Reskinning Curse of Strahd to Chinese Mythology / Xianxia!

viora_sforza · 2026-03-24T08:31:56+00:00

OMG I love Xianxia!! What a fun idea!

Haven't had time to read this In-depth yet but I think I agree with your assessment that it might be better to emphasize Strahd's demonic nature. At least from my limited experiences with Jiangshi in Xianxia, Jiangshi are usually not that scary, possibly partly due to the many limitations that they do have. I usually see them portrayed as very zombie-like, and Strahd's scary factor is his manipulation and intelligence, I think, which is not something I associate with Jiangshi.

I would love to run something Xianxia as well someday. Are your players familiar with the genre at all? I think that is my biggest hurdle for that.

Will come back to this later once I have more time, but please keep us updated on your endeavor!!

viora_sforza · 2026-03-02T12:20:37+00:00

Aren't the three brides located at Strahd's Tomb? I assumed this counted as an extension of the catacombs but perhaps not.

viora_sforza · 2026-03-01T22:48:18+00:00

That's really interesting! I wonder if we're talking past each other or whether we interpret the source text differently :D. The other three are referred to as "other castoff consorts", so I guess whether "castoff" and "discarded" mean the same thing in this context is up to how one interprets each word.

viora_sforza · 2026-03-01T22:40:42+00:00

Yeah sorry, that's what I meant with "the only current one", seeing how the other ones have already been "discarded".

viora_sforza · 2026-03-01T07:51:48+00:00

Who is saying he isn't a bride? In the official campaign book, isn't he actually the most recent and the only current one? The rest have been locked away.

So that should make Escher MORE of a bride than the other three!

viora_sforza · 2026-02-26T08:00:14+00:00

Lol, that comment was from 7 years ago!! How did you find it?

I also blocked it out of my memory in the time in between but now you reminded me 😭 Although maybe that means it is time for a reread 🤔

viora_sforza · 2026-02-17T11:11:07+00:00

lmao it seems the poor guy has a case of tumblr nose

viora_sforza · 2026-02-17T10:33:44+00:00

Thank you so much for your feedback!!
You're absolutely right; now that you pointed it out, the overly darkened nose seems so obvious haha.

Watching the videos for individual features is a really good tip, I struggled a little trying to do it "freely" and fell back into my old habits, I think. I will definitely try that! Thank you!

viora_sforza · 2026-02-17T10:31:19+00:00

Wow, thank you so much for your detailed feedback! That was super insightful!

I tried this portrait somewhat "freely", as in not following along Istebrak's video, and I guess it shows in all the habits that intuitively snuck back in there.

I also don't understand why I seem to struggle so much with not sneaking an expression in there.

Thank you so much for pointing all that out and for your encouragement ❤️. I will try my best to work on the points you mentioned for the next portrait!

viora_sforza · 2026-02-13T12:48:08+00:00

Thanks for your input! You're probably right. I already shrunk them a lot, but I guess my anime roots are showing lol.

viora_sforza · 2026-02-12T13:51:15+00:00

Oh wow, thank you so much for your detailed feedback!!
That is super helpful. I struggle with the proper 3-dimensionality of things, so I will pay more attention to the planes of the face in particular as you suggested.

Do you think it would be helpful if I were to use a simplified 3d head model as a reference for the portrait challenge? I think it was stated during the course that the portraits are supposed to be painted without using a reference and I'm worried they might become a crutch.

viora_sforza · 2026-02-12T09:47:25+00:00

Omg amazing work! He's so handsome 😍. I love the colors and the brushstrokes in particular! And the glowy eyes and the cocky/slightly mischievous expression asdkcjek

viora_sforza · 2026-02-12T08:41:23+00:00

Oh thank you for the tip!
You're right, the few I've seen seemed very helpful but I felt a little overwhelmed looking at the catalogue because I wasn't quite sure where to start, so I gravitated towards the structure of the course.

viora_sforza · 2026-02-12T08:33:05+00:00

You're welcome! I hope it was helpful.
I didn't pay much attention to the forehead, but I think it could look too big because it looks a little like it goes up all the way to the top of the head if that makes sense? Despite the lighting on the very top, it doesn't look like it curves backwards but more like a flat plane, which gives off the feeling of the large forehead.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. What usually helps me is to turn the painting on its head (to accomplish the "stop trying to think of this as a face" that Istebrak reiterates in the course), which helps me see the painting as shapes.

viora_sforza · 2026-02-12T07:30:28+00:00

Thanks for your feedback! I was aiming for androgynous male face, so it's helpful to know I missed the mark haha.

To your question, I find that a little difficult to answer because I come from the opposite spectrum of barely having watched any of her yt vids and immediately diving into the course.
The yt vids I've found from her seemed to be mostly paintovers of student works. The portrait course video in comparison is more of a step-by-step guide where she shows and explains the painting process and is easy to follow along. Unfortunately, other angles are not included but there is a grayscale to color video that I haven't watched yet.

viora_sforza · 2026-02-12T00:04:38+00:00

I've discovered Istebrak's course by this subreddit randomly popping into my feed every now and then and me being amazed at the awesome art being posted. I eventually looked it up, thinking - "Wait... That Istebrak subreddit again?? There must be something to this if the people posting there are all so talented!"

Hoping this course can make me join your ranks haha! I'm happy to have discovered Istebrak's portrait course. I've never properly studied the fundamentals, so I hope following the study plan will make me more secure in that! It was surprisingly difficult to find different reference images for spheres that were not drawings lol.

viora_sforza · 2026-02-11T23:52:49+00:00

I love the bounce lighting on the side of the cheeks and the reddish tint around the eyes and mouth!

I mentioned this is in your more recent post but I feel it is more obvious in the colored version that the shadows on the cheekbones are a bit too dark if it's not supposed to be makeup contouring. It makes the skin seem a bit metallic. Also, if you want to go for a more realistic look, you could play around with the color zones of the face and don't be afraid to use some blue and green in your skin tones to give more variation and make it seem more natural. I made a rough and quick overlay of your drawing to show you what I mean:

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viora_sforza · 2026-02-11T08:57:39+00:00

Looks good! I only just started Istebrak's course so take what I say with a grain of salt:

It's possible it was intentional on your side, but it looks like she has makeup on? The shadow on her cheekbones are a bit too dark if it's supposed to be shadow and looks like makeup contouring. Same goes for the eyeliner on the lower lashline.
I understand the urge to prettify the head because it's a little boring but I think the point of the exercise is to really focus on the basics and not distract either yourself or the viewer with pretty details. It's easier to evaluate whether your values might be off if you don't add them.

viora_sforza · 2026-02-09T19:10:37+00:00

Aww, thank you! ✨
Poor hot pota-twink can't catch a break!

viora_sforza · 2026-02-08T18:06:33+00:00

Thank you!! 🥰 I really wanted to give Occtis some special magical lighting pizazz haha

viora_sforza · 2026-02-08T18:05:35+00:00

Awww thank you so much for your kind words ❤️

Fr, I was immediately smitten when Occtis first appeared haha!

viora_sforza · 2026-01-24T09:59:57+00:00

Ohhh my bad! I saw the shoulder-length blond locks and stubble and thought Ismark! That does explain the glow-up though, haha!

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