Mahala's picture

Which picture, new or old?

  • Total voters
    104
  • Poll closed .
Valkrionn said:
Yeah, I've noticed that trend too. :lol:

We're honestly going to go with the last one Opera posted.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good idea to me. After all, if something better pops up it's easy to swap it out and at the moment any change is good. We've been looking at the same mugs for the leaders for ages now. Altering the appearance is a good way to change the players attitude towards an AI faction. And if it's a controversial change it's a great way to get the lurkers to start posting. ;)
 
I think that last one is really good. Even though she isn't in crude leather clothing, it isn't necessary that she be. Doviello can research Iron Working, y'know... ;)

Already made the module, Valkrionn told me to make it in the core... :D
 
Just a joke I'll have to share this image. This is so going to be "my" version of Mahala when I start playing civ4 again.

http://j.imagehost.org/0117/Test4.jpg
Click to expand...

nah the sword is too small, also there needs to be bigger pauldrons and more epic spell effects like flames around the sword. otherwise it is fine :)
 
IMO the old portrait is better. So what if she's too masculine? There are plenty of masculine women in the real world, and anyhow the clothing on the new portrait isn't very suitable for a cold climate. I actually think that Mahala's old portrait is among the best portraits in the game, since it's relatively realistic and doesn't subscribe to the annoying "chainmail bikini" trope.

Also, the new portrait is just plain ugly.
 
Well it seems I just can't be of any help. I know you already settled on the image you're going to use but I might as well share what I found, if for no other reason then sharing artwork.

http://j.imagehost.org/0130/test5.jpg
[Obviously wrong in appearance but I really like the expression on her face]

http://a.imagehost.org/0735/test6.jpg
[Very unusual image of a female warrior. One for the collection to be sure]

http://j.imagehost.org/0772/test7.jpg
[Best Mahala canditate I could find. Good match of the concept. Not the best quality though.]

http://a.imagehost.org/0814/test8.jpg
[Managed to find a "barbarian" woman, in snow, that's fully armoured and not a bimbo. Also a given place in the collection. Great expression as well.]

http://j.imagehost.org/0609/test9.jpg
[Too high quality armour but I liked the "sad valkyrie" theme. Mahala strikes me as not having an easy time to keep her pack alive.]

http://i.imagehost.org/0758/test10.jpg
[Another rarity. Female mounted warrior with leather plate, magic sword and proper heraldic shield. Excellent expression. Also, there is a kitten. You just don't find images like this when you search for fantasy art. Had to look through scanned book covers.]

http://a.imagehost.org/0663/luichurp.jpg
[Not Mahala at all but a really sweet concept for a Luichurp/Mechanos leader.]
 
Let me try some, too. From DA.
http://wrenstormbringer.deviantart.com/art/Sashya-Frozen-Journey-56003042

http://euology2000.deviantart.com/art/Ice-Maiden-169292128

http://nith47.deviantart.com/art/Barbarian-Chick-127476260

This one would be good, but only in a different style. here's for your amusement
Spoiler :
http://zackri.deviantart.com/art/Barbarian-Commission-155669458


more to come...

http://syrkell.deviantart.com/art/The-lady-of-War-132619996
That one would require a little photo-editing, to put more shadows on the skin and change the background from fire to snow. Good, though, and easy photo-editing.
 
Dissonance said:
Let me try some, too. From DA.
Click to expand...

Heh, reminds me why I stopped visiting Deviant Art. Ah just kidding, but you got to agree that those pictures are pushing the cliché into very familiar territory. Those girls must have antifreeze running through their veins. Heck, if the mod team went for "clothing optional" for their art then the problem would be inverted. There would simply too many artworks to choose from. :crazyeye:
 
Of the pictures here I really liked Opera's picture the best. It has both a winter feel to it (with the fur coat) and is also realistic. So I decided to work with that. It was kind of difficult to crop because the coloring of the background is similar to the dark coloring of her clothing and hair. Second, I needed to find a background to match the lighting (as her right side is almost black), but I also needed the background to match the quality of the picture. So I found this background:

http://www.templates.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Winter-Fun-by-jerry8448.jpg

The polar bear... was a problem. I needed to put her head right over the polar bear, which really limited things because I also needed exact dimensions (that picture is much taller than the one with the woman in it). The end result after some dimension skewing and cropping:

2qqD9E.png


Criticism is certainly welcome.
 
Well as usual I added a smartass comment but I figured I should try to actually be of some use for once. I've edited the image to remove the moon, since it would be a background light and thus cast her whole face in shadow, not just her right side. I tried my best to remove the last artifacts from the sled as well as the outcrop. Added a few more stars. Also the armour is clearly lit from a bright light source (daylight from a window most likely). I've tried to diminish that a bit by altering contrast, saturation and hue.

Edit: Man I can be such an idiot at times... I of course meant no disrespect Alsark. You did a splendid work of cutting the woman out of her original background, and your choice of new background was excellent. I would never had thought to blend such a vibrant blue winter night with someone in a full plate armour. I just polished it a little to remove some annoyances. Sorry if I came across as more fool then usual.

Edit2: That is an axe she is holding right? I was tinkering a bit more with the image when I realized that it perhaps is supposed to look blunt. Is that a warhammer?
 

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Wauthan said:
Well as usual I added a smartass comment but I figured I should try to actually be of some use for once. I've edited the image to remove the moon, since it would be a background light and thus cast her whole face in shadow, not just her right side. I tried my best to remove the last artifacts from the sled as well as the outcrop. Added a few more stars. Also the armour is clearly lit from a bright light source (daylight from a window most likely). I've tried to diminish that a bit by altering contrast, saturation and hue.

Edit: Man I can be such an idiot at times... I of course meant no disrespect Alsark. You did a splendid work of cutting the woman out of her original background, and your choice of new background was excellent. I would never had thought to blend such a vibrant blue winter night with someone in a full plate armour. I just polished it a little to remove some annoyances. Sorry if I came across as more fool then usual.

Edit2: That is an axe she is holding right? I was tinkering a bit more with the image when I realized that it perhaps is supposed to look blunt. Is that a warhammer?
Click to expand...

It does look a bit better without the moon, actually.

And I'm not sure if it's a warhammer or axe. I am assuming an axe, as it looks bladed and has the spike. May even be called a halberd, but it doesn't have the spear tip.
 
Wauthan said:
Well as usual I added a smartass comment but I figured I should try to actually be of some use for once. I've edited the image to remove the moon, since it would be a background light and thus cast her whole face in shadow, not just her right side. I tried my best to remove the last artifacts from the sled as well as the outcrop. Added a few more stars. Also the armour is clearly lit from a bright light source (daylight from a window most likely). I've tried to diminish that a bit by altering contrast, saturation and hue.

Edit: Man I can be such an idiot at times... I of course meant no disrespect Alsark. You did a splendid work of cutting the woman out of her original background, and your choice of new background was excellent. I would never had thought to blend such a vibrant blue winter night with someone in a full plate armour. I just polished it a little to remove some annoyances. Sorry if I came across as more fool then usual.

Edit2: That is an axe she is holding right? I was tinkering a bit more with the image when I realized that it perhaps is supposed to look blunt. Is that a warhammer?
Click to expand...

No disrespect taken :). I'm actual grateful that somebody could touch it up a bit. I'm by no means an art person (I'm definitely left-brained).

As for what she's holding... it's basically a halberd without a pointed end. The closest I could find to it is the Ono, which was rarely used as a weapon, anyway. I'm guessing the artist perhaps just didn't like the aesthetics of the point of the halberd, and modified the axe accordingly (because there would really be no reason to have such a weapon without a pointed end).
 
Much better picture indeed!

On a less relevant topic, it does, however, appear to be a Warhammer. The head is the wrong shape, and the point is too long for an axe. It wouldn't have penetrating power.

Or, it SHOULD be a warhammer :D

Spoiler research :
War axes do not need a large pick to pierce the armor, as that would disbalance the axe itself. The axe part itself is always bigger than the pick. As a matter of fact, most weapons don't even have a pick.

Axes look like this:
Battle-Axe.jpg


War picks are designed to pierce armor, and warhammers had those often. This appears to be a super-sized warhammer.

Here's an example:
Viking_axe_War_Hammer_medieval.jpg


On larger weapons, the head doesn't have to be flat; as a matter of fact, it's probably better if it's not as it focuses the impact more.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_hammer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_axe#The_European_Middle_Ages
 
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