Carnivorous plant

[Shook]

So yeah, this is what i have:



The color palette is from a game called Cortex Command, which happens to use magenta as transparency. I also made a version with a gray background, for ease of viewing, seeing that magenta is a pretty... Vivid color. But anyways, what i'm looking for is advice on how i could make him look better. One thing in particular would be the stalk; namely how it appears perpendicular to the camera, instead of "pointing" in the opposite direction of the head. I'm also not entirely satisfied with the overall look of the stalk, but any attempts at making it look better have failed. The image isn't WIP per sé, it's just that i think it could be better in some regards, but i don't know how to make it so.

Oh, and as a final note, please don't be too harsh with the criticism.

[WM]

As the stalk bends, the thorns will wrap around the stalk and point in different directions; the thorns closest to the head will be in the center of the stalk and pointer horizontally (the other thorns on the curve will start to take suit and display a gradual change to this final position). Also, don't be afraid to use more dramatic shading; the shading on the stalk right now is way too conservative. Try to really superimpose the 3-dimensional shapes that make up the object.

[Shook]

Allright, gave your tips a try.



That helped on his looks. Thanks.
I also changed the thorns' color to brown, because they're too hard to see if they're green. As a fourth thing, i also made the stalk a bit thicker towards the head.

Any ideas for more changes/improvements?

[Ultimaodin]

I like plants so thiscaught my eye. First issue I have is why on earth did you got that red? It may be the pallet available but it isn't that distinguishable and I prefered the origional dark green.
Second off the mouth also isn't that distiguishable. One way to fix this is to give him/her/it a bit of a chin. It will also give it a more ferosius appearance.
Thirdly are those ment to be eyes as I saw them as weird wing like puffs until I zoomed in. If it ment to be I really don't think they should stick out that much not to mention should have more curve especially for a plant. Nature is rarely ever straight lines.
Not surewhat the base is meant to be but it look nice.


PS the head shoud have some lighter outlines to the upper left side to corrospond with the rest of the image.

[Shook]

Hmm, i should probably have given you guys some information about the plant, as he isn't just any carnivorous plant. There are many odd facts about him, but none of them are particularily relevant to his appearance.

But anyways, for the thorns, the reason i chose the reddish color is partly because it would be hard to distinguish the thorns with a green coloration, and also because i thought of how a rose doesn't have green thorns. However, after coloring them green again, they actually stand out more than i thought, and they're much better for camouflage.
As for the mouth, it is how it is because of how it opens, which is more or less similar to an oyster opening and closing. Regardless, i've given him some kind of chin. I think he looks odd with an enormous head like that, but heck, he's meant to be odd.
Also, the eyes. Yeah, they're not exactly natural, but they're part of the character. He wouldn't have a lot of personality without them. I've made their outline a bit more clear on the gray background, however.
The base is supposed to be some large leaves, but apparently i haven't made that clear enough in the image. They've even been mistaken for a flower pot, so i must be really bad at drawing large leaves.

Oh yeah, fixed that outline thing you mentioned. Thanks for your criticism.



How's that?