crit help deciding which character is better...

[Mistajaye]

do you think I should use the new style character, or do you like the old one better? which one fits the goblins better? oh, don't worry out the black outlines on the goblins they can be removed. Thanks!
http://sharenxs.com/view/?id=qqi0ipd-0181511-4memrdh&h=l

[snowsoft]

Sorry bud, don't see anything. Also, the link just brings me to an upload page with no pictures either.

[ekobor]

The one on the left fits the goblins a lot better, but I would turn their faces so it looks less like they are looking out of the computer, if you are using these in your game.

[snowsoft]

Diggin the one on the left. Try saving as a bitmap/png/gif, something that doesn't mush and blur the colors. The goblin has some personality going for it.

[Atnas]

The character to the left reveals some flaws which were previously easy to dismiss cus of the small size of the one to the right. (I'm talking about the arm. why so bulky with such a childish face?) Right character is better. He also fits the deformed goblins better as far as the drawing goes, but they could use some more pixel refinement to fit with the character on the right.

The goblins' teeth look like you couldn't decide if you wanted them to be cartoony or realistic, and ultimately ended up doing neither. Go either way on them, as they are an important part of the design. You could have thick bold outlines on each tooth with a lot of contrast between the outlines and the interior color, or render each tooth. It will make them more visually striking either way you go! TASTY HUMON >:[] omnom

also: NSFW ads on that site you're using, not something I really enjoy having on my screen. If you're going to use an image hosting site, how about uploading to a more mainstream image uploader, and use the [img] tags? easier and safer for all

[snowsoft]

I agree with Atnas. I didn't even notice the two men at first. The guy on the right fits more in with the style, but I still like the green guy on the left.

If you want the man on the left to work better, look at why the one on the right fits more. Your left guy looks very unfinished right now, like more of a quick thrown together drawing than a finished piece. Again, the blurry jpeg doesn't help much. Clean up a lot of the black lines and as Atnas said, the face does not fit very well. It's almost as if you were trying for a more realistic style, at least with proportions, but stuck with a lot of your old more deformed style, which makes the man seem "off".

[Mistajaye]

thanks for the advice, but heres a better screen, bmp


heres some concept art, ones i used for the goblins... some other goblins and a kobold and a boss goblin leader guy ^_^

[Redshrike]

His arm really distracts me from the rest of the piece (as did the arm on the last version).  I understand that you're not going for an anatomically correct style, but it's important to understand anatomy at least somewhat before you break it, so that when you change something it will be a rational decision which adds to the look of the piece, not a random mistake.  For instance, his deltoid is positioned so that his arm almost seems to be in three segments, and the positioning of the hand seems painful.  If you slim it down a bit, glance at a few references and convey most of the shape with some shading instead of those lines, I think you'll get a much better result.
I dunno, just my two cents.

[Dr D]

Why is he leaning forward so much?

And how is he going to fight (if he is) with a bird resting on his shoulders?

Also, I can't quite place it, but his pose/feet/legs are quite awkward.

[adcrusher524]

I think your character is too pale. Hes almost the same color as the scarf. Also, his belt is too high, maybe you should lower that a bit. His torso also needs to be longer?(Im not good with anatomy)

[Mistajaye]

lol, sorry but the character is a charactiature... the anatomy is suppose to be distorted, I wasn't having a problem with the shape of the character because I know very well what style I am looking for. I was just asking for shading and color choices, so if you got confused I apologize. Also I wanted to know different methods of coloring, dithering, and etc. Again I'm sorry I should have been more clear on what kind of advice I wanted, it's my fault. But thanks for the comments none-the-less.

Realism is never what I strive for when creating characters. I mean look at DBZ with the weird eyes, or even the old peanuts comics. Theres a certain style to every cartoon and or game, and I for one like inventing new looks or distinctive stylized anatomy to customize stigma ^_~. lol isn't that what makes art so interesting? or do you want everything real and exact? either way I apologize for my vagueness in my approach for asking advice and crits.

[1up]

lol, sorry but the character is a charactiature... the anatomy is suppose to be distorted, I wasn't having a problem with the shape of the character because I know very well what style I am looking for. I was just asking for shading and color choices, so if you got confused I apologize. Also I wanted to know different methods of coloring, dithering, and etc. Again I'm sorry I should have been more clear on what kind of advice I wanted, it's my fault. But thanks for the comments none-the-less.

Realism is never what I strive for when creating characters. I mean look at DBZ with the weird eyes, or even the old peanuts comics. Theres a certain style to every cartoon and or game, and I for one like inventing new looks or distinctive stylized anatomy to customize stigma ^_~. lol isn't that what makes art so interesting? or do you want everything real and exact? either way I apologize for my vagueness in my approach for asking advice and crits.

Better worded than most attempts at this excuse, but you're still backpedaling out of improving this

It doesn't matter if you're aiming for cartoony or not, a better knowledge or proper anatomy and applying certain aspects of proper anatomy to this will iimprove the end product.

[Squiggly_P]

If they're going to all be used in the same game, then the shading and colors should be consistent from one to the next.  The far right badguy has a lighter outline than the other characters.  His background hand is also flat shaded while the other bad-guy has lighter shades on that hand.  The guy on the left is standing in a similar pose as the other two, but I can't see his far arm the way I can see them on the bad guys.  I'm gonna guess that the guy on the far right isn't quite finished yet, since he's missing some shading that the other one has as well.

As far as style goes, the human character and the two enemies seem to be done in different styles, almost as thought they were drawn by two different people.  The enemies have really exaggerated proportions and those legs that taper to points.  The human is less exaggerated and overall is less stylized than the enemies.  It might just be personal preference on my part, but the difference in styles is pretty jarring to me.  The proportions look off to me as well - for the record - but the colors look alright.  The shading could use some love, tho.  It looks like the light is coming from just to the left of the 'camera', but there's some conflict in the way the character's shaded.  The arms seem to indicate light from slightly above, but the highlights suggest it's slightly below.  Both the heaviest shaded parts AND the highlighted parts are towards the back of the arm which suggests light coming from both the left and the right of the camera.  The other areas seem to be pretty much in agreement that the light is slightly above and to the left of the camera.

The bird, however, is lit from the right, and the highlights on the character's hair also indicates a light source to the right.  If the bird is going to be on the character like that often, I'd recommend they both get the same light source so they don't clash with each other.

The 'old' character you have in that image looks a LOT better.  It has better proportion/anatomy and perspective and is more interesting to look at...  I don't think either of them really 'fits' the goblins, tho.

[Bissle]

OK, first, those goblins are pretty cool. 

Have to agree with Squiggly: the player sprite and the goblins don't really match much, style-wise.

The original player sprite had more pleasing proportions and seems like it would look slightly less out of place with the goblins. The anatomy (a stylistic choice or not) on this one is well, awkward, mostly the arm; it either needs to be thinned out or the muscles need to be defined and sectioned off in a more anatomically correct way if you want him to have muscular arms. Right now it looks like a grilled hot dog.

The colors on the sprite are great, but the shading on the arm doesn't match the rest of his body.

I'm digging the concept art for the baddies--just wondering, do you have any with the human as well?