Description from original post (created 2013-01-01 18:08):
Happy New Year to all my subs and viewers! Thanks for supporting my skins.
PMCers often suggest animal skin ideas to me. Many are hard to visualize as skins based on the Steve template, like birds, insects, and snakes; but I give them my best shot. Several people have suggested dolphins and narwhales and I have always said that I would think about it. A whale running around on land seems kind of strange...and pointy snouts and tusks are to be avoided when making skins based on blocks with even numbers of pixels. After some consideration, I decided to try an orca (aka "killer whale") for three reasons. First, gray scale is easier to work with than mixed color palettes. Second, Kefka suggested I make something with "teeth". I guess my skins are getting too cuddly XD. Lastly, I just think they are cool. I saw some off the coast of Alaska, which was more inspirational than watching Shamu do tricks in a tank.
The orca skin presented some design challenges:
- rotating the head from upward to forward facing
- creating a gaping, tooth-filled mouth with the illusion of depth
- making a tail that looks whale-like
- shading flippers
- adding a believable off-center blowhole
- trying to make a dorsal fin that didn't look bent to one side - I used shading to give the illusion of an upright fin rather than making an actual fin
