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January 2nd, 2013 Update: Alternative Character Customization

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Quotes from the Official Skyrim Concept Art Book On Each of the Races of Humans:

• “Bretons are the average human race.  They have more rounded and softer features compared to the other human races.”
• “The Nords are the primary race of Skyrim.  They have fair skin and hair that contrasts against their strong facial features.”
• “The Imperial race is based off of classical Features.  They generally have strong facial structures, and darker skin and hair tones.”
• “When we designed the Redguards, we based them off of Moorish culture.  This gave us a unique combination of looks that could fit many characters.”

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My Own Notes:

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When working the Bretons I took a look at a lot of different references, as they’re supposed to be the “average human race”.  They’re specifically supposed to have softer and more rounded features, so that’s what I tried to give them. 

Something I always found interesting was the size of the brow bump in the concept art— it’s actually quite large!  I figured this may be indicative of their mixed elven ancestry, so I thought it might be a neat (and subtle) trait to include!

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When trying to find a face I thought fit for the Nords, I tried to follow the concept art closely as well as look at different faces with “strong facial features” that I thought might reflect a Nord while still allowing a lot of work-room so that the face isn’t too predefined at the beginning.

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Working on the Imperials ended up being a lot of fun.  After I’d run through the Bretons and Nords already (although I did go back and touch them up as I’ve gone, and I’ll probably continue to do so) I felt I’d learned enough to try to go for the “classical features” of the Imperials.  I’ve always related classical features to the 19th century paintings and Greek and Roman statues, and as it turns out that’s what a lot of people were under the impression of as well!

I tried to give the imperials strong implied planar definition while still keeping that smooth “statue-like” feature.  I kept trying to imagine the face turning into a statue, and thinking about if it was “Greek/Roman Statue Enough”…

(Image Source)

I think I may have done a decent job in that regard!

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For the Redguards I, obviously, looked at the Moors of Earth!  They have many descendents in many areas, and they’re known for their genetic diversity, so I was presented with a bit of a challenge!  They aren’t exactly defined as looking a certain way.  They had traits that were North African, Sub-Saharan African, Arabic, Middle Eastern, European, etc.

Bethesda specifically stated that they wanted the Redguards to be able to fit many characters— so I felt they should have a face that reflects the “Moorish” side to their facial traits but still leaves open a lot of room for what the character could look like!

They come from a different bloodline than the Imperials/Nords/Bretons, so I figured that I would give them some traits that I hadn’t given the other races of man yet to make them seem comparatively “exotic” while keeping them relatively undefined (have to fit many characters, after all!).

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Now I’m going to get to work on the human female textures!  I’m really excited for those, too.  First up, naturally, will be the Nords.  I’ll probably edit minor things about the male ones unless I notice a huge problem.

If you’ve got any advice, criticism, comments, suggestions, etc.  feel free to drop me a message!

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December 13th, 2012 Update: Alternative Character Customization

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(Official Skyrim Breton Male Concept Art by Adam Adamowicz)

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Alright, now that I have my finals all done with and sorted, I can update this.  I’m still working on getting the Nord texture looking right, and I’m still working on a few things concerning the Breton one.

This is not going to be a male-focused mod— I’m working on the males and then going over to females (and I’ll probably dart back-and-forth as I learn and make different decisions).  I just really like seeing results quickly and the best way to do that (in my own opinion) is to focus on little parts at a time so that you can improve those drastically and tell yourself: “Hey, I did something and I can actually see it!”

Any and all suggestions/advice/questions are welcome!

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I have something to work on today, so I’ll leave my plans kind-of up in the air.  I do want to work on some eyebrows though.  If I end up being able to add new ones people are going to get plenty of variety!

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I specifically chose this name because I didn’t want to imply that anything I do is better than anything anyone has ever done, nor is it some “solution”.  What I’m making is merely a preferred alternative to the files given to us, hence the name.

Bethesda did nothing wrong. I merely want to try to make an alternative.

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In this project, I aim:

• To Allow Players to Create Characters With Unique Facial Features Without Deviating Too Far From the Original Race’s Looks
• To Allow Players to Have More Control During Character Creation
• To Allow Players A Wide Variety of Facial Features
• To Give Players HD Skin Textures and Complexions That Don’t Have Predetermined Features (such as wrinkles, scars, makeup, small amounts of facial hair) and Instead Let Them Choose Between These [how many options there are will be determined by if custom complexions can be allowed]
• To Give Players More Realistic Skin Tone/Color Options
• And Much More!

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Time to work on the bretonmale_msn texture, I want to get it looking more like this:

(Official Breton Male Concept Art by Adam Adamowicz [RIP])

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I’ve already made various notes about the differences between the faces and how I should go about this.  I won’t be able to get it exact, but I’m definitely getting a different (and in my opinion “more Breton”) feeling from this face than I am with the way the vanilla textures make the Breton male faces look.

The way it’s written in the concept art book is as follows:

“Bretons are the average human race.  They have more rounded and softer features compared to the other human races.”

As such, I’m going to try to make the faces more how they’re described.

This will be the face I’ll be testing the texture on:

(Default Breton Texture in Combination With Other Custom Textures Made Previously)

Edit:  Currently put on hold because it ended up being much harder than I thought it would.  I’m definitely not giving up yet though!

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Essentially what I aim to do with this mod is:

1. Add nonhuman children to the game
2. When Hearthfire comes out, allow these children to be adopted.

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• Voice acting will obviously have to be linked to the other children’s voices to allow voice acting to be possible.
• Altmer/Bosmer/Dunmer children will be first (because they’re easiest), then Orsimer, Khajiit, and Argonian children will be added (but will most likely take much longer due to large modeling differences, voice acting could also be an issue with Khajiit/Argonian children).
• Putting them with NPCs will probably be difficult, but doable.

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Current Progress:

Male model imported and tweaked, now I’m going to have to work out how to export it and get it into the game, and work out any issues with that.

This isn’t supposed to be any race in particular so much as just a test with clear visible results.

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Disclaimer: I am aware that this is how I imagine the children of these races would look. However, if you have any suggestions concerning modeling or otherwise please don’t feel afraid to ask/submit!