[newbie] Pixel Face

[arfalas]

Hi! Here is my first not-so-good attempt to pixel-drawing,
a tattooed face with a crown (i.e. an ugly mayan warrior) :




I would be glad to get C+C, the harder,the better

edit :





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Hope nothing goes wrong!

[Rydin]

It's good--lots of detail for a small canvas and only 4 colors.  However, it's very bland.  It's not engaging to look at whatsoever.

I suggest that you let each color....explode a little, you know?  Make each color work for a living!  Right now you got very unsaturated, faint colors, and they're all just barely hanging out together, like ghosts.  Imagine if each color was bursting with power!  I'm not saying be all out bright and happy-2d-platformer--lol, it's an ugly mayan warrior for god's sake  --no, not bright and happy, but a dynamic palette. (maybe let the blueish hue be the shade color, the red be the neutral, and the light-greenish hue be the highlights?)

Also, a few words on the outline:  As it stands right now, you're using a lot of precious pixels with the black outline.  If it were my piece, I'd maybe only outline just around the outside...and maybe use a few specks of black here and there for the really dark areas--the rest of the areas could be done with a dark color (see above ).

With these two things, you would be addressing the current lack of depth/volume...and thus make it a lot more fun to look at.

Good luck! 

EDIT: btw, welcome to Pixelation!!

[arfalas]

Rydin,

thank you for the detailed critic!
I tried to change the palette ( a hundred times, actually), but I am not satisfied:




I feel like I failed to get the point about the whole thing 
Maybe I should try to expand the palette 
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Thanks for the warm welcome   

[Arachne]

I think you're off to a good start, and the new palette is a step in the right direction. The red and purple blend together a bit too much, though. I would darken the purple a bit so that it's easier to tell them apart. I would also try to make his facial features read better, which you could do by removing some of the dithering and make his nose and lips more visible and lower his nostrils. He looks a bit like a rodent with a short nose and huge front teeth now. He doesn't have much of a forehead, and I'd lift his eyelids a bit so that he looks more angry than drowsy. I'd also try to limit the use of black to the outlines. I'm not sure about the crown, so I didn't do much about it, but you should probably make it overlap a bit more with his head so that it looks more as if he's wearing it.



I hope this'll give you some ideas.

[arfalas]

Arachne

thanks for your valuable help!
While going through your post, I understood that my approach was a little bit naive 
so I made another simpler piece in order to improve my basic knowledge
(the warrior of arachne is there because I used it for reference) :



I would be glad to know if my depth / volume issues are still here (rydin?)

Thank you all! 

[arfalas]

After some edits (and an headache   ) I modified the warrior:



( It seems some sort of kabuki mask now  )

I am quite satisfied right now, but I know I can improve.

edit:



I kinda like it