just the whole idea of dithering is so you can minimise shades. that has 3 shades from looking at it (i think)
once you get more experienced, try dithering with just 2 shades… it becomes very hard, but it pays off =)
Actually, I was originally going to use only 2 shades for the arm (not including background shade). But It wasnt the look i was going for, and added the 3rd one. But for my next project, i’ll probably try that.
Edit:
Mo massulz
No, im not obsessed with muscles or anything. Just while going to the gym in the morning, and looking in the mirror (2 walls are entirely mirrors), i noticed that there was much shading technique to be learned by looking at muscles.
I think it’s pretty spiffy, though i’ll probably add another shade later.
Working on entry for a sprite duel. Custom creature. Never done lineart before. Tell me what you think.
Srry 4 double posting. Progress.
thats so cool! what is it? i know you made it up but its like a huge…dark suit…monster thingy
It looks like the baby of the dark suit, an elite pirate, and a chocobo. 
hehe…chocobo legs.
I think it looks realy cool good work
Lol. Im not sure what it is either. Actually, it’s been a long time since i’ve concocted something of this nature. I used to draw by hand, long before i even had a SNES. I used to be an exceptional drawer, but stopped because i didnt take art class, but i’ve been drawing monsters like this for ages. It was a mild obsession for digimon/dragonball z behind it.
[millionth Edit]Done. Comments, if you will.
I dont like the energy blade personally, but tell me what you think.
awsome but I think it would look cool if you put the energy blade on top or maby instead of the energy blade you could give him an arm cannon and a jet pack. also I dont realy like the eyes I think glowing red would be sick.
Also my other coment is that the fingers on our right side look a little weird
other then that the sprite is great and you nailed the contrast and shading. its origanal and yet it looks yery “metroidy”. So far so good.
I’ve always had a knack for original creatures. I really dont like the energy blade, almost to the point where i want to remove it. I was originally gonna give him a cannon, but 100x 100 pixels was the limit. The fingers on the right side were intended to look different, seeing as how this creature is a cyborg. I normally love asymetrical creatures, but this one was an exception.
Im glad you like the shading, i actually got it right without very many edits to the palette.
i think it looks awesome, but i have to agree about the blade, i would try to replace it if i were you… or just take it off completly. but overall awesome job!
Damn straight.
can you move him the right now and add a wrist mounted energy cannon or at least some wepon.
Meh, guess it couldnt hurt.
if you happen to add a new energy blade, think you could try a good glow effect? havn’t seen a truly blurred and good glow effect in a really long time.
If you havent seen one lately, you definetley wont see one here. But i really do need to try that sometime.
Nonetheless, a wrist mounted energy cannon it is. Kinda a wimpy weapon for such a formidable creature, but the space limits didnt give me many more options.
Dithering with only 2 shades, like i promised.
Comments??
Just needed somewhere to put this (im at school, and cant save it to my comp).
Is that second one a Kanden WIP? It really looks like him in ways, aside from color and detail <_<
Actually, it was gonna be albatross at first. But i didnt like the way the head would shade, so went for something more simple. After drawing a tall neck, i decided that kanden had a nice inconspicuous head, and used it. It’s not really kanden, just a muscular creature to practice shading.
>_< Srry if i excited you.
Done. Not sure what it is, but that applys to all of my original works.
It uses the same palette as albatross.I didnt spend much time shading the abbs, so they look shitty, but it’s not like you can really see them anyway (palette flaw 
). Tell me what you think of it, and the dithering earlier.
More dithering.
…Waiting for some generous person to comment.