I know you already commented on Dwartle's shading, so maybe I'm just saying things that you already know, but
The shading on the stomach make it look like that part of him is made out of plastic.
The knees are rather pillow shaded, especially his left leg (our right). Speaking of that leg, right where it meets the stomach, it looks like a steep drop instead of a gradual curve. This makes it look like the stomach is stuck on over the leg.
His shell looks very unfinished and unreadable.
As for the arms, upper body, and head it looks like you were shading just to shade those areas, instead of shading to convey actual depth.
As a whole, it just looks unfinished.
On Salamandra, I really like the shading on the metal and the creature itself. This one looks like a finished work. The one thing I would suggest here is making his front leg that is farthest from view (the first leg from the left) a bit darker so that it fits with the other leg and undershading that has been done quite well. While I understand this leg is supposed to be exposed more for the viewer, it is also behind the front foreleg and the body, thus the rightmost part of the front backleg would have a much darker color to it.
Danubine looks pretty good as well. You already hit on the shading on the tail, so I'm just going to say that the foam on the top of the tail doesn't look violent enough for that sort of wave, a little less of the foam would be more fitting of that sort of wave. However that is all just my opinion, I understand that the wave is not a part of a body of water, rather it is confined to a corporeal form, so its more of a matter of what you wanted to do with it. I assume that there is a hole in it's upper body, right? I'm also assuming that the long thing hanging down is some sort of necklace? If so, then the necklace shouldn't be hanging down so stringently, it should move and form with the wearer's body. The body, hair, arms, and (in my opinion) tail/wave shading all look great.
On Sylphen, he looks rather unrefined, but more along than Dwartle. The blue part of his body consisting of the head and (ears/arms?) doesn't really fit with the shading on the tornado-body part. While, I do like the shading on the tornado body, I think the colors are a bit off. To me, it looks like a really twisted and tangled straight-jacket. Tornado's don't have so much yellow in them as they have dark grey, with a very slight tinge of dark green or blue.
I'd also like to say that the use of black on these sprites does not work well. I see that it's use was avoided, as there are only a couple of incidents of it (Salamandra's nose holes, Danubine's mouth). It just looks out of place on these sprites since it is not used anywhere on the outline, so when it was used it just stands out too much.
The shading on the stomach make it look like that part of him is made out of plastic.
The knees are rather pillow shaded, especially his left leg (our right). Speaking of that leg, right where it meets the stomach, it looks like a steep drop instead of a gradual curve. This makes it look like the stomach is stuck on over the leg.
His shell looks very unfinished and unreadable.
As for the arms, upper body, and head it looks like you were shading just to shade those areas, instead of shading to convey actual depth.
As a whole, it just looks unfinished.
On Salamandra, I really like the shading on the metal and the creature itself. This one looks like a finished work. The one thing I would suggest here is making his front leg that is farthest from view (the first leg from the left) a bit darker so that it fits with the other leg and undershading that has been done quite well. While I understand this leg is supposed to be exposed more for the viewer, it is also behind the front foreleg and the body, thus the rightmost part of the front backleg would have a much darker color to it.
Danubine looks pretty good as well. You already hit on the shading on the tail, so I'm just going to say that the foam on the top of the tail doesn't look violent enough for that sort of wave, a little less of the foam would be more fitting of that sort of wave. However that is all just my opinion, I understand that the wave is not a part of a body of water, rather it is confined to a corporeal form, so its more of a matter of what you wanted to do with it. I assume that there is a hole in it's upper body, right? I'm also assuming that the long thing hanging down is some sort of necklace? If so, then the necklace shouldn't be hanging down so stringently, it should move and form with the wearer's body. The body, hair, arms, and (in my opinion) tail/wave shading all look great.
On Sylphen, he looks rather unrefined, but more along than Dwartle. The blue part of his body consisting of the head and (ears/arms?) doesn't really fit with the shading on the tornado-body part. While, I do like the shading on the tornado body, I think the colors are a bit off. To me, it looks like a really twisted and tangled straight-jacket. Tornado's don't have so much yellow in them as they have dark grey, with a very slight tinge of dark green or blue.
I'd also like to say that the use of black on these sprites does not work well. I see that it's use was avoided, as there are only a couple of incidents of it (Salamandra's nose holes, Danubine's mouth). It just looks out of place on these sprites since it is not used anywhere on the outline, so when it was used it just stands out too much.
![[Image: fFrame1Big.gif]](/image.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fi152.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs195%2FNindotendofreak%2FfFrame1Big.gif&hash=90ed0f5a5c368e4264a8b90d35685a59)
![[Image: Frame1Big.gif]](/image.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fi152.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fs195%2FNindotendofreak%2FFrame1Big.gif&hash=d7ebb0388db3612eb57259e59a273022)