The idea of this is it's a guy high on drugs walking through a forest and in the shadows of the forest there are monsters hiding and watching him. It's not really a forest right now, and there are no monsters yet(I tried making them but they looked really bad).

Say no to drugs and yes to weed ;)

All drugs are bad, especially weed.

Edited by Andrew-M - 02 November 2011 at 3:05pm

Good start. The character actually looks a lot better at 2X zoom than at 1x. A few suggestions...

1) Cure is saying that it looks like he's walking on top of a hill, because we're only seeing the road in front of him, and nothing behind him. We can't see where he's coming from, or any trees or mountains in the horizon, so it looks like he's on top of a hill.

2) I don't think you're creating the atmosphere you're looking for. When I look at this, I don't get a feeling of paranoia or claustrophobia. It doesn't look like he's walking in a forest, surrounded by acid trip monsters. I can only see some tree trunks without branches, so those might as well be palms. The grass is green, the sky is blue. Looks like a wonderful Sunday walk in the park.

3) It's not a good idea to put the top of the head just a few pixels from the top of the picture. How about using the rule of thirds, and let the head be 1/3 from the top and the top of the hill be 2/3 from the top. Maybe you want to adjust the size of the picture.

4) It looks odd when you've given the character and trees a texture, but the ground is just a flat colour. Also, you've added a little bit of shade to the clothes and tree trunks, but there are basically no shadows on the ground.

how does being at the top of a hill communicate being heavily intoxicated?

Edited by cure - 02 November 2011 at 11:35pm

He's walking, and the planet is spinning under him... while he's walking...

You do make a good point. And the forest looks more like he walked into a well lit cave...

Thanks for the help Frost Butt:

Thanks for the help jalonso:

the arm that's supposed to be swinging forward looks more like his hand is on his hip. have the hand overlap the receding leg. you may also want to alter his expression if anxiety or fear is more what you're going for. trees usually get a little wider right at the base as the roots splay outward. a few lower branches would make the trees look more organic,  you're envisioning trees with a big blob of foliage stuck at the top, with some trees coming off the  top of the trunk to support it. that's unrealistic, though.
right now it looks like a cloudy day, early afternoon. if you're going for a darker and spookier look then you're going to need more night-time colors, as in Frost Butt's edit. much improved over the cheery mid-day palette from before, though.
jacket is looking a little pillowshading, try using light and shadow to define the volumes of it more accurately. volumes are more convincing than patterns.

I think the trees should be closer to him. It seems like he has a lot of room. I think you should start with the monsters too. I would suggest yellow eyes looking at him from the forest.

Also, don't be afraid of giving the grass texture by using different shades! This is a huge improvement from the first one, by the way.

Better, although wouldn't the grass in the front be darker since he is heading into the forest?

i dont get the 'bad-trip-vibe' at all from this...
he rather looks like hes confidently walking through the woods not giving a f*** about those monsters...
it doesnt look like a bad trip , nor does it look like hes tripping at all....

wide pupils are mostly associated with being on drugs...
so.. since ur style is kinda comicish anyways, give him large eyes with widely opened pupils ...maybe even spirals... make him droll... have stars circle around his head .. or some other being on drug clishee

also u can tell more of a story with the picture...
tripping mostly wont be just a bad trip from start till end...
so....
he seems to be walking down this path .. you could have a rainbowish colored teletubby land kind of thing in the background, where hes coming from (.. the past...) and then all the monsters and bad things lurking in front of him (...the future...)
know what i mean

something like this

haha ... yeah i noticed that too ;)

Edited by onek - 09 November 2011 at 3:07pm

Usually, I am blown away by onek's edits, but I kind of feel that this edit takes away the whole image of the forest and the inherent symbolism. It looks like a straight acid trip, which is cool, but then I would just get rid of the forest all together.

I did this. I don't know if it's better, but I just think there is a subtle alternative that would be cool too. I like the rainbow colours onek's used. It's just that it's hard to do something subtle at this tiny size. Such as giving wide pupils.



F#&K, I now realize my edit looks faaaar too cosy, with the combination of mushrooms and the sun. Again, at this small size it's hard to do stuff like having a happy background with a creepy frame. The happiness infects everything. Oh well. I do like the creepy grass, at least.

Oh, and I changed the shading on the pants a bit, and the nose.


Edited by CELS - 09 November 2011 at 3:44pm

You need help with color.
If you want a shade of a color for light, make it a warmer color. If you want a shade for a shadow, move it towards the blue, the colder colors. Also, your colors are way too saturated, and that may be why the forest looks so bright!


Edited by coolsarahkry - 10 November 2011 at 3:29pm

yup.  Make the forms bizarre.  Wiggly trees, Spiky grass, Give him a giant bloated head; whatever you can think of.  Colors could definitely add a lot to this, and you don't have to go overboard with them, just make them more interesting and a bit distorted.  

Edited by Frost Butt - 13 November 2011 at 9:26pm

More changes:

Edited by Andrew-M - 16 November 2011 at 1:39am

I would definitely change the eyes.  see CELS' edit.  Your eyes don't read as eyes very well.  I'd stick with single pixel pupils at this size

mixlplix, i'll try not to be so hard on myself. It's hard though when i'm doing a lot of things wrong...

Edited by Andrew-M - 17 November 2011 at 7:34pm