The B.O.B.'s Dump: B.O.B. finally submits something new...

[The B.O.B.]

   Not sure, but I think I need some help on this. I'm trying to get better at anatomy, but not sure if it's a winning battle. I was admiring some of Norman Rockwell's art, and loved how realistic his paintings looked, yet they still had some added cartoony-ness to their emotions. Not to mention his character's emotions are instantly read. Not heading that far into the art spectrum, as I've yet to achieve the norm with anatomy, and perspective. However, somethings could be worked on. So far, had some great input at pixejoint, concerning the position of the arms, and how his skin's shading style seems to clash with the rest of the dithered pic( I was hoping dithering would be more for texture, but apparently, it must be fluent throughout). I suck with backgrounds, so take it easy on that dept.

   References include lots of google images, and photo idea obviously inspired by the great non-finisher of the biz, Miascuff'( linky-poo). Oh, and that's supposed to be a little cartoony/round bird(like 70's hippy stuff), and it's a bandanna tied to his boot as well.

   Oh, and to Dusty, thanks for the input. I just noticed that about his fingers! Gosh, I must be an idiot not to have noticed that! Just to let you know I'm trying to work on those issues that you pointed out as well. One thing though: could you elaborate with the teeth part? I'm understanding what the issue may be, exactly...

[Arachne]

The thing that struck me first is that you're drawing a lot of attention to the boot, which isn't terribly interesting, in my opinion. I think it would make more sense to add color to something closer to his face. Maybe give him some more pronounced irises? I'm not sure what's going on with his eyes at the moment.

Something about the perspective and the bird seems off to me too. Maybe move the wing a bit further down so it doesn't look as if it's being viewed from the side? I think the legs could be more birdlike as well.

Otherwise, I like what you've done so far. The worn photo look is a nice touch.

[Darien]

I'm not sure what the worn photo part of this adds to the piece.  in Mia's it works better because it the shows the two guys in a (mostly) conventional photo pose, and the agedness suggest some sort of dark family history or something.. if you took the border off of his I think it would lose a lot of its appeal, if you took it off yours I don't think it would lose anything.  Right now it's kind of weird with the yellow colors showing up, and I'm having trouble believing it's a photo.

I think his right upper leg seems very misshapen, it seems like you lost track of it while it was under his arm.  Also it doesn't feel as if his feet are resting on the street.

[Faktablad]

Very nice work on this, B.O.R.B.  You did a great job with the greyscale in terms of keeping everything from blending together into a single shade.  Great shading on the sidewalk and especially the curb.  The problem with the facial expression is that I'm not sure what he's trying to express.  Is he blowing smoke?  Saying "oooh"?  Is he surprised?  I'm not quite sure.

[The B.O.B.]

Update:

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Tried fixing some of the aforementioned issues:

1: shonegold at deviantart caught the slightly large left hand, so I shortened it a bit to fit in proportion to the body and other hand

2: Tried shortening the wing down a bit, and making bird legs, as Arachne suggested(though I'm gonna say that yes, the bird is not supposed to be realistic. It's kinda' like those fat round birds you see in those old 70's cartoons and posters...hippy love)

3: Also tried having the boot seem more realistically placed on the plane of the street

4: Changed the position of his left arm as well, as SURT from pixelation mentioned that it was in an uncomfortable position. Lengthened it a bit to better fit the angle, and shortened the shoulder. Also, I tried dithering the arms as well, as Setzer posted an issue with a lack of dithering being fluent throughout the piece.

5: I know it doesn't mean much, but I'd still like to keep the worn out photo portion of it. It's just a preference, I guess, and I hope it doesn't seem like I'm ignoring your suggestion, Darien. As fix 2 suggests, it's supposed to be worn out as two cultures intermingle with each other. Like the 70's bird with a new punk/rock/metal culture rising during the 80's. Though it's not that clear at the moment, and I'm not that great of an artist for people to notice it off the bat in general. But to honest, it's really not that deep of a message. Just a funny picture, that's all.

6:@Faktablad: the face was initially supposed to be nonchalant, as if he didn't mind there was a cartoony bird talking to him. Kinda' like eor(I think that's how you spell his name) off of Winnie the Pooh. Apathetic, I guess is the best word. But if you guys think he should pour more expression, I tried changing the eyes a bit, and widening the mouth, for a more shocked look.

7: I originally only wanted the bandanna to be yellow, as bandanna colors display more symbolism with gangs, and street culture. But if you guys think that something more closer to the face should colorful, than maybe it might make more sense to add yellow to the feather as well?(he's a bird in all...)

Don't know how else to fix the other issues. I wouldn't mind edits, though, as I'm more of a visual learner. 
Any thing else?

[Helm]

I'd lose the bandanna around the boot now, there's no symbolism involved there. The feather was a much better idea.

[big brother]

This is a very cool piece so far. I have a quick crit -- judging by the leg on the right, it appears like he's sitting on a high ledge rather than on a curb. It would have to be at least partially extended to break this illusion.

[eck]

contrast issues.
grayscale can help you get a nice grasp on lighting, but right now there are some flaws.

one of the things that stands out to me is the pants.  now i don't know what they are meant to be made out of, but it looks like denim, or perhaps leather.  either way, there shouldn't be that much contrast.  cloths tend to absorb light instead of reflecting it, so the highlights need to be toned down.  also, same problem occurs with the highlights along the edges of the shirt.

also, im having issues with the face.  before it was messy, and the newer version is an improvement, but it still needs work.  the expression is unreadable, the eyes are to circular, the chin is pushed back to far, the ear needs to be moved up slightly, and he has no neck.

finally, this isnt really a big deal, but there is a huge style change in the edge of the sidewalk and the road.  prehaps change it a bit for the sake of consistency?

[The B.O.B.]

contrast issues.
grayscale can help you get a nice grasp on lighting, but right now there are some flaws.

one of the things that stands out to me is the pants.  now i don't know what they are meant to be made out of, but it looks like denim, or perhaps leather.  either way, there shouldn't be that much contrast.  cloths tend to absorb light instead of reflecting it, so the highlights need to be toned down.  also, same problem occurs with the highlights along the edges of the shirt.

also, im having issues with the face.  before it was messy, and the newer version is an improvement, but it still needs work.  the expression is unreadable, the eyes are to circular, the chin is pushed back to far, the ear needs to be moved up slightly, and he has no neck.

finally, this isnt really a big deal, but there is a huge style change in the edge of the sidewalk and the road.  prehaps change it a bit for the sake of consistency?

   Hey eck, I read through some crits, and thought about it. I've never noticed that pants/denim absorb more light then they reflect, so I may change that in the near future. However, if by "highlights along the edges of the shirt" you mean the jacket portion, it's torn denim, which is whiter/worn out moreso than the blue portion of the jacket itself. However, if you just mean the black t-shirt, I can kind of see where you're coming from. However, I've tried toning it down, and it just makes it flat compared to the rest of the piece. Still trying to figure out how to give black clothes some more depth.
   You were right about the ears, but the eyes and chin, I'm not quite sure. I've seen many people with some not so pronounced chins. In any case, I made some edits with this newest version; widened eyes a bit, spread eyes out a bit more(probably looks worse, though), fixed mohawk, and added a bit more pixels to the chin, and only left the feather yellow, though I feel it lost something when I got rid of the yellow bandanna.(ugh, I've been artistically castrated!!)



by the way Eck, he DOES have a neck, that's just my bad artistry. He's wearing a dog collar, it's just hard to tell with it being black and white and all. He also has a bull ring in his nose, and earrings(gauges). And nah, I feel the curb and side walk should differ a bit in texture. I didn't want a smooth curb, at least in the dither sense....Any thing else? If so, an edit WOULD REALLY BE NICE...

Thanks again for the help, all...

[Ryan Cordel]

If that's his dog collar though, then it seems to wrap around his neck pretty odd. Seems to be more painted on than it actually being an object he's wearing.