The Maxx vs. The B.O.B...clash of style

[The B.O.B.]

   Okie doke, haven't posted here in a while. A while ago I remember a topic (or ramble I suppose) popping up in the pixeljoint chatter box. It was about the Sam Keith Comic, The Maxx. I believe iSTVAN brought it up, and ever since then I've been looking up story lines and pics of the comic, since I remember watching it when it was made into a short cartoon on Mtv way back when.(bad ass cartoon to be exact. Try searching it on Youtube, and you'll find all episodes) The only problem was I never understood what the hell it was about...Now I do.
   So I drew this fella up, in hopes of sending him in to Pixeljoint when it's done. Only issue is I suck extremely bad at background detail. I'm having no luck trying to create a brick wall texture, with the current pallete that I'm using at the moment. Any one here have any pointers on how I can better approach this? Moreover, does any one think that the character himself needs a smidge of work? Critiques, pointers, Rambles, and whatever. I just need the help 'Beetch's...


By the way, Here's the progress animation, if any one wonders how I do this all in MSpaint(screw the haters, I'm an MSpaint whore all the way):

[vedsten]

  this is gonna turn out sweet

crtis:
- i'd go for some much higher contrast on the charactor. Use the dark colors from your pallete and go a bit more crazy, (espec. on the bottom part, needs more definition)
- im a bit puzzled as to whats going on around the crotch/leg area, but dunno the charactor so it might just be me
i've never done any brick walls that size so i've got no input for ya there

[ptoing]

- im a bit puzzled as to whats going on around the crotch/leg area, but dunno the charactor so it might just be me

He is sitting with his knees pulled up. the bandaged stuff is his feet.

I have to say I agree on the contrast, your colours are way too muted and your range of value is not high enough.

[zeid]

Personally i don't mind the low contrast too much because of the type of piece it is (a large scenario) however it would b nice to see the difference before i say it doesn't need to be changed. I'm amazed at how well you have done such a large piece and feel i can certainly learn something from the manner you conduct your work. One thing i did notice was that highlight above the eye on first glance appears as the left eye instead of the actual one which is coloured blue as oppose to white. Not a big deal however.

p.s. love the scene in the animation where you kill that colour you dont want.

[Ryumaru]

other than the head and the head i cant make out what everything else is, not saying its not clear enough i might just not be familaiar enough with the character.

[The B.O.B.]

Ok I just finished the piece, and have currently made two versions:

Heres the original with the mute colors I had originally:

I just noticed that you guys were correct (not that you never are) in the fact that the greys in the pallete mute out certain details that would have been redundant to keep in the first place. The details that are bieng muted the most that are important to me, (other than the obvious dull yellow hues) is the shadow that The Maxx is casting( which is taking the form of Mr. Gone's head, The Maxx's enemy) and the dead gooey Isz that the Maxx just smashed into the ground.

So I decided to take heed from Ptoings critique, and try a contrast increase( I think). I think it looks much more vibrant than before. Here's the newest version(don't ask about the color count, since I also lost count):


Other than the high color count(which I just can't seem to nab), and the inexperience of creating a fairly real textured brick wall, I'm fairly proud of it. Again, I want to keep the kind of sketchiness it has, kind like a comic book style, which explains why some lines in the piece are kind of sloppy, and look undefined( mainly in the bandaged feet)

@Ryumaru: I wish I had a decent pic of The Maxx to show you, but most are just him in some action like pose. The truth is, in most episodes or scenes in the comics, he is depicted in a dark alley(being homeless, its his home) curled up against a wall, or inside a cardboard box. He is depicted as a big purple super hero, with a secondary yellow color that runs down the center of his face, and is the colour of his lava made claws. He wears these large bandaged shoe, with some gem or ball in the anchor of each shoe. Here's a link to wikipedia to see some pics and the story line: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maxx

Oh, and don't forget to take a gander at the story line too ...To further see more animations of The Maxx, try watching some of the episodes at Youtube(search The Maxx) and you'll see what I'm talking about. One of the best animated shows in my opinion...Oh and if there is any more crits( or if I didn't understand the previous crits) please don't be shy to tell me, I'm willing to make it as best as I possible can. Thanks again everybody!

[Feron]

While the contrasted one looks a lot more vibrant - theres something about the first one i love.  Seems more like a painting.  some of the lines look a lot more jagged and scrappy (especially on the legs) on the higher contrast one. 

I think the subtle on the first looks better also - more creepy and suposed to be a bit unoticed.

Awesome.

[The B.O.B.]

Feron: "I think the subtle on the first looks better also - more creepy and suposed to be a bit unoticed."
v.s.
Ptoing:" I have to say I agree on the contrast, your colours are way too muted and your range of value is not high enough." and Vedsten: "- i'd go for some much higher contrast on the charactor. Use the dark colors from your pallete and go a bit more crazy, (espec. on the bottom part, needs more definition)"

Well, I thought everybody wanted higher contrast. Guess I was wrong. Though I agree with Feron, I do enjoy the original piece alot more, as it gives it a softer, creepier, and more scene-ish look. But I also understand what Vedsten and Ptoing meant about the contrast issue. Le sigh, now I'm just confused as to what to do with this piece...anybody else want to chime in?

[Pawige]

You've got the darkest color better in the edit, but all the other colors are still too light and washed out, you need a smoother transition from dark to light colors.

Also, I'm not sure if it's intentional or what, but if I'm seeing it correctly, the feet are HUGE.

[vedsten]

imho, i don't believe the contrast issue can be addressed w. colorediting alone, you'll have to go in and reshade here and there. As it is, the darkest colors of the pallette on the charactor are only used for outlining, wich is really a shame, using the darkest colors more actively would spice it up a lot.

Having a bit of trouble putting this into words, so here's a quick and utterly crappy edit that'll give you an idea on what i mean>



ehm.. the edit's are pretty random, and reworking the whole sprite this way would take alot of time, though i believe it would be worth it.
Love the bg btw, the bottle is 

edit> ohh yea, forgot to say, i encourage you to block out basic shading on the whole thing before moving into detail. It\s alot easier taking care of issues like this in that stage.

[Helm]

Most of the critique has been covered. I'd have to add that you AA pretty spotty-like. There's stuff you simply did not adress, and it works on the whole but is rougher than what I'd consider 'finished and done'.

But if you yourself say you lost count of how many colors you're using, why do you insist on torturing yourself with MSpaint?

[zeid]

well according to the colour counter in photoshop you use 18 colours for this picture:

which i think is very good. Though you could probably drop a few if you lost counts of how many you had.

[TheAbyss]

  That's totaly good...ness. Cool. Man. I like his feathers.