[WIP] Moonlit Apocalypse

[Dex]

Hey Pixelation. I've been working on this on and off between soccer practice, getting the flu, and working on english papers. 

I'm still quite in the WIP stages, so I'd like you guys' advice on this. I was inspired by ptoing and iLKke on this one, mostly.

MOST RECENT:


FIRST:

[Tuna Unleashed]

As I said earlier, the main laser looks too solid.

[Malor]

hmm your grasp of coloring and shading seem fairly solid, and your choice of color is quite nice. Now, work on form. I see this pattern in all of your work, the shading is wonderful, but your characters and forms seem a little weak. The best thing I can say for that is, do studies from life, and practice practice practice to create your own style with replicates forms found in life in a believable/pleasing way. I would recommend investing in a human anatomy book, and going from there. Knowledge of human anatomy can be quite useful with the anatomy of made-up characters (like some I've seen form you on PJ) as it gives you a feel for how muscles and bones work together in a body.

[Mathias]

Pretty cool, Dex. I see the influence, mainly in the bulky metal shapes.

By default my eyes want to see more of the robot mech thing and don't understand why so little is being shown. For example, think how you'd feel about ilkke's latest pixel, of the huge robot clockwork thing on the tiny planet, if it was cropped down so we could only see half or even just a third of and not the whole thing. It wouldn't feel right.

There's an astronaught dude in bottom let looking very calm, yet in the bg, his people are being violently annihilated. I'm not sure what this peice is trying to say. He should be freaking out, right? Is he flipping us off or is that detail in his suit? Hehe, that must sound dumb, but if it was detail in his suit it's oddly offset to his right, not centered. Also, he's the focal point in my opinion, I think due to him being very light, contrasting everything else. Yet, he's not "the action", but rather just a supporting element. I think it's hurtin' yer composition. Are you trying to put the focus on him.

Surface texture could emulate perspective better by the "chunks" getting smaller faster as the viewpoint diminishes. Right now, they just kinda stop at a certain point. I know, I know, that's the tedious stuff, but it could help a lot. Won't even comment on the distant planet on the horizon, it's too WIP.

Yer on the path to a cool peice. Hope my observations are helpful.

[Dex]

Hey Mathias, thanks for your comments!

As it being a WIP, I haven't even worked on the displaying the emotion of the first astronaut. I'm probably going to end up making him running, have his mask cracked, or something along those lines. I understand he needs to look different then that, I'm just using what I have as of now as a base, haha.

About only seeing part of the robot- that's what I want to do. I don't know how to say it, but I don't really want to expand the scene to include just more of the bot. There wouldn't be much more to add, and then I'd just have lots of craters and rocks rather than any action. I want to keep the view on the laser, the action, and the astronauts, not the whole bot.

@Malor, I don't really see how studying human anatomy at this point would change this piece. Besides, I've actually been studying it! I've been using astronaut refs, though, but thanks.

@Tuna, restating what you said and not offering any advice on a solution doesn't really help me. :/

Anyways, thanks all!

[NaCl]

About only seeing part of the robot- that's what I want to do. I don't know how to say it, but I don't really want to expand the scene to include just more of the bot. There wouldn't be much more to add, and then I'd just have lots of craters and rocks rather than any action. I want to keep the view on the laser, the action, and the astronauts, not the whole bot.

I think it would be better to have the full robot in view. Right now, the eye is following up the laser and leg, and then just hitting a wall. It is jarring and distracting to try and see what something looks like, when there is not enough information present to do so. Besides, just because you have the full robot doesn't mean the focal point won't be on the astronauts getting massacred.


Studying anatomy would help, because the front astronauts shoulders look misaligned with his head. They are not at the same angle as the head. Plus it looks like the tank on his back is way off to the side.

Otherwise, looks good. keep up the good work.

[Mathias]

Studying anatomy would help, because the front astronauts shoulders look misaligned with his head. They are not at the same angle as the head. Plus it looks like the tank on his back is way off to the side.

I just don't get your guys' stance on human anatomy here. Why the stress on always-no-matter-what-regardless-of-the-style stress on perfect human anatomy? Call up Disney and rant at the animators for creating disproportioned cartoon characters. Tell Warner Bros. you're going to boycott Looney Tunes for the "bad" anatomy. Pixel art is a cartoon-like medium. The characters follow suit. What am I missing here? Is it just my disdain for following limiting rules and restrictions in art? I feel this issue has no solid conlusion, but rather being more of a subjective thing the artist should address per peice. Attempting correct human form and failing is one thing, being held to perfect human anatomical standards all the time is silly to me. I'm if way off base, please straighten me out.

[NaCl]

i think you misaligned your quote tags. right now it looks like I was saying that.

Anyway, I feel you are off base, or at least misunderstanding the suggestion with anatomy. I don't think anyone is suggesting that all human figures should be hyper realistic, and of actual human proportions. I was suggesting that he look more into constructing the figure correctly, and figure out what shoulders look like at the angle, and where the head and neck lie. Call up Disney you say? All of their animations rely heavily on anatomy to be constructed well. Just because they are cartoonish does not mean the animators did not have an excellent understanding of anatomy. Go watch Cinderella and tell me that the animators did not have excellent anatomy knowledge, or that they didn't need it.

You call them limiting rules, but i don't think they are limiting. Anatomy is a tool to be able to express what you want, not a rule. if you intentionally want to skew the anatomy, fine but without an understanding of anatomy then the skewing will just be covering up your lack of knowledge. Also keep in mind anatomy is not the same as proportions, you need to know some anatomy to draw a character in any proportions.

[Dex]

If you must know, the astronaut doesn't even have arms or anything yet. Remember, just a base.

About seeing the whole bot- if I was to draw the whole thing, the canvas would be very large, since it's an eightlegged spider-bot thing. I honestly don't think it causes that much of a distraction. If it's that big of a deal, I can add more, but not the whole thing. If you don't mind, I'm going to fix everything else you guys pointed out rather than that.

Thanks guys. I need to go to bed now. :V

[Claredeth]

This had a great start and THATS ABOUT IT.  It seems you didn't plan out how each item would be juxtaposed on the canvas.  Since its a bit too late to start over you really need to work on the depth of this piece seeing how its on the moon, the horizon line isn't exactly a straight line, it has a bit of a curve near the edges and center.  Your horizon line here is completely straight for the most part, the darkness under the machine isn't exactly helping either.  Also, the terrain seems a bit too uniform, maybe altering a few patterns and making some patches bigger with detail may help.