AuthorTopic: [C+C]Wizard Portrait  (Read 2240 times)

Offline Schwee

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[C+C]Wizard Portrait

on: June 03, 2017, 06:33:36 am
For the record, I am not exactly sure what C+C means but I assume critique...ok...heres a wizard portrait I did two years ago, and again today with some coloring updates.  I am curious to your thoughts particularly in the palette.  Thanks!

Looking to collaborate.  Hit me up, especially if you are a GM programmer, or if you just have some sweet ideas.

Offline Tycho Magnetic Anomaly

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Re: [C+C]Wizard Portrait

Reply #1 on: June 04, 2017, 02:45:10 pm
I was also wondering what the hell C+C meant, i can only assume like you one of them means critique, perhaps the other is comment?.. , just while I am at it I might make a suggestion to the forum to update the posting rules to encourage people to state whether or not they are using a restricted pallet.

I like your wizard here and the improvements you have made, makes a big difference I had quick go over a coffee with the colors you have already included but couldn't really find much to improve beyond what you have, perhaps the shoulder pads are a bit distracting, but I don't know why. color? the stripes?.. something could be changed there perhaps.

I could perhaps have done something with more colors, as I am sure you could too.

Nice wizard all in all.

Offline basstabs

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Re: [C+C]Wizard Portrait

Reply #2 on: June 04, 2017, 06:05:01 pm
I'm quite new to pixel art, so don't take my critique too seriously, it's probably mostly inexperience talking :P

First off, the redone, brighter picture makes everything pop in a very appealing way. I think the colors go well together, and the image is very readable at the native resolution. In the original image, at the native size I can barely tell you shaded the hat at all, as there isn't enough contrast in the colors you chose and they all blend together on that small of a scale. In the newer image the colors stand out from each other quite a bit more, and the shading itself looks a bit more appropriate to the light placement I think you're going for. (Above and in front? That's what it looks like to me, but again I'm quite new.)

The same comment extends to the rest of the image, the higher contrast makes everything much easier to read. I will say, as Tycho Magnetic Anomaly mentioned, the shoulder pads look a bit off to me as well. I don't think it's so much the color as the shading: I can't quite tell what you're going for because it doesn't seem to have the same light source as what I'm reading from the rest of the image: Are they supposed to be a sort of pauldron, or is it more like forward-facing oval meant to be the connections on a cape? Based on which you want I think the highlighting should be tweaked a bit, although I'm not quite sure how.

(Sorry, this is the only picture I could find with something similar: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/48/f4/8c/48f48cc05152858733057b80e6d3e37d.jpg Imagine the circles at the end of the chain are way bigger and more elliptical. Sorry if that doesn't make sense)

Offline 32

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Re: [C+C]Wizard Portrait

Reply #3 on: June 06, 2017, 09:14:33 am
C+C does indeed stand for comment and critique.

The overall issue with your drawing is that your shading sticks too closely to your lines. Even that you are using lines at all. Think in forms and planes, define the drawing as a series of shaded planes first and then go into adding details. Try to think like a sculptor.

As a general anatomical critique pull the cheek and eye way in. From this angle the rear eye is hidden partially behind the nose.

Make the red stripe around the hat thicker and less saturated. A single pixel bright line is very obvious and reveals the grid. It looks very out of place and not really a part of the hat.

There is some pretty bad banding going on in the shoulder pads and on the mouth.

The palette looks better but is suffers from a very uniform level of saturation and brightness. And all of the colour ramps are very straight. Try to mix in colours from other places in the image, rather than using a separate set of entries for each element. Focus on the value (perceived lightness) of the colours, rather than just the hue and what it says on your brightness slider. Use your darker tones in the face, right now the details of the nose, mouth and chin are lost.