Feature 03 - Mermaid

[Mirre]

Been working on this for some days now. I just couldn't stop when I started it. I've even been seeing pixels and thinking about dithering when watching TV in the breaks I've had when cooking and eating stuff and so on

I can say that I have already learnt lots by doing this piece, especially the tree and the water was killing me. Please give me some C&C. I always appreciate that. Hope you guys will like it! Oh, and do think it'd look good with a frame of some sort around it? Perhaps with shells, kelp and fishbones or something.

24 colours:





LATEST!!!:
With and without frame:

[Eric Stayburn]

its spelt colors geez.

[Mirre]

Seriously. If you don't have anything more serious to write here than about my spelling gtfoff my topic. And you CAN spell it colours. That's UK English. Know your stuff.

[Alex]

its spelt colors geez.

post something useful next time, child. spelling colours with a u is also acceptable. its a how we spell it in canada. so dont think you are so smart next time, idiot.

Mirre, this is so cute...it really is. I love all of the colours, but...the texture used on the tree and everything doesnt exactly match that of the mermaids scales and the rock shes on...just my opinion though, overall its a really nice piece.

[Eric Stayburn]

I'm not an idiot you smelly hippo. I'm gonna go play yu-gi-oh, holla.

[Dhaos]

In europe... I thought it was spelled colour? Anyways cute piece Mirre, the colors are very nice. Those fruit are making me very hungry... *wonders what they taste like.* I love the way you shaded the tree leaves and trunk. Nice and cartoony, again excellent color selection.

Crits:
-you might consider either completely dithering the mermaid or just keeping it block-colored (the body for example as opposed to the hair)
-the fins seem odd (almost unfinished-like), the scales of the mermaid are detailed, while the rest of her isn't
-the reeds should be a bit more washed out (blending with the backround more) given the time of day, tint them more blue perhaps
-consider adding some light-blue or white highlights to the water to form a shiny reflection or to emulate small crests int he water

Crits aside, that piece is so cute. I like it.

[Mirre]

Thanks for the great C&C guys!

clr: The styles clash a little, but I did not know how to unify them better. I did want the rock to look like a rock, and the moss was kind of hard to make it look like moss if I didn't dither it. Aaand, I think I got a bit carried away with the scales on the mermaids tail. I just love sparkles 

Dhaos: The fruit are golden apples (every fairytale have them ) Did you mean that I should remove the dithering in the hair? I'm not quite sure myself that it looks good, honestly, but without it the colours doesn't blend so well.
Oh yeah, the fins probably looks unfinished because I haven't highlighted the upper parts of it for some reason (I must be tired, haha).
I'll see what I can do about the highlight in the water and the browns (assuming you meant them with "reeds"), but they belong to the same ramp as the gold, so I'll see how it comes out.

[Cow]

I like this, it's quite cute [there must be an echo in here]. Especially the bird. Now for some crits.

-Her head seems to be moving independently from her hair. Like, she's tilting her head but her hair is facing the other direction.
-The AAing on the... reeds[?] doesn't seem to work too well.

I've always wondered if golden apples taste more like an apple or more like gold? Excuse me while I ponder this.

[Keops]

I think this is a very nice piece, very solid overall, the colorful palette works really well and kinda takes me back to the colorful 16-bit era ah those days...

Anyway, aside from some things Dhaos and mccow28 mentioned the only thing that I think needs my crit is the darkest shade you used, the selout in some places, like the stone for instance, look kind of broken. You might try toning this down a little bit to smooth things out a bit more, although it's not a big deal, this piece has a lot of contrast and texture thanks to the dithering so it's not that big of a deal.

I love it!

UPDATE: Upon further inspection and looking more and more to it at 1x I think it's nothing of a deal at all, it looks good enough, I was checking the piece with a lot of zoom so you can forget my crit. Good job! I need to inspect it more carefully to see if I find anything else on it.

[D39]

It looks crisp I love it.

I think you tied the whole thing together really well with the colors you used.  The only thing that feels a bit awkward is the bottom of the tail, it breaks the mood a little for me.

EDIT: As for a frame, I don't think it needs one. The piece is really great on its own, with alot of style. I think a frame might just take away some of the focus.