[WIP] Sarah Connor (Terminator 2)

[SeDiceBisonte]

I'm working on a picture of Sarah Connor as she appears in Terminator 2 but I'm struggling to capture actress Linda Hamilton's likeness.


I'm only worried about the face at the moment because I'll work on the hair and body once I've got a better likeness. I've tried sketching directly from some of the images below and I can get them to look like her, but this three-quarter view is infuriating because her jaw is quite wide, but the front of her face is quite narrow.

If anyone has any comments about the palette then they would also be appreciated because this is my first time coming up with one. Hopefully it's clear what I was going for – a pinkish light behind her and off to the side with a general blue light that's more diffuse and distant on the other side.

I'm not specifically basing it on any one reference but, the longer I've struggled, the more I've leaned on the top left image in this collage of reference images I've put together:

[Chonky Pixel]

Just a quick 2c. I'm not a portrait guy really, but a couple of things I noticed:

 - You've given her small nostrils. In the photos her nostrils are a lot more exaggerated. Larger and wider.
 - A common feature of the references is the large lips with the down-turn at the corners. I think you need to make the top lip fuller and curl the bottom lip up into the top lip earlier, to make the bottom lip a bit more narrow and curvy.
 - The lips are one of her defining features, so where you go into the shaded part of the face you could carry on the shape rather than losing definition to the shadow. This could either be by using another shade or by suggesting an outline for a few pixels, to give the viewer something to grasp hold of.

In general terms, she's beautiful but she's been made hard by the horrors of her life. Tighten up the musculature so she looks toned. Change the expression from "worry" to "business-like"

Finally, the hair gives me the impression of being something like dreads, which isn't the right look. Her hair is pretty wispy...

This is all pretty general but I don't have loads of time. Good luck, I believe you're on the right track.

[SeDiceBisonte]

That's really helpful - thanks!



The hair and body are literally just sketches at the moment. I wanted to post this image earlier in the process than with my Ripley one because I reached a point with that where I felt I'd learn more from starting fresh than continuing to tinker given the nature of the issues with it. Ideally I want to get the face right on this and then I'll move on to the body and the nightmare that the hair is certain to be (although your advice has convinced me to add in an extra shade to work with).

I tried a few different things with the nostrils but this seemed to be as large as I could get them before it looked odd. I know it's not a dramatic change.

I've hopefully incorporated everything you said about the mouth. I'm not quite sure I'm there yet but I'll continue to work on it. I think one thing I like that's emerged from the changes is a more determined and slightly aggressive expression. I've probably gone a bit beyond business-like in that respect!

I've also fiddled with the palette based on critique from Limes at Pixel Joint:

At this point the reflected light is much too extreme on 1 side, choose the side you want to be the main light and the side that is reflected light!

I took that to mean that it looked too much like she was sitting between two coloured lights and that the blue didn't seem enough like ambient light, so hopefully the lower contrast helps.

[Boraka]

Hi! Looking nice, and I love the character, I'm eager to see how this develops.

I did a quick and crapy edit with the things I think I would change



- I tried to do the lips a little bit fuller and wider
- I did also the brows fuller and bushiert, she has nice and natural wild brows
- Also I tried to change the angle of the eyes slightly, since I have the feeling that the current angle was giving her a sad expression, and she is rather fierceless fierceless
- I did the nose a little bit pointier

I don't think that is more look-a-like now, but hopefully will give you some ideas?

[SeDiceBisonte]

Thanks so much for the kind words and the edit! 

Here's what I've got before I finish tonight:



Hopefully the eyebrows are looking a bit bushier now. I think I was being a bit too conservative with them before because, in light of your comment, I'd actually say they're a defining feature. Your edit has really helped with the nose too (the eyes too but I think I need to work more on them).

I've probably not gone far enough with the lips but I have tried to fill them out a bit more. I can feel myself resisting going further because I'm used to referring to the top left reference image most, but Linda Hamilton's lips are clearly quite full in most photos. I don't want you to think I've disregarded that part of your edit because I'll be working more on it tomorrow. I definitely need to go a pixel or two wider on the blue side.

[Limes]

"At this point the reflected light is much too extreme on 1 side, choose the side you want to be the main light and the side that is reflected light!"

I meant it more like this...


Not a real edit just trying to get what I'm saying onto "paper"

Do not be afraid to let these colors collide... It's like she's cut in half.
I am getting a feel of dissonance from them being like that.
I would also recommend playing with the pallet some mid tones would help I think, the gap from the blue to the purple is too extreme, although this comes secondary to form so. Just something to note.
the portrait in and of itself looks difficult though. Keep going I want to see more!

ALSO remember the eyes BRING the portrait to LIFE, try to avoid letting them be diluted like that.

[fskn]

Played around with her facial features a little bit. Made her mouth wider, moved the eyes slightly...




Before/After:



A little bit of a snarl, perhaps?



---
I really like Limes' edit above, though. Could use some of that dark pink on the right, medium blue on the left... Hmm...

---

Eh, went ahead and did some of the body too. Maybe too toned? Too bulky/masculine?

https://i.imgur.com/Wbz97zm.png

Last edit for now:

[Limes]

Here is me messing around with the colors...

the pallet is difficult.

I was just drawing a face not necessarily Sarah Conner, I just wanted to show you some possibilities with the colors.
The pink section that says dither are color combinations that can be subtly dithered together. and I made my rendition of the pallet in dark to light.(its the same pallet just organized in my eyes)

Please note, this is not an anatomy lesson, My nose is majorly overdone, the expression has become worried and she now looks like a cartoon character. This is a critique of the use of colors! What I did was overkill, but hopefully can help. I couldn't help myself from messing around at the end out of boredom but hopefully you enjoy it at least.

[SeDiceBisonte]

Latest version:


I'm still working on the predominantly blue side but I'm finding it more of a puzzle. It's intentionally darker but it's also taking up more of the image so I feel I shouldn't leave it quite so devoid of detail. I'm thinking an extra blue shade might be the answer when I start again tomorrow.

The biggest change is based on Limes' critique. Thanks! I get what you mean now and your edit made it pop.

I've shifted the darkest of the pink tones a bit more towards blue and I think that's helping a bit. As far as the palette goes generally, it doesn't need to be difficult – I'm just bad at coming up with them (although this is also my first attempt so that's probably to be expected). I think my palette looks "immature" but I'm not sure how best to improve it. Since the palette choice isn't being forced on me, I'm happier adding extra shades before dithering, especially since I only have nine colours at the moment. Am I correct in thinking that my blues are too saturated but that the pinks/purples are more reasonable?

I feel your pain with faces, especially since Connor isn't a traditionally feminine character.

I've hopefully taken fskn's anatomical edits onboard. I've stuck with the current expression but I love the snarl. I've stuck with the larger line below and to our right of the mouth in reference to this picture: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103064/mediaviewer/rm876769280 (I couldn't fit all my references into the collage and this one didn't make the cut). I think it adds character but I'm open to alternative opinions. I'll refer back to your edit of the body once I get onto that section. I think you've gone a little bulky since, although she's muscular, she's also very slim, but I think it's very useful to see the musculature exaggerated a bit. I notice in most images that the muscles going from her neck to her shoulders (trapezius?) seem to be particularly bulky.

Thanks again for the great crits!

[Limes]

I was unsatisfied with my Edit so I got this for you, I would recommend using only the deep purple for the cheek there. I played with it myself and it was hard to get to sit right, The pallet is very difficult. A difficult pallet isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just takes more time to get right.

I've shifted the darkest of the pink tones a bit more towards blue and I think that's helping a bit. As far as the palette goes generally, it doesn't need to be difficult – I'm just bad at coming up with them (although this is also my first attempt so that's probably to be expected). I think my palette looks "immature" but I'm not sure how best to improve it. Since the palette choice isn't being forced on me, I'm happier adding extra shades before dithering, especially since I only have nine colours at the moment. Am I correct in thinking that my blues are too saturated but that the pinks/purples are more reasonable?

a purple such as this w/o even changing any other colors would work.



Great progress so far.

[SeDiceBisonte]

I wasn't planning to post any progress today but I'm not sure how much I can do over the next couple of days so I thought it'd make sense to pop something here in case anyone has any comments:


I messed around with the cheek for ages and I agree that anything more than the deep purple doesn't work. I might rein that purple cluster in a bit. My general thinking was that it couldn't enter into the shadow cast by the nose or extend round to the near side of her cheek too much. I'm not sure how well it works given the similar value to the blue, but the palette is still something I'm thinking about.

I had a play with the extra purple but I was finding it hard to make it work. I haven't tried an extra shade of blue yet but I'm still planning to test that idea.

Other than that, I've just started on the body. The arms especially are very WIP. I think the aforementioned extra shade of blue would probably help with the readability of the scar.

[Limes]

the new cheek is cool looks good.

I'm not a color expert so I wouldn't really know what to do for the pallet.
Maybe the new purple is too luminous.

The lightest blue should be prioritized before the new purple...

you could even go purple lightest blue the deep purple and the same lightest blue, and it would make sense to the eyes as long as the blue ramp is followed afterwards.

Same goes for New purple to lightest blue to deepest purple afterwards as long as the purple ramp is followed afterwards. Play with it.

[fskn]

Worked some more on her face. It's rough, still doesn't look that much like her, but I guess it's more "solid".
On yours, if you don't mind me saying, it lacks that dimensionality.

I had made her nose too wide before, I apologize for that.



EDIT: Also, by looking straight at us and squinting her eyes a bit it makes her look more fierce. On your last one she looks in doubt, worried, even fearful.

[SeDiceBisonte]

Neck, arms, top, and hair are all still very WIP:



Limes: I looked at what you did with the shoulder for ages and, while what I've done looks very different, it was actually heavily informed by your edit. I haven't tested out mixing the purple and blue ramps any more yet because I still want to get the face right. I've changed the brow a bit but perhaps there's too much purple on the near side still since she (like most women) doesn't have all that pronounced a brow.

fskn: I don't mind you saying anything at all I want to improve and I completely agree. Hopefully this edit addresses the issues with dimensionality. I've tried to improve the eyes. I still don't think I've got to 'fierce' yet but hopefully she looks less worried. With the new shading on the blue side of the face, I've also tried to unify the blue lighting so that's why the near arm has changed so much.

[Limes]

YES that face is really good. It's shaping up pretty nice here, I don't have and criticism I could give on this one. The eye's are a huge improvement.

[SeDiceBisonte]

Thanks so much, Limes!

I've started on the hair now. The ponytail is blank because I couldn't make it look like hair no matter what I did. I'll keep experimenting but it's difficult to get the right texture.

[SeDiceBisonte]

Bump with a small update:


I darkened the hair so she didn't look grey/platinum blonde, altered the "pink" nostril and threw the vaguest suggestion of a background in. I wanted a bit more going on in the background so you could properly see the shape of her head silhouetted against it, but any more than this looked too busy.

I tested a little suggestion of texture on her top on the pink side but I'm not sure if it's just better without. I'm also still curious to know if there's a way to improve the ponytail. This is the best I've got at the moment after trying a lot of different methods, most of which looked more like she had a lump of plasticine stretching down from the back of her head.

[fskn]

Her facial features are (still) very masculine... Mouth, chin, nose and eyes, brow, jawline... Her lips make it look like she's pressing them together, the nose looks too big. The length may be fine, but it's too wide.

The shading on the left side looks okay, but on the right side it kinda looks like it's been painted, like David Bowie in the Alladin Sane album cover.

It's a hard face to pixel, I've tried multiple times and failed, so it may take a while to get right. But I would put more time in it to try and make it look like her, because it's such a cool character and goes so well with your Ripley portrait.

As for the body, I think Boraka's thread has a great example of how you could shape that in terms of clusters of colors.
Studying it could help you with the hair too, I guess. Maybe you could bring the ponytail forward and over the shoulder like one of your references? You could then use more colors and define it a bit further.


---

EDIT:



There, a bit more feminine.
Smaller nose, thinner neck, fewer expression lines, smoother face and rounder, softer lips.
Smaller eyes and irises, and the little highlight in the eye pointing towards us, which somehow makes it look like she's looking in our direction (yeah, I don't know either).


Before/After:


---

Another try. Took it as a personal challenge as you may guess.



I tried to reshape her jaw a bit, and to give her a prouder (?) posture. Didn't fiddle too much with it, though.
The mouth is really, really challenging for me.
Hopefully she didn't get that generic mcgeneric face now.

[SeDiceBisonte]

Thanks so much! That was all very helpful. Here's my latest version. I've been busier with work and haven't been able to work on it much, but I've tried to correct everything you said about the face. Ignore everything else because I haven't done any more to the body and the ponytail looks very rough. I really liked the idea to bring it forward (I also think it accentuates her femininity) but I've not hit on the right way to make it look like hair yet. I've studied several portraits on PixelJoint and looked at Boraka's thread, and I'm sure I'll crack it at some point. It's been so long that I'm eager for more crits on the face though!



I'm hoping that the extra mid blue is reducing the painted effect, but I think I'll need to play with the values of all the blues to get it to work properly.

For some reason, I've only seen your second edit now as I'm posting this, so I'll have a proper look at it later.

Thanks again. I really appreciate all your help! Eventually this will get bashed into shape...

Edit: have looked at that second edit more and it's definitely not generic mcgeneric face! I really like the mouth. I'd intended to stick to a fairly neutral expression but you've got such a great likeness going on there.

[Gunpog!]

Hey nice piece. I've read nothing so forgive me if I'm being redundant but judging by the last version (which is good, again), I have the feeling that:
1-You're not making the most out of your own palette.
2-You could make some lines more appealing.
3-You could make some clusters more appealing, too.

I played with your pic just a little bit to strengthen my point and -hopefully- help you.

Just being playful, changing some clusters and curves to make them more appealing to me, fiddling just a little bit with your palette and adding some AA here and there. Nothing is a definite statement, just some food for thought!
 
So...
For point 1, you already have the colors that are needed to make things a little bit less rough (with AA) within your piece. Antialiasing is a delicate task because overdoing it is bad (and can be worse than not doing it at all). But you did some AA. So, why stop so early and end up with rough edges? Especially since your piece is an illustration, and more so, an illustration based on a photograph. If AA is not the right way to go here, I do not know when it is!

For point 2, some of your curves could respect the pixel art 1-2-3...3-2-1 rule a bit more. I mean it's okay to not respect it all the time (especially if you antialias it) but it's something you should keep in mind: a more encompassing gradating curve feels more appealing than a varying one (like what I did for her left shoulder).

For point 3, kinda same thing but even harder to explain. Really look at all cluster and judge it. Is it really the most appealing you can make? If not, try to change it a little bit. It's often about simplifying it, making it more round and soft or on the contrary, more pointy, depending on the context. The key here is to step back from actual anatomy and go into abstraction. Try to think in terms of pure "shapes" and the solution will often appear to you.

But clearly, seeing the awesome progress during the whole thread, you're totally on the right way to go!

[fskn]

Just a super quick reply: At this point, I think I would look at more references, especially lighting references to try and get that right.
You may be able to find something in the movies, but in this day and age you can find some 3D references online, which would definitely be helpful, like this turnaround of a young Sarah Connor model someone did:
https://youtu.be/AbHG8XqMhq0

And this handy tool for a lighting reference:
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6a0Par

I think one of these frames here would be a somewhat good match:

But you could play around with it a bit more.

EDIT: Oh, guess what. There's an app that's actually called "Handy Art Reference Tool"...
https://www.handyarttool.com
Maybe that could be... Y'know...

[SeDiceBisonte]

There's been another big delay since I'm still busy with work (I also wanted to enter the last PixelJoint weekly challenge) but I have managed to work on this a fair bit too.

The ponytail is still just the result of me experimenting with different things and is very WIP.


I feel like I'm getting closer to a likeness now, but it still needs tweaking.

@fskn
Thanks for that. It was very helpful to be pulled back towards some good references. I'd very much come unstuck there and I think the lighting and the forms are much more sensible and accurate now. The blue side of the face is still too reminiscent of Aladdin Sane. I've added in an extra shade of pink to better blend that side, but I think yet another mid blue might be needed on the right hand side to get rid of the painted feel.

@Gunpog!
Thanks so much for the extremely helpful pixel technique advice, and sorry it's taken so long to reply! I've tried to neaten this up along the lines of your crit. I'd previously read Helm's pixel cluster thread but I'm very much someone who learns by doing and, while I think I'm a long way off making satisfying clusters, your comment about thinking in terms of pure shapes was especially useful.
I've also tried to neaten up the lines and add more AA (I agree that this style suits it and I'd been too conservative and inconsistent). I'm still shifting bits of the image around and redrawing them, so I may have broken other parts without noticing. I'm going to do a final pass over the whole thing once I think I've achieved a good enough likeness for my level of skill.

[fskn]

That is quite an improvement!

[SeDiceBisonte]

Edit:


I think these colours are better. Back down to twelve colours (a number I'd arbitrarily like to stick to) and it more closely resembles my original vision. I think the pink also pops more with the less saturated blues.

I've also done a bit more on the face. It's getting closer but the mouth is killing me! I'm also tempted to put the ponytail back. I want to learn and I don't want to run away from a challenge, but I've tried at least four different ways of shading it and I can't make it feel either like hair or part of the scene.

Original post:

Thanks!

Just a small update because I have a question (ponytail still just as it looks during further experimentation):


I've added in two new shades of blue to try to smooth out the face and eliminate the painted look. I instinctively feel like this isn't necessary, but no amount of shifting the existing colours around seems to give me the ability to smooth the image out in a way that feels natural. Is the image alright with thirteen colours and do they all seem justified?

The lighter of the two new blues is only subtly different to the shades on either side, but that side of the image is intended to be lower contrast than the pink/purple side.

[fskn]

I gave it some time to see if someone with better expertise would show up to give their opinions, but I guess you're stuck with me! xD

So, about adding more colors... I think it's fine. If you stick to whichever small amount of colors you think is reasonable... I mean, ultimately it's your call, right? It does feel weird to me, though (and that's just my personal preference) when shading in a pixel art image is too smooth. So, IMHO, and to my eyes, your newer image looks better.

The mouth is hard, isn't it? It gave me a lot of trouble too. You might want to try to do straight copies your references to try and get a feel for how to represent it and her other features in this piece (though not necessarily in pixel art).
Her eyes look thinner to me, so for that, your older version, from these last two, is a bit more accurate.

As for the ponytail, if you decide to keep it in the front and over her shoulder, with your extra colors you could probably smooth it out like the strands in front of her face, even using some pink; I think it would catch some of that light.
Some people don't like "too much AA" in pixel art, but I mean, the colors are there, why not use them? Unless you set for yourself other restrictions, like only having a certain number of colors per "cell" (8x8/16x16 area)...

[SeDiceBisonte]

I definitely don't consider that a problem. Thanks for sticking with me!

Here's what I've got:


Aside from the ponytail, the changes are pretty subtle. I suspect I might be at the limit of my ability for the moment so, aside from a final pass to tidy it up and improve the ponytail, this is pretty close to being done.

I agree with you about shading in pixel art. I don't have to stick to twelve colours but thirteen seems like a weird number. Something in me just doesn't like it and, with the new blues, I think I've got all the shades I need.

[fskn]

Some slight edits.




I began by softening ever so slightly the philtrum, and went the other way with the upper lip, trying to make it a bit sharper as it's what I gather from the references...
Then I tried to make her chin a little wider while making the side of her face a little less bumpy.

Then eeehh... I added a bit of highlight to the nose. Dunno if it's correct, but, y'know, felt like doing it.

The highlights on her ponytail looked too regular, so I made them... more irregular.

And lastly, I futzed with her hairline a little bit, bringing some hair over her temple.

Oh, and I removed one pixel from her left eye, because it looked like a stray.

There's something there that still feels masculine. I wonder if it's the nose to mouth lines.


EDIT; Maybe it's the chin..?



Gah, I don't know!

[SeDiceBisonte]

Edit:


Here's a tidied up, finished version. Yeesh, this has taken a while. I know what I need to practice now, at least!

Original post:

I'm calling this "pre-finished" because I think this is where I'd leave it if I were just on my own (save for the final pass to check for jaggies, missing AA etc). That's not to say that I won't act on any further crits, but I'm looking to move on soon for the sake of my sanity!



Those were some really helpful crits (as always). I was convinced that making her cheeks blockier was the key to getting the likeness, but your softer version was much better.

I'm quite pleased with the mouth now. It doesn't look too bad if you rotate the image round so her features are level. I've clearly not nailed the resemblance but each individual feature looks a lot better to me, and I think it's at least a reasonable looking human face, even if it's not necessarily Linda Hamilton's.

I kept the lighting on the nose as it was, but your edit did make me realize I needed to make it a bit more bulbous at the end, and I've made the left side (our left) nostril more prominent too. I also tried to make the eyebrows less arched as well as a few other tweaks here and there.

Those hair tips were really good too. I left the hair off the temple because I couldn't get it to look right and, in the end, I found I was beginning to get a bit frustrated with it and that I was delaying making any progress with the rest of the face. It's definitely the sort of detail that I'll pay more attention to with my next project because I do think it makes that part of the image look better.