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Cool edit, ShonenAiGuy! and I agree with 2ma2, it would be great to see an animation of those, I just don't have the time (or the skill to do it in time).
But if someone has, please do it 

Ryan Timothy, I looked for a long time, and now think I can see what you mean about the teeth giving him a goofy look, although I'd like more opinions on this, as I'm not sure. Maybe we just read faces differently. I made this edit, trying to make the teeth more like ProgZmax''s, but I think they're now in danger of being read like lips instead of teeth. Also, the expression now looks less distorted and enraged, more like a kind of calm, justified anger that can ultimately be reasoned with, thus less frightening imo.

Well, opinions are still appreciated

Thanks for the paintovers
I spent some time experimenting with the three methods, and here's my best shot so far. In a way it's a combination of features from the edits.



x2

* Shaded the entire shape of the beard, left to right like in PixelPerfect's edit.
* Used fewer colors/less contrast in the beard, like Ben304's edit.
* Fluffier shapes like ProgZmax's edit.
* Changed the middle blue on the palette into a dark cyan, and used dark purple instead of black.
* Coloured the outline slightly in places.

Other than that it's mostly subtle changes due to the modified palette.

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

Here's an evil boss portrait for the game I'm working on.



x2

I'm wondering how to make the beard stand out  more - is there any general technique for shading hair and beards at this resolution? I think it's quite difficult without some method to rely on.

Also, don't hold back on general critique - palette, lighting etc.

Glad you like it 

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

When you save as JPEG, pixel-data is changed due to lossy compression (which is why JPEG filesizes can be so small). Great for photos, but not for pixelart. Artefacts are traces of this loss of quality, like stray pixels and auto-dithering/antialias.

Overall I think it's an ok sprite, just needs a bit cleaning up. With VK Dan's edit you have a very good outline, so perhaps just try fewer colors and higher contrast, like some highlights on the coat. Is he wearing gloves? I think the hands should stand out more.

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.

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.

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?

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 

Did you pick up the key that appears in the intro in your apartment?

It would be a better idea to re-design 'Escape from Monkey Island' in the style of the prequels, imo

I don't see how your collage style is any kind of improvement either, the use of brushes/patterns makes it look very flat somehow.

Made this on New Year's 

We don't have Wotsits in Denmark, but I'm familiar with cheesy robotic shapes, in fact I draw them all the time

   

   



I think they wanna be in games, but I usually tell them there's no chance in hell.

There are many branches of Christianity too, and some of them are fairly extreme, some of them even use computer games to prepare us for the fight against the Antichrist! http://www.eternalforces.com/

But Christian countries are generally rich and have less desperate people in need of desperate supernatural explanations. I think that for example corruption and organized crime are far greater threats than any religious movement in the west. Then again, I'm not into conspiracy theories.

I agree that our problems aren't the same as theirs - I'll chose secular government over sharia or mob rules any day.

People have all kinds of religions and beliefs, it only becomes problematic when there is some basically 'political' conflict, because religion is then taken hostage and used to legitimize all kinds of crimes.

Europe's history is basically one long chain of emperors trying to conquer Europe by siding with the pope, and the  pope's power was to a large extent based on cold cash from sale of indulgences, and from the fact that he could appoint the priests in the Christian countries and thus establish a very strong and well-distributed intelligence and 'news' network and pose an inside threat to any secular ruler. So centralizing a religion doesn't necessarily make it less inclined to involve itself in politics, in fact it could make it a much stronger player, for better or worse.

I think most religious conflicts ease out once the underlying political conflict is solved. I don't believe religion can ever really be controlled, but providing a basic level of justice in society would probably be the best way of keeping it moderate. Give people some peace and safety, so they can educate themselves. Slowly, the 'need' for extreme religion and other extreme justifications will hopefully fade.

As far as I know, Islam has many flavors, and the problem isn't with the religion itself. Any religion, culture or tradition that has a long history contains reasons for conflict - so in my opinion the real challenge is in quelling, not primarily the angry people or whatever they justify their anger by, but the source of their fears. I can't understand the fundamentalist hatred, but I know that when I've been angry, it has usually been motivated by fear, sometimes in an attempt to mask it, even if only from myself.

In Sudan there are plenty of sources of fear. One part of the population has been systematically murdered, raped and driven from their homes for some time now, and another part is afraid of international intervention and prosecution for these crimes. Chad has stated that they will battle the international force being sent to secure the border and stop the janjaweed raids, so right now the situation is extremely dangerous, and nobody can feel very safe. Not the oppressed, not the government people, not the ordinary citizen. Perhaps people vent their anger at something basically harmless like a teddy bear, because it's the only safe way to vent their anger and frustration at all. And it's a way of asking for sympathy from the muslim world community in face of an international intervention.

We can just hope that most people are clever enough to see that this conflict isn't about religion, that it's a political maneuvre, a way of posing as the offended party in order to justify far worse crimes.

Dead girls are easy

Ok, this time it was a false alarm, but Nightfable, you might wanna read up on this, so next time you'll be better prepared:
Zombie Survival Guide - Complete Protection from the Living Dead

That JGame looks prety cool. 

I can also recommend the book Killer Game Programming in Java. It covers both 2D and 3D games, and I think it's very good at explaining the object oriented design, with many class diagrams for different parts of the sample games.