ATTN PETA

[Mathias]

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WIP it:
  -COMPLETED-->   (click once for true 2x artistic intent)


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I'm curious what C&C 'fresh eyes' may have on this WIP scene. C64 colors. Chibi-style characters.

Some things are much more refined than others. I tend to bounce around randomly when working on large pixels.

Final presentation will use double-pixel size.




*UPDATE (03.30.10) :



*UPDATE (05.17.10) :
WIP:
  -COMPLETED-->   (click once for true 2x artistic intent)

[The B.O.B.]

Great looking scene. Only thing I can see is that the Captain Falcon looking character towards our left, seems to be out of perspective in comparison to the bed, and cpu machinery. He seems as if he is on a flat platform, where as everything else is on a different sloped platform...if that makes sense. : )

[Dex]

Funny, I started a c64 scene recently too and haven't been too progressive with it.

Anyways, this is lookin' nice so far. Right now it's not too clear on the perspective of the scene, as the angle of the man laying in the chair is completely different from the other men's angle. It feels as if the 'professor' guy is too cramped with the arguing man, and I feel it might be beneficial if you spread the scene out a tad and give the characters more space to occupy.

That said, you could change the perspective around too. It's odd seeing a flat 'horizon' in the background and then seeing the machinery at such an angle, like the BOB said. Mind playing with it a bit?

Either way, I really like the technique so far, just work on the composition.

[Mathias]

hehe, I wondered how obvious the Captain Falcon influence was (The FALCON is my pick in Smash Bros 1,2 and 3, I'll whip all you guys!!)

Thanks! So far all commentary pertains to the wonked perspective in it. I was going to mention the perspective thing. I'd hoped to convey an old-school wacky vibe by leaving the perspective sort of confusing like it is. Your guys' crit is spot-on. I guess it's more distracting than anything then isn't it?

If I were to correct it, I'd probably attempt more of a 3/4 down perspective on the two figures on left, matching the bed-ridden figure, and get rid of that horizon. Yet, at this time I feel I should just complete the stupid thing and not make any major changes - I have 7 more like it to finish and grossly underestimated the amount of work these things take! Perhaps I can make up for the hasty expeditiousness by posting more of these as they move along. It's just that I cringe at the idea of making adjustments to it that would require changing the basic line-eart.

Dex, I wanna see that C64 scene, I know a few things about that palette.

[Mathias]

Just a miscellany update:


I still may try to play with the figure on the left to alleviate perspective confusion. Gotta fill that void in the top middle.



One big problem:

--Can't come up with a suitable way to highlight the middle and left character's faces/skin. Especially that big ole bald headed scientist. They look too flat, but nothing works!

[Mathias]

About to put a bullet in this. Go update:

  - 

[Mathias]

Another in the series. Character on the left is the one depicted on the hospital gourney. This is while he's still the hero and his enemies, the aliens, are surrendering to him. His little laser gun casts bright green on them. Tons of refining to do.




*EDIT*
Oh, look, an edit!

Gittin' them aliens colored in. Doing the ever-trend-whorish duotone lighting trick. They still don't look midground enough. I need them to appear further away from the main char on left. I think I've drawn them too big to accomplish that. Oh well.



*EDDYT*
Slightly happy with the aliens, just gotta clean up the captain and finish the badge thingy

[Mathias]

Pretty happy with this one. Some weak parts, but I think the good overshadows the bad. I give it a 7.5/10.

Please click once to make it 2x. That's how it'll be displayed at run-time in the game.

(find WIP's in OP)

[Chris2balls]

You've done a great job, my fave part is the gun, but there's something not quite right with the composition, because it feels overcrowded/cramped. What I suggest is that you clear up the part underneath the gun (those random tentacles), and perhaps move the line of aliens further to the right, like coming from the top right corner, and maybe lower and center the gun a bit more, like it's squashing the aliens in the corner, whereas the character is confident and at ease, stretching out his arm, gun held. Hope my feedback's helpful.

[Mathias]

Thanks. No, that's great crit. I'm sure you've felt like I have before, when immersed in a project - after a while you can no longer see the forest for the trees. Your advice would've been feasible to implement in an earlier stage, but now I'd be foolish to go back, I've got so much to do, it's painful. Now, my original sketch is much closer to your composition, if you look at it, in the WIP. Too bad I distorted things as I went. I play around way too much. Wish you would've asserted yourself sooner. Oh well.

[st0ven]

Thanks. No, that's great crit. I'm sure you've felt like I have before, when immersed in a project - after a while you can no longer see the forest for the trees. Your advice would've been feasible to implement in an earlier stage, but now I'd be foolish to go back, I've got so much to do, it's painful. Now, my original sketch is much closer to your composition, if you look at it, in the WIP. Too bad I distorted things as I went. I play around way too much. Wish you would've asserted yourself sooner. Oh well.

I wouldnt beat yourself up over it either honestly. I think the visibility of the composition becomes less of an issue at 2x anyway.  Having said that i do like the planet compositions a bit better, i think its the horizontal linearity of the aliens as they push back into the background that makes that aspect look a bit less interesting, plus the planet is just a really neat touch if you could shade it in a way that didnt compete with the foreground.

I particularly like the comical stylization of it, the gun and smoke/plasma has some really great angles balanced with some fun ovals and the color choices are really quite nice. im particularly liking the prismatic effect the goggles have with the yellow going green then cyan. my eye is immediately drawn to that.

one thing that might help with the perception of depth is if you make the highlight colors hitting the alien limbs less bright (maybe that cyan color youre using to buffer the green to the red) as it draws some of the aliens a bit too close to the foreground.

[Mathias]

Eh, what it does is remind me for the next project. Lesson re-learned, no problem, I feel fine. I experienced significant growth in pixel art while working on it, I'm happy with that.

Originally, I was going to poise the char you see at left atop a pile of defeated aliens, like Frazetta popularized, most often done with his Conan character. You know the classic scene. It's been copied and parodied endlessly.

Good analysis of the pixel. This uses a pre-determined pallete, just to be clear - the Commodore64 palette. And an awful palette it is. Challenging. (I'm dying to see you try it out, come on . . . )

It's hard to maintain the detail resolution I desire with such a limited palette when trying to designate objects according to depth or color groups, for example - pushing the aliens more into the bg by using less lighter colors. I tried and tried but just didn't like the results I was getting. I need the left char to have way more focus, but those pesky aliens have ended up stealing a lot. Then what is to blame here? Poor planning? Palette too limited? My own imposed standards too tryannical; offsetting the composition balance negatively because I won't compromise them, the final result ends up paying one way or the other. Here we have confused priority and crowding. Hmm, I could be typing less and be getting more work done on the next one couldn't I, hehe . . .

Oh, and I admit, the odd dissonant badge thingy top-right is the result of giving up on the blue bg planet pretty quickly - I was already using the darkest color for the mid-ground aliens as they diminish away and that didn't really leave anything for the planet. Tried different dithering techniques. Nothing worked.

[Mathias]

New one

It's a rat.

He's being electrocuted.

It's a scientific experiment.

They're observing the results.

I need to balance the composition a bit. Seems like too much place for flat areas of color, need more detail regions. Maybe some foreground machinery/equipment.

Sven loves my unrestricted pixellatory abandon.

[Mathias]

oh look, an update, it's so polished now

[Ryumaru]

the last piece looks really good so far. When I saw the first sketch I thought " what the hell is he going to do with that" but with all the lighting and such put it in it's really solid.

[Mathias]

hehe yeah, the initial sketch is pretty bugly!

[Mathias]

Question is, will Robby the rat survive this time.

[Ambient]

If I was one of the scientists, I'd be making bets on whether Robby the rat would survive. Also, on the scientist note, I think there should be a bit of expression- one wincing, one grinning, and one intently watching. Something like that.
If the rings are glowing, the rods should show a bit of a glow around them. Maybe like the edge glow you have with the blue.
When imagining screams, I generally get the picture of people with their tongues drawn in. I'm not sure if this applies to rats, never quite had to deal with them in a long time.

I like the pallet, and the concept is hilarious. I look forward to the final piece

[Mathias]

Facial expressions would be hard to do, they're supposed to be chibi big-head characters, and you got all that intense light obscuring detail. Seems like chibi emotion is mainly conveyed with the eyes, and here the eyes are all covered by glasses.

Good thought with the tesla coil things glowiness, but I'm already an issue with ambiguity where the rings kinda melt into the electricity. I intentionally kept certain parts dark and certain parts light to maintain contrast so viewers can understand what's going on. I want to even reduce the glowiness, but it's fun to draw and I get carried away. I especially like rigging up "transparency" effects using a limited palette.

The palette is fixed by the way. It's the Commodore64 palette. Been around for a long time.

Glad you like the concept. There will be a caption to go along with this image when displayed - something about scientists trying to find a cure for something, so this scene depicts a scientific experiment on a lab rat. Though, I'm worried it's too brutal looking, the rat is gettin' it pretty good.

[PypeBros]

Seems like chibi emotion is mainly conveyed with the eyes, and here the eyes are all covered by glasses.

Eyebrows and forehead "ripples" could convey a lot of emotions in this situation: astonishment, concentration, sadism ...