Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Lazy Brain Games on September 10, 2012, 06:00:41 am
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Hi all!
I'm working on something for the "Continue?" show, featuring the cast of the show as playable characters (I'll get into these guys' in-game persona's at some point) but currently I'm really struggling with getting some decent text box portraits of these guys.
I feel like I'm in the right neck of the woods, but I could definitely use a few pointers! Its an NES styled game, so I'm restricted to the NES palette. I haven't done portraits of actual people in years, so my ability to capture somebody's likeness has diminished a bit :P Its an action game, so I want to idealize their appearance; think of these portraits as an action hero rendition of them.
(http://lazybraingames.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pixel_portraits.png)
(http://lazybraingames.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/reference-e1347255972867.png)
I feel like the first one (Nick) is the best so far. The other two (Paul and Josh) I'm not quite sure what I'm missing. let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions to get these portraits a little closer to the real thing ;)
Here's a link to an episode for reference
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBQrp_CZ0IU&feature=relmfu
Thanks for looking!
-Johnny B.
[UPDATE]
Added a light source and played with the palette a bit
(http://lazybraingames.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pixel_portraits_3.png)
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Imho, the new lightsource produce more interesting heads, but the black background doesn't do justice to your heads. Swapping the pupil colour for skin make the eyes pretty freaky, too.
So far, I'd suggest to revise the shoulders/neck of each portait to better reflect each person's character. Edit on the middle guy's nose could make him look more like himself, too.
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(http://www.locustleaves.com/pixel_portraits_3.png)
Edit on the second two dudes, I do believe the first one is your best by virtue of the beard.
I changed... a lot, for likeness. This is prime pixelling. You have few colors, few pixels, and you're trying to hit a likeness. You'll have to deal with good clusters, avoid banding and so on. My main pointers would be that these three people are recognisable first and foremost by their skin pigmentation differences. They're of different races or racial mixing and that's a wonderful thing to use in your depictions, NES palette allowing. The middle person has dark shadows surrounding his eyes and a long face, both of which I used. The third person is the trickiest to pin down for me.
Avoid banding on the side of the shirt where you have the outline hug the shape, that's not useful.
You can use the side lightsource as a unifying color in all three of the portraits, which is why I tinted it slightly blue, to make it seem they're all the the same place, not just coincidentially all lit from the same side.
I like these, and I hope you keep working on them to your satisfaction.
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Yeah this is good stuff, is the fifth colour a sprite overlay? I quite like the 4-colour look :hehe:.
Two things that jump out at me are the strange straining necks and collar bones-through-the shirts. I had a pop at the first one; I know you said 'action hero' and I played it straight but hopefully it's illustrative of the neck/collar thing as well as how you could model more with the tonal range available.
(http://i.imgur.com/oH2OR.gif)
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Wow thanks guys! These are some great references! One huge advantage of making retro games is you never have to agonize over the palette lol. Its starting to get a little technical with the NES limitations though, I'll have to research it a bit more to make sure its legit. I also through in each guy's in-game character and reference, although Dom and Luke are still under construction.
(http://lazybraingames.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/reference_6.png)
(http://lazybraingames.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/pixel_portraits_6.png)
Luckily I only have to do these 5 guys for the entire game, so I figured I just do them all together to keep them consistent ;) I feel like Nick and Luke are lookin' okay, although Luke's hat is a bit vexing. Paul I'm sort of on the fence about. Josh is getting closer, but isn't quite there yet. As for Dom I could use a second opinion, I'm not sure where I'm at with him.
Big thanks guys!
-JB
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That was quick work ;D, I think you could push the colour-coding more for better recognition; perhaps more blue for Paul, and changing up one of the quite similar looking brown or yellow schemes a bit. Unique weaponry might help too.
NES specs here (http://www.wayofthepixel.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=7d08f8ee35c992d7093c731c342512eb&topic=10784.msg115062#msg115062). Basically tiles have a single 4-colour palette per 16x16 block of 4 tiles, 4 palettes total. Sprites 3 per 8x8 or 8x16 + transparency, also 4 palettes total, but of course it depends on how important strict adherence is to you/the project.
Likenesses: Nick could do with an earlobe & some shadow to lend the hair volume, Paul could do with going darker around the eyes, I think you could exaggerate Dom's moustache, lengthen his nose + slim down his jaw a tad and Luke's face could do with some elongation too; particularly in his jaw.
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Thanks for the help Facet!
So, if I understand the restrictions correctly, in a nutshell, there can only be 4 colors within each 8x8 section? Is that about right? Would the image on the right qualify as a proper NES rendition?
(http://lazybraingames.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/nick_example_2.png)
Here's everyone with the recommended adjustments, with no "NES optimization". Dom is improved in a way, but that area by his mustache and outer cheekbone is posing a challenge.
(http://lazybraingames.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/faces_7.png)
Thanks again!
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Would the image on the right qualify as a proper NES rendition?
Yes, but only if you use MMC5 (cartridge type) or sprite overlays. The one of the left is fine too with overlays.
Really just for clarity: Most NES games had to deal with 4 colors per 16x16 region, not per 8x8 region. (At least for the background)
But, there (probably) hasn't been a single portrait posted in this thread that's not possible on NES some way. The real issue would be getting them all on the screen together without some flicker, but honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Check out the title screen here. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oMfpLiFyJE&#t=32s) That's an actual homebrew game that will run on the actual console. You can do some cool stuff if you plan it well.
Extra colors are added by drawing sprites on top, which is only an issue if more than 8 appear on a horizontal line. Let's say Facet's edit used the background palette of Black, Dark Skin Tone, Brown, Light Brown. That would mean each time he's using light skin tone, it would be a sprite. Three sprites (Ear, Middle Check+Bottom of Right eye, nose) all occupy some of the same horizontal lines. If you have another guy there with a similar layout of sprites, that's six. Add another, that's 9, which means you'd have to flicker since only eight could be displayed at a time. This can be solved pretty simply, by just laying it out vertically.
If you really, really want to match the restrictions I could write more, but if I were you I would just take some liberties.
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Sounds good to me Kasumi!
Being someone that makes NES styled games I really ought to know more about this stuff lol. Anyways, I think the 4 colors as I have them will be fine. As long as it feels retro I'm happy :)
Here's a screenshot of what it looks like in-game
(http://lazybraingames.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/text_screenshot.png)
Fortunately only one portrait is being shown at any given time, so that cuts down on possible conflicts. So I'll still be working on these just for likeness, at some point I'll do one last update to see if anyone can catch any fault with them. These portraits are going to be pretty closely scrutinized, so I have to put in the work to get them as accurate as my pixeling skills will allow ;)
Thanks for all the guys!
-JB
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As for the likenesses again, I want to recommend you take one more look at Dom and Luke's jaw specifically. Dom seems to have a much pointier chin while Luke has a very round one. I think they're just about there, though.
Good work, liking the mockup.
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Thanks for checking it out! Here's an updated version; Dom definitely needed some work lol. I think I'm a lot closer, although the outer cheekbone area is still a bit troubling.
(http://lazybraingames.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/faces_8.png)
I think I'm almost there though, let me know if there's any areas that still don't read right :)
-JB
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The only thing that disturbs me is the relative size of head and body and the total lack of neck on the mock-up character. Although it can be common in caricatures, it gives the feeling that you picked some existing game's character silouhetto and just stick your character's head over it.
(http://i.imgur.com/wEaM8.png)
^tried an edit: essentially made the character wider and shortened its legs a little bit so that he now looks like squashed/dwarvish (Rick Dangerous style) rather than deformed.