AuthorTopic: Templar Guardian  (Read 7338 times)

Offline Kable

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Templar Guardian

on: October 14, 2007, 04:39:13 am
From hellgate London. The concept is not original but the pose and composition are mine...

I wanted to capture the essence of a weary warrior, but one that doesn't know the meaning of the word quit.

Offline Jad

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #1 on: October 14, 2007, 07:05:58 pm
Don't kill me now but I see it as that he's in the middle of

"What, there's something stuck on my boot?" *Stomps it off*

:D;;;
' _ '

Offline ndchristie

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #2 on: October 14, 2007, 10:16:20 pm
Don't kill me now but I see it as that he's in the middle of

"What, there's something stuck on my boot?" *Stomps it off*

:D;;;

you've just defined contraposto, woot.

as much as i like this, there's not much pixel to it.  a nice drawing.
A mistake is a mistake.
The same mistake twice is a bad habit.
The same mistake three or more times is a motif.

Offline Rydin

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #3 on: October 14, 2007, 10:29:14 pm
You could probably push some more detail into this if you used some more pixel-techniques...like dithering and aa and stuff, you know?  Because at the moment...it's pretty 'bleh'.
The right leg blends in with the left leg that's being lifted...also the back and the shield sort of melt together, too--which is a result of your slight highlighting, which I actually kind of like.  Looks like you forgot to light the sword though.
Oh, and there's a stray grey pixel under the sword.

But yeah, I think the main issues are detail and readability.
Man cannot remake himself without suffering for he is both the marble and the sculptor.

Offline JonathanOfDrain

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #4 on: October 14, 2007, 10:32:03 pm
Was playing with it a bit, tried to smooth things out so I darkened the colors a bit and added another color. Feel free to play with it, I think the colors probably aren't what you want but I didn't really like the greys.

Offline Jad

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #5 on: October 14, 2007, 11:18:01 pm
Don't kill me now but I see it as that he's in the middle of

"What, there's something stuck on my boot?" *Stomps it off*

:D;;;

you've just defined contraposto, woot.

as much as i like this, there's not much pixel to it.  a nice drawing.

EDIT: What, I posted this? An empty quote? Anyways, what I wanted to say was:

Yay, contraposto!

It's just that the 'one foot on toe' doesn't really convey 'tired' and 'worn out', I mean, when you're tired and want to go on, you place both feet firmly on the ground. I feel. Just that.

« Last Edit: October 15, 2007, 05:16:13 pm by Jad »
' _ '

Offline Kable

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #6 on: October 15, 2007, 03:40:23 am
The low color is basically a style choice, I did a Bezerk inspired one a few years ago that I used for an avatar on chat clients and stuff. I wanted to try to do a Templar in a simmilar style.



I do use color from time to time, but I definitely like low color / high contrast

Offline Helm

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #7 on: October 15, 2007, 04:09:34 am
Hello Kable. Long time no see.

The last piece suffers from banding, pillow-shading, very vague shading. You need to do more traditional studies with simple geometric shapes under single lightsources and move onwards. Your ghrasp of light needs a lot of work. I like the low contrast pieces, but they hide a very real artistic limitation. Furthermore the last image suffers from bad posture, and arm movements that don't signify anything/are uncomfortable. Think more about why a character would stand as we does, and always try the stances yourself against a mirror and see if they look natural.

Offline Andy Tran

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #8 on: October 15, 2007, 04:38:57 am
This last piece looks good. Nothing bad appears from it. The gradient effect you did was good for this piece. I would leave it there, but you can add anything you like.

Offline Opacus

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #9 on: October 15, 2007, 07:19:23 am
This last piece looks good. Nothing bad appears from it. The gradient effect you did was good for this piece. I would leave it there, but you can add anything you like.
I don't think gradient has ever looked good. Let alone on pixel art. Helm explained perfectly what is wrong with this piece.
And pillowy gradient shades are just simply a nono on pixel art, you know that don't you?

Offline Sohashu

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #10 on: October 15, 2007, 07:38:29 am
I think he [andy tran] is being sarcastic Opacus.  The first piece looks good, but i wish you could translate it into colour. 
Back from hiatus, just remembered how excellent this community is at forming technique in a fledgeling artist of any kind.

Offline sharprm

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #11 on: October 15, 2007, 10:57:18 am
The ninja piece needs a new left arm, maybe holding a heavy sword to justify the lean. I would lose the bright patch on his breast plate and just have it all black. The three fingers on his right hand seem too short. The head might need some more highlights on its right side, to make it easier to distinguish between a head and neck armour versus a 'shredder' (from ninja turtles) helmet. Cool concept though with very interesting legs.
Modern artists are told that they must create something totally original-or risk being called "derivative".They've been indoctrinated with the concept that bad=good.The effect is always the same: Meaningless primitivism
http://www.artrenewal.org/articles/Philosophy/phi

Offline madafacka

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #12 on: October 15, 2007, 02:06:48 pm
Hey kable! Its been a long time :)

-ndeal
« Last Edit: October 15, 2007, 02:09:02 pm by madafacka »

Offline Helm

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #13 on: October 15, 2007, 02:15:08 pm
Hello ndeal. Please send pms if you want to give a shout to old friends. Critique on the critique board please.

Offline madafacka

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #14 on: October 15, 2007, 02:45:14 pm
Sure thing helm. Wont happen again.

Offline Kable

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Re: Templar Guardian

Reply #15 on: October 17, 2007, 11:20:20 am
Hello Kable. Long time no see.

The last piece suffers from banding, pillow-shading, very vague shading. You need to do more traditional studies with simple geometric shapes under single lightsources and move onwards. Your ghrasp of light needs a lot of work. I like the low contrast pieces, but they hide a very real artistic limitation. Furthermore the last image suffers from bad posture, and arm movements that don't signify anything/are uncomfortable. Think more about why a character would stand as we does, and always try the stances yourself against a mirror and see if they look natural.

Yeah, I did the cyber samurai piece some time ago, and looking back on it now I agree completely about the posture. I still like the character design and proportions, the pillow shading was actually an attempt to get smooth metal look to it, but obviously I didn't quite pull it off. Color and shading have never been strong points for me.

@ndeal: hey man :)