GlorDamar

Okay, the first thing I'm going to post is a couple of widely available studies of proportion to give some idea of how the sizes of various body parts relate to one another. The first is by a French architect that called himself Le Corbusier. His greatest contributions were his innovative use of reinforced concrete and his mathematically distillation of architecture. He liked to design based on something he called the Modulor. Here are a couple of his diagrams for the Modulor system. I'm pretty sure the numbers are in CM, but the actual height is irrelevant, the ratios are what matter here... they're based on the fibbonacci sequence (1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55...) which is a best fit mathematical expression of a thing called the golden section or golden rectangle. I'll post a drawing of that too. [img]http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/4217/MODULAR_ns4.gif[/img] [img]http://blog.lib.umn.edu/buch0234/architecture/aa_modulor.jpg[/img] [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Golden-Section.png[/img] The next one is familiar to everyone. It's Leonardo Da Vinci's drawing of the Vitruvian man, a drawing of a human figure based on proportions set forth by a greek thinker named Vitruvius in one of the few texts that survived the Dark Ages and was found during the Renaissance. [img]http://jbsecure.com/images/Journals/J-102-0013_vitruvian_man_500.jpg[/img] And here's some modern studies of proportion. I'm not sure of the sources for these, but I've seen various forms before. They're based on a proportion of body parts to the head, which is useful for figure drawing because it keeps things proportional despite the size of the figure. You can also adjust the proportions based on the type of character you want to draw. For example, in Marvel comics, they use different proportions for characters like "The Thing and Kingpin" than they do for ones like "Mr Fantastic or Cyclops or the other typically proportioned characters. The Thing is only about 6 heads tall, so it widens his body shape out. I have a book with that proportion illustrated or at least written about. I'll scan that later and post it too. [img]http://www.finalredemption.com/content/tutorials/human01/human01.gif[/img] [img]http://www.animatedbuzz.com/tutorials/images/proportion04.jpg[/img] This is one in German showing proportion from birth to adulthood. Interesting. [img]http://isculpt.org/media/blogs/all/bammes-proportions.jpg[/img] Anyway, that might be a bit of information overload, but it should help. More to come. also, here's a link to the wikipedia page on human proportion [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_proportions"]Wikipedia - Human Proportions[/url]

I was just going to post the process of drawing an avatar, but it occurs to me that it might not be as interesting to you all as something else. What would you like to see? If it is an avatar figure, give me some suggestions.

[quote name='Chewett' post='17178' date='Sep 23 2008, 10:56 AM']have you always been good at drawing as a child? or is it something that you have picked up? if you have picked it up is there anything that really helped inprove your drawing style?[/quote] I started young. My parents gave me a lot of lessons at the local art shop in the summers, and my friends and I all enjoyed drawing, so we'd sit around and draw ideas for video games. In that regard, working on this is kind of a dream come true for me. Over time I improved, but I didn't really get good until high school. I kept a sketchbook that was sort of an art diary... helped me cope with all the garbage of highschool and the angst of being a kid that was smart and no good at sports ( I didn't really fill out until college, in highschool I was 6'-2" and about 165 lbs, but I gained about 25 pounds my first year in college and got in shape, so college was much better. ) I started working as an illustrator/cartoonist for the school newspaper and won a major Journalism Education Association award in editorial cartooning at the national convention my senior year. I took a survey drawing course my freshman year in college and learned a lot from that, especially from the figure drawing part... yes, nude models. That was strange, but VERY helpful. Then I took a pre-requisite design drawing course for the architecture school my Sophomore year, where they made you draw everything freehand. It was designed to weed out a bunch of people that thought architecture would be fun but didn't have the skill to handle it. There were 600 people in that class, 300 of them didn't bother to apply to the school, and 250 of the remaining 300 didn't get in. I later took some digital drawing and architectural sketching courses to kind of keep me practicing. The main thing that helped me to get better was practice. Every course I took I learned a lot from the teachers and professors, but the mandatory practice was what really helped me. The other thing is drawing by observation. I can draw people from my imagination now, but it's because I have a strong background in observational drawing and anatomy (I thought I might have wanted to be a doctor at one time, but the Chemistry classes killed me). If there's something that's difficult for you to draw, the best way to do it is to get whatever it is and draw it over and over again. I wanted to learn to draw people, so I took some superhero drawing classes and read a few books and that helped me get the active posing down, the anatomy courses helped me learn about the muscle groups and the figure drawing course helped me to kind of put it all together, but a lot of what makes a drawing work is in the face and hands. I'm still bad at faces, but I spent probably a year drawing hands in different positions to try and figure out how the hand was supposed to look and that's helped a lot. I get kind of lazy now and I don't draw them as well as I could, and the other thing that's tough is getting the feet to look right. Why do you think all those old oil painting portraits of famous people had their hands inside their jackets and only showed them from the waist up? Anyway, I may not have answered everything there, but I hope that helps. Please ask me to clarify or expand on anything you want to know.

I had an idea based on a post that Morrel put up awhile ago that I really liked. It showed his process for developing avatars. I know many of us have different ways of approaching our drawings and I thought it might be a cool thing for us to put up process drawings showing how we develop the artwork. For instance, I usually don't trace pictures to get poses right, I typically start with sketches to get the form and flesh it out, which results in a much different character than morrel's drawings. I'll post an example of my process later, but if anyone else wants to post theirs first, feel free. I'd also like to encourage anyone to ask questions about inspiration, technique or anything else you might be curious about regarding the artwork in the game.

Alright, congratulations to the winners. Amorte - 1st place - $50 cold hard virtual cash + a spot in the Artisans' Guild Dikra - A VERY close 2nd - $50 in game credits (also gets a spot in the guild, but not by default) Dexter - 3rd Place - $50 in game credits I also received entries from Morquor, Nelador, Khalazdad and EliasMVernieri. Everyone of you did a good job and the best were rewarded. If you didn't win, don't despair, keep posting your work on the guild forum for us all to look at. Most of you only need a little practice and you've got a shot to be a member of the guild and to possibly win one of these contests in the future. Thank you all for your submissions and keep up the good work.

One of the dimensional shifters may be able to investigate for you. I'd suggest Aleron, he's around often. Although if she IS in necrovion, that raises further issues.

I killed the conversation, didn't I? Sorry.....

Should there be a place where this kind of philosophy can be taught? Could the Sage's Keep be opened for such a School? I suppose this is a question directed at Mur, but I'm posting a poll for feedback.

Good work to all of you on the avatar contest! I've sent the results to Mur and when he gets back from vacation those results should be posted. Based on the results of the contest I've invited 2 new members to join the Artisans and I'm considering a couple of others. The two I've invited are Amorte and DiKra. Congratulations to the both of you. I wanted to invite you both the second I saw your first drawings, but I had to wait until the contest ended. I won't tell you which of you won first place, you'll just have to wait for that, but one of you won. Also, Dexter and Nelador, I have my eye on you. You too, Angfaust. Keep submitting and working on your stuff, you 3 are the next contenders.

The best laid plans eh...? I want to tell some of the story from my perspective. (indulge me in this. I set a lot of things up and missed the climax) I met Khal before he split himself and knew many of the reasons why, but I think I'd rather leave that part up to him to tell if he's willing. I knew much of the path of the box and where it was held at most times, except for the brief period when Wodin disappeared. After days of debate with the various alliance leaders in Renavoid's private chamber much was finally decided. I convinced the box holder, against his wishes, to join a small force that I'd organized that would lay in wait at the Aramory until the Black arrived at the house of liquid dust and the White arrived to join us. My messages went out and many of my comrades began to arrive. Unfortunately, it was unknown when the final battle would begin and I had to leave for about 4 hours. I left BlackThorn and Morrel in charge. When I logged back in, the battle was over and Khal the Grey had returned. I missed the whole thing! I am gratified by the way the whole thing turned out. The box holder was unavailable during that time, but BlackThorn organized a FANTASTIC battle, and Morrel and Gargant delivered crushing blows to Khalazdad the Black, in his words "Morrel and Gargant have unmade me." I wish to express my extreme gratitude to those 3, BlackThorn, Morrel and Gargant, as well as all the others that joined them there for saving my friend in spite of my poor timing. I also wish to thank SageWoman for her sacrifice. What you did, Sage, was incredible... a truly selfless act, and one that may have saved many lives... time will tell what will happen with the necrovion sentinels and the shades, but for a time it seems there is peace. Good work everyone.

I appreciate that and I know what you mean, the difference here is the manner in which the in game dojo actually seems to function. I should put some mats in for floor exercise though, that's a good idea.

I wanted the steps for people to sit on and observe the training and combat. I also chose the solid platforms to fit with the chinese earth oriented construction. I'm going to go a little bit of a chinese/european middle ages hybrid here. I think that will fit in with the game well.

Alright! The contest is over. Thank you to all of you that participated. The results will be posted SOON!

whew. Just finished and submitted my creatures. GlorDamar FTW!

That was where I was thinking too, either that or accessed off of Willow's Walk

I am looking for apprentices. I need help with the mundane things such as Surveying and Site Selection. In return I will teach you what I know. Please either respond here or PM me in game if your are interested.

I think your definitions may be flawed. Personality isn't really acting out of your own point of view, it's really more of a loose term defining the manner in which you react to certain situations. The more times you encounter a certain situation or a close analog, the more defined your personality becomes for that situation. As you encounter more and more situations, your personality broadens and begins to crystallize into a basic set of reactions that define how you act in most situations. Realism is perceptual. What one person calls realism is fantasy to another. In an objective sense, realism is a pragmatic way of reacting to the world around you. It is colored by personality and depends on value judgements of a situation. A realistic approach means that a person measures an event carefully and does their best to divest themselves of emotion in judging a situation, but many elements of personality are either independed of emotion or so ingrained in a person's psyche that to the individual they are as emotionless as can possibly be achieved. Therefore, realism is not truely realistic, it is as emotionally neutral as a person's personality will allow them to be. Personality is a person's response set to the basic components of all situations. Realism is emotionally neutral response to a situation or situations as viewed through the lens of personality.

Okay, I was thinking I'd just show the completed project, but I thought I might share a little bit about how I go about this, so here's the base drawing. After this I will add the background - sky, trees, etc. Then I'll start putting in the details - practice dummies, archery targets, banners, flags, people, etc. Once I get all of those pieces drawn, I'll put them together in photoshop and the dojo will be complete. I'll post more as I get it done. Oh, and a little PS to Mur... I could REALLY use the ability to freely visit all of the map. Screenshots just don't give you the feel of how one place moves into another and how they should associate. Not to bother you during the festival, but MAN... that would be nice.

Hey, you know me. I won't let you down. The computer rendering is just the backdrop I use to get the perspective right and then I do the hand - pencil drawing to create the game style. I'll post the background when I get it done and then you'll see. YOU'LL ALL SEE!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAA!

Don't shut this one down. I have something in the works, but it's taking some time. I think you'll like it and I think you'll especially like the concept. I'm not revealing anything else though. I don't want anyone stealing my idea!

Well Used... I hadn't really thought of that. Good idea.

no, it's not the park. This would be a new location. Probably somewhere in Mardind's Bell or No Man's Land. Also, it's not so much an arena as it is a practice field. I think the floor may be sand or smooth paving stones with grass growing through some of the joints. The steps are places for people to sit and watch while the sides will be targets or banners (I like that idea) or dummies or something like that. I also like the idea of a water feature / meditation area. Maybe a zen garden... I also intend for the building to be all wooden with a kind of chinese type of joinery. Fairly simple though, not the elaborate stuff.

I thought I'd contribute to the lovefest. Thank you Manu for creating the happiest accident I've ever had. I just kind of stumbled onto this game and I was captivated. To be afforded the opportunity to help move this beautiful, brilliant world forward is a dream. Thank you for the vision and the drive that so few people can combine. Thank you for the opportunity to create. Thank you for getting me back into drawing again. It's been 10 years since I have spent as much time with a pencil in my hand as I have these last 5 months. Thank you.

n/p. I didn't know it was doing that.

Here is an initial rendering of the dojo grounds. It will look a little different when it's finally built (like it will be in game style) as there's still a fair amount of design work to do. I've designed the building and the training grounds, but I need some suggestions for the kinds of things that should be put in there. Here's a few examples of things I've sketched up. A practice dummy What the actual beam/column connections might look like Your input is appreciated. GlorDamar The Architect