WIP Dump [nudity] LVL.2~ NEW Edits

[gliding]

Its been awhile since my last post on pixelation so I was hoping i could get some help on a few WIPs i've been messing with for a while. I'm just trying out a few things all at once- which is often my preferred method of getting in over my head;however, I'm confident that posting here will help me to finish most, if not all of these pieces.

The first few all share the same/ similar palette, so in your critiques and suggestions upon those works I'd appreciate advice on color choice and comments regarding my current usage of color in said works.
As far as the rest of the pieces go, any critique on fixing certain problem areas (like the rendering of hands in these pieces) would be appreciated. With the most incomplete WIP, I'd just like a few suggestions in regard to the direction of the piece, and color my color choice.

Thanks, in advance, for the help.

[Orclaeder]

You might want to include [NUDITY] in the title for people who are at school 

[Sherman Gill]

Dang, you got pretty damn goods while you were gone.
I love the little sprite lady.

On your weapons, though, the use of colors makes it look more rusty then metallic. I think, unless you want them to be so, you should work on reducing the noise.

[ndchristie]

instantly made me think of http://www.darkmaterials.com/knfart2.jpg

i think these are great, particularly the small sprite, though i'd say lose or redraw whatever is hanging off the back for the simple reason that i needed to call it "whatever..."

[gliding]

You might want to include [NUDITY] in the title for people who are at school 

sorry i forgot 

Dang, you got pretty damn goods while you were gone.
I love the little sprite lady.

On your weapons, though, the use of colors makes it look more rusty then metallic. I think, unless you want them to be so, you should work on reducing the noise.

Thanks for the complement . On the metals, I was going for a "magic metal" type look;however, if it just looks rusty, a change is certainly in order. Do you think i should eliminate a few colors to reduce the noise?

instantly made me think of http://www.darkmaterials.com/knfart2.jpg

i think these are great, particularly the small sprite, though i'd say lose or redraw whatever is hanging off the back for the simple reason that i needed to call it "whatever..."

Awesome, thats almost exactly what i was going for with the weapons- although i don't think i pulled it off nearly as well. In regard to the small sprite's "whatever," it was supposed to be gravity's work upon that cape from the portrait above her. I should probably just redo it for clarity.

Is there any color advice? This type of critique would help me the most- along with rendering hands and realistic anatomy.
In the mean time, I'll work on these pixels :3.

[Sherman Gill]

I don't think it's a matter of colors, I think it's how you're using them.

For the most part, you need to think of colors as linear values.
When you greyscale your sword, it still doesn't read very well due to the shimmer on the side.

I think if you want to make it look clearer you should smooth out the blades, and focus on readability of forms over that shiny characteristic which seems to becausing most of the problems.

[ndchristie]

careful about simple desaturation though as you won't get "true" values without taking brilliance into account.  The blue in your edit burns right through the rest and is neither smooth nor subtle.

[gliding]

Ahhh ok, that makes sense to me (the picture); however, I don't fully understand the comment on linear values. Can you elaborate? I like the edit, I'll work on it some more.

@adarias, what would you suggest? I've always been intrigued by your color work.

[Sherman Gill]

Argh, I hate monitor differences.
The blue only takes slightly more priority in my edit then in the greyscale for me.

Gliding:
Linear values means like, the value scale. 1 is black, 10 is white, everything inbetween is different shades of grey.
You need to think of the colors as points on that scale, so for example, the tan would be 9, the light blue would be about 7, the green would be 6, the blue that I changed into a purple would be 5, etc.

[gliding]

Ohhh ok i understand now, I think this happened due to the fact that those same colors had different uses prior to their appearance in the weapons, and i ended up combining separate ramps- which must have caused problems as far as the values are concerned.
Or i screwed up

[EDIT]

Ok so i worked on a new rendition of the sword in question- slightly tweaking the colors as i went. I also tried to eliminate a few of the glaring anatomical errors on the largest line art. I'm thinking of draping a sheet over the thigh area, however i'd like to get the basic form as close to perfect as possible before adding the rest. I also made a few edits on Caroline -the "sprite lady" whose name is subject to change at my slightest whim Not: her cape was made larger in this rendition to give a "too big for you" look which i tried to depict in the superdeformed sprite.


C&C welcome