Hi Guys I'm baaaack! Started to pixel again as a break from the regular sized stuff and have invested some hours in this piece but I've been doing a fair bit on it and am looking for advice/edits to make it better! Any input/feedback appreciated and I'll upload it when it's to my satisfaction.

Thanks guys!

Edit: so far I can see some nasty banding on the right hand side so i'll be fixing that!


Edited by Mars Haseugen - 01 September 2013 at 12:37pm

I've been re-rendering some of the lines so that the pixels don't jump/step too much(i.e; from a 2 pixel height to a 4 pixel height) the only issue I encounter is sometimes if I try and curve or straighten the lines like this too much then the form of the line is lost :( any advice here?

Sometimes there is nothing we can do about ugly spots in the lineart. Use AA or cell-shade these areas to misdirect the viewer's eye. Lines don't have to be everywhere too so that real ugly spots unlined with spots of selout can also help these trouble spots. No formula other than try a spot and see if it reads clean.
Something that should always be aware off is to 'step' your lines everywhere you can. For example, take the bottom line of the shoe on the left (back foot looking left to right). That line is 1,1,3,4,6,3,6,4,2. a better line is 1,2,3,5,4,3,4,5 this way the line 'steps' in a more gradual way. The right foot shoe the line is 2,1,6,4,1,1,1,1,1,2,3,2 that's an ugly line so 1,2,5,3,2,1,1,1,1,2,2,3 would be far cleaner or if a line is ugly but hard to clean then omit the line in that spot and shade the area as a group of pixels/cluster.

Hi Mars!
                 I would be tempted to have a dark outline around the arm in the foreground. It is blending in with the shirt at the moment :) You also have a kink in the back forearm which I think needs addressing :)

From a character pose point of view this is what I'd suggest:

- Grit his teeth to add some intensity to his face.
- splay his legs more to get him into a 'battle mode'
- his arm in the foreground looks like it could be pushed back futher. At the moment it's giving him that Mr Burns look. More sinister than battle ready :)

Overall though, cool looking character and I like your shading. :)

Hope this helps!

                            Neonman.

Hi Mars!
                 I'm very much admiring you ability to scrap your work and start again, that's a very professional mindset :)

I think this new pose is a lot better! :)

As a small tweak I'd make more of his gritted teeth to really show it off. Also, be careful with the nearest sword, it's shorter than the other one right now (you probably know this, but I thought I'd point it out anyway :) )

One last thing, maybe the back sword should be pointing towards the body but away from it? Just twist the wrist the other way should fix this :)

If you need a sketch to show you what I mean, let me know :)

Anyway, keep up the cool work, and thankyou for your kind words! :D

all the best!

                    Neonman.


Edited by Neonman - 04 September 2013 at 8:23am

Mars, you have gotten so much better overall at pixelling :)

Finally >.< ...take your time.

Hi Friend :) This is due to a poor understanding, attempt and implementation of AA.I hope to fix it as I come to understand it more. Thank you for your honesty and the kind words :)

Hi Neon! Nice to hear from you again and thank you for your help and kind words of encouragement! It is really quite satisfying seeing the progress made on this page from the original :) your suggestions on the pose really helped it it off.

I've been playing around more with the weapons in his hand just for variation; before I move on to finer editing, clean up, textures AA etc. Let me know which you guys prefer (you might prefer the previous edit in which case that's fine too :)

EDIT:forgot to say I've been playing with the idea of a tribal tattoo on that closest arm just for some variety/excitement




Edited by Mars Haseugen - 09 September 2013 at 2:29am

Hey Friend :) I'm edging toward 3 too as I like the dual wield daggers :) Add yes, absolutely right it ALL needs refining but I want to start making final decisions to character design before I focus on making it look as polished as possible :) If you want to post some minor edits then please be my guest; any help with AA in particular would be so, so useful :)

Looking good :) I'd say move the sword that is pointing down a little bit more to the right because at the moment it looks a little he has a sword for a willy :P