Hey. This is the third and probably final attempt at a portrait for my character Vesp Ashara, though in the intervening time, the wonderful roleplay on Wireplay's Untold Tales of Tolkien II server [/PLUG] has meant that I post this under a different, truer name. ;)
She is a digital painting and I re-state, that that DOES NOT MEAN PHOTOSHOPPING A PHOTOGRAPH, but manually applying millions of brushstrokes using a pen tablet and programmes like Photoshop and Painter. She's done largely without reference, except for pose and body proportion (most of which can't be seen in this portrait anyway). Sadly, her face and hair are entirely the product of my own imagination; no such person exists.
This has taken dozens, maybe more than thirty or forty hours of my time over a couple of months, so if you like it, please have the courtesy to leave a vote and comment. I really appreciate them.
This is one of the highest-quality portraits i have EVER seen on the vault! Oh that I could hire you to paint my characters' portraits! Interesting for me that the face is human, but the name sounds distinctly elven. With her fine features it wouldn't take a lot of tinkering to make her an elf and I'd love to see it! Actually I'd love to see much more of your work if this is typical of its quality.
Posted by TrueLoveWaits at on06/21/09
Just as it should be...
Posted by Gabihime at on06/20/09
She really is very lovely. Kudos to you for painting it. You made me dig out an older painting of mine to convert to portrait standard. You have a very nice eye for color, which I applaud, and your painterly touch is very nice. _________________________ "I am a friend to all male animals."
Posted by the-small-print at 2009-06-1909:44:26
Thanks for the votes and comments everyone, they are much appreciated (and keep them coming, new people!). No, no thought of Scarlett Johansen in this portrait, purely coincidental. The face is based upon my earlier portrait Vesp Ashara - redone, which came largely out of my head, except for some lighting reference and pose. The face as it exists here was the result of me approximating the character in the aforementioned portrait, then correcting facial proportions and tweaking features until they looked right, so any similarity to anyone is coincidental and not deliberate. As for celebrities and poser, well, it works for some (see gyrfalconthegrey's Delainy for an example of it really working), but I prefer to paint from the ground up. Just feels a bit more honest to me, and gives me a better sense of achievement when I'm done, to offset the 'next day horror' of any painter looking at their work and spotting all the previously invisible flaws and oversights. ;)
Posted by Brindisium at on06/18/09
It is fitting that a character with such an interesting backstory ended up with such a beautifully painted and atmospheric portrait. If you are new to tsp's work and like this have a look at Dirimsiel for another example of NWN portrait painting at its best.
Posted by btkeni at on06/18/09
This is an awesome picture.
Posted by Ben at on06/18/09
Beautiful. I especially love the little details (such as her braid). _________________________ [Blog] [Mods]
Posted by Big_Shoe at on06/18/09
She's pretty without being overly glamorous, and her expression looks natural. The detail and composition are right on the mark. As others have said here, it's refreshing to see a quality portrait that isn't a celebrity paintover or a stilted Poser creation. The artist's patience in creating this really paid off, as this is a labor of love and it shows. Outstanding work! _________________________ Realms Of Destiny PW
Posted by fkirenicus at on06/18/09
Extremely well done, but I think perhaps I can spot Scarlet Johanson in there somewhere? Maybe it's just the lips. :-) _________________________ best regards, fk
Posted by Soranor at on06/18/09
I can't remember when I last downloaded a portait. This one is definately worth it, great work!
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