Main Character - C&C needed

[Rincewind]

Well, hi again, folks!
To cut it short, I've been pushing around the pixels on this one by myself for a long time, but now I feel I really need some help/critics/opinions, etc.
It's the main character for my game, "Trailing Blood", and you might've seen him before in my earlier threads, but in a less developed form...
Anyways, it's the side view that's giving me the most trouble right now - I can't get it to look any good. I'm pretty happy with the front view, but any suggestion is of course welcome! Just bring it on!



Cheers!

[Babar]

His ears don't show up at all in the front view, and the shape of the shoes is a bit irregular

[Damien]

Here's my repaint:

Here's what I changed:
-shortened his neck,
-moved the lightsource just above him,
-gave him a stance in the frontview,
-made just one leg visible in the sideview,
-made jacket darker and shirt lighter (because of the outlines),
-changed the shape of his head a bit (both views)

What can be done next:
-fixing his hands,
-fixing the hair,
-...


Tip1:
When coloring your characters, you could create a palette of colors you used, like I did under the sprite.

Tip2:
Avoid using the colors in high saturation (see the pic below)





I hope this helps you.

[Rincewind]

Babar:
Yeah, I was a bit lazy there - I'm gonna add ears to it now.

Damien:
Ah, nice paintover! Looks really great, although your version made him look a lot older and unhealthier than my character is supposed to be. I supposed I should've mentioned a bit more about him...
He is supposed to be a rather quiet, pale(pale, as in "doesn't go outside too often-pale") newly graduated art-student in his early twenties. The repaint is more of a cynical, smoking, film Noir-detective, in my eyes... Hehe, but it's a great sprite, never the less!
Thanks for the tips - I'm gonna take them into consideration and see what I come up with...Ã,  Ã, 

[Al_Ninio]

One question.
Is that a Kyuss T-shirt he is wearing?

[InCreator]

A nice character!
but I'd like to add:

Tip2:
Avoid using the colors in high saturation (see the pic below)

Avoid, not ignore.
While Damien made a really nice edit, I still think that this is too Darth-Mandarkb'ishyâ,,¢ dark. The jacket and shirt are quite hard to tell apart!
Even if it's a suicidial-lifehater-60'sbritish-punkrocker who wears only dark colors, knowing it won't make it any lighter.

Nothing too difficult though, I just brightened shirt by 10% and difference was made.

So, here's an edit of an edit:


But yes, you totally crashed with choosing face colors, finding suitable skin palette is a real pain sometimes.
Look what Damien did and learn.

I think that some metallic stuff could be added to his jacket. Like metal buttons or pins.
Or if it isn't suitable enough, some hanging things, like little belts on his sleeves (don't know how they are called in english) to give him more "loose" feeling. I don't know, he looks like a guy who takes it easy all the times and is really  messy if not even a bit lazy... If combined with similar "lazy walkcycle" (dragging feet and maybe dancing a little with head and shoulders - disco walk? ), yes, I see a character here.

[Damien]

The Darkness and blending of the jacket with the shirt aren't saturation issues, that happens because of the brightness. You see, I own a LCD monitor, and the picture is brighter at the bottom of the monitor. Sometimes it's hard to tell what the image will be like on other monitors.

It's not that big of a deal, but sometime it's a pain in the ass when pushing pixels around.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Since all you posted was having trouble with the face, that was all I altered.
Damien has the right idea with the shading, making him as pale as your first image also makes it impossible to make out any details.Ã,  Here's something a bit between the two versions

original altered


I was looking for a sort of introverted thoughtful look, and just enough shadowing so you could see his face clearly for animations.Ã,  Hope this helps

[SpacePirateCaine]

He's a good looking gent, I'd say, though I do have one or two points that I think stand to be pointed out - the first is his hairline - In the most recent repaint, by ProgZmax, the issue is completely pushed aside, but I thought that it looked like he's balding prematurely - if he leads a stressful, or easily annoyed life, this could be a good thing to leave in, otherwise, I'd suggest pulling down the hair on his forehead one or two pixels, which would (in my opinion, at least) help to better give him a youthful look - the wrinkles added in the edit done by Damien, and then by InCreator could easily be lightened or removed altogether to further create a more young face - especially the lines from his nose to the outside of his lips could affect it greatly.

When working with very few pixels at a time, it's a tough issue to tackle, but it also looks to me that his eyes are perhaps a little too close together - not so much so that he looks deformed, but there is a bunch of open space on his head. Shading, of course, is also always an important aspect of character art - just remember, shading and in-depth features are a two-edged sword, as you have to maintain the same level of quality in all frames of animation - walk cycles for highly detailed characters can be murder.

That's all from me for now. Keep up the good work.

[Rincewind]

Highwaygal:
Yep, it sure is. Glad that someone finally noticed...

InCreator:
Good call on the jacket - Making the shirt lighter gave it a more of bleached/"washed out" look, which fits rather well with the character, I realised...
And adding studs and stuff to the jacket would be good if he was a punk/heavy metal sort of person, but he isn't the kind that likes to make much noise about himself and how he looks, so it would fit the character, I'm afraid.Ã, 

ProgZmax:
Ah, nice paintover - That was more of what I had in mind from the beginning. Introverted is good description of the character as well... And thanks for the advice!

SpacePirateCaine:
Thanks for the tips! You were right about the hairline - Lowered it some pixels.


So, here's an edit - I did an effort to try and combine as much of all of your tips and comments into it, but without losing sight of how my original vision of the character was.

- Took inspiration from the face in Damiens paintover, but removed wrinkles for a more youthful look. Made the shadows more prominent, to enhance his facial features, but kept the more pink-ish skin colour.
- Lowered the hairline and made the hair a bit darker.
- Changed the nose in the sideview.
- Made shirt lighter.


Cheers!