If I remember correct this one was done by ThD and not Zoef (aka Facet).

This image was done just after obtaining a Koalapad in order to test out the pad in a "freehand" style in conjunction with the "Blazing Paddles" software and it's then unique random "airbrush" tool.

Hence the "spray can" look with very little fine detail and dither.

I do have a feeling that this may well have been used on a "way of the tiger" demo because i do remember doing an oriental sprite font at the same time.

Of course a reference was used, but the eyes! The photo looks static, this looks alive.

Thanks! This comment made my day.

Awesome palette.

Perfect idea.
Right-side kangaroos are a bit too invisible, though.

That palette, and that style! <3

Nice work on that guys pupils, though I have to admit that deer even looks better. Nice work on the AA as well <3

Haha, cute

Please keep them coming, this is beautiful! Feel free to submit any of your works yourself.

Thank you all for the comments
This is really appreciated

I'm not used to show to a public what I do and I know I'm not a professional graphic so this is very rewarding

Would love to see a final here one day.

Oh darn, how much I love your colouring skills, it looks so effortless, and so darn spot on <3

Bold outline best outline, also love the hightec feel of it - along with the idea itself.

Love the small cityscape in the back, and the dynamic in the text - nicely done!

Minimal, but effective.

The look on her face is splendid, as if she found it in the dirty laundry and asks what the hell this is supposed to mean, or who it belongs to. Must be her left eyebrow that is raised to making it look so questioning.
And damn awesome skills, the lighting/shadow on her face <3

Can be just a little too much light but it is only my impression

My $0.02:
The photos posted above are indeed references. The picture is not an exact copy of an already existing work, but some images have been used to understand lights/shadows, anatomy and so on.

A classically trained painter will, as a part of the education, study human anatomy to better grasp how poses, shadows and so on affect the human body. And yet, many of them use photo references for commissioned portraits. Perhaps mostly because noone would have the patience to model for a rennaisance-style painting nowadays.

It might be harder to use a real-life setup to a painting than it is to use a photo, because a photo is completely static and is already delimited by the camera. But it is still a skill or technique that can be learned.

The real artistic skill in the case of realistic painting - mainly portraits - lies in conveying something MORE than the original reference, regardless of if it is a still life, a photo or a model. I think you prove you can do that in this image.

If the work is not intended to be a realistic-looking depiction - that is, stylized in any way - it can be a caricature, or a cartoon, or something more playful along the lines of an illustration, then copying is so much more obvious and thus easier to identify.

A lot of the great old pixeled images are all about technique. There's no doubt a lot of hard work and time has been spent on transferring an already existing piece of art to a downscaled, 32-colour version. A work of superior forgery, almost. This also gives birth to an understanding of proportions, shadows etc. but there is no feeling of originality. Unfortunately, this old-school way of "converting" existing works to pixeled media, thus copying it, has created a paranoia on the scene regarding the originality of a work.

The human mind is fantastic, but nobody can paint a portrait from memory alone. The coder might resort to a language reference or a book on mathematics, the musician samples real-life instruments and the graphician uses a reference. It's as simple as that.

Claroscuro goodness