Making my Pixel Avatar

[Incendax]

Trying my hand at pixel art, only really dabbled in it before with some game sprites/tiles and whatnot.  Generally I'm a traditional artist but wanted to try to make one of my line art drawings into a pixel avatar.  And chose to limit myself to 16 colours.

Its 100x100 16-colour with a pointless mazy background that I kinda liked irregardless

ORIGINAL:

CURRENT:   <-- Think its good enough for me at the moment

[VictorR]

Looks really good so far, the lines are just too "thick" ? Clean them up a bit, they look too rough around the chin area.

[Incendax]

I'm not really certain how to make them any thinner, they are generally only 1 pixel wide afterall.

[Indigo]

you can simulate line thickness via value.

see posts:
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=5965.msg70263#msg70263
http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=5965.msg70318#msg70318

[I Am Uh]

I think what VictorR is trying to say is the lines look a bit rough. It's not so much that they're rough, just that there needs to maybe be a bit more depth so it's more noticeable. try adding a few more colors or maybe a highlight like on the more defined areas.

Here's an edit I made to show you what I mean.

I'm not saying thats exactly how you should have it, but a brighter color may bring out some definition that may otherwise go unnoticed.

Oh Btw, I love the cell shaded look, works well with this piece.

[Incendax]

I understand what you guys mean but I was trying to limit myself to 16 colours at the moment for this picture atleast.  Though I suppose I could just abandon that limit and add some more colours and the problem would probably go away.   Maybe my lines are just not "fixable" with 16 colours.

Also, the highlights sorta make it look like its made out of rubber to me, though you did say you just threw them on there quick.

Oh, and thanks glad you like the cell-shade style on it

[I Am Uh]

Yeah, maybe make the blues on his head the same color as the glasses and bg, that would give you a few more colors. But yeah it is really nice, very Riddick-esque

[Incendax]

Well the blue markings are supposed to be more cyan,  but I can always change it back to that later if I add more total colours.  Maybe ill try doing that and free up 3 colours and see what comes of it.  Thanks!

And Riddick-esque?  How do you mean?  Only Riddick i know of is the "Chronicles of Riddick" movie or whatever it was called

[Terley]

Reminds me of Digimon, erm this one.
http://download.lavadomefive.com/members/BigClawz/Digimon-Guilmon33.jpg

  <16 colours
<13 colours

For a piece where colour limitations are in mind you aint half wasting your palette, ridded of loads of unwanted colours making room for more shades so you can now shape this character properly. I don't see why you're AAing the shading, do you not see that as a waste of colour? They're so close anway, up the contrast between em and use each colour for a more useful purpose. Tried to alter the palette slightly and make some effort to shape it for examples sake, all in all i've used way less colours than your original.

I do agree too that your line thickness could be better controlled, worked on parts here and there to show how. Indigo's links explain it all.

[Incendax]

I suppose it does in a way, especially since I used the coloured markings no it.  But thankfully its not a digimon.

I made a few changes, trying to thin out the lines a bit, its still 16 colours on my end but i swapped out one of the useless cyan shades for some more shadowing, especially after seeing your example made me realize it could do well to have it.

This come out any better?

  =>

[Indigo]

Great critique Terley.  I was about to make an edit myself which explained better palette usage and volumes.  Thanks for saving me some time

Incedax:
dont just thin the lines for the heck of it.  Think about which lines are receiving more light than other areas, or areas where the lines would naturally be thinner.  Line thickness may be pretty solid on the underside of objects.  currently you're getting a 'broken line' effect going on with what you've done.  take a look at the corner of the monster's mouth in terley's edit to get an idea of how to properly do this.  Also notice how his has lots more depth tot he forms.

[I Am Uh]

Well the blue markings are supposed to be more cyan,  but I can always change it back to that later if I add more total colours.  Maybe ill try doing that and free up 3 colours and see what comes of it.  Thanks!

And Riddick-esque?  How do you mean?  Only Riddick i know of is the "Chronicles of Riddick" movie or whatever it was called

Yeah thats what I meant with like the goggles and the whole look. Reminds me of Riddick.

Btw, I think you need to add depth like in Terleys edit. Also I noticed that on the goggles, the piece in the middle that attaches the lenses together doesn't look like it would fit if he tried to put them over his eyes,(They would be squishing his nose.) maybe you should move it to the top lenses.

[Incendax]

Ooh right the goggles, forgot about that...

And more depth?  Maybe, just seemed a little too "deep" to me.  I'll try fiddling with it a bit though.

[Terley]

well I think you just need a little more contrast with your shades tbh, if you're going to stick to more of a cell shaded look you can afford to make the best of what you've set out for yourself.

You've got a lightsource here so why isn't there any shadow underneath the head? where the neck is visible should be noticably darker since not as much light can hit there. You need to visualise this everywhere, It's just a case of trial and error, work on this section by section and try to think where the light would hit least to where it would be hit most.

But in all honesty your latest is a great improvement, I think it just needs some warmer tones in there cus its all a bit too yellow. Just pushing the darker shades over a smidge closer to a warm brown. Reminds me of mustard atm.

--

I made another edit of my edit too btw, may help. It's a choice to interprate light and dark into the lines too, not for line thickness value but to further act to shape. Just think, would a line be jet black if its the edge of the side facing the lightsource directly?

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/5999/pokemonbr1.png
pokemon sprites do this, and along the same track with using limited colours.

[Incendax]

Alright I admit, after doing something simple as adjusting the colour levels a tiny bit it came out way better.  Thanks I think it looks alot better now with a deeper range of colours!

=>
I think I'm happy with it for now

Of course I'm still quite open to suggestions if someone still thinks otherwise >.>

Edit:
And wow i must be behind the times, I've never seen any of those pokemon before in your link, lol    Except the popular one, last in the 3rd row...

[VictorR]

Adding a second light source would look pretty nice I think. A creamy pink on the right side 
Huge pimprovement though, alot mroe depth, great use of the colors. Goggles still could use some improvement though.

[Elk]

pictures are not made by lines but areas with shadows :0!