[Onrack]

ahoy! I tried to post the original picture on the epilogue site but it was turned down because it wasn't good enough needless to say this twisted my tits real sore so I decided to get on the case of making it good enough, it was a long and arduous journey and I learned a great many things foremost how much I hate horses, anyhow i'll do a before and after thing cuz I love a bit of cheesiness
before

a long long time after

here's a link to the forum where I worked thought he image there's a whole heap of awesome advice in here and judging by how strict they are on submissions there may be plenty more
http://www.epilogue....pic.php?t=21264

[teholbeddict]

Wow! Ok I know nothing about art to start with and reading through those posts and suggesstions I realize I really know nothing about art. Either way I really liked the fourth revision that you did, the one where you completely re-worked the horse's head. Funnily enough I like that horse much better that the final one. Overall much better that anything I could ever hope to do and for what it's worth I think you have tremendous talent.

[D'rek]

Wow, those epilogue folks are hardcore...

But you'll always be welcome here, Onrack, because we looooooooove you!!!

Edit: A big huggy bunch!

This post has been edited by D'rek: 28 October 2008 - 02:16 AM

[Osric]

I know not about art, but I do know that is awesome.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Yeah, I prefer the first one...but great stuff On!

[SilentHunter]

Amazing stuff!!.......................keep up the gr8 work!

[WWQBD?]

Coltaine!!!!

Sugoi!

[Grimjust Bearegular]

I can't believe Epilogue turned You down....now, there's really not much hope for the rest of us:P

[Bauchelain the Evil]

I prefered the first one but I'm not really what you would call an art genious

[Argent Sun]

I still like the old version better. Coltaine isn't as clear there, which I think is something Erikson himself does - not describing the character's physical appearance, that is. Moreover he looks kind of more heroic there, in my opinion. The newer version, albeit more vivid and detailed...*shrug*.
I don't know. I like the first one better.

[Blend]

Argent Sun, on Jan 3 2009, 12:32 AM, said:

I still like the old version better. Coltaine isn't as clear there, which I think is something Erikson himself does - not describing the character's physical appearance, that is. Moreover he looks kind of more heroic there, in my opinion. The newer version, albeit more vivid and detailed...*shrug*.
I don't know. I like the first one better.

I agree, there's something about the first version that really conveys the style that Erikson writes in. Dirty, gritty, loose around the edges... I think those epilogue folk are on crack. The second one is good, but I think it's too, I dunno, American MBotF cover compared to UK MBotF cover. I'd much rather see the first on a cover than the second.

[Onrack]

well well well! it seems I wasn't actually finished with this pic after all (it was news to me) I finally finished off the second pic then thought bugger it I'll have another go at the original so here they are........again.......for the last time..........maybe!

[Grief]

Redo of original is awesome, though for some reason I think I prefer the facial expression of the first.
Seems more gritty/determined, or something, as opposed to wild.

The helmet in pic 1 seems to still draw the eye, which im not sure if its meant to or what, being a non-artist. However, i'd say its not a great thing, as it seems to draw the eye to the bottom right, which is away from the fantastic sword and person who's been sliced.

I love the rising background figure on the horse, and the background fighting/ruin generally.

Great work

[Salt-Man Z]

I never did care for the second version. It just lacked the dynamism of the first. (Also: the horse looked bizarre, the enemy soldier's pose was wooden, the feather cloak was distracting, and the level of detail throughout the pic felt inconsistent.)

The third version is based on the first, which I love. But the horse's face has been much improved, and the repositioning of the foreground soldier works far better. Coltaine's new expression is done well, but I find I prefer the more passionless expression from the original. The one thing that bugs me about this third version is the increased smoke, which, while it looks very nice behind Coltaine (and softens his cloak nicely) is just distracting where it overlays the foreground soldier, making him looking even sketchier than he already does.

[Onrack]

I know what you mean about the increased smoke (it was supposed to be subtle lighting) the picture reads a lot differently from the computer I done it on to the one I'm currently on the net with, which has a tendency to undersaturate pictures but I took the "lighting" out anyway and over contrasted it on my computer so it should read better on this one, as for the face the old one just couldn't cut it in terms of anatomy, expression and detail for what I wanted for the pics' violence and tension and his mouth made him look like Stallone, here's the improved version

[Assail]

I don't know too much about art, I loved both pictures. However, I felt you very much captured the ferocity of the horse in the first picture, whereas in the second you didn't so much. The second horse seemed to have eyes that didn't quite match the ferocity of the first horses. If you get what I'm saying haha.

[Quick~]

The redo of the original is the best of the lot imo, though I prefer the expression on the original itself, the closed mouth just gave him an air that was a bit more certain in his purpose.

the 2nd version just seems a bit odd to me, the expressions are somewhat strange and I'm not feeling the composition as much (though the introduction of more background elements was nice). The Taine and his horse also seem a little over-saturated given there's very little difference in the atmospheric perspective, it just sort of jumps from Taine and his foe straight to obscured BG elements.