Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Trydan 08-16-05, 11:22 AM	(WARNING: Long post with lots of graphics!) In the article How to Create a Role-Playing Character (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=105563), I discussed a way of generating a convincing gaming presence. The article described creating a character that has a strong role-playing element built into it from the start rather than, for example, simply appending a contrived history as some sort of afterthought. One of the aspects, mentioned in passing, was that of a character portrait. Portraits can be a useful tool for conveying a lot of information about the character, and can make a useful addition to any character build. Unfortunately, that article was long enough, and so a description of how to create such graphics was relegated to a separate article. This article. (Well, actually it is in three parts, due to the limit on the number of images in a single posting - so please bear with me!) HOW TO CREATE A CHARACTER PORTRAIT The appeal of creating a portrait for your character is compelling. It is a way to show off the character, it immediately conveys a lot about the character (age, appearance, mood, gender, mien, demeanour, scars and emotion). While some of these things may change, and others not, the fact that they are captured in a single image allows them to be simultaneously presented to your fellow players. As such, this is a massive step in helping them form a mental image of all aspects of your role-playing persona. As an aside, it is important to note that character portraits shouldn't be added late in the game. By that stage, your fellow players will have already formed some opinions of what your character looks like. To disrupt that with an actual visual image may in fact be detrimental to their perception of the character, rather than actually helping. Thus, use character portraits to gain a head start when introducing a new character, not as some means to improve the character later. So, assuming that you have a brand-new character and would now like an appropriate illustration, we are ready to start. Assumptions "But I can't draw!" Don't fret... neither can I, it isn't really necessary. While you do need to be able to put pen-to-paper (or finger-to-mouse, as the case may be), I'm not assuming any artistic talent. Of course, the result will not be "professional quality", along the lines of the illustrations in the game source books or magazines, but it will be good enough to get the message across. Let your fellow players' imaginations do the rest. However, I am assuming that you have access to a computer, the Internet (so far reasonable assumptions if you are reading this article!) and a computer graphics package. The graphics package needs to be able to handle transparency, layers, smudging, blurring, dodging and burning, as well as simply drawing. For the examples below, I used gimp (http://www.gimp.org) (v1.2.3), which is an excellent package, is freely available and runs on a large number of different operating systems. Finally, I assume that we are creating a character portrait. That means something suitable for a character sheet illustration or perhaps an avatar for a bulletin board (if you play online) or a computer game. This illustration is reasonably small, and shows only the head and shoulders of the character, against some simple backdrop. This article will not demonstrate how to create animations or full-sized posters. Nor will it consider the entire character, as that requires getting a lot of body proportions and perspectives correct, which can be quite difficult to do. Getting started - the concept Okay, let's get going. Ask yourself the question: "What is your character like?", and answer it as if you were giving a description to a police constable or detective. Things like "looks really cool", just won't work. Consider some of the following instead (some examples are given in brackets): Age Gender Build (thin, fat, muscular, frail) Features (soft skin, furrowed brow, strong jawline, warts or freckles, thin- or full-lipped, eye shape, pointed ears, wrinkles) Exposure (dirty, windswept, sunburnt, sleep-deprived, hung-over, missing teeth, scars, blood-besplattered) Accessories (eyepatch, hat, hood, earrings, crown, gold-tooth, amulet, glasses, mask) Clothing (for hot or cold weather, concealing or revealing, luxurious or simple, armour or uniform) Equipment (weapons, tools, backpack, banner) Familiar (animal companion, accompanying spirit, sentient shadow) Profession (the character class will do, but consider past occupations before he or she took up the adventuring life). Your model Having come up with some ideas, shut your eyes and try to imagine what this character would look like. Then go and find a photograph on the World Wide Web, showing a similar face. Don't worry about equipment or anything at this stage... just the face. You can add everything else later. The reason for this, is that the human eye and brain has evolved to recognise human faces. Thus, it has developed into a very critical measure of facial features. While a simple outline of a sword or shield is reasonably easy, only those with clear artistic skill will be able to create a face from nothing. Thus, we'll borrow one! Images can be obtained from numerous free image galleries. Examples include the Wikipedia Image Gallery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_image_resources) and the GIMP Savvy (http://gimp-savvy.com/PHOTO-ARCHIVE/) archive. You can also use the image search engine provided by various Internet search engines. Consider also the portraits galleries on the web-sites or fan-sites of your favourite role-playing game. There are lots of other sources too. Screenshots from computer games, images from collectable trading card games, or simply photographs of friends, family or even yourself! Just bear in mind that if you use someone else's images, then check the copyright information/requirements before sharing them with the rest of the world. Sometimes this will be fine, but in other cases, you'll have to keep it all to yourself. This article will describe a fully worked example. In choosing a character, I decided upon a paladin. A middle-aged man, well built but showing signs of slowing down. A once strong face, now weathered and wrinkled with battle and passing years. The face would have seen plenty of outdoor life, but also would not be unknowing of the fine life too. He would be of noble birth, and perhaps would have jewels or medals as signs of inherited wealth or royal favour. His clothes would be mostly hidden by armour, and he would carry a shield. He would have an expressive face, wise and determined. For the example given here, I used a public-domain, copyright-free, royalty-free image of an oceanographer (http://gimp-savvy.com/cgi-bin/img.cgi?noaaPYEZD311zxY2963) (photo credit: US-NOAA). I considered the man in the image to have the right age and demeanour for the character that I was trying to portray. Yes, he is wearing a deep-sea wet-suit, but that can be dealt with later! Actually doing the work http://img348.imageshack.us/img348/1984/img000bj.jpg The first step is to get the image to the correct size that you'd like. The one that I found for my paladin is okay, but it was a bit narrow. Thus, I've made the actual image somewhat wider, simply padding it out on the right-hand side with some grey. Note that on all of the images, I actually worked at 768x1024 (that is, four times the size of the images on this page). The reason for this is that you have a lot more control this way. As I go along, I'll be showing the different stages, thus every incremental save of the image. You are also advised to save often, and to different file names. The rule generally is that no matter what setting you have, the "undo buffer" is one less than what you actually needed! http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/9238/img014qt.jpg The next step is to figure out the major modifications to be made. For my paladin, I decided that I wanted to fill in the section on the right with some hair, the rest of the collar and shoulder. Then, I'd add a shield and perhaps some sort of crown or circlet. And a scar or wound... let's make him look battle-worn. Before diving into the details of these, I've roughly sketched them on, but placing them on a separate layer (most graphics packages let you use layers with varying grades of transparency). That way we get a rough idea of the proportions and placement, and can decide whether the image was the correct size or whether our concept is going to work. It is certainly better to find these things out at this stage. As you can see, the image still looks hopeless at this stage, but we'll get there eventually. http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/2084/img028xk.jpg Next I fiddle with the colour balance. The reflected light from the red wet-suit is giving the character a very flushed looking face. I would rather have him look grim and determined, rather than puffed-out and exhausted. Thus, we need to suppress the red a bit. Most graphics packages allow you to modify the colour balance, either in terms of RGB (Red Green Blue) channels, HSV (Hue Saturation Value) or CMYK (Cyan Magenta Yellow blacK). Of course, your image may not need adjusting, but do stop to consider whether it should. http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/5776/img035ag.jpg Okay, now it's time to get heavy-handed. Taking a large "brush", pick some general colours and start filling it bits that you want to "fix". By "brush", I mean a shape that the graphics package uses to apply colour or effects to the image. It might be a 1x1 pixel for drawing fine lines, or a circular disc, 40 pixels in diameter or something even more complicated, possibly with varying degrees of transparency or colour. In the example, the first thing to go is the red wet-suit. So, following roughly the colours of the wet-suit, I go over it with blobs of grey. Note that where there was bright red, I've used a bright grey (that is, almost white). If there was dark red, then I've used a dark grey. No matter which colour you use, match the "Value" or "Brightness". This way you will get the shading correct. Be brutal. Get the shading roughly right, but don't worry about the details. That comes later. Note that at this point we are working on a layer suspended above the actual image. It is better to do that than to draw on the actual image itself - it lets you compare later, should something start looking incorrect in terms of proportions or form. http://img305.imageshack.us/img305/5171/img049pb.jpg Although there is no particular order in which to do things, I generally go for the large areas first. This allows you to quickly get a feel for the overall picture. In our example, I did the background next. Instead of the bland blue sky, I decided to have a smokey, flame-lit background. A battle sunset, some dragon flames or the hinterground of a burning village. Again, use large swathes of colour and don't worry about the exact placing. Also, you don't need to use a lot of different colours - I've only used about six distinct colours for the backdrop here. The aim is to give a rough idea of colour and placement. As you apply the shades generally make the changes of colour slow, and think of where the light is coming from. In the case of sunsets and burning, the light (white or yellow) starts near the horizon and it gets darker as you go up into the sky. The same applies for large areas of blue or grey skies too - lighter near the horizon and darker near the zenith. Some colour palette selections allow you to use the parameters "Hue, Saturation and Value" (HSV). These are good, when moving from one colour or shade to the next. You may have noticed that I've cut across the hair. This is okay, as hair is very easy to add. But do not cut into the face. As mentioned before, the face is the hardest part of all to get right (which is why we are using another image!) http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8660/img054zu.jpg At this point I changed my mind, and decided to give the paladin a purple cape. This would add some colour variation to the image and make him look somewhat more commanding. However, I didn't go back and redo any earlier work, so that you can see how easy it is to do just what you feel like, as the mood takes you and as the picture presents opportunities. I also fixed up the circlet about his head, adding some different shades of gold as it goes around - being aware of the fact that the light comes more or less from the distant right. A gold clasp has been added to the cape - yet again, just large blobs of colour. One thing to note is how by adding the cape on the left hand side (the paladin's right shoulder), it lifts the profile (compare this image with the previous one). It almost adjusts the posture. You can also see this effect by comparing the original and the final images in the series. The oceanographer has sloped, relaxed shoulders, whereas the paladin has a more tense and tougher appearance. http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/4153/img067kc.jpg Now comes the time to start working on some detail, starting with the least detailed part of all - the background. Due to the limited depth of field of the human eye, if you focus on something in the foreground, the background will be slightly out of focus, and vice versa. Thus, we need to make the background fairly blurry. The tool to do this is the "smudge" tool, but make sure you select a large "brush" for doing it. We will use a smaller brush for blurring the cape, armour, and so on, as they are more foreground objects. When smudging, pick a direction and stick to it. The example is a fiery background. Flames normally rise straight up, but with a gust of wind, they slant to one side. Make sure that if your character has wind-swept hair, then the direction is correct. If you have a sunset, consider nearly-horizontal smudging. For some arcane or esoteric effect, feel free to use spirals, circles, triangles or anything. You are the artist, remember. An alternative way of generating backgrounds, is to put a texture or scene on a layer behind the main image, and then use the "eraser" tool to rub through. If you do this, consider applying a gentle "blur" filter to the background to achieve a uniform out-of-focus effect, rather than using smudging. Consider a wide range of possible backgrounds, not just "sky" effects, but forest scenes, stone walls, stained-glass windows, timber panelling, metal plates, canvas sails, and so on... the list is virtually endless. http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/3241/img071vc.jpg Now we smudge in more of the foreground. Note the use of different directions in the smudging. Circles for the clasp, sweeping lines for the cape, short strokes for the armour. Also, try to follow the lines of the objects that you are smudging (take the circlet for example). The subtle shades of the smudges' edge create nearly imperceptible lines that help guide the eye to recognise the form. The boundaries between the colour help indicate shadow, which works effectively. The scar is a good example of this. The dark line and the red blood, smear together to create a more realistic-looking wound. Something to bear in mind is that blood is not pure red (RGB = 1.0, 0.0, 0.0), but somewhat darker. As it dries, it gets darker again. If you don't know what colour to use, find another image on the Internet, showing what you wish to portray, and copy the colour used there. Note that some features of the original image had been showing through (for example, the black vertical line near the right-hand side. As we are now starting to move towards details, it is time to erase these items. http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/9090/img084uu.jpg Let's continue doing the detail. This will help bring an otherwise blurry concept into something a bit more solid. Although an expert could put in photo-realistic detail, we don't want to (and, in my case couldn't anyway, due to lack of talent!). Don't forget that we can rely on the viewer's imagination to fill in the scene. We only need to provide a suggestion of colour and form. Our audience are role-players; they've already got a vivid imagination. The first detail is the highlight on the cape. Note the direction that the light is coming from, and use the dodge tool to provide some highlights. Don't forget to consider the colour of the light, in this case it is a mix of sunlight and fire, so we add some amber/yellow tint to the otherwise purple cape. Then we start fixing the boundary between the photograph and our own work. The "smudge" tool is crucial here. Put down some colour, then smudge it in. Try not to venture too far into the photograph with the smudge. By smoothing out the skin detail, you make the character look younger. This might be fine for an elven maiden, but not in this example. In this step, I added some hair, some shadows and started tweaking the shield. Hair is easy to do. Choose an appropriate colour (copy it from a nearby pixel, if necessary), then draw a few hairs strand-by-strand. Then switch to a narrow smudge tool, and retrace the hairs you have drawn. They will become fainter, less pixelated, and more wispy - just like real hair. To be continued...
Trydan 08-16-05, 11:24 AM	http://img346.imageshack.us/img346/6314/img096yi.jpg Next, we put some effort into the shield. While I could have continued with it as it was - maybe with some slight adjustment - I'd like to show you a different technique. So let's overhaul the shield. You could simply consider the direction of the light, and grab a texture, from the web or wherever, to match it. Cut it out, possibly flip it in X or Y to get the direction correct, paste it on, and then blur the edges to blend it in with the rest of the image. Easy. But let's try to do it manually here, as steel is a typical substance in fantasy role-playing graphics. To start, look at the way the shield is angled. The top edge is about 20 degrees to the horizontal. So, create a new image (don't forget to save your work so far... just in case!), and in that new image, make a gradient that is in the same direction as the angle of the shield. It could be a pure grey-scale, but I find that it is best to "tint" the light-grey with the colour of the lighting in the image (in this case white and amber). Note that I said tint; don't over do it, otherwise it will lose the subtle effect, and start looking like copper, rather than steel! http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/5125/img105av.jpg With our gradient, apply a noise filter. This will randomise the pixels in the image. Ultimately, this noise is simulating the roughness of the metal. If you want a smooth polished effect, use less noise. For a rougher effect, then use some more. Of course, this is a fairly simple generalisation, so do experiment with different settings. As you try different things, then you'll begin to learn what settings look like. The other thing that you can do, is to use the "dodge" and "burn" tools to add dents or large scratches. These sorts of features can be added at this stage, or during the next or even after the texture has been used on the the final image. http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/1749/img110gc.jpg Then we can convert the speckled texture into that of brushed metal; a sort of roughly polished effect. The idea is that the "polishing" is so rough that it leaves small scratches. As they are all aligned, there are hundreds of thousands of small parallel scratches. Sort of the effect you get on a metal pot, when you clean it with some steel wool. To achieve the effect shown here, I used a "motion blur" algorithm, but with the direction of the blur at 90 degrees to that of the gradient. Thus the "brushing" goes up and down the shield. Again, experiment with the different settings, and try adding more serious scratches or other signs of wear and tear. http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/4969/img121ky.jpg We can now add the metal texture to the shield. There are several ways of doing this, either by painting it on directly or by making a smaller brush with the texture and "dabbing" it on (to give a more "beaten metal" effect). However, in this example, I created a new layer beneath the top layer with the original shield concept. Then, I used the "erase" tool to rub through the original to reveal this new layer. Some packages let you use the brushes to do the "burning" and "dodging". With the dodge tool, and some suitably sized and shaped brushes, use low exposure values to spot on the rivets along the top edge. Use an even smaller brush to then "burn" the shadow side of the rivet and "dodge" the light side. This gives the rivets some relief (that is, it makes them seem to stand out from the shield). The final task is then to get the shield edge correct (again, think about where the light is coming from). As the top and side edges are on the shadow side of the shield, they are thus somewhat darker. Zoom in close, and use the "burn" tool to shade it. http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/2778/img133qi.jpg The "burning" and "dodging" effects can be great for added dints, scratches and texture to otherwise smooth surfaces. Here we rough-up the shield a little, and add some texture to the chainmail. Finally, for the shield, we apply a simple Gaussian blur filter, just to get it to have the same level of sharpness as the rest of the image. Just the shield-layer of course, not the whole image. To be honest, you'll not see this effect on the small image, but at the full-scale, the difference is noticeable. Meanwhile, I have also applied a similar "brushed-metal" to the crown/circlet. I've also tried experimenting with some shading on the armour. http://img332.imageshack.us/img332/1198/img156xh.jpg Save the image again, with all its layers. For what we shall now do is flatten the image (that is, create a single layer, which is the correct combination of all our working layers so far). Once the image is a single layer, it is then possible to carefully smudge the edge of the face into the coloured background that we have. Be cautious here, as the human eye is very sensitive to facial detail, and overdoing it will result in something that immediately calls attention to the fact that it isn't quite right. Ultimately, what we are doing is not creating a new image (we're not artists, remember) but rather doctoring an existing image to make it fit our character. When working on the hair, use a narrow smudge tool. Start on the bulk of the hair, and draw the tool out over the edge and onto the background. This will make it look like there are a few tufts are sticking up. This is an easy technique, but it can be very effective. Additionally, consider the light source, and darken any remaining areas that you feel need more shadow (or highlight). (In the example, I thought that the area under the chin needed to be darker.) Use the dodge or burn tool as appropriate but, if possible, use a "fuzzy-edged" brush, to ensure that the work doesn't leave any hard-lines. These are difficult to get right, and rarely occur anyway (unless the light is nearly a point-source). http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/8696/img168ox.jpg Finally, we touch up any last items. Of course, one could do this more or less indefinitely, but in the example, I felt that the cloak-pin and the circlet needed a bit more work. The rest would probably not be noticed anyway. And now we are done. One ready made character portrait/avatar! Click here (http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/936/full168ug.jpg) to see the full image. To be continued...
Trydan 08-16-05, 11:26 AM	Other effects http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4628/img179re.jpg It is somewhat difficult to demonstrate all effects on a single portrait, so here are a few additional techniques that you may like to use. Before getting excited and creating graphics bespattered with weapons, magic, wounds, glowing eyes, wings, armour, and so on, bear in mind that this portrait is to convey more about the character than about their capabilities or equipment. In the next series of images, I'll demonstrate creating timber, magical auras and magical radiance in the form of a wizard's staff. Start by placing a plain brown staff on the image (when you add these sorts of things to character portraits, save first, and then use a new layer). http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/663/img183cp.jpg Then as before start adding some colour. Choose difference shades of brown, and consider a general lighting direction; in this case, I've chosen to have the light come in from the right. Then put the lighter colours on that side, and the darker ones on the other. Note that this is done by hand, and is fairly rough. If you use a gradient, then the staff will look like a perfect cylinder, and thus will be more like metal, than timber. Alternatively, you could use a pre-made texture, or cut some timber from another image, and use that. In such cases, then use the "dodge" and "burn" tools to get the shading right, otherwise it will look very flat. Dodge the light edge of the staff for highlights and burn the dark edge to indicate shadow. http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/355/img199qi.jpg Using the smudge tool, I then blend the broad strokes. To add some grain texture, a noise filter followed by a motion blur lengthwise down the staff gives it a better feel. I could spend ages tweaking this, but the objective here is to demonstrate a variety of effects, not to create perfect timber, so let's move on. http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/2292/img207aq.jpg Whether a radiating luminance or an ethereal glow, modern graphicspackages make magical effects easy. Essentially, these magical effects come down to light, and there is usually a good selection of glows, flares and other optical tools available. Let's start on the magic now, by adding a general glow to the staff, it could be from a Detect Magic spell or the natural luminance of the object itself. Either way, the effect we are looking at here is a type of aura, and even though the aura covers the entire object, it will be more pronounced at the edges (it is a projection effect; at the edge, you are looking through more aura, and thus more light, than face on. To do this, pick a suitable colour, in this case pale blue, and on a new layer (important!) place a bright inner outline, and a slightly darker outer one. Again, simply do it by hand... it doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, it would probably look better, slightly uneven. Oh, and don't forget that this aura must be on a new layer, ready for the next step. http://img344.imageshack.us/img344/4488/img218bn.jpg We now need to make the aura look like it is radiating from the staff, and the way to do this is with our trusty "smudge" tool. Set the amount of smudging down to between 10 to 30 percent (depending on the package, it may be called the "rate", "exposure" or "opacity"). I've used a large brush here, but try experimenting with other sizes. Then, starting from an area outside the aura, click and hold, then sweep the mouse back and forth over the aura, at 90 degrees to the surface of the timber. In the illustration, I've started doing the shading, so the before and after effects can be seen side-by-side. Additionally, I've drawn an extra arrow, showing the zig-zag movement of the mouse, as I smudge the solid aura into something more ethereal. http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/6642/img228sp.jpg Here is the staff with the final aura. Note how the aura is smudged perpendicular to the surface of the staff. This means that up at the top of the staff, the smudging curves about. Of course, the back-and-forth motion of the mouse across the aura gives this sort of ghostly-blue fire to the object. However, feel free to experiment with swirls, strips and splotches to get different effects. http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/4177/img232ox.jpg What we now wish to do, is to add some sort of strong radiance to the tip of the staff. While it is possible to draw gems, crystals and other such things, it is easier to simply have it dazzlingly bright with powerful illumination effects. For this sort of magic, go for the lighting section in the special effects menu. My graphics package has lots of options: "FlareFX", "GFlare", "Lighting effects", "Sparkle", "Supernova" and so on. When placing the effect, centre it on the tip of the staff, at the centre of the circle part of the timber, not on the very end tip of the staff itself. And then, simply experiment! In the example, I used two superimposed gradient flares, with a "supernova" effect and some lens flaring. More or less random, really. Finishing Sometimes you may wish to modify the image to make it look a bit unusual or to make it fit a particular idea or setting. Often this is easy to do, simply by applying some of the pre-existing filters that come with your graphics package, or by combining a few of your own. http://img310.imageshack.us/img310/179/img249os.jpg http://img344.imageshack.us/img344/2893/img258ch.jpg http://img344.imageshack.us/img344/706/img265ow.jpg Consider the above images. The first uses an "old photo" filter. The second is an "oil painting" filter. And the third is a combination of an "edge detect", "reverse video" and "greyscale", ultimately giving a bizarre graphite-pencil look. Conclusion Creating a portrait can be quite rewarding. Both from the sense of doing something artistic, to impressing your friends at the next gaming session. I hope that this article assists you in accomplishing some simple character illustrations, without relying on too much effort. Best wishes for your new characters... -- Trydan. Credits Photo Credit: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Photo Copyright-Free: http://gimp-savvy.com/cgi-bin/img.cgi?noaaPYEZD311zxY2963. Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting (http://imageshack.us).
The Smartest Lemming 08-16-05, 09:09 PM	Wow... That is all I can say,,, wow. Thank you for taking the time and the effort to show us all a good way to create a character portrate :tiphat:
Azri 08-17-05, 04:51 PM	Nice guide. Since I can't draw, I load up NWN, Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, etc. and play dressup with a toon until I get the look I want. Then I take a screenshot, crop it, and paste it into a character sheet.
The_Yellow_Dart_Swinger 08-17-05, 11:38 PM	You finally got it up Trydan. And I must say it was worth the wait. Good job. I have a question though. How long did it take you to complete the portait from start to finish?
Trydan 08-18-05, 03:24 AM	How long did it take you to complete the portait from start to finish?Normally, I spend between one and two hours on a portrait, and this one would have been similar. However it did take me a lot longer in this particular case as I was writing the draft article in parallel - so it took about six hours or so. It really depends on how close your original is to the final product you are after. Sometimes I'll take an existing fantasy image and just change one or two things (such as hair colour, or weapon being wielded). That can take as little as 10-15 minutes. It also assumes that you already have the image you want to convert (sometimes searching for one can take a while). And also, as you do more of them, you get better at it and can do them faster. The first time I tried, I spent ages just experimenting. You should allow for something similar when you first try it.
Norhg 08-18-05, 03:02 PM	Man, I'm saying this in my own voice not the one I hide behind pretty words used on these boards... Dude, you rock! This is the awesomest coolest thing on these boards since 2001. Approved!
matbot 08-20-05, 05:20 PM	Very nice work. I've just been inspired to fire up the gimp and start experimenting
Trydan 12-01-05, 07:31 AM	:bump:
Kyle_the_DM 12-02-05, 02:12 AM	I have to say, yours are a lot better than the ones I've done on PSP8. My smudge tool sucks and I don't have a good oil painting filter. I'll post some images later sometime.
BobtheBiotitan 12-02-05, 11:30 PM	I have to say very nice job. GIMP is a pretty good program considering it's free, but I prefer to do my work using the adobe suite. So many more fun tools in Illustrator that the price is worth it. You just helped so many people who lack drawing skills. I'm sure withing a day or two this thread will be a good 5 pages long.