Just a fat, fat man. Trying to practice faces:

Initial, current:


His double chin (the extra roll of fat under his chin) seems kind of odd to me and I'm sure there are a hundred other problems.

EDIT: I was once again working in the wrong color space, so the colors aren't right. I'll fix them.
EDIT: Fixed. But they still seem a little weak

EDIT: Shortened the face, messed with the eyes a little.
EDIT: One more before I go to bed. Changed the palette, amongst other things.

Edited by Hatch - 18 July 2007 at 5:45pm

Hey M.E., thanks very much for the critiques and edits.

Well, I was trying to exaggerate the roundness of his face to make him look heavier. Perhaps I overdid it.

Ooh, I like the extra shine on his cheeks. I'll include that in my next edit.

The eyebrow is intentional; it's part of his expression. As for everything being shifted upward, you're right. I was sort of going for a perspective from slighlty underneath and, again, trying to exaggerate his weight, but I don't think it worked (the perspective at least).

I have to be honest, I don't understand the blob you added on his chin. It seems to be arbitrarily adding asymmetry just for the sake of it. I may be missing something, but it just looks odd to me.

Yes, I really struggle with palette choice, especially skin tones. I'll have another go at it with your advice.

Again, thank you very much for taking the time. It's a great help.


Edited by Hatch - 12 July 2007 at 8:36am

Thanks leel, good points. I'll take another stab at it.

I really like this.   I wanted to do an edit for you just cause I couldn't think of anything to really CC, so I wanted to play and see if you can add any details and stuff like that just to make into more than just a practice piece.  I think he could use some skin imperfections..  but I couldn't get anything subtle enough with this palette...

Anyway, I just played around, see if it inspires you at all:

I tried to smooth some things out.. and he ended up a little more sinister hehe.

no no I love it!

And I only posted one image from photobucket, not sure what question marks you're talking about, I don't see any..

Anyways, wow great job :)
The one thing I can think to suggest is to get rid of the gray pixels separating the two circles on the chin.  I think the separate highlights would be enough, but connecting the shadows is a wee bit much.  You should try and see what it looks like without - it might help.

dunno where that's coming from, I don't even have that file >_>

Good job.

More face practice. This time--what else?-- The Thin Man:

Initial, current


Not sure how well it reads at 1x. It's quite a challenge cramming detail into a piece this size. Hopefully it's not too big a mess :/

Obviously I haven't done much with the brow or forehead yet.

Brutal criticism welcomed and encouraged!

EDIT: Yes, his eyebrow is cocked as well because I'm extremely unimaginative

Edited by Hatch - 18 July 2007 at 5:47pm

And yeah, so far they've both been on a 64x64 canvas, though in neither case have I come close to using all of it.

EDIT: i r dum

Edited by Hatch - 16 July 2007 at 6:11pm

Quick update, mostly for the new and (hopefully) improved palette:

Much improved palette.  Like the forehead too.  

Thanks for the comments, leel. Good points as always.

I had already fattened up his cranium by the time I had read this

As for his cheekbones, I intentionally made them too high and too prominent. I was intending for this to be a bit caricature-y. It's a bold experiment indeed, but I just wanted to try something different.

Again, thanks very much for the advice. It's always appreciated. Hopefully I'll have one more update before bedtime.

Wow, that's much better, the contrast is wonderful too, has the same feel as "Fat Man".

Hello Hatch,

First of all I have to say Great Work!
Where can I send my picture to so that you can do M.E.?

He is looking so sad, maybe that is because he has
really small ears?! (usually they run to the tip of the nose)

Personally I find it a bit too dark. But I love how you popped
out those eyes. Much clearer than your first itteration.

Your Fat Man had nice irregular = non-mirrored features.
This thin man is pretty mirrored. It is OK but it might
be more interesting to see it slightly off in one half of the face.

Looking forward to see more of this carricature-pixelling!

Best regards from

M.E.

The hair was a very nice touch, but like M.E. said, it's a little to dark compared to 'Fat Man'.  Oh, and I like the real bony face, but I guess that would make since for a skinny man.  Keep it up.  

I like the first and second hair styles.  More or less the 1st one, it looks good for a skinny man.  

Thank you M.E, soda.

I wasn't sure if I should start a new thread for this, because it's a much different style, but I figure it's all just face practice, which is what I started the for:

Initial, Current:


It's not very interesting from an artistic standpoint, but I wanted to try a plain realistic portrait. No ref, I made the face up as I went. I've mainly just blocked in the shading, and tweaked the eyes with a bit more detail. The forehead is obviously not entirely shaded. I'd like to know if there are any anatomy or proportion or lighting problems before I take it any further.

Edited by Hatch - 20 July 2007 at 7:34pm

quick note:  the nose seems perfectly vertical but the eyes are tilted

Update:



Thank you all for the crits. I tried to address everything you pointed out. Still needs a lot of work, but I'm very pleased how it's coming together. I've never done anything quite so ambitious.

Sorry, no ears yet, M.E