AuthorTopic: Baby Dragon?  (Read 4584 times)

Offline LoTekK

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Baby Dragon?

on: May 29, 2007, 10:29:21 am
I'm generally more used to having many many more pixels to work with (just straight up digital painting and texture painting), though recently I've gotten into doing 3D for handhelds, which has gotten me interested once again in doing pure 2D pixel work. My friend wanted a baby dragon done up, but I couldn't really be arsed to paint one, so I decided to pixel one for fun.



Still not completely done, but I was hoping to get some crits in the meantime. I've been pretty haphazard about the selout so far, and I'm not sure how well the silhouettes of the back-plane leg and wing are reading. 11 colors at the moment.

ps. is it kosher to post handheld-spec 3D stuff on these forums? Stuff I've been working on have textures that average about 32x32 pixels.

Offline fil_razorback

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Re: Baby Dragon?

Reply #1 on: May 29, 2007, 03:07:48 pm
I can't explain things very well with words so here's a small edit.


IMHO, the main issue is the design : the foot is too big and the wing too small.

EDIT : finally got a better palette too -
« Last Edit: May 31, 2007, 09:03:19 pm by fil_razorback »

Offline LoTekK

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Re: Baby Dragon?

Reply #2 on: May 29, 2007, 03:43:02 pm
Thanks for the edit. I'm not sure I'll go with the smaller feet and bigger wings (I was kinda going for the "omg I can fit 20 of my hands into my footprint" feet, and the small non-functional wings, a la Pete's Dragon), but you've definitely helped out with the issue I was having with the upper legs. I'll fix that up (along with other shading bits) pronto.

Prior to your reply, I decided to putz around a bit with some fire. I haven't animated the dragon yet (nose twitch and some head movement, I guess), but I'll work on that soon enough.

Offline Serendor

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Re: Baby Dragon?

Reply #3 on: May 29, 2007, 05:31:49 pm
I think it would be nice if you make more details in your little wings...

suggest you take the same style as fil_razorback have on his wings but the same size as yours..

just my personal thoughts....

//Albin

Offline poingo

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Re: Baby Dragon?

Reply #4 on: May 29, 2007, 09:48:52 pm
I agree, the wings need just a little more detail, because right now they just look like weird appendages.
The above post may not be helpful at all, as the author usually has no idea what he is talking about.

Offline LoTekK

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Re: Baby Dragon?

Reply #5 on: May 29, 2007, 10:30:40 pm
Thanks. My last update was worked on before I saw fil's post, hence it not addressing any of his crits. :) Haven't worked much on this tonight, but I figured I'd post an update before I hit the sack. I've purtied up the wing, tweaked the legs a tad (still kept the big feet though), changed the shape of the snout, tweaked the eyes, and various other tweaks that I've forgotten about.

Offline Wayuki

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Re: Baby Dragon?

Reply #6 on: May 30, 2007, 08:23:30 am
While really big feet could work as a design, in this pose I think it doesn't work too well. The fact that it's feet are touching its chin makes it look a bit strange and hard to read. Personally I would either shrink them down, or have the dragon sit onto something with its feet dangling off. Like... maybe a pot of gold or a large mushroom.

Offline LoTekK

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Re: Baby Dragon?

Reply #7 on: May 31, 2007, 05:27:51 pm
Thanks Wayuki, I hadn't really thought about the feet in terms of readability before you mentioned. Good call, and, I'll probably shrink them down a mite. If I'm feeling adventurous/not lazy, I might take your second suggestion, and seat him on something fun instead. In the meantime, I've sorta let this one sit while I work on some other stuff, but I'll revisit him soon enough, promise. :)

Offline Ragnarok

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Re: Baby Dragon?

Reply #8 on: May 31, 2007, 05:44:33 pm
Dragons might be fantasy creatures, and thus have no correct way of drawing, but I suggest that you show the fire coming up or something like that. You could show it through his/her belly growing larger and the 'lump' getting closer to its nose before it actually breathes fire. Also: That reflection on the stomach is very, well, flickery. Maybe make it smoother in coming?
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Offline LoTekK

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Re: Baby Dragon?

Reply #9 on: May 31, 2007, 06:34:59 pm
Ragnarok, thanks for those suggestions. I was eventually going to get around to animating the head and nostril areas (like a small sneeze), but hadn't thought about what to do for the rest of the body.

Could you clarify about the stomach reflection, though? I'm not quite sure which part you're referring to (the way I've got the highlights from the fire, they're basically static until it starts to dissipate, at which point they semi-gradually disappear).