Wizard character portrait - facial expression help

[fred]

I've been pixelling this (main) character portrait for a game, and I'm looking for general feedback on his facial expression. Which version should I use, and what mood or personality do you think the different pictures express:

1.

2.

also, any other c&c is of course appreciated, including paint-overs or advice on colouring 

[Vai777]

He look more like a Canadian Mounty than a Wizard :

[fred]

Lol, you're so right

The robe has got to be red, though, so I'll have to change the hat to weaken that resemblance.
Anything else?

[Babar]

And it might help to make the hat less...hatty. I thought it was an old western cowboy. Perhaps you could make the brim more floppy, or the 'cone' part longer, or slightly firmer?

[Emerald]

I think expression 2 looks better, though they're very similar.

1 gives more of a goofy impression, whereas 2 seems slicker. Dunno if that's even what you intended...

[Caleb]

First, let me tell you, that's a gooood portrait! Way better than what I'm capable of, anyway. Nice work.

Without knowing anything about the character, it's hard to say which would work better. The first one is more open and honest, I think. Maybe a little bit inquisitive. The second one strikes me as being somewhat conniving, if not simply thoughtful.

Try imagining that you are your character, (personality, preferences, everything) what expression would you have?

[fred]

Thanks for the feedback

I made a new (less cowboy hattish) hat for him and changed his expression slightly, building on version 2 from above. I've tried to make him express determination in face of danger, as he's on an important and dangerous mission. Maybe the new hat is too big, I'm not sure, what do you think?

3.

[Domino]

Looks good, but IMHO, I think he might need a beard.

When I think of wizards, i always assume they have very long beards.

Nice Job!!

[Layabout]

To be perfectly honest, there was no difference in the facial features in the 2 original images. The hat brim was slightly lower on the second.

As for the new one, He still looks like a bloke with a silly hat.

Make him old with a beard, give him a goatee or make him a goth.

Stereotypes work best.

[EldKatt]

Is he wearing a tie?

Of course not, but I think the resemblance of his clothes to a shirt and tie, I think, contributes very much to my impression of him as just some guy with a stupid hat. You might want to consider this.

[Emerald]

I like it. An old guy in a dark blue robe, with a long white beard is just so cliched and boring it instantly turns me off.

I mean, those old wizards had to be young men at some point in time.

Why use a bland stock character when you could use an interesting, original character? Keep him young. The mere fact that you aren't meeting people's expectations for what a wizard looks like, shows how original you're being...

[fred]

Thanks all, for the good observations!

In this version I made the hat a bit smaller, added a hood to the robe to make it look less like a suit, and altered a few pixels here and there.

4.

x2

I think I'm quite satisfied with him for now, although I might add a beard later on.

[tube]

I think I'm quite satisfied with him for now, although I might add a beard later on.

Please don't. I think he's fine as is and It's obvious that he's a wizard without underlining it.

[Layabout]

Now that is much more wizardly in a slightly stereotypical wizard-hatty n robe combo way. Which gets the point across.

Sometimes stereotypical features are useful and not degrading to your artistic integrity.

Hooray for stereotypes.

I agree totally with what tube said.
Beard is probably over the top.

[fred]

Glad you like it 

I'll move on to pixelling some of the adversaries then.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I like your use of colors, but you really don't need the additional black shade with that dark blue already there.  Also, some of the outlines and highlights could benefit from using your established palette better.  I made a rough edit to show you what I mean.

1.  Replaced the black outline with the dark blue.  This gives the image a softer look.
2.  Shaded the outlines around the highlights with a lighter color so the highlights did not look strange.  Also altered the way the highlights played on the face.
3.  Eliminated some double pixels on the outline just to make it a bit cleaner looking.
4.  5 o'clock shadow!


As for the stubble, I gave him that to show he's at least trying to be a typical wizard .

[fred]

Thanks for the edit ProgZmax, great stuff as always! PixelPerfect also sent me a bearded version in pm, but I'll let him decide whether to post it here in the thread, which I think he should.

I actually thought I was done with this sprite, but then just had to try the things you list. And there was a lot to be learned from that, especially trying to make use of the new techniques while preserving the original character in there. I think the end result is quite alright, although it's partly because many things are copied pixelwise from the edit. But I think it's softer and has better sense of shape than the previous versions.

5.

x2

[PixelPerfect]

Here's the one fred mentioned. This was made from the earlier versions with darker outlines.

x2