This is Llothiel (no relation to the Spider Queen--I invented his name before I knew anything about Lloth/Lolth). He is a long-time character of mine from Diablo II, a necromancer and follower of Rathma. If he were to be translated into D&D he would probably be a multiclass of mage (necromancer/evoker), druid and cleric. He is by nature a scholar and a healer, but has taken up his magic and command of the forces of nature to fight for the lives of his loved ones. The original face and figure were rendered in Poser 5. Everything else is hand painted in PSP8. I was fairly pleased with how this turned out. If people like it, I may do more in this style.
This is a compilation of the old system into a single score. There were 54 that made this score of 8.38 then rounded to 8.
Posted by The at 2003-12-1113:10:00
Good picture, love his pose. definitely a necromancer. though not the sick demented kind.
Posted by Tirados at 2003-11-2204:42:00
I think you did a great job in your use of Poser, using it like a posing marionette or a model in traditional drawing and painting. That is, it was nothing more than a guide for posing to you, and not the final product. Way to go!
Posted by Noviere at 2003-11-0507:35:00
I really like this portrait--definately one of the best on the site. It flows seemlessly with the background, which is rare. I'm definately looking forward to seeing more in this style. Maybe a female elven rogue with dark hair and eyes? Or Llothiel's white-haired, female paladin sister? ;)
Posted by sporeboy! at 2003-11-0207:44:00
From paint-overs... to Poser. Again, no trace. Not that how you get there matters. Another very well-done image. Great attention to detail and beautiful light. Great expression of personality--I really like the confrontational stance. I have to commend you for exploring all the creative paths you do--style, medium, subject... even software. You're certainly very versatile. --sb
Posted by Wandering at 2003-10-2508:15:00
This is an aweseom portrait! It's so beautfiful and haunting and I just can't wait to build a character around it! You should definetely do more in this style.
Posted by relsh at 2003-10-2321:38:00
WOW! It's easily one of my favorite portraits on this site. This looks absolutely professional. i especially like the clothing and backround. Couldn't tell you used poser either. great job
Posted by gyrfalconthegray at 2003-10-2116:55:00
Wow. I guess that answers my question. :-) Thanks for all the kind words, guys. And yes, it's Poser all right--at least way down underneath all the paint. Poser 5 has some wonderful new features to help take the "poser" out of Poser--though I still would probably never use a render without postwork. ;-) However, the default models are more sophisticated in their bump maps and texture maps as well as having a better polygon mesh to begin with. Probably my favorite feature in the program is the Face Room, where you can sculpt different face structures. Llothiel was created just using the basic vanilla male model that comes with the program, but with a custom face. That's all I rendered. So about 90% of what you see is postwork. This piece was so much fun to work on. I'd say this image has been in my head for about 2 years. And for those who are wondering how you have a Necromancer/Druid/Cleric, Llothiel was trained as a boy by the priests of Rathma, and taught of the Balance between Life and Death, and how to control the magic that binds the two together. The cult of Rathma honors the dragon Trang'Oul, who is the fulcrum of the Balance. As such, some of their evokation magic is related to the dragon's command of bone and spirit. However, Llothiel himself was fascinated by the aspect of the Balance found in Nature, and ended up leaving the order of Rathma to explore the world. His studies of field and forest gained him experience relating to both plants and animals and his knowledge of unusual herbs and fungi is extensive. In Llothiel's philosophy, Life and Death are just two sides to the same fundamental force, so he does not see his command of undead, or animating constructs with life-force, as equal to "unnatural". His alignment is Lawful Neutral. Probably his primary class is Wizard (specialties Necromancer and Evoker); after that Druid, and he has a couple of levels in Cleric from his early years. I have a couple more pics in this same style in the works. Hopefully I will have some time to work on those in the next couple of weeks.
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