8-Bit Yellow Devil From Megaman

[thesydneylad]

This is piece was supposed to be paired with a second sprite, but I focused so hard on the shading that I think I should post it and get better opinions before I end up going too far. The piece is designed to be just a little bigger than Megaman - he's scaled down to act as if he would be a playable character. Canvas: 37x32

The sprite is holding another character's fist (left out) and readying his other hand for a punch. I've tried to put the Yellow Devil in a stance to make it look like he's been pushed back from his opponent's force, thereby affecting his whole body.
I wanted to include more 'gelatin' shapes around his body, but I just simply didn't have the room for it. I'd already thought up shapes to make, but it'd clash with the outline and would make the sprite even more busy than it already is.

The back foot is meant to be crumbled and Yellow Devil has used his gelatin form to stop himself from falling over.
Also, the part in the middle is meant to be a anime-type fist mark. I don't think I've got it right, but I tried my best.



I was also using this 3D model as reference:
http://www.game-art-hq.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Yellow-Devil-Render-from-SSB4-.jpg

[eishiya]

Where is the light coming from? Different parts of the character appear to be lit from above, below, left, front... A stable light source should help you with conveying the form of the character, and may even help add in those gelatinous blobby shapes through some subtle shadows.

I'm not familiar with this character, but it seems the red gem/eye is positioned very differently in your version from the ref?

[thesydneylad]

Yeah, now that you mention it...what was I thinking with all that shading...

[thesydneylad]

Fixed the lighting to make it easier to tell where it's coming from. I haven't studied lighting at all, but hopefully it's better.
Added the gray background cuz a user told me that a white background isn't favorable.

[thesydneylad]

Made some changes to the outstretched arm and changed the shading around the same arm.

[pistachio]

Now we're getting somewhere!

Silhouette and line of action need to be pushed more IMO:



There seems to be some conflicting design. IDK if it's what you were going for, but the red orb thing is from another boss, not Yellow Devil which the rest of the design is from. Also at this size that orb, the fist mark and the blob form is kind of hard to read. Hope the edit gives you some idea how to address that, tho I would advise a bigger canvas if that is possible.

[thesydneylad]

Thanks Pistachio. The red orb is meant to be the eye, but I couldn't fit the eye lids. I refused to make major changes to the sprite for the sake of experience. It became clear to me that I would've need a bigger canvas and sprite anyway when I got around to drawing the fist (although the fist mark became harder to remember how to draw as time went by, so I just did what I could).

I did draw a very good sketch, but I didn't bother trying to sketch out the fist and just decided to improvise.

Thanks for drawing a proper fist imprint, it's very appreciated.

What's your advice on my decision to refuse to change the size of the sprite? While I am trying to make something good, I want to learn, through experience, the limitations of pixel art, such as implementing a small fist imprint on an already reasonably small sprite.