Fat dragon pixel!

[jedzed]

Ive been away for quite awhile just studying peoples pixel art and testing out styles and that lot, but yeah im in the middle of making a dragon pixel and i just want people to show me how to make it better along the way if you know what i mean so heres the outline im not sure if the poportions are right but it must of took 2-3 hours pixel by pixel trying to get it to look right, not just some quick job
so here it is

hope you like

first started:



progress so far:

[jedzed]

i fixed a bit of outline on its stomach and arms




 

[Sharm]

Is that black thing on the side of his head supposed to be his mouth?

[terminal_arcade]

I instantly assumed it was. Looks cute to me. I think it reads adequately well, but would read even better once the lower lip is shaded.

[jedzed]

its suppose to be part of his mouth, yes lol

[Opacus]

You might be able to see it's his mouth, but it's not placed on his face, but on the side of his neck.
I'd place it a little forward.

Also, what's that thing sticking out the back? The tail?

[mangust]

It's very funny )) Good!
Yes, tail is a broken sausage - more analysis and thinning on end of tail.
And with head some strange maybe something like this be more appropriate:

Good work. I am hope you colour this?

[jedzed]

hmmh the tail does look a bit weird but its how i prefer it to be and yes i am gonna colour this but tis gonna take awhile ^.^

hmm when that animation flickers back and forth it makes his head shape look weird but i guess ill keep it my way itll all make sense once its shaded ^.^

[Bonus]

I think the new lines on the ehad that mang did made it look alot better. Nice edit. And id also agree on the tail.

[jedzed]

Here it is ive partly shaded abit and ive done the outline and creds to mang for the head part lol and to elk for telling me what parts were out of place


i know theres something wrong with his chin but im trying to find away to get around it

[jedzed]

and to be honest the tail is staying if you see im emphasised almost everything on here how hes fat big teeth and big hands+claws but i guess the tail can stay small cause it suits it trust me ive tried different tails it dont work

[jedzed]

mhm im wondering how to shade the part next to his arms and the ribs on his belly



//Please use the [img]-tags rather than html, to enable on-click zoom.
 -miascugh

[jedzed]

which one ?

[Faceless]

4
Edit:
I just realised how ridiculously short that post was, so I'll add that when shading the shoulder, you should take a look at people with similar-ish body structures.
Sumo Wrestlers might be a good starting point.

[dragonrc]

I would go for 1.
And for some reason I can't zoom into the last image you posted

[Xion]

mix 1 and 4. The roundness of the yellow in # 1 and the way it extends to the chin in # 4. I don't like the goatee.
And I guess you didn't notice Miascugh's edit to your last post.

[jedzed]

Here it is so far, ive resolved the problem with its chin but still its neck dont look right im trying to figur out what it is

[Presley]

I didn't like the excessive dithering on the left side of the (dragon's) head.

Made an edit to illustrate. I think that it's still as readable, maybe more since the dithering is gone. Also fixed AA slightly. Maybe go the same route as me, with minimal dithering for cohesion? ;P



Do with it what you will. 

[jedzed]

yours does actually looks better but my style is like what you did already so by dithering i gave my self a learning curve

[jedzed]

+ i chose to dither because it adds to the scaly texture

[uridicy]

This guy is just adorable. He's got great personality.

[tacky]

+ i chose to dither because it adds to the scaly texture

err...  no it doesnt?

i prefer the non dithered version.

[jedzed]

tacky yes it does...  and i dont care if you prefer non dither

[Feron]

Guys, this is starting to sound like a playground fight, we all have stylistic tastes it's what makes us individuals. 

Dither doesn't add to the scaley texture - its just looks a bit more messy.  This cartoony dragon does not need overly texturised surfaces, going down the clean aa'd route would be a wise move for this piece.  If you do want a textured piece, i would suggest studiying other pixelart dragons, and real lizards and you will see that dither is rarely used to create the main scale patterns.

i would also suggest losing some of the contrast, especially on the face.  The arms also look very pillowey.

[Larwick]

Looking at this picture, atm i prefer the right hand, original version. In that area the texture seems perfect to give a leathery, aged skin look. I must admit, it doesn't work so well on the rest of the image, but if worked upon i think it could be great. Presleys edit is great, and could be a good route to take if you just want to practice your shapes and forms for the moment.

All i have to say. 

[Faceless]

I'm of the opinion that you should always dither last, after you have >all< the shading and forms blocked out.
Dither isn't really suitable for eyes either.

[jedzed]

larwick has the right idea i think he knows what im aiming for when ive finished all the shading im going to put touches to it anyways,
, remember its not finished lol

and like i said i was on a learning curve  and my style is much too like presleys rendition of it i respect what your saying though ^.^

but id prefer it if people would make some criticism about its shape because im not too sure what going on with the neck area and cant work it out

[jedzed]

Here it is all finished done and dusted ^.^ took me QUITE a while i couldnt of done it without larwicks help 

[Agent green]

His nose and mouth confuse the crap outa me  what is going on there, his tongue is green at the bottom and doesnt even come out of his mouth
The teeth/horns seem to be their own bit, not comming from the mouth area (is it meant to be like this)

I do like the wonky nostrels tho 

I also like how he has man boobs.

[jedzed]

 

[jedzed]

His nose and mouth confuse the crap outa me  what is going on there, his tongue is green at the bottom and doesnt even come out of his mouth
The teeth/horns seem to be their own bit, not comming from the mouth area (is it meant to be like this)

I do like the wonky nostrels tho 

I also like how he has man boobs.

It is actually a statue at my house it head comes off the body so you can stick those smelly things inside it and it burns and makes smoke come out of its nose
Well if it would help ill do an overview of it...

Its head tilts back off from its body thats how its a mouth
The pieces of bone on top of its mouth are not teeth they are tusks
The holes nexdt to the tusks is its mouth thats why its sectioned off from the tusks
the purple squiggle is its dragon whisker type thing
i dont see how the nostrels cause confuse the shit out of you
the part under the nostrels is its chin
the flabby section under its chin is its neck since fat people hardly havve a neck thats how ive pursued it
and since its not a human i chose for it to hardly have a neck and have tits drooping from its supposive neck area since there is no right or wrong way about it

slight edit


o btw here it is on PJ http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/23406.htm comment and rate it if you will ^.~

[Arachne]

I think it would help if you moved the tooth closest to us a bit up and made it clearer that it's attached to the upper jaw. The same goes for the whisker.

The shading is a bit inconsistent. If the light is coming from above, everything should be shaded the same way, i.e. with the highlight close to the top of the shape. Think of your dragon as a bunch of spheres piled together. Also, the head and arm should be casting shadows on the body.



Otherwise, good work. He has a lot of character.

[jedzed]

there was a point when making this when i tried putting shadows udner the arm and head but since it was lighted from 2 directions it was kinda hard for me to figure i might go over it though, also i agree with moving its tusks up it looks much better and i aslo agree with the shading being inconsistant i chose to dither him all the way through to give him and aged leathery look i had the perfect pallete too but there wasnt much colours to work with sicne most of the dragon is made up of 4 colours x_x

I think it would help if you moved the tooth closest to us a bit up and made it clearer that it's attached to the upper jaw. The same goes for the whisker.

The shading is a bit inconsistent. If the light is coming from above, everything should be shaded the same way, i.e. with the highlight close to the top of the shape. Think of your dragon as a bunch of spheres piled together. Also, the head and arm should be casting shadows on the body.



Otherwise, good work. He has a lot of character.

i think i will try and have a go at reshading him ^.^

[jedzed]

meh... sorry for reviving a way paste dead post but my pc broke lmfao. ive done a little work on it since arachnes edit only the head and top end of the torso but let me say its looking mighty fine.

[Red_Mist]

I gotta say, when I first saw this piece, I wasn't really liking it. But You've really done a nice job improving it.  Its been crafted into a fine piece of art. keep up the good work.

[Rydin]

As far as the shading on the arms go...    I'm sure this is a slightly immoral reference, but see this.
It's not really as 'compartmentalized' (wow, actual word)...the light hitting the 'folds' doesn't go into each fold individually (well sort of if you look at the reference's right arm), but instead, the light kind of bleeds into the next fold...and the shading doesn't define the whole crease, just the dark parks of the crease.  So I guess I'm saying that you should keep that in mind...though it almost seems like you've got a start to that anyways. 
Moving on.
The belly looks dramatically better, good work; some cleaning and polishing here and there, and the belly will be looking amazing.  You might want to check out the spikes on the tail--if they are as shiny as the belly, they'd probably have some of the lightest orange on them.
Also, nice to see the shadow of the arm now. You've come quite a ways with this.  Can't wait to see it finished up 

[Rargh!]

Rydin's right. Go back to the start of this thread and you've made some great improvements. It's looking awesome  (And LOL about the Chinese kid. He looks so cute. Can you tell that I'm a dad?).

I have to agree, though, about the tongue. I wonder if it would read better if you drop it down into the corner of the mouth, rotating it so that the tip stays in the same white space as it does now?

[Indigo]

the latest update was just pixelled over Arachne's edit.  not very well either, you just dithered over a couple areas.  Go back to *your* version and do it yourself.  The point of edits are to give you direction - not the answer.

-Dan