not strictly true about the hats guys sorry.

google image search Floppy straw hat

a possible ref:



research is the key and u have the whole worlds references at your fingertips these days

wish i had had the net while doing graphics in the 80s

Steve

yeah deep red left one gets my vote too.

i wouldnt worry too much about getting a perfect observation drawing of a mushroom in what you are doing. it will probably sit out of place in a stylised game.

one thing you could try is to overlay some whit(ish) blotches on the cap and shade them following the structure u have in place already.



like that but better

also i think your "rocky" look will be fine. try it with grey shades tho and i think it may say "rocks" better to you.

Steve

apologies, it is indeed your thread.

i am just quick to annoy these days, when i did not seek opinion on my demo to u.

anyway, the comment about the arrow was correct, but a simpler fix may be just to x-flip the arrow so it stays in the same shoulder but angles the other way.

Steve

edit:

close the right fist and plant it against the hip. the pose might be a bit melodramatic but it will get u out of a hole. left hand needs to be raised a bit and the arm sloped down to the elbow. atm the sword hilt is far too short. it should be about half again as long.



pose bit like like that

well yes it would tend to look banded wouldnt it?

being as how the one i edited wasnt the big one that TPoe is working on but one of the small ones that he posted in the first post, but blown up so u can see it. (as i said in the post)

it was an example of "how to: shiny metal" not to draw that armour at such a small scale.

anyway, TPoe i actually liked your detail on the initial one. but i thought it just needed a bit of extra "zap" in the shiny department. also u need consider exactly what u are doing this for. if u want to do "real" look then u will as said have to consider how the armour was attached. however if u are going for a highly stylised look then u may take liberties with such details as long as the joints look as tho they could actually move u will be fine.

the one i edited was done in a VERY limited c64 palette, black, white, 3 greys, brown and orange. obviously the higher res u work on may need more "tween" shades of grey to avoid banding at viewing res. also remember that shiny metal has no "colour", it simply reflects the colour of the light hitting it, so grey, blue green hues are all possible just keep them subtle for the "real" look. my personal choice would be to create neutral greys then edge the blue slider up a couple of notches on each of them for a "steel blue" look.

EDIT:
I have taken the version of yours with the detail and added a bit of extra "shininess" to it. i have used "dither" to get an extra bit of tonal range rather than adding colours. you of course can add colour if u wish i just didnt know how strict a palete u were using.

the bits i edited were obviously, the torso and head. i began the shoulder as a "work in progress" and left the arms so u can see the difference the addition of a bit of black makes.



regards,

Steve

well,

the best way to draw that armour would be to research it by using real photos from google image searches such as

"polished armour" (use UK spelling of armoUr as most of this stuff will be european remember)
"shining armour"
"warwick castle armour"

a quick search of google turned up this:



which shows basic tonal values. you can't go wrong if you draw from real life. my old art teacher always battered this into our minds "never rely on imagination if u can draw it from reality"

other than that all i can say is that highly polished armor is more of tonal contrast between high specular light and deep tonal areas. more "black and white" if u like than u have have it. think "chrome". u will see anyway when u look at real photos.

the comment from the poster above is a good one. to balance the fact that your toon is top heavy, leaning back to support the sword, move HIS LEFT leg outwards a bit to give him more of a balanced "feet planted apart" stance.

good luck

Steve