Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Arachne on August 07, 2008, 07:09:51 am
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I sort of got distracted from my previous piece by this week's PJ challenge, which just happened to be something similar.
Original (http://www.retinaleclipse.com/cgart006.jpg).
(http://www.retinaleclipse.com/newdevil5.gif)
I know the wings look a bit flimsy. How's the anatomy? :crazy:
Edit:
(http://www.retinaleclipse.com/newdevil9c.gif) (http://www.retinaleclipse.com/newdevilprg.gif)
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The anatomy is great, actually. Not sure about the demon palette at all, though. Do you see how it's lacking a bottom, darker end?
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What's with the line on the deltoid (highest upper arm muscle) of the (demon's) left arm? Further you could try and put the gastronemicus (back side lower leg muscle, I tend not to know english names for most of these kinda body parts :P) up a bit more. Then the wings tend to come from below the trapezius, it may be possible for them to attach all the way at the spine, but you should think a bit more about what a wing can do, and with that, how you should add muscles. Right now nothing seems to clearly attach to the lower bone segment of the wing in order to move it. Now I know these wing's are probably just for show as they are small and ravaged, but even when something lost it's use, it is still there as it originally was. Even humans have a few useless muscles in their body left from evolution. Attempt to look for and at some bird and bat anatomy if you haven't already.
All I didn't talk about is either an error beyond my knowledge (pessimistic view I know haha), but more likely rather well done, like most of your work I've seen out here ;)
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Then the wings tend to come from below the trapezius, it may be possible for them to attack all the way at the spine
real wings are arms, and should ideally have muscles in most of the same places performing similar functions. the shoulder is hard because there's no room for a second pectoral set, which is extremely necessary for flight, in the same way that a wing could never sprout from above the arm's scapula. if we're going to talk about anatomy, we need to except that things with functioning wings and functioning arms are not possible with the standard mammalian bodyplan :P.
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Though this is really awesome. I agree with Helm. Maybe more like so?
(http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/7633/edit99jr9.gif)
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Then the wings tend to come from below the trapezius, it may be possible for them to attack all the way at the spine
real wings are arms, and should ideally have muscles in most of the same places performing similar functions. the shoulder is hard because there's no room for a second pectoral set, which is extremely necessary for flight, in the same way that a wing could never sprout from above the arm's scapula. if we're going to talk about anatomy, we need to except that things with functioning wings and functioning arms are not possible with the standard mammalian bodyplan :P.
Heh, misspelled attach, in addition to that, it is certainly possible. The scapula is holding the arm in place, but also moves on its own across the ribcage. If there are 2 segments of bone connecting by muscle to the spine or ribcage at another place of the back (could be a reason for him to be crouched and bent over like that), these segments could move a bit as well as yield a joint like the scapula does. But then, this does need some muscles to connect from spine to this bone, and from this bone to ribcage. As well as muscles from this bone to the bones of the wing itself (which would be more visible and therefore more important).
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(http://herculeaneffort.com/upload/bbeditnewdevil5.gif)
Couldn't resist drawing over it a bit.
I addressed some of these issues, kinda...
-Look at his right leg, and imagine the arm isn't in front. It seems to join very thickly.
- The lat should be more of a single sweep. Right now that area of the back feels invented.
- The forearms and lower legs feel short (even taking foreshortening into consideration). That's probably because his hands and feet are almost larger than his head.
- If you can see the inside of the elbow on his left arm, you would see more of the bicep.
- He needs a clavicle.
- I moved his head up a bit to make room for a neck.
- If you straightened his torso out, it would look really long, especially compared to his legs.
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Ooh, thanks a lot, guys! That helps a ton. ;D
I think I was trying too hard to stay true to the original colorwise. I tried to figure out how much to darken the darkest shades. Then I just tried black.
(http://www.retinaleclipse.com/newdevil6c.gif)
I turned his back muscle into a sort of second arm to make it look as if he can actually move them. So now it's even more invented than before, but I hope this looks a bit more natural (hardly the right word, but you know what I mean :D).
As for demonic anatomy, I wasn't quite sure how human to make him, but I kept the short neck and big hands and feet from the original since I figured a short neck would make his jugular less exposed, and a creature made for fighting would have big hands and maybe big feet for balance. I don't know if that makes sense, though, since I don't know of any ferocious, bipedal predators. :P
Still some parts left I'm trying to fix, and I need to add shadows cast by wings and horns, but this is it for today. :)
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Amazing job so far, man. :)
You really know how to shade muscles. o.o
Now dither. :P
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Now dither. :P
:( I might have told you this earlier, but I personally wanna see what it looks like when you use minimal dithering in a piece.
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Coming along nicely, but I already told you that.
Now dither. :P
:( I might have told you this earlier, but I personally wanna see what it looks like when you use minimal dithering in a piece.
I have inside information that she will NOT dither the devil :D Just more cleanup and aa and such.
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That is good to hear. The forms are super robust as they are. I will suggest this though...
AMIGA HALFBRITE MODE!!! just take these colors and make exact half-luminance copies of them in the below row, and shade with them. I bet it'll be a challenge.
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Is the piece done?
If so, it looks a bit unfinished.
Awesome though. :P
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Notice the [WIP] (Work in Progress) tag in the title. He's still working on it.
Anyway, nice work you got there. The version you've made with the black gives it a darker, more evil look to it. The transitions from the lightest color to the second lightest are kinda sudden though, just some smoothing around that area would look good.
-Seth
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He's still working on it.
Oh is he? ::)
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It's a it. (haha?)
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I'm sorry, what? Oh, my bad, I'm guessing by this post
I have inside information that she will NOT dither the devil
That "He" is a "She."
It's a it. (haha?)
Huh?
Anyways, a little off topic here...
-Lunar
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The darker shades helped a LOT, it looks much more evil and more like a demon/devil. The blood is a nice touch and everything is wonderfully shaded. If this is a WIP, the final should be amazing. All it needs is a bit of cleanup.
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That is good to hear. The forms are super robust as they are. I will suggest this though...
AMIGA HALFBRITE MODE!!! just take these colors and make exact half-luminance copies of them in the below row, and shade with them. I bet it'll be a challenge.
Sounds interesting. I'll look into it. :)
He ended up changing quite a bit. The waist/hip area and knees still need work. Some of it's just guesswork at the moment, and it's probably not just in those parts, either. I also have one more color I can add, but I'm not sure yet if I need it or what to do with it.
(http://www.retinaleclipse.com/newdevil8b.gif)
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The green buffer shade
Is considerably brave
Sadly does not work
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It almost does tho
Perhaps if it was lighter
yes, it might work then
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the brightness for that is correct, but i would also consider the shadows, as those would be effected by the color of the atmosphere and reflected light which is green. so try tinting the shadows a slight towards green (there shouldnt be any pitch black unless its a stylistic thing, even so, a very slight tint would look nice, even on the second darkest shade on the skin)
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his right wing should be
pointed more toward the background
rear foot could darken
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I'm suprised noone has mentioned that he's (the monster) looking less scary with the new update. The sketchy version has a distinctly sinister look with his crooked teeth and hooded eyes. The new version has straightened all the teeth and has been given more of a wide, intense, slightly bug-eyed look which just doesn't suit for me. Especially since you've kept the salive dripping from his maw, it just looks comical to me at the moment.
Your the Queen of pixel fear! I know you can come up with a much scarier facial expression for the beast. The foundation for it is in you previous wip.
Also the perfectly spherical spot of light on his forhead and (his) left arm doesn't work for me.
But anyway, loving it (as allways with your work), it will be interesting to see you finish a peice without dithering! As that's a huge element of your established style. (which i'm a complete fangirl off *waves Arachne flag*)
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heyy13 is right. Eyes were scarier and more visceral in first image. not to say this isn't awesome.
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This would be expressing madness more than sinister thoughts. Which I don't see as bad or less good as previous at all.
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I'm convinced you need one additional buffer shade between the black and darkest red. - not only to act as a buffer, but to help you give the image a bit more priority. Currently, nearly everything on your demon has been rendered as if it is on equal planes. I think this is a result of you focusing too much on the detail and rim lighting that you forget the overall picture.
here's a very quick (and sloppy) paint over to help demonstrate what I mean...
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/calypson/arachne_edit1.png)
I took out the back knee entirely because I felt it was cluttering up the head area. The green background shade can hint to the knee well enough. Also if you look at the lighting on the frontmost leg, I'd say it has fairly good priorety. The lighting is strong on the upper part of the thigh. The problem is this isn't consistent throughout the rest of the piece (areas such as the forearm and tops of the wings.). Again, you were too focussed on getting detail in there.
Another way I guess you can describe your problem is for any given area you almost feel as if you should use the entire ramp, but in reality, depending on which part of the piece you're working on, you may be only using a portion of the ramp to define a shape.
anyway.. I hope I'm making sense
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(http://www.retinaleclipse.com/newdevil9.gif)
I have to admit, I've been feeling a bit reluctant to change it dramatically at this stage, and there are still some things I'm not sure how to fix, but I hope this takes care of the most important things. :)
OK, first of all, I increased the saturation of the brightest skin shades to make up for the green AA, so now the colors should seem less muddled. Added another skin shade a bit closer to green.
Not sure if the wings need changing since they're meant to be damaged rather than neat and symmetrical.
He does look less scary in a way, but I thought the old one looked scary in a cornered beast sort of way and that maybe something more intelligent would seem more threatening. I guess it's a matter of how you choose to read it?
Indigo, that makes perfect sense, and I seem to have more trouble keeping the more basic stuff in mind when trying more challenging things. :ouch: Anyhow, thanks a lot for another helpful edit. ;D
Edit: Nothing major, mostly palette changes and polishing.
(http://www.retinaleclipse.com/newdevil9c.gif)
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this is really good,
some of the highlights, particularly the forehead, look a bit stiff or forced, but this is phenomenal
you are very talented
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I like the current eyes more, the body makes him look evil, but the eyes seem a bit tortured.
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the priority of the image reads so so much better. I really dig this latest version :)
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The difference between the last two versions, pallete stuff aside, is so minor that I had to superimpose them even to spot what it was, but it makes such a huge difference, he looks so much more fleshy because of those breaks. I wouldn't have even known that would work if I hadn't seen it without them.