I got Fuse at discount one Steam and it's helped me quickly rough out faces and body types for a bunch of characters.
The mesh was a bit difficult to work with, compared to the Saints Row 2 interface, and I was kinda stupid and missed the eye colours at first. Also pretty much all the hair is placeholder until I make something.
Gulbadan, who I wanted to look sort of North Indian. I had initially imagined her fairer because she was at court, but she's known for going into the wilderness to study animals and travelled for years, and I found this look much more "right" for her as soon as I saw it:
Here are other drawings of her -- I hadn't had a clear picture of her beyond mannerisms and personality:
This is Yanyan, the servant of a queen, supposed to look more Han influenced but not Han herself:
Here are some drawings of her. One is based on Shin-Ae, who looks eerily like the picture in my head:
Another one set later on -- her hair has grown out:
Then we have Humay, who is supposed look sort of Uyghur. They are an ancient group, and vibrant red hair pops up among them, which is extremely striking. Her eyes are the wrong colour, though:
My inspiration for some of her features was Zhao Wei, who has wonderfully expressive eyes, who can be both strong and vulnerable, and is one of my favourite actresses. The drawing was never quite right but I had trouble isolating what it was:
Comparison with the front view:
Roya, an elite archer. I wanted her to look Irano-Afghan, with strong and distinct features and those brilliant green eyes. Her eyes aren't the right tint -- I've seen pictures of people from the region and it's not a green I've often seen. It's gemlike, like slices of light jade, or maybe olivine or Prehnite. There's a brilliance there that's not quite the same as anything else. Roya's scars are not there yet: Somewhat more accurate hairstyle than the others:
She came out looking a lot like the Afghan Girl, Sharbat Gula, but that was not the intent. I based it especially on this drawing:
I attempted a front and profile view to model it myself,and I plotted out her scars (roughly):
Queen Shinogai, who by this point does not appear directly, but I need to know what she looked like to make sure her kids properly resembled both parents. I had an idea going in what the youngest, Omid, looked like, and knew she would have to resemble them as children's faces tend to resemble their mother's:
I always felt that Shinogai was a much more lively person than her husband, and it's part of why they worked well as a married couple.
Speaking of Manushir Shah, without hair because he needs a dang topknot... He is also supposed to look Irano-Afghan. He's paler because it's winter and he spends a lot of time indoors, but I imagine in summer and when he isn't in mourning he looks a bit livelier:
I need to tweak him a little, his nose is not quite right yet. The hair is all wrong, but he looked weird with short hair. Here's one to compare to the following drawings with wonky eyes:
Juraira, a steppe woman of mixed ancestry, and old hat at kicking ass on foot or horseback:
I had a vacillating image of Juraira in my head. Some sketches from various points:
And her as a young woman. I thought she might have red hair but I think the black suits better:
More to come. They will be tweaked a bit, almost everyone's hair will change. Fuse is a very useful program, though!
