Avatars by Sialia

[Sialia]

Well, since you're not big on portraits, I do have another idea for an avatar that you might find enjoyable to do. If you get the time.

A pic depicting aspects of a character rather than a facial portrait may have more meaning, and be more commonly appreciated, I think.

I'll be specific as I can so you have a lot you can work with, but anything close would be great.

A straight-bladed katana-style sword with solid mahoghany hilt and no 'crossguard'. The blade should be shimmering damascus-patterned(optional, if too difficult) steel encasing a single , long thin diamond (concavely ground, if you can/want to get that close in detail) which forms the edge of the blade.

The sword should rest on a bed of amber silk, entwined in ivy flowers. Resting at the pommel area of the sword is a single anemone flower. And then scattered at random thoughout the image are such flowers as forget-me-nots, honeysuckle, and lily of the valley.

It would be so incredibly awesome if you could do this one.

And to join the chorus of others, your work is incredible.

Ok, this is better, but we still need to simplify.

Lots.

At 64 x 64 only the outlines of shapes and general textural impressions really come through. If you couldn't draw it with a felt tip on a postage stamp, it's not going to come through clearly. Even though I work at 300 x 300 before I shrink down, all the little details really change when the shrinking and jpgging happens. A beatifully detailed thing can become unreadable when the grainy details overwhelm the strength of the big shapes.

So I can give you a shiny gray stripe for the sword on a yellow silky ground, but if I surround it with the vegetation, you'll have trouble telling what it is, especially without a hilt.

If you can rough sketch what you want on a piece of paper with a dark pen and then scan it and post it, I'll see what I can develop from it. The sketch should not be larger than a 3x5 card to begin with.

 

[cdsaint]

Half the fun of having a unique avatar is having it be . . . unique. It's really hard to do anything unique and fun with dice at 64x64.

Come up with an exciting twist or angle on it, and I'll consider it.

Well, I was trying to make it easy on you since I know you have plenty of other requests to handle. But, if you insist, I'll try to think of something unique and personal to myself that would be both appropriate and fun, and will post when I come up with something.

Chris

 

[Sialia]

Bandeeto says "it's not a true cube."

it's gelatinous, i say, and wearing angelic robes. it's intelligent you know.

Bandeeto say "It's a cube. it would dissolve the clothes. And it should be transparent."

Fine, fine, I say. I'll have another go at it tomorrow.

I'm not proud of this: I stole the wings from a painting by Robert Campin. Circa 1425.

And it was Bandeeto's idea to go with the "plate" style halo instead of the circlet kind. I liked the effect, although i disputed the scale several times before settling on this. The raidant rays were my own, but also loosely drawn from paintings of the period.

They should be straighter.

But I thought I'd show y'all the draft. I liked it.

What do you think--am i heading in the right direction?

 

[BSF]

Sialia,
I think it is delicious. So it isn't a perfect cube, big deal. As you said, it's a gelatinous cube. Maybe it's relaxing just a little bit?

The halo is nice. I was expecting the circlet halo, but I like the disc.

The wings are nice. It would be interesting to see a comparison with white feathered wings. I kind of like the gold motif though.

Dang, that thing is 64 x 64. I am amazed at how much detail you can fit in there. I like it, despite whatever Sejs thinks.
I think I might need to see if I can find the stats for that little critter. I'm not sure I would ever use it, but then again, you never know.

 

[Sialia]

Ok, I'm actually closer to proud of this one. All drawn by me, no theft.

In fact, I like it enough to have signed it and included a larger version, suitable for printing out and stapling to your character sheet.

I know, I know. I broke my "no portraits" rule.

So, it's not actually a rule. More like a guideline.

Half-celestial gelatinous cube.

For a concept like that, some rules simply don't apply.

A tip of the halo to you for that one. You made my week.

 

[Sialia]

One more quick comment on this one:

"Its not transparent" Bandeeto says to me.

"I tried making it transparent, and it was impossible to figure out what the thing was at 64x64," I replied.

"But . . but . . that's the whole point of gelatinous cubes! You not supposed to be able to see them . . ."

I conceed the weakness.

Here's a revision. Still not invisible. But at least somewhat translucent.

Although I still think it's harder to read.

 

[BSF]

Sialia,
Give it in iridescent sheen. Yeah, I know the MM says Celestials are metalic colored, but youa re taking artistic license right? Besides, iridescent sheen is cool. (Ask me about my PC's PrC some time.)

Make it transparent, then throw an iridescent sheen on the cube.

It's not like a Gelatinous Cube with angel wings and a halo is completely unnoticable anyway right? See, the minions were all humanoids with darkvision. They don't use light spells, or even torches. They would be trying to figure out what those floating wing thingies were, in the dark, when the cube would eat them. So, the iridescence would only show up when people with real light showed up.

OK, maybe you won't like my idea, but it won't be from a lack of effort on my part.

 

[Sialia]

iridescent.


although I'm not sure. seems a bit . . . cheery? less awesome.

 

[BSF]

Hmm,
you might be right.

Is there a different filter for pearlescent? It seems like they should be the same, but maybe there would be a filter with less blue & purple?

 

[Sialia]

If there's a filter for iridescent, I don't know about it. I just hand tinted it.

Blue and purple was my guess--I'm not really sure how to render pearl without color.

But it's an interesting thing to ponder.

I started to work on the slime covered book, and just asked my pal to come drool on a phonebook for me for bit so I could get an idea of something to sketch from. Darn thing climbed up on the desk, got comfy and fell asleep.

I'll have to go back and try again tomorrow, assuming there is anythign left of my phonebook.