[wip] Large and frustrating piece... CC needed!

[Kamirose]

So.  This is my first post here, might as well introduce myself.  I'm Kamirose! ^^ Nice to meet y'all.

I'm primarily a pixel-doller, but I've been trying to do some from-scratch pixelling lately.  When I saw a request for this on a dolling forum, I couldn't resist.  I should've.

I've never done something entirely from scratch, not to mention something so large :/ She wanted it large because it's for her website layout - yes, she specified the dimensions.

So you can understand what is intended, here was the request:

In the center is a sphere of light (silver light!). Around it, there are a couple of trees leaning toward it and a few vines trying to climb up around the sphere. Within is the silhouette of a man and a woman...the woman floating in the air and the man standing on the ground. There are two more silhouettes on the outside of the sphere. On the man's side would be a woman and on the woman's side there would be a man. I just need the foreground. The back ground I'm just gonna put some lines for trees.

I'd like for it all to have some silvery tones to the whole picture. It's going to be used as part of a lay out so I'll need it to be about 300 by 700 pixels.

And here is the image:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/Kamirose/dolls/hauntingscenewip11.gif [linked out for size]

My problem areas:
The grass.  It's not finished - I've worked mainly on our right side.  I did some dithering to add some texture, does it work?  What should I do so the color changes aren't so sudden, without sacrificing the look of... well, grass?

The silhouettes on the outside of the light.  I realize now that I've done the grass that I need to have their hair blowing out behind them for consistency.  But they look stiff and unnatural   Also, since they're silhouettes, should I shade them a bit, or leave them dark?  I do plan to AA them, especially the ones in the light, by the way.

And I realize the trees have no roots... that comes later

And I'll be cheating to make the entire thing silvery when I'm done (photoshop tools, lol)

Please, CC everything you see that does not agree with you!  I want to make this as good as possible, and I have a lot to learn ^^

[Indigo]

I would say to work smaller, but you seem to have enough grasp on the concepts of pixelart to take on something of this scale.  The problem with working this large though is you lose sight of the overall composition very easily.  its for this reason, many traditional artists make 'thumbnails' before working on the larger piece.  The same concept can be applied to pixelart and would be quite useful in your situation...

quick example:


you may want to work with a slightly larger thumbnail size than I have here

[Atnas]

From what you've done so far I can tell you'll do great on the rest of this. 

What I'm concerned about is the readability of the silhouettes. Looking at them up close, you did a very nice job on the people - but at regular resolution they suffer. The biggest issue is the man in the light. I couldn't tell where his right arm was because it's hidden by his body completely. Perhaps another pose would make it look less out of place?

Scratch that, it just occured to me you're probably going to shade them I'm dumb. 

Because the uh commissioner? if you will, said they should be silhouettes, it doesn't mean they can't be shaded! Naturally our eye would be kind of OVERPOWERED by the light, and the colors of the actual people wouldn't become darker, but rather contrast higher. Since this isn't saved in RAW format, you'll need to play some dirty tricks and make everything.. I dunno - washed out and dark as opposed to plain sills, to emulate the effect of the intense light but still allow the overlapping limbs of the characters to read

[Kamirose]

Progress: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/Kamirose/dolls/hauntingscenewip12.gif

I noticed the man in the light's arm is weird, need to fix the position of the elbow.

[Atnas]

I think the trees should be more washed out, back to something from one of your older versions: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/Kamirose/dolls/hauntingscenewip10.gif although they can be browner if you like. Highlights are desaturated.