AuthorTopic: GR#033 - Lion Warrior - Anatomy / Sprite Process  (Read 18195 times)

Offline Cure

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GR#033 - Lion Warrior - Anatomy / Sprite Process

on: September 07, 2008, 07:12:31 am


Early stages of my contribution to the pixel art show.
Comments/crits/suggestions welcome.

CURRENT:
« Last Edit: November 26, 2008, 10:56:43 am by Cure »

Offline Xion

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #1 on: September 07, 2008, 08:18:24 am
Knights legs are way tiny. If you were trying for foreshortening, I can't really give any advices on a fix since I suck at it myself, but yeah, it's not working. I think the lion's forelegs are a bit short, as well.
The cape also seems a bit stiff. It should drape more, you know?

Offline decker

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #2 on: September 07, 2008, 08:29:24 am
Enlarge lion 1.5x, for sturdy carry

Offline Krumbs

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #3 on: September 07, 2008, 10:16:38 am
The lion looks a bit small compared to the man. But I really like it's mane.

Offline willfaulds

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #4 on: September 07, 2008, 11:21:15 am
here's a quick non-pixel art edit: i thought making the knight smaller would be better than making the lion bigger (same affect but i love the pixels laid for the lion's face). i also elongated the knight's torso's as he felt a bit squashed but dependent on what you intended it might not be right... i know some of work's are humorous and thought there might be a joke coming. can't help with the knight's leg other than to say its looks gimpy.

« Last Edit: September 07, 2008, 11:25:59 am by willfaulds »

Offline Salvage

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #5 on: September 07, 2008, 07:53:36 pm
a grand start!
at first glance i noticed something strange to my eye re: the helmet.
if the metal fin on top is supposed to flare out towards the back, then we should probably see some of it on the left side.
if you meant it to be more of a standard mohawk shape, it should run straight down the middle and not protrude out to the right side as much as you have it.
anyways, its a fun piece, you make me want to join the project :)
« Last Edit: September 08, 2008, 07:58:30 am by Salvage »

Offline Bacteriophage

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #6 on: September 07, 2008, 07:55:16 pm
Aside from the size differences, I'm not too hot re: the shape of the knight's right leg.

It looks like either it's too short or it's shaded wrong.
B)

Offline Fool

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #7 on: September 08, 2008, 02:43:20 am
Thats some nice idea, though it is feels a bit odd design wise - full armored knight doesn't feel right in combination with a lion - fast and dodge cats nature with a somewhat limited in motion man. Maybe  give him some light stuff, at least partially - like chain shirt and so? If put that aside (i'm not too confident in here at all , haven't done realistic humans much) but proportions looks a little off. See if that makes any sense.=)

Offline Dan

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #8 on: September 08, 2008, 12:13:34 pm
Madness love the textures lots of levels and for the colours used its impressive. My crits have been previously expressed. Can't wait for the final piece.
That's the way the cookie crumbles. - Do the bug bob.     - Woot!

Offline Cure

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #9 on: September 08, 2008, 06:34:18 pm
[copy/pasted from PJ]

CURRENT:

I shrunk the knight, and I think this now drastically helps the composition.  Got a nice triangle goin' on.  Worked on other bits (notably the cape and elbow) and cleaned here and there.  The arm and leg nearest to us are still posing a slight problem, but that'll be ironed out eventually. Thanks for the critique guys, keep it coming!


WIP ANIMATION:


TIMELINE:
It started off as this sketch:

which I then reduced to hand-picked greyscale palette and shrunk down.
I've only really used this process once before, and it's not super-easy when all you've got is mspaint.  You can see how messy it still is in the first few frames of the wip animation.

Fool: Thanks for the edit.  The pose is much less stiff and the leg looks fantastic, I'll try to bend it in that direction as the image progresses.
Salvage:  I tried to fix the perspective issue with the helmet, it may need further work.
willfaulds:  No joke yet.  I just like lions and knights.  You'll notice I went with the "smaller rider" approach, as I also didn't want to mess up the pretty lion.
all:  Rider is now smaller, thanks for the heads up.  I didn't intentionally try to cop out on the leg... that's just where the cape blew.  I can't control the wind.

« Last Edit: September 08, 2008, 06:42:29 pm by Cure »

Offline AlexHW

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #10 on: September 08, 2008, 07:42:03 pm
here's a minor nitpick, but i'd suggest using less AA on the edges of the armor(where peices of the metal end) so that it looks more crisp and angular.. right now all the edges look like they've been sanded and smoothed which gives off a cutesy friendly feel to the knight. wouldn't hurt to use more angles on the knight to juxtapose the curvy hair on the lion..

Offline ptoing

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #11 on: September 08, 2008, 08:21:31 pm
Medieval armour usually is not very angular at all tho. Actual angles would make it more instable and easier to break, rounded shapes support themselves better and make blades and such slide of easier.

I think what you got atm looks quite solid, looking forward to the colouring.

What looks a bit odd tho is the completely missing far backleg of the lion, he would have to stand VERY widelegged to pull that off and I do not think that lions do that.
There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.

Offline AlexHW

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #12 on: September 08, 2008, 08:26:31 pm
im just suggesting how to improve the piece artistically/aesthetically speaking, not how to keep it historically true. I feel the armor is too smooth around its edges and looks more like soft metal. the shading on it is a bit soft too.. i feel it would benefit the flow and composition of the piece if you create some contrast against the lion in the form of the 'edgy-ness' to offset the softness o fthe piece..
« Last Edit: September 08, 2008, 08:41:58 pm by Alex Hanson-White »

Offline ptoing

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #13 on: September 08, 2008, 10:00:19 pm
I do agree that the shading on it could use more contrast to look more like metal. Bigger jumps from coreshadow to light and such.
There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.

Offline KGladiator

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #14 on: September 08, 2008, 10:16:41 pm
Wow looks awesome... drawn or not. I agree on the contrast of the metal. The lion's head has great detail  ;D

Offline Cure

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #15 on: September 10, 2008, 01:37:06 am
update


Tried to work on the shading of the metal, as well as the shading/volumes of the lion.  Roughed-in the back leg of the lion.  A lot of the fur is still NPA scratches, will be cleaned up later.

Offline EyeCraft

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #16 on: September 10, 2008, 03:28:03 pm
Wow! This is looking fantastic.

It might just be my 2am-eyes, but the leg of the lion furthest into the background seems out of perspective or just positioned in such a way as to make the lion's stance a little weird/unstable? It feels like it should be slightly down and to the right more to me...

The way the knight's cape comes to a shallow tip on our right seems a little too chibi in my mind, as if it's a toy cape, or made of very thick material, which conflicts with the flowing nature of our left's cape tip. The right-most tip needs to be a sharper tip, or needs more of a ripple to the underside of it, or something like that.

Also, maybe the puff on the end of the lion's tail could be slightly bigger.

Still, this is awesome work!
« Last Edit: September 10, 2008, 03:36:54 pm by EyeCraft »

Offline Zero

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #17 on: September 10, 2008, 08:38:51 pm
Pretty amazing at this point, far beyond anything I could provide valid critique on. However, I did happen to notice that the bar thing in the lion's mouth is missing the reigns... might make things a tad more difficult for the knight, eh? I have to imagine that you just haven't added that part yet, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to point it out.

Offline Cure

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #18 on: September 13, 2008, 12:39:11 am
Mostly changed the lion's stance, due to critique offered by Elk on the PJ thread:

I think I might've bent his right foreleg a bit much...

And I started working on the palette.  Keep in mind I colored an earlier WIP stage, so critique only on the palette for this image:


@Zero:  I did forget about the reigns for the time being, but I'll finish them later on.

@EyeCraft:  I'm not really happy with the cape as a whole.  Changed up the whole stance, so maybe the back leg is better now?
« Last Edit: September 13, 2008, 01:27:11 am by Cure »

Offline Indigo

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #19 on: September 13, 2008, 01:12:20 am
with a palette that dark, you really should consider putting it on a more neutral background color.  It worked alright with the greyscale image because it was a lot lighter in value, but with this new palette, Its really hard to look at like this.  (works well from 50-70% black IMO)
« Last Edit: September 13, 2008, 01:19:56 am by Indigo »

Offline Cure

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #20 on: September 13, 2008, 01:28:06 am
Done.  I plan to pixel a background eventually, however.  If time allows.

Offline Cure

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #21 on: November 26, 2008, 11:00:57 am
Believe it or not, I haven't given up on this one



Still looking for feedback.  Coloring the cape is giving me problems.  Can't remember why I removed the tail, I'll make him a new one before all is said and done.  Feel free to critique any aspect of the piece, I've been working on coloring, but I'm still not done with the image itself (especially part of the knight and the addition of the reigns (or whatever you'd call them).

Offline Doppleganger

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #22 on: November 26, 2008, 03:45:19 pm
I can't really offer up any in-depth critique atm, but I'll drop a few pointers your way.

First off, the composition is generally appealing, but it's hard to make sense of what's going on. Right now I would think that the knight has halted the lion in order to look toward something off in the distance and to his right. The knight's helmet portrays a very intent stare and the lion looks rather interested in moving forward but relinquent to do so. That's the idea I get from this piece anyways, and it's where most of my critique is going to stem from.

The thing I don't get is how the cape ended up in the position that it is in. The cape in the front of the picture seems to be tucked over and under his right thigh, is this correct? Actually, upon closer inspection it doesn't seem like it is. Which is even more of a problem because it doesn't seem to be laying on top of his thigh, like I assume you meant it to look. The sheer bulk of the cape would pull the edge down toward the ground unless a serious amount of it was lying over the thigh. In fact, there would probably have to be a big ball of fabric from the cape between his legs in order to anchor it in such a fashion that it'd just rest on the thigh. Now, exact realism isn't a necessity, but I find that it makes the picture less believable overall.

The same holds true for the unfinished cape behind the lion. It has a curve which suggests that the corner of the cape is being held in his hand. And if that was so, the contour of the top of the cape would be the exact contour of his arm. The interesting thing about that is that an arm in that position would be an excellent way to suggest that the knight has pulled the reign tight on the lion. Right now there's little to suggest that the lion has been stopped, nor is there much to suggest that the knight has any control of the lion short of riding him.

The last thing worth talking about is the contradiction between the knight and the lion. Right now they feel like two seperate entities unconcerned with each other. Almost as if they were taken from two different pieces and slapped together. This was obviously not the case, so it's unsettling. I feel that this has a lot to do with the cape seemingly ignoring the mass known as the lion. It also has much to do with lack of interaction between the two; the knight is off doing his own thing, and the lion is doing his in a rather boring position (if you were to take out the knight). Finally, the ramps for the two are very different, and they could use some similarities. I would say that the metal on the knight's armor would especially pick up some of the lighter yellows from the lion.

I'd maybe introduce a new color ramp for the cape to add a bit of interest to the piece. If you look at the bridle in the lion's mouth, you'll see that it almost takes on its own color. Even though it's borrowed from the knight, it has a sense of individuality because it is predominantly cyan and not grey/green. I was thinking that a bold blue would potentially look pretty good. The other effect it would have would be in containing the image. Right now my eyes have this notion to wander a lot whenever I look at the knight specifically. Going back to the cape again....I think that if you drew it in a manner that would direct the eyes throughout the entire image, and possibly changed the color to something unique, things would be looking a lot better.

Sorry that this post ended up kind of rambly, I hope it helps!



edit: I did a quicky edit of what I was trying to explain. Not perfect, but it should be of assistance. One thing I changed, but didn't really mention before, was the lion's head. I tilted it up a bit to give the impression of the implied force the knight needed to make in order to halt the lion.
« Last Edit: November 26, 2008, 04:01:12 pm by Doppleganger »

Offline TrevoriuS

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #23 on: November 26, 2008, 05:46:26 pm
Though the shape of the cape is a bit over the top, it does create a dynamic feel and movement, in a still-standing image. In that regard I think that if you think about it as a choice, it was a good one. The lion not caring about what the knight is doing is also completely natural, though the way you reposed him, as if objecting the control, may be even better.

Offline Helm

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Re: Lion Warrior

Reply #24 on: August 23, 2010, 12:54:44 am
Second strike for that, RetroBit.