Your First Character Portrait After Years of Playing
If you have played the same character for years, choose which version you want the portrait to preserve. You can paint the adventurer who first left home, the person they became or a moment somewhere between.
Jan
2 min read
If you have played the same character for years, choose which version you want the portrait to preserve. You can paint the adventurer who first left home, the person they became or a moment somewhere between.
There is no deadline for a first portrait. Waiting can mean you know the character better. The useful question is what you want to keep, not whether you should have commissioned sooner.
Choose a point in their story
Write down a campaign moment that still matters to you. It might be the first time the character accepted help, the return to a ruined home or an ordinary evening after a difficult adventure.
Decide whether you want a portrait of the character at that time or a scene showing the event. Those are different requests. A detailed scene may need a different scope and quote.
Separate lasting details from temporary ones
Some features belong to the character throughout the campaign. Others belong to a particular chapter.
A fictional character timeline
- Keep in every version
- A broken nose, a green coat and the ring worn on a chain.
- Early campaign
- The coat is too large. The sword is borrowed.
- Later campaign
- The coat has been repaired. The character carries their own blade.
This kind of note prevents a reference from an earlier session from quietly adding the wrong equipment to the portrait.
Choose references from the same chapter
You may have years of sketches, screenshots and descriptions. Pick the few that show the version you want. Label old images if they are useful only for one feature.
If an earlier portrait is included, tell the artist what must stay recognizable and what has changed. Confirm that you have permission to use the image as a reference.
Decide where the portrait will live
A character sheet calls for a different crop than a print above your desk. If you want both, discuss the main composition and the useful smaller crops before work begins.
Keep a short caption with the finished image: the character's name, the campaign and the chapter it represents. Years later, those few words will help you remember why you chose this version.
Send a brief someone can follow
Your years of play do not have to become a years-long document. Start with the essentials, then add the history that explains them.
Use the first-time commission guide to organize the request and check the scope, files and approval process.
