pixel art of my character, wanting to improve

[Ryumaru]

this is just an art of my character, so far a few hours of work put into it. im going for a semi-dark mood and i really want to up my shadows and texture (especially on the cloak, i want to find a good texture teqnique for the cloth)
c+c wanted

[Gazette]

:O REDUCED CGI ALERT !!!!!11!!1!!!!!one!!!!!!!111111!!!!

Seriously though, its not reduced cg, i can tell. In my opinion you made the cheek WAY too bony, as well as the nose.

[Crazy Asian Gamer]

1. MAEK SMALLER.
2. Clean up lineart.
3. Like Gazette said, bony cheeks.
4. Head is shaped strangely.

Yep.

[Skipper]

From what I've seen of yours, you make some awfully odd color choices, but you make them work so nicely.

[xio]

I know that you enjoy using unconventional anatomy and coloring, but anatomy and coloring are the two main points I notice that you could improvement. The red hair is very red, and it clashes with the green eye. His skull seems deformed also. His forhead should be much more round. Also, no matter what kind of spotlighting there is, there should never be colors that bright that immediately turn into shadow. I hope this helps.

[Ryumaru]

anotomy? i happen to think my anotomy is pretty good. some things on the face may be misinterpreted as shadows instead of just marks, ill work on that. also i have an updated version that im still working on that blends in the cheekbones a good bit. also, whats wrong with my coloring? i havent made any eye striking decisions on this piece.anyways thanks for teh comments and ill work on what i can.

[Gil]

anotomy? i happen to think my anotomy is pretty good

also, whats wrong with my coloring? i havent made any eye striking decisions on this piece.

One of the most important parts of being an artist is being able to cope with crits. We are not a blind praise board here. If you think your anatomy and coloring is perfect than you will never get any better.

As for crits:

The eye is far too stretched to be anatomically correct. The nose bridge comes off unnatural and there are no clear nostrils. The eyebrow appears to be too far to the left. The current shading on the cape is pillow shaded around the middle, there wouldn't be shadow on both sides of that black line.

The colour choice is unconventional, and to me it bothers how the red goes into gray without decent in-between shade. I'm interested in seeing how you'll mix that light blue into the red too...

[Ryumaru]

if they had specified as well as you did, then i wouldnt have said something like that. if any of you didnt notice its an anime styled piece,which would explain the eye. thanks for pointing out the capes shading ill fix that.the nostrils would be in the shadows, but i might change that because it looks like a contour of his nose and just looks kinda wierd. unconventional? sorry help a 14 year old out on that word.ill also fix anything else that yall have said that i would like to(i dont agree about the nose, especially thats how my nose is  you saying my nose is unatrual?) thanks for specifieng on all of this gil.

[Kazuya Mochu]

I belive even manga style follows tradicional anatomy, only represented with slight changes in style and simplicity.

I think that for a 14 year old something like "anotomy? i happen to think my anotomy is pretty good" is a pretty bad line. at your age, you should focus on learning, not beliving you know everything. even if people's sugestions apear wrong to you, there is allways a reason why they gave them in the first place.

as for you piece I think you should really let go of the thick black outlines. pixelart isn't doing anything for pieces this big. you should think if you want to be a pixel artist or a digital painter.
the nose is badly represented. no matter how much you think it looks like yours, no nose would look like that in thoes lighting conditions. the way the position of the light is sugested ( above, slightly to the front and to the right) the nose should never have that black line, or the nostril blend like that with the cheeck.

look at your self in the mirror and see if you are getting it right.

a personal tip: if you are 14, don't just jump into Manga so soon. you'll become to much tied to that style. belive me I know. I've seen great manga artists that can't do anything else. you are in a good age to learn, don't force your style.

[Ryumaru]

well, manga usually makes major deformations. dont worry im pretty more into life drawing than anime, for a while i was stuck in anime but i got myself out of it. also i dont want to be a pixel artist or a digital painter. i think anything done on a computer can be done in a traditional manner. also there are pixel arts MUCH bigger than this. this is a mere 250 square image. also, thinking back saying that i think my anotomy was pretty good probably wasnt the right thing to say, especially since im much more studied in the muscle department but i do think its pretty good for my age atleast. could someone please help me fix that nose? with all these comments someone should atleast know how to fix it.

[Kazuya Mochu]

well, just look at the one in your signature. no problem there... you did that image too right? you should be able to fix the nose your self!

Kaz

[Ryumaru]

yeah but thats a character from a game, i was drawing it from an official art and did that for the likeness of him. this is my own character. oh well ill try and find a way to fix it

[Ryumaru]

heres a little update.in the process of fixing the nose thing(just maybe tidying things up) and i added his mark on the forhead. at first i thought i wouldnt like it but know i do. its supposed to be IV but it might look a little like a III. it was hard trying to make it go with the flow of his skin. is this a good improvement? also if someone knows a good technique for really cool hair please show me or an example by someone else.
edit: i didnt even post the image ! lol

[Bo]

great as always, dont listen to people when they say that you should make it smaller. how fun would it be if all sprites ever made were 16x16 pixels big?

[Gazette]

Honestly i think the cheek looks worse when it's all smuged like that, but the marking on the forhead, i'd center it a bit more, it looks like its a bit too much on the left side of his face.

[Ryumaru]

alright, ill just make it back like the other cheek, i liked its bonyness anyway. ill fix the symbol to.

[xio]

It's good to see that you're still working on this. I know that most of my large scale pixelings are usually abandoned. I am sorry that I was not specific in my comment about anatomy. I was mostly talking about the nose, but I did not realize that half the nose is in shadow. Know that I see that, I think it looks much better.