[WIP] Mech

[Snake31]

Hey, this is my first post on this forum, which is already starting to look like a sanctuary to me. I've posted this on another forum, and people seemed to like it. The only problem someone found with it is that I pillow shaded it a bit. I plan to fix this also, soon. I just wanted to get the basics down first. That way, I could fix this piece up to look its best. Shading was never my strongest area 



This is a Work In Progress like the title says, and the only parts I am worried about is the cannons (they look a little messy on the inside) and finishing coloring the whole thing. Some advice as well as criticism would be nice. Thank you, and I look forward to visiting here more often!

Oh yes, one more thing. I do plan to make the background transparent when I finish.


Update!


I got rid of the previous color job I did, and did it right this time. Still not finished, but I have a good bit done.



 


Update 2!

I know people are reading this thread because of the numbers of views on it, but it would be nice if somebody would reply 

I reduced my palette and did a bit more shading.

[djork]

There are two issue here: first, your shading is just plain wrong.  I don't know why there is gradient-style shading on (presumably) flat surfaces.  If this mech is supposed to be as blocky as I think it is, the shading should be pretty flat.

Also, I think that you might be working a little bit too big right now.  There is too much area and not enough detail, so the piece looks sterile.  If you are going to allocate so many pixels to a pretty generically-shaped mech, then said pixels should be jam-packed with texture, detail, and feeling.

So maybe try doing this mech much smaller (1/4 the current size?) and then focusing on form and shading.

[Snake31]

Alright, will do. I had more shading done and more detail before I posted my third update, but someone suggested I shrink my pallet. That is where the 3rd update came in.  I was planning to dither, then add some more detail around the flatter areas, such as scrapes and bullet holes. But, I'll try your suggestion and see how it turns out.

[dtek]

Hi, one thing I can add, is that I eyedropped your blue tones, ahh... the computer, beats eyeballing! I took a look at your palette colours in HSB values.
Anyhow, I noticed the saturation goes up for the brightness going down. which is a good practice. But, I find, for myself in my opinion that others may or may not agree with, and you may have already disregarded this approach but (*dislcaimer   ), that you can play with the hue value aswell. So as your cadet blue goes into the shadows, you can add more realism by tweaking the hue value, in effect maybe adding more red or green. Here's a ridiculously small but no nonsense example

[sharprm]

The line-art lacks symmetry. eg. right toe too close to centre considering foot is 3d box. The left gun is too far out compared with its right counterpart.

I think the legs will have a very short stride but meh.

[Snake31]

Yeah, I have a lot to work on yet. The feet were giving me a lot of problems, and I still might get rid of them and try again rather than being arsed to fix them.