Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: JackieTarr on November 29, 2014, 03:11:44 am
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Just entering the world of pixel art. My housemate challenged me to draw a frog, so here it is! I'd love some beginner-level C+C.
(http://i.imgur.com/Z3BKZXL.png)
I used a reference photo to create this, including some sampling of the color. (The freehand shape and color adjustments are my own.) The photo of a Coqui Guajon frog is from a friend's Flickr account, linked below.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/puertoricanwildlifephotography/14926401423/in/photostream/ (https://www.flickr.com/photos/puertoricanwildlifephotography/14926401423/in/photostream/)
Please let me know your thoughts, before I develop any bad habits. ;D
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That's not bad for a first try. But it's better to draw something in a way that clearly show's the subject rather then slavishly transferring a picture to pixel art.
For instance with those feet, yes they are probably accurate reduced-size representations of the feet from the frog in the reference picture, but they still look like crap. Better to find a way to draw them so they look like feet and forget about the reference. The same could be said for the pose / angle of the frog itself. That angle at that size is hard to represent clearly with pixels, why not just use another pose that would look cleaner?
Also I have some gripes with the colors. Some of them are just not adding anything at all. Those brown highlights on the back for instance. You can barely see them and they don't contrast well with the skin color.
Don't let my critiques discourage you though, it's not a bad start.
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Thank you so much! You've given me some very clear and workable pointers. I'll give it another try and post when it's finished. :)
Re: the colors... Are you referring to the lighter brown highlights on the frog's back? On second look, I agree - they serve no real purpose. Are there any pieces of wisdom you (or others) could share for drawing at this size, especially regarding number of colors?
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(http://i.imgur.com/LaACcdW.png)
Quick edit - I reduced the number of colors, changed the shape of the feet and the angle of the background foot, and (hopefully) cleaned up the highlights and lowlights. This time, I kept a thumbnail of the image open at 200% for reference as I drew. I also included my palette in this image.
Please let me know what you think!