[WIP's] Characters, Swords 'n' More Oh MY! C+C please

[CodeCriminal]

Hi all, I have a few random pieces in dire need of critique because its getting to the point now where I am staring at my art for about an hour before laying down a single pixel.
So here goes



Ok I guess I'll start with the character. Some of you may remember him from my previous topic, only this time he is less cute and more detailed. Im kinda happy with it, and I know the pose isnt exactly "exciting" but bare with me. To me, there is a couple problem areas such as the shoulder closest to us; It sticks out a bit to far behind him but only when he is wearing the neclace and arm band. The foot on our left looks as though it is turned outwards when he has pants on, which is really rather odd and ive no clue how to fix it. Other than that, I would like some help with my color palettes, are they ok? can I make them better to increase readabilty?

Moving on, the great-swords. I had a fair amount of trouble getting a metallic look on the actual edge parts, still dont think ive nailed it. The hand guards and handles are still a work in progress on the line art level so not much is to be said about those . hmm nope, im stumped. I guess I would again just like some help in creating a more convincing metal material (particularly the chrome/silver on the angelic sword) or other improvments I could make.
The sword just above the angelic looking sword is only there because I was showing a friend the difference it made when I added shadow to the lower edge. Also, isnt it strange how the sword standing upright, looks bigger than the one that is horizontal?

Dude with the wing, yeah, Im happy with the shape so I just need advice on how to go about implying feathers as opposed to those spikey weird things he has now.
And finally the little metal boot was just practice are started doing it about an hour ago, would like your thoughts on that too please




So that tree is probably the biggest piece of pixel art ive ever done, basically im thinking that the bark doesnt look right.
Initially I wasn't going for a (semi-)realistic look because I wanted it to go in my game for college (as the character is a chibi an-all). But unfortunatly thats how it turned out.
The tiles spawned as a result of the tree, since it looked closer to realism than my old tiles did I tried to redo them in an attempt to save the tree havent been able to achieve grass to a standard in which I am happy to display on the interwebs, but I will continue to try.

So, any shred of advice anyone can give to help improve myself and my pixel art would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks
~CC

PS: By the way, who or what is Arne? I see alot of people around here that talk about "Arne's palette" and would like to see this palette for myself

[saimo]

PS: By the way, who or what is Arne? I see alot of people around here that talk about "Arne's palette" and would like to see this palette for myself

Have a look at this topic

[Mike]

Dude wtf...

You were holding out on us with your spriting power level.  Or maybe you just got really good in a short amount of time.  Nice detail on the pants!  Good luck animating it

Anyway while he does look much cooler I gotta say...the charm is gone.  Still I am amazed at how much detail you crammed in and that it still reads well at 1x.

I look forward to your game(s) very much so!

Oh and critique in list format cause I'm bad at english.

1. I think there is something off with the arm farthest away from us well actually it's more like the torso is twisted more than the legs are so it looks a bit off.  Anyway you can rotate the torso more towards us?  It will help define what that back arm is.  Just basically make the silhouette read more. 

  I'm just relaying to you what my animation teachers have told me 

2. eeerrmmm...I don't know.  I am so not qualified for anymore than characters.

Oh actually, the lighting on the tree looks kinda odd.  Like it's being blasted by light.  Did you perhaps select with a marquee tool and turn up the brightness on spots that would be highlighted?

And thats all I have time for right now.  Will come back and comment later.

[Shrub]

Oh my word, I was just blown away when I saw the tree. Excellent work man.

[Reo]

Oh my word, I was just blown away when I saw the tree. Excellent work man.

I'm gonna disagree and asy that the tree is what looks least good in your otherwise very nice body of work!

It's a tad overdithered and the shapes are a bit inconsistent, I don't think you planned where the branches go and the canopy feels like it's just been added over the branches without much thought.

There are a lot of threads on here about how to construct trees on here give it a search!

I did this piecehttp://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=8569.msg95915#msg95915
about a year ago and while it suffers from many issues as well it might give you some hints.

Other then that I think that some of the stuff might be a bit lacking in contrast, which it could really use to ''pop'' more.

Anyway nice work as previously mentioned looking forward to updates!

[PypeBros]

So that tree is probably the biggest piece of pixel art ive ever done, basically im thinking that the bark doesnt look right.
The tiles spawned as a result of the tree, since it looked closer to realism than my old tiles did I tried to redo them in an attempt to save the tree havent been able to achieve grass to a standard in which I am happy to display on the interwebs, but I will continue to try.

First, I like it, and how "muscular" it looks. It's going to grow my own little collection of trees-of-reference.

You nicely put volume in your tree's leaves, but I'd suggest you always have "entire" leaves, whatever their tint.
I'd say the main issue with the bark is that you used dithering independently of the texture. That only work when applied at larger scale and homogeneously on the piece, imho.
Another thing that would be worth improving is the roots-to-ground transition. By having roots as the lowest part of the piece and cut horizontally with the bottom of your "page", your tree looks less natural, because it's no longer "in harmony" with its environment. Give yourself some ~16 pixels more, sketch a slightly irregular terrain and make the roots follow the "curves" of that terrain.

If you find it too realistic, you might try some hue-shifting for the shadows. It usually brings a fantasy look to your woods. Sword of Mana is a nice example of the effect this technique can have when pushed to the extreme.

[Jad]

I have issues with the leafage, especially the the parts hanging down - there is nothing in the general texture of the tree that suggests those kinds of details - the whole leafage is a big almost solid chunk of very angular leaves and then suddenly there is stuff hanging down - it looks incoherent. All in all I think there may be too much detailing of the leafage? I think it would work better if you didn't see every single leaf that clearly. Man, I dunno though. Just saying.