So I have recently watched The Pagemaster (1994), and at one point I saw a scene that contained this. That scene has inspired me to make a 3-color palette (red, cyan and black) that I wanted to test out, so I decided to make something simple/non-complex using only these 3 colors, and then send it in so I'd see what others think (of the palette and the piece in general).
Now, I don't know if I overdid it with the dithering or if the colors are too saturated (I can easily tone it down if needed) or anything. Feedback would be appreciated and I'll try to take any suggestions into consideration (just don't be too harsh, please). Also, I tried to use the still as a color reference in order to attempt to achieve depth with just these 3 colors. |
That's a good and classic way to create a dramatic, cinematic atmosphere. Used by many artists in many ways; Richard Corben comes to mind.
Got to be careful to keep the light relatively realistic (you can't have red light coming from both above and below on the snout!) while cheating might be necessary to avoid large unlit or boring areas (blue light on teeth).
Changing the colors is possible but would not alter the result much.
Yes, you overdid it with the dithering;) Mostly you make it too even and systematic.
Rough edit:
Tried (but not too hard) to guess volumes; I'm not familiar with monster anatomy but you should have a really clear idea in your mind of every volume detail if you want to shade convincingly. This type of light is more about suggesting than showing, even more so than usual pixels!
Added a little dither-texturing; needs more work.
The eyes are a special problem: they should be out of reach of both lights, and also you can't make speculars obvious with only 3 colors. I used the same cheat as in the ref: the eyes are glowing red with their own light. No dithering there as they're glossy!