Dragon Slayer CC/suggestions :)

[skoby]

Hey, taken a break from pixeling for a couple of weeks, but today I've made a new picture, well 90% today, did a little bit last night.  Main crit im looking for is my lighting/reflections (the dragon is meant to have a metallic skin) and general pixelling technique, altho comments on style, composition etc are welcome .  It is based upon runescape, which explains the whip and armour (and yes it is a guy in a skirt... dont ask )



Updated version


Overall I am really pleased with it, altho I am sure there are weaknesses in it, hopefully I can learn from them and I think it works well

[candiru]

It's really nice. I think you can tweak the lighting, the dragon is too bright and could use more contrast. Is this taking place in a cave? It seem kind of dark, and the fire should have a more dramatic effect on the surroundings. It could be very effective if you make the flame the major light source. The flame could use some darker, redder areas,  and some smoke too.

[IoIXoX]

i like the dragon but the characters arms and legs are sort of  . and don't be afraid to draw hands, they're not that bad when you get used to drawing them.

[Stwelin]

wow, someone doing a decent runescape pixel signature! amazing! anyway, the basis of everything looks pretty solid, that is, the perspective and all the general forms and positions of the characters. Hmm.. i think that it just needs to be refined. The hair is really just kinda mop-ish, and it lacks dynamic lighting. Try darkening the image towards the edges, and make the lightsource the flame? It could use some reds in/around the fire. The thing that needs the most work here in my opinion is just your rendering technique.

[Atrophy]

wow, someone doing a decent runescape pixel signature! amazing!

Couldnt of said it better,  on the sheild the claw marks(?) or what not look sorta not realy that random. and the dragons eyes blend to much maybe make them stick out a little more.

[skoby]

Thanks for the nice comments I will try doing an edit for the lighting and try editing some details.  It probably didnt help that the charactor was finished before the rest of the sig.  I used a reference for the flame (a very photo took myself ages ago) and I did make my version brighter and used less red, I will try being more true to the references colour (I mostly used it for the shape of the flame).  I will try making the ground brighter around the flame and perhaps extend the darkest shade around the edges.  It is supposed to be a cave, but the creators of jagex don't seem to understand lighting at all, there are a few torches around the cave, yet the ground is far lighter than I made it, and the dragons are brighter too, so using screenshots doesnt help with lighting.

As for my rendering technique, Im not quite sure what you mean, do you mean the way I've used dithering and shaded the dragon etc? I have only recently started using dithering (didnt have the patience for it in paint, and only got gale about a month ago) so its probably a bit sloppy by your standards.  But thanks for all the comments, keep them coming I will post updates on saturday, as its currently almost 4am and got a busy day ahead of me.

[Stwelin]

Yes, that is what i mean by rendering technique. the little specks on the dragon that i assume are coming from the light source seem really random, and just plain noisy. try instituting a little method to the madness, instead of just putting them down, try out patterns and whatnot so it looks like it's not a sketch.

[Elrinth]

i like the dead guy lying to the far right

nice piece. the left leg on the character are somewhat short, no? Or it's too think or misplaced... make some adjustments to it atleast (compare to his body and mostly noticable compared to the right leg )
maybe the character is born like that? with problematic body atonomy. You also need to adjust his left arm reminds me of Scary Movie 2 of the butlers ugly fingers haha
Somehow I don't like the end of the flame the dragon breathes. Some adjustments to that also, perhap;s.Also fix the lighting as the others have written.

Other than that! awesome piece!

[skoby]

Finally got round to making some changes after a busy weekend, I think I have covered most of the criticism, I had trouble with the left arm, and the hands are meant to be in gloves, and well I dont like drawing hands on small scale, never managed to get them right. I feel the lighting is far better now, altho I didn't manage to improve the flame much, I tried adding more reds and oranges into it but I didnt like how that worked out.  I edited the update into the top post

[Helm]

Is it 'Iron' or 'Jron'?

Also, OOT, what's with whips in runescape signatures. Every time there's a 'badass' character in a runescape sig (which is always as I guess that's what all this microeconomy 'pay me in game currency to draw your character all badass in mspaint' is about) they're wearing a regal crown and carrying a whip.

[skoby]

its Iron, not the best font for I's but I like it overall, might edit that myself...  Also to be honest I think whips are one of the most stupid things in the game, they are the most powerful weapon and are hard to get, but god knows why they decided to have the best weapon as a whip.  As for the crowns that is even worse, about 5 years ago they dropped christmas crackers and inside were party hats, since there are now probably 1000 times the number of players they are rediculously overpriced. 

I made this signature for myself, I used to sell for ingame money when I first started, but now I only really do them for friends, to me making the signatures and seeing them used is worth more than the money ingame, but yea some signatures sell for rediculous prices, one I saw recently (absolutely terrible IMO) was sold for 40mil, which would take me 80 hours of playing using the best money making technique I have, I've never sold anything for more than 5% of that lol

[Opacus]

Just one thing, his weapon choice is a bit odd. A whip agains a metalic dragon? And a wooden shield he can instantly burn? That doesn't seem like it'd do much good
Furthermore this is one of the most decent Runescape sigs I've seen. The guy looks a bit messy though. I think you shuold fix his lines, and make the shading somewhat smoother.

[skoby]

Well the whip is the best weapon in the game and is what I use against the dragon.  Also that shield is the anti-dragonfire shield, Id be toast without it lol... and trust me id get far more criticism from the rs community if I used anything but this equipment lol

[Pikita]

playing rs myself i know abit and.



Blue square is where the whip is being held wrong it is hanging out the bottom of his hand in stead of the top.

green square is where the highlight on the whip is TOO light and doesnt show the diffrent ocllours of the whip as it is all one colour

[Snippa]

playing rs myself i know abit and.



Blue square is where the whip is being held wrong it is hanging out the bottom of his hand in stead of the top.

green square is where the highlight on the whip is TOO light and doesnt show the diffrent ocllours of the whip as it is all one colour

I'm confused... 
It looks fine to me.

[Destro]

playing rs myself i know abit and.



Blue square is where the whip is being held wrong it is hanging out the bottom of his hand in stead of the top.

green square is where the highlight on the whip is TOO light and doesnt show the diffrent ocllours of the whip as it is all one colour

I'm confused... 
It looks fine to me.

agreed
seems to fine to me

also im an ex-rs player

great gob! 

[Cow]

You'd think if the whip was going to have that intense of highlights, that the things closer to the lightsource (character) would also be effected as much, if not moreso. Also, being that close to the lightsource, the shadows on the character would be pretty dark, I would imagine.

[ZxC]

Lol Helm, whips are the best weapons in this game, and those *crowns* (called party hats), are the most expensive items from the game.
Which kinda explains why everyone wants to be drawn possessing that stuff.

[mangust]

Nice! ))
Maybe you think about basic atmosphere? More darkness, contrast, dramatic. You cave is too light, more depth and lose detail on back wall - than she go more to back. Some recolor on dragon.
Somethinks like this:

And of course the highlights, remove unnecessary details for accent on primary scene (battle) and work with form more on dragon and man?