Jungle Troll Art

[Apollo]

Hey everyone!

This's my first post here and i'm rather new at pixel art. I've just finished my new work and decided to share it with you to get some feedback.

[Pusty]

wow that picture looks amazing :O
I really like the trees in the background (Is the tree on the right intentionally looking so curvy?)
Although I don't get the body shading it looks good but it irritates me

[IrresponsibleFreelancer]

With your troll there are a few problems.  It looks awesome dont get me wrong.  The first thing that i notice is that the dithering is not necessary at all, if anything it is overkill.  Dithering shouldnt be used in this case especially with so many colours.  Dithering should be used for texture or shading when the colour pallette is very limited.  There are of course exceptions to this idea but it takes a great deal of skill to know when.  The problem with the dithering in this case is that on the skin the colours that you used in the palette are very numerous it makes the troll look much to smooth in the way that you wouldnt want. 

There are also some banding issues, heres a good thread on it http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=8110.20.  The place that i see the most of this (because i am still a novice to it as well) is in the shading of the hand and the ear.  The background looks awesome but watch that it looks like you drew everything on the same layer because the tree seems to warp around the hand as if you were afraid to draw through it or didnt want to hide it behind. 

The colour scheme as well as the composition are a bit odd depending on what you are trying to portray.  If you want the skull to be the focal point (because thats what me thinks) then there should be much more contrast on the skull with potentially speculars and a darker background behind it.  Another part of the composition and colour is that the palette is a bit random.  The colours dont go very well with themselves.  The background is too bright and tries to steal the attention from the troll and his precious.  Also the tree background should part behind the skull if thats what you want so you get rim light on the hand then hand shadow then a highly contrasting skull.

Another detail is the lighting.  The piece lacks a strong light source to drive it that extra mile and make it even more awesome.  I think a great idea would be to put the light source from the break in the trees behind him so that the light source is a rim light but we also get a top down secondary due to the slight breaks in the decayed canopy.  You showed that you cacn easily do the latter on the ear the way it is lit slightly more sky blue than the rest of the body. 

The final thing is the perspective.  The way you portrayed it doesnt quite make sense where it is dismissing to a one point perspective on the horizon but the trees seem to be vanishing downhill.  This is supported by the ability to see the roots of the tree in the midground aswell as the background which then sinks off.  It is definitely possible but very unusual.  I also wanted to add that you dont ave to muddy out your colours like the sky for example since its pixel art it can be bright and poppy and still be able to maintain the fantasy world gloom.

Sorry to almost sound discouraging with the super long info dump of mine but hopefully you read through it all and understood what i was trying to say.  I completely understand that some choices were stylistic and dont worry about what i said if so.  If anything i said was straight out wrong please do not hesitate to let me know so that i dont keep telling people how to do things wrong. 

[wzl]

The pose and face look pretty cool, but the skin and colors are a mess. What you did is basically pillow-shade the whole thing and dither the heck out of it which turned into a green mush where nothing is really clear.
I'm certainly not the best when it comes to shading but i tried to give it more depth by giving light a source from the top. there are still some issues with how the skin receives the light but like i said i'm no expert. i just hope it gives you some pointers
Colorwise you use around 17shades of green where 8 would be enough. you could share colors with the teeth and skull or hair and arm bands. Overall i think the images color count could be reduced by 50% without loosing any fidelity at all.



I really like the design though, keep at it! goblins rock 

[pistachio]

On IrresponsibleFreelancer's points



It looks like you're new to pixel art but have some experience already, but there's still a lot holding this back mostly in the pixelling technique.

Use dithering also to make lost edges (like this BG) that draw you to the focal point. It's like the smear tool or palette knife, avoid overusing it, and find a good foundation for it to really work.
Use a value scheme of 2 or 3 colors, with more hard shadows making abstract shapes (convert to B&W to see this clearly)
Try to frame the important stuff with the values opposite to it, I emphasized here what you had going already.
Also adjusted the arm which gives the orc a readable gesture, like he's looking the skull over.

IF covered the rest pretty well. Indeed, keep on.

[IrresponsibleFreelancer]

Wooooweeeee.  You know what they say "a picture is worth a thousand words, and a pixels worth... i dont know, a few maybe."  But yeah you hit it bang on.  Apollo be sure to study closely what pistachio did because he also included many things that he may not have even noticed he did instinctively like the way he does his speculars especially.

[Apollo]

wow that picture looks amazing :O
I really like the trees in the background (Is the tree on the right intentionally looking so curvy?)
Although I don't get the body shading it looks good but it irritates me

Thank you Pusty!
Yes, the tree is looking so curvy intentionally. This place's a mix of swamp and jungle.
I don't like the body shading too, but can do nothing with that. I've some problems with this technique and really would like to improve my skill.

[Apollo]

With your troll there are a few problems.  It looks awesome dont get me wrong.  The first thing that i notice is that the dithering is not necessary at all, if anything it is overkill.  Dithering shouldnt be used in this case especially with so many colours.  Dithering should be used for texture or shading when the colour pallette is very limited.  There are of course exceptions to this idea but it takes a great deal of skill to know when.  The problem with the dithering in this case is that on the skin the colours that you used in the palette are very numerous it makes the troll look much to smooth in the way that you wouldnt want. 

There are also some banding issues, heres a good thread on it http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=8110.20.  The place that i see the most of this (because i am still a novice to it as well) is in the shading of the hand and the ear.  The background looks awesome but watch that it looks like you drew everything on the same layer because the tree seems to warp around the hand as if you were afraid to draw through it or didnt want to hide it behind. 

The colour scheme as well as the composition are a bit odd depending on what you are trying to portray.  If you want the skull to be the focal point (because thats what me thinks) then there should be much more contrast on the skull with potentially speculars and a darker background behind it.  Another part of the composition and colour is that the palette is a bit random.  The colours dont go very well with themselves.  The background is too bright and tries to steal the attention from the troll and his precious.  Also the tree background should part behind the skull if thats what you want so you get rim light on the hand then hand shadow then a highly contrasting skull.

Another detail is the lighting.  The piece lacks a strong light source to drive it that extra mile and make it even more awesome.  I think a great idea would be to put the light source from the break in the trees behind him so that the light source is a rim light but we also get a top down secondary due to the slight breaks in the decayed canopy.  You showed that you cacn easily do the latter on the ear the way it is lit slightly more sky blue than the rest of the body. 

The final thing is the perspective.  The way you portrayed it doesnt quite make sense where it is dismissing to a one point perspective on the horizon but the trees seem to be vanishing downhill.  This is supported by the ability to see the roots of the tree in the midground aswell as the background which then sinks off.  It is definitely possible but very unusual.  I also wanted to add that you dont ave to muddy out your colours like the sky for example since its pixel art it can be bright and poppy and still be able to maintain the fantasy world gloom.

Sorry to almost sound discouraging with the super long info dump of mine but hopefully you read through it all and understood what i was trying to say.  I completely understand that some choices were stylistic and dont worry about what i said if so.  If anything i said was straight out wrong please do not hesitate to let me know so that i dont keep telling people how to do things wrong. 

Thanks for such great feeedback. I've read a few times you wrote and now i understand what things are wrong in my composition. Now i'll try to improve it with your tips.
Keep helping people, because you really help.

[Parkerbaby]

I found a little tutorial/process for drawing orcs that I think could be beneficial. http://fs1.directupload.net/images/150528/f26943fg.png

[RedSuinit]

On IrresponsibleFreelancer's points



It looks like you're new to pixel art but have some experience already, but there's still a lot holding this back mostly in the pixelling technique.

Use dithering also to make lost edges (like this BG) that draw you to the focal point. It's like the smear tool or palette knife, avoid overusing it, and find a good foundation for it to really work.
Use a value scheme of 2 or 3 colors, with more hard shadows making abstract shapes (convert to B&W to see this clearly)
Try to frame the important stuff with the values opposite to it, I emphasized here what you had going already.
Also adjusted the arm which gives the orc a readable gesture, like he's looking the skull over.

IF covered the rest pretty well. Indeed, keep on.

Pistachio, tutor me bro. Your skills are incredible.