C+C on my serpent sprite

[gtkampos]

So i read a lot about spriting and selout and practing hard...
I found a excellent tutorial with 15 chapters that explain a lot (later i will post the link, need to find it again).. I am posting here my sprite.. feel free to C+C and help me to improve
this is the sketch i found on google...

and my sprite

[Virt]

The dithering on the forehead looks a bit out of place with the rest of the shading on the sprite. Either tone it down or remove it altogether.
Also, the selout is a bit extreme, making it a bit jarring to the eyes, specifically on the jaw(?) area. You could use another color for the selout there, or make the lines complete, I guess. Other than that, great sprite!

[Previous]

Selout is a technique that tweaks a sprite for the background it will be used on. So there's no real point in using it without the respective background and presenting it on white makes the dark pixels stick out.

As for the shading, the body looks really flat and the spikes should probably get darker the further back they are.

[gtkampos]

Thanx for the comments... I confess that i dont understand properly the selout tecnich *yet*.... I will improve this sprite based on yours comments.....

[Gors]

it's good to stray away from selout for the time being. It's an advanced technique and using it wrongly will result in ugly sprites.

also don't dither either. In this case, it's only making your work grittier and busy instead of giving it volume.

[gtkampos]

I added some details to give depht and remove some pixels from selout...


still, im disapointed with the forehead...i would like to make a crystal or something else, but i cant yet.... suggestions??

[Baegal]

It looks much better now. As for the crystal, I can't really help you, because I'm not sure what shape or form it's supposed to be. Is it a semi-sphere, or is it a flatter, more cylindrical form?

On the actual body, try lightening the segment lines that are caught in the highlight; it'll give the piece more depth.