Work in progess and Previews

Can I entice you to make Tigranes II of Armenia for my European mod? :D

Re: Caesar: Not sure whether I like the pope for Medieval (even though he looks cool). IMHO, he should be a worldly leader. But, the Pope could be a LH in his own right (The Papal States/Patrimonium Petri)...

Re: Meiji: This will be your best Meiji, hands down. Doesn't he look "a little bit" like Apolo Ohno? ;)
 
hows this?
 

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Much less busy than the original one.
 
The new Caesar looks great, the neck is much improved! I might actually like the original placement of the background better myself but regardless this is absolutely first rate!

For the medieval era I'd also have misgivings on using the pope BUT it would be a change of pace from most Roman leaderheads that seem to use either medieval Italian or Byzantine styles.
 
Shiro how do you use the blur in Photoshop? Smart blur usually works better than gaussian blur. I have PS CS2 which adds a 3rd blurring filter surface blur which I find works well to blur backgrounds also.
However a good way to use gaussian blur is to make a copy of the background layer then apply gaussian blur and set the blurred layer to overlay. Although you may have to play with opacity of the blurred layer to get it to look just right.
 
well usually I like to follow the country's history when making a head and since Rome becomes the Papacy I thought it was a good idea.

I understand and I value that you do that. Alot.
It's just to me, Rome morphs into Italy as it is overrun by Germanic "barbarians" (at least the Western half of the Imperium). Those Germanic people then over time adopted some of the Roman ways, merged them with their own distinct culture and "Italy" was born. My example would be the Lombards.
(I know it didn't exactly happen that way and Yoda Power would object to any notion that suggests Italy = Modern Rome, but there is a, albeit watered-down, cultural thread that runs straight from the Romans to Modern-day Italians.)

The Catholic Church, even though it has it's Supreme Pontiff in Rome, is supra-national and helped forge Europe's cultural identity, not just Rome's or Italy's. As far as I know, "Catholic" is Greek and means "All-comprising". ;)

That's why I'd suggest to not use the Pope for a medieval Roman/Italian LH.
 
It's certainly too simplistic to say that Rome simply "becomes" the Papacy - after all, the first Pope was supposedly Peter, in the first century AD, and after the fall of the Roman empire the Papacy was never more than a minor player in the secular politics of Italy. However, the Pope's title of "Pontifex Maximus" is taken directly from the Roman emperor, who also bore that title to represent his role in Roman religion. Which means that it is actually quite logical for a LH of a Roman emperor to be a Pope in later ages.
 
It's certainly too simplistic to say that Rome simply "becomes" the Papacy - after all, the first Pope was supposedly Peter, in the first century AD, and after the fall of the Roman empire the Papacy was never more than a minor player in the secular politics of Italy. However, the Pope's title of "Pontifex Maximus" is taken directly from the Roman emperor, who also bore that title to represent his role in Roman religion. Which means that it is actually quite logical for a LH of a Roman emperor to be a Pope in later ages.

However, the true successor of the Roman Emperors as secular/spiritual leaders were in fact the Byzantine Emperors, who, in the tradition of Constantin the Great, often presided over religious "concilia", where bishops and patriarchs would discuss countless dogmatic and liturgic matters. But that was in the Eastern Empire.
Also, for most of the Middle Ages, the Pope did not even reside in Rome, but in Avignon, France, where, to this day a monumental palace bears witness to the times of the Great Schism, where the Papacy was essentially controlled by the French.
So to me, it's "No!" to a Pope as Roman/Italian leader for the Middle Ages. Rather, I'd suggest a person a la Medici, Macchiavelli or the like.
And, make the Pope a separate LH for a separate Civ. I'm sure it would be quite useful in any Medieval European scenario.
 
However, the true successor of the Roman Emperors as secular/spiritual leaders were in fact the Byzantine Emperors, who, in the tradition of Constantin the Great, often presided over religious "concilia", where bishops and patriarchs would discuss countless dogmatic and liturgic matters. But that was in the Eastern Empire.

This is true, but as you rightly point out, that's in the eastern empire. What the Byzantine rulers got up to didn't generally make much difference to Rome, and if the idea is to have a LH for Rome as a place rather than simply as an idea, then Shiro's idea makes some sense. After all, if you were to follow the logic of making the medieval head Byzantine, then the industrial one would have to be Russian (Moscow being the Third Rome). Not sure about the modern one...

Also, for most of the Middle Ages, the Pope did not even reside in Rome, but in Avignon, France, where, to this day a monumental palace bears witness to the times of the Great Schism, where the Papacy was essentially controlled by the French.

That's not really true, in fact. The Avignon Papacy lasted only from 1305 to 1415 - and it was only a schism between 1378 and 1415, since between 1305 and 1378 there was only one claimant to the Papal throne, but he lived in Avignon. After 1378 there was one in Avignon and one in Rome.

Other than this period, Popes did sometimes live away from Rome. For example, Clement V lived in Naples and moved the whole curia there; his successor, Boniface VIII, moved it back to Rome. However, these were mostly temporary movements depending on where the Pope of the day wanted to be. Even these Popes would have spent much of their time in Rome, and most medieval Popes remained in Rome just as they do today.

And, make the Pope a separate LH for a separate Civ. I'm sure it would be quite useful in any Medieval European scenario.

I think jorde did make a medieval Pope LH already, in fact.
 
Well, I'd prefer a worldly leader, too. Maybe a Genuese merchantman?

But in the End, it's up to the creator.
 
That's not really true, in fact. The Avignon Papacy lasted only from 1305 to 1415 - and it was only a schism between 1378 and 1415, since between 1305 and 1378 there was only one claimant to the Papal throne, but he lived in Avignon. After 1378 there was one in Avignon and one in Rome.

Other than this period, Popes did sometimes live away from Rome. For example, Clement V lived in Naples and moved the whole curia there; his successor, Boniface VIII, moved it back to Rome. However, these were mostly temporary movements depending on where the Pope of the day wanted to be. Even these Popes would have spent much of their time in Rome, and most medieval Popes remained in Rome just as they do today.

I stand corrected on the historical facts. Thanks, Plotinus. :)
 
hows this?
Ideas for other eras?

Not bad at all! Like the background... would lighten it up and blur it "just a tad" ;)

Re: other eras?

Modern: Make him look like one of the Mullahs/Ayatollahs/etc (the beard doesn't have to be white, only if you want to):

Industrial: Shah Reza Pahlavi in military uniform:

Medieval: Shah Abbas I (Safavid dynasty):
 
I like the medieval, Industrial looks too basic like most of the industrial heads on these threads. Modern will probably be Mahmoud Ahmadinejad since I based the face from his.

Ahmadinejad? Good choice! And the industrial? Yeah, I know, I know, a splendid military uniform like countless other LH's... I agree. Maybe I'll dig up something more interesting...
 
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