Skip to main content

Creating character potraits

One vital part when it comes to creating your character (at least, if you're very visual) is choosing their portrait. Some gamers draw them, others use already existing images, and some others use online avatar generators. After trying several methods, I decided to try a fourth one: Photoshop.

I wanted to create the portraits of my 4 main characters (which I use whenever I generate a party): Eryssel (a half-elf ranger), Daud (a human fighter), Gunnar (a human thief), and Jarmyel (a human monk). I got their custom miniatures from HeroForge a while ago, so I already had an idea of how they looked like. In fact, I even used the renders of the minis to create them as playable characters in my D&D Adventure System games. However, I wanted to complement their appearance by creating their actual portraits. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The first step I took was going all over the internet to find photos and pictures of faces that I could associate with them. It took me a while, but I was able to find some really interesting ones. I then narrowed the list to 4, taking into account the minis I had and the idea I had of each one of them.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Then came the big question: how can I make this work? Photoshop, the answer was photoshop. I wanted to create a cartoonish version of those photos. However, using filters did not give the results I wanted. After watching some tutorials and videos, I found a nice method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nvuDsOpIXo It required using the pen tool, so in a sense, it was a bit like working with curves and vectors. I opted for this.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The process was interesting because it was not that far away from drawing on paper. It took me a few hours to finish all four, but the results were worth the effort.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
From left to right: Daud, Eryssel, Gunnar, and Jarmyel
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And that's how I created my character's portraits! They all have the cartoonish effect I was looking for, and they look pretty cool. So, if you're looking for a way of creating your own portraits, you could try this! This can also be done with other programs such as GIMP (which is free), and learning how to use the tools is way less complicated than it looks like.

Give it a try, and bring your characters to life.

Cheers!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quick 5e to OSR conversion method

I've seen this question pop up time and time again in forums and similar websites: How do you convert 5e material into OSR games? This applies mostly to monsters, foes, and other creatures that sometimes are hard to convert into older systems because of the concepts of AC (Armor Class) and HD (Hit Dice). Modern 5e foes use HP (Hit Points) as opposed to HD, and their AC is ascendant (which means that the higher the AC, the better). So, whenever you're playing a module, things go smoothly until you encounter your first enemy, and then you're lost because how do you transfer such a detailed enemy into a much simpler system, while ensuring you're keeping it relatively balanced? Well, here's one way how you can do it. I'd like to share with you a very simple conversion system, that will allow you to convert 5e foes and other creatures to OSR games with a descending AC (such as Labyrinth Lord). This also works with other games such as Scarlet Heroes (more info
2 comments
Read more

Customizing your Scarlet Heroes experience

You can tell I really like Scarlet Heroes because I'm always bringing it up. Not only was it the very first solo RPG book I bought, but also I find myself going back to it, time and time again, despite having other titles in my collection.   The illustrations of the book are also fantastic, in my opinion! Due to its origins (see my previous article for a quick overview on this), Scarlet Heroes is easily customizable and adaptable. This is exceptionally useful if you're playing entirely on your own.  By default, the game comes with the monsters, spells, and lore of the Red Tide , an original campaign setting by Kevin Crawford (the one man behind Sine Nomine Publishing), which was made available as a Labyrinth Lord supplement around the time Black Streams: Solo Heroes (Scarlet Heroes' predecessor) was originally released. The world of the Red Tide was inspired by Southeast Asian myths and culture. When the full Scarlet Heroes was released via Kickstarter, the Red Tide setti
1 comment
Read more

Tools #1: Fate/Fudge dice Oracle System

This is an easy oracle system that can help you when playing solo, or when you're GMing an RPG session. All you need is a pair of Fate/Fudge dice. If you don't know what that is, keep on reading! Do you have any Fate/Fudge dice (Fd’s)? If not, you can easily create your own. All you need is: Some ordinary d6 or six-sided dice. A black sharpie or any other permanent marker. The following chart.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------  Source: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/726115/paolo-robino ----------------------------------------------------------------------  It’s a cheap and easy solution that works just like the real deal! ----------------------------------------------------------------------  My example. As you can see, it's a simple process. ----------------------------------------------------------------------  Now, with your Fd’s ready, here’s the Oracle. You just need 2Fd’s for it. The meanings wou
Post a Comment
Read more