Ice Giant, take two

[theorb77]

In the spirit of me going back and making another attempt at stuff I've done before, here's a new take on the Ice Giant I did.  If any of you looked at the first version, it was a hyper-dithered mess.



Comments / Crits / Suggestions / etc.

PS: There are about a ton of references that were used.  And yes, the stance is supposed to be all weird like that.

[Cure]

but why is the stance supposed to look like that? i think it works if he's wounded, in which case adding a severe wound might help make since of it.

[theorb77]

but why is the stance supposed to look like that? i think it works if he's wounded, in which case adding a severe wound might help make since of it.

So, like this?



He's meant to look kind of out of breath and off balance, so I hope that comes across.

[Olothontor]

The wound isn't really noticeable. Make the blood either darker, or a different color (red would be perfect if you want it to stick out like a sore thumb, green would also be doable).

[theorb77]

The wound isn't really noticeable. Make the blood either darker, or a different color (red would be perfect if you want it to stick out like a sore thumb, green would also be doable).

I also beat up his hammer for good measure.  Stupid hammer!

[Stava]

I edited the hammer shading a little but now it doesn't go with the rest of picture, looks different..
Wanted to post it anyway. xD

[theorb77]

I edited the hammer shading a little but now it doesn't go with the rest of picture, looks different..
Wanted to post it anyway. xD

I think what's happening in yours is that the second light source lighting the top of the shadow that you added should probably also at least moderately light up that dark shadow on his leg and arm.  It being as light as it is (the snow he's standing on is a straight up RGBx255), you can't realistically expect a black, black shadow like that.  I'll have to try to rework it to include some more light hitting that side.  The original drawing never took a background in to account:



Yeah, it was drawn on a post-it at work with a ball-point.  I recently got my scanner working on my Linux box, so I figured I'd scan this in, which is the genesis of this thing.  I read Arne say somewhere on this board that that was how he started his pixel work (at least, I think I read that, might have been someone else), so I gave it a try.

[Stava]

The only thing that bugs me about my edit is the style difference, the body is less detailed than the hammer so it's annoying for eyes. So I'd rather edit whole body then to match the style or leave it as it was, or if still aren't happy with the hammer try to fix it.. 

[Skully]

I think the left shoulder pad should be in the style of the loincloth and arm armor.

[theorb77]

My concerns are the same as usual, whether I'm successfully avoiding banding, if my palette choice sucks, if I'm pulling off the hue shifting.  For me pixeling has been about learning color theory more than anything else along with learning about "pools" of pixel colors and generally avoiding dithering.

So I'm genuinely interested in some thoughts.

Here's some minor edits, along with that leather shoulder pad: