Anatomy issue, could use some crits.

[Exithium]

Greetings, im new to these boards.

I registred here to get some critique on my pixel works and stuff like that
Anyway, im having some problems on making this lil' dragon creature look right..
as you may see:


I could use some crits from you pro's out there so I can finish this piece.
Oh, and sorry about the dull dark blue bakground.
I didnt feel it was necessary on giving it transparacy yet.

- Update -


Fixed some touch-ups and removed the sword for now.

[Turbo]

This is looking good! Looks solid, nice muscle definition. It's a bit too dark though, i'd bump up the colors, but as you're asking specificially for anatomy advice, here it goes (i'm no anatomy expert, by the way, feel free to disagree).

In orange, i drew a sketch of the skeleton (as i interpreted the characters position to be in). The main problem here is his shoulders, they seem misaligned with the rest of the torso. I gave them some tilt, increasing the amount of "neck muscle" (trapezium?) seen, and lowering his left arm in accordance. I also suggest you align the "horizontal" lower pectoral line to be parallel with his shoulder line (the orange one at the top). Remember the ribcage is solid, and the upper torso always moves as one piece: the abdominal and lateral muscles are the ones that "stretch" to fit the spine twists more noticeably (and those small muscles below the pectorals on the sides, but to a smaller extent).

In blue, i tweaked a bit the volume in the arms, and changed a bit of foreshortening on his left arm. Also, i'd reduce the proportion of the fingers in the hands and show more of the palms (hope that shows on the edit). His right arm looks good, though i tweaked the hand too in the same manner.Oh, and i lowered his left knee a bit, too.



Ok, hope that's helpful.

[Exithium]

Wow, thats probably the best critique I have ever gotten on any of my works Anyway about the colors, yeah, I agree they are a bit dark.. I'll probably brighten the colors slightly when Im done though.

Update:


Turning out pretty good I'd say

[Mr.Modem]

I think you could add  to the skinsome extra colour tone. Like a blue or green shade. Right now it looks a little bit boring, too metallic. Apart from that it looks wonderful. I can't wait to see this finished!

[Exithium]

I might consider an extra color tone. But im unsure if it fits the style of the sprite..

-Another Update -



I started drawing the legs (which im awfully bad at ) and gave him an extra blue shading.


- Last Update before the Tail and its Wings are done. -

[Pawige]

I would suggest giving him a slightly more dinosaurish legs, lengthen the bones in the foot to about half-way up his lower leg, so it looks like two knees. It's pretty cliche for dragons, but that's probably because it usually looks better. Also, I think the legs need to be pushed backwards, it looks like is feet are up close to us, and his body falling over backwards.

The shading could also use some work, right now you have just pillowshaded the muscle groups. The thing is that you're thinking in shapes, rather than light and shadow. Picture how the light will flow over the bulges in the muscle: the upper arms will be pretty evenly lit, use mainly your lightest color(s), and shade with only the midtones. In the areas that'll be in shadow, you can pretty much flatten it out with your darker tones, it'll seem like you're losing detail, but the 3D look will make up for it.

I think the arm's anatomy was pretty much spot-on in the original sketch, but in the latest iteration it almost doesn't resemble a normal arm at all.

Don't let my post bring your down though. Great work so far, I do like the texture for the skin you've got, and you did a great job on the face! Take it a bit further and it'll be excellent.

[Exithium]

Cheers Pawige. I looked up some dinosaur anatomy and tried to redo the legs:



I also gave him an light source as you may see.. [Still WIP]
One more thing Pawige. Im a bit unsure on what you mean about the arms, could you be more exact?

[Pawige]

Compare the muscle groups you've got in the original line-art (the one with the sword) with the muscle groups you now have. They've changed a lot. It was much more anatomically accurate before. The new legs are much better. The tail also needs a bit of repositioning now, remember a tail is pretty much a continuation of the spine. At the pelvis it turns outwards at a rather unnatural angle, it might look a bit more balanced if the tail gently curved down and backwards. (Hopefully that makes sense)

[Opacus]

Was looking at it for a while, and I just noticed, the neck is placed very odd.
It's more above the right than the left chest.
Furthermore, I like it

[GOODNIGHTdestroyer]

It's pillow shaded.

[Krizmo]

Well, apart from the anatomical critiques already given, I like this alot. Can't wait to see those wings, and furthermore, the finsihed picture. ^_^

[Darien]

His upper arms, particularly his left, are very odd.  There's so many blocks of muscles, when it's much simpler than that.  The pecs are shaded to a different light source, and besides that most of it seems pillowshaded.  His whole neck area is unclear.  The tail goes off at an awkward angle.

I can't say I like the was this is getting shaded.  I think this has a lot of potential, but the shading just makes him look shiny and metallic.   I'd rather see some form of texture, and a more defined light source.   

[Krizmo]

Yes, there are some anatomical issues (such as the tail at an awkward angle, and soem of the msuckle structure), but I, personally, like the metallic/shiny looking shading. It makes this picture seem more.... hard, or strong.; which I think is what Exithium is intending.

More updates. Now!

[yosh64]

hey

EDITED...
Yea the light source(s) are very confusing to me, hard to make sense of, and I can now see why it's marked as being pillow shaded. BUT even so I still think it has nice volume, just needs a more consistent and defined light source. NOW I think another big issue is the position of the chest, I mean the center of his chest should be lined up with the center part of the abs, at the moment I thinks its way off! I think your best bet to fix this is to reposition everything below his chest, just nudge it right ways?

Hmm, now I think the anatomy of his lower arms looks most odd to me, and also around where his sholders join his chest, but hey it's a dragon after all.

Anyhows I look forward to seeing what becomes of this.

cyas

[Lick]

It seems to me that he would fall backwards if the image had animation ^_^

Anyway, I'd move some parts around and rotate some joints so the stance will seem more stable.

[Exithium]

Cheers for all the comments and crits everyone.
But unfortunately im redoing this piece from scratch
because of its size. It's supposed to be for a rpg game but its too big. Anyway im giving him some more dragon and less humanoid features.
I'm working on it as im posting this, so expect some major updates soon.