Blood cap :: Pixel Art Detail

 The daggar can have big hilts: dagger-medieval-english.jpg though i agree that the bit he grips is too small.

The reason the dagger is confusing is because the hilt looks like a sword's hilt, especially the hand guard, and the part meant to be gripped seems too small for the even his hand.

Hehe, I know what you mean about over-analyzing something. It quickly becomes futile.

Its a dagger with a spark. All metal things must have sparks, didn't you get the memo? http://www.mobygames.com/game/amiga/gods/screenshots/gameShotId,73406/

I think if you want to crop the shield you need to crop the daggar and wall too. The question is does he just look like a guy who is pist because his order is taking too long once you remove those two items.

Glad you like the wood. I have a feeling it was done before in this 'Robin Hood' book I had but can nolonger find.

Anyway, hopefully you can use that trick some time and its not just some intellectual vanity ritual. You know - how they get you in school to look for hidden meanings in books because apparently that's what smart people can do but it is all just a waste of time. If YOU are supposed to work out the hidden meaning, then you are restating something you already knew, so why didn't you just write the book yourself? Intellectual vanity for lazy people. This ugly practice happens in art too. If you really want to understand how it works, draw a picture with boards and fire.

Yep, I understand the color theory. I can't forget to mention that the whole thing has a pervasive red tint, which furthers the "RED" emotion. Good reply, wth the links.

Looking at this again, I think the stark angular red bits on the right give the subliminal impression of fire or explosion or just some sort of violent movement/particles/destruction, certainly something negative and volatile. Not saying it DOES look like those things, because it's believable as wood planks, like you're saying, yet I still don't understand the angle of the wood, but just that it plants that idea in your head.

I also like how it lets you know he's sitting in a dark corner in the room since, obviously, that interior space is better lit away from the guy, but he's all in shadow in his little nook.

I don't get the knife/sword in table. Is it forshortened or something? Is it just a dagger? What's the horizontal line intersecting the blade? It looks like it's in a glass container and the horiz line is the rim. The only other thing that bugs me is the shield, it's too powerful a focal point, distracting away from mr. blood cap there.

I don't make a list of sh*t I will do do and how it will affect the viewer. I draw and if i like it i don't change it. I had three angles to choose for the boards. Looks like I got lucky. Red is good 'cos blood is red, fire is red, people turn red when they are angry. Check out red + yellow being used in Robin hood: http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/adventures-of-robin-hood/screenshots/gameShotId,88332/

Just a random example of Red without angles: http://www.majorspoilers.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/marvel/MITreasIs4.jpg

Also consider the angle helps composition. You can't just add detail everywhere and hide behind some theory that art is subjective. You gotta help the viewer. All this can be found at: http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/05/good-compositions-take-self-control.html

If you are wondering why there is pink + orange its done in Chaos engine sprites.

Re Malor: It was edited BEFORE anyone posted and hasn't been edited since. Mods can probably check that.

fraggin shweet, there's something nice about the angular detail in the far right, an aggression that subtley adds to this, I don't get it