Close-up WIP, requires C&C

[Ghost]

I'm currently working on a few "larger shots" for a game, close-ups as seen in the original Monkey Island (talking to important characters) and DOTT (all over the game). I hope to get a couple of them into the game.

First I thought scanned sketches would be the best way, but then I found it more convenient to do it by hand. I consider it a test of my skills to craft them pixel by pixel (also a good way to keep AA simple).
And, well, I'd like to share my first WIP, and maybe get some crits and tips- palette ideas, how to add structure to the flat shapes, anything really.

I used a pic of a typical "Victorian Manor" as a reference for the house, and simply took the palette of the main character to redraw her in the larger pose. I must say that so far I am quite happy with the result, but I realise that this is only a first step.

Fire away!


(ignore the ugly green lines, they're just there as "placeholders/pointers)

[Snarky]

Looks great so far! I'd work on the lighting next, put some shadow on that mansion, maybe try to adapt the palette of the character to the scene (it's OK for her to be lit by her own lightsource, maybe a lantern left of frame, but areas in shadow should tend towards the hue and value of the scene).

[Dervish]

I really like the look of it so far.  I agree with Snarky definitely work on the mansion.  I know  it is still rough so I sure it will match the quality of the character when you are finished.  the only thing that is really bugging me right now is the girls hand it look a little man-ish it seems very large for a feminine hand

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Her hand could use some work to fix the anatomical issues with its size vs her head and the awkward shape of the thumb and finger sizes.  With the moon behind her, the edges of her body will be lit while the rest of her will be shadowed.  Since it is off and to her left, the inner-right of her body would probably be the darkest with some bounce light at key points that project outward, like the nose, chin, and part of the left arm.  Aside from that I'd have to see more progress on the background to give you any tips on lighting on it.

I made a really rough edit to show you what I mean.

1.  Shifted some shades towards blue and made them darker.

2.  Shaded the face with simple highlights and bounce lights and brought the mouth up one pixel.  Shaded the clothing with the same principle and made a rough start with the hair.

3.  Worked on the hand a bit by bringing up the sleeve and reducing the size of the palm and fingers.  The hand could use more work.

4.  Softened the shoulder a bit and reduced its size and added more of a curve from the neck to the shoulder.



Note that I'm handling highlights more or less based on where you started (the upper left of the character) but also with the light source coming from behind, which will add a 'halo' around the character and affect the shadows.  I barely did anything with the hair aside from darkening the inner area and making the area around the hair and parts that stick out lit.  Even after darkening some of the colors I think they could be darker and shifted more towards blue, but this should give you some ideas.

[SpacePaw]

as ProgZmax edit is far more realistic I kind of miss the toony feeling od the orginal version. I think you might have gone a little bit too far here Prog (It's mostly just about the face+hair). The backlight idea is more natural, yes, but the color of her hair got totally different (I know it's supposed to be a night, but still...I think it got too dark).
Maybe after some hair shading it'll get allright again, dunno. It mostly depends on Ghost's plans on toonish/realistic feel of the game...

[Andail]

Progz; backlight is neat but the face over all isn't really an improvement. The wrinkles around her mouth just make her ugly, and I'd actually say cartoonesque cell-shading is the way to go here.

[ThreeOhFour]

If you plan on keeping the style similar to the original, here's a quick skritched together in paint idea of what might be done:




I thought the hair would look a bit nicer with the mid orange shade moved to be more between the yellow and outline shade, and also that the shading like this would give the hair a nicer sense of volume.

I also moved like 10 pixels around the lips and lowered that eyelid even further

Looks swell, anyhow.

[Ghost]

And already I have learned a lot, thank you for all the feedback, and especially Progz and Ben for the paintovers.

Yes, the game will look more "cartoonish" than realistic, so I will stick to the simpler outlines. But the points about backlight really are useful; I'll update as soon as possible!

[Khris]

Quick face paintover:



I tried to keep her general features and merge it with cartoony anatomy.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

As I said before, I didn't really focus at all on the hair aside from adding a halo and darkening the interior.  Also:

backlight is neat but the face over all isn't really an improvement. The wrinkles around her mouth just make her ugly, and I'd actually say cartoonesque cell-shading is the way to go here.

I disagree with this sentiment for a number of reasons.

1.  If you want to learn how to accurately deal with light on large figures, a study of realistic lighting should come before you bend the rules.

2.  I don't think it makes her look ugly at all, only more human.

3.  As an example it shows where light will typically hit from this angle and how to deal with it to get reasonable results.

4.  It's not logical to show people how to bend the rules before showing them what the rules are and how to follow them.



Some examples of back lighting at angles (behind, above-left):

http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-20046042.jpg?size=67&uid={ACE00B35-8182-4844-92A3-7CEBA958E56B}

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2344/2508718188_e5892f4187.jpg?v=1211311952

http://images.inmagine.com/img/blendimages/bld132/bld132160.jpg


The first two images illustrate my point better, though all three give you a good base for where light is going to hit the female form.  Pay special attention to how the light bends around the shoulders and around the chin.  One additional matter to take into account is that the general lighting will be affected by her surroundings.  Is this mansion in the middle of a forest or outside of a city?  If so, her face and chest area will be very dark due to a lack of peripheral light sources.  Learning how light affects form from different angles is especially important for such a large, prominent figure in your piece, in my opinion.

[Misj']

Fire away!

Hay Ghost,

Well...the thing that bothered me most was the angle of her shoulders.
I'm quite busy at the moment so I made a very quick image to indicate what I mean:

left to right:
1. your original
2. overlay of lines indicating the angle of her breasts, shoulders, and head.
3. overlay of alternative angle of her shoulders
4. rough sketch to add some of here other features.

In 2 her shoulders are more or less straight which does not add a lot of dynamics and character. In 3 I've altered her shoulders a little to match the angle of her breasts (which makes more sense anatomically), which adds a nice contrast because it's almost the opposite angle of her head; thus adding some additional dynamics to her stance. Lowering her left shoulder also results in the positive side-effect that her hand can be a little lower which I personally think is a little more visually pleasing. Also, for women I personally prefer slightly sloped shoulders (in 3) over the more straight 'broad' shoulder-look (in 2)...but that again is a matter of taste. I just feel that these additional curves add to her femininity.

That's all for now...

Misj'

[Neil Dnuma]

I'd change the house a bit if I were you, it's now almost excatly like the the one in Psycho, that house is so iconic, and brings too many associations. Unless that's what you're after of course.

Nice pixelling.