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inphy
Seaman
Joined: 01 August 2009
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Posts: 19
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 Topic: Shadow creature Posted: 01 August 2009 at 12:11pm |
Helloes! I'm trying to nail down a shadowy look, so meet Bakenekobooru, the long lost brother of Catball from La-Mulana:  One thing that bugs me the most is that I'd like to have shadowy tendrils "grab" a skull, but what I have doesn't look very convincing to me. What would you suggest to improve that (or the image in general)? -- Update 2, moved the skull a bit to the right, changed shadow colour to black and fixed the nose.
Edited by inphy - 02 August 2009 at 1:13pm
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Dhr. Bosch
Commander
Joined: 22 March 2009
Location: Netherlands
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Posts: 131
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 Posted: 13 August 2009 at 4:13am |
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the skull needs more definbed cheekbones, cheekbones have an almost 90 degree angle yours seems to have a 45 degree angle. i like the creature but i woulds reposition the tail because the proximity of the colours makes it hard to distinguish. i'd like to help you with the tentacles but it's kinda hard, maybe if you use a tad bit more colour instead of only black. the opwardspointing flames?/spikes? on his tentacles are also a bit confusing to eye.
good luck
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Vanitas, vanitatum omnia vanitas
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DNAK
Seaman
Joined: 13 August 2009
Location: Netherlands
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Posts: 23
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 Posted: 13 August 2009 at 12:03pm |
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Looks very good imo! Maybe a little more definition? It's a little flat now i think.
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inphy
Seaman
Joined: 01 August 2009
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 Posted: 14 August 2009 at 12:50pm |
Ok, thanks for the advice, I'll try these changes out. I uploaded a v2 to the gallery on the 8th ( http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/45520.htm), but it's not a whole lot different from this. edit: So here's what I'm thinking of:  I tried adjusting the skull, haven't found a place for the tail yet. Instead of playing around with tentacles, I thought about changing it to tar-like goop. I also removed the upward pointing 'spikes', they were supposed to be kind of like vaporizing trails of shadow matter but that didn't quite work out. Also tried to define parts better with highlighting. What do you think?
Edited by inphy - 29 August 2009 at 1:03pm
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Dhr. Bosch
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Joined: 22 March 2009
Location: Netherlands
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 Posted: 30 August 2009 at 3:12am |
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that looks a lot better. the only thing that still truly bothers me is the lighting on his right arm (our left) which is very heavy, and seems to be from the wrong side. and perhaps the skull could use a bit more depth. perhaps you can bring back the bone-like grey to do the highlights?
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Vanitas, vanitatum omnia vanitas
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KittenMaster
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Joined: 09 August 2009
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 Posted: 30 August 2009 at 2:04pm |
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The skull is so dull in comparison to the creature. Use some of the creature's colors as shading.
And yeah, the lighting on his right arm is on the wrong side. Then again, it's a shadow creature, shouldn't really have highlights in the first place, though if you prefer to keep the highlights, have one on the face as well.
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inphy
Seaman
Joined: 01 August 2009
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 Posted: 02 September 2009 at 8:58am |
 Tried to give the skull more action and depth, also removed the old tail. I'll try redoing the whole right arm to match the left arm's orientation, I feel it was disjointed when compared to the left arm. One idea was changing the right arm into some form of a weapon (or holding one). Yeah, a shadow having highlights is a bit silly - then again, it'd have be solid to use those claws for anything. :) Plus, I feel they define individual parts better and establish at least some level of volume. For now, I think I'll keep the highlights.
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Vitkauskas
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Joined: 18 August 2008
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 Posted: 06 September 2009 at 2:34am |
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Well in my opinion its great, but the skull needs more work.
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ThereIsNoCure
Rear Admiral
Joined: 23 October 2005
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 Posted: 06 September 2009 at 9:51am |
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not a big fan of the dithering, really. It's not really adding anything. Agree that the skull could use more work (looks more or less symbolic now, google actual skulls to get it more accurate)
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lucas_irineu
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Joined: 09 June 2008
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 Posted: 06 September 2009 at 10:03am |
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I agree, it looked better with the lines.Just fix the skull and it will be awesome =)
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inphy
Seaman
Joined: 01 August 2009
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 Posted: 09 September 2009 at 11:28am |
Thanks, everyone. The skull is still quite dull, but here's what I have now:  I'll take another go at the highlights/dithering too.
Edited by inphy - 09 September 2009 at 11:33am
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Dhr. Bosch
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Joined: 22 March 2009
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 Posted: 09 September 2009 at 4:22pm |
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that skull is waaaaaaay better.
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Vanitas, vanitatum omnia vanitas
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Hatch
Admiral
Joined: 17 January 2007
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 Posted: 09 September 2009 at 4:44pm |
Skull is indeed much better. I'm not really feeling the dithering though, how about something more like this?
Dunno if you're going for the melty candle look. Hard to say honestly, as your shading is a little indistinct. I'd focus more on rendering realistic volumes and less on fussy dithering.
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Welcome to Darwin!
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inphy
Seaman
Joined: 01 August 2009
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 Posted: 07 November 2009 at 2:16pm |
Sorry for taking such a long time, I got mixed up in all kinds of time consuming stuff. Still, that's no excuse for not even saying thanks for the feedback and edit for two damn months. Thanks for the feedback and edit, and apologies. :( I was trying to go for a melting look/tar-like goop, and your edit was pretty much what I was after. I suppose I was too preoccupied with dithering the living daylights out of everything I couldn't visualize it. If you would still care to comment, here's what I have. I tried to figure out what to do with the other arm - I tried swords, spears, knives, axes and such but they just didn't seem right. So.. now there's a wick.
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