Self Portrait

[CaKsTeR]

As an excuse for me to keep working on pixel art, I decided to try my hand at making a self portrait. It's my first attempt at this kind of think, so I'm sure there will be a LOT of mistakes. Bear with me 

WIP #1:



And here's my reference pic:



Thanks in advance for C+C


EDIT:

Forgot to say, I posted this because I'd like some crits on the lineart currently, and any tips on how to start the face. Sorry 

[Akira]

have you ever tried working without a lineart? Painting blobs of colour for shading and highlights and gradually adding detail to the blobs? You might find that it gives you much more realistic volumes. Currently i think that your head in the lineart is too large. You might want to get further along before asking for c+c though. If there isn't much to see people won't have much to say.

[CaKsTeR]

Painting blobs of colour? I think I get what you mean. I'll try it out and see how it goes, thanks

[Mathias]

This goes beyond your C&C request but all crit is helpful, learn to love it. The pose is a bit awkward. It's as if you were shot at random, with no thought to yer poise for the portrait; you're slouched up against your closet door jam for some reason.

Akira is referring to starting out more sketchy, massing in the basic shapes with some thought to volume and space, so ponder light as you sketch out roughs and try and throw in some light and shadow.
Final lineart should always be preceded by exploratory sketches. Forget it's pixel art for a moment.

Another thought, if you're experimenting around, is to just trace directly over your portrait reference shot there, scaled down as desired. Assuming you have a layered graphics program handy.

[CaKsTeR]

Thanks for your thoughts. I think I'm going to stick with this picture, mainly because its the only one of me that (in my opinion) doesn't look horrible. I started working on a second draft, as was suggested. I'm having a bit of trouble with the facial features though.



Draft #2

[CaKsTeR]

I can safely say that I failed making the lips. I added a shadow to the neck, and the two rings to the shirt, but apart from that I'm lost at what to do. Crits would be greatly appreciated at this point. Thanks!

[Terley]

I'll give a bit of help.

First off you need a solid set of colours for your skin, more than anything you should be worrying about applying depth correctly, this will ultimately shape and define the character. I'd first start off by plotting out where everything is roughly and slowly start refining it to force the details you want to show. I think of it as bringing something blurry into focus. I don't know how clued up you are with AAing but something of this size can really do with smart use of this to trick the eye to show the details you want.


(im struggling to get a decent copy of Photoshop atm so I just nicked these colours from Shrike. Did this on paint  )

You're pallete can be really useful for adding those details like a slight red tint which would be used for lips and add some needed colour variation to the skin.

[CaKsTeR]

I think I've made a lot of progress, compared to my last one! Thanks a lot for the crits+edit, Terley! 

I'll try to work some more on it tmo, hopefully I'm off in the right direction. 

[balls01]

whats wrong with MS paint terley? i use it.

i think that your going into detail too early, get your levels right. find out high and low points of your face, then put it on, forget facial features, they can be added when your levels are right, because if they are right... then the facial features will come complimentary to it.

[ndchristie]

Try to establish some bsaic forms before you get into how the mouth is AAed.  look for shadowed regions, such as over the eyes, under the nose, the upper lip, the lower cheeks, the front of the chin...and place these.  they will help you find the more important forms far more easily.

whats wrong with MS paint terley? i use it.

Ugh, try not to start the MSPaint debate again.  It's been had so many times and it always comes down to people who think that just because you can drive a nail with a shoe you should never buy a hammer and people who think you should buy a hammer even if you can't afford it and have no nails that need driving.  99% of the forum will then chime in with the idea that the argument is a silly one and that both accomplish the same task effectively for different people and we all hug while the extremes fume in the corner until someone strikes up the debate again.