Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Jericho on September 05, 2007, 06:44:26 pm
-
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/unknown__user/other/kittywipb.gif)
Workin on an animation :)
Currently 30 frames. It will stay at that unless someone can suggest something i should add or take away haha.
Critak? yes yes pls.
Will post with a coloured update of the first frame once i've started
-
<3 Seems adorable as all your work Jericho. <3
Ahem.... looks good. Can judge that pillow much until you colour it up. The angle of the pot looks goofy.
As for cutting down frames you can probably turn the pinwheel into a blur and have the bubble pop.
GAH! You're art deserves more than a few <3s and a sentence or two.
I think the ?tassels? need to be separated a bit either with lines or colors. Some small movement of that bell on the back of it's neck would be adorably great. Sub pixel would be amazing and would give the whole community a great chance to indirectly teach me about that!
I don't have a cat but I do have a cat sized dog. When he's not sleeping on his side he's on his stomach. When he breathes in his sides expand. I can only imagine if he had a tail he'd curl it around himself like most cats.
I'm now starting to question if this is even a car... I mean cat. Looks like a mixture of a bear,cat and dog. I think the animal needs to look more like what it is. Again, maybe the colors would help so just slapping on some colors would help us to help you to help me.
I hope you can find some sense in that mess of a post.
-
Hmm, bubbles usually come out of the nose while you're sleeping, not the mouth(least that's what you generally see in any cartoon).
-
<3 Seems adorable as all your work Jericho. <3
Ahem.... looks good. Can judge that pillow much until you colour it up. The angle of the pot looks goofy.
As for cutting down frames you can probably turn the pinwheel into a blur and have the bubble pop.
GAH! You're art deserves more than a few <3s and a sentence or two.
I think the ?tassels? need to be separated a bit either with lines or colors. Some small movement of that bell on the back of it's neck would be adorably great. Sub pixel would be amazing and would give the whole community a great chance to indirectly teach me about that!
I don't have a cat but I do have a cat sized dog. When he's not sleeping on his side he's on his stomach. When he breathes in his sides expand. I can only imagine if he had a tail he'd curl it around himself like most cats.
I'm now starting to question if this is even a car... I mean cat. Looks like a mixture of a bear,cat and dog. I think the animal needs to look more like what it is. Again, maybe the colors would help so just slapping on some colors would help us to help you to help me.
I hope you can find some sense in that mess of a post.
lol! :)
1. I tried making the pinwheel a blur, but it looked to be moving too fast in comparison to how he breathed out.
2. The tassel thingies will look less like a clump when they are coloured ^-^. the lines are just there for the general shape.
3. I'll see what i can do about getting that bell to jingle or something :3. that would deffinitely be cute haha
4.It is a cat haha xD. I think the nose kind of throws it off right now but I made a quick colour of parts so hopefully that makes it look more feline? As for how it is laying, you're right most cats kind of curl up, but i actually have one that used to sleep on the top of doors like that..all sprawled out and balancing on it LOL. We closed the door while she was sleeping on it once and she never did it again xD;
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/unknown__user/other/kittyframewip.gif)
Hmm, bubbles usually come out of the nose while you're sleeping, not the mouth(least that's what you generally see in any cartoon).
yes but he's breathing out of his mouth. air and/or bubbles would not come out of his nose if his mouth is open.
-
Why do you even need the bubble? Wouldn't it be more subtle to infer more to the animation from visual clues that do not scream 'I AM A VISUAL CLUE!' like the rising and falling of the belly/back and the moving pinwheel?
-
Why do you even need the bubble? Wouldn't it be more subtle to infer more to the animation from visual clues that do not scream 'I AM A VISUAL CLUE!' like the rising and falling of the belly/back and the moving pinwheel?
i certainly don't need it in order to infer anything. it's simply there to go along with the 'cute'.
-
yes but he's breathing out of his mouth. air and/or bubbles would not come out of his nose if his mouth is open.
Ya, but for some reason it doesn't look right, maybe because standards have associated bubbles with noses. Since bubbles with sleeping are usually because of snot, I can't think of any reason there'd be one coming out of the mouth... other than spit bubbles, which don't form like that. Well, as for solutions, there are a few I can think of. Move the bubble to the nose and emphasize on lip movement to show that he is mainly breathing from his mouth(you can breath from both while sleeping)... or ditch the bubble altogether and add drool hanging from his lip.
-
If you don't need it, and it has 'huh?' drawbacks (as Dusty explains) perhaps it would be best to lose it. Just an observation.
You could try subtle subpixel animation on the belly. Subpixelling is made for these sort of things.
-
If you don't need it, and it has 'huh?' drawbacks (as Dusty explains) perhaps it would be best to lose it. Just an observation.
You could try subtle subpixel animation on the belly. Subpixelling is made for these sort of things.
I'll try dropping it and see how it looks.
and uh..xD; what is subpixelling?
-
As I understand it, subpixeling is modifying the shading to simulate movement, but not actually moving the bounderies of the animated piece.
-
Sub pixelling is used for subtle movement. I think Xion had a decent example here: http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=4690.0
Ummm... I'm no good at explaining what it means because I'd only used the technique once or twice.
-
I agree with the bubble removal. And I wanna see what I'd look like if the pinwheel were to rotate in the opposite direction when the furball inhales, and then reverse when it exhales, instead of the downtime without pinwheel movement. Maybe it'd look like shit, but maybe not.
-
The thing about pinwheels is that they're constructed to catch air with one and and cut through it with the other. It might move a little when inhaling, but not much at all.
I also vote yes on the bubble removal thing, it doesn't really make sense to me. I know it's a bit of a symbol, and it's supposed to be cute (even though it always ends up disturbing me), but technically, if the breath is making the bubble grow, then most of the breath wouldn't even reach the pinwheel in the first place...
Also, I think the timing on the wheel needs adjusting. The way it just suddenly snaps into full motion then gradually slows down doesn't seem to match the rate and strength of the breathing.
-
While we're nitpicking, I've never known anyone (human or otherwise) to be able to hold their eyebrows in a perfectly fixed position while sleeping. The whole point of sleeping is to relax and recharge your body, so the fact that the muscles are acting to allow the eyebrows to be held like that seems a bit strange to me. Unless it's some sort of cartoon gimmick. As Helm already stated though, there's already tons of things going in the animation that just slaps the viewer in the face with the message that THE CAT IS SLEEPING (the "zzz"s, the slow breathing/body movement, the position, the pillow, the bubble, the closed eyes, and so on and so forth).
-
To go along with Rox's suggestion, I think it would be best if you added more angles to the pinwheel, because even when you slow it down, jumping from 0 to 45 degrees is a bit of a large gap and doesn't show the sense of speed you're wanting.
-
update :)
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/unknown__user/other/kittywipd.gif)
coloured the cat and edited his breathing. will add the pinwheel back in tomorrow and work on how it spins.
-----
While we're nitpicking, I've never known anyone (human or otherwise) to be able to hold their eyebrows in a perfectly fixed position while sleeping. The whole point of sleeping is to relax and recharge your body, so the fact that the muscles are acting to allow the eyebrows to be held like that seems a bit strange to me. Unless it's some sort of cartoon gimmick. As Helm already stated though, there's already tons of things going in the animation that just slaps the viewer in the face with the message that THE CAT IS SLEEPING (the "zzz"s, the slow breathing/body movement, the position, the pillow, the bubble, the closed eyes, and so on and so forth).
I don't think 'correct' eyebrow placement would really add or detract from this. If you wanted to get that technical, cat's dont even have eyebrows. They are there simply b/c it is meant to be cartoony (obviously..since anatomy is chibified). If I moved them down or put them into a more 'relaxed' position it would close the face and make the 'forehead' look huge.
As for all the different things going on in the animation.. A lot of my art is inspired by Korean Pixels, and although what i've put into the animation may seem like a 'bit much' it's quite typical for that style.
(Example, see Toonzoo (http://www.toonzoo.co.kr/) > Avatars)
-
Well then it's a stylistic choice, which I touched on in my post (asking whether it was as such). Cats do have eyebrows, at least, muscles where they should be that allows their eyes to move as well as close. And cats of course have whiskers where our eyebrows are. As well as specific cats having color growth patterns resembling eyebrows. But that's getting way too in depth. With regards to the animation, I think it's fine. I didn't critique the animation so much as just echoing what Helm said. On a more positive note, I like the lush color choices.
-
Well then it's a stylistic choice, which I touched on in my post (asking whether it was as such). Cats do have eyebrows, at least, muscles where they should be that allows their eyes to move as well as close. And cats of course have whiskers where our eyebrows are. As well as specific cats having color growth patterns resembling eyebrows. But that's getting way too in depth. With regards to the animation, I think it's fine. I didn't critique the animation so much as just echoing what Helm said. On a more positive note, I like the lush color choices.
haha well i meant they dont have eyebrows in the sense that we do xD.
And yeah i know you were just reiterating helm :). I just felt the need to explain why i had put so much into it haha
-
anyone else notice there are a few jaggies on the bottom right side of the pillow?
-
anyone else notice there are a few jaggies on the bottom right side of the pillow?
*blink* where?
-
I usually try to avoid the one dot/two dot outline by adding AA, but it's doable.
-
I'd be carefull with how you go about shading that pillow... :D :lol:
-
I think an extra frame on the tail would be a good idea. There is a sort of stylisticality (lmao) to just having the 2 though.. but bleh.
Reallly cute! CATarrPILLAOW.
-
I'd be carefull with how you go about shading that pillow... :D :lol:
xD har har har
I think an extra frame on the tail would be a good idea. There is a sort of stylisticality (lmao) to just having the 2 though.. but bleh.
Reallly cute! CATarrPILLAOW.
is that even a word?? hahaha
----
update:
still need to fix jaggies
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b307/unknown__user/other/kittywipe.gif)
-
actually the spotlight on the kitty head that gives it a circular lighting cannot also apply on its little body like that, unless we're talking two different spotlights. The head should keep most of the body in shadow, actually, and what's not in shadow should not be shaded spotlight-like but ambient-reflections-like because it has no direct pov to the lightsource.
I think.
-
main thing that's throwing me off is the pin wheel, you've got it jumping forward an extra 90 degrees in some frames.
it's proportions look a bit inconsistent as it spins, a little tough to perfect, but worth the extra effort.
I too would suggest some extra frames of detail for his breathing/tail etc
here's the old mario sleeping scene from SM2 (couldn't find the snes/gba remake version animated)
(http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2555/marioii10kz5.gif)
it's animated pretty nicely for a NES game, a little organically, not just moving lines up and down
and maybe have it's ear twitch? my cats do that usually
-
you've so got to put the cat dreaming its running somwhere in the animation - i love when my cats do that!
-
actually the spotlight on the kitty head that gives it a circular lighting cannot also apply on its little body like that, unless we're talking two different spotlights. The head should keep most of the body in shadow, actually, and what's not in shadow should not be shaded spotlight-like but ambient-reflections-like because it has no direct pov to the lightsource.
I think.
artistic license can also apply to lighting. i'd say that if the head were to keep the body in shadow the image wouldn't be so interesting to look at. it may even be confusing to the eye.
-
actually the spotlight on the kitty head that gives it a circular lighting cannot also apply on its little body like that, unless we're talking two different spotlights. The head should keep most of the body in shadow, actually, and what's not in shadow should not be shaded spotlight-like but ambient-reflections-like because it has no direct pov to the lightsource.
I think.
artistic license can also apply to lighting. i'd say that if the head were to keep the body in shadow the image wouldn't be so interesting to look at. it may even be confusing to the eye.
I think the body shouldn't be interesting, it's not a focal point. Focal points are the Head, tail and pinwheel. Maybe the bell collar (make it jiggle, it'd be cute). Jericho, I love you but I think you need to throw some shadow onto the cat's body.