emo kid, it's raining!

[terminal_arcade]

I posted this on punaji, but I'm posting it here too.

I'm fairly new, and this is the first piece that I'm really attacking colour ramps head on.



Any suggestions on making the (his left, our right) light source more evident? Dithering? Other C+C?

Thanks!

[yosh64]

hey

Firstly I think the colors are too saturated, and you need to add more contrast.

The light source doesn't make complete sense to me, as the front of his shirt is highlighted, but the light source appears to hit from behind???.

It also seems to lack proper depth, try maybe make his right arm and leg appear darker, as to give the illusion of them being futher away.

Finally, I also don't understand the pose???.

edit
I done a quick edit on your image, let me know if you want to see, and I will upload it.

cyas

[Terley]

eww. emo 

don't like emo.. the character's very flat, not much else to say.. erm, keep practicing. 

[terminal_arcade]

eww. emo 

don't like emo.. the character's very flat, not much else to say.. erm, keep practicing. 

Don't 'like emo'? That's a shame. I've read your posts before though, and I just know you're objective enough to give some specific comments on technique rather than on (sarcastic) subject matter. Ideas on making him less flat?

yosh64: The pose is that he's standing on his left leg, his right foot stepping up onto something (like a crate, stair, whatever) and his left hand is holding an umbrella casually while his right hand is being held out to feel the rain.

I totally see what you mean about the saturation. I'll also try to up the contrast. It's hard to know what to make the contrast, since I'm working at about 6x zoom.

[Overkill]

'kay, well, I dislike emo kids as well, but at any rate, I attempted an edit on your picture. You said the lightsource came from the left, but everything was lit on his right (or did you mean the character's left? >_>), so I fixed the picture in spots to reflect that. In addition, I added outlines, modified the palette to have significantly more contrast, and reused colors in spots to add more detail. The umbrella still uses the wrong lightsource, but oh well (or maybe the only thing with the RIGHT lightsource ;_;).

Anyway, here:



Oh, yeah, I added tear drops just to enhance the stereotype.

[Terley]

eww. emo 

don't like emo.. the character's very flat, not much else to say.. erm, keep practicing. 

Don't 'like emo'? That's a shame. I've read your posts before though, and I just know you're objective enough to give some specific comments on technique rather than on (sarcastic) subject matter. Ideas on making him less flat?

Im not claiming to be a great pixel artist, so I'll only give advice when I feel it will help.. I tend to add a comment instead of crits because there are plenty more people here who would give helpful'er advice..

Im sorry if it came accross as sarcastic but it's true, I dislike emo.. whats wrong with that....?  im also sorry my post was short and pointless, I will give some reasonable critisism, im in the middle of moving house so I may be a bit rushed from time to time..  , my personal problems maybe getting the better of me, soo my messages may reflect just that .. if so I am sorry, you say you've noticed that through a few of my posts.. 

ok i'll try some crits.. the actual drawing itself is very flat, as in it would be hard to know where to shade.. Maybe you would be better off drawing a slightly larger/cropped character and concentrate on getting the proportions right, my first atempt is just a basic sketch on paint to determain what I wanted to see, then I would add more detail (I decided to straighten him out, and use a hand drawn sketch to help..), from this I cleaned it up to just white and black and basically used 5 shades to shade it in..



I don't think for an emo character, you would use over saturated colours, I would imagine you would try and make it look dark, colourless.. but thats just my interpretation.. well its always an idea to use at least 3 shades for a colour so you can add definition and shape.. And don't dither unless it's helping towards texturing your image or making it look smoother in areas..

If im wrong guys, please tell me because Im always reluctant to post advice as I know most of you will know better.. also my example was only quickly done so if theres any flaws its cus im lazE..

hope I help term, goodluck with pixeling... 

[Faktablad]

Terley, your critique was well and good, especially the part about saturation and dithering.  Dithering only works on usually much larger spaces, where you need a smooth transition of shades and you only have two colors.

However, I don't see how your edit could be much help to terminal_arcade.  There is not much in your final image that would appear to address some of the problems terminal_arcade seemed to have with his own picture.  While it's a great example of nailing a character using textures and color choice, all it seems to have in common is the subject matter.

But again, I really like the mood you've put in place with your edit, I'm just afraid there's not much learning that can be taken away from it, sorry.


Hope I'm not banging too much on edits here,  but Overkill, the lightsource on the pants of your character doesn't seem to match the shirt.  But it's understandable, since the main problem about the lightsource of terminal_arcade's character is the shirt, and the random spot of shade that juts up like this: /

[terminal_arcade]

Oh, Terley, I didn't mean to sound like I was pressuring you to give more tips. But thanks a bunch! I see what you mean about choosing a style to fit the subject matter, and how you approached that. I'll definitely approach the saturation there, as yosh64 also pointed out.

Faktablad: The shading on the shirt kind of confused me. The light source is supposed to be coming from our right, but it didn't look quite right to make the whole shirt in the darker shade except the bar on the edge and sleeve. I'll experiment.

I'm also really busy these days, but I'll definitely try to find some time to fix this up.

[Overkill]

Yeah, er... ignore my bad shading. I didn't quite notice that when I was doing the edit. Shows my inexperience, I guess. ;_; There are some good parts to my alteration though, which may or may not be pointing in the direction your style is aiming. I dunno, I had fun at the very least, despite my half-assed shading.

[ndchristie]

terleys edit has some things that can be taken :
background contrast separates the positive objects from the negative space
pattern on shirt lends form
no dithering makes the forms cleaner, more suited to emo
lack of color also more emo.  most of the emo boys i know dont wear bright green much, your kid look kinda indie
lack of real expression - emo boys dont really frown, frowning is ugly.  they just look sad and dejected.  even the girls only pout.  the half-closed eyes is also a good touch

[Meta|Fox]

Why are love hearts raining on the emo? no one loves emos! thats why there emo!

*cough* anyway, the main thing i can drew out of Terley's edit is the composition, compare your pictures composition to his. the elements make his more centered, focused and interesting e.g. the dark and lightness of the background meeting where the emos face is helps create a focal point. try going through a magazine and looking at the adds and how there composition draws and moves your eye around them.

I end with a quote i saw on a funny T-Shirt

"If being emo makes you happy, somethings wrong"

its funny on 2 levels 

[ndchristie]

Why are love hearts raining on the emo? no one loves emos! thats why there emo!

lots of people love emos.  they are like, the most sexually active kids in the school next to the drama club (OT)

[GOODNIGHTdestroyer]

lots of people love emos.  they are like, the most sexually active kids in the school next to the drama club (OT)

That made me lol. Emo girls really are sluts.

[terminal_arcade]

Well thanks for all the helpful responses, guys. I can really see what's goign on in my own piece now, it feels. I'll probably wrap this one up and then get to work on something new.

[Indigo]

whoa now - i'm in drama club.....and i'm mormon....doesn't mix too well.

[Stephen]

whoa now - i'm in drama club.....and i'm mormon....doesn't mix too well.

Represent.

Although, I'm not in the drama club, I was in band (which seems to be just about as bad, maybe not quite).