Ugly Faced Mother of a Zombie

[istvan]

This is my first artwork posting, and really only my second (first being my avatar) in this sort of high detail style. Started and finished this today, I was hoping for a little more of a response at Pixel Joint, but alas.



If you'll look closely you'll notice my 'ist' symbol in her hair. My attempt at subtlety.
Comments and crits encouraged!

[Rox]

I'll never understand what it is with pixelers always wanting to make the _ugliest_ thing they could think of... But it looks good. Or, bad, in a good way. I dig the crazy dithering and color choice. Not what I'd call effective, but it has a cool style to it.

Reminds me of Halloween Harry...

[Darion]

I'll never understand what it is with pixelers always wanting to make the _ugliest_ thing they could think of...

Its so fun, you should try it.

I think you could relax some of the shadows. Thats about all I can think of ... Nice work.

[ter-o]

Ugly = interesting shapes and forms... like ie. compare the skin of a supermodel to an really old lady, there's no doubt whose features are the most interesting artwise

[miascugh]

hey, i'm glad you decided to post here too. welcome

it's really nice, i like the subtle ditherpatterns all over it and i dig lime-orange pallettes in general. i think you could lighten up the hairline, or remove it rather, just making it a smooth (not blurry though) transitions between hair and forehead, with antialiasing. the dark line here makes it look like the face part was above the hair, pasted onto it so to speak. also, in them middle/right part of the forehead, the hairline suggests a different shape than the actual hair has (the one distinguished pointy strand). the huge head might actually cast some shadow on the chest, but i'd say that that's not a necessity here.

keep posting :)

[jsmith71]

Heh, oh jeez... reminds me of the old zombie fad at the original board...
The only thing that really bugs me is the left side of the hair-- seems to be kinda messy (as in messily done, not messy hair-like) and doesn't fit with the roughly 3/4 view of the rest of the head. Especially the jutting bit near the top, the one that goes the farthest out, seems a bit too straight... and then when it dips down at the end it's kinda blocky and sudden.

[istvan]

Rox: Haah, I think the others explained it well: ugly=interesting! Although I have drawn plenty of pretty things, just check out my PJ http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixels/profile.asp?id=279

Miascugh: Thanks mate, I feel welcome! I tried smoothing out the hair line with AA, but it always turned out really blurring, which you warned against. I also see what you mean about the strand that sticks out. So I've tried to blend the hair a little smoother into the head, using a semi-dithering technique. I was worried at first that it would make her hair look a little too much like an afro, but I guess thats where I need your help. Also shaded the chest a little more.

Josiah Tobin: I dont think zombies will ever get old! I've taken into account the messy left side of the hair. If you looked closely you'd see that it has intentionally been done to spell my signiture 'ist.' But I've tried to make it a little clearer in my update. Did a little work on the hair thing you suggested, while working on Miascugh's tips.

The original post will be updated automatically with the new one, so here's the original Zombie Mother:


And here's the edit:


Whaddaya think?

[jsmith71]

Wow, the hairline looks so much better in the edit.
As for the left bit of the hair, I didn't realize that's where the sig was-- still can't see it, but that does clear things up a bit.

[miascugh]

ok, your new version is an improvement, but i made a quick edit too. basicly, i just removed the hairline, mending the few jaggies that came with it . i also tried relaxing the shadows a bit as darion suggested and adding the heads shadow. well, just look for yourself if you like it

[istvan]

Thanks Miascugh! It was so odd, until I saw your edit, I really didn't notice the intensity of the hair line. I really like the shadow youve done on her chest aswell. I can totally see what you mean.

Niss, over at PJ also suggested that I make the highlights a little brighter and he made an edit for me aswell:


I like elements of both of the edits. I'm trying to incorporate tips from both of you, although I think Niss' edit may be a little too intense in some places, because I dont really want to make her look as shiny as that.

Will update when I've done more. I'm hoping to wrap up this piece soon so I can get started on some new work. Thanks for the help though everyone!

UPDATE: Here's my new edit

Major difference is that I used the orange of the hair to shade the rest of the face, it worked more effectively than I imagined, an I think it sort of rounds the piece off. But I'm not sure. Also tried to fix the hair with a couple of highlights, and borrowed some of Miascugh's shadowing suggestion. I did some more work on the outlines aswell.