My first animated pixel art

[NaturallyMade]

Since I have nothing to do lately because i'm now off school, i've decided to get back into pixel art, and try my hand at animation. Bare in mind, I can do far better quality static work than this, this is just my attempt at silly pixel animation:


Shuffeler



Don't click my egg, it will hatch on its own...



Rocky Terraria Cart Ride (Person not by me)


Anyway, I need some direction to what I should do next to improve my skills, i know: dithering, perspective, lineart, and how to pretty much do most things, just doing really high detail, like making wood, look like wood, and not just a brown slab... I'll use the search function, but if you could come up with any ideas on what I should do to learn more details, please comment

[StaticSails]

Practice drawing. Not just with pixels either.

You'll notice most of the more talented pixel artists can also make some pretty great drawings too.

[pistachio]

Practice drawing. Not just with pixels either.

You'll notice most of the more talented pixel artists can also make some pretty great drawings too.

This.

Also:

Bare in mind, I can do far better quality static work than this, this is just my attempt at silly pixel animation:

Are you sure about that? If you are, this would be interesting to see.

Now I'll try not to sound like some messenger from the highest bitterly cold snow-covered peaks of the [whisper]ConceptArt forums[/whisper] (been lurking there a lot), or any other art forum for that matter, but at your stage I recommend you start with the basics. Think basic anatomy, perspective... Something easy. Note, there are lots of tutorials online, as well as some PDFs of old art books. Think about what you want to draw the most, get better at that. Never be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone once you feel comfortable, but don't just glance over your current topic, and try not to look over too many topics at one time.

...Whoops.

[NaturallyMade]

Practice drawing. Not just with pixels either.

You'll notice most of the more talented pixel artists can also make some pretty great drawings too.

This.

Also:

Bare in mind, I can do far better quality static work than this, this is just my attempt at silly pixel animation:

Are you sure about that? If you are, this would be interesting to see.

Now I'll try not to sound like some messenger from the highest bitterly cold snow-covered peaks of the [whisper]ConceptArt forums[/whisper] (been lurking there a lot), or any other art forum for that matter, but at your stage I recommend you start with the basics. Think basic anatomy, perspective... Something easy. Note, there are lots of tutorials online, as well as some PDFs of old art books. Think about what you want to draw the most, get better at that. Never be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone once you feel comfortable, but don't just glance over your current topic, and try not to look over too many topics at one time.

...Whoops.

Thanks for the advice, and heres the "better quality static" work I can do
Well, heres some steam-punkish olden-time technology I made for a game I never went through with

[EyeCraft]

Keep in mind that pixel art is simply a medium. Though it does have its own specific techniques and considerations (pixel clusters, banding, limitted palettes, hardware restrictions, display media, etc), the vast majority of knowledge required to execute a piece of pixel art rests firmly in art theory.

In short, if you want to improve your pixel art, you have to learn art theory.

There's a tonne of things to know in art theory, so a good learning strategy is to reduce the complexity into manageable pieces. Start with the most basic knowledge upon which other topics depend on and slowly build up to the most complex theories.

Following that reasoning, I suggest the following topics, starting at the top of the list and studying them in order:

Line - You will learn about gesture and implying form as well as (most important of all) practise fast, smooth, accurate drawing of line!
Tone/Value - You will learn about contrast and form
Composition - How to arrange line and value in a piece to create focal points and lead the eye
Perspective - Placing subjects within a 3-dimensional space accurately
Anatomy - How to draw people (and with imagination, convincing fictional creatures)
Colour - How to make palettes that harmonise, atmosphere/mood, realistic rendering, using colour within the composition, effect of colour on tone

The ordering after the first two isn't 100% vital. You'll likely reiterate over these topics numerous times.

The best immediate source for learning is books. There's many many many out there, just make sure it's something serious and not a 30-page "How to Draw Manga" style affair. I don't have an extensive knowledge of books, but I can make a recommendation that is "in the ball park":
Robert Beverly Hale - Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters

Outside of books (which you really should get), you can scour the web for tutorials, but it's likely to give you eclectic information. The advantage is (if you are impatient, which is something you should work to grow out of if you have any interest in art ) that the length of tutorials are much shorter than the length of books, so you can pick up a few pieces of information, draw for a bit, then find another tutorial.

But let me stress: that is the HARD WAY to learn this stuff.

As for animation, that has it's own body of theory and it's best to grab a book on that, too. It's pretty much impossible to animate convincingly without an understanding of form/volume and gesture, so you're best off coming to animation after you have some experience with those concepts.

That's the basic rundown

EDIT: Oh, and welcome!   

[Decroded]

The guy in the mine cart looks like u used the rotate function in photoshop yes? this to me is basically ano-no unless ur going to use it as a tool and trace over it on another later or something...