GR#150 - Undead Monster - Shading

[Daimoth]

I've been staring at this one too long; I need some external insight

Notes:

The arms are still WIP; I wanted it be kind of like an (evil) MvC sprite; I plan to give him a third leg so that it balances like a tripod.

Stuff I'm struggling with:

His "knee"(?) guards are supposed to read like metal but I have no idea how to indicate that texture. I also want to have a green liquid dripping out at various points but I can't figure that out, either. The stuff coming from his belly button is my best attempt.

Any insight is appreciated.

[1up]

i really dont want to put into words why i made a bunch of these changes because it's a really quick sketch and full of its own set of errors but definitely take the time to learn anatomy before you try something that requires as much exaggeration as this
please



i dont understand so much of what's happening in your sprite

[Daimoth]

Uh listen, I'm sure you meant well, but it's difficult not to interpret your advice as anything but "don't sprite anymore until you're better".

This sprite puts me at a grand total of four. And the other three are small. In other words, my anatomy's bad because this is one of my first pieces of art. And for what it's worth, I'm making my way through the Animator's Survival Kit. So hopefully in the coming months I'll have a stronger foundation.

So while I greatly appreciate the advice, I have absolutely no idea what to do with it other than "get better". And I am trying. Would you mind being a bit more specific? I can answer any questions you have about it.

[Facet]

I don't have a problem with your monstanatomy; I just googled 'obese man' and really, it's hard to tell just so long as everything seems to originate from around the round place. Perhaps I would taper the arms more gradually though, so you get that nice bingowing thing and probably introduce that sorta cleft that that can form around the navel.

Your shading could definitely be improved though; you're almost treating light and shadow as equal and opposite on top of a base colour which makes stuff look more embossed, as in shallow relief, than truly 3D. I see you have already indicated a light-source, but I'd sketch that in 3D as well as keeping a lit sphere on the side for immediate ref. I usually start by making a clear statement light/shadow and from there interpolate edges for curves and bring out highlights on peaks and hollows.

Your metals don't read well 'cos they lack contrast; being reflective they can be brighter than any matte object 'cos they're acting like a mini light-source, and then abruptly as dark as anything else. The goo being slick and wet, I indicated with highlights also. The ball things under the nipples I think might be eyeballs but I originally thought of the anti-grav 'suspensors' from the Dune series which could be cool given he seems quite precarious on those feet-nubs, maybe the extra leg would sort that? I envisioned him as being amputated at the thighs as well though .



MvC?

[Daimoth]

Ah crap, duh! Highlights to indicate liquid.  But what did you mean by bingowing?




MvC = Marvel vs. Capcom (samples above), which I chose to borrow from (but not outright imitate) so I could use games in that style as reference material - and there are a bunch of them.

But the project I'm cutting my teeth on is more like a 2d Diablo, but with more harrowing subject matter. He's set in a world where everything has been affected by an addictive, mutagenic drug - this is what's seeping out of him.

Your rough of the knee plates is great. I gave him mutated grub-looking legs, but he stands on the point of the plates. I like the contrast of something so big and nasty standing on dainty little points. But I've yet to indicate how they're staying on while supporting his weight.

The "screws" on his belly I meant to remove. They were going to be the corners of a big, horrible mouth that opened for bigger attacks. But I decided that I liked his design enough without it. That's why his belly ended up so blank - I was saving that space.

Re: shading, for whatever reason I keep imagining the light source as being directly to the right rather than to the right and in the background/foreground.

Tried to keep this brief, but failed spectacularly. Sorry! I will update the sprite as soon as I have a spare moment.