Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Ramagno on August 19, 2018, 04:58:05 pm
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Hello World!
I'd love to hear your critique on this portrait I'm working on.
I'm trying to keep it low color count, and this is the pose I'm using as reference: https://pin.it/jvgb5xwtvv3zsz (https://pin.it/jvgb5xwtvv3zsz)
Original:
(https://i.imgur.com/XFVgS0w.png)
Latest edit:
(https://i.imgur.com/ctvb3RR.png)
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It looks rather odd to me that the shadows on the character are lighter than the environment, which is more likely to be lit by ambient light.
How about switching the dark brown with the black? As a bonus, that'll give you increased contrast on the character and reduced contrast in the background, making the character pop more.
Here's an edit doing that:
(https://i.imgur.com/24Ufqjn.png)
I also:
- replaced the dark brown on the mountains and darkest red on the moon with grey from the castle to help the colours transition better, and reducing your colour count as a bonus
- made the hand on the sword's handle a little larger, it was rather small. That whole arm feels rather short though, so you may want to work on that. If it's meant to be foreshortened, you'll need to clarify that.
- added some extra transitions/detail using the dark brown from the new "background". Switching the colours around leaves you more room for that :]
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His swords not big enough.
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Hey there, this is a cool piece! Your inspiration shines through; definitely getting those strong castlevania vibes. Other than some slight arm anatomy issues, I think the biggest thing holding this image back is it's composition. Is this just supposed to be a scene, or perhaps a title screen? Knowing your intent will help you to craft an image that best suits that purpose. My edit is far from ideal, but may give you an idea towards placement and linking more shapes together.
(https://i.imgur.com/qZvFrHT.png)
Also for fun, a NES palette version:
(https://i.imgur.com/turwcoV.png)
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Ryumaru is right about the arm feeling off. It looks like he's shrugging instead of twisting.
There's pent up kinetic energy in the swing when he's twisting that you miss the opportunity to show.
I think Ryumaru's edit works if you are intending for the arm to be outwards like a block manuver. But if you look at the reference, the reason the arm is short is because his entire body is twisting. In the reference, his arm is out in front of his body in the 3d space, where in Ryumaru's edit his arm is outwards along side of him in a more 2 dimensional sense.
This should make you consider the shape of the whole body and the angle his head is facing and the way the arm is described by light.
Here's my messy (still anatomically incorrect) edit that moves the shoulder down but keeps the arm bent instead of extended just to explain what I mean:
(https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/HA65di5.png)
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(https://i.imgur.com/YBclUx4.png)
Thanks all :D Your comments are awesome.
This is designed for a facebook page. Ref: http://i64.tinypic.com/vy3yuo.png
- I'm struggling to get the moon right :/
- I left the arm untouched because it's mostly a perspective thing, so I don't want to mess with it yet.
- I retouched the hand a bit.
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I agree with others' comments about composition – you have three main elements which are spread out equally, and they're all fighting for attention. I also think the moon stands out too much, partly because of its colour and partly because it has a fair bit of detail/noise. Ryumaru's edit resolves the elements really nicely, and simplifies the moon too.
A simple but maybe significant thing is the direction: just having the figure face right would make for a more active/exciting composition imo.
(https://i.imgur.com/6tNbsMn.png)
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Ideally there should be around 5 characters in the image. I wonder if the background is too busy for that..
Updates:
- Simplified moon texture
- Tuned hair shade
- Flipped composition horizontally
- Two new characters
(https://i.imgur.com/04vAOg3.png)
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I like the new characters. There appears to be an issue with red cape guy and blue hood gal though. I think you have to move her to the right so that she appears to be standing next to the flowing cape. As it is right now, she appears to occupy the same depth as the cape. Could also fix that by making her bigger, so that she'll appear closer to the camera or by making red cape guy smaller. A third way would be to subdue the cape, make the bright red a darker value than the blues' lighter value.
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Updates:
- Simplified further moon
- Added some trees in the background
- Used black over characters to improve contrast
- Stoked characters with black to improve visibility
- Added two new characters in the background
- Alternative sky
Option 1
(https://i.imgur.com/2qNmavP.png)
Option 2
(https://i.imgur.com/umzkoio.png)
Option 3
(https://i.imgur.com/ctvb3RR.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/peM58QT.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/9K8gdZK.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/SgIDIjn.png)
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I think the third one is nice, because the purple helps add interest while tying the red and blue together, and it helps the visibility of the first and fifth characters’ silhouettes (on the far left and right).
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Girl characters are great, you've done a great job. Secondary male characters have good poses as well and it contributes to overall dynamic shadow approach, but main white haired character appears very stiff and I would experiment with his pose to create better composition and solution.
Here's the fast edit created with idea of making it a bit more readable. :)
(https://i.imgur.com/W7hkIYn.png) (https://i.imgur.com/SW3hmNw.gif)