Okay, I guess I do need to post the reference.



The trouble I'm having with the bangs is that the reference I used was a professional photograph with really hard lighting coming from two directions, so the shadow on the right cheek is a monster, but there's still light coming from the right. Actually, now that I look at it, the primary light source is the one on the right side, and the rest of the face is slightly in shadow. Craaaap.

You're right about the neck. And the rugburn! I was experimenting with hue-shifting because the idea was new to me, and maybe I overdid it on the face.

Well, normally people don't face the camera when they're walking sideways, either... and it's a helluva lot more interesting than the head remaining static like it was in the first incarnation. If every walk cycle Dekthro does has the head bobbing, then you can be worried. As it stands, I think it's a style choice, and it's adorable.

Think of dragon wings as small arms bent at the elbow with long, thin fingers, and canvas stretched between every piece. In order for the dragon to flap its wings, it has to wave its bent elbow up and down, same as if a human were to fake the wing-flapping motion. I'm taking all this from this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ321UoUor0

Actually, the clenched hand looks fantastic. You don't want the nail-side of the thumb to be that curved, or at least mine isn't when I try that with my own hand. Just remember that, when together in the palm, the fingers act more like a triangle than a square - wider at the second knuckle than at the fingertips. And you'll see a little of the first segment on the left of your middle/ring/pinky fingers, and on the right of your pointer finger.

As for the one you finished, the thumb is too short. On my hand, my thumb is almost as tall as the second knuckle on my pointer finger when I put them right next to each other, so even when extended, it should still look longer. You may have been going for some foreshortening, but if the thumb is coming towards the viewer, we should see more of the flap of skin between the pointer finger and thumb. Also, no matter how you have the fingers extended, the tendons from every finger (including the thumb) should stick out. (The one on the thumb is really fun to draw, because it has two tendons - one that goes up to the second knuckle and one that goes from the wrist to the base of the thumb - and they form a little well next to the wrist. )

I disagree. I think the whole aesthetic of the original is based on the black lines and I find it looks wonderful that way. In fact, I prefer Chris stylized line widths by far over the lackluster graphics and concept design of "The World Ends With You", because there the black lines really do nothing to back up the form at all. There's tons of examples of good varied line work that could help Chris, but I don't consider TWEWY to be one of them.

I had this feeling I was asking for trouble by using TWEWY; I guess I was right! I'll rephrase my point: When I look at the animation, the black outline makes me go, "huh?" It looks really good from a short distance, but if I look too closely, all I see is that chunk of black pixels on the back of his head. But, I'll admit, if he were in an environment done in this style, chances are I'd love it. All opinion and context, I suppose. I picked TWEWY because, to me, the hard outlines convey a mood and are representative of the game world. Whether or not the graphics are art or even good, they set the tone of the game. I think I was moments away from asking whether the Chis's black line shading was artistic intent or just a test, but if we start talking about artistic intent then the focus will start shifting away from the WIP. (And we'll all get mad at each other and I'll sound like an idiot. Yay, internet!)

What examples were you thinking of?

A thousand apologies for sounding pretentious, I promise to do better next time and spend more time pixeling than I do C+Cing.