Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Dogmeat on January 28, 2009, 04:10:57 am
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So I found this pixel on my hard drive today that I doodled about 6 months ago, it was extremely messy and the colors were experimental ( i'm not so good at choosing colors so I was trying different stuff ). Anyway, after working on this for a few hours I got it to a place where I think it can turn into a good pixel. I figured I'd do the usual and post it here for C&C or just show you guys my process.
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP1.png)
Still pretty messy, but this is how I do my lineart, its more of messy blob art, then I go in for the kill and detail everything. The arm is supposed to be twisted around and sticking out of the narrow hole like the head but I can still see how it's off vs. the mouth size, I'll probably fix that next. Also trying to make the monster translucent so you can see the shilouette of the dude inside the monster.
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I like the colors myself, and it's nice to see you posting around here, Dogmeat. :crazy:
In ways of critique, I would say (on the face) have the current normal skin tone ( the yellow) be the highlight, and use it sparingly. Make a slightly darker color and use that for the skin tone.
Also, the arm placement confuses me. Is it from someone else's body? If it's from his, I'd make it in front of the head, or closer to it anyway. Maybe have it protruding on the right instead?
This has a lot of potential to be killer. I love it, keep it up!
By the way, do you have MSN or YIM or anything of the sort? I'd like to talk to you online, and email is cumbersome.
Good workness!
Toodles!
Shrike
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the teeth behind the body confuses me, they just look like lines, unlike the teeth infront of the body, where there is a amount of detail gone into them,
and shrike dogmeat does have aim, but i deicide not to talk to him because it always has at work when hes online and i dont want to disturb him.
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oh you guys can disturb me anytime, maybe I'll change my message. I just forget to change it.
Made some changes, more tomorrow:
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP2.png)
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I'm not sure about this, but:
Why is the man's eye half glazed-over, considering he's being eaten alive? Unless you made it ilike that because he's losing consciousness/dying :P
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No, you're right, the eyelid needs to go because I'm trying to make it look like his eyes are rolling back in terror. Your observation made me realize this, thank you.
Here, I have done an edit:
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP3.png)
Moved the eye and tried to capture the TERROR that I wanted
Adjusted chin area to make teeth make more sense, and man seem more proportionate, now when you look at the dark green on the monster, it matches the guy, sort of translucent, it will get there.
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the blue shading on the hair doesnt match your light source(s) i think removing a majority of it, and make it more paralell to the outline of the dude will work better
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Well, Dawg, first I have to say is that the colours really don't work for me. Some guy getting eaten by a horrible monster coloured in every colour of the rainbow doesn't do it for me.
But the colours are not the biggest problem here.
The biggest problem is form and anatomy. The guy doesn't look very human at all currently.
Though I'm hardly the leading authority on anatomy and form, I made an edit:
(http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/6718/edit107ye3.gif)
I just think you need to take a few steps back.
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Nice Op :)
I can't help the fact that I always want to use bright yellow/pink/neongreen/blue/etc.. to color everything, but you're right. I really was trying to go for abstract colors on this, but in the end, i think this is going to be a detail pixel so some palette fudging is necessary. As for your edit, I think you're on the right track as far as skin tone/anatomy/etc.. I'll work on an update with some cleanup work/changes to the character/etc .. tonight.
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The colors can be whatever, really. As long as the value range works and the model is anatomically correct to some degree. You need to do some fundamental studies of the face and how its planes are constructed. It will help this piece and your art in general much more than experimental palettes.
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Ok, I made a quick edit, gonna get some food and work on this more,
I liked op's edit, but I think the head was too large looking to make it believable that the monster was able to eat the rest of the body so in my edit I made the head slightly smaller, also, I turned the guy because I thought it would be more dramatic if he's looking at the monster while it's eating him, just some really rough stuff for the face right now, I want your opninions on weather or not you think this will work, I also thought about having an arm coming out of the right side but I'm not sure if that would work either.
Another thing is that I had the eye reflecting in the original, tried to make that more apparent in this edit.
Thank you for all the wonderful comments, helm, I have a bunch of reference images on facial construction, I'm still learning forms, if you have any good pointers, I'd love to hear them.
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP4.png)
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Here's a super quick'n'dirty edit to show what I envision when I see this:
(http://paul.gerla.us/edits/DT_WIP4Dirtyedi.png)
I think showing a bit more of the body makes it more believable that the monster is actually eating him, and the wider canvas just looked better to me.
[Edit \/ : That second one is totally dope!]
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Pawige! Nice, I was thinking it needed to be wider, I just finished an edit with the hand almost like how you had it.
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP5.PNG)
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP6.PNG)
added more scene elements based on pawige's edit.
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(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP3.png)
I much prefer this version to any of the edits. It's much more cerebral. If you keep on refining it, it could turn into something very cool.
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Pawige! Nice, I was thinking it needed to be wider, I just finished an edit with the hand almost like how you had it.
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP5.PNG)
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP6.PNG)
added more scene elements based on pawige's edit.
:D
Good, but the arm is only holding the rope, not putting any force into it. Make his arm straight, and make the rope so taut that it looks like it'll break any minute. And, what's with the perfect hair? Is he combing it as he gets devoured? ::) Mess it up some, IMHO.
LOVING THIS, people getting eaten by monsters rules.
Toodles,
Shirke
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Jeez, there were way too many colours. I got it down to 18 and did some edits to make sure the palette will work.
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP7.png)
More fleshing:
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP8.PNG)
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how about adding a theme to this, because at the moment it is just seems a bit random.
perhaps transform the rope into a vine, and give it a jungle theme with trees and scenery. possibly the creatures lair behind with bones and other animal entrails or explorers remains.
it would give you a lot more to pixel in terms of background.
liking the new character and palettes a lot.
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I agree, I kept looking at the rope thinking it didn't make sense, unless this was the pitfall dude and that green monster was an alligator. Although you gave me a very interesting idea, putting a lair/monster/etc.. into the bg. Honestly, I was going to have the right and left bg elements kind of blurred and non detailed to draw more attention to the main character, but I can still do something similar using a few colors to make a monster:
(http://www.mindcrank.com/DT_WIP9.PNG)
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Good, but the arm is only holding the rope, not putting any force into it.
maybe hes trying to pull so hes bending his arm back, none the less, the rope does need to portray that also. i like the idea of the hand pushing him in, but theres no definition that hes actually getting pushed in, i think it has to do with that second hand looking nicely placed to that position so he can have a nice cuppa.
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A thought on the bg environment, since you expanded it, give it mood - deck it out in organic alienish monster surfaces/objects, think of what the aliens from the sci-fi "Alien" would do to a ship's interior when taken over and converted into nesting grounds - there was people cocooned up in nasty alien growth stuff, organic pipes, tubes, random living tumorous material everywhere. Think Giger. Jabba here would probably feel more at home, too.