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.
Thanks all for your kind comments - much appreciated! Now all I need is 4 more people to vote and I'll (finally) get into the hall of fame! Mwahahahaa!
Posted by dointime85 at 2010-03-20 03:58:25 Voted 10.00 on 03/20/10
clearly one of the best portraits ever!
Posted by Adreanna Drea at 2010-02-23 11:42:51 Voted 10.00 on 02/23/10
I use this portrait for my online character on Thain, and I love it!
I classed her as a young human rogue and I feel she fits the part pefectly
Posted by Jazzy Jarilith at 2010-02-12 04:57:10 Voted 10.00 on 02/12/10
Clearly the best portrait I've seen on the Vault. My preference always goes to not-photo-based or/and not-celebrity-based portraits.
As soon as I saw this portrait I made an elven character based on it.
Oh, and yeah, the braid makes the picture even better!
Posted by Senselesstaste at 2010-02-04 13:30:52 Voted 8.75 on 02/04/10
Wow, great stuff! Thankyou for sharing her with us all :)
Posted by eggwoodwoodward at 2010-01-16 03:23:15 Voted 10.00 on 01/16/10
Excellent work. Your portraits just keep getting better and better.
Hmm... haven't checked back here for a while... glad to see so many positive comments. Thanks all for your encouragement.
And just to answer BlueTressym, the reason she has an elvish name is because the server she was created on is based on Tolkien's Middle Earth, and she is a Gondorian of Numenorean descent (from Dol Amroth), hence the fine feaures, black hair and grey eyes. In Tolkien's works, Numenoreans (at least those who were not under Sauron's influence), their descendants and many in Gondor spoke Sindarin, which is the original 'elvish' language, upon which most fantasy elf languages or at least names are based. A little more info than you needed there ;)
If you wanted a little more, her name breaks down like this: Aew = small bird/songbird, Wen = maiden/girl/woman.
Posted by Fratsic at 2009-11-03 06:35:24 Voted 10.00 on 11/03/09
Extremely well done.
Posted by sari at 2009-10-19 08:30:55 Voted 10.00 on 10/19/09
She is most lovely, an you a fine artist for sharing her, thank you
Posted by int19h at 2009-09-17 22:11:28 Voted 10.00 on 09/17/09
Breathtaking. If I saw that without any comment, I wouldn't ever imagine that it's drawn from scratch. _________________________ [Advanced 2DA editor with TLK support]
Posted by edosan at 2009-09-15 17:23:02 Voted 10.00 on 09/15/09
This is one of the nicest portraits I've seen here -- seriously professional quality. They should hire you.
Posted by dointime85 at 2009-08-28 22:43:13 Voted 10.00 on 03/20/10
great, beautiful and thoughtful!
Posted by cheree823 at 2009-07-15 21:52:32 Voted 9.50 on 07/15/09
This is beautiful.
Posted by BlueTressym at 2009-07-02 07:04:33 Voted 10.00 on 07/02/09
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 2009-06-21 06:28:57 Voted 9.25 on 06/21/09
Just as it should be...
Posted by Gabihime at 2009-06-20 19:38:35 Voted 10.00 on 06/20/09
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."
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 2009-06-18 15:14:07 Voted 10.00 on 06/18/09
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 2009-06-18 10:47:20 Voted 10.00 on 06/18/09
This is an awesome picture.
Posted by Ben Harrison at 2009-06-18 07:13:27 Voted 10.00 on 06/18/09
Beautiful. I especially love the little details (such as her braid). _________________________ [Blog] [Mods]
Posted by Big_Shoe at 2009-06-18 03:47:26 Voted 10.00 on 06/18/09
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 2009-06-18 00:54:22 Voted 9.50 on 06/18/09
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 2009-06-18 00:24:44 Voted 10.00 on 06/18/09
I can't remember when I last downloaded a portait. This one is definately worth it, great work!
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