48x48 Pixel Art video + RTP face video

[Tourist]

Crits on the portrait with green hair:

The style conflict between the eyes and the face/nose.  The eyes are squarish and spread very wide.  This style usually works with heads that are wide and squarish.  The face is long and thin and the suggestion of a nose is also long and thin.  These two styles conflict, and it doesn't look good.

I also agree with Cure that the face needs more bone structure.  Not a lot, just enough to give it some shape in the cheek and jaw.

Here's an edit.  It's not complete, but hopefully it helps.



a) original
b) changed the skin tones.  Instead of a single 5-color ramp, I went with a 4 color ramp and a pink.  I use these colors throughout, but they could use more work.  Good enough as a placeholder.
c) Reworked the face edges to give a hint of a cheekbone and a jawline.  Pulled the eyes in one pixel each and gave them a horizontal shape.  Drew a rough line for the nose.  Raised the mouth line one pixel up and added some thickness for lips.  Raised the browline one pixel.  Setting this up to be a real face rather than a character defined by hairstyle and hair color alone.  
d) First round of color.  Added highlights, shadows.  Worked on the eyes, softened the line of the nose.  Also, removed the white from the eye and replaced it with the lightest green.  It saves a color.
e) Lots of tweaking, also widened the neck.  Might be too wide by a pixel.  Shaved one pixel from the cheek, and using a change in lightness (lighter outline on the cheek bulge) to suggest the cheek is wider than it is.  It's a trick, but I think it works ok.
f) More tweaking.  Darker shades for the lips.  This really needs a medium green to look decent.  I think the highlight on the cheek needs to work, probably needs the color adjusted too.  Somewhere along the way I moved the ear one pixel closer to the face too.

I used a reference pic to figure out the shape of the nose and the start of the mouth shape (the third step).  Not a trace, just eyeballing some reference lines to figure out placement.  

Hope this helps,
Tourist

Edit: Ah, crud.  Ignore my edit.  I missed the line where you stated this character was male.

[goosemonger]

This is the first I've heard of character maker 1999, I just downloaded it and it's fantastic! Exactly what I've been looking for, most other programs are either too complex or don't have features that I want.
Thankyou!

[CharlesGabriel]

@ Tourist= Thanks for the critique, and haha I am to blame for the both sexes look of the character... but then again, 24 mins work. I have made another video, but it still fails since I had to cut up frames cause of the lack of memory I have in my HD at the moment... however, the next video of a face that I make, will deffinitely be more worked, worked to the best of my ability. I will analyze your points when I get home (at the library, have to do something here today).

This is the first I've heard of character maker 1999, I just downloaded it and it's fantastic! Exactly what I've been looking for, most other programs are either too complex or don't have features that I want.
Thankyou!

No problem, and good to know that you acknowledge the powerful yet "simple" features this program has. This program has been specifically made for videogame art, not just "Pixel Art" wait until you get to know how you use the animation feature propertly, haha you're never gonna get off the program.

[Kcilc]

Firstly my apologies for drawing the wrong gender, but I like drawing girls so that was half the reason I made this edit



Firstly, it looks like his right (our left) eye is about to fall off the side of his face. It's good to make sure you've got some skin showing at the very edge of the head since peoples' eyes are more in the middle of the head, and it only makes sense. Secondly, the bridge of his nose seems to be too flat; I understand this is anime, but even though it breaks most anatomy rules, you need to know how to break them to make it look good. Thirdly, his hair looks too much like rolls of paper, and not quite hair-like. It's good to make each section bleed into the other just slightly to keep it unified and hair-like. Your hair also seems a little lopsided. Fourthly, he doesn't have much of a chin, and no lips. Lips can be hard to pull off, since you need to be really subtle, but it's possible, and looks great if you can get it. Fifthly, the heck it's a neck! It connects to the back of the head, not the bottom. The very front of it is actually right under the very back of the jaw. Sixthly, the eye sockets would leave a noticeable cavity in the right (our left) side of his face. Seventhly*, the proportions are pretty anime right now, and I think that you should try drawing more realistic faces.

That was the anatomy I hope that I fixed up. I'd suggest you do some life studies and maybe pick up an anatomy book to read if you wanna get really great at drawing faces.
* I tried to keep your proportions since I didn't want to deviate too much from the vibe of your character.
 
Note:To make this look male, just try to get some more sharp angles, a more defined neck, and a more pronounced jaw.

Now I think I'll talk some pixel-tech at you. 

So firstly, there's a lot of banding going on everywhere. It's most noticeable on his jawline, but it's hiding in little nooks and crannies everywhere. Try to stay away from long lines of a single shade; if you do that, chances are you'll dodge a lot of blurriness. Secondly, you're spreading your shades out too evenly. I know it feels like a sin to abstain from using all of the colors you have everywhere, but if you bite your lip and choke your cat, you'll be able to overcome that and be able to reserve some of your colors for the more attention-hungry and important parts of your piece, and make it look amazing*. Thirdly, this goes pretty well next to secondly, your pixel clusters (the globs of pixels like the highlight on his cheek left (our right) cheek) are a little too small in some places. Don't be afraid to make some sharp edges and let the pixels shine through in all of their glory. You'll be surprised at how good they can look sometimes, and how much more alive your art will be without all of that super smoothness.

*Please note that my edit does not exploit what I've been talking about enough to be even close to amazing, and I definitely don't think it does. I just like to be emphatic

[CharlesGabriel]

@ Kcilc = Thanks, useful information. I downloaded your edit, and will study it sometime this week, also gonna attempt to get that anatomy book. I seen some at the local library, but they are more like medical-oriented books with a lot of underskin red muscle stuff and skeleton haha...

To everyone:
I have uploaded another video, refer to the 1st post of this thread for the image and details. Thanks in advance any edits and or details.

[Cure]

muscle and skeletal structure would actually be pretty good refs. it's one thing to know "the face has this or that feature, this area is raised, there seems to be some ridge here", and another thing to know why that feature is that, what its function is, and how it relates to the whole. the skull and musculature are what comprises the features, the skin only relates to them.

[CharlesGabriel]

muscle and skeletal structure would actually be pretty good refs. it's one thing to know "the face has this or that feature, this area is raised, there seems to be some ridge here", and another thing to know why that feature is that, what its function is, and how it relates to the whole. the skull and musculature are what comprises the features, the skin only relates to them.

Ouch haha, you guys mean this whole anatomy business literarilly!  I will grab that book then. The anatomy so far that I have learned are mostly examples made by some stuff I have found over the internet, anime stuff for the most part unfourtunately. But it's good to know what to do to head in the right direction, thanks again. Hey, by the way, got any comments on the new video I posted? it's on the 1st post, I modified it.

[Singularity]

@ Singularity = Appreciated the edit. I will download the edit. Also, it's supposed to be a male teenager haha, it's what happens when it's a 20+ minutes quick work...

oh, haha. My bad...

If you don't mind, I feel incline to try doing a second conceptual edit.

What may be working against you here are the hair, eyes/eyebrows, and neck. The hair seems a tad long in the back for a dude. Most guys with hair that long in the back end up with the mullet shape. The eyes might play an even stronger role. The outlining of the male eyes works in amine sketches because the lines are so thin. When reduced to pixels, they are thick and dark enough that they begin to look like eye liner. This 'mascara illusion' is working against you. As for the eyebrows and neck, I think you might want to aim for making them bushier and broader.



Hope this helps.

[CharlesGabriel]

@ Singularity = I don't mind it at all, that 2nd edit. Looks fantastic... thanks again (also for the criticism).   Well now that you guys have helped me out this much, time for me to put up another edit, of a male version of this face haha...



And the comparison of the Original one with the new Edit I made today:



And the experiments here haha:



You can see I was testing dithering methods and such... all sorts of failed experiments happen in the process sheet that never see the light haha.
You will notice also that I was separating any small progress carefully, something that I do when it comes to editing a piece unlike the original process.

About the blue character from the 1st post of the thread (2nd face) I will edit it as well, but later on this month haha... it's past 2am, I'm beated.

[EyeCraft]

Few things:



Approach the head as a structure, a 3d object. I find it most useful to plot the head's orientation as a box. You have the head as a 3/4 profile, but have made the common error of keeping the face in the middle of the head. Plotting as a box forces you to recognise where the face ends and the sides of the head begin.

Following from this, learn the "terrain" of the face. Where parts stick out, where they recede, where its flat. This is something anime largely discards, falling upon prescribed patterns of very slight shading and extremely flattened/simplified facial structures.

You seem to be taking in these prescribed anime patterns; "put shadow here, draw these kinds of lines for the eyes, make this shape for the nose" etc. I strongly suggest you cast aside such crutches and renew your approach to the head from a more complete understanding. I'm sure you will find your art flourishing.