Blackbeltdude

Yup, I agree with all your points, B.O.B. Hopefully it means that when controlled use of those tools is demonstrated, it will be accepted into the gallery more often than being shunned.

Gah, I've always hated that stigma about some techniques and tools not being acceptable. My argument would be that tools are tools regardless of what they do. A tool always requires some skill to use effectivly. A chain saw is a great way to get a tree chooped down faster than an axe, but if you don't know what you're doing, you're going to screw something up (in both cases really, but I think you get what I mean). If the tool can save you an hour or two worth of work, and give you the same result as if you did it by hand, than I just do not see the harm in it.

But to comment on the actual PA, seems like an odd skull to me, as far as bone structure is concerned. :P I kind of dig the fire though.

I haven't taken any front/text classes, so maybe I'm missing something, but what's the reason for some letters having a kind of "drop" on them while others don't (is it a kind of highlight)? I'm more curious than any other reason for mentioning it, as I'm sure you had one in mind when you made these.

I cannot be the only one that looks at that and thinks of when people use that blurry pixel censoring.

I think I'll do something like that next year, but make it overtly more video game pixel centric; like maybe puting a space invader on my face.

The love child of Sigma and Andross?

Very awesome shading and colors though!

Boy, the text box sure likes to freak out when you post text from MS Word (spell checking a lot crit). Any reason for that, or any reason it's so picky when it comes to copy and pasting in general? Like, not being able to right click to do it, or for whatever reason, Firefox's spell check not working...?

Last time I try and spell check... damn thing didn't post when I pasted it in the box. Now I gotta transcribe it.

Well, a noticeable problem is that the text isn't AA'd to a pink background; it was typed, then copy and pasted from a white background. To put it on the gallery, you outta do the AA/text by hand yourself.

In general, I really think the contrast on the whole piece is just way too low. This makes areas in the face and the hair look kind of "mushy" and it isn't too flattering a depiction. The areas like the eyes and the mouth, since they have a high contrast outline, also hurt with the low contrast shading.

The hair seems to be done in a way that kind of makes it look like... I guess something that looks like it came out of a can, and was sparyed on a head. I'm not trying to be insulting when I say that, but it doesn't really flow like hair (of course, for all I know, that could be very accurate to her hair; we would need a ref to really give better crits). It seems like there's a few clumps of hair that make up her scalp, and each one is kind of effected by a light source in its own way. It might be better to look at the hair as one object, comprised of man, as opposed to several composed to one. Honestly, it's hard to say for sure since there isn't a reference to go by.

There's also a LOT of dirty looking dithering all in the hair, and around the face; it tends to make it look like a lot of the work was done with color reduction to an extent (perhaps from a "CG'd" piece), or that the dithering was done technically and not by hand. I personally think that dithering can be tricky business when doing a portrait; it's easy to unintentionally show an un-natural texture with it, and this is especially worth looking out for when it's a girl's portrait being worked on.

I'd also suggest using a reference with a more distinct light source next time; it looks like this picture was taken with a lot of lights in different places, and when you work off that, it can be difficult to define things according to shadows.

This isn't too bad after a 3 year break thoughl; there's just carious areas that could be done more effectively.

Heh, I do like this little animation, but "pelvic thrust" isn't what I immediatly think of when I see it. It's not emphisised enough for my tastes to really convey that idea as effectivley as him just doing a weird little squirming idle animation.

And his back arm does look like a nub...

Looks like the developers of that Wii game nailed the Larry the Cable Guy demographic.

Thanks (at everyone's comments!)!

If you really want to hire me, A.B. Lazer, feel free to. >.>

Also, I agree with you about running animations; but my portfolio had 2 (might have had 3), so I didn't think it was something I needed to spend the time on. Like, to do it properly, might take 6 hours or more (though, even that depends on HOW he's running), and I just didn't want to put THAT much time into- I guess you'd call them application graphics. Honeslty, this was the first time a potential client ever asked for that much work (most ask for just a sprite/sprite design as the application graphic). If they had agreed to compensate me for that time, I would have probably done more detailed and complex stuff; but at that time, I litterally couldn't really afford to pour a lot of time into something that wouldn't yeild any cash.

But now I'm just rambling. >.>

You know, I'd love it if this site had an option to be viewed in the DSi browser. Like, some kind of optimized version of the site that'd show up if you browsed it using the DSi (Kotaku has something like that set up).

Do you know how neat it is to look at mock ups on the DSi? :P Like, just looking at the pixel art on a DSi's screens is pretty sweet.

Does anyone think it could be coded that way? >.>

Ah, well, good to know then. :P

Thanks, Greenraven!

Anyone know what the milestone is to post a poll on the Pixel Joint Forums? :P

When it comes to pixel art on DA, and pixel art on Pixel Joint, I think it's worth noting that the general population is different for each site. :P

When I look at pixel art on DA, I think a lot more of it is centric to fan-characters; which is why you'll see Zero recolored a dozen times, or a bunch of Sonic edits. But it's also a crowd that likes to make their own web comics by using sprites. By and large, DA's pixel pushers are beginners; and I think it's very typical that beginners start by editing ripped sprites (ripped from games). I know that's how I started (though, on Bob and George's forums, and not DA).

Pixel Joint has more professional pixel artists when you look at the general population. Part of that is because Pixel Joint is JUST about pixel art. And as large as Pixel Joint is, it is NOT as large and overwhelming as Deviant Art is; it's a lot easier to enforce rules on here and keep the art origional (no edits are allowed afterall). Really, I think if Pixel Joint was as huge as Deviant Art, there'd be plenty of stuff to complain about just like there is with DA.

Though, I don't even care about the pixel art gallery at Deviant Art; I will seldom ever look at pixel art there when I've got Pixel Joint bookmarked. :P I personally think paying for accounts is stupid, and having to pay so you can get a "specialized comment" that only has crit in it, is just bullshit. If I post work on DA, it's because I used some techniques that weren't 100% cool with the Pixel Joint rules/community, or so my non-pixel artist pals can see it.

I also see DA as a more social place (funny how you should mention myspace, Antifarea) than Pixel Joint. I know a few people in real life that are happy to use DA to post work they do; I'm the only pixel artist I know in real life. :P My friends and I can't be social through Pixel Joint, so Deviant Art is fine. DA can get away with some social networking themes because it's so big really.

Probably not much of a point to this post, now that I read it agian. :P I guess I'm just saying, that the general hate on Deviant Art is pretty funny if it's because you're comparing it to Pixel Joint. Obviously the site that specializes in an art medium is going to be more effective than the huge art site that tries to accomidate to all mediums. If you're gonna hate on DA, there's PLENTY of other reasons to do it other than the way they handle Pixel Art.

You're definitly a Konjak fan.

I'd recomend making his hair and hat bounce as his runs. Could consider some movement for his shirt too, since the design is relativley simple, it's always a good idea to somewhat compensate by making the animations more interesting (it's also the main reason why people will choose to go with a simple designs in the first place when it comes to a central character).

Well, I would suggest the fallowing things to experiment with.

Consider removing the dithering from MOST of the backdrop. Like I said, I think it makes the background look a bit too busy, and you should be able to see what everything is a bit clearer. I would consider keeping some dithering for the farthest details, but that's about it. Also, you can show better depth, by using a spamatto effect (possible I spelt that technical term wrong :P). Basically, it's when objects start to blend into the sky, which tends to mean lower contrast, and light colors the further something is in the background.

Either way, this is something that's explained a lot better by edits! XD If you've got an MSN Messenger account, we can chat about it there and toss back some edits... or I could edit a few parts of the background to show what I mean (if you don't mind me doing that).

In any event, it's always a good idea to experiment. Do several different takes on the background, and see where it takes you.

Very nice, I like it!

I would suggest NOT dithering the background though. I think it makes it look more busy than it needs to, and with those small detailed characters, it doesn't help show off that detail. Like, those purple "wall lines" don't show up so great back there, thanks to all the other details.

Though, that could also be a result of the red lines in the back; try using them a bit more sparingly, because it's a pretty bright color.

You could also pull a Megaman, and add a "wall" to the ground... if you know what I mean. I guess you could mean for it to be a bridge, but I think adding a "wall" to the floor will help the background standout too.

Looks like it'd be a fun game. :)

Oh, I get what you're saying now. :P You might be right that it's somewhat of a typical photo pose but as far as avatars go on PJ, I don't recall seeing any in profile. Honestly, I'm not quite sure what else I would have gone with (other than the typical portriat style). And really, barring substantial stylistic embelishments, just about any situation or scene can feel like it came out of a photograph when depicted in another medium. Though, that might just be a personal kind of thing with me. :P

But yeah, I agree about the cropping actually! XD I just think this is more effective at the moment than what I had before; I'll try to think of a better way for the transiation to occur though. ;)

I'll keep experimenting with the background's color transition; for now I just cropped it down.

Manupix: This wasn't traced from a Photo, if that's what you're getting at... I'm not actually sure what you're getting at if not that. :P It would have been a LOT easier to trace from a photo and while it is accepted into the gallery around here (usually), most people aren't impressed by that. So I just made it from scratch in paint (which was a little easier with my duel monitor set up). Didn't keep anything for a worthy WIP process show though really. :\

Onek: I think the Green shade does work well there, but I don't know if I can shoehorn that into the rest of the image. I'd like to keep the background colors to what's being use in the positive space.

I'm pixelling in a cyber cafe! :O

I absolutly love the style that oozes out of this thing. Freaking awesome.

I might actually be the only one who thinks there's some over AA on the top of the head though, and possibly the arms. It seems like the legs have the same amount, but it also seems like it works more effectivly there because of the colors. I don't know if it's the colors up there that are the reason I think they could use less AA, but I think they stand out more to me than the legs. The Hair definitly does (The arms are something I think could go either way).

I still love it either way. It's just so pleasing to look at.

EDIT: Actually, looking again, the legs definitly have less because of the 45 degree angles. To compensate, you thickened the black outline (it seems to me at least), and I would wonder if that technique would work just as effectivly on parts of the arms (IE, back arm's elbow, and most of the other arm's upper side).

Man, I really dig this.

I've tried making something that's a mech/robot at a very similar scale with such detail, and it's really a pain in the ass to do. This looks pretty damn cool.

I'm not sure everything is too readable at it's normal size though, which is an issue you've got to take into consideration if you ever plan on having the guy move. I would say it's mainly the green details on his body (they're fine on the head). I would suggest simplifying those spots a bit, simply because that's the area where the most motion would take place.

Still, I do dig looking at this thing zoomed in a bit. ;)

I always really dig looking at geometric shapes when they're used for shading like this. My favorite parts have to be his beard, eyes, and that neat little detail on the green background.

Fantastic. :)

Thanks a lot guys! :) I updated the image slightly to show  more of the building with the iconic Camel type on it (I personaly like looking at that sign more than the sky line). There's a link to the origional posted image in the description.

Skurwy87: Heh, pretty awesome to hear! I honestly don't know much about the Amiga's graphic style (I've heard it was an early personal computer), so I guess it's just a happy coincodence. :)

Hysteria: Ah, I think I know what you're talking about... you mean have the sand overlap the buttom of the buldings? That's a very good suggestion. I might wind up revisiting these graphics to add in some clouds, and that detail on the ground around the buildings. Thanks!

I think you're better off posting these sprites at Sprites Inc, since edits aren't allowed to be posted here.

But, I think these are pretty good regardless; I haven't ever seen someone do Model ZX in MMX PSX style before.