[Finished] Shrike the Impaler

Well, I've just been challenge by gawrone on pixeljoint to combine Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad the Impaler with the bird called shrike that I've pixelled a few days ago.

Half an hour of sketching this is what I've come up.

I used the image from wikipedia which was 800x969. In order to preserve the ratio, I divided the canvas size by 8. Now I'm working on 100x121.

Also, the colors were eyedropped from the origional image, except the shrike's color.

So, this wil be my work in progress page and also let me know your thoughts.

An hour of work, this is what I've done. Some colors aren't working very well, but they can be adjusted later on. The hardest part at that time would be rendering the red. The button needs to be cleaned up since the design is very intricate and I don't know how to show that.

This one took me an hour +. Focused more on the rendering of the shrike's feathers. I think it turned out good. I'm also doing some painterly thing for the background.

Not much to say, can't focus. Still, here it is, just have to clean up quite a of the clothing and the angle of the body.

Another hour for this bad boy. I feel satisfied with the shoulder fur padding thingy. The read clothing just needs some highlights. The face doesn't look very detailed, so I might revisit that again later.

Next up would be putting the cap on.The beak is supposed to be on 2/3 view, but I dont know how that'll work -- another edit I suppose.

After 2 hours, I think I'm done. I would just need some feedback for it. It was quite a ride. I was a bit intimidated with the cap and the buttons, but it was for nothing after all. Everything was a smooth ride. I feel content with the beak, although I would accept feedback for it.

That's looking really nice, Taks! I know you've already published it on the interwebs, however I'd still like to comment on your piece.
If I had any feedback to give, it'd be to try to solidify your lighting a bit more. If you're going for more of an ambient kind of lighting set up, the clothes could use some stronger shadows.

Thanks, King! I will take note of it. I'm attempting to do more painterly portraits and I think a light study would be very helpful.

Here's the final work. Enjoy!