Faces

[XaMMaX]

WIP i made some faces for game i working on now, but need some advices and tips, i am pretty noob at pixel art =)

here is it:



thanks in advance!

[XaMMaX]

Update:



So how about c&c?

[Atnas]

It's pretty hard to critique because of the style. When I try to see if somethings wrong, I say, "Oh wait, style."

Avoid pillow shading the hair, and shade neater. Basically fix the shading on the hair so it builds the form and looks neat.

[ninjascience]

I'm a noob myself so take my advice with a grain of salt.

You definitely have a certain style, which I like.

the eyes look rather crazed to me, a wide open stare.  and maybe it's style, but the outline of the face seems too thick, either use more thick outlines to establish the theme or make the face outlines thinner.

second guy from the right, is the dark maroon color on his forehead shading from the hair or a headband?  If it's shading I think you have too much

[XaMMaX]

Well second guy's hair looks awful and i can't fix it =( Already try several times, but can't do it myself, can someone show me how to do it right? I mean shading on second guy.
And about eyes...yeah need some help here, too.

And thanks for your comments, your advice really usefull for me.

[Atnas]

I'm a little too busy to do an example, but I can tell you that the hairline is way higher than where you have it on the orange haired guy.

[Fingerfoods]

The faces on the guys are all the same, and the eyes are both scary and too similar to one another. It's an effective creepy doll collection, but not much else. Start by varying the appearances of your characters.

[XaMMaX]

Well, all faces was start from one head:



That's why they all the same. Will try do something with eyes today and post here.

[Poine]

I did a little edit for you , i was quite in a rush so dont expect anything incredible  .
Anyway i tried to get the anatomy right and introduce a better shading and outlining , also AA'ed a bit and applied some ambient lightning , i also tried to not alter your style too much and keep your proportions :


Just study it and you'll get it , and if you have questions go on .
Well hope i helped  .

[XaMMaX]

Let's start with eyes 

Fast edit on eyes, better or worst?



2Poine, it help a lot! Thanks for you feedback 

[Poine]

Better but dont forget the rest  .

[XaMMaX]

Try 1x outline on face, better or worst?

[Poine]

This is better but try to get the proportions right , the chin is messed up a little and dont forget to AA , take references from mine

[ninjascience]

what about more 2x lines?

crude edit:

[tocky]

various things, but:
-you gotta shade all up the side of the nose or the face'll look flat.
-eyebrows are important.
-match up the shading on the near side of the face to the shape of the far side of the face.
-the 1-pixel lines help, but 1pix lines bug me because they're so ubiquitous. Try and hang onto your line weight. It's a special thing.
Anyways, I hope this helps.

[XaMMaX]

Fast edit:



Still not shure about get rip of 2x outline =\

2tocky, really nice edit, but he looks old now 

[Atnas]

I actually think his looks younger than yours. Yours has a tiny mouth and nose which appear on shriveled old folk. You might be able to get away without doing tocky's large bags-under-the-eyes and pull off a younger look than both yours and his. But you need the wide mouth and nose along with blockier form definition.

[XaMMaX]

Mmm, i mean not me edit but how it was from start...well how about now? Better? He need to look like teenager or something

[Atnas]

Better, but don't forget to move his hairline up. He doesn't have a forehead as it is.

[Tremulant]

I think the two biggest problems here are lack of contrast and.... polish, for lack of a better word. The face and hair look a little flat from lack of strong shadows and highlights, and the line art needs a bit of smoothing. The hair, in particular... it looks like the basic shapes have been blocked in, but not refined.

I did an edit to show you what I mean:



The darker shadows and brighter highlights help give some pop to the image, and help better define the forms. Same with the smoothing or refining, or whatever, of the lines. Most people will tell you that one of the keys of pixel art is exercising control, and careful pixel placement, making sure each dot's in the optimal spot. Like I said, the basic forms are blocked in in yours, they just need a little more love (check the jawline, hair highlights, etc. to see what I mean).

I don't see any reason to drop the 2x outlines. The only thing I'd suggest is that if you're gonna use them, you might want to outline the hair, too. If you were planning on doing that anyway, just pretend I stopped talking at the end of the las bit.