When I grow up I want to be a robot

[MadToaster]

I'm starting to feel more comfortable abou the idea of thinking in forms rather than lines on a flat sheet of paper. I also tried out an approach to break down the composition process into smaller simpler problems and I'm curious if anyone else does this.  First I made a pallete out of grey tones so I could focus completely on shading. After it was done I then tweaked the pallete to add saturation and hue. I felt more in control and less like I was driving a race car and knitting a sweater at the same time.

Oh yeah and robots are cool. I use to draw nothing but robots back in grade school. 

[Mercury Rising]

I like it!  Yet it is rather rough.  I’m not talking about that back leg I mean all around rough.  With one lighter green as an AA color and possibly an extra shade you could smooth this work out a lot.  Or you could even try using your lightest green you already have and smoothing out the bot.  Another thing that is bothering me is its front right leg.  If I’m modeling this in my head correctly I see another step down* to the bottom... If you can understand that.  Add another shorter column of pixels on the right side of the leg.  I understand the perspective yet straight lines bother me.

[Alex]

holy jesus, you dont even know how much inspiration this thing just gave me. im sure david is going to love it just the same.

[Kazuya Mochu]

Looks like something out of FlashBack

absolutly lovelly. graeat nothing of 3d, and speaclly a really cool pallet. keep it up. bring some more in!!

take care.

Kazuya Mochu

[MadToaster]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Mercury, I do agree about the sprite needing a few more shades. I'm gonna start experimenting with 5 to 6 rather than only 4. It would also help out when trying to pull off the illusion of depth.  I felt so good about this one I've decided on my forum avatar.   

[Faceless]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Mercury, I do agree about the sprite needing a few more shades. I'm gonna start experimenting with 5 to 6 rather than only 4. It would also help out when trying to pull off the illusion of depth.  I felt so good about this one I've decided on my forum avatar.   

Looks nice, but that toaster (haha lame pun) on its back seems lacking to me... maybe adding a quarter-circle to the back of it, or wires/cables connecting it to the body (also from the back of it)...

Or going with the whole depth theme, you could add a second one next to it, and nearer to us, using your lighter half of the palette... 

[Helm]

not finishing the edit, you can see where it is going. underdetailed I'd say, and not enough attention paid to the volumetrics. Study how light hits various primitive shapes. I really like your stuff and I wish you would finish them more.

[MadToaster]

I really like your stuff and I wish you would finish them more.

I've been confused about how my work could become more finished then I realized that we probably have different goals with pixel art.  I really enjoy looking at the pinup and fine art quality work that gets posted here, yours included, but I'm trying to practice composition methods simple enough that I would be comfortable making animated game sprites with, not so much to create images that stand on their own.

[Helm]

fair enough. A good balance can be achieved ( thinking metal slug for this type of work, personally ). I'd like to see yours animated though to see if it stands better like that.

[Darion]

Reminds me of metal gear rex.

I would suggest something the justify the simplicity of your work. Hue changes in the pallete, maybe? You could add japanese posters all over him; maybe a mob or something stole it. I'm not saying you have to go overboard; I want to sex with your work, but I think sometimes you could take it further. This is mechanical, though, so I can understand it being harder to stylize.

[Conzeit]

I really like your stuff and I wish you would finish them more.

...I'm trying to practice composition methods simple enough that I would be comfortable making animated game sprites with, not so much to create images that stand on their own.

I completly agreee with that, and I think this is a perfect composition for that, but dont let this become just an excuse you used to counter helm in this topic, start animating this tank, now.

Dont put it off, if it seems so hard you have to put it off your simplicity focused composition is all wrong, start animating it, start with basic colors and as few outlines as you can, then build up to this but dont let the inspiration that drew you to make the tank halt before you've started animating.

if there are any changes you should do to the model, it would be simplifying it,so forget about extra shades, posters and Helm's compromises.Eliminate as many outlines as you can, if an outline isnt necesary to describe a shape, if it's there for style then get rid of it, they do nothing more than geting in your way when you animate

when you can see how many frames you can create, and how tedious it is to shade each one of them, that is when you have the judging elements to decide wether or not you need more detail.

[MadToaster]

it's too soon any time earlier so forget about extra shades posters and Helm's compromises, just animate.

Doh, I followed up on Helm's advice before reading your post. I realized  "I want to get better at pixel art" contradicts with "my work is good enough", so that argument is in the rubbish bin now. I don't think I did it right but I hope it's a step in the right direction. I can see a comprimise though. It would be easier to animate with block colors like the first version then make a second pass addingl the texture work.





I appreciate your advice guys.  Every so often what I thought was a 8 out of 10 turns out to be much less when I realized what else is out there.  I will be animating this, Camus, but first I'm gonna finish my entry for Adam's contest.

[Filax_666]

This last edit is realy nice, great improvement. I cant understand where the lightsource is though...

[Helm]

ideally you need both texture/detail and animation. the metal slug pic is a good example. Especially for nonorganic stuff like the tank, texture on the parts is not a big fear for animation since you'll be rotating and skewing stuff a lot, and redrawing very little. I like the newest version, definately a step in the right direction. I'm not compromising, I don't know what Camus is talking about to this end, but seeing how he's given animation so much thought, he must know something I don't.

[Conzeit]

not really heh, you said something along the lines of "you could compromise and make something a bit more detailed" so that's what all that was about.

mainly my point is that madtoaster should try animation around and test the grounds before he goes and commits himself to something he cant do, better to have him animate this well with a simple shading than to have him make 2 frames of an action and then quit because its too hard.

I think the new version is pretty good, it all fits pretty well, and I think that's a good direction to go in with the shading, but I dont think the bolts fit...like at all :p, your tank has a very diferent style of form and details than metal slug tanks, yours is more polygonal like Yoji Shinkawa mechs (MGS and ZOE concept artists) while metal slug is kind of oldschool.

not to mention that it would be boring (atleast for me) to draw all the little bolts every frame...unless maybe you're using promotion and you can make them a brush (which I cant).

about the whole rotation/squishing deal....I'd agree completly if this were a real tank, but it has legs, you better animate this more like a living being than as a tank because it will be a bit obvious that you're rotating stuff around otherwise, not to mention that it's pose doesnt lend itself to rotating/skewing limbs.