11-11-2014, 05:47 PM
Okay, so I'm gonna have to back up E-Man on the smaller palette thing. Not as an aesthetic you should force yourself to stick to, but as a tool to help you to understand how your colors interact. The danger with a larger palette without understanding the way the colors strengthen each other and the ways they create contrast with their value, saturation, and hue is that it becomes harder to really understand why your sprites end up coming out dull even though they look like they are full of colors.
While I can't say I'm there yet, I do solidly believe that one of the best things about getting a limited palette is the way you have to see how 2, 3, 4 colors all interact and create contrasts and subtleties you weren't thinking of before. All of these interactions are perceived (with your eyes), and just editing RGB values or playing with a HSL chooser will not show you the vast and complex layers of color interaction. I recommend strongly looking up gamut masking (search for James Gurney) to understand how limiting your palette (and excluding colors) can enhance certain colors much more than just making them brighter will ever do.
Something I still feel like I need to comment on is the fire on your phoenix, the shape isn't bad as long as you are alright with it looking like the underside of the phoenix has a layer of jets shooting fire below it. Fire has specific shapes depending on it gently burning in a small amount like a candle, shooting out like a jet or flamethrower, roaring like a wildfire, etc. Try to keep in mind what the shapes you have chosen convey to the audience about the nature of the fire itself. But what I really want to comment on is the colors.
![[Image: FIRE-2-jpg--1-.jpg]](/image.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kwch.com%2Fimage%2Fview%2F-%2F24617154%2FhighRes%2F1%2F-%2Fi82pbj%2F-%2FFIRE-2-jpg--1-.jpg&hash=6c316d26ada5fa12ab20b3e81ec4b57b)
try to pay attention to how the main color is orange, with the only part that actually shows up red being the very ends as it fades out. Remember that the yellow and especially the white are the hottest part of the flames. I feel like the profile view needs the most work overall, and I wish I had more experience but I have to say I suck at fire real bad and still have a lot to learn. I would like to say that the wings look pretty good, or at least better than the body so far.
While I can't say I'm there yet, I do solidly believe that one of the best things about getting a limited palette is the way you have to see how 2, 3, 4 colors all interact and create contrasts and subtleties you weren't thinking of before. All of these interactions are perceived (with your eyes), and just editing RGB values or playing with a HSL chooser will not show you the vast and complex layers of color interaction. I recommend strongly looking up gamut masking (search for James Gurney) to understand how limiting your palette (and excluding colors) can enhance certain colors much more than just making them brighter will ever do.
Something I still feel like I need to comment on is the fire on your phoenix, the shape isn't bad as long as you are alright with it looking like the underside of the phoenix has a layer of jets shooting fire below it. Fire has specific shapes depending on it gently burning in a small amount like a candle, shooting out like a jet or flamethrower, roaring like a wildfire, etc. Try to keep in mind what the shapes you have chosen convey to the audience about the nature of the fire itself. But what I really want to comment on is the colors.
try to pay attention to how the main color is orange, with the only part that actually shows up red being the very ends as it fades out. Remember that the yellow and especially the white are the hottest part of the flames. I feel like the profile view needs the most work overall, and I wish I had more experience but I have to say I suck at fire real bad and still have a lot to learn. I would like to say that the wings look pretty good, or at least better than the body so far.