AuthorTopic: Beginner looking for feedback  (Read 4773 times)

Offline Michoko

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Beginner looking for feedback

on: June 13, 2017, 12:08:37 pm
Hi,

I'm a total beginner regarding pixel art (I'm a long-time developer), but I'd love to create an indie game, so I started learning. Needless to say my first steps were a bit frustrating, and I'd feel less alone if some kind soul would help me improve my work. :)

Actually, besides learning pure pixel art techniques, I have another challenge: character design. I know exactly what kind of story I want to tell, and my hero will be a native precolumbian-like hero. He is pretty young, so I don't want to add too much accessories to his character (i.e. no big assets / jewels like for an Aztec King, for example). But since natives are almost naked, it is difficult to make the character stand out.

I made two versions. A "modern" pixel art style one:



And a silhouette-oriented one: (I'd actually love to make a highly contrasted, silhouette-based design for the entire game)



I don't know exactly what to think about those two first attempts, so any feedback / constructive criticism would be very appreciated.

Thank you in advance! :)

Offline LoreSmyth

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Re: Beginner looking for feedback

Reply #1 on: June 13, 2017, 12:19:31 pm
Hey

Lovely stuff. I am totally new myself so I won't try and give feedback.
I do like the pose of the bottom one with the staff upwards better. It feels more "active"
I think you have a good base to work on! Maybe you can use some lighter pastel colors to give more "aztec/warm" feeling.
Right now its pretty dark/towards black, leaving little detail to show?

Offline Michoko

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Re: Beginner looking for feedback

Reply #2 on: June 15, 2017, 08:23:46 am
Thank you Loresmyth for the kind words and suggestions. To give my game a more "mysterious" atmosphere, I'd love to use silhouette design (i.e. black in foreground and brighter in the background). I know it has been used many times before, but I love this style, and I think it is good for story telling, as it leaves room for imagination. However, going full black may become a bit boring in the long term, and may give a deja vu feeling. That's why I tried to use some highly contrasted highlights like red and white elements.

But in that kind of design, I'm not sure my shading is good / compatible with the initial idea. That's why I'm very interested in artistic feedback.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2017, 08:25:28 am by Michoko »

Offline LoreSmyth

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Re: Beginner looking for feedback

Reply #3 on: June 15, 2017, 08:27:00 am
My suggestion would be to try all variations. You will learn from it and discover what works and does not work.
Sometimes just doing it might surprise you, instead of only thinking/analysing things.

Good luck!

Offline Michoko

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Re: Beginner looking for feedback

Reply #4 on: July 15, 2017, 08:34:00 am
Here is an update, first about my character design:



Then a mockup of an environment:



I begin to see more clearly the style I want to achieve. Color wise, I want to use highly contrasted colors, ideally only 2 colors: the base one, and the highlight one, so I get a more stylized effect. I want to mix that with silhouette rendering for the front layer (the one the player would interact with).

I am not sure if the result is interesting, and if there are possible improvements (I'm sure there are many! :) ). Right now it still looks a bit dull to me, but I'm not sure how to make it better. So all comments, suggestions and critics are welcome. Thank you!
« Last Edit: July 15, 2017, 08:46:21 am by Michoko »

Offline MysteryMeat

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Re: Beginner looking for feedback

Reply #5 on: July 15, 2017, 10:22:23 am
Green for walking surfaces. Contrasts and draws eye, helps keep tribeguy from melting into floor.
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
MAJOR BORK TALLY: |

Offline wzl

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Re: Beginner looking for feedback

Reply #6 on: July 15, 2017, 10:55:26 am
Green surfaces would hurt the overall esthetic a lot. yes, it would provide contrast, but imo its not needed. solid black tiles are good enough a contrast in this case.

The atmosphere is magical, albeit a bit monochromatic. I'd love to see a few slight hue variations in the near foreground plant life, like petals, fireflies or something along those lines.

When it comes to rendering, theres a lot of single pixel lines in your leafes. in still images it works sorta fine, but as soon as you start animating this, especially in parallax, it might jerk around a lot. make sure to test this early before realizing to late that it might not work out for you.

Another slight crit would be that the character doesnt look based in its environment. since it looks so monocromatic, his brown and white doesnt work so well imo. the red is a nice contrast however, and works decent as a style choice.

Offline MysteryMeat

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Re: Beginner looking for feedback

Reply #7 on: July 15, 2017, 11:00:11 am
Ah, true. Disregard earlier statement, i was looking at this through a flux filter on my phone.
I would try to make the background darks more distinct from foreground darks, though.
PSA: use imgur
http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=19838.0 also go suggest on my quest, cmon
MAJOR BORK TALLY: |

Offline Michoko

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Re: Beginner looking for feedback

Reply #8 on: July 15, 2017, 04:21:13 pm
Thank you very much guys for your feedback. It helps a lot!

So wzl, if I understand correctly what you mean, the fact that there is pseudo lighting on the character, while the rest is monochromatic, is not consistent? It makes sense. Actually, I like the additional lighting on the character, as I'm afraid making it full black would really blend him too much with the black foreground. On the other hand, I could probably add some one-color lighting on the background too (for example on the biggest trees as well as the front bushes). It would also make the character and elements detach more, and would go along your idea of adding more details.

Also, I agree with the one-pixels lines, it will probably be an issue depending on the resolution. I'll probably pick another leaf style.


Cheers!

Offline Michoko

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Re: Beginner looking for feedback

Reply #9 on: July 16, 2017, 02:52:44 pm
Hi,

I added highlights on the frontmost layers. Do you think it looks more consistent that way? :)



Man, getting into pixel art (and art in general) is such a struggle for me. I still have so much to learn...
« Last Edit: July 16, 2017, 03:04:00 pm by Michoko »