[WIP][C&C] Pudgy alien dude

[Squiggly_P]

So this guy is supposed to be a scrap merchant sort of dude. The color choice is a bit cliche (and maybe a bit over-saturated), but he's theoretically going to exist on darker, more muted backgrounds and I want him to pop out.

I'm not sure about outlines. Black? Colored? None? I've got outlines in some bits and none in other bits right now as I was experimenting. I tend to start making one-pixel changes and getting carried away with details and adding too many colors if I get blocked, and that's what I started doing here, so I decided it was a good time to post and get some broader crits I could focus on.

What's wrong with it? It should be noted that at fullscreen, the theoretical game I'm looking to make would be 3x resolution on a 1080p monitor.

[Squiggly_P]

A different approach to the coloring style. I like the more graphic look to it, but the eye stalks are still problematic. Went a little bolder on the shading as well. Still not entirely sure which direction to move with it...

EDIT:

I'll try not to bump the threat every time I update

edit ->

Had another go at this shading. I kinda like it. I think I may keep the eyes white for now. I like the higher contrast. The outline is slightly more saturated and a wee bit lighter. It makes it not look so great on a pure black background, but anything with the black level above 15 (that's HSV -> Value level) keeps it looking good. Wasn't planning on using much pure black in anything in the backgrounds, but I guess I won't know for certain until I actually start making them...

Edit 2: Fixed his right shoulder a smidge. It was bothering me.

[Linaru]

Your first version sort of reminded me of an old mega-drive character called Puggsy.
i am not an expert but i attempted to reshade him a bit more in Puggsy's style and tweaked his colours a bit



Just and idea, might not be the style you want..

(i left puggsy next to him for reference)

[Squiggly_P]

I'd never heard of Puggsy before. I'll have to track down a copy and check it out.

Your eye stalks look a lot better than my periscope-eyes. I'll have to fiddle with them some to get them looking nice and bendy. I always have a problem with the parts that have a really limited pixel budget but need some specific details. I'm terrible at shoes and feet and hands as well

Guess I should work on those.

Thanks for the edit, man. I'll check out that game, too.