[WIP] The Paladin

[Bazral]

Any input would be greatly appreciated, especially as far as the shield goes. I've been working on it for days now and the shield just continually gives me trouble.

[bengo]

Oh hey hows it going guy from /ic/, that shield has been bothering me, its fairly small, I think you should make it bigger, thats just me though, also, elves usually have long hair, just sayin. Anyway for actual crits, you haven't really defined your light source, also alot of useless colors in there, also face is really weird looking, I gave him a realistic face but the main thing I wanted to show was that his head is at an odd angle, also beefed up his other arm a bit.

[Bazral]

Oh hey hows it going guy from /ic/, that shield has been bothering me, its fairly small, I think you should make it bigger, thats just me though, also, elves usually have long hair, just sayin. Anyway for actual crits, you haven't really defined your light source, also alot of useless colors in there, also face is really weird looking, I gave him a realistic face but the main thing I wanted to show was that his head is at an odd angle, also beefed up his other arm a bit.

Oh hey other guy from /ic/, apparently.

Thread got invaded with trolls so I just kind of...abandoned it. Anyway, as far as the shield goes, last night I messed around with the size a little, had it end up looking a lot like a tower shield which was pretty nice in my opinion.

Thanks for the criticism, hopefully I'll have an update later today.

EDIT:

Small update. Outlined the shield, reworking the boots, going to rework the face and have yet to work on the colors.

[Mathias]

Don't crop it, expand yer canvas size now, to accomodate new shield. Weapon much improved, though it's concept is odd - is it a staff or a sword? It looks like it may be fragile. Head/face makes him definitely not human, and not elf either, more a goblin type dude, slightly dark, whereas "paladins" are typically benevolent human warriors, often on horses and religiously inclined, using good white magic/power, like a cleric. Opposite would probably be a Shadowknight.

Old shield was definitely disproportionate to that weapon, so good job  -BUT-  it now seems too big. Look at his armor/outfit, why is he lightly clad but then has a huge sheid. He needs heavier armor to balance out the new bigger sheild. Also, make the sheild more curvilinear to better match the style of yer crazy sword-staff thing. If it was me, he'd have no sheild and I'd probably make that huge sword thing a 2-hander, simplifying this guy's design.

Legs seem to be different thicknesses. His stance is a little odd, mainly due to his head's angle. The pose doesn't give a strong vibe, more like he's distracted looking down or cowering, the weapon being angled down contributes to this impression.

Feet could assist posture to look more natural by assuming more of a 45 degree angle, they're almost parallel.

[Redshrike]

My neck aches a bit from looking at his head's position; it's a bit distracting.  I think that if you move he head up and back a bit it will look a lot more natural.  I also have to agree with Mathias that the weapon looks a bit odd, mostly because of the gem.  If it's a sword (which I assume it is) I would expect the gem to be entirely set into the metal, not "glued in" as it kinda looks now.  It also looks kinda big.  I would either remove it or change how it attaches.
I'm looking forward to watching this pieces' development; it looks good now, and I think it'll be great when it's done.

[Bazral]

Update.



Modified the colors a bit, started work on the shield.

Could really use some insight on shading the unshaded parts.

[st0ven]

before you get too caught up into the details, it appears theres some very basic anatomy issues that im personally having problems with.



The most obvious anatomical issues that i can observe is the proportions of the legs and the underlying bone structure therein. The red lines indicate areas that seem a bit off, thinking in terms of what the bone structure might look like underneath the pixels.

The way you have the legs now make them appear that they are segmented by two joints instead of one (the knee), which should start about slightly more than halfway down the length of the leg. what im inferring from the anatomy as it stands is almost a whole other joint structure where it looks like the leg bends in two places rather than just one. this is not how humanoid figures are usually portrayed (functionally speaking its not exactly that, functional) and even animals that have double jointed limbs the joints usually point the adjacent bone structure at an opposing angular position rather than having them bend in an arcing, ovular fashion.

I say before you go too much further into detail, lets nail the anatomy and then focus on moving forward with the detail, yeah?

I certainly like the potential of the piece, looking forward to seeing its progression

[EvilEye]

Whoa, its st0ven!

I think the last time I saw you post was on the old pixelation. Great looking avatar.



Besides the issues that st0ven pointed out, the foot on the left side is pointed in an awkward position. It should be pointed toward the viewer for a more natural pose. Then there are some issues with the shield. Besides being at an odd angle with the rest of the piece ( doesn't really follow the forearm or the position of the rest of the body ) the top and bottom curvatures do not line up. It also appears to have a strange bulge in the center, which I've never seen on any shield.

I recommend taking a look at tower shields or whatever type of shield you are trying to make here.

[Bazral]

Bit of an update.

Reworking a lot.

[iansnyder]

Personally I feel the first head you showed had a lot more character. The rest has definitely improved quite a bit. The shin armor should be more shadowed from the way you've drawn the legs; they should be shaded more like the lower part of the pauldron instead of like the upper part (since they are angled downward slightly). Keep it up