AuthorTopic: [WIP] Werewolf (Read 29385 times)

Delicious · **on:** January 31, 2012, 04:02:01 am

Hey Pixelation! I'm sure I know most of this community from Pixeljoint, so I don't know if an introduction is needed?

Anyways, I need some help. I've been making this (very gory) pixel in my (very limited) spare-time. Any criticism or suggestions towards it will be very much appreciated.

-

Never mind the grey background, it'll be transparent when finished.

Thanks!

surt · **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2012, 05:38:36 am

Looks great, the only criticism I've got so far is that the cartoonishly deformed shape of the head doesn't much fit the more naturalistic form and detailing of the body. So I'd say go either all cartoony or all realisticy.

Facet · **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2012, 06:14:04 am

Great, entertaining image. Bags of character in the face, powerful looking buttocks

.

Big things; the pose/anatomy strikes me as a bit stiff/awkward, everything looks fairly human apart from the legs and head. I'd get a nice silhouette going from a thumbnail before rendering and also endeavour to incorporate a more bestial aspect; both in the anatomy and pose. I gave it a quick go moving the tail somewhere more interesting/distinct, giving him a crouch and lending more weight to the face which I absolutely love.

Little things; the definition/shine on the muscles kind of make it look like he's wearing a grey wet-suit; not very furry, but I guess you could find a nice toony compromise. There's a discussion of this issue and example solutions here.

Kasumi · **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2012, 07:46:05 am

I think something different should be done with the tail. At the moment it looks a little phallic to me, and as far as I know wolves only put their tail between their legs when they are frightened and this wolf is quite unafraid.

Jeremy · **Reply #4 on:** February 01, 2012, 01:16:03 am

@Kasumi: but the tail is going behind the leg :L

To make him more bestial you could have a shaggy back and neck, perhaps coming around and thinning out to still show the muscles. Kind of like Goku at SS 56 or whatever (as terrible as that comparison is

)

Delicious · **Reply #5 on:** February 02, 2012, 04:23:13 am

Thanks for the suggestions!

Definitely will show you an update by tomorrow. Just got barely any time due to lame work.

Delicious · **Reply #6 on:** February 03, 2012, 06:36:54 am

Update. Legs need some fixing though, seem quite odd at the moment. Also, moved the blood outta the way to see his face a bit better - Any better? I also need to find a better place for the tail then, cause I don't want it to look like it's going through his tail - It's really behind his leg like Jeremy mentioned.

Cure · **Reply #7 on:** February 03, 2012, 06:56:17 am

arms are now awkwardly long, chest is reading a bit like breasts, define the shape and position of the ribcage before the pectorals (if that is the ribcage, it seems a little small/short). pose isn't really any more dynamic, maybe slightly less so. I assume the neck is very WIP, as the shape of the spine there is tough to comprehend.

Corinthian Baby · **Reply #8 on:** February 03, 2012, 07:28:39 am

Why did you give him pants?

Delicious · **Reply #9 on:** February 03, 2012, 08:10:22 am

Woah, so many obvious mistakes that I made and didn't realize. Thanks Cure! I should study dynamic poses and put more into my work, but for this I'm not really looking for one. It's just suppose to be a wolf staring off after he just finished his meal. I'll definitely make a more exciting piece after this.

Also, Corinthian Baby, I just prefer him wearing shorts now. I tried a couple lower torso drawings of him and I was proud of neither.

Facet · **Reply #10 on:** February 03, 2012, 07:23:06 pm

Alright, I'm not seeing some of these changes as improvements over the original. The torso is better, he's chunkier but more human than before, although the head is attached a little awkwardly, the arms are still pretty long and the hands/paws out-sized.

Effective construction and posing is not something you need to study later so much as experiment with and hash out before rushing into rendering things; this would both make for a more cohesive image and be much more time efficient.

Delicious · **Reply #11 on:** February 03, 2012, 08:56:32 pm

Thanks Facet for the criticism. However, I'd like to stress that I'd prefer if the arms are a bit longer than that of a human. Most references suggest that the arms are longer and the paws larger. I will make the paws slightly smaller, but I'm pretty satisfied with the length of the arms. How would you suggest I do the torso? Considering a werewolf is a human, I'm not too worried about it appearing to be so.

I found this on google which illustrates my point:
http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/werewolf-comparison.jpg

I also understand what you mean about avoiding the rendering stage until everything seems to be in place, but it's an urge I must overcome to just dabble a bit into the rendering.

Facet · **Reply #12 on:** February 03, 2012, 09:36:24 pm

Most werewolf references?

Possibly my issues are those of conception; if you intended him as a more battletoadsy vision, he looks pretty bad-ass. The muscle definition especially on the arm is still a bit much for me though and a broader palette could do a lot of good; particularly for differentiating the hulk-shorts.

Due process is something I find hard too, but it makes makes the biggest difference in productivity and quality.

Where that tail at?

Delicious · **Reply #13 on:** February 03, 2012, 10:34:11 pm

Quote from: Facet on February 03, 2012, 09:36:24 pm

Most werewolf references? Possibly my issues are those of conception; if you intended him as a more battletoadsy vision, he looks pretty bad-ass. The muscle definition especially on the arm is still a bit much for me though and a broader palette could do a lot of good; particularly for differentiating the hulk-shorts.

Due process is something I find hard too, but it makes makes the biggest difference in productivity and quality.

Where that tail at?

Hah. Yea, I guess that bit sounded kinda stupid. What I meant to say is that pictures depicting werewolf's commonly have larger arms and hands - Makes them look a bit more threatening and I personally prefer it.

Yes, indeed. Getting that ability is most important if you're wanting accuracy with your work. Definitely something everybody would need to work on. I'll keep that in mind, thanks!

Tail is coming soon to a theater near you.

Edit: Also, what do you mean a "broader palette"? Not monochromatic? Thanks!

Facet · **Reply #14 on:** February 04, 2012, 12:30:15 am

Yeah, those types of exaggerations aren't necessarily wrong, just so long as it's a creative decision.

More colourful. The grey wolf is not all that grey, if it were I'd still take some creative license for more interest and why put grey pants on a grey character?

Delicious · **Reply #15 on:** February 04, 2012, 08:06:17 am

True. I was just preserving colors and making it some-what monochromatic and it'll keep the red as contrasting compared to a very blue-hued palette. I'll try and see about brown for the pants.

slym · **Reply #16 on:** February 04, 2012, 08:09:32 pm

I disagree. Keep the pants grey, but make them much darker. If you aren't contrasting with color you should at least contrast with brightness.

Delicious · **Reply #17 on:** February 05, 2012, 04:06:25 am

Hmm, like this?

jams0988 · **Reply #18 on:** February 05, 2012, 04:47:55 am

They're still barely noticeable...maybe you should make the belt buckle golden, at least, to highlight that there's a belt there. You've got blue one blue on blue right now, and the pants and his skin have basically the same texture, which makes it very hard to notice he's wearing them. Maybe it won't be such an issue if you made the texture of his body more furry looking?

Then again, does he even need pants at all? It always seems fake to me when these monsters are wearing these tight little pants to hide their modesty. Seems like cheap censorship to me!
Unless your character is going to transform from human to wolf and back again repeatedly, I'd lose the pants altogether. Unless you want to have a naked hero in your game, which would be kind of badass, too. XD

Edit: Oops, just saw this

Quote

Also, Corinthian Baby, I just prefer him wearing shorts now. I tried a couple lower torso drawings of him and I was proud of neither.

That's not a good excuse at all, hahah! Werewolves with shorts on belong in silly eighties movies, not in high (pixel) art! =P
I would scrap the pants, and draw him the way you originally planned to until you're happy with the result. That's how you learn, anyway.

slym · **Reply #19 on:** February 05, 2012, 02:44:48 pm

I don't think he wants to draw a wolf penis. Keep the pants. Werewolves aren't just wolves, they are humans who have transformed into a wolf. Realistically there still would be clothes on him. As far as the update, it's better, but you can go even darker on the pants.

Ürch · **Reply #20 on:** February 05, 2012, 03:50:19 pm

I usually don't really do anything but lurk here, but seriously, just add a different color for his pants.

lucas_irineu · **Reply #21 on:** February 05, 2012, 05:00:05 pm

I believe this would be a great chance for you to try some sort of background, I was loving that blood on the ground and it just won't be the same with transparency around it (though it seems that you removed it by now?)

The pants really blend into him but they're not too bad as far as that goes - but I really think the belt buckle should stand out. Making it golden does sounds like the best idea.

Delicious · **Reply #22 on:** February 05, 2012, 07:02:06 pm

I'm not sure if some of you understand, but I'm trying to make it so that the blood contrasts completely in the image. If I were to "just add a different color for his pants", it completely ruins what I'm trying to accomplish. I am sticking to monochromatic and just 12 colors, unless I consider adding a background. I appreciate the suggestions, and will continue making the the werewolf's fur stand apart from his pants. It should come together in the rendering stage especially.

Thanks!

jams0988 · **Reply #23 on:** February 05, 2012, 08:10:59 pm

Quote

I don't think he wants to draw a wolf penis. Keep the pants. Werewolves aren't just wolves, they are humans who have transformed into a wolf. Realistically there still would be clothes on him. As far as the update, it's better, but you can go even darker on the pants.

Yeah, because my dog loves wearing pants. =P
I think realistically, a werewolf would take his pants off. (lol at "realistic" werewolves.)

Besides, he doesn't need to draw wolf penis. He could just make it fluffy and/or dark down there. Most people wouldn't mind not seeing his modesty waggling around, even without the pants on.
I just think tight short shorts ruin the image of a deadly, crazed beast. And taking the shorts off would solve the problem of them not contrasting enough with the rest of him, too.

But of course, that's just my advice. It's Delicious' drawing, so he's obviously free to do whatever he feels is best! =)

pistachio · **Reply #24 on:** February 06, 2012, 09:55:24 am

The wolf's head leading to the finger pointing outwards kinda leads your eye out of the image, this version was better. When making a pose, think about the flow of the limbs (example). Also I have to agree with the pants color comments.

Here's an edit:

Also tried out some fur texture on the arm like Facet suggested (version w/o shoulder fur here), didn't take that long and it could be applied to other parts of the sprite.

Keep up the good work!

Delicious · **Reply #25 on:** February 06, 2012, 09:59:22 pm

Quote from: jams0988 on February 05, 2012, 08:10:59 pm

Quote
I don't think he wants to draw a wolf penis. Keep the pants. Werewolves aren't just wolves, they are humans who have transformed into a wolf. Realistically there still would be clothes on him. As far as the update, it's better, but you can go even darker on the pants.
Yeah, because my dog loves wearing pants. =P
I think realistically, a werewolf would take his pants off. (lol at "realistic" werewolves.)

Besides, he doesn't need to draw wolf penis. He could just make it fluffy and/or dark down there. Most people wouldn't mind not seeing his modesty waggling around, even without the pants on.
I just think tight short shorts ruin the image of a deadly, crazed beast. And taking the shorts off would solve the problem of them not contrasting enough with the rest of him, too.

But of course, that's just my advice. It's Delicious' drawing, so he's obviously free to do whatever he feels is best! =)

This werewolf shall keep his pants on, atleast until I give up on them. However, right now, I quite like the pants.

Thanks for the suggestion! I appreciate it.

Quote from: pistachio on February 06, 2012, 09:55:24 am

The wolf's head leading to the finger pointing outwards kinda leads your eye out of the image, this version was better. When making a pose, think about the flow of the limbs (example). Also I have to agree with the pants color comments.

Here's an edit:

Also tried out some fur texture on the arm like Facet suggested (version w/o shoulder fur here), didn't take that long and it could be applied to other parts of the sprite.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you for a lovely edit! Makes tons of sense. I will render the fur some more once I'm comfortable with the pose and form. Thanks again!

If these pants are still barely readable to some, then I will change them to a brown-ish color. Agree?

dpixel · **Reply #26 on:** February 07, 2012, 01:51:42 am

I'm no expert at this, but it looks like the head is too far to the left and maybe a tad low.
Quick edit:

Looks great though.

Lilyo · **Reply #27 on:** February 07, 2012, 02:50:55 am

Am I the only one who liked the original facial expression better? He just seems mildly surprised in the newest one lol

Delicious · **Reply #28 on:** February 07, 2012, 07:02:16 am

I'll play with his expression, definitely. Thanks!

Quote from: dpixel on February 07, 2012, 01:51:42 am

I'm no expert at this, but it looks like the head is too far to the left and maybe a tad low.
Quick edit:

Looks great though.

Thank you for the edit! I will definitely fix that.

Cure · **Reply #29 on:** February 07, 2012, 08:38:55 am

I don't mind the pants, just the fact that he made sure to buckle his belt. If the belt were undone, the buckle had burst off, etc, then he would look less like a presentable young gentlewolf. I think more of a crouch would make him more animalistic as well, that's up to you though.

9_6 · **Reply #30 on:** February 07, 2012, 11:43:41 am

I don't know what the big deal about the pants is apart from readability issues.
It's hulk-pants.
The transformation doesn't seem to make his hips grow much so it would be pretty hard to completely lose pants in the progress and if you now wish to nibble on peoples toes, I'm not sure removing your pants would be very high on your priority list.

I'd just make them more torn apart cause they look a bit much like cleanly cut-off shorts right now which I guess they weren't before.

Delicious · **Reply #31 on:** February 09, 2012, 12:41:57 am

Alright, I will work with his pants a bit (lot) more! Thanks for the suggestions.

(Looks a lot better on the grey background, but I thought I might as well make it transparent to see how it appears on the white.)

jams0988 · **Reply #32 on:** February 09, 2012, 05:18:22 am

Somehow, the open shorts button looks way more wrong to me than him being simply naked. It makes it seem like the picture is going places now. XD
Looks more realistic though, I think, kind of.

Phlakes · **Reply #33 on:** February 09, 2012, 05:21:02 am

...You just gave that smirk a whole new meaning. And the blood too, I guess.

*ahem* Anyway, I think the belted pants work well enough, the thighs and waist aren't too much larger than they would've been in human form so it would makes sense to stay fastened, and like jams said, it prevents certain... implications.

Delicious · **Reply #34 on:** February 10, 2012, 04:38:39 am

Thanks for the help! Got some criticism from Spriters-Resource forum as well.

Helpful Bot · **Reply #35 on:** February 20, 2012, 07:54:17 am

I made a little compositional edit with blood-addons and stuff! I hope it helps

Delicious · **Reply #36 on:** October 14, 2012, 05:44:28 pm

Thanks, sorry for the long break. Been working on it a ton more.

Seiseki · **Reply #37 on:** October 14, 2012, 06:35:11 pm

Wow, awesome work!
I was curious how it would look with more color contrast to make the werewolf pop out more.
Colors isn't my strong suit though, so I thought I'd practice a bit

Also, I liked the blood in the previous version better, the current one looks too fiery.

pistachio · **Reply #38 on:** October 15, 2012, 09:30:01 am

You took this a lot farther than most of us expected (

), but you can take it even further. For one humble suggestion, he should probably be hunched over more, like this:

This means a stronger line of action, and a more dynamic, werewolf-like pose. You can have the werewolf standing straight up but the back muscles/hunch should be somehow evident. Few other points:

Parts of the limbs seem a bit straight angled and tube-like at the moment, hopefully that will be avoided in the final version.

Rimlights around thicker fur would be brighter/larger than areas with thin fur, this is abstracted around the head and left shoulder. You can find some refs of that situation online as well.

The rotation of the head looked a bit odd, the snout should be lengthened and the fangs should be larger if you're going for a straight-up wolf face. Amalgamations between wolf/human exist as well (American Werewolf in London comes to mind).

More than a few liberties were taken so I will be going in-depth on things soon (I.E. texturing, lighting, background detailing), sorry if it was brief.

Red_Mist · **Reply #39 on:** October 15, 2012, 09:31:01 pm

I know one liners are normally forbidden, but.

Pistachio, thats friggen awesome!

Great improvement on the original also Seiseki.

Delicious · **Reply #40 on:** October 16, 2012, 05:59:17 am

Ohie, thanks for the edit Seiseki. Definitely an improvement, I'll look into changing the colors.

Beautiful edit, Pistachio. He looks much better larger, I must agree. I'll see what I come up with.

Might take some time before a new update comes, limited time, but I do plan on finishing this and I appreciate the help.

Delicious · **Reply #41 on:** October 30, 2012, 05:25:58 pm

Right now I think I'm at 15 colors, I want to stick with just using 16 for this. So, I might stick with the monochromatic-ness. Kinda sloppy update, but how's this?

Decroded · **Reply #42 on:** October 30, 2012, 10:40:00 pm

Oh man I don't even think I could run if I saw that I'd be scared stiff!
He looks so intimidating now with the extra bulk

A few issues I would try to fix:
1) his left forearm is a little long and the hand awkardly twists to face the camera/floor rather than following the line of the arm (possible but odd).
2) his left foot is a a tad bulky, I would try to slim it just a touch on the front part to make him look faster.
3) his right leg could tweak the muscles and knee a bit better, plenty of comic references available for that.
4) the rear highlighting could use a bit of extra illumination or maybe just some touches of whiter highlights?
5) his right bicep and elbow is pretty good but I think you can sculpt it a bit better
6) Ya gotta make his eyes glow a bit!

NordicSoul · **Reply #43 on:** October 31, 2012, 08:15:09 pm

Quote from: Delicious on October 30, 2012, 05:25:58 pm

Right now I think I'm at 15 colors, I want to stick with just using 16 for this. So, I might stick with the monochromatic-ness. Kinda sloppy update, but how's this?

I think you should add more contrast to his head and body as pistachio did. Otherwise, amazing work, keep it up!

Decroded · **Reply #44 on:** November 01, 2012, 07:35:01 am

Yeah pistachio's edit was spot on. Remember it's a full moon so you have to make it shine bright

Delicious · **Reply #45 on:** May 01, 2013, 08:54:31 pm

Sorry for the bump, but this is done. Thanks all for the help! I learned a lot

Ymedron · **Reply #46 on:** May 01, 2013, 09:43:54 pm

Oh man, this is awesome!

It came such a long way, too. :3c

(There is a trend for these kind of threads to be put into the feature chest, maybe this could be one of them?)

Edit: Noticed some of the images are gone.

> bugger

Mr. Fahrenheit · **Reply #47 on:** May 01, 2013, 10:18:05 pm

Looks really nice! Something that I really liked was in pistachios edit which was not carried over to yours. I'm not sure what it is but, anyways, Amazing job!

pistachio · **Reply #48 on:** May 02, 2013, 08:49:57 am

Quote from: Mr. Fahrenheit on May 01, 2013, 10:18:05 pm

Looks really nice! Something that I really liked was in pistachios edit which was not carried over to yours. I'm not sure what it is but, anyways, Amazing job!

Here's what it looks like: the rimlighting is too strong not to be showing up on the trees/canopy, so the wolf looks a bit inconsistent and detached from the environment. You had it going there before, was really digging the tree on the left, so what happened? Rendering on the trees on the lower right seems a bit flat/vague. The head rotation, maybe lack of cast shadow to the left of its snout might be something there, too. Pecs also look to be misaligned with the shoulders.

Either way, I agree--it's a pretty awesome outcome, and it looks like you learned as much or more completing this piece as I did doing the edit.

Decroded · **Reply #49 on:** May 02, 2013, 12:31:24 pm

Would love to try an edit if I had time but from a quick glance:

Its a fool moon right? So increase the contrast highlight on the fur, its really catching the moonlight so should be the brightest bit.
Dunno about white eyes, reflecting yellow is more recognizable as a wolf and work better as a focal point.
Would like to see some of that moonlight hitting the trees and grass, sparingly perhaps.
Colours are pretty nice but the green and brown edits do make for a more interesting ramp.
They're shorts/ripped pants he's wearing right? I found that pretty hard to recognise for a while, initially mistaking it for shadows that looked like shaved patches. Some of those greeny brown colours would work well here

Delicious · **Reply #50 on:** May 03, 2013, 03:00:48 am

Thanks guys, I'll take it into consideration next time. I'm calling it done though!

PypeBros · **Reply #51 on:** May 03, 2013, 07:27:10 am

Quote from: pistachio on May 02, 2013, 08:49:57 am

Here's what it looks like: the rimlighting is too strong not to be showing up on the trees/canopy, so the wolf looks a bit inconsistent and detached from the environment

Which also makes it perfectly readable. In my eyes, that inconsistence reads as raw magic trapped on the fur ... but I don't have professional eyes, I'm afraid. When I see this "final" piece, my brain says "look! a Magic card!"

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AuthorTopic: [WIP] Werewolf (Read 29385 times)

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