[WIP] Improving my character & scenery-piece

[Lakelezz]

Oh, I mentioned it before. I changed the time to night. So the outside will rather be pretty dark and there would be no reflection on the outdoor.
The lighting is still a total mystery for me. I did no change on it since I am not quite sure how to handle the weak moonlight and also if the moonlight would even really be that strong like in this picture. Probably my shadowed are not purple/blue enough as a night is existing as a thought.



I tried to work with the reference and of course used my body, too. However it still looks terrible. I do not know what I am doing wrong but it feels like I am not making any progress.
The arm feels awkward but arms are difficult for me in such a low resolution.
In the end it is just me and I am not even quite sure if I will ever get this picture done. Everything is keeping me struggling so hard.

[Phoenix849]

Light falling through windows doesn't need outlines, it looks awkward.

Also google "handgun pose" and something like that. I think left elbow could be lower and bent. Or at least it usually looks that way in action movies. Also, human arms don't look like a straight stick, and they are usually thicker near the shoulders.

[astraldata]

Try not to focus too much on the lines of the arms -- try to focus more on the mass inside the lines because, as long as that looks correct, you're lines are secondary and will look correct by default. To improve the arms, try to make the angle of the shoulder to the elbow slightly lower than the elbow to the wrist/gun so that a clear angle is visible for the elbow and then try to do this with the wrist too if you can to straighten the hand back out to aim the gun forward. A straight line is the reason it's looking awkward because there are bones in there and the indication of those bones is crucial to recognizing it as a human's arms.

Also, try to avoid the 'warm' colors in the moonlight a little more by making them closer to blue where possible -- just don't go too extreme because you want the moonlight *almost* imperceptible (like it is just behind the character's body/feet area -- just on the windows instead). The current brightness/value you have right now looks like there might be a big spotlight out the window nearby -- or that a helicopter or something is shining its light into the windows to shoot at the player. Which is a good effect -- *if* that was what you were going for.

The main issue with the light's shape is when it hits the ground though -- it lands like a straight line no matter the shape of the hole in the window letting it through -- this is wrong. Either soften the way it lands or let it go offscreen or something. It wouldn't hit the ground like a razor blade.

Aside from all that, you've made some really solid improvements. I'm glad you went away from the gigantic head -- it didn't fit the scene you were putting it in. It would be like if a teletubby or cabage patch kid walked into Resident Evil with bright cheery anime-eyes and rainbows and started throwing peace signs and dancing around. I say this only because it helps a lot to be objective about what you feel like you're doing vs. what you're *actually* doing in the eyes of people who don't give two shits about what you're trying to do unless you did it right enough for them or anyone with eyes to see. Objectivity in pixel art is further hindered by the fact that you're zoomed-in a lot of the time. Unless you make liberal use of your preview window, and walk away from it periodically, you're going to lose sight of what it really looks like overall, thus losing any sense of objectivity that you had when you sat down to start it.

That said -- don't give up. This has evolved quite a bit and is looking really quite good compared to the first version. Just keep these tips in mind as you work.

[Lakelezz]

Thank you all!

I made some edits and tried to cover up all mentioned things.


On this one, I tried to make the contrasts much stronger. The character would stand in the light in the end.


The usual way it would look.

I might change the door, too.
Do you think the contrast is too strong?
The warm colors were eliminated. I like the new ones more. They express the night much better and have this cold breeze feeling which is laying in the air - just as a metaphor of course
Also I added some dither to the light beams.

Additionally I tried to fix the angle of the arm - rather adding the elbow. Also focused more on the volume than the outline, as astraldata, recommended.
Good tip! However I need to get used to this way of creating first, haha.

[astraldata]

Excellent improvement. The second one is much better in terms of contrast. It's a matter of taste, but it feels a lot more atmospheric than the first. The only thing I'd change is that I'd darken the color of the second image's door to something like in the first image.

The only way the first image colors would work, imo, is if pretty much everything were in shadow and only details periodically caught a ray of light here and there and poked out of the shadows.

Also, her pistol seems a little small and is hardly recognizable as a pistol (looks more like she's holding a bird or something). Additionally, you might consider moving one of the arms to hold the bottom of the hand holding the gun in order to stabilize it when it fires. It might read a lot better as a gun that way even if you didn't increase its size. And consider putting a highlight on the body/barrel of the weapon if you can fit it in order to draw the eye to it in such a dark environment.

[PixelPiledriver]

Or should just delete and do it again?

Starting over is fine, but don't delete anything.
You need to compare what you had to what you have.

[Lakelezz]

Yes, it is improving actually, at least, haha.



This are some really good tweaks and major fixes - I guess.
Stava helped me quite a lot with it. However I have to ask what do you think about the table? He said, they were looking flat and boring and somehow off.
Though the pattern might not fit. It could be some sub-shadows in the shadow but this would make no sense since the rest does not have such details.
Rather it represents the idea of some pattern on the surface. Should I work more on them and actually implement them (adding them on the other table).
Also thinking about adding it onto the bar (some similar pattern) or would this be too much? Because that is my fear. This got cleaned up so much which helped the readability quite a lot. It would be a shame to destroy it.

Thank you PixelPiledriver, I will of course keep my old steps. When I said "delete" I meant to try it again with no old base (or all kind of base) at all.
I really like your piece but the genre of it is not fitting, haha. For me it looks like a splatter-shooter But I will keep this body-logic in mind and also the way of 'development'.

Oh and yea, I went for the strong contrast since it gives me stronger feels. I still would like to take more opinions into account.

Thanks to all

[Fizzick]

I like the changes. Her legs and arms are completely straight, which gives an impression of unpreparedness, or lack of experience. If you want her to appear more capable you should have her poised more like in PPD's edit. 

[astraldata]

The girl definitely looks much better in the new version, but I really suggest either darkening her colors (which I would not recommend at all) or lightening the BG a little bit more (closer to the brightness of the second image in your previous edit -- your contrast is currently overkill and really rips the char from the world).

Also, currently that shadow on her extra waist shirt looks almost black (like its outline) at a quick glance (at least on my screen) -- a shade or two lighter and it should be useful again (see the shadow color in the second image of your last update -- it looked better and would be right enough to separate the char from the BG better as well as help you retain clarity in your character's shape against the bg).

Finally, I would suggest either removing the lines from the table altogether. The reason, again, is for clarity. If you absolutely needed them, I would suggest turning them completely horizontal (instead of diagonal) to keep the lines from the wall from drawing the eye to your table down to the stool (which is what happens right now). To keep from having to put lines on the stool at such a low resolution, like I said, removing them altogether is your best option. You've already achieved good texture in your image with the lines on the wall -- anything more texturing, imo, is too much. After all, you've achieved repetition in this image quite enough already by repeating both objects (stools/tables) and textures (lines on the wall across the image). It can easily stand on its own now without the need for anymore lines.

Composing images is about the harmony and balance of elements. If you used larger holes in the windows like the left-most hole all over the place, it'd look contrived. The variation of size/shape help create the 'chaotic' feel to the image. Adding lines to the table would be like adding holes in the wall shaped like the breaks in the glass -- it'd be overkill.

Hope that explains what I'm getting at a bit better. Just something to think about.

[Lakelezz]

So, I did some edits and also started animating the whole thing.
Sadly it feels really hard for me to change the contrast of it without destroying this certain feeling it gives me - I would appreciate to see an edit of your's, AstralData
And of course I am still looking for more opinion about the contrast and the general piece.

This is the static one, without animation:


Here is the animation:


It is of course only the base for the shooting and not completely worked into the progress. I still need to create the Zombie/Monster, the opening door, and so on.
Without these it would be pointless to perfectly adjust the shooting now.

I also did some changes on the table and improve the line direction !