AuthorTopic: [WIP] Snake, man.  (Read 10968 times)

Offline ptepid

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[WIP] Snake, man.

on: January 24, 2007, 04:39:38 am
Something else I've been working on. At the moment I'm trying to get a clear view of how the main snake body should be shaded/shaped/etc before I go crazy adding detail there.

   
   
« Last Edit: October 01, 2008, 04:15:13 am by ptepid »

Offline Xion

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #1 on: January 24, 2007, 04:51:25 am
The spine ends on the...side of his head?

Offline ptepid

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #2 on: January 24, 2007, 04:55:59 am
Hrmm, yeah I guess I haven't updated that part of the image. :) I've been messing with the body shape a lot.

Offline Alucard

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #3 on: January 24, 2007, 05:09:11 am
Imagine if that snake was on a plane   D:

Offline ptepid

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #4 on: January 24, 2007, 05:28:55 am
Imagine if that snake was on a plane   D:

Offline pixelsforhire

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #5 on: January 24, 2007, 05:43:20 am
Hmmm, given the lack of pixel-perfect detail and that extremely large resolution, I don't see why you would choose to do this in pixel art. I mean, unless you seriously overhaul it, this could easily and more effectively be done in vector art... I'm not trying to offend, I really like the shape and the style, I just... well... ok I'm shutting up now. If it was handled a bit more traditionally, it would look like a Disgaea enemy.

Offline ptepid

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #6 on: January 24, 2007, 06:28:28 am
Hmmm, given the lack of pixel-perfect detail and that extremely large resolution, I don't see why you would choose to do this in pixel art. I mean, unless you seriously overhaul it, this could easily and more effectively be done in vector art... I'm not trying to offend, I really like the shape and the style, I just... well... ok I'm shutting up now. If it was handled a bit more traditionally, it would look like a Disgaea enemy.
No offense taken. ;) I do actually plan to have pixel-level detail (a bit of which you can see around the mouth area). I'm just currently mocking up how the shading on the body will look, and that's what I'm looking for feedback on so far (i.e. before I actually go down to pixel level). It's going to eventually be covered in pixelled scales and be awesome. That's the plan anyway.

The reason it's such a large resolution is I rarely attempt pieces of this size and I'd like to practice making large boss-type sprites. For example, imagine the kinda boss you'd see in Metal Slug, or a SNES RPG, taking up most of the screen area (if not more) and looking all menacing. :)

Offline pixelsforhire

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #7 on: January 24, 2007, 09:49:22 am
Oh wow. My hat is off to you, then. That's going to be a bit project.

Offline ptepid

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #8 on: February 02, 2007, 01:23:26 pm
Haven't had much time to work on this recently, or any pixel art for that matter. Thought I'd update to show what I'm doing with the scales.


The arms aren't there because I haven't touched them yet, they still look like the original. :) I'm thinking I might rework how the body twists... although I like the look of it, it seems a pretty unrealistic pose for a snake.

Offline ptepid

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #9 on: September 19, 2007, 12:14:28 pm
*Summons topic from the realm of the dead*

Yes, I've updated this old thing.



Pretty happy with the snake, the rocks need work (though I like the sketchy look...). Grass needs replacing. ;)
Large jump from the last update I know, but I don't think I'll post all the in-between files. Maybe as an animation when I'm finished with this monstrosity.

Offline Feron

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #10 on: September 19, 2007, 05:37:31 pm
looks better as a normal snake imo...

Offline Opacus

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #11 on: September 19, 2007, 07:29:02 pm
looks better as a normal snake imo...
I kinda like the big overbite. Gives it a charm, and turning it into a normal snake just takes most charm away...imo.

Offline Arachne

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #12 on: September 19, 2007, 07:38:14 pm
Feron has a point. The muscles lifting the jaw are attached to the cranium, so with such a large lower jaw, it should also have a larger head because of added muscle mass. It looks a bit awkward and out of place now.

Offline ptepid

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #13 on: January 30, 2008, 08:19:37 am
*Casts spell of thread necromancy*

Yeah, I've had another go at this ancient piece again. I haven't really tackled the scales yet, wimping out on that front. Kept the underbite but reduced it a bit, and added lots of glowy stuff. :)
« Last Edit: January 30, 2008, 10:33:19 am by ptepid »

Offline ndchristie

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #14 on: January 30, 2008, 03:07:04 pm
heh, that went from zoobooks to mtg faster than you can blink.

i like where it is going, but there's something missing in the colors.  you have red(pink), green, blue, purple, orange(brown), and that's a lot to keep track of.

my thought:

figure out your emitters and the gloss or matte qualities of each texture region, and put these lighting elements in.  you've started with the lightning bolts, but they only effect the rock and they seem to have no collective light which makes them very weak.  the red interior and underbelly also seems as though it should be giving off light.  Once you see how things work with all the lighting tossed in, either add more colors of lights (green and red can be in your lightning, too!) and then appply those colors to the textures too to make things unified, or take away more colors in the texture as a last resort.  the simpler way too without making the light psychedelic would be to just be more conservative with your colors, particularly the rock and snake body tones which can be made into at least one and a half ramps if not identical ramps (with concentrations in different ends to make the difference)

one thing for sure is that the green either needs to be more present, more important, or gone.
A mistake is a mistake.
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The same mistake three or more times is a motif.

Offline ptepid

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #15 on: October 01, 2008, 04:13:07 am
I must be a master necromancer by now. Yes, I've been hacking away at this ancient piece again. I've been working on detailing in the rocks (mainly top center, right side obviously not done yet). Added some more colour to the piece with a jungle shot taking up some of the dead space.

And yes, I finally got rid of the overbite. It looks so ridiculous now that I see it with new eyes. Which is why I'm back here... I want to see what else I'm blind to through your helpful eyes, before I go nuts with the finishing touches.

Offline Helm

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #16 on: October 01, 2008, 04:44:24 am
Hello ptepid. You were 'finale' in the old days, right? You were one of the first people I critiqued when I came to pixelation! The memories!

Your biggest problem right now are volumes. You sorta 'fake' them with cool rendering, but your rocks do not really look like rock formations, your snake is not an actual tube, so on. I think you need to do a lot of drawing with reference (googling for rocks will help!) with a critical eye on what makes them as they are. Your color selection and generally the lighting is really cool, but all the shapes and forms in this are messy!

Offline ptepid

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #17 on: October 01, 2008, 08:36:25 am
Hello ptepid. You were 'finale' in the old days, right? You were one of the first people I critiqued when I came to pixelation! The memories!

Your biggest problem right now are volumes. You sorta 'fake' them with cool rendering, but your rocks do not really look like rock formations, your snake is not an actual tube, so on. I think you need to do a lot of drawing with reference (googling for rocks will help!) with a critical eye on what makes them as they are. Your color selection and generally the lighting is really cool, but all the shapes and forms in this are messy!
It was "finite", but very close. :) Still go by that name in places where I can't change it (pixeljoint, etc).

Tried to take your advice here. Noticed pretty quickly that the rock formation I'd made doesn't really occur naturally.
I've done a quick rework of the rocks and snake shading using palette-based shading tools... making things even messier. Just want to know if this is what you mean regarding volume... is this an improvement, or merely different and still problematic?

Offline Helm

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Re: [WIP] Snake, man.

Reply #18 on: October 01, 2008, 09:53:49 am
Finite, of course! Finale? Ugh, I'm a moron.

Your tools are hindering your progress. Forget the indexed darkening for now and draw rocks with 3 shades only, highlight, middle shade, darkness. If you can't draw a volume with 3 shades, you can't draw it with 300 either. Right now you're adopting one of the demoscene faults: textural detail without actual information attached to it. It looks busy, but busy isn't good if it's not also clear.

This cave entrance doesn't read as a real place, as the rocks do not form a natural opening, the tree in the corner obfuscates more than helps, it's a mixture of disparate elements that don't work all together. Whereas obviously you enjoy color very much, it can't take such a picture as far as it should go without some design theory.