What do Drow look like?

[Tovec]

Random thoughts (after looking at Spock)

I don't mind something longer than Tolkien or Star Trek (for D&D universe elves and drow), but the WoW model bugs the heck out of me. In fact, thinking back I can think of very few depictions (let alone ones I preferred) where the ears DID look like the Tolkien or Star Trek movies. On the other hand, I long ago found pictures online that I absolutely adore. They're pretty and detailed and show curvatures that I don't usually consider and over all resemble something I can actually consider to look real if that makes any sense. And those are the ears I think of for all elven-kind now, regardless what "canon" pictures would say.

That's the same reason I abstained from the height discussion. I think classic D&D elves and drow are supposed to be short. But I personally prefer them to be tall. Actually houseruling in my game they are BOTH - with a broader common range of height that extends both above and below the human height range. So in my games if humans are 5-6 feet then elves are 4.5-6.5 feet, so that I can have my tall elves and my players can pick short ones and everybody is happy.

*shrugs and wanders off*

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I'm not sure if I can post my driders from bones 1 becuse she is topless but when I get home I will check

Please let this be ok

this is a link to all my minis that I have pics of. (I did do a whole bunch of drow this way but I don't have pics and the minis were for my ex girlfrinds brother so I don't have them anymore)

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http://s997.photobucket.com/user/Gmforpowergamers/media/IMG_1703_zpsb68f85a5.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

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[Yaarel]

Please let this be ok

this is a link to all my minis that I have pics of. (I did do a whole bunch of drow this way but I don't have pics and the minis were for my ex girlfrinds brother so I don't have them anymore)

[sblock=a link]

http://s997.photobucket.com/user/Gmforpowergamers/media/IMG_1703_zpsb68f85a5.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

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I am impressed you can make a 1-inch metal figure look controversial.

Your minis have a great sense of color and look fun.

It seems Drow and reddish purple work well together.

 

[Yaarel]

I had fun Drowizing the image of Spock.

The hair is whitish and lustrous with a ‘pearly’ sheen (with light shadows whereas ‘silvery’ has darker shadows). The eyebrows are probably too bright here than might be realistic, and in need of shadowing, but I would need an original model with black skin and white hair to see how the lighting would fall exactly.

The skin is not black. Rather it is a dark dusky magenta (black-gray-red-purple), whose luster is matte, non-glossy and soft.

If the skin would be black in color there would be less shading information around the cheeks. There would be almost no shading information on a black surface. Black surfaces are plays of light, especially drawing whitish gleaming lines to conture the essence of the shape of a glossy surface. (Compare the image of the not-black but dark glossy surface of the statue in Post #13, especially eyelids and lips.) It is difficult to reconstruct the plays of light when using an original image with light skin as a model. Sometimes it is difficult to know where the gleams would be, exactly. It is important to use a model with very dark skin, ideally in pure black make-up, or a photo-realistic 3D image that can accurately predict surface reflections.

Here the eyes are ‘all pupil and iris’ without any white sclera, with large iris-size pupils, and with the iris itself forming a solid color across the whole eye. Only about a fifth of Drow are expected to have such eyes. The majority of Drow have Human-like eyes. If that would be the case here, the dark large pupil would instead be a vivid yellow-orange iris with Human-size pupil, and the current color forming the white sclera.

Besides altering the shade of the hair and skin (which is a complex difficult process), the eyes are slightly larger, partly because one of the official descriptions mentions relatively large eyes, and partly to emphasize the unusual form and color of the eyes.

The facial shapes of the nose and cheeks are narrowed and edged to appear ‘sharper’ and more gaunt. I didnt notice the skeletal shape of the eye socket in the original image of Spock until the shading process brought it out. But it seems an appropriate look for a Drow to hint at the leanness and deathliness.

The ears are the same as in the image of Spock. This small ‘subtle’ size of ears occurs in most of the Drow, about four fifths. About one fifth have prominent ears, perhaps most of the prominant ears are probably goblinish, just under twice the height of a Human ear including the point. I played around with ear sizes and shapes and felt a strong correlation. In the image of Spock and the Drow in this post, the small subtle ears evoke the tall serious Elf of mythology. By palpable contrast, the larger ears evoke the small silly goblin of folklore. Generally, the Drow is a serious villain, in the sense the extreme antihuman behavior have explanation and plausibility, which makes them more disturbing and interesting. Generally, the Drow have subtle ears.