Galactic Garden

[Cure]

working on that now


yeah, nothing really galactic going on, just a quick title

[Cure]

still workin' on it. needs something non-boring in there somewhere, maybe a few non-shrub/tree/folliage things, still haven't decided what yet.
c+c appreaciated.

[ndchristie]

there's something awkward about the gesture that just makes him feel like he's crammed in there, even though he should have plenty of space.  follow that up with no real action or expression and a very static background and you've got a piece that, fo all the skill of the rendering/color choice etc, is about as disengaging as it gets.  Your work has always been pretty static, but i think this is a case where that's really hurting the piece.  just adding in junk isn't going to make the piece exciting, it's probably going to increase clutter, time spent and little else.  you can have an electrifying piece showing half a wine cork if it's properly arranged on the page.
This is also a debatable point, since you're working with an alien, but most people don't like it when a head has no room in back for the brain.  it's more visually discomforting than any of the other changes made to the body.  If the composition was stronger that sort of thing might work better, but there's a lot of things adding up negatively when you have i think more skill than that.

[Cure]

i admit the background is more of an afterthought, and unfortunately it shows. I've half a mind to scrap the background all together, maybe save it for a later piece or something.
I'm not sure if I intended it or it just reminded me of it afterwards do to the two elements not interacting with one another, but it's sort of got that rpg monster/generic background dependent upon terrain look going. At one point I even thought of making it a mockup.

I haven't been particularly happy with it either, I'll probably just do a big overhaul on the sprite and forget the current background (maybe use it as the an aforementioned generic rpg bg). If I do another bg, I'm thinking maybe doing his spaceship (either an entirely organic ship or a sort of mechanical ship overrun by plant life, kudzu/vines etc.).

just for kicks, here's the original sketch:

[Ryumaru]

If you wanted to do something about the " cramped" feeling ndchristie was talking about, and I agree with, I think yes you should scrap the background for this piece( which is beautiful btw) and possibly have the canvas be of portrait orientation and maybe even of a 1:2 ratio? or if you were to keep a landscape orientation, somehow have elements that " trap" him in between? I have nothing to say of the pixel tech, I think its very fine as always.

[Cure]

scrapped the bg, going with the infested ship idea. just blocking everything out right now, i like it more thus far.  didn't really like the portrait style canvas so i trapped him in, per ryumaru's suggestion.
redid the character a little so he isn't as static and boring, got the tentacle on the dash so he interacts with the environment a little and doesn't look as pasted in. i'll probably have him looking at the console in the next update, might do something with that other tentacle as well.

[Batzy]

scrapped the bg, going with the infested ship idea. just blocking everything out right now, i like it more thus far.  didn't really like the portrait style canvas so i trapped him in, per ryumaru's suggestion.
redid the character a little so he isn't as static and boring, got the tentacle on the dash so he interacts with the environment a little and doesn't look as pasted in. i'll probably have him looking at the console in the next update, might do something with that other tentacle as well.

Nice to see you really are working on this I like the new expression much beter. I have no crit on this piece just keep it up 

[ndchristie]

desk was a smart choice, gives him a reason to tilt forwards.

palette should also be more friendly to him this time around

carry on

[Cure]

[Corinthian Baby]

This will look great when finished, I like the colors, but there a re a lot of big surfaces that might be hard to texturize.