Beauty and truth in a portrait of exhaustion.

[gridlore]

I've been seeing a lot of ads for people who do character portraits, and they are awesome. But there's a problem. They're all so clean and heroic.

If I got a portrait done of one of my characters, and I usually play fighter-types, he'd be tired. His armor would be patched, his sword stained, and his hair and beard would be kind of scraggly. He'd be sitting on a wall or rock leaning on his worse-for-wear shield. The look on his face would say "Fuck your 'long rest' wizard girl, I'm taking a few days. Or not. *sigh* Mount up, that lich ain't going away without help."

Because I was an infantryman. This is how warriors look.

Comments

[marycatelli]

That sounds like the sort of guy who would not sit for his portrait.

[kshandra]

Why am I thinking of Valentine Michael Smith and The Fallen Caryatid Carrying Her Stone?

[wcg]

Yep. Ernie Pyle could capture this in his reporting. That's what reality looks like.