Regarding shading, try to place a static light source somewhere and then think about how light will be hitting different things. For example, when you have that small light brown highlight on the lower body right above the legs, you are saying that there is some kind of a bulge here.

Quick example:



The lightsource is in one specific place, right behind the creature. Take a look at the legs in A. By using dark grey on the top part of the legs, I'm implying that the lower part of the body is so big it's blocking direct light so they're not very shiny, but the legs themselves are still catching some indirect light. If you'd look at the creature from behind it, the legs would be like | |.

In B, adding a lighter shade of gray suggests that they're more exposed to the light source and therefore not so much blocked by the lower body, so the legs would be like / \. In C, adding a specular highlight suggests that they're made out of metal, so don't go too far with that.

Likewise with the snakes in A. Look at the lower snake, there's some dark green right under the head. Something has to be blocking direct light to that part, so imagine you're looking at the creature from behind; how does the snake have to coil to make light hit it like that? Same with the middle snake. The tail part has dark green near the end but a little bit of lighter green at the very end. Something is blocking direct light again.

Hope that helps a bit.


Edited by inphy - 10 April 2014 at 11:53am

I tried to take what I learned from your help and use it in another piece.

Here it is, I think I've improved my shading skills a little which is a step in the right direction.



All comments and help is much appreciated.

What jalonso said. Also, the shading I did was just a quick example, it's not a "right answer". The right answer comes from your own imagination of what the body shape of the creature is, how the snakes are coiled, etc. It's subtle but by using the same cues as in my example, you're in danger of replacing your own vision for the creature, including the pose of the snakes and such, with my imagination, and how I imagined the creature.

If you want to make things look real/3d like you mentioned in the op, you need to start thinking and seeing your creature in 3d. Then you can visualize how the light is hitting different parts.


Edited by inphy - 11 April 2014 at 9:06am

Sounds all right, although I would suggest against making big action plans and bullet point lists. Some general guidelines maybe for some direction, but working on your skills never ends, even when you reach the end of an arbitrary bullet point list. You need to remember to have fun too! :)

Keep pixelling, try different things, look at references and try to pixel items, learn as you go.

I've found that it's a lot easier to get better at something if I'm having fun practicing. So this makes a lot of sense to me, I'll keep this in mind.



I like expressing myself, having fun is fun and I'm the kind of person who really enjoys learning so this is a recipe for success. No matter how long it takes I hope that eventually I can start creating some art that doesn't make people want to tear their eyes out :).

In light of that, here's my new version.



I'm satisfied with the improvements (I think it looks a lot cooler) but I think there is still some work to do (maybe I'll tackle shading and the head/face area next).

Edited by BillToWin - 12 April 2014 at 9:29am

Thank you for helping me out!

Here's my new version:



I read some tutorials on banding and tested out some things, I think I fixed the banding problems but I'm not sure I went about it the right way.

I also added some dithering just because I thought it would make the work look less flat (once again not sure about it but it seems to look ok, to me at least).

I also reworked the head to make it more interesting.

I changed the bottom part to wheels after trying other things and not liking any of them. But you're 100% right, getting out of my comfort zone and working on my weaknesses is what I should be focusing on to improve.

So I've decided to change the perspective/placement of my character completely in order to give me more flexibility for shading.

Here's a very very WIP version, to give you an idea of where I'm headed with this (btw, this is the first time I've tried starting with blobs of color rather than the line art, I think I like this way better):



I'm honestly blown away by your generosity inphy. Taking time out of your day to help a stranger is awesome. Your feedback-art is really helping me grasp first-hand what my weaknesses are and is pointing me in the right direction on how to improve on them.

Not to sound too cheesy, but you've got a heart of gold. Your help is much appreciated.

EDIT/UPDATE:




Edited by BillToWin - 14 April 2014 at 8:30pm

Well, that is one radical improvement! Good job! Inphy is right. You've got new things to deal with, but your improvement is measurable. More focused understanding of lighting and form will help you move forwards, especially around the wheels, the snakes, and I think the head as well. I made an edit to show how you might sharpen the form into something really readable (but only around the wheels:

Think about how the wheels might have rims, sharp corners that catch the light. On a purely mechanical level, they also have axles, so you may want to draw something they can definitely connect to.
You're doing really well. Keep up the progress!

Awesome improvement! From flat to 3D

Hmm, they're a bit more difficult to read now I think. The blue you have chosen blends pretty well with the grey body. The other weapon on the earlier version looked like an arm cannon, but it hard to read it as one right now.

One thing that might be helpful in visualizing where your drawing is going is to try to rotate it in your mind to, for example, side view:



That's how I'd visualize it; the snakes are too big for the back wheels to be so radically diminished by perspective, and when the back wheels are so small, it looks a bit like it's dragging its tail in the ground. How would you draw its silhouette? The figures you define should follow your perspective, but if you don't have one set up, the figures define your perspective and that can lead to some clashing. See how the viewpoint changes just by moving the tail a bit:



It's better to do this the other way around though - lay out your desired perspective first, and start working on figures after that. Don't let your figure define your perspective for you, otherwise you might lose control of it.


Edited by inphy - 17 April 2014 at 11:27am

Yup, looks cool. Hmm, I'm still not sold on the sword though. It blends just as well, and I'm not sure what the dark blue lines and some lone white pixels are trying to say. Do you have an example of what you're trying to go for with it?

Ah, I see. Energy weapons are usually depicted as glowing, but that blue is kind of dull for that. You could try to brighten it up, and don't forget white, too. Remember how light sabers looked?

Yeah, that kind works. Go ahead and adjust whatever whichever way you want if there's something that is bothering you, first and foremost it's your piece and you make the calls. :)

Edited by inphy - 18 April 2014 at 12:04pm