Maybe I just don't see it but for it to be a disco Elysium portrait the background is supposed to explain the character's aura/vibe. I don't really get much from white trees/antlers except maybe they're edgy? aggressive? strong? I get even less from the other portraits. Don't feel bad about not nailing it, I've read the devs put a ton of effort into the portraits.

I know you've written an edit now, but "I've read the devs put a ton of effort into the portraits" suggests YoYo didn't put effort into the portraits, which he absolutely did!

Also one needs to get to know the character before one can really see the character in the portrait - think of Measurehead, whose portrait looks like a Francis Bacon painting. The player can't really realise how it communicates his views until you hear those views. There is more to these than meets the eye!

I meant they spent a development cycle on the portraits, while I have no information on how long the artist spent I doubt they took as long as a videogame.

With measurehead while the nuances of the portrait can be locked behind the character there are still some obvious tells, with him being racist and his portrait is split in half, showing how he views things in black and white.

I personally just saw all the "noise" of the character portraits this artist drew and assumed it was noise instead of a clue about said character's personality. My bad.

Edit: nevermind I see the vibes now.