[UPDATE] Palette challenge Mafia dude

[Keops]

Hello Pix...

I stumbled upon the palette workshop challenge a couple of weeks ago and I was very interested in giving it a try, so I started with the first challenge and made this one. It's pretty different from my usual type of work, more realistic and less manga like. I'm also not too used to working with these types of predefined palettes so it was pretty tough, I think I managed to make something half decent, but I'd love to hear your crits so I can further improve my skills. This particular piece is screaming to be refined, so any in-depth crits and edits are welcome!

Without further wording, the piece...

The Mafia boss



See you all!

UPDATE: (10/29 - 9:44)

Here's the latest version of the piece:



Changes animation:



Changes (as per Dhaos's suggestions):

• Widened the left (his right) side of the head 2 px.
• Corrected the lips to better match perspective.
• Shortened ear height by 2-3 px for same reason.
• Added small scar in his right cheek to make the image more interesting (and to use the newly gained blank space for something).
• Widened neck to make perspective more adequate.
• Minor tweaks here and there (aa, stray pixels, etc.)

I think this one is almost done, if anyone spots something else or wants to comment on anything be sure to drop a line

Thanks a lot Dhaos! Your advice has proven really helpful, I appreciate that you took the time to comment.

~K

[Dhaos]

Pretty neat portrait, but he seems to have no sides to his head...it goes from forehead straight to hair, kinda odd. Also you might remove the highlight from > eye to give more depth (the eyes seem to be too equally lit compared to the rest of the face.)

[Keops]

Hmm... Upon looking some more at him I think I get you point hehe, his head looks to "flat" when it's supposed to be a bit rotated to the right. I got your point, it looks a bit awkward that you see no sides from the head in the left, it goes straight into the ear and hair when you should see some more of the side of the head to the left (his right). This includes some more of the left side forehead I presume. About the highlight in the eye, well, I'll try checking that out too to see how he looks. I'll try to fix that soon, thanks for pointing it out Dhaos! I'll be sure to put up the update soon enough.

Bye.

[Keops]

Double post, sorry, but it's worth it heh (I hope)

I made some edits to my Mafia boss based on some of Dhaos suggestions as well as small tweaks in some pixels. I would love to get some more input before finishing work on this piece. I want to polish this as much as I can before I tackle the other palettes of the challenge.



Also a small animation to show the changes (Old and New identified)



Thanks for the comments Dhaos.

See you all.

[Dhaos]

That's an improvement, you've chosen a tricky angle however.

Try applying some perspective:
1) shorten the ear by 3-4px(its width is fine)
2) push his neck < way about 4-5px (might cover the hole thing so you might 'shift' the image > way a bit)
3) extend the face > way more (like you originally did...just moreso)
4) the > side of his lips come out about 2px too far (this again throws off the perspective)

You're getting there though, portraits are very hard ^^U.

[Keops]

Thanks for helping me with this Dhaos.

I assume with your suggestion #1 you mean the height of the ear. I assume I should shorten it from the bottom as to make the head feel more three dimensional right? (correct me if I'm wrong). As for number 2 I get that one and I think you're definitely right with that one. And #3 and #4 are also quite easy to see, I notice the lip thing you point there. I'll see what can I do based on those suggestions and I'll post the result soon. Thanks a lot for the help!

See you!

[Dhaos]

Ah, very nice Keops. The improvements on the perspective are quite noticible, nice job. I don't really have any more realvent crits after this third update. Probably safe to post it in the palette challange thread now =).

[Keops]

Thanks for the input Dhaos.

Well, I guess I'll post it on the main challenge thread, I also think it's polished enough and it looks a whole lot better! Thanks for the input.

Now I just need to tackle the other palettes heh

'Till my next thread.

PS: If anyone else notices any other problem or sees something to critique on the piece, be sure to voice your comments here, I'm still open for suggestions!