Yeah, Doctor D, I love
that pic as well posted by helm just now. It seems to be more like what tuna is after, too - angular exaggerated stylized, not photoreal human faces, but rather a comicy illustrative style. But his portrait seems to have just gotten worse, reminding me more of a toothless hillbilly now, like
this dude, which you've probably seen before. The face is flat, sucked in, somehwta imploded, doesn't look strong but weak instead, not like I'd want my avatar in a game to look like -YET- I love the style of it, the chiseled features, bold edges, bold black lines, very simple and nice.
So then, the degree to which my edit departs from what tuna has come up with so far is almost comical, but I still favor mine over his, I just wish it was not a different style. I know that I could re-style my version to match tuna's, though. But won't unless tuna really feels he wants me to. I know he can manage.
High five helm, that reference was golden. Hope the animation isn't
too annoying. Superimposing multiple versions is the best way to show a progression though, so bare with me - next best thing would hve been a user-controlled flash with next/back buttons to toggle through frames.
He looks kinds like No Doubt's bassist, not sure what his ethnicity is after my edit, whereas tuna's seems ethnic neutral to an extent, which is good I think. Slight edit to palette with an added shade for the whites of the eyes. Cleaned up facial features, mainly inflating the face back to a more masculine form, chin and jaw were especially suffering. Rendered light in a more logical way. The hair treatment sux, I like tuna's latest much better. Whole thing very rough and unrefined.
I think tuna's latest portrait implies sadness or disgust, like a scolded child sorta - eyes shut, looking down, eye sockets dark as if to indicate negative emotion. Again the chiselyness is cool. Now, if only you could couple it with anat that doesn't bug me so much. Also, you need to apply this chiselyness to all of it, not just part. Left nostril is bigger than ball of nose. Mouth bugs me, I see what you're doing but it reads as chin defiition, not a frowny mouth. Neck too thick for such a dwarfed head, the lines defining the sternocleidomastoids read as wrinkles or folds in skin like an old man. Ear is much better but catches too much light/is distracting. Overall though, it seems to match the sprite well.
Honestly tuna, despite the sea of crit, only a few things are really needed to fix this.