piece, which is superb, the shield really brings it down. It looks so blurry and pixelated. You might want to try getting a new screenshot of it, up close. You can take an upclose shot of the top half and lower half so it's got good resolution and then frankenstein them together, otherwise it looks like you took a small shot and blew it up. It's lost all it's details =/

I think the sparkles are overdone. You use that type of effect a lot and I know I'm guilty of doing the same thing. If it works, why change it, right? The little dots only make the shield look more pixelated to me. The shield itself looks too brightly dodged as well. You could do a whole soft illumination type deal, but let the darkness of the cooler colors be more softly highlighted, if that makes sense. Give it a shine but not an all over, direct lightsource shine. Consider repainting the shield design too? Dont know how handy you are with that, I know I'm not very good at repainting.

The armor looks super cool! I really have no c/c for that. On preference, I think if you turned the camera a little more on the stairs and less on the flowers, it would give it a less girlish look, plus give something the eye can focus on in the background. The flowers look painted on a board behind her =/ I've noticed that Mystic Falls does the same thing. So turning it on the stairs would look more realistic.

Hope that helps =D

I agree with what Mae said.. the shadows from the stairs fall in a flat line against the flowers and it looks like a board. either go in and smudge em around to simulate depth or an easy fix would be to rotate and camo that some with the stairs.

The shield... /sigh I would suggest making a bump map for that as well as a higher quality screenshot. Maybe take the screenshot someplace a tiny bit dark so it's a little richer colors and then you can use the bump map and some dodge/burn to really pop the details!

Or try using the Sony concept art (you can do that right? =P)

HUGE IMAGE

ooooo nice!! use that with a homemade bump and transparency map for the shape, would look very awesome!

Well that shield is going to be the bane of my existance! So I tried out Sab's idea with the concept image LOL

BTW the sparkles are at the request of the client. She likes the softer lines of the oval shield but wanted the sparkles put in to identify it as the epic 2.0 instead of 1.5.

I also pivoted the camera angle a bit as well as added a bump map to the background so it wasn't quite so flat.

Here's the updated image:

First thing out of my mouth was, 'Oh wow.'

That shield looks HOT! That is a huge huge huge improvement!!!! HUGE, HUGE I SAY!!! Seriously, it's beautiful. The only thing and it's like nit picky as hell, is maybe darken the edges of the shield a little, give it depth and really bring out that pop on the shine.

I like the sparkles toned down, but maybe use a variation of sparkles? I'll have to find my link but I have like 2 that are funky cool. Sparkles yet slightly different. Once's called Karl from the adobe exchange. Maybe add some soft swirls to the epic mace?

:thumbsup I'm in love with this, great fix, Sunbur!

Wow, this is so much better! And it was really good before =) I love the shield now, but I agree with Mae, it needs some sublte edge darkening to pop the shape /nod. And this could be personal preference but the field seems so soft and hazy, maybe soften / blur the background a teeny tiny bit? It would really help pop her out as well. But even without doing that this is amazing!

/drools all over the shield.... That is all!

OOOH - Very sexy! You did great on the sheild! Wow- I love it, and the sparkles rock too, I dont think that they are overdone at all! I dont see anything jumping out to CC you on, other than what was mentioned! So all you get from me is praise! =D

It's further down, just a couple posts up from yours. Wait, here it is again.

OK, I swore to fluff and now I am gonna have to add something CC wise...

I would (and this personal preference) in post work... grab some of that gold color in the shield and carry it around the edges - if I can do a paint over I will if not... basically taking the gold and accentuating the shape of the shieild so that it doesnt look like the patter is just cut off.

KK - Here is repaint (keep in mind its a 5 min repaint to show ya what I mean)

I repainted the right side and left the left side alone, I mean again its personal preference.

Ooh, nice paintover, Sab. That definitely gave it dimension. :thumbsup

Thank you very much for the ideas! Sabreyn, your paintover is wonderful! I made an attempt at a paintover on it, but I don't think it came out as well. Probably shouldn't have attempted this on Nyquil LOL

Edit: I forgot to add that I tweaked the color of the shield at the request of the client.

Your client should not be allowed to comment on such an amazing piece of art. =( I liked the yellow better. TALK THEM OUT OF THE BLUE SHADE!!!! =D

Looking good, now the pattern flows with the shape of it rather than wrapping around or cutting off~ I like the texture on the sheild too, its more game art style.

I know, Mae. I would have preferred to do the paintover with the yellow than the antique gold LOL

Here's the idea I have for the text. Is it readable to everyone else?

The bottom text looks good, but I think you should emphasize her name more than her title. Does she want high priestess up there? Would she mind if it was smaller? You could do her name, in a different font, maybe something with curls and hard edges to keep the beautiful warrior feeling, make the A large and then put high priestess in smaller letters above the rest of her name. Let the A hang onto the magelo boxes, but put the rest right at the top of it.

Try something like that? I'm a big fan of using different fonts. I think it makes it too uniform to make it all the same and you lose a lot of the focus. The name should always stand out, whether it's faded or large. It'll also make it easier to read. As it is right now, the top kinda blends but not too bad. Beautiful beautiful shield job! You'll have to write up a tut on how you did that =D

Even if you use the same fonts, you really need to emphasize the name over the title. Everyone can see she's a High Priestess...no one is going to be looking at her magelo that doesn't know what she is just by looking at the shield and epic. I'd go for not putting High Priestess with the same text effects and possibly smaller than the rest of the name and as Mae said, try a bigger A and make her name in general a bit larger.

Haha Sabbys got everyone hooked on the concept art now! lol not that I blame them that was a HUGE difference! It looks way better The only thing that I'm wondering is the morning glory supposed to have two of the whatchacallmes? Spiked ballthings at the end of it or are my eyes playing tricks on me.
Also, is your shield on a different layer? if so I'd so in and erase some of the smudges and make it a bit more crisp around the edges. Donno if anyone else sees them or not. (like at the top of shield there )
Very pretty piece. :)

I was scratching my head confused, Adiene, The flowers? You mean the morning star, right? The mace. I believe its actually a long metal section with spikes instead of a ball like the ones people are more used to seeing.

Yes, I r a gaming geek and know way too much about medieval weapons. :blush: