It looks good for a start. I recommend organizing your palette by hue, saturation, value, red, green, and blue though. It makes it easier to work with.

Oh, okay.

Good work, the only thing I don't like is the left hand it seems unfitting...

@ Sahrab

thats no critic, just a matter of taste
it doesnt matter what YOU saw somewhere.. and if CELS picture looks anything like it O_O

if he wants it hairy its his choice...
id say make it even more hairy! :D


Edited by onek - 19 October 2011 at 7:43am

Thanks for your comments, guys :)

Onek, your edit is as useful as always. I've tried to follow your suggestions, with a few modifications. He may be slightly out of balance still, but I wanted the pose to be dynamic and imply a sense of motion like the monster is bursting out of the shadows, rather than standing still and howling at the moon. I hope the compromise looks alright.

The only thing I left untouched is the right arm, as I feel the extended arm looks more threatening. The shoulders are fairly square (i.e. we're seeing him from the front, not the side), so I figure the arm should be pointing to the side.

I tried to fix the legs, the hips and the left arm.



I may shrink this image to 50%, so I can do a nice background without spending weeks. My last image was so big that it got sloppy towards the end, and I lost pixel control.




Edited by CELS - 19 October 2011 at 7:24pm

For some reason, the face looks the awkward to me. It's like, at an improper angle compared to what angle I imagine his neck to be at.
And, just saying, you have 3 WIP's :^ ]
(mwahaha)

Edited by Frost Butt - 19 October 2011 at 8:02pm

Gah I didn't mean it like that!! I dunno.. Maybe it's where it's sitting in the big ball of fur.. It's like you should be seeing much more of the right horn, and his face should be slightly to the right and down. Maybe I'm just looking at the silhouette incorrectly

K I think I know what's wrong now. You have the huge puff of fur around his face in a very round shape and symmetrical position that really suggests that his face is straight forward portrait style , but his face is drawn to be looking off to the side

Edited by Frost Butt - 19 October 2011 at 8:08pm

got a idea maybe you well like it maybe put a flashlight ( not sure the name) the ones from prisons etc poiting towards him ? giving it nazi experemints feeling ? just an idea

bunch of lights with torches ? and one of them pointing at the beast ??

Liven up monster, more colors, more detail. I know this is a technique, but to innovate.

Great work so far but I noticed a few things that I'd like to point out if I may.

The edit to the leg with the red dots showed the hind leg on the left going more upwards/diagonal than you have edited it to.
you made the top rather flat and still looks awkward to me.

kinda like,   

|_   Your edit
/
   
| .
'/   red dot edit (if that makes sense)

The beast still looks..... I don't know.. calm..

Like.. it's just standing there with its arms up for some reason. The anatomy is great but the pose is .. not so much. Perhaps you might consider flexing the beasts muscles a little more to give the arms being raised more purpose? or clenching its claws/fists to show some power or anger? the beast looks muscular which is why I suggested the flexing.

Based on your background (very nice by the way - great perspective and sizing) the beast is standing on a building but its left foot is kinda... askew/awkward looking. Perhaps you might consider bending it at the heel?

like a

_/

and if you do that perhaps you could give it/show a back claw (imagine a chickens foot which has 3 front claws and a back claw)

kinda how your beasts foot is but with a back claw.

the beasts face reminds me of a yeti's which is awesome I love the bushyness. Perhaps you could give the thick bushy mane a bit more depth somehow? shadowing perhaps in strategic places? maybe suggest where the chin is with shadowing. or not. it's nice how it is really.

The beast's brow could perhaps use a LITTLE more definition with a darker tone on the left side to show it protruding OUT of the bushy hole and give it depth

and also maybe use that same darker tone on the inside outline of the mane to show the manes depth against the face (showing the face is INSIDE this hole of a bushy mane)

or, if the face is protruding OUT of the mane then use that dark colour (or a highlight colour actually, if there is a light source hitting it) on the whole left side of the face to show it protruding OUT of the mane's hole.

all this and maybe give the beast toe nails? (just an after thought.)

Just throwing out ideas and brainstorming with fresh eyes =) good luck!

Edited by Partack - 23 October 2011 at 4:07am

the horns make perfect sense now.  You're getting so good!  I know it's very much WIP, but I think I prefer the hue to be more purple though-fits the mood a little better, and somehow makes the detail in the face and horns easier to see

Background castle seems to be to big (destroys the depth) and out of the perspective

yes, duh I remember.  I'm interested on what time of day the piece is meant to be in though.  I'll just wait and find out. DON'T SPOIL THE SURPRISE.

Hay what happened to this post? I couldn't see it on page 1 any more.. just a quick note, I think you're right about the claws. They're much better pointing out, I like them more today than I did yesterday. do what you feel with the face hole in the mane, I think it was great before all the shading. those creepy eyes peering out from a bushy hair ball thing.

Glad you liked the leg, good luck with the perspective. my vanishing point stuff is pretty terrible so I wouldn't have been able to point that out nor can I comment on it.

hope to see this finished sometime

Perhaps you're over thinking this, CELS. When I draw anything, I generally wanna get the lineart/general shapes of stuff done first. The shading and light comes after and even then it's just a matter of having a quick think about where the light is coming from. Pick a spot for your light source(s) and their colour, then *boom* that's all you need really.. I admire your diligence though on wanting to do this 'properly' and looking at every aspect. Were it me I'd have drawn my beast, drawn the background on a separate layer (layers still count as pixel art ;P) then based on the scene shaded and coloured and be damned to thinking too much into it.
Everyone has their own style and methods I guess.

Edited by Partack - 25 October 2011 at 1:23am

The castle is not too big but the tower inside it is too high for that perspective.

There's a problem with the monster's hip. It's too high. Its abdomen looks just under his chest.


Edited by Gecimen - 25 October 2011 at 3:49pm

Agreed on the castle. Thanks for the comment on the monster, I will take a look at this.


Thank you! I agree on all counts. I have tried to draw the clouds in a different way. I could improve on the original design, but I think I prefer it something like this.



Also, this.

Not defying what Jal has said but all around I like the castle/clouds/hills.
The front building looks like a modern one. Maybe lots of cracks etc. would make it look better.

If the castle is the size you like and wish to keep then the mountain below it needs some attention when coloring and detailing so they visually fit each other. Something between the mountain and castle seems disproportionate to me.

The sky looks better but is still on a flat 2D plane. I think a sky that adds depth will help the piece. I know its touting my own piece but check THIS sky and THIS one for pieces that have skies that add depth using very few colors.

I agree in regards to the color and detailing. Will fix that.


You may not believe this, but I was actually already using those two very images as a reference. I tried the latter first, but couldn't imitate it very well, then tried to imitate the sky from the factory level. While mine isn't as pretty, I'm sure you'll see a slight resemblance.

The problem is, I'm not sure how to achieve depth whilst still keeping the misty, foggy feeling. If I create too much contrast in the clouds, then the air will seem clear, right? And how can I achieve depth without creating more contrast in hue and brightness?


Another one not afraid to promote his own work I'm just kidding, that's actually very helpful. I'll post later tonight with some progress.


EDIT:
Remind me never to pixel again without using a defined palette from beginning to end. Just spent an hour trying to rearrange my mess of a palette into something half-sensible. Also made some minor changes here and there. Will now address the bigger issues. <rolls up sleeves>




Edited by CELS - 28 October 2011 at 3:33pm

The one yesterday looks in the right direction. The latest one looks more like construction more than ruins. Can't put a hyperlink so this is how a ruined brick wall looks like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_Andrews_Cathedral_Ruins_Front.jpg

Thanks for your help, guys.

I definitely see your point about the construction look. Hopefully, these new changes are a step in the right direction. Will probably need to add more rubble, moss and cracks, and also some discoloration.

Will definitely be adding some dramatic shadows in time!




Edited by CELS - 29 October 2011 at 6:57pm

Tried to improve a bit on that. Will continue to work on the ruins. Right now, I'm just flicking around, adding shade, shadows and details. Maybe put some more trees in.

I feel that the horses' anatomy could be better, but I can't find good reference pictures to help. It's a rather unusual angle, so Google isn't of much help.


If there are some other errors I've made, please don't be shy. :)


Edited by CELS - 30 October 2011 at 5:08am

@Quemist: perspective is right, we don't have use a simplified cavalier projection here, CELS works with vanishing points, it's ok.