CGA Hand Cyclops

[Dr D]

I thought I'd post this here before the challenge expires.

I consider this my first 'real' or 'serious' pixel art piece. (Only ever done a few tiles and an avatar) So I need some guidance and critique, if anyone will kindly help.

WIP steps up to 15, plus most recent versions:





I realize I might have started off doing all the wrong things. (eg.. refining before defining). I don't want to give up on this, and want to broaden my pixel skills and knowledge. I am definitely willing to skip the challenge if it's in my best interest, and the best for the piece. Thanks.

Note: I realize I'm not conforming to the challenge restrictions yet (size, colors), this will be taken care of before the final version.

[Koi Kami Mauro]

Not a critique on technique (I don't know enough of that), but on shape- The eye looks weirdly positioned in the hand. Let me explain- it's perfectly rounded, and shaded like it has a light on it.



I crudely edited it to show what I mean. The eye has been given a more natural shape, with skin folds and creases around. The shading of the eye has been put to correspond with that of the hand.

Just my 2 cents hope it helps.

[Dr D]

Hey. Thanks for the crit and help.

Here's the most recent version, that I am satisfied with so far, at least:


I have to disagree with some/most of it though. My palm doesn't resemble the way you've put the creases and such, well, I've been using my hand as reference anyway. I did however try to incorporate some of my own natural creases and folds in my hands, but have been trying to focus more on what should come before that, anyway.

The eye edit looks great, but I feel it loses some of it's creepiness. I intended to go for that hard-stare look, eyelids all the way up, and not/hardly showing. I'm having a bit of trouble making it seem like that, though:


The lighting is meant to be coming from the bottom, to convey spookiness, but I fear my choices in composition up until this point may contradict that. Natural lighting probably wouldn't be coming at such an angle in this picture. But then again, it probably wouldn't be so strong either. I suppose for the best in my piece just to not mind it and keep going, at least the viewer could pretend there is a secondary light source under the hand.
I've held my hand in this position many times now, directly over the bulb of my lamp, the light wraps around the palm similarly as I've drew it, there is a sort of triangle of shadow coming from the left, and ending in a 'point' on the right.
I also fear that the shading in my cliff may be off due to my compositional choices, again. But I may be wrong too. If it is wrong, I do not know a better way to go about shading it correctly.

Thanks for the help everyone, again!

[NaCl]

I think you should extend the tips of the fingers, they don't look great bent in like that.

Also, I would add some eyelid. With the eye being a perfect circle, it doesn't look great. Even if the lids are open more then Koi's edit, that would be good.

[Dr D]

Thanks for the reply.

I'll certainly have a go at both, but I'd like to ask what extending the fingers would really do for the piece? I intended the fingers to be bent in, so why are they 'not great'?.. I mean, is it perhaps not how I've rendered them? I will still try it though, and update on how it turns out.

I suppose eyelids would benefit the piece then, however I am having trouble creating them, as you can see in post above.

[Doppleganger]

Dr D, that's a very uncomfortable position for fingers to be bent. When trying to replicate that pose with my own hand, I find that there is a lot of tension in my fingers because they're all bending in a 90 degrees angle. Also, I find it near impossible to replicate the angle in your image. If you check out that pose for yourself (again), I think that you might see that the finger tips don't obscure the fingers that much. Fingers are designed to close in on the palm, so as you close your hand to make a fist all of the fingers will angle in toward the hand just a bit. Which pretty much guarantees that none are going to share that similar of a perspective.

In addition to that, a pose with the fingers extended slightly more would have a greater effect on your piece of art. A hand extended in such a way suggests that there is some greater thing going on. Either with the hand itself, or potentially the person whose hand it is. It's a pretty traditional pose for a hand to be in when somebody is looking at their hand or using it to gesture. In addition to that, it's very close to the position your fingers would be in when perfectly at rest, suggesting that there is no uncomfortability with the pose.