AuthorTopic: GR#187 - Megaman Sprite - Shading, Saturation  (Read 14422 times)

Offline Jhentoaduo

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GR#187 - Megaman Sprite - Shading, Saturation

on: May 13, 2014, 03:20:02 am
I've been working in photoshop in awhile, trying to learn how to make good pixel

And I was hoping that I could get some help, Because I really want to get better.

Currently I'm working on making some animations of Deathstroke, but I'm not totally satisfied with how they look, but I'm not sure why



I also recently tried to work with a style that I had seen, and I made a Minotaur and a Hollow




I'd really appreciate some C+C, Mostly on Deathstroke, but anything would help, Thanks.
« Last Edit: May 14, 2014, 07:47:54 pm by Jhentoaduo »

Offline jahasaja

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #1 on: May 16, 2014, 07:41:33 am
Hi,

I was going to edit your Deathstroke animation but it seems like you uploaded a bigger version of the picture. Do you have the original size?


Some tip: make the foreground of the Deathstroke lighter and the background darker. The way you have it now it is hard to make out the right hand.

Also, look at some youtube clips on how to shade to make shapes more clear (I like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dqGkHWC5IU). All your work looks very flat right now.


I really like the fire animation reflecting on the hollow (but how do you know he is a hollow? He might have used a humanity :-P)



Offline Jhentoaduo

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #2 on: May 16, 2014, 02:32:05 pm
Thanks for the reply,

real quick re-upload of the original deathstroke gif (even though i don't remember resizing it :/ )


Do you mean the foreground as in Deathstroke himself? I'll work on that after I watch the video, I appreciate the link.

The fire reflection on the hollow was fun to make, but I still feel like there's something wrong with it, but it's probably how lackluster the fire itself is.

Offline jahasaja

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #3 on: May 16, 2014, 03:26:14 pm
I tried to make and edit but kinda failed.

I post it even though it did not turn our very well, Perhaps you can find something useful..




Anyways, As I said before I think you should focus on shading to give your pixel art some depth.

Offline Jhentoaduo

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #4 on: May 16, 2014, 05:26:44 pm
Okay, I see what you meant with the foreground/background thing.

I'll definitely have to stumble a bit before i can get my shading good, but thank you.

Offline astraldata

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #5 on: May 16, 2014, 08:59:29 pm
The key to depth is contrast.

It's usually better to exaggerate the darkness value of the deeper arm/leg, etc., as that provides the illusion of more depth. Look at Street Fighter Alpha 3 sprites and look how light and dark their lightest light and darkest dark are compared to one another. I know this isn't the style you're going for, but they provide some great fundamentals on shading contrast, among other things.
I'm offering free pixel-art mentorship for promising pixel artists. For details, click here.

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Offline Jhentoaduo

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #6 on: May 18, 2014, 04:13:02 am
While trying to work on/learn shading and contrast, I decided to make The Blue Bomber.
I'm a lot happier with how he turned out than any of the other stuff I've made so far, But I know he can definitely be improved upon.



Ideas?

Offline cels

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #7 on: May 18, 2014, 06:54:42 am
I think it's good that you've moved to something more simple, because learning animation and pixel art at the same time is very demanding.



Note, I only messed with the luminosity values here.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2014, 06:57:43 am by cels »

Offline r1k

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #8 on: May 18, 2014, 09:28:24 am
that method of putting images into grayscale isnt a very good indicator of the actual contrast of the colors, shown here:



the yellow/blue example illustrates that pretty well.
Not that your point doesnt stand anyways.  Main problem Im seeing is that the outline color used for the dark blue parts is nearly the same value as what its outlining, while it ought to be darker.

Offline cels

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #9 on: May 18, 2014, 09:35:05 am
Ah, you're right, of course. I just wanted to avoid doing an edit with colours, because then people just try to use similar colours as the edit, instead of experimenting a bit. But I fumbled it up converting to gray scale in GIMP. Thanks!

Offline Jhentoaduo

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #10 on: May 18, 2014, 02:09:14 pm
I wasn't totally positive if I was supposed to just make the outline contrast more, or the main colors too, so I did a bit of both


or

Offline cels

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #11 on: May 18, 2014, 02:16:10 pm
I would say that more contrast on the blue parts would be an improvement. The same goes for the face.

If you've read any pixel art tutorials about 'jaggies', you should watch out for those as well.  :)

Offline Jhentoaduo

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #12 on: May 18, 2014, 02:21:45 pm
Alright, thanks.

Jaggies have become a plague upon my household, I can't seem to be rid of them.

Offline Jhentoaduo

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #13 on: May 18, 2014, 02:59:15 pm
Still need to work on watching out for jaggies, because I can't seem to be able to fix any that I find in any of my work, BUT I did a bit more with the color contrast.


I definitely need to get better at color picking, too.

Offline cels

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #14 on: May 18, 2014, 03:44:42 pm
Ah, I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear. I wasn't saying you needed more contrast between the cyan and the blue. Right now, you have a lot more saturation, which is cool, but more a matter of taste than necessity.

When I suggested you needed more contrast, I meant that you need more contrast between the bright bits and the dark bits. It's a bit better now, but you could take it a lot further. And if the blue metal is supposed to be shiny, you could really go crazy with highlights :) You may also look at color theory and read about how shadows tend to have 'colder' colours, while highlights tend to have slightly 'warmer' colours. Of course, in this case, it would be different shades of blue.

Face looks better though.

Offline Jhentoaduo

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #15 on: May 18, 2014, 06:12:06 pm
Like so?
« Last Edit: May 18, 2014, 06:24:56 pm by Jhentoaduo »

Offline HarveyDentMustDie

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #16 on: May 18, 2014, 07:01:40 pm
I simply must say something about that Deathstroke animation.

First thing that makes me want to  :'( is different length of his arms.

Second, you have some redundant frames in your animation, the same effect you can achieve with only 6 frames.

Third, Deathstroke is cool guy

by making him slim like stick man you stole his charm. Even if you are scared that you can't draw it as good as you want, at least try. By taking the easier safe way you won't learn much.

Forth, you are using 20 colors here, but we can only see 3 or 4 of them, that's because you are using too much similar colors, and they don't contribute to your image. Use comments you received for Mega Man color and learn from them.

And final, as I said don't be afraid to make a mistake. If you try hard, you will definitely progress. Good luck.  :)

Offline jams0988

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #17 on: May 18, 2014, 07:24:33 pm
Quote
that method of putting images into grayscale isnt a very good indicator of the actual contrast of the colors, shown here:
Thanks for posting this. It seems to be a very common mistake.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2014, 07:31:16 pm by jams0988 »

Offline astraldata

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #18 on: May 20, 2014, 10:51:17 pm
Some thoughts:



Your shading and colors aren't too bad, but your contrast seems a little extreme for the number of colors you're attempting to use to define the forms and volume you appear to be going for.

The key to removing 'jaggies' is learning to draw 'curves' with pixels, pixel by pixel, instead of dragging the mouse to draw curves. Try this next time. The better you get at these kinds of curves, the better your art will look construction-wise.
I'm offering free pixel-art mentorship for promising pixel artists. For details, click here.

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Offline Jhentoaduo

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #19 on: May 21, 2014, 02:37:51 am
Ohhhhh, okay. Definitely understand a lot more now, thanks. Any tips on how to shade round objects better than I have been?

Offline Jhentoaduo

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Re: New to Pixel art (3 months?) C+C Needed

Reply #20 on: May 21, 2014, 04:47:57 am
I think I'm starting to get it a bit more