First Serious Pixeling - The Handman

[Jimish]

Okay. I had a sudden impulse to make some pixel art.
So, I gave it a shot and actually spent some time working on a piece.

It is based off a sketch my friend made as an idea for a video game enemy. If my scanner were working, I'd post it.

Basicly, we've got your standard hand with a head for a wrist.



Comments/Crits appreciated.

[Xion]

Haha, wow, this is frightening. Looks like a mix between Glover and a Wallmaster.
Well, there are some problems, so I'll tell you them.
He's missing a finger.
There should be a larger space between the thumb's base and where the fingers start.
The fingers are too skinny and short.
The palm of the hand should go back father.
The bent finger looks wierd and longer than the others.
The skin is using alot more colors than necessary.
The teeth could be more distinguished. (if you do this, try not to create an entirely new shade. Use a skintone.)
The tongue is off-perspective.

[Pawige]

At the moment it's almost pillow-shaded, especially the fingers, try to picture the forms in your mind and see where the light would and wouldn't hit. If you can't picture the forms in your mind, or even if you can, plop your hand down and use it for a reference, close the blinds and point a desk lamp down at it or something, and you'll be able to improve it even more.

The thumb looks like it's in a position thumbs can't be in. Is that light spot on it supposed to be the nail? If so, it's too big.

The heavy dithering you've got all over is doing nothing for it.

As Xion said, you're using too many colors, the second lightest and third darkest could probably both go without much loss of detail. I'd also do a bit of hue variation in the skin colors, maybe make the highlights a greenish yellow and the shadows puple?

The shading on the head(?) isn't too bad, and I like the knuckle wrinkles on the middle finger.

Fangs might be cool.

Wait, fangs are always cool! 

Edit: Also, this could be a buttload of fun to animate, just think of all the wacky movements and attacks it could have!

[Jimish]

I brought it down to 6 colors (7 with background), repositioned the thumb and did some re-shading.

I'm still not happy with the shading on that pointer finger and I lost one of the knuckle folds. :\ Still trying.

[Cow]

I preferred it before, now it looks really stiff. Not to mention incredibly dirty, with only 3 fingers.

I suppose I could elaborate, but nah.

[Bo]

ther is five fingers in the latest pic if you look closely. the pinky is drawn with the darkest color below the other fingers.

i think the thumb looks great in both versions.

[Terley]

woah I think im hallusinating.. Thats freaky, good so far but the lightsource isn't doint it any favours.. Atm it's looking flat, as if the hand has no shape.

Love the linework 

[Cow]

ther is five fingers in the latest pic if you look closely. the pinky is drawn with the darkest color below the other fingers.

4 fingers. [lame of me to point out, but meh]

Okay, then up the contrast on the darkest shade. I needed to zoom in about 4x to see it, even on my super-high-contrast monitor.

The thumb positioning looks a lot better on the new one, forgot to mention.