Quick shading, yay or nay?

Thanks for the feedback, how's this?

Like this?

Thanks, I lightened the shadow 5 points, since ten was too much. And the outline DOES have green in it... It's actually just a dark green O.o. I also took away some of the shading on the top. Here is the updated version:



Edited by Kurieta - 24 August 2013 at 3:46pm

Study closely those who "remake pokemon into realistic, awesome sprites". Notice what they did with thw things you say you don't like in your first post. For example, what are they doing with antenna things that you are not. ZOOM IN and see where pixels are located then zoom down and see what each pixel accomplishes.

@Jalonso: I understand, I'm going to be applying myself more, starting now . I have a bad habit of cutting corners which won't really get me anywhere. I fixed the antennas myself.
@Xhukari: Got a dark green as opposed to black. Good now?

Okay, I decided to move the wing over and show the other foot. I think it looks a lot more... Curious. Yes or no?


Edited by Kurieta - 24 August 2013 at 7:30pm

The eyes are still bothering me, which one should I change? The left or the right?

Yeah, I just messed with the whole scene and the eye we see on our right. I like the black outline, and in the original Celebi that's how it is, so I think I'm going to keep it. I appreciate the feedback, and yes it was jarring, but without it, it didn't seem... right. Now I think the contrast compliments it... I also darkened the blue in the eyes, so they will be a focal point along with the ball of light. Is Celebi's left arm too fat? And the left one too awkward?


And of course, feel free! Edits help me tremendously as I'm a very visual learner.

Edited by Kurieta - 24 August 2013 at 11:43pm

Thanks
I'm stuck in a car for the next 5 hours so maybe I'll show some more improvement :P
In the meantime, here's an update:

I think this is my best sprite, (which isn't saying much). I was thinking about making little swirls of light around the Celebi, does that sound good, or should I do something else?

It seems to me that the alignment of the antennas branching out of its head is kinda off. The one on the left is a little too low in comparison to how the eyes are aligned, and where the right antenna is located.

The lighting is definitely better in your latest edit, great improvement, but it still doesn't seem to be quite right.
I would advice you to pick another colour for the palette, or reuse an already present colour that is lighter than your brightest green, such as the white colour on its wings and change it slightly to something that would fit more, like a bright yellow for example.

By having three shades, it would just make it easier to define shapes with and give more depth to it.

Alright thanks, all of y'all :D
I'll take the one Oriena did and apply my shading. This is really coming along, thanks for all of y'all's help! After this, I'm going to work on the background.

Is this good?

Part of the antenna on the right looks like it's disappeared, so you'll want to fix that later. (It's probably the shadow's fault...)

The shading on the head seems a bit too severe. I do like the colors you've picked for the face and the head shadowing, though. You might want to add another color in between the normal face color and the shadow color. Or you could try lightening the shadow color.

The saturated green on the body and the back edge of the head seems a bit too... saturated, in my opinion. Perhaps try a different color green?

The lights in the background are a cute and fitting idea. I think it'll look even cuter if you changed the black to a forest-like background, not too detailed. Just vague shapes to give a sense of place to it all.

Also, I really like the shading on the arm on the right.

Good job so far, and keep going!

A little edit, mainly focused on the face.

One major thing I noticed is that you have a ridiculous amount of colours that look almost identically the same , not only would this make it harder for you to work on the piece, but it will also create a less unified feel to the piece overall.
Another thing that bugged me is that you don't use anti aliasing, it's something that could make your piece 100 times better than it is now, no kidding, it's really worth practising. I applied AA just in the head area btw.

Also, the colours, or more accurately the colour ramps, could be significantly improved if you, rather than have a "semi-monochrome" palette, implemented hue-shifting or in other words, a smooth transition from one colour to the other (green to yellow, blue to green, red to yellow, etc.).

In my edit image, I made a transition for a dark cyan to yellow, but it wasn't just random obviously, it was to create a sort of cold/hot effect (shadowed areas - cold; lighten areas - hot), and also because the main light source is yellow.

I assume you're talking about my edit, so I'll answer.

Yes, yes it does, but that wasn't the point of my edit, what I tried to show is how the antennas should be aligned, not so much on how thin or how thick they should, I didn't even notice it frankly.

I didn't know how Celebi looks like, but I guess it's my fault for not looking it up before actually creating an edit. :P

But, and that's a big but, I don't think that it matters so much as to what colour he is in this specific picture.

In my edit, I demonstrated that because the light is bright yellow and very close to Celebi (it could be anything, in fact, the colour originally intended for Celebi could still remain depending on how strong the light source is, what colour it is and such) the surface of the Pokémon is also affected by the light causing it to appear more yellow in colour.

edit*
Just for the sake of it.


Edited by Night - 27 August 2013 at 10:56am

Oh wow, that is very nice Night! Love the 'for the sake of it' edit xD Amazing work.
Ultimately it is up to you Kurieta, but I don't even think the forest would be seen, as this seems like a very dark image to me ;)