[WIP] Twily and the Firefly

[Ai]

My point was about consistency and what the eye recognizes as a groove more than realism, FWIW -- if you render the rest fairly realistically, the horn will and does look odd if not rendered realistically. That's the current state of things.

Seiseki: your edit looks like filly Twilight. I -think- that's what Ashbad was aiming for. Neither adult nor filly Twilight have hair that's overtly feminine, though... So something mid-way between the two is best IMO.

[Seiseki]

True..
But there's something slightly too tomboyish about the current hair.

Possibly the way it seems to wrap the whole way around the head.
Looking at images of twilight, it seems to be more flat rather than a bowl.

[CrazyMLC]

Just popping in to leave my two cents.


I really liked how it looked back when it was simple, just Twilight. I personally think it'd be interesting to work from there with a totally new perspective, and see what you get.

That said, I really don't like the horn on the newer ones. Frankly, I think it looks ugly. The shading could use some serious reworking.
The ear also bothers me in a similar way, though I can't quite put my finger on it there.


One last little picky detail that bothers me.
If it's such a dark night, then a bright firefly appearing in front of her face would probably make Twi squint at least a little bit, right? She's barely reacting to the firefly. In fact, they look completely separate.

The piece itself is well AA'd and has a fairly nice look to it, but it lacks human quality.
Twilight sees a firefly? What does this cause her to do? How does she feel?
We can't tell at all - she has her poker face on.

There's no story. No emotion. There's nothing going on in this pretty picture, except for the piece itself.

I personally think if you injected a bit of a story into this piece it'd multiply the quality twofold.

[Seiseki]

I disagree.
If she were squinting you'd lose that curious and surprised expression and you'd think she was afraid or suspicious.

I think there's quite a clear story and feelings here.
She's discovered a firefly and is both surprised and curious, having a hard time looking a way from the hypnotic light.

I do feel like the later edits look stiffer some how though.

[Ashbad]

So many conflicting ideas ಠ_ಠ

While I personally would like to think there was progress since that quoted version, I guess some tend to disagree; I think you're all probably right about the shades, but I also like where it is now; I think I should try meeting halfway and see what it produces.  I guess it also pains me to revert back because that's a few hours of work lost then, but hey, at least I'm honest about that I guess as Bob Ross would say, "It's just a happy mistake"; better to learn and revert than keep on going, than to continue making something that isn't working out as well.

As for the hair: I'm thinking of meeting halfway on that, too.  I just realized how silly that "bowl" cut she has is so I definitely need to remove that bit of hair that wraps around the other side of her head; also might try placing it back a little bit.

Horn: yeah, I shaded that completely wrong  thanks for the model, Ai!

Squinting: yeah, I have to disagree too; I had always intended for it to be more of a "small kid looking at something with surprise and curiosity" look, and I think that a feel like that would be best done with a wide-open, glaring eye.  Of course if you think otherwise that's fine too ^_^

Composition: I won't lie when I say that all that talk of compositional qualities when right over my head  I'm pretty new to art in general, and composition is something I haven't quite dug into.  Definitely need to read some material on the matter so I can get a better feel for what you're saying and apply suggestions in an educated manner



On a final unrelated note, I'm really pushing myself not to just drop this; while I haven't been working on it intensely lately, I've spent almost a month on it now, and I'm starting to get sick of it (mostly because there were a lot of revisions behind the scenes I never posted)  -- Ideas on how to keep focused on this?  Perhaps work on two larger pixels at the same time?  Take a break from it and work on something else?  Just stick with it with no distractions?  What works well for you guys?

[Seiseki]

I think most of the time spent might have been dithering?
Also, if you're still on a trackpad, that's a huge time sink too

Try making the entire image and then focus on the details. Like rough background, rough shapes. Basic shading and lighting.

[Ashbad]

I think most of the time spent might have been dithering?
Also, if you're still on a trackpad, that's a huge time sink too

Try making the entire image and then focus on the details. Like rough background, rough shapes. Basic shading and lighting.

Yes.  And yes.   

You're right, I have spent a lot of the time dithering.  Plus, it's painful to actually draw on the trackpad.

I think you're right, I went about starting this the wrong way.  Lesson learned ^_^

[PixelPiledriver]

She's discovered a firefly and is both surprised and curious

To emphasize this I'd say either make her lean forward or backward.
Either could work.

composition is something I haven't quite dug into.

You need to.
And its good that you recognize that you do.
I don't say this in a mean way.
It's just that it will change the way you think and help you greatly.
Basically composition is how you control the viewers eye and mind.
When I'm feeling a little better I can come back and do some posts on basic composition if you want.
I'm sure some other people here have great things to say about it as well.

Also, if you're still on a trackpad, that's a huge time sink too

Personally I use a mouse for all of my pixel art, and i like it.
But yah a trackpad sounds difficult.

[Ashbad]

  mfw PPD's edit

And of course I don't take what you said in a mean way at all, I appreciate the feedback greatly I'd also definitely more than love anything you can lend me about good composition!

As for the trackpad, it's probably the reason I don't make huge anatomy/subject changes after I start -- once I scan in my pencil drawing for something and make some basic form out of it, I don't touch it much, because it's about impossible to actually "draw" on the pad; I have a mouse at work and I've played around with pixeling with that before, and it's definitely a lot better, but I think I'm still going to go all the way and get a tablet ASAP.

[Seiseki]

I think I know the basics of composition, but I'd love to learn more as well!
That edit is fantastic! Really makes it feel less stiff and more dynamic!