Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Chris2balls on February 25, 2009, 03:26:19 pm
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Hello people!
I'm doing pixelart revolving around a comic-book style of shading: I am trying to create colours by patterns of red, blue and green. It is hard and time-consuming, but nevertheless extremely interesting work, constantly discovering new patterns and therefore new colours and shades to draw with.
Anyway, I'm posting here for advice and comments on my work for now:
(http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3807/lectro3.png)
I've got problems with some patterns which don't blend in as well as others, and I really don't know how to solve it.
I'm also not quite sure whether I should keep the original lines of my previous work and create a series of different styles, or if this should be a new and original piece.
Original sketch:
doodle I did (http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/5019/electrovanities.jpg)
Reminder: it's more interesting looking at my WIP a little less than a metre away. ;p
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I think you should know that this isn't how comic books were shaded. Even the old ones that look like that. That's just how they were printed. Nobody uses RGB for printed stuff. It just doesn't have the range of colors the CMYK has. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
Even though the line weight is a stylistic choice I still suggest you cut them down a bit.
I'll make you an edit after work.
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Oh, yeah printing, sorry :s
I based my work on looking at some old comic, and I could see green, red, and blue. So I'm looking forward to that edit :)
Thanks a bunch for correcting me!
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Chances are there might've been green red and blue. One of the advantages ink has over pixels is transparency. They can half-tone (overlap colors) while you can only place colors next to each other.
Here's my edit, I only played with lines and changed the palette to CMYK.
(http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/932/crum.png)
The guy on the left was the only one I touched the lines of. When I ink things I usually think of the lines as being stressed or not stressed. When they're stressed they're thinner, like a stretched elastic band. When they're not stressed they can get quite fat.
You'll need to find the right CMY but you can already see the shading on the skulls looks more black than purple-grey.
In Lichenstein's stuff you can see a lot of half toning. Maybe you want to emulate that and create a ring of secondary colors.
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It just doesn't have the range of colors the CMYK has. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
This is not the reason RGB isn't used for print. RGB isn't used for print because Red, Green and Blue are the primary colors of light. If you hadn't noticed, CMYK is the chromatic inversion of RGB, plus black. Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow are the primary colors of pigments.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/AdditiveColor.svg/180px-AdditiveColor.svg.png)
PS: "Red, Yellow, Blue" is a lie.
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Just felt like pointing out:
both are valid. RGB are the primary colours of light, additive blending.
When using subtractive blending (pigments) RGB as previously said DO NOT have the range of colours the CMYK have. So that's valid too.
Also note that if you mix yellow and magenta you'll get red, cyan and magenta = blue (yes), yellow + cyan = green
so they basically produce each other within their different systems.
Anyways I'm too tired to speak coherently goodnight.
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Chances are there might've been green red and blue. One of the advantages ink has over pixels is transparency. They can half-tone (overlap colors) while you can only place colors next to each other.
Here's my edit, I only played with lines and changed the palette to CMYK.
(http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/932/crum.png)
The guy on the left was the only one I touched the lines of. When I ink things I usually think of the lines as being stressed or not stressed. When they're stressed they're thinner, like a stretched elastic band. When they're not stressed they can get quite fat.
You'll need to find the right CMY but you can already see the shading on the skulls looks more black than purple-grey.
In Lichenstein's stuff you can see a lot of half toning. Maybe you want to emulate that and create a ring of secondary colors.
Thanks a bunch for that!
So Jad, you're saying I could use RGB+CMYK? If that's it, I'll do a few changes... right now. Thanks!
(http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/932/crum.png)
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It looks very noisy, I think you should add black into the mix of colors. Not just a color you use but a color you shade with. Don't be afraid to use solid blocks of color either.
The black parts look very separate from the colors, try blending that just a little so it's not so... disconnected I guess.
Looking forward to some more updates.
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What I'm saying is that when YMC blends two-and-two they make RGB. So yeah, if you wanna simulate colour blending, why not.
When you blend all three you arrive upon black btw.
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It looks very noisy, I think you should add black into the mix of colors. Not just a color you use but a color you shade with. Don't be afraid to use solid blocks of color either.
The black parts look very separate from the colors, try blending that just a little so it's not so... disconnected I guess.
Looking forward to some more updates.
Ah, I forgot to mention, my first refs were the comic-in-the-comic in Watchmen... the shipwrecked guy's story. Which explains my lack of block colour beforehand.
I just had quick look at a Lichtenstein ref, and there are block colours. I'll use them.
I think introducing block colours will make the black seem less detached.
->Jad: is what I did in my update alright then? Or should I get rid of RGB and keep YMC to then create patterns to simulate RGB?
Anyway, thank you both for your support!
(http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2539/lectro3mod.png)
I'll be restarting from scratch, it was starting to get hard to work over it.
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i actually really liked the way you were shading everything.
personally, i would like to have seen more of it.
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i actually really liked the way you were shading everything.
personally, i would like to have seen more of it.
I agree. /what you'd got now looks like a big step back. I think I may have said things wrong, I meant to say you should use that noisy pattern with some solid colors. If you want cyan then just use it straight up, same with yellow, green, magenta, red, blue and black.
You were doing something very interesting and I think you should play with that still. It just looked very different with that thick solid black outline.
I'll hopefully make an edit when I get back from work... assuming my brain is still working then.
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I've kept it, no worries ;p
Okay, I'll carry it on then.
Thanks both for steering me back into line!
Ah, a question: what type of background colour could you see this well in? I was going to go for pale blue/green.
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I'll go ahead and bump this with an update:
(http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/2539/lectro3mod.png)
I made the headphones magenta for it to be reminiscent of that cheap pink plastic that you used to get on toys. Maybe it still looks too much like metal. Should I reduce the amount of block colours or add more (for example the sahding on the side of the skull)
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I like this, I think it's happenin'. Reminds me of Helm's . . . uuhhh, what was that dude again . . . viking, gladiator, warrior thing guy, from ancient Greece or somethin', Helm used only RGB and black I think it was, did some great color mixing, etc.
This reminds me of screen printing, specifically half-toning. You should try a full-color non-pixel art graffiti style version done with half-tone dots. Graffiti pop-art, old school comics, etc-type concept.
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I like this, I think it's happenin'. Reminds me of Helm's . . . uuhhh, what was that dude again . . . viking, gladiator, warrior thing guy, from ancient Greece or somethin', Helm used only RGB and black I think it was, did some great color mixing, etc.
Spartan.
I like the style as well, honestly though, the red has something special about it in these comic pieces to me. The way you used it in the beginning I really liked. However, from a technical stand-point, I'd say the latest version looks a lot better. It looks cool, either way, so keep working on it.
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Thank you both for your replies!
Mathias, I'll try that out, it does interest me indeed.
Should I use a red half-tone (white+red or yellow+red) to do the headphones? If I do this I'll be losing the magenta, which I quite liked, so I'll need to think about how to use all my palette...
I could use red for the background, but I don't think it's a good idea. Do you have any suggestions on what I could do as background, and what colours I could use?