The base I mentioned also happens to be quite a departure from my usual style, with much less colors and less gloss: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/wayuki/wayuki-template-brawn02.gif

Also, that large unfinished project I was talking about a few posts earlier? Definitely a departure from my regular style. I didn't really want to post it until it was in a more finished (read: less naked) state , but here ya go anyway: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/wayuki/wayuki-angel_wip02.gif

It's true that, as far as pixeling goes, I've pretty much jumped on the style-bandwagon of the dolling community, and it would be good to try different things. In fact, I HAVE been trying different things, as you can see above. Also, I don't feel I'm limiting myself as an artist. Pixeling is just one of the many things I do. I can do digital illustrations. I can model, texture and animate 3d models. I've designed and made clothes and actual real-life dolls.

I have to say... Am I really less original than the others here, because my pixel art so far has been cute, colorful, bigeyed and bigheaded?

My style sticks out like a sore thumb in this community, because nobody else does anything similar and "cute" isn't well liked around here. But this community, like all other art communities, has style-bandwagons all of it's own. Just how many people here limit themselves to teal, brown, gray and slate color schemes? Random dither style? Make practically monochrome pieces and call it unifying? Not saying that it's bad... but have they ever tried to make a cute, colorful, happy pixel scene? Just saying.

I think everybody would benefit from stepping out of the box, not just me. 

Sorry if this opinion makes me unpopular around here, but it's been weighing down my heart for a while.

Thanks for the edit, Helm! That does look a lot more manly.

Although, I have to say his expression seems a bit tired and bored to me. I also think the line on the chin is a bit extreme, it almost looks like a scar. Although the shoulders you have there work well with the head, I think they're too big for the lower body.

Trying to find a happy medium:

Old -> New


Here's what the uncovered base bodies look like. I don't think the guy's shoulders need to be even broader, IMHO it works well with the style. Most guys don't look like Duke Nukem, anyway. ^_^'

Glad you like it! 

I just made a little guy to go with the girl. 

Glad I could help! 

The new version looks much better. One thing that could be improved still is the flow of the legs. I especially think the knee should stick out more on her left leg. You have the knee defined with a lot of shading, but it doesn't actually stick out in the outline. Considering the angle, I think it should.

Here's a quick doodle:

I personally think box modeling is extremely non-intuitive. I much prefer to start with a primitive that's closer to the form I'd like to model. For instance, for a limb I tend to use an uncapped cylinder. I weld different parts together later, or fill in parts poly by poly (if I'm working lowpoly).

First, I make sure the model has an attractive silhouette in the front/back and side viewports. After that, I slowly turn the model in the 3d-viewport to see if it has an attractive silhouette from every angle and tweak where necessary.

When making a character, I like to give it a somewhat dynamic stance right away, rather than a stiff-limbed DaVinci pose. This really helps me to give the character the right shape and proportions.