Hairline is too high!

AnduinTryggva · September 27

I am a hoppy artist and my main focus is drawing people. Currently I am training to draw from imagination and therefore studied techniques to get proportions right.

I've learnt that the eyes are approximately at 50% height of the head length. I already knew that well before and since years. It is a very common rule. To this end I always push eye height way down to obtain approximately that position. In order to avoid a surprised look of my character I also tend to move eyebrows down at least a bit.

However, and here is where my complaint comes in: The hairline is far far too high. It is almost as if we cannot create a character WITHOUT receding hairlines. For people without receeding hairlines the hair starts approximately where the forehead rounds off to the top of the head. But in ESO: No, the hairline has to start after the point where the forehead rounds off. This makes the foreheads far far to large - unless you move the eyes and eyebrows up but then you run into a violation of the 50% rule.

Syldras · September 27

From the Middle Ages until the Renaissance, high foreheads were considered a sign of beauty. People would pluck their hair to make it look like that.

And then we have this contraband item in ESO:

So who knows...

AnduinTryggva · September 27

Whoever likes it that way: fine

My Bosmer and my Telvanni magister however: Never ever!

Syldras · September 27

I'd see it as the game's art style. Just like in Oblivion where everyone looked like a potato.

Soarora · September 27

What hair styles in particular are you talking about? Most of them look fine.

Xandreia_ · September 27

AnduinTryggva wrote: »

I am a hoppy artist and my main focus is drawing people. Currently I am training to draw from imagination and therefore studied techniques to get proportions right.

I've learnt that the eyes are approximately at 50% height of the head length. I already knew that well before and since years. It is a very common rule. To this end I always push eye height way down to obtain approximately that position. In order to avoid a surprised look of my character I also tend to move eyebrows down at least a bit.

However, and here is where my complaint comes in: The hairline is far far too high. It is almost as if we cannot create a character WITHOUT receding hairlines. For people without receeding hairlines the hair starts approximately where the forehead rounds off to the top of the head. But in ESO: No, the hairline has to start after the point where the forehead rounds off. This makes the foreheads far far to large - unless you move the eyes and eyebrows up but then you run into a violation of the 50% rule.

are you sure you have altered the face shape properly? all my characters are fine lol

WolfCombatPet · September 28

AnduinTryggva wrote: »

It is almost as if we cannot create a character WITHOUT receding hairlines.

I also noticed this immediately when I started playing ESO.

I assume it's part of their motto to make characters much uglier than any living people.

If you want games with non-ugly characters: Black Desert Online, Throne & Liberty, FFXIV, WoW if you're okay with cartoony look. Actually, all the other MMOs I know of have the ability/option to make good-looking characters.

I would be pleasantly surprised if ESO did a character upgrade (like WoW and FFXIV have done), but I doubt it. ESO seems proud of their hideous characters.

It's part of why Jakarn was so cringe. There is simply no way to make an attractive male in ESO.

Pelanora · September 28

Ugh I never made it past the character screen on ffxiv. And I've seen a great male npc in eso. I think it was in stonefalls.

AnduinTryggva · September 28

Soarora wrote: »

What hair styles in particular are you talking about? Most of them look fine.

Actually prettiy much the majority of them.

A very few hairstyles are ok (like that of the main female npc of western skyrim storyline - forgot the name of her) but most of them have a hairline that is too high (and I am not talking about Abnur Tharn's hairstyle), most prominently for those hairstyles where the hair is bound behind to a plait or the rasta styles etc.

Marronsuisse · October 1

I agree, it always looks more natural to me to lower the eyes and brows a bit from default but yeah, by doing so you do end up with a receding hairline for a lot of the hairstyles 😅

TheMajority · October 1

they aint human so why should they abide by human porportion?

AnduinTryggva · October 2

Well the humans should abide but don't^^

AcadianPaladin · October 2

I agree that some of the more severely pulled up/back styles like dominion warlocks or the maximum ponytail do emphasize that the hairline is a bit too high. Careful selection of the the best circlet for the style helps though.

Syldras · October 2

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

I agree that some of the more severely pulled up/back styles like dominion warlocks or the maximum ponytail do emphasize that the hairline is a bit too high. Careful selection of the the best circlet for the style helps though.

Who knows, maybe they designed it like this on purpose to have enough space for forehead adornments

AnduinTryggva · October 2

Now if at least we had the possibility to move the jaw up and the possibility to move mouth and nose more up, I could just move eyes, nose, mouth and jaw up to better balance the head.

disky · October 2

I swear, no matter how valid or reasonable an OP point may be, there is always a group who comes out to chastise the author. Law of the internet I guess. Never make a good point unless you're willing to defend it against a horde of fools.

Anyway, I agree, but there are a number of newer hairstyles which don't suffer so much from this (which are mostly crown store items, unsurprisingly) and raising the rest of the face up higher can help too. I spend hours in character creation and for whatever reason, a lot of character creators/character models in games seem to keep the brow/eyebrows/eyes too low.

Syldras · October 2

disky wrote: »

I swear, no matter how valid or reasonable an OP point may be, there is always a group who comes out to chastise the author.

Who is chastising the author? All I see is a discussion whether it looks okay or not, speculations why ZOS might have made it look like this, and personal opinions whether people find it bothering or not. That's what a normal discussion is.