Hoth needs help de-crapifying this sprite

[ngaurhoth1]

I recently made a sprite of a face, for no particular reason, just to get a better understand of facial features and lighting. I could really use a good C+C.

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

First of all, I'd like to know the gender. :p
I'll assume this is a man's face. Is he frowning, or not?

Anyway, here's what I've done:

I redrew the face, a skull to its scale and a wireframe of the face.
Your main issues are proportions and lighting, and those elements should hopefully help.
No. 3 is breaking the symmetry, to give a more natural feel to the face.

I then have this:

Just to show the relation between a skull and a face, the bits that make it etc.

[ngaurhoth1]

First of all, I'd like to know the gender. :p
I'll assume this is a man's face. Is he frowning, or not?

Anyway, here's what I've done:

I redrew the face, a skull to its scale and a wireframe of the face.
Your main issues are proportions and lighting, and those elements should hopefully help.
No. 3 is breaking the symmetry, to give a more natural feel to the face.

I then have this:

Just to show the relation between a skull and a face, the bits that make it etc.

Very nice technique, that is definitely something I'll be using~
Um well for this particular face I want a somewhat 'supernatural' look if that makes any sense? That's part of why I used such high contrast on the eyes. You could compare the idea I'm going for with 'incurring the wrath of the gods'.
What would you recommend me doing for something like that?

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

Okay, thanks for explaining!

Well, you had a good start: lighting helps create a mood quite effectively. Hiding features makes the expression only more mysterious and shifty. Stark lighting is a good choice. Think about where the light is coming from and its impact on the face. Think about the point of view: is it a disturbing close-up to the face, or is there a distance between us and the face?
I think the palette could do with some changes, and you could add a secondary light source in the mix. You could, for instance, go for a desaturated palette with a strong blue secondary lightsource.

[ngaurhoth1]

Where would you recommend I put the second light source? The main light source is clearly on the left side (our right), but where would the second go? Above maybe?

Also I made some of the adjustments you suggested, I think I may have gone a bit too crazy on the saturation ^^;


EDIT: Oh yeah, and the face is in the distance, but I'm not entirely sure how that makes a difference.

[Toastfighter]

Where would you recommend I put the second light source? The main light source is clearly on the left side (our right), but where would the second go? Above maybe?

Also I made some of the adjustments you suggested, I think I may have gone a bit too crazy on the saturation ^^;


EDIT: Oh yeah, and the face is in the distance, but I'm not entirely sure how that makes a difference.

If its a dark face in the distance, try using dithering to darken out half the face like:

[Cobalt Blue]

actually no. do not use dithering, never use it. its an ugly technique and for the most part it is completely unnecesary in the shading process. basically, knowing you can plug another color to your existing ramp completely defeats the purpose of dithering as a method of blending said colors.

the smaller the face is, the more accurate you'll have to be with how tje key features are displayed. while toast's pic does show how ligthing is reflected on the structure of a face, i doubt it would actually help what you're working now. the lightsource is completely different and the pose as well.

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

could be quite cool.

and these:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GwSRFh_NUdU/Sw...age019.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_GwSRFh_NUdU/Sw...age011.jpg

[ngaurhoth1]

Um so are there any more improvements you guys think I can make to the face? I kind of don't want do another light source because of what the face is really for.

I plan on making this into a whirlpool with a face, or Charybdis if you'd prefer to call it that.

Before I started the actual whirlpool part I wanted to get the shape and shading of the face done first.