As a rule of thumb, out of respect for the projects in question, we ask permission first. The FreeCiv graphics are an exception, as they were archived at Free Game Arts, which we (for the most part) mirrored at the behest of the site admin.
In general, if you'd like to post art here that's being used in another project, ask first. It's okay to make an exception if the project in question appears to be defunct and you can't reach the project maintainer.
The spam was getting out of hand, so we had to make it so people couldn't post links. If you want, just post the link with spaces where the punctuation would be. We'll figure it out. :)
He still feels somewhat flat, particularly his head. This may be a shading issue, or it may be the general shape. Also, I can't tell from here whether his arm is facing up or whether it's supposed to be reaching toward the viewer. In the latter case, you'd probably want to shade the entire arm.
First, I'll answer your color question: Generally, when you're doing pixel art, you'll want to pick out your colors first. It's exceedingly rare to ever have 256 colors in a single sprite. Generally you'll have far less than that -- somewhere between 4 and 32 colors is fairly normal. If you're making multiple sprites, I wouldn't necessarily worry about limiting yourself to 256 colors among all of them. The vast majority of computers out there don't need to worry about that anymore, and that holds true even if you're making software for mobile phones.
Now on to the critique. He looks cool thus far, but you're right about the shading being off. I'll see if I can help you out with that.
The first thing you'll want to consider is color. In natural lighting conditions, your highlights and shadows aren't the same hue as your midtones. Highlights will be more yellow (due to sunlight) and shadows will be more blue (due to things not lit by the sun being lit mainly by the sky). The effect is subtle, so don't overdo it, but a little bit of color variation can make your colors look a lot more vibrant. You might also consider making your highlights slightly brighter and your shadows slightly darker.
Now, on to the shading. When I look at your image, I get a general feeling that your light source is somewhere above and to our right, but I can't place precisely where it is. There are some places where it almost looks like the light is coming from below (take the bottom of his hand, for instance). When you shade, what you want to do is imagine your subject as a 3 dimensional object, and then picture where the light source is relative to it. The areas of the surface which are facing *directly toward* your light source are going to be bright, and the areas that are facing away from it are going to be shaded. Be analytical about it.
One other thing I'm seeing is that you have some bare 1-pixel lines. In my experience, those never work very well, as they don't convey any sense of volume.
If you haven't seen it already, we actually have a great pixel art tutorial right here on OGA:
I recommend reading the whole thing if you haven't already, but pay particular attention to the chapters on color and shading, as I think they'll help you here. And of course, feel free to ask questions. I'll keep an eye on this thread. :)
spamcity.spam showd up a lot ion the identity field, which is why I removed it. Unfortunaetly, the choice I have is either to allow "contact information", which includes a link, or nothing. I can see if there are any Drupal plugins out there that will tell it to ask for a name only (and no link), but honestly it's pretty low on my priority list, unless you can point out any actual problems (other than link spam) that have occurred due to anoymous comments.
http://www.zshare.net/download/67830610bead80b9
As a rule of thumb, out of respect for the projects in question, we ask permission first. The FreeCiv graphics are an exception, as they were archived at Free Game Arts, which we (for the most part) mirrored at the behest of the site admin.
In general, if you'd like to post art here that's being used in another project, ask first. It's okay to make an exception if the project in question appears to be defunct and you can't reach the project maintainer.
Bart
The spam was getting out of hand, so we had to make it so people couldn't post links. If you want, just post the link with spaces where the punctuation would be. We'll figure it out. :)
I've split the forum topics block into two, one of which only administrators can see. People shouldn't be able to get into the private forums anymore.
Bart
O_o
He still feels somewhat flat, particularly his head. This may be a shading issue, or it may be the general shape. Also, I can't tell from here whether his arm is facing up or whether it's supposed to be reaching toward the viewer. In the latter case, you'd probably want to shade the entire arm.
For the record, I'm not an expert, but I know enough about theory to give critiques. For anyone else here, feel free to add or contradict me. :)
Bart
First, I'll answer your color question: Generally, when you're doing pixel art, you'll want to pick out your colors first. It's exceedingly rare to ever have 256 colors in a single sprite. Generally you'll have far less than that -- somewhere between 4 and 32 colors is fairly normal. If you're making multiple sprites, I wouldn't necessarily worry about limiting yourself to 256 colors among all of them. The vast majority of computers out there don't need to worry about that anymore, and that holds true even if you're making software for mobile phones.
Now on to the critique. He looks cool thus far, but you're right about the shading being off. I'll see if I can help you out with that.
The first thing you'll want to consider is color. In natural lighting conditions, your highlights and shadows aren't the same hue as your midtones. Highlights will be more yellow (due to sunlight) and shadows will be more blue (due to things not lit by the sun being lit mainly by the sky). The effect is subtle, so don't overdo it, but a little bit of color variation can make your colors look a lot more vibrant. You might also consider making your highlights slightly brighter and your shadows slightly darker.
Now, on to the shading. When I look at your image, I get a general feeling that your light source is somewhere above and to our right, but I can't place precisely where it is. There are some places where it almost looks like the light is coming from below (take the bottom of his hand, for instance). When you shade, what you want to do is imagine your subject as a 3 dimensional object, and then picture where the light source is relative to it. The areas of the surface which are facing *directly toward* your light source are going to be bright, and the areas that are facing away from it are going to be shaded. Be analytical about it.
One other thing I'm seeing is that you have some bare 1-pixel lines. In my experience, those never work very well, as they don't convey any sense of volume.
If you haven't seen it already, we actually have a great pixel art tutorial right here on OGA:
http://opengameart.org/content/les-forges-pixel-art-course
I recommend reading the whole thing if you haven't already, but pay particular attention to the chapters on color and shading, as I think they'll help you here. And of course, feel free to ask questions. I'll keep an eye on this thread. :)
Bart
spamcity.spam showd up a lot ion the identity field, which is why I removed it. Unfortunaetly, the choice I have is either to allow "contact information", which includes a link, or nothing. I can see if there are any Drupal plugins out there that will tell it to ask for a name only (and no link), but honestly it's pretty low on my priority list, unless you can point out any actual problems (other than link spam) that have occurred due to anoymous comments.
Bart
"Mark as reviewed" simply removes the art from the review queue, essentially declining to publish it. Maybe I should word the button differently?
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