GR#001 - Red Dragon - Dither

[Fool]

Cutie=)
A think it might benefit if you raise an eye to make room for the cheek. Also pose looks a bit stressed, see if this  makes any sense:


I move spine with shoulder down to make wing more visually attached and move tail on the back - i think it just not logically connected up there. That brown shade is very close to the green one and instead of buffering it creates something indefinite, i lite it up a bit. Perhaps, it all is up to you.=)

[Dogmeat]

Thank you Fool, for your C&C.

After carefully observing the changes you made I edited my version. I edited the back leg and tail most of all, the face a little bit, worked the wing a bit and fudged the chest and back based on fools observations, here it is:



I'm still not sure with the tail, you tell me what you think, fools was much longer, but it seemed right when I made mine.

[Larwick]

I actually prefer the old eye, it gave more of a drowsy mood and character. Now he's more of a proud dragon. Just to give my opinion. 

[Arachne]

The blue is jagged edges and nitpicking a bit, but the banding is a more consistent problem shown in yellow.



Here's some recycled dithering advice since it also applies here.

See if you can break those lines.

[Dogmeat]

Great! I understand, I wondered about the roughness of his look. I usually go for the ultra soft and detailed style of things but I don't want to go too overkill. I will try smoothing out the jaggies and consistency throughout tonight.

I just want to thank everyone for the awesome C&C I've gotten on this one, I never would have thought I would have taken the image this far and I'm really excited to polish him.

Now he just needs a name. I was thinking Rubicon or "rubi" for short.

Oh also, on the eye thing. Lar, I did like the large drowsy eye before, and I tried a few larger eyes out before I shrunk this one down. I still would like an eye with a bigger pupil. I was going for a pupil that was about 2 dark pixels in size. Thing that I found is that the eye really looked like it was embedded into the head, in a large smooth socket, this is the aspect I did not like and I will attempt to go for a larger eye while not having the socket. Expect some updates tonight.

[Helm]

The blue is jagged edges and nitpicking a bit, but the banding is a more consistent problem shown in yellow.



Here's some recycled dithering advice since it also applies here.

See if you can break those lines.

If I hadn't given you another cookie earlier in this thread I'd give you one now. That top image is a great explanation of banding and I've been trying to think of ways to explain the effect to people more because I think banding is pretty much the most important thing to understand as a pixel artist these days.

In short: thank you for posting

[Dogmeat]

I don't understand the term "banding", helm. Please correct me if I'm wrong in my understanding but is banding the way to tie two shades together with some sort of balanced color in between? Or is it more like an inner AA that provides a level of polish. In other words, I really don't understand the meaning behind the concept, but from the imagery, I get a sense as to what needs to be done to correct the problem. I think if I understand how the problem arises, I can avoid it more effortlessly in the future.

Also, if we get a good explanation going on, I will be better suited to give similar C&C to others in the future, so we're helpful all around \

I am learning loads from working on this, feels great.

[Willows]

Banding happens when you "line up" your pixels in a way that creates runs or imaginary horizontal or vertical lines.

It can be seen very clearly here:
http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/30529.htm

on the dude's cheeks. That's a blindingly obvious example, whereas on yer dragon it's a bit more subtle.

[Dogmeat]

oh I see, it's like pillow shadind along edges. I totally understand and that reference image really got the point across. Thanks!

[Dogmeat]

new: old:

I have to admit, this is a tough concept for me, I've fudged the area arachne pointed out above, and I'd like your opinions on how I'm doing, and if I'm correcting the jaggies and the banding problem correctly. If not, I  need more help, otherwise, I can start working on the rest of him.

the way I'm looking at the problem is more like if we have 3 colors, a light, medium and dark, the dark and the light can't touch, except for the corners, and you have to bridge the colors using the medium color. Problem with this is that i feel like I've seen a lot of good pixel art where you have a really bright highlight, and to 1 side you  have smooth blending, but to the other side you have the darkest color in the palette. I'm not sure if this is a lighting thing, a style thing, or what, if anyone knows, please let me know

Thanks

EDIT: added dragon10.gif next to it, for ease of comparison.