But the most important part of turbo's edit for me was that you shouldn't render every strand of hair on the rat individually, that you should go a bit more abstract.
I think that if there's enough space to render all that detail, there's no need for abstraction. I also like how the fur turned out so far and I think it is already a lot more abstract than it was in version 1. However, even with that being said I will try to make it more abstract (thinking of cleaning out the whole fur texture and redoing it from scratch) to see whether I'm not missing an opportunity to make it so that I like it even more.
Thinking about it though, I am now aware of the fact that the background is hopelessly under-detailed in comparison to the rat, maybe that's even the whole issue: too much abstraction in one place and not enough of it in another, thus creating an inconsistency that is displeasing to view?
More imprtantly (IMO) the rat seems kind of...blank? I think it lacks a clear expression on it's face. Are you trying to make it look ridiculous? or are you seriously trying to make the rat threatening?
Neither of those. Unlike in the
original drawing that this is based on (the rules of the challenge that the first version of this piece was made for required to rework an old drawing as pixel art/16 colors/canvas size unspecified), the rat is not supposed to be aware of the camera or the viewer.
She is supposed to be looking straight above the camera into the far and wide emptyness that surrounds her in an emotionally detached way, as if she's uninvolved in the world, just standing there, pausing, blankly (as in without really thinking consciously but rather instinctively) trying(subconsciously) to make up her mind into which direction she should be traveling next.
As she's not aware of the viewer or anything (she's completely alone there) there's no reason to why she should be posing in a threatening way.
The more I think about this though, the more I wonder about why I have given her all those weapons. I can imagine though that my original intention(back in 2002 when I drew the pencil version) was probably not to express anything specific but rather to just try and make a pretty picture (for that friend of mine who had rats as pets(it was a birthday present for him)). This does seem a bit stupid to me now, but I'll keep working on this nonetheless, even if just for technical practice.
The rats head looks sort of like you wanted a view that makes the head look like its slightly tilted backwards, but the body looks out of view in comparison. Still looks nice though.
The head is not supposed to be tilted into any direction. It is seen a bit from below only because of the camera being located so far below it. Maybe the perspective is a little too strong for such small scale object like that? Please mark the exact place(s) in which you think it is off and explain this some more, because frankly I can not see where it is wrong or out of view.
The strap going around his body and over his shoulder should have an effect on the fur like have fur over lapping the strap or displaced fur as a result of the strap.
I'll keep that in mind when I redo the fur.
Thanks again everyone for the critique, even if it seems like I'm getting very defensive about my work in this post, please don't think I don't appreciate the feedback, I do because it makes me think more about my work and it allows me to explore things that I would never have taken into consideration if I would work in isolation.
summary of the issues raised by you(mainly for myself, so I don't forget):
*straight gun
*insufficient fur abstraction? (that and/or: background too simple and boring?)
*lack of expression (well... not sure if that is really a flaw, see explanation above)
*neck/shoulders too humanlike
*belt does not affect fur distortion
[off topic]
Sorry, no update in this post, as mentioned earlier my vacation is over so I will work on it again this weekend. I don't want to ruin it by working on it in the evenings while being all stressed out from my programming job.
[/off topic]