lets hunt some monsters

[Cytric Acid]

long time no see tsr, i apologize for my long absence. I've been pretty busy.
to get up to date, i've been playing a lot of monster hunter tri. to show my appreciation, i decided to pixel a lagiacrus. Sadly, because i haven't made pixel art in a while, my pixelling skills are quite rusty. However, i did manage to shake my habit of anti-aliasing everything to the point that it takes over the shading, though it still pops up once in a while.
I apologize for the messiness. Trackpads are exactly known for their clean lines They will be cleaned up by the end, though.

The only thing i'm really proud of is the head, though i can see it can use some work elsewhere. I'd really like some crits on the neck, since i can't think of a good way to shade it. the body need a lot of work too. the tail is mostly a placeholder, i'm going to redo it so the bottom of it ends up showing.

my reference, and the idea for the pose, comes from this.
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20...oncept.png
(man, those scales are amazing.)

[x0_000]

It looks like a great start! The neck seems to have some musculature defined, and textures so I'd try defining those. The half near the top of the head in particular has a lot of detail. For the body, you should try to go for a sharper, rougher look, especially for the scales. I'm looking forward to seeing more progress! (and this is motivating me to do some creatures of my own...)

[Cobalt Blue]

i'm having a hard time trying to figure how are those legs suposed to work. asuming its belly is right on the surface and its a sideview, the legs make no sense at all, anatomically wise. same goes for the very bottom of the neck.

and then i saw the reference and realised your legs are missing a few joints and a clear surface to put your monster in.

[Cytric Acid]

thank you for the crits! I tried to accommodate them, but i had trouble on the leg positioning. It's kind of a 3/4ish/sideview-ish kinda posing, it will end up being a side view but its kinda facing you too... idk i hope you get what i mean

i tried to accommodate the legs and made it so you could more easily show the joints and made it more so it's on the ground, but of course i had some trouble seeing as it's also slightly birds eye so you can tell what plane the legs are on, unlike the ref. i'm mostly having trouble with the front foreground leg, i think that's an okay pose for his arm, but it looks very scurunched up.
if it isn't too bad, i'd appreciate any visuals with your crits. ;o;

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

i'm not too fond of the shape of the crest and the legs, so i looked at some lizard and cobra refs:

the current version doesn't look like it could move easily.

[Cytric Acid]

yeah, the crest is way too big, fixed it.

i tried fixing the front leg and altered the back leg slightly, i see what you mean by not being able to move too much, but i'm also trying to go after the game/ref and he just fail-slithers across the groun;, he's not really made for land, hahaha. i did try to lengthen his calf though, before i was trying to imply it was hidden behind the knee, but i guess it didn't work, heh.

what i really need tips on is the little wrinkle of his neck, i can't seem to get it to look right :/

edit: scratch that, i managed to make the back leg actually look okay. i'm still having trouble on the forearm, i'm trying to make it look like a flipper with claws, since that's basically what it is, heh


for a reference on how he moves on land, i used this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOU-Pjt3_JY please excuse the terrible switchaxing and the odd colors.

[x0_000]

How about this approach?

[Cobalt Blue]

so it basically behaves like a crocodile. it doesnt really uses its legs to khold its body but rather to slide across the ground

with the neck and tail being raised only to attack and whip the enemy.

[Cytric Acid]

can't figure out how to shade/draw the arm for some reason

the back is also bothering me too. i can't seem to pinpoint how to fix it though.

[Woppet*]

Keeping an eye on this.
Looks like it could turn out looking very nice with some work.
Just keep working on it taking into mind what everyone has said so far.

[Cytric Acid]

danke sehr, i'll shall ;u;
well, i decided since i can't get the front leg correct for now i restored it to the old one since i kinda liked how it looked. the shading is off, but i don't know how to fix it. otherwise, i believe the body is done. all that's left now is to pixel the tail.

[Scratch_and_Grounder]

danke sehr, i'll shall ;u;
well, i decided since i can't get the front leg correct for now i restored it to the old one since i kinda liked how it looked. the shading is off, but i don't know how to fix it. otherwise, i believe the body is done. all that's left now is to pixel the tail.

i don't know what it is but the back leg just looks wrong, it looks like its just floating, i think the foot needs to be flat on the ground, if you get what i mean.

the bend in the front knee doesn't look right either, the claw is fine, but the image two posts above has the right leg, but not the claw.

[Cytric Acid]

thanks for all the crits, really.
There was a freak storm that knocked out all forms of communication for a few days, so i decided to just work on everything i needed to.
i'm done with the sprite, but i need some advice before i can call it a finished product. the tail was done to the best of my ability, but due to said storm, i didn't have access to my reference picture.


(man, the only thing i'm proud of on this picture is the back leg and the face. fff)

[Garamonde]

The only thing you're proud of? That looks fantastic.

[Shade]

These look amazing! You should do more.