Need crit on a meteor pixel signiture updates 22nd Oct!

[`Rob]

Hi, this is like my second thread here in ages, i mostly browse. Yes this is a runescape signiture im mostly after critisism on the meteor, tree and suggestions on colours and ways to do the ground etc. feel 100% free to make as many edits to this as you need.

Updated; took away the previous one with the bad cropping and added an improved version.















New update; Any better? 


Thanks alot for helping, Rob 

[Larwick]

I suggest you crop your image. At the moment it's quite hard to see it clearly because the white is so bright next to the picture, which is quite dim in comparison. Once you crop it i'm sure people will find looking at it easier. 

[skeddles]

The meteor looks really good. I'd just drop the grayishness on the front, thats wher it should be the lightest/most saturated(i guess).
Considering how close that flaming meteor is to that guy, the ground, and that tree, everything should be a lot lighter. The guy should be very lit up, with relatively dark shadows, same with the tree. Then the ground should be lighter around them.
And is it night time? if so, the mountains should be much darker, and no matter white time, they should be less saturated because they are so far away.
Keep working at it, I think this will be really cool.

[sharprm]

I'd say the head in the guys hand's needs to be made bigger at the back. It seems his hands are too long and his forearm could be thicker. Other than that looks pretty good. Is the meteor in front of the mountians? If so, the ground below could glow. Also it looks a bit like the meteor is fire coming out of the dead head.

[rabidbaboy]

Dude, this is your chance to do uber dramatic lighting, since the meteor is so close.

The leg under the cape should be in shadow more.

Hope to see a more dramatized lighting.

[`Rob]

updated

[Malor]

hmmm The lightsource on the axe in the tree stump does not match, unless there are two. I would assume the meteor to be the main lighsource, but you have it shaded as if there is a light coming from our left. Really this piece could be improved with some more dynamic shading. That meteor is providing a great opportunity to add some great ambient lighting.

[sharprm]

It could be light reflected onto the axe from the stump. I like it cos its like shadow of the beast. The green guys right hand is in a bad place, i think it needs to be moved out. The blue guy's right leg looks
bad. Hope you fix these problems when you have settled on your composition.

[JJ Naas]

A kind of Frank Frazetta -like situation, only the obligatory helpless babe is missing.

I agree with sharprm's first post that the severed head needs to be bigger in the back.

The composition in itself could be improved greatly if..

1. You extended the canvas downwards so that their feet didn't crop off, which is always bad.
2. You moved the meteor to the left so it wouldn't seem as if it were touching the foreground elements.
3. The empty area on the right seems unnecessary.
4. The shape of the meteor seems bumpy.. make it elliptical.

[Malor]

hmmm with further examination..

All of the things depicted in this scene, are all in the front, which leaves the middle ground and back ground unbalanced with the foreground. I would add some depth, and I would attempt to make the severed head more realistic. I assumed it was an odd shield for a week, and only today realized it was a severed head

[`Rob]

updated again, moved the meteor, made his head slightly larger and started shading the montains. thanks alot for your comments, any edits would be greatly appreciated! thanks alot, - rob

[`Rob]

Updated:

Added quite a bit, tried a bit more dramatic highlighting 

[eck]

now the tree needs aa.

[philipptr]

I'm not trying to say OMG 174 COLORS ARE TOO MUCH!111, but 174 are really a pain to work with if you want to make some fine looking pixel art.
I think you should limit yourself to max 64 colors (which is totally enough for such a piece), but yeah I guess its your decision..
I made a little quick edit trying to add more depth since that seems to be a big problem with this scene..

There's only one visible light source in this scene, and as the background suggests a nightscene, I don't get why the two guys and the rest of the foreground are so bright from the viewers side. My edit doesn't completly fix this problem, but it might give an idea in what direction you could go

[Arachne]

I like how the background is coming along, but I think you need a lot more light than that, and, like philipptr mentioned, the rest should be even darker. It has also been mentioned before, but the gray colors in the meteor need to go. Replace them with white or yellow. I also think 174 colors are too much. Personally, I'd go for about 30 or so since there's mostly brown in the palette.

The shading on the two men makes them seem flat. The blue knight should be mostly in shadow since he's between us and the light source, and there should also be a lot more shadow on the green knight. The blood would also reflect some light.

I'd place the green knight's leg in front of the blue's since it looks very odd that he's standing next to the man he's attacking.

Their legs are malformed, too. Make their thighs the same size and shape. The blue knight also needs bigger hands.

I don't think you'd be able to see stars that close to a bright light source like that. Maybe in the other end of the image, but not that close to the meteor.

What's the orange shape at the top of the tallest tree?

[`Rob]

had just done this;



then i read you're CC and looked at phillipptr's edit and changed it to this, thanks so much for the help , especially phil's edit helped alot. just realised how stupid the grey bits in the meteor looked   



and Arachne it's a volcano erupting.

[Sherman Gill]

TO THE MAX, SUPER ROUGH EDIT:
(All I editted was the guy.)
Though this has improved MASSIVELY since you first posted it, you've consistently avoided increasing the contrast too much. Though your last edit was an improvement, it was a compromise between Philip's moderate, but still lacking lighting (No offense), and your old, randomly illuminated pic-a-ture.

[Arachne]

Here's what I had in mind.



Garish, maybe, but I think it's what you'd get if you placed something in front of a bright flame at night. I also changed the shape of the meteor since the friction from the air (which is what's making it burn in the first place) would push the flames back. Also added some more red to the lava to make it less uniform.

I reduced the color count drastically. You could easily double the color count here and still end up with only a fifth of what you're using. Color conservation might seem like a lot of hassle, but it'll make you think more about the few colors you are using.

[`Rob]

those edits help so much, thank you both i will definetly change quite a bit with regard to lighting, however im not sure if i want to commit to such a heavy change, as it's mainly for a good appearance, not realism, if you can understand where i'm coming from  but i will definetly take your edits into account. thanks again, i'll post an update asap.

[`Rob]

any better? 

added an update to 1st post, to see contrast better between the new one and previous one.

[Atum]

does a volcano eruption only go to one side?...I think you should make the explosion balanced so it doesnt looke like a giant fireball is about to crash into the earth 

[comradvolk]

Here's what I had in mind.


...shape of the meteor since the friction from the...

I'm not sure if that's a meteor, That Might be a volcano eruption.

[Reldros]

Here's what I had in mind.


...shape of the meteor since the friction from the...

I'm not sure if that's a meteor, That Might be a volcano eruption.

If a volcano eruption was that large it would probably be </earth>.

[sharprm]

The big ball is a meteor, to the right near the tree is a volcano erupting. I think having the tree and volcano eruption overlapping may be a bad idea. Perhaps have the volcano on the very right mountain instead.

[big brother]

I think enough is going on in the picture without the volcanic eruption anyways. It only distracts from the focus.

[Malor]

Yes.

This piece has improved greatly, but don't be afraid to completely redo shading. I am not saying you have to, mind you. But it would be worth attempting to broaden your horizons, and trying something different. I am looking forward to the final product

[Senad]

dude, the chopped of head is too little.. add some more hair behind to make it round, and i suggest you listen to those advices, it would really rock if you make it darker and add more and stronger reflection becouse that comet is HUGE, and just take a lamp in a room for example.. or just little fire.. and see how much it lights up..

Keep it up, you have improved, lookin good.

~B_j0k3r0