WIP Dunkleosteus thing

[Rokuji]

I've been lurking around these threads for some time now, looking at critiques and gaining information and improving as a pixel artist as I watched. I never had anything worth posting here, untill recently.


Its just lineart now, and even that needs some cleaning up, though i did as best as i could before i uploaded it. I will color it eventually, but i thought i would get some critique before i started that.

I'll tell you right now, i'm not the best at coloring, but i feel confident enough to try it out. I am pretty proud of this lineart though.

[AdamAtomic]

Top of head/tip of nose looks a little narrow to me, i like the creative body interpretation though!!  Also i think it's spelled Dunkleosteus   thx for the dino love!

[Rokuji]

http://www.uta.edu/paleomap/homepage/Schieberweb/images/general/dunkleosteus.jpg this is the reference picture i used for the head, but i guess from the perspective i drew it in it would be a little different.

And yeah, i'm a big fan of prehestoric sea-life. Not so much dinosaurs though(by dinosaurs i mean the big reptiles), I like the ordovincian and devonian and etc.

[Rokuji]

Preliminary coloring, mostly just to see what colors go where.

Any opinions on the color choice? Critiques? I definately know that i will need some help with the coloring.

Oh, and ignore the teeth, i will change those colors eventually.

[Jolly]

I hope you're not leaving the outlines there. :p
Looks like you're pillowshading, where's the light coming from? 

[Sherman Gill]

I think your art is really suffering because you're working on a pure white background. It doesn't have the contrast it needs.
Pretty much, pay no attention to how wacky the colors are, just pay attention to how much contrast there is. Also, is the thing supposed to be underwater?

I would do more than a color edit, but my tablet is totally borked

[Ben2theEdge]

First of all, beautiful lines! I'm really excited to see this guy finished! Now for the pain:

Pillow shading! Bad! *Slap*
There needs to be one unified light source. It seems like each section of the body has its own little light source shining down on it and they're all fighting with each other, telling the eye conflicting stories, and overall making him look like he's made out of big squishy marshmallows. It looks like you're using every shade in your color ramp on every area that you color. I would recommend starting with fewer shades, maybe three - light, mid and dark. First do a simple pass - decide which areas the light should be hitting and which areas should be in shadow. Get each area at the proper overall value, then start to add more shades for volume.

This was the best reference I could come up with; notice how even though the light is very soft and subtle there is still a very clear source of light and appropriate shadows.
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/01/24/frilled_shark_wideweb__470x259,0.jpg

[Rokuji]

Hey, i like that pallette. I wont steal it, but i will definately up the contrast.

As for the whole pillow shading thing, i was thinking about using less colors, but idk. Simply changing the colors to be more contrasting seems like a better idea to me.

I willl also find a set lightsource and try to make everything realistic around that, but i may not do it so well. I really tried not to pillowshade, but it looks like i failed. I will update with an edit soon enough.


EDIT: I stole the background gray, but otherwise it is my own pallete, similar as it may be.

I will try editing with the shading now, i suppose.

[RhysD]

dont use his shading...take your own pallete and shade it from scratch, using the advice the other posters have given you.

[Arachne]

It looks better now contrastwise, but your choice of colors seems somewhat arbitrary since there are some strange hue leaps in your color ramps. From blue to brown in the color ramp used for the head, for instance, and there's a blue tinted green between two greener greens used on the body. Try to make the transition from the hue in the brightest end of the ramp to the darkest end more even.

It also looks as if its back is broken in several places. I'd try to get it to curve more naturally.

I'd also use colors from the head on the fins since it would make the head seem less separated from the rest of the body.