Something On and Off

[Pixelfish]

working on the sel-out, I guess.

http://oilocean.com/toby/refzorz.jpg for reference, if you want it. Not much is the same except the subject.

[Conzeit]

seems to be fine for me. Maybe if you tell us what was your idea with the piece?

[Pixelfish]

Just kind of wanted to do something classical with the medium, wanted to have some fun with color and such. I kind of vucked with the background on transparency so it might not be pixel purist, but I'm okay with it, in general, I did alot of tweaking. I think this is a potential t-shirt design.
edit: and I mean, I'm thinking this as a centerpiece on the front with the cube type patterning continuing off frame to accent the shirt, maybe go to the back? Don't know. And here's an edit trying to incorporate some of those darker shadows, too. Still wip, though probably towards the end. Is this an improvement?

[Helm]

This is pretty great. My hand critique does a strange thing: it actually moves further away from the photo reference and more into an 'ideal' type of hand. Why? Because in photographs things that might look 'weird' are overidden by the brain because it gets the message' it's a photo, so it's real'. But in art, things that look fine in reality might look wonky because the brain is scanning from an 'ideal' point of view. Now, it's possible to sell realistic imperfections in art, but to do so, you need such a masterful control of realistic rendering, and the end result will always look 'like a picture, only not really a picture'. So regardless of whether you're going to go for that, I suggest you always 'shape up' strangeness from reference when remaking in an artistic medium.

[The B.O.B.]

Pixelfish, this is looking great. One thing caught my eye, though. It looks as if his upper lip furrow(the thing between his upper lip and nostrils) seems out of perspective from the direction his head is going. And I feel for you in the hair department, as making hair look good in large pixel art pieces is 'effin hard. Good luck with this. 

[EvilEye]

 I don't agree with that edit at all 

 Its assuming the wrong angle.

 The only problem, IMO, is the palm in the lower right is too droopy. Check the photo again for reference of how it should look. The whole right edge of the hand ( excluding the fingers ) needs a facelift.

[Pixelfish]

Thanks alot Helm, everybody, for the help.

 I don't agree with that edit at all 

 Its assuming the wrong angle.

 The only problem, IMO, is the palm in the lower right is too droopy. Check the photo again for reference of how it should look. The whole right edge of the hand ( excluding the fingers ) needs a facelift.

You are certainly right about that, Evileye, I guess I idealized it too much. I don't know if I will fix, not immediately at least, but thanks for the diligence.

[Faceless]

I've never such a high edit to reply ratio !
I think this looks good, but a couple of things are bugging me about the face/hair.

First, is the horizontal clump of hair next to the eye. Not only is it going against the flow of the hair all around it, but it also seems to be defying gravity, and there's nothing in the piece to suggest motion. I think it either needs to be shortened or rotated.

The second thing that I find odd is how low the cheekbone is on the face. I think it could do with being raised considerably.

[Conzeit]

Then I guess my critique is to the contrast of themes between the background of the piece.

When I look at that background I instantly think popculture, I think mostly it's japanese anime but I bet there are a lot of pop backgrounds that use that gradiented rays effect for filler in the background, not only that but the colors are also very bright and basic, like they fit in an anime or a bag of garbage food.

Then I look at the guy in the foreground and I see a classic rendering, specially with the pallete and the type of drawing you did with the hair...yet the pallete of the skin is still way saturated and is dominated by this saturated purple ( I guess because it complements the orange) that is not on the hair...

I say you either take the whole piece to a more classic setting, take some of the saturation from the skin, make the rays emmanating from the finger more like a religious figure ->http://www.catholicsource.net/sacredheart4.jpg http://www.2heartsnetwork.org/SacredHeartJesus3.jpg http://corazondejesus.blogia.com/upload/20071113034136-sagradocorazon.jpg you see how they dont alternate so perfectly and some of the rays shine more than others? yours just alternate...and it just makes everything look cartoony.

Or somehow make the guy a little more abstract and fitting with the background.