Kelvin Shadewing's Pixels

[Kelvin]

@Sketchasaurus: Do you think it'd be possible for the neck to be connected diagonally? What kind of effect do you think that'd have?

@Kosheh: It's not so much when people mistake it for that for the first time; I was upset because I'd already said it wasn't a dragon and it seemed like people were ignoring that statement, so I thought they were trying to say they didn't care, and that they were gonna call it a dragon just because it's easier. I don't mind people calling me a dragon as long as they stop after I've corrected them. Like I said, it's a common misconception.

[Sketchasaurus]

It's possible for the neck's default position to be held diagonally, but there's always going to be some sort of curvature (see giraffe's skull/neck as reference for diagonal attachment/orientation). Also, depending on what lifestyle and range of motion you want it to have, certain anatomical features work where others don't. But there's almost always going to be some degree of curvature in the spine. Though a lot of this degree of study may be extraneous, it's one thing that I use as a basis for a lot of creature design. For what I assume to be predatory, or at least carnivorous, the anatomy of the neck would allow for greater flexibility than say that of a giraffe (while it is still flexible, the neck is rather stiff because it doesn't need to move its head very much in its grazing lifestyle)

If the neck were connected in the way a giraffe's is, the head would likely not have as much up/down motion that would be beneficial to a predator, and the chance of injury because of this would potentially be greatly increased. part of this is because the skull's attachment to the neck wouldn't allow all of the musculature of the neck to be used in tandem to that of the jaws. One reason why predators have such deadly bites is because the musculature of the neck works in tandem with the jaws, it's also one reason why humans don't have that powerful of a bite because our necks and jaws don't work together to the same degree that a lion's do.

[Gors]

Now, I don't know a griffin from a sphinx so in the grand scheme of fantasy creatures I guess you could say I don't know my ass from my elbow.

Just to add some more knowledge in this thread (and keep things interesting), a Griffin is a lion with eagle wings and head. A Sphinx is a lion with the head of a woman. The male version of the Sphinx is called Manticore and has a head of a man with thousand teeth and a scorpion's tail.

Additionally a Hippogriff is an offspring of a male griffin and a female horse. Back in the day when people still believed in these mythical creatures, people said that griffins and horses were like, cat and dog: natural enemies, and thus a Hippogriff is especially rare. An old saying, 'to mate griffins with horses' exists to indicate impossibility (a more modern version of this saying would be 'when pigs fly').

Another mythical creature related to lions exist, the classical greek Chimaera was Echidna (one of Medusa's sisters) and Typhus' (a Titan) offspring and was a lion with a goat head and a dragon head annexed on the sides, with wings and scaly dragon tail.

Side note: Hippo means 'horse' in greek, which is also the root for Hippopotamus 'river horse'.

[Silversea]

Remind me tomorrow and I'll give out the entire world bestiary of winged mythological creatures if anyone is interested. (Either here or elsewhere on the site).

[Kelvin]

This is a commission I've been working on. So far, I've gotten the client's approval on everything, but I feel like it could still be better, particularly on the squirrel's muzzle; the shading seems off to me, but I can't get it to look good. Also, that's not Midi; he's just wearing a beret to cosplay as Colonel Campbell. Any ideas on how to fix it? As for the color and the aspect ratio on the vid boxes, the client requested it be in color, and for what he's paying me, I'm giving him the full face instead of cramping it into narrow boxes, since they have wider faces than humans which wouldn't fit right.

[Kelvin]

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16082778/

Tried sketching a shadewing earlier today during my spare time. I know it's crappy, but hopefully it gives an idea of what I'm trying to go for. You can't see from this angle, but the middle of the bridge of the muzzle is supposed to be dented in slightly, overall giving it a box-like shape similar to some snakes. If I ever get into 3D modelling again, it'd be a lot easier to show how it's supposed to look.

Also, dragon pixels.

[Silversea]

Some personal ideas on Tartii:

You could probably taper the tail a little more. It is sort of blocky at the end.

The wing membrane should generally connect to the body at or behind the hind legs to avoid the thing some people call "hangbutt". There is a biological reason for this as with propatagium, it is mainly to do with take-off and landing control.

I notice you use 3 fingers for the wings. The default should be 4 (not including the "alula thumb" which in your case is just the little claw at the corner of the wing; I'll make a post on how this works later) but there is nothing wrong with 3, I just personally like using 4 since it gives better shape to the wing. As long as you are conscious of this it is perfectly fine.

[Kelvin]

I noticed that. I made the choice to make the membrane meet closer to the shoulder to show off more of the mane, but I didn't notice the missing finger until afterwards because I was using the original character design and hadn't considered it.

As for the "hangbutt", I'd anticipated that with shadewings, but I think I kinda like how it looks when the back hangs down. Kinda cute, what with the dangling legs and all. I dunno, maybe it's because it reminds me of Fidget from Dust: an Elysian Tail.

[Silversea]

Ah yes manes...my manes end up getting covered up all the time, but I usually have other poses that show it off so I've never had that problem. That's just an unfortunate thing about wings when you are doing side views...can't do much about it :/

[Kelvin]

Mkay, added a third finger and fixed a few jagged lines on the tail and some incorrect markings on the right hind leg.

[Kelvin]

Here's how that double icon I was working on earlier has turned out so far. I'm going to be changing the expressions to give some context as to what they're talking about. I still think Keaton's muzzle could use some better shading, and even though I've animated it, I can easily change it, since they aren't moving around that much.

Also, on the subject of anatomy, my sister, who is studying to become a veterinarian, told me that in order to properly bear the load of the body, a quadruped's wings would have to be in front of the forelegs, not above or behind. In fact, they wouldn't even work above, since that's too many bones on the same girdle, but behind sacrifices ease of flight for better ground mobility. A dragon designed for long-distance flight would either have the wings be part of the forelegs, like in Skyrim, or have a big V shape on its chest where the wing shoulders meet. I'm thinking I could add one of these V shapes on the front of Tartii and make it look like her wings are going in front of the legs.

[Kelvin]

Got my next commission going here. I've realized why I don't like some of my newer sprites as much; I've been putting AA in places I wouldn't have on my old ones, and it's making them look too blurry. So I'm gonna be cutting back on that and save it for the larger sprites. The stripes on his body are rather tricky at this size, and I'm thinking I should move the tail so the thinner part is more visible; it looks like a reptile tail here.

[TheShyGuy]

The AA needs work on Tartii. The point of AA is to remove the jaggies and create smoother looking lines. If you have a 45 degree diagonal line, it doesn't need AA because the line isn't jagged (Near her shoulder, on the wing. That dent should be removed too).

You're a programmer so maybe you can take a look at this code, http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/1336...-Algorithm to understand AA on the technical side. (I don't like the code much, but the important idea is there. AA based on where a superimposed line (or point) would be and how much it's within a pixel cell)

If you use AA, make sure the result is a visually smoother line. For example, the AA (selout?) on the wing outline (uhh the clothy part.. I don't know what its called) creates visually pointy and broken edges, instead of smooth and continuous edges.

[Kelvin]

How's this?

[~Axis~]

Its right thigh seems to be longer than the left one which doesnt follow perspective. I mean that it should appear a bit smaller since it's technically further away right?