[FfH II Art Team Blog]

[stp]

Nice! But I think that she looks rather like a druid than a mage.

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

awsome work ther seZ, as usual i wish i could do textures as well as you, lol.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Eh, not really a fan. Definitely too androgynous, and its features seem to sharp and angular. Plus I'm not really into blondes. Actually, I think that the arcane line might be better looking more like their cousins the Svartalfar, since they are the more arcane sect. I guess this is fine for the mages, but I think that elven Archmages need to look like Thessa.

 

[Yaotzin]

I quite like it, though the face is probably a bit too manly. Being androgynous isn't really a problem though, Tolkien Elves are androgynous, and FFH (and almost everyone else..) went with that kind of elf. I imagine faces are bloody hard to get right anyway, and they're so small, so eh.

Not sure about the staff though. Don't FFH elves love nature too? Seems odd to put an animals head on your staff. Not a big deal though, the leader 'pedia pages indicate they aren't terribly nice elves either. Looks good regardless.

I really think art for spellcasters should be given priority*, given that magic is the big change from Vanilla, and I would imagine the most used part of FFH. Maybe have a poll or something seeing what folks would like most? The default archmage is so ugly *cries*

*assuming you guys make stuff that Kael wants, as opposed to whatever strikes your fancy

 

[seZereth]

well.
we have a list of units and their priority, more or less we work the list down in a random order
Archmages are a really low priority.. in fact, they aint on the list at all, like any other tier 4 unit...

the Staff, well. the deer is the totem of the ljosalfar, so i went with that.

I tweaked her a bit and she looks like a girl now. but anyway, from a game perspective you wont notice it...
but i´ll keep it in mind for next female model
the fact that she is blond, well, you will have to live with that

 

[Slvynn]

awesome job seZ.
Her face have something male in it, but rest is great.
so each race gets own adept and mage

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Being androgynous isn't really a problem though, Tolkien Elves are androgynous, and FFH (and almost everyone else..) went with that kind of elf.

They most certainly were not. They have often been portrayed this way, even before Tolkien, but Tolkien himself was strongly opposed to it. He insisted that male eves were very masculine, and females very feminine. Tolkien was know to get angry at those who tried to portray elven men as effeminate in any way. The fact that the men were also considered fair and beautiful does not mean they looked like women, just very attractive men. They were always very tall, lean, and muscular. They just rarely ever aged beyond being physically the equivalent of human in his early twenties (although depression could age them significantly)

I believe they were described as being even more "manly" in the distant past though, and more similar to humanity in other ways. Whatever traits may be associated with femininity are to be attributed to the wisdom gained through their long lives, or to their apparent youth.

 

[Grey Fox]

Not sure about the staff though. Don't FFH elves love nature too? Seems odd to put an animals head on your staff. Not a big deal though, the leader 'pedia pages indicate they aren't terribly nice elves either. Looks good regardless.

They still eat meat and build stuff with wood. The problem is they live in harmony with the nature and for example use every part of the animal. At least that's how i see it.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I don't see a problem; male deer shed their antlers each year, so even the Fyrdwell (who are vegetarians and do not hunt) would have no problem using the shed horns of their steeds.

 

[Yaotzin]

They most certainly were not. They have often been portrayed this way, even before Tolkien, but Tolkien himself was strongly opposed to it. He insisted that male eves were very masculine, and females very feminine. Tolkien was know to get angry at those who tried to portray elven men as effeminate in any way. The fact that the men were also considered fair and beautiful does not mean they looked like women, just very attractive men. They were always very tall, lean, and muscular. They just rarely ever aged beyond being physically the equivalent of human in his early twenties (although depression could age them significantly)

I believe they were described as being even more "manly" in the distant past though, and more similar to humanity in other ways. Whatever traits may be associated with femininity are to be attributed to the wisdom gained through their long lives, or to their apparent youth.

Ah, sorry. All the popular depictions of them seem to be pretty feminine, I guess because of the fair/beautiful descriptions, and my own memory of the book is pretty fuzzy :<

Shame bout the Archmage, guess it's not a big deal with decent enough mage art, can just use that.

It's a skull MC They can just use the skulls of deer that died naturally I guess, bit macabre but nothing really wrong with it flavor wise.

 

[smjjames]

Nice artwork there seZereth including the other art on your art page.

Anyways, as far as that unit bieng blonde, aren't light elves supposed to have light colored hair anyways? I suppose the darkest they could have is a light brown, but even if it were blonde, elves debunk the 'stupid blonde' stereotype anyways.

I agree with Yao, there are deer who end up getting thier horns locked while fighting and die that way, happens all the time in the wild. So I could see that happening where nobody got to them on time or if the elves decide to let nature take its course.

 

[seZereth]

I dont know why everyone bothers about the deer skull.
In my eyes, magic, shamanism, druidism, spiritism related to nature always made use of the totem animals fur, claws, skull (you couldnt use living or rotting skulls). (think of native americans or other ancient cultures)...
those were symbols and most of the guys believed that the symbols bear even power beyond the symbolic effect. in this case magical quality. a kind of focus or guide or whatever. And the point of having it on a magical staff is definitely to show that symbols might, its not hanging from her belt or something like barbarians could have trophy skulls or hanging on a necklace, like the teeth of a predature the young hunter just defeated.

 

[Ploeperpengel]

bah! living in harmony with nature doesn't mean you don't kill animals. That's a far too modern concept for a dark fantasymod. Here animals kill animals, animals kill elves, elves kill animals...elves just might identify themselves more with their prey than the ordinary hunter and prefer killing ill animals for food or if not that it might be a duel between equals from their perspective...

 

[Grey Fox]

Exactly the way I see it.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Anyways, as far as that unit bieng blonde, aren't light elves supposed to have light colored hair anyways? I suppose the darkest they could have is a light brown, but even if it were blonde, elves debunk the 'stupid blonde' stereotype anyways.

Thessa is a Ljosalfar Archmage, and her hair (at least based on the leader pic) is jet black. So, no, they aren't all blond. You can't actually see his hair, but Amelanchier doesn't look like he would be blond either. Based on the fact that the Dark Elves are the more arcane elves, I was thinking that the Ljsalfar mage class would likely have closer blood ties to their Svartalfar cousins.

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

i just had another play around in 3DSmax today and made a hydra. im not sure if there is any need for a hydra in FfH, but i thought id post a pic here anyway:


i based it off this picture and used the same picture for the texture.


Unfortunately its a very very high polygon count (2200).

 

[Ploeperpengel]

i just had another play around in 3DSmax today and made a hydra. im not sure if there is any need for a hydra in FfH, but i thought id post a pic here anyway:


i based it off this picture and used the same picture for the texture.


Unfortunately its a very very high polygon count (2200).

The heads need some horns else it's awesome!

 

[Psychic_Llamas]

yeh im really not happy with the heads, i may re-do them from scratch.

 

[TheJopa]

Awesome, I think it would fit as a planar gate unit (replacing manticores) if Kael has no other plans for it (but I suppose he has as hydras are common in D&D)

 

[seZereth]

i just had another play around in 3DSmax today and made a hydra. im not sure if there is any need for a hydra in FfH, but i thought id post a pic here anyway:


i based it off this picture and used the same picture for the texture.


Unfortunately its a very very high polygon count (2200).

Cool. did you try using the war elephant animation for it?
Hmm, either as a planar gate unit or as a great barabarian beast would be cool.