Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Morganne on December 01, 2006, 04:37:10 pm
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Hello again!
I feel horrible because every time I promise myself I'm going to get back into the pixel scene something happens and I end up dropping it before I ever really start. This time I fried a hard drive and got a job, so I haven't had much time or motivation to get things done. Well no more!
Ive been wanting to pixel something, but I couldn't find a worth-while subject... so I went ahead and attempted to re-interpret something old. One of my favorite older pieces of mine is a silly little naked faerie I did for a pixelation challenge quite some time ago.
Heres the new version, with a sketch just so you can see where I'm going:
(http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/53603BVi/985348.gif) Newest: (http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/53603BVi/986581.gif)
And the old version, so you can see where I'm coming from:
(http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/53603BVi/985349.gif)
I don't really like whats going on with her outstretched leg (Ill probably have it bend a bit more naturally, so it doesn't look like shes doing the faerie potty dance) and her bosoms (which currently float more than she does)... I'm almost happy with her midsection, but theres something wrong with it that I cant pick out just yet...
..and is it just me, or is her face kinda manly?
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the lower leg is too long... and inversely the upper leg is too short...
think in terms of that magic number PHI - 1.66 (the golden ratio) the lower leg is 1/3 the length of the upper...
and the head is huge... I don't know if that's the effect you want but if were me I'd reduce it down a fair bit.
nice sketch btw - but again.. the proportions are out... and that left hand (on both albeit WIP) doesn't read... think about changing it so it works in silhoette)
funny... I'm working on somethign VERY similar at moment... (will reveal all soon)
keep on pushing!
:)
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She does look pretty manly. Mainly due to the large angular chin, the sturdy cheekbones and the somewhat large nose. She has a very short middle section, but her whole anatomy is hard to judge because her head and right lower leg are pretty large compared to the rest. Her hair is covering a large portion of the forhead and makes is look larger. I also noticed her left leg is connected allmost at her groin. You might want to move it a little more to the left. In addition, it is noticeably shorter than her right leg. I don't want to point out any of the technique before I see where this is going.
I'm not able to provide edits at the moment, so I hope the advise helps.
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Holy fuck it's Morganne :o
Haven't seen you around these joints in forever, good to have you back.
As for the art, you can definitely see quite an improvement from when you were last seen, and that's definitely reassuring. The foot on the long leg looks a little dark, you could probably go a little easier on the shading, but other than that it's looking great.
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Thanks guys!
So far, Ive tried to femenize the face, elongate the torso, and make the legs more proportionate... and a few other miscellanie.
(http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/53603BVi/985366.gif)
That foot will be the death of me, I'm sure.
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It helps a lot to make the highlight color of skin a pale yellow rather than pure white. I think the nipples are a bit too small and dark, and the shadow between her breasts is a bit too dark as well. There probably wouldn't be a shadow there at all, what with her being naked and all. The detail on the stomach is a little weird, I think, but I'm don't know enough to be useful. Other than those few issues it's looking lovely!
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This is turning out nicely. I think maybe if you added a little pink or purple flower behind her ear it would give more of that earthy feel.
Also I think that the way the area around the belly button is colored makes it look like she has a pouch. Almost like a gorrilla would have. You know that lighter color thing, where there is less hair. Maybe if you kind of merged that dark and light better it would look thinner and she would look less chunky.
I just think if you are going to give a female such beautiful brests, and great legs and arms, that it would look better if she was thinner in the waist.
Also her chin is a tad masculine.
This is a great piece...Hope this helps you make her as beautiful as possible. :)
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I like this piece, though I agree on Pawige's comment.
But I also have trouble making out her right arm (Our view)
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(http://pete.ptoing.net/fairy_thing.png)
Hi ...
I've had a shufties at your fairy and it's coming along nicely...
I've had a fiddle... hope you don't mind.
A few things to take note of...
(http://pete.ptoing.net/fairy_thing.png)
1. the silohette... keep checking it 'reads' - the first image is yours unedited... the second is it's silohettte - the 2nd image I've pulled her head up a touch to try and intorduce some 'negative space' between her right shoulder and chin... - the neck's a tad too long perhaps but this clearly shows how the two silhoettes differ in such asubtle way... the first looks hunched... the second (my edit) looks more proud...
2. your still off on your proportions... the 5th image along hilghts areas that you should look at... her right arm, theupper is shorter than the lower, perhaps there are elements of foreshortening going on, but still it doens't look quite right... Her right leg, (the one betn under her bottom) is seriously out - that lower shin is way too long... and I can't see any evidence there of foreshorteinng as the leg is pretty much side on to the viewer... finally... her left arm/hand... I think I can make out what you're trying to do having had a closer look... but, again... think of the silohette... what I think you were attempting would be masked out by her upper arm (in the background) - what I suggest is opening her arm out more and trying to either flip the hand up... or down (see final image) - I thinkn down wou;d worl better as this has same 'movement' that her right hand has.
3. That last image is me scribbling... I've tried to hilight areas that I would move... as well as indicate main muscle masses on that lower leg. that green circle in the center is her thoracic mass... and notice the hips and the points at either end (important frames of reference when doing nudes)
Don't give up... you're on it for sure... but I think if you tightned up the points mentioned it will improve dramatically...
I'd love to see how this turns out - my favorite is studying the human form. and this piece is right up my street (so to speak)
good luck...
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Heya,
First time Iīve seen the [nudity] tag actually!
Anyways, itīs looking very nice! Though her left breast(our right) is smaller than the other even though itīs closer to us. Also it seem as if she has a invisible bra on her since the breasts doesnīt seem to follow the law of gravity, though I guess itīs more likely she has "enhanced breasts"? One last thing is that it looks like she is about to fall, or even in the falling motion since the upper body and leg seem to be "on their way" already.
Looking forward to seeing more :]
Cheers,
Lelle
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I actually managed to squeeze some time in before I have to run to work. I did a lot of things here, with a ton of help from baccaman21's edit... fixed up some colors, worked on the proportions, finished things up. Not too sure Im happy with the wing design, Ill take another look at it tomorrow and see how I feel then.
(http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/53603BVi/985783.gif)
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The hair is wonderful, with such a great palette.
The overall body seems to be improved; looks tighter and more realistic. If that makes any sense at all.
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Her shins maintain massivity.
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Wouldn't the word simply be "mass", or maybe "massiveness"?
This is looking really exceptional, the hair is beautiful though a tiny bit rough, maybe some AA?
The shading on the tummy seems a little perculiar to me, I think it may have been over-shadowed. The shading on HER right wrist makes it sort of look uber thin. The crease between HER right leg and her body seems too dark/deep, it almost has the effect of detaching the leg.
HER left hand looks really wide.
In regards to palette, maybe try lowering the value just a little bit on the second darkest skin tone?
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In my opinion, I'd suggest de-lengthening her shin to thigh bone ratio. It looks a tad elongated, which is probably what everybody keeps mentioning. I kinda lowered her shin length, in that retrospect, as well as added some thicker highlights/shinyness to spots where you seemed to timidly put them. I'm sure your way was intended to go along with her fairy character, but to me it seemed kind of spotty. Also, I kinda fluffed her hair a bit, and shined it up, to give her some more character up there. It would also be best to disregard the selout I applied to my edit, as I still don't seem to firmly grasp it's concept. And if I did anything wrong with my edit of your sprite, just tell me, and I'll remove it immediately.
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n118/TheBoBslow/forumtransparency.png)
By the way, I'd just like to say it's nice to see some female anatomy with some actual curves, especially of the belly, instead of the same old anime-ish slim girls with zero spots of a True female body. Now, bearing in mind, this character still seems to be the male stereotype of what a womans anatomy should resemble, it still retains some realistic curves....I luv dem curves....hope to see some updates pretty soon! :y:...
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it looks like she's under some gravity, as in she's not really flittering around like... a faerie, ya know?
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I like this piece its very dynamic. My crits are fairly minor as the piece looks well established and I don't want to take from the style of the piece.
(http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/2725/editbml8.gif)
OK, I have changed the following:
Along her upper thigh she had a few seemingly stray lines that made her look like her leg had been sewn together similarly to a dolls. This was probably the most in need of editing (still relatively small an edit) I broke that up and continued upwards to her pelvic bone, as The B.O.B mentioned this takes a more realistic view of female anatomy as it conveys curves and I felt that perhaps the bone looked like it protruded a bit too much.
The stomach was a small edit as it had just one part of distinct shading which again looked a bit to linear. Broke up this shading a bit.
Around the ankle I just took some pixels off as it looked like it was sticking out a bit.
The final edit is on the eye. This one i felt was important as her eye seemed to look as though it was open, I wasn't sure if this was intentional but felt it would be to confusing to work it out as a viewer so I changed it by moving the eyelash down 1 pixel and doing a bit of colouring. I also adjusted the mouth a little but thats just a preference thing I think
I think The B.O.B covered pretty much everything else I would have liked to have said. Shorten shins a tad, add more shine to the hair and apply some more sheen to that skin.
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the lower leg is too long... and inversely the upper leg is too short...
think in terms of that magic number PHI - 1.66 (the golden ratio) the lower leg is 1/3 the length of the upper...
and the head is huge... I don't know if that's the effect you want but if were me I'd reduce it down a fair bit.
nice sketch btw - but again.. the proportions are out... and that left hand (on both albeit WIP) doesn't read... think about changing it so it works in silhoette)
funny... I'm working on somethign VERY similar at moment... (will reveal all soon)
keep on pushing!
:)
the golden ratio is actually ~1.62 but effectively yes, you can use 1.66 in most art cases
1.61803399
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There we go:
(http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic/53603BVi/986581.gif)
I really appreciate the edits everyone, it helped a great deal. I think she's almost done, I'm still not too sure about the shading on her belly/leg region, or her outstretched hand, but thats nothing a bit of fine-tuning wont take care of..
By the way, I'd just like to say it's nice to see some female anatomy with some actual curves, especially of the belly, instead of the same old anime-ish slim girls with zero spots of a True female body.
Thanks! I usually get a bunch of complaints about how "unrealistic" or unappealing my fleshy gals are... but being a gal myself, I know full well what real ladies look like. Its refreshing to hear that I'm not the only one who appreciates a bit of curves.
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the only thing i can see wrong with the shading of her stomach, is that it seperates her belly too much.
also, hooray for curves! i honestly thing extremely slim and skinny girls are unattractive, they usually have to have a beautiful face for me to aknowledge any sort of attraction.
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the only thing i can see wrong with the shading of her stomach, is that it seperates her belly too much.
also, hooray for curves! i honestly thing extremely slim and skinny girls are unattractive, they usually have to have a beautiful face for me to aknowledge any sort of attraction.
The thing would be that the space between her breasts and her stomach is too brightly shaded, that's why it looks so divided, I think.
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her stomach looks misplaced and deformed.. maybe it's a deranged fairy? :D
other than that, AWESOME work! fix the stomach and it's pretty much perfect imo.
tho me myself I would change her smile slightly, also add some colour to her wings or hair.
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I don't like the face and I feel the colours are too earthy. Quite Personally I like the old one better.
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Thats awesome shading on her left thigh imo. I think the original looks better too becuase it has a really great pose. It looks
like shes made a big leap and is about to land. The new version has a weird pose - shes pointing down and one of her legs looks
like its resting on a wall. I made an edit where she has a pose more like she is landing. I also made her hands and head smaller - even
though a fairy doesn't have to have right proportions i think it looks better this way.
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e199/sharprm/fairy.gif)
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Fantastic work Morganne. This is really beautiful i think.
I must agree with Jad about the midpart. But i do really like the way you've done the stomach. The colours are pretty, and the way you've tinted the hair and wings with blue is neat. There's an area on the lower portion of her thigh that seems a bit jaggedy at the moment, just to point it out. I also think her flattened hand is a bit wide. But that's about it, i really like this, much over the old one.
^-^
[NB Written before seeing sharprm's post]
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I agree with Larwick, I like this version better because it has more of a warm, earthy mood. I also love curves so its cool that you made a woman out of her.
Lovely.
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I love the new version. I don't have any specific crits. It looks great. :)
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MORGY!! ^^ ah...
it's refreshing to see you around, make this place feel a bit more like.....home =)
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/baybaybom/Morgy.gif)
I noticed you were concerned about the shading on most of the things in the background...so I went and rushed in what I'd usually do in that situation, lay some flat shades of shadow on a few chosen spots to take some of the focus out of them.
I must say...I miss some of the DARK inky feel your initial fairy had...but I'm a sucker for harsh contrast so that might be biased :p
it feels a bit like you've sacrified composition and flow for anatomy which IMO isnt worthwhile....of all the 3 versions you posted the lastest one is the least dynamic...
EDIT: I thought I'd make a quick slyde-type animation to show what I meant
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b340/baybaybom/Morgy.gif) see, first you had your sketch with plenty of fun curves. it kinda had some concentric circles thing going on (BLUE), and these two big lines crossing all the way down like an arrow (green and cyan). but then with all the repositioning you've done, none of that composition or flow is really left in your final pic! I think it's really important to keep composition when you make anatomic corrections
I love the new face, specially it doesnt feel barbie-doll flat, it's harmonic (unlike the old version) and it still looks very fleshy and engaging, gotta love some strong factions on a girl's face. I also really dig the wing style you chose, makes her feel a bit more like a MOTH fairy rather an a butterfly one, and that cant ever be bad.
hope I made you feel welcome my precious morganne, one can always use a smart sensitive girl like you around.
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In some parts I agree that a lot of motion has been lost, on the other hand I love the detailing. Iīd definitely leave the belly alone, the curves look good as they are.
If you really want to go back to the feel of the original sketch I think you need to rotate the outstretched leg again to get that dynamic feel back into it. Right now the problem is that the pose of the arms suggests motion, while the legs indicate that sheīs sitting. The other possibility would be to redo the arms (and possibly the hair) and change them to a more relaxed state (such as placing both hands with straight arms on the imagined surface between her legs).
All in all Iīd probably leave it alone. It looks great, and overdoctoring it now probably wonīt help all that much.
@sharprm: I donīt think your edit works, there isnīt much movement to it since to make it into a proper "landing" pose youīd need to rework more than just the rear leg. In any case, I donīt even think that leg is the issue. Also: wtf about those leaves???