Strangetown extras: Grunt Family Portrait

[strangetomato]

So, I finally decided to try my hand at making a custom painting with SimPE, and the process was super easy. I'll definitely be making more of these to customize the artwork in my story. More specifically, I'm going to decorate homes with photos of the characters in my story whenever appropriate. This will include family portraits, wedding portraits, and so on. I'd really like to recolour that cluster of smaller frames with random snapshots (but I don't recall seeing that template in SimPE. I'll have to look into how I'd go about doing that.)

My first first project was, predictably, a Grunt family portrait. I wanted to have the boys discover this stashed away with the General's belongings. It would be something he put away after Lyla left, since he couldn't bear to be reminded of her. I have no idea when this might turn up in the story, so I decided to just share it right away.

Ripp: Wow. I haven't seen this in forever!

Buck: I found it with Dad's things.

Tank: We're all so happy looking.




I've never made a group of sims view art at the same time before. They have a conversation, just like they do while eating or watching TV. The boys all stood around and discussed having 5 best friends (how appropriate!), and maxing out a skill, while they thought about the portrait.




The general behavior was mostly positive, especially from Ripp, and they made some of those puzzled expressions like the one that Buck has in this shot.

And what was their final reaction?




 

It's enough to just break your heart. They were all really sad about it.




Here's a better look at the source material. I posed them as if they went to a portrait studio. (I guess Buzz must have chosen the background colour.)

The photo is a little blurry when you get really close to it in-game, so I'm going to see if there's a way to improve it, but this might be as good as it gets with a .jpg file from the in-game camera. It will work just fine for story purposes as it is, so I'm not too concerned.

Pretty cool, don't you think?





ETA: I followed this tutorial from MTS2 to make the custom painting.

Comments

[hidden-kitten.livejournal.com]

It's really neat! Especially how much Buck looked like Tank at that age.

[ikichi.livejournal.com]

Awwww! I love that got useable reactions- imagine in Tank had started laughing! Stuff like that's a huge part of the reason I've been keeping my eye out for a cheap used pc laptop on craigslist. I wanna make photos, too!

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

Aww, Tank. . .(it's just a little more "aww" than the other two).

Do you have a link for the tutorial you used? I might want to steal your idea (if you don't mind). I could use this for my cross over (Angus/Rocky could send a portrait to the grandparents).

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

Wow, Tank really looked like Buck when he was little! I'm amazed; I thought Buck didn't look like any of them.
Very cute picture... And I love the reactions you got from it.

[amaryssobellus.livejournal.com]

This was really neat, thanks for the link. I'm going to have to try my hand at it.

What a pretty picture. :)

The boy's reaction is so spot on.

[dothesmustle.livejournal.com]

RIPP WAS SO CUTE AS A CHILD! I still can't get over that!

Tank wore camo even during his childhood? The General is one pushy father, isn't he?

[indigoleo.livejournal.com]

That is such a lovely family portrait.
And their reaction to the picture?
Awwwww! :( So sad! But considering the story, so very much in character.

Oh, by the way, on the subject of pictures.
Remember that picture your S.O. made and you put up for download? You said you wanted to see it being used? Well, I put it up in the little mall in Ferrisport which is the home of my prosperity challenge. I sent Hiram Demento out to do some shopping and while he was in the electronics store, he checked it out.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/indigoleo/sims%202%20shots/snapshot_7468c6ed_14feffff.jpg[/IMG]

He found it quite amusing.
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v707/indigoleo/sims%202%20shots/snapshot_7468c6ed_34ff0017.jpg[/IMG]

[saunasims.livejournal.com]

I'm highly envious of your skeelz, lady! :D That's an awesome picture. And I love Lyla Grunt.
Random thought: the Grunt boys really have the best noses. I'm especially fond of Tank's hawkishly bent bridge.

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh... I love it!

The closest I've ever come to doing something like that was having the sim paint a screenshot I'd taken and put into the custom artwork folder (I think it was Pets that allowed the sims to do that) but I've never tried to make a recolor of another in-game painting! That's much better... since the Sim-painted portraits aren't always the right size for something like this. Especially if it's a larger portrait!

They all look so perfect. Sigh.

Their reactions were SO appropriate. I agree... it's like they know somehow!

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

Awww! What an adorable portrait! And thanks for the link to the tutorial. Back when I played Sims 1, there was a lovely Maxis program that let me create all kind of paintings for my Sims houses. I remember making a TON of silly kiddie paintings and some watercolors. That's the closest I've been to a custom creator :P.

It's a pity they didn't release a similar program for the Sims 2.

I love the family portrait. True, they look so happy and "normal". Tank and Ripp even look like fraternal twins (same height and everything), although we know those two are completely different! And Lyla is beautiful!

I had to re-create her too, because when I lost Strangetown, I also lost Olive's ghosts at her graveyard. Like someone said above, I extracted them from a new Strangetown because I wanted to re-create them at CAS and kill them again, but for some odd reason they kept crashing my Bodyshop over and over, so I had to make my own versions in the end :S. I like how Ophelia's parents came out, but Lyla is a bit... odd (well, she's basically my gen 5 Lyla as a blonde with a few tweaks, so you could say she looks a lot like her grandma :P). Oh well ^^.

Their reactions are so in-character! I loved that part :).

I could almost swear they "read our minds" and do the stuff we expect them to do. I've had a couple things pop up during my legacy that just made so much sense! For example, when Helena graduated from College, during the party Calvin showed up (he was supposed to be "away" with the aliens) and left an expensive telescope as a present for her before sneaking away. It was too cute!

I'm looking forward to see more "paintings" like this one. They sure add to the story! :)

[franwi.livejournal.com]

Oh I am SO doing this tutorial. I just lost all my legacy portraits and pics in a neighborhood glitch. :(

I adore that family photo! They do look like a happy bunch. I love how Tank's in the camouflage shirt. Shows how long he's been trying to win his father's approval, even at that age. And he's really the spitting image of Buzz. Ripp's smile makes me smile. His smile definitely outshines the rest. ;) I also love how Lyla's playing with Buck instead of posing like the rest. Really shows how loving she was. What a sweet picture. I can definitely see how it would lead to a melancholy reaction from the brothers.

New Reader

[swhedonberry.livejournal.com]

Hi, there. Perhaps this isn't the best place to announce that I'm a new reader, but I'm doing it anyway!!

I've really enjoyed reading the story so far. I love seeing what other people do with the Maxis playables as I like including them in my stories, as well.

The family portrait of the Grunts is really heart breaking as well as their reactions. Tank, I think, gets me the most because he seems to hide his emotions well. The fact that he can't hide them here says that there's so much more beneath the surface.

I can't wait to see what's happening next!!

Stacie

[abbycat900.livejournal.com]

Awh! So cute!

[80sfiend.livejournal.com]

Aww that's so sweet! And really really cool! I love how cute Ripp was when he was little. So adorable. :)

You did a very cute job on it and it'll be fun to see it in story too. :)

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

This painting is so cool! I do love this feature of SimPE, I use it all the time. My Legacy house is full of these portraits and random moments! :)

[pixelcurious.livejournal.com]

That's just all kinds of awesome. And awwww-some, how it made them all so sad. Poor orphan boys. :(

[foxy-princess.livejournal.com]

omg that is so amazing!! Thanks for linking the tutorial; I'm going to try it out and probably fail miserably!!

[a-gates.livejournal.com]

So I was looking at some of your old stories because I wanted to find the one of A day in the life of Lyla Grunt so I could calm down and into a serious/writing mood. And I saw this and even though I know this portrait because I saw it when you first posted it, I took a look at the boy's reactions and then read your line about how it's enough to break your heart a little and it did. Great job ST! I don't think I've ever read a story online that wasn't published manga/graphic novel/comics by huge companies like TokyoPop and the like that would move me like yours do.

If I had the influence or was like the head of EA, I would totally chronicle all your entries and turn it into like a graphic novel series. It would sell :D