Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Delgneith on May 05, 2007, 07:30:15 pm
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Alright so one of my oldest pixel art pieces was this fire elf character I made up. Had come up with some ideas and all for this race of elves. Later on down the line after honing in some more pixel skills I redid the sprite again trying to bring out some facial features and show my improved skill. The second time rolled around and I figured why not revamp the piece again. Looked better and at the time was probably pretty decent for me.
One thing all these pieces were lacking was an interesting and thought out light source and suffered from mirroring more or less. So that's where the third revamp and fourth piece came in. Just finished this one and tried to include a strong light source and some palette tweaks. Any comments or edits are welcome on improving this piece or thoughts on the progress over the years.
Here they are in order from earliest to latest:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-1.gif)(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-2.gif)(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-3.gif)
Latest:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4.gif)
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awesome! The lastest one is like an updated mix of 2 & 3. The only thing for me is, this doesnt really remind me of a fire elf anymore, possibly when you finish it, it will..
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I liked the eye thing, and I'm sure you can pull it off much better and more glowily now that you're awesome.
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Yea I think I'm going to try as that was sort of a big thing why they looked "fire like" in the first place. The way it stands my palette is at 16 colors but as I have no real reasons for limitations other than my self set ones I could add some more colors for the glow.
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Also, I liked the warmness of the orange and stuff. Some more warmth would be cool. After all, he is fire and whatnot.
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no reason to add mroe colors, take the brights from the hair and existing eye and the orange from the cloak and you will be all set
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Design wise, i love how you went from standard template anime style to something with personality and uniqueness. Shading and volumes are very nice on the latest version. I do agree that the glow effects of the one before your last did add more life to it, hair and head are a bit too "unfied", maybe the eyes and hair should stray more from the browns, and the bright red cloak lean more towards the skin browns.
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Ok well did a little edit/update here and tried to add the glowing eyes with my existing colors. I think it turned out alright. One with the "tattoos" and one without.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-2.gif)(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-3.gif)
Haven't gotten around to trying to make the hair and face look a little less unified. I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow unless someone helps out with an edit.
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(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/iceman509/fireelfedit.png)
Quick edit..I just used the reds, instead of skin ones for the hair...I think it looks fine, and works with the fire elf theme.
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No offense Malor, but I personally liked the original hair color a little more. But this is coming along very nicely. Maybe if the glow sort of connected with the other glow it would look better. I'll try and do an edit if I have time soon since it is hard to explain.
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that's an alright idea malor, just not the best execution of it.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-2.gif)(http://xs115.xs.to/xs115/07180/FireElf.PNG)(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/iceman509/fireelfedit.png)
some things work better in moderation; this isn't Alias :P
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While the idea is kind of cool having a more firey, red approach to the hair I don't really think that's the direction I want to go. The route Adarias went with his edit is probably how I'd go. With using the purple instead of my dark brown on the skin would help me cut a color and I like how you brought my lightest color more towards yellow to give the eyes a nicer glow. Look for an update in the next while.
[Edit]
I'm not sure this is step in the right direction or not but I tried.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-4.gif)
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Is it just me, or does the hair lack the kind of depth the face has?
the top of the hair doesnt seem as though it is further back than the rest. I'd suggest maybe darkening it as it goes back?
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(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-4.gif) -->(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-5.gif)
How does that look Alex? Or is that not enough yet?
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yeah, that seems better.
whether more would be better, i do not know since it could effect the style you're going for with the hair.
on another note, i think the middle of the forehead could use some lighter shade, maybe like a triangular shape showing the lightfrom above kind going through the parting in the hair..?
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Perhaps something like this?
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-6.gif)
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yeah, that looks nice.
the last thing i just noticed now would be the neck. I'm not sure how you want the neck, but to me it just seems rather thick, but since I can't see the body, maybe it is suppose to be really thick. Perhaps making it more curved by darkening the sides more would suffice? Other than that, I can't really spot anything else.
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Updated the neck. Tried to "round the sides". Also the right version I took off 1 pixel of the neck on either side. Not sure which looks better but I'm done updating for the day.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-7.gif) & (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-8.gif)
Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone. If there's anything more let me know.
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your careful sculpting suggests a realism not indicated by your actual forms
heres about 20 minutes of redrawing to get a more realistic approach:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/billiebonka/FireElf/fireelfavatar-4-8.gif)(http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8862/elf2un3.png)
I don't know if that's where you are headed, but that's close to where id suggest taking it the way you are rendering now
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Alright, thanks for the edit Adarias. That definitely has a more realistic approach to it. However I'm really not sure that I want to go that approach.
I kind of like the style of how it looks right now and realize it's not 100% realistic but that's how I wanted it (no this isn't a scapegoat it's the truth).
I may spend a little more time tweaking it but maybe it's just about time to move onto a new piece unless there's some large flaws.
Thank you all.
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I agree, looks nicer with the cartoony eyes and facial structure, even mixed with some more realistic features. Although i think you should reconsider losing the eye outlines, or at least do it where the lighting effect is brightest. But by all means, do move on, don't get too stuck on something or work doesn't get done :)
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They way you altered your character with your new skills is quite impressive. What I don't like about the current one is the symmetric and perfectly draped hair, it would be nice to break that up some more. Especially that really dark outline on the inside contour of the hair is something that I find rather distracting.
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Also now that you've rendered a semi-realistic face the 'mario coin eyes' don't seem to work with the rest of it anymore. Don't be afraid to do more radical alterations.