WIP - Alfred Pennyworth

[faechangeling]

It's taken me, what? Two years to come around to this project again? It all started when I found some default replacements for facial hair by Xandher at TSR, which is how I first jumped into creating. I wanted them in Pooklet's colors and decided to give it a shot myself, only I had no idea where to begin. CrabofDoom and Alfred Askew at GoS were kind enough to humor my blunders, and eventually I did finish the project! It was uploaded here a loooooooong time ago, if anyone remembers how silly my journal looked back then. But now that I've seen what ZeroDark did here this idea is getting a major overhaul.

While I do like FantasyRogue's defaults just fine, my game is taking a more realistic direction now, and I'm aiming for more period styles in a complete set. That's why the textures from the Holmes vs. Ripper game will work quite nicely for my vision. Alfi's offered to help me out there, so that part's been settled. I couldn't find solid information on late 19th century facial hair, but a few blogs on the subject do exist. I've been reading random parts, but to be honest I'm not that picky about the whole thing. As long as my men won't be sporting soul patches and Elvis sideburns I'll be happy. With that being said, I found a few general reference images that look close enough to what I've seen in antique photos.

 

And a few of the original game styles are somewhat close to these styles, so with a little exaggerating and expanding in certain areas I should be able get close enough. Well, at least I would if I could figure out how to make decent alphas. If anyone has found a tutorial for creating facial hair I would deeply appreciate being slapped with it! I've grasped the concept of editing alphas for clothing, but the finer points of fuzz are seriously escaping me right now. I've tried frankensteining random pieces by Phaenoh and the creator at SimpleLife, but all I end up with is harsh lines and blobs of hair. I may have to make a post in Igor's Unlimited and beg for mercy. For now, I'm going to spend at least another week trying to come up with something on my own, so wish me luck!

 

Comments

[heget]

This excites me. (About the only thing in victorian fashion I like over other time periods is the men's facial hair.)

[faechangeling]

Wouldn't this be amazing? Not that I've ever seen a beard on an elf, but maybe the younger dwarves or some of your men could sport these babies? (Although, imagining Eomer wearing one makes me both really happy and giggly at the same. Mostly because that would be so mmmmmmm, but we all know he grooms his horse more than his face.) And now that Alfi has managed to alpha-enable beard meshes, I'm a little bummed to think about how much longer these are going to have to wait. Or I could always just make them for the non-mesh facial hairs, and then fret over the meshes I'd want for the game mesh-style, but I like getting ahead of myself far too much. Although, Trapping has offered to take requests, and she does have a knack for facial hair! Where exactly are these on your want meter?

[heget]

(Heget here. Phone never seems to let me log in)

Oh, I love facial hair for men - and that mesh in the link looks fabulous.

Funnily enough, at least one elf - Cirdan - was bearded, which brings up interesting questions.... But I have lots of men and dwarves to beard, as well as some of my Valar and their servants (Gandalf has his beard, but what of the others...)

Trapping is excellent - I have a long list of her sets I need to open Simpe to grab the base volatile so I can Pooklet the whole sets.

LOL yes to the Eomer comment.

[dicreasy]

... I think I love you. One thing I found when making all my new townies was how limited I was with facial hair. Most have ended up with the handlebar 'tache, but I'd love, love, love more variety.

I wish I could help with the alphas, but alphas are one area of creating where I seriously fail. My clothing alphas look blocky or fuzzy and so there's no way I'd even attempt something as delicate as hair. If I find anything, I'll let you know.

[faechangeling]

<3 I do love what facial hair you put on your townies! You use FR's defaults, right? I'm going to use her alpha as-is for my handlebar replacement set. Would you want these styles in the textures she used, or do you like the Holmes vs. Ripper idea? Also, I want to stretch and thin out the basegame mesh in Milkshape a little to make a custom mesh closer to the reference image. With Alfi's help I might seriously be able to make that happen!

Oh, since I'm using one of Berg's alphas for this project, I found these brushes thanks to the link she provided in the info section of her upload! I'm PRAYING that this might make most of this happen. It'll be another week or so before I crack open Photoshop to give it a try, but only because I'm still working on my GoS Blind Date gift.

But for now you might like these! They're not ready yet, but looking SO good so far! :D

[dicreasy]

I do use FR's defaults, but I redid them to the Pooklet colours I use for family 1 and filled in the gaps for my family 2.

Personally I like both ideas; I think both textures are great, and actually it's nice to have different textures for different sims, so if you felt like sharing a base image of the textures in volatile, I'd be happy to fill in any gaps I want to, by making non default facial hair, so I have no real preference. And I would need to have the handlebar 'tache in FR's textures for Sir Horace anyway. :D

Those beards are looking fabulous. I'm excited to get my hands on them and try them out in game.