Critique wanted if possible

[megamax124]

Hello everyone,
I have started on a game project and would like some pixel art styled graphics so i started messing around a bit.
i have made the following texture as my first one. i copied parts of the bottom and placed them along the sides (left side is mirrored)
To me it looks kinda weird but i'm not sure how to correct it. can someone give me some insight into this or even help me do it
have a nice day,
max

[Joe]

Hi, welcome.
As per this thread, go to imgur.com, upload your image, it will give you an option for bbcode (between [img] tags) paste it here. You can use the post preview to see if it worked before posting.

[megamax124]

Hi, welcome.
As per this thread, go to imgur.com, upload your image, it will give you an option for bbcode (between [img] tags) paste it here. You can use the post preview to see if it worked before posting.

thanks! first post is now updated. tips on how to improve a very welcome

[Joe]

One thing that's definitely off is the bordering gray bricks should align with the red. Your texture is maybe a little busy, I would clean up the pixels some. And for variety you should have a few darker bricks here and there, just a subtle variation.

[megamax124]

One thing that's definitely off is the bordering gray bricks should align with the red. Your texture is maybe a little busy, I would clean up the pixels some. And for variety you should have a few darker bricks here and there, just a subtle variation.

okay so how about this?:

[Glak]

Much better aligned, but not quite there.  They need the vertical separation as well.  Right now it looks like there are bricks that are gray on one side and red on the other.  They should look like separate bricks.  Also the top and bottom need to be separated into separate blocks.

[megamax124]

Much better aligned, but not quite there.  They need the vertical separation as well.  Right now it looks like there are bricks that are gray on one side and red on the other.  They should look like separate bricks.  Also the top and bottom need to be separated into separate blocks.

Here i tried adding some shadows to the gray bricks to make it look liker they come out more, is this what you meant?
Also played with the colors a bit.
(btw, is it okay to post so many pictures in one thread?)

[Pusty]

Yes it is , you are even supposed to do this ^^
I liked the colors in the previous images more but that's only my taste of coloring
In your newer version the borders are clear now but on the right side it looks like
the gray bricks are in front of the other ones (or is it just me?)

[Joe]

Okay you have 38 colors in that image. That isn't even remotely necessary, and it's clearly counterproductive.
You can easily make a clearer picture with only 8 colors.
I'm not going to clean up all these bricks, but this edit should show you what you need to know.



As I said, there is too much noise, all the highlights are doing nothing but obscuring what you're trying to convey. There is no good reason for the highlights to be anywhere but the top pixel row of each brick at this resolution.
Second, doubling up the pixels at the gray border doesn't help; you want the illusion that they're a different color but on the same plane.
Like I said, add some variety to your bricks.

[megamax124]

Okay you have 38 colors in that image. That isn't even remotely necessary, and it's clearly counterproductive.
You can easily make a clearer picture with only 8 colors.
I'm not going to clean up all these bricks, but this edit should show you what you need to know.



As I said, there is too much noise, all the highlights are doing nothing but obscuring what you're trying to convey. There is no good reason for the highlights to be anywhere but the top pixel row of each brick at this resolution.
Second, doubling up the pixels at the gray border doesn't help; you want the illusion that they're a different color but on the same plane.
Like I said, add some variety to your bricks.

Thanks a lot! I think i got it. But how did you reduce the colors back to 8-bit?

[megamax124]

Okay guys, i needed to add a window so i made the basic structure but how should i do the shading of the glass?

have a nice day,
max

[Johasu]

That darker color you are using on your standard bricks is really contrasting with the other two colors.  It makes the bricks look really rough and broken or like they have something on them, such as paint or patchy mortaring.

A suggestion for shifting that darker shade to something more subtle.

Also you might think about giving your gray bricks a bit more attention, they really stand apart from the other bricks as they are so clean and pristine by comparison.

So far your light source is only from a top down angle so an angled shade on the windows isn't the first direction I would go.  Cast the shadows downward and see how you like it.  I did a quick and extremely simple adjustment to show you what I mean.

[Glak]

The windows should almost black unless the room inside is lit, in which case they should be the color of the light source (probably gold).  There is no justification for a medium blue color unless you are trying to show a reflection of the sky, and in that case you will have to draw reflections of other things and you'll probably want to do it using parallax.

[megamax124]

Okay guys, last question, i promise 
I also need a door image, so I tried it and this is the result:

It looked very dull with only one color so i added some highlights but it still looks weird.
any tips/edits?

[Linaru]

it would probably help to have a door frame to separate it from the wall a bit

[Pusty]

I guess it looks weird because the door is missing something to separate it also
the bricks above it are aligned to  the door
But the door itself looks good

[Alex Sinigaglia]

I don't want to come off as rude, but it looks like you resized a jpeg (or a blurred image) for the door. There are too many shades of the same colours.

[megamax124]

I don't want to come off as rude, but it looks like you resized a jpeg (or a blurred image) for the door. There are too many shades of the same colours.

Not rude at all if it's helpful :p. i started wit honly 4 colors but it looked very flat. do you have any tips on how to reduce colors and still make it look a bit 3D?

[Alex Sinigaglia]

If you have too many colours you could reduce the amount by indexing the image. When you index you decide the number of colours to be used.
In your case you have the wall with 8 colours and the door has a lot, so I would:
take (copy) the door alone,
open a new file,
paste the door in the new file and crop the image,
index the image.

I tried two solutions:
   
The first image is the door you have; the second is indexed with 16 colours; the third with 8 colours.

Then you could work on that and fix it to your liking.

Alternatively you decide the palette beforehand (number of colours, which tones etc.) and draw it.
There's another method: you could use the palette you decided for indexing the image.

[Glak]

You need to look at references.  Most of the problems that people have pointed out (and some that they haven't pointed out) would have been resolved immediately if you just looked at some photos on the internet.

[megamax124]

so how's this:

The door frame looks way better imo

[megamax124]

You need to look at references.  Most of the problems that people have pointed out (and some that they haven't pointed out) would have been resolved immediately if you just looked at some photos on the internet.

This really was my first time doing pixel art so i dived right into it, and what are you seeing that others haven't pointed out?

[Alex Sinigaglia]

I want to ask you one thing: where is the lightsource?
I also think the grey bricks could be shaded the same way as the red ones (dithering, cracks etc.).

I want to recommend you these tutorials by Tsugumo:
http://www.yarrninja.com/pixeltutorial/chapter3.htm
http://www.yarrninja.com/pixeltutorial/chapter4.htm