Portrait

[DTE462]

Here's another character in a game I'm working on. Critiques? Her left cheek never quite looked right. And her forehead lighting also seems off but I can't place why.

I'm actually happy with her dreads but if someone has critiques I'd love to hear them. Hair is usually the biggest struggle for me but this came together pretty effortlessly.

Clothes also, but I ran out of ideas so I tried to play it safe here. I don't hate it but I don't love it.

Thanks for any advice anyone has!

[Löne]

Hi !

Your portrait features some good elements (like proportions), however it's very weak on technique. I'll try to list all the things you can easily improve.

First, you've an important problem with your line. In a curve, the length of the segments of your line should vary smoothly. The one-pixel different in a very long segment (like in the right's arm) is also very bad looking. Also, your line should not contain any right-angle segment, except for very specific usage.
You can take a look to that tutorial.

You also have a problem with the shading, very unnatural, and especially on the skin. On the neck, the shadow should be inclined on the other side : be wide on the chin and less important when you go down. On the face, the lighter marks aren't understandable and just look like random spots. You should try to create a larger zone of light instead of many points.
And your hair just seems random. You should try to fix that, giving some depth to the locks.

Eventually, on the posture, shoulders are too raised, the mouth is one pixel too high and your eyes aren't well shaped (the right one more than the other one).

[DTE462]

Thanks for the feedback. I tried to hit all the points you made. Some worked out better than others. Obviously shading of the face is still the biggest problem. Maybe the two highlight colors have too much contrast? I tried lowering her mouth by one pixel but it looks weird. I did add some shading on the chin I'm happier with. I also played with her eyes a bit. I don't know that it's any better than before. I'll keep at it, but here is where it's at now.

[Löne]

Some things are little better : the shadow on the neck, the eye is more readable, and I see you worked on the line. However, the line is still very bad. I made a quick example to show you (inside the red rectangle), on a part of your character, how to improve that. I also added a line on the neck.

The shading on the face is still very weird looking. You can desaturate a little bit your color, but I don't think it's the main problem. Remember light in pixel art can't be, for technical reasons, the same as natural light.

I also tried something with the hair in the style you used. Dreads are very tricky in pixel art, since you should reproduce the illusion of texture while you can't add many details. However, to get rid of the random aspect, I think you've to create larger locks.
To me, your should try to change completely how your hair looks. You can choose a more saturated color for light, use that color as the main one, and then play with shadows. I think that could be the best for you to try since, as you can see, even with larger locks and more readability, the result is still a little awkward.

[DTE462]

Thanks for talking me through it. This is where I ended up. I still liked her small dreads, but I took your approach and gave them more structure.

And I toned down the highlights on her face a lot more. And gave her arm a little more form rather than just a straight line down.