AuthorTopic: Wolf in profile  (Read 6453 times)

Offline Shrike

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Wolf in profile

on: December 13, 2008, 06:57:34 pm
Hey.

This is seriously (I think,) my first delve into something actually artistic when it comes to pixel art. I was mainly focusing on animation and spriting. I've been really sick lately, so I've been spending lots of time on the computer. When in was lurking around here, I was looking through the palette challenges and found the black and white Shark challenge thingy. All of the entries were fantastic, and extremely pretty. I started making my own shark one, and the night sky was by far the best part of it. I redid it today, but with a wolf in profile instead.

Now, i actually have 4 colors, because I'm a sucker for perfect Anti-Alaising. Ok. Here goes. Before you look at it, and before you slam me with "The wolf looks like holy crap" crits, i know. It just found a reference picture*, and I know it currently looks like a hairy seal with a funky head. I'm fixing it now! :angel: Originally the creature thing was really just weird random lines and shaded and dithered for dithering practice, because is suck at dithering.

Ok.
Here goes:
Current: I'm not sure about the eye, it looks off to me. I had to add 2 colors, two shades a yellow. Maybe make it red? what do you all think?

WIP: --> --> --> -->

*Ref:

« Last Edit: December 14, 2008, 06:07:30 pm by Shrike »

Offline Shrike

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Re: Wolf in profile

Reply #1 on: December 13, 2008, 08:01:36 pm
Update:

Added water. That's about it. I'm avoiding the wolf because i want to know how the lines are before i start to shade. Highlight, really, since the shading will be sort of like the hairy seal mutant thing. (The first WIP)

This is all for practice, but if it turns out well I'll probably make this my avatar. :yay:
Small update added above.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2008, 08:08:34 pm by Shrike »

Offline Willows

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Re: Wolf in profile

Reply #2 on: December 13, 2008, 08:36:30 pm



Couple things. You can go further with the fur texture, 'cause wolf hair is fairly long and not opaque, so light will shine through it, making it a fairly wide area of light even though it's backlit.

http://www.infogirl.org/img/feb06/backlit%202.jpg

Like so.

Also, you've got a couple of un-pixel-happy lines, most notably on the nose. Try for sequential curves (2,1,1,1,1,2) rather than jaggy lines (2,1,2,1,2). Chances are I'm not making any sense! If that's the case, just look at how I edited the bridge of the wolf's snout. Less jagged, right?

Finally, you can hint at the way things overlap with just a few pixels. It won't go as far as making it look like a mutant seal, but it will push it a little more to feeling like a 3d shape.

All in all, it looks pretty good, though! Dunno where you're getting hairy seal from ('cept for in the first picture :D) and everything in there reads for what it is. Good work so far, keep on truckin'!
« Last Edit: December 13, 2008, 08:39:52 pm by Willows »

Offline Shrike

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Re: Wolf in profile

Reply #3 on: December 14, 2008, 04:47:18 pm
Hey, Willows!

Thanks for the awesome crits.
Quote
Couple things. You can go further with the fur texture, 'cause wolf hair is fairly long and not opaque, so light will shine through it, making it a fairly wide area of light even though it's backlit.

http://www.infogirl.org/img/feb06/backlit%202.jpg

Like so.
Good call. I never thought of that, but i also forgot to mention that the lines here are not permanent. Once i get the general shape right, i will begin to texture and then add stuff like that.

Quote
Also, you've got a couple of un-pixel-happy lines, most notably on the nose. Try for sequential curves (2,1,1,1,1,2) rather than jaggy lines (2,1,2,1,2). Chances are I'm not making any sense! If that's the case, just look at how I edited the bridge of the wolf's snout. Less jagged, right?
I like that term. Un-pixel happy. lol.
Yeah, i worked pretty hard to get it to look smooth. This really helps. (You are making sense!) But I'm also going to aa this, so what I've done so far in the ways of the Wolf are just getting the general shape in my head.

Quote
Finally, you can hint at the way things overlap with just a few pixels. It won't go as far as making it look like a mutant seal, but it will push it a little more to feeling like a 3d shape.
I'm not entierly clear as to what you mean, but i think you're talking about putting some strategically placed pixels in the black void there to make it feel more like, as you say, a 3D shape? Or do you mean what you've done for his head, by overlapping the eye ridge?

Thanks again. Killer crits. I should be able to get out another one soon, but probably not today. Try Monday? Also, I think I'm going to get a few pics of a wolf's skull, so i can get the shape betterness.  ::)
Adios!
Shrike
« Last Edit: December 14, 2008, 04:54:33 pm by Shrike »

Offline Shrike

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Re: Wolf in profile

Reply #4 on: December 14, 2008, 06:09:31 pm
Sorry for double post, but here's an update (I had more time than expected):

Comments added in first post. I have to run atm. I added two colors (Two shades of yellow for the eye).

Offline Shrike

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Re: Wolf in profile

Reply #5 on: December 16, 2008, 12:05:34 am
Did some major work. Improvements? I noticed that the snout looks like it's in a different perspective than the... lower.. part. thing. yeah. Whatever, I like this perspective better. Do you? I'm getting pretty out of control with colors, next update I'll to a color check.
So, enough talk. Here:


Better?

Offline Willows

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Re: Wolf in profile

Reply #6 on: December 16, 2008, 03:00:18 am
Overlaps are one of the keys to volumetric success. Someday I hope to forcefully vomit all the information I've been spoonfed at school into a ginormous "tutorial" on how to draw volumetric things without shading. Naturally, won't really be a tutorial so much as a bunch of tricks that you won't learn just from reading about, but WILL learn faster if you know what they are and what to look for.

For now, overlaps explained with lines:



Fig 1 shows two ambiguous circles. Their position in space relative to each other is totally unclear.

Fig 2 shows two circles with a spatial relationship. The circle on the left is clearly in front of the circle on the right. Both figures, though, are flat.

Fig 3 shows two spheres overlapping and connected, making what appears to be a 3d shape. I strongly reccomend (To myself and to you) playing around with this lavalamp-like blob, try turning it in 3d space, stretching it, and changing the sizes of the two spherical blobs. Also play with cubes, prisms, triangles, rectangles, and any other basic 3d shapes you can think of! Most everything can be broken down into simple shapes. Your friend the wolf, here, is basically a sphere (not a circle!) for a head, an elongated cube or a cylinder (not a square!)for the snout-bits and a hacked-up bit of cone or cylinder for the ear. Because of that (the fact that most things can be drawn from basic shapes) practicing with overlapping triangles and cubes and stuff is grand practice for drawing pretty much everything!

The wolf, finally, shows some overlaps you could apply to your piece. The things that are closest overlap those that are further away, so the ear, in this position, would overlap the "Cranial mass" or main spherical-ish shape of the head. The Cranial mass would overlap the snout and neck, and the top jaw would overlap the bottom jaw.

So where, in your current edition, the head kind of flows into the wolf's left ear... make that an overlap instead! If I'm not mistaken, the ear is BEHIND the head, so have the "outline" of the head overlap the wolf's ear a few pixels. It'll make it look much more like a 3d shape and much less like a flat 'un. Apply the same general principle to your entire piece, and it should come out looking better. No promises, though ;)

There! Overlaps explained!

On to the next bit.

I like perspective. Perspective itself is good, but trying to shift the perspective halfway through a piece prolly isn't gonna help as much as it will hurt, unless you're willing to start over entirely. Though I do agree that the perspective you've got now is more interesting, I think it requires much more working to get right, and you're prolly better off with the silhouette you had earlier.

Which leads me to my next point! You're straying from your original idea (I think?) and not, in my opinion, for the better! I quite liked the idea of the wolf silhouetted by the moon, but with every update you seem to be stepping more and more toward shading the thing "realistically".

Also, personally I say a big nay to having the eye there. It adds colours and stands out too much and doesn't really add expressiveness or emotion. Plus how you've got it now suggests it is incandescent and emitting light itself. Perhaps not that great, though laser-eye-wolves are pretty cool.

Last thing (Geez I post long posts) take closer looks at your reference. See how the hair on the wolf's back/lower neck kinda rumples and bunches? See how I emulated that in my edit? It'd probably help your wolf feel more natural if you did the same. Another thing to look at is the relative lengths of the fur. The fur on the top of the wolf's head does have some length to it, it does "break the contour" of the wolf's head. Compare the top of the wolf's head in my edit to the top of your wolf's head. See how the fur sticks out of the basic shape? Without that bit of fur breaking the contour, it wouldn't look like fur. You could shade the whole thing in realistic lighting with 6,000 colours, and simply because the top of his head is smooth, it wouldn't look like fur.

K I'm done.

Offline Shrike

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Re: Wolf in profile

Reply #7 on: December 19, 2008, 03:11:12 pm
Woah. Sorry for the super-late reply.  :lala:
These are awesome, although I haven't worked on it lately I'll get out an update as soon as possible. I see what you mean now, before it seemed unnecessary. Thanks for spending time to help me out. I'm working on it now.  :D

I took out the eye, and it does look better. I didn't work on the fur yet, but i want it to look messy, so I'm not sure about that. I'll try it though. Thanks for the crits!
« Last Edit: December 19, 2008, 03:17:19 pm by Shrike »

Offline Terley

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Re: Wolf in profile

Reply #8 on: December 20, 2008, 04:18:44 am
I think you just need to sort out your palette Shrike, what is it just 4 shades. Under closer inspection there's a pretty large jump between one or two shades, you'd get more out of this if there was a consistant blend from white to black.

Yours is similar to the left, I'd advise equaling out the differences.

I've not got anything interesting to type here..

Offline Shrike

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Re: Wolf in profile

Reply #9 on: December 20, 2008, 03:44:45 pm
You know, I was wondering what you guys thought of the palette. Thanks. I'll work on it. I did the weird jumps slightly on purpose, because I wanted them to- ah, well, I don't really have an excuse.  :blind:

I'll work on it. Second opinions? What about the new lines? Better? Worse? This is pretty much just practice, so rail me with crits.  :D
Shrike