Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Geti on March 03, 2011, 12:55:43 pm

Title: 32x32 Topdown
Post by: Geti on March 03, 2011, 12:55:43 pm

This is a weakness of mine that I'm going to have to address in a coming project. As such, time to start practising!

Tonight's effort:
(http://www.deviantart.com/download/199553424/32x32_topdown_tiles_by_forsakengeti-d3at4eo.png)
Quite happy with the stone squares, less so with the grass tile. I'm not sure whether to revisit it or move on with lessons learnt which are:

• The grid is tricky to get rid of at 32x32 (something I'd forgotten after doing so much small scale work). I'll have to explore some more reliable elimination strategies.
• Drafting first is still handy - scribbling details at 4x scale and then scaling down still works wonders for getting the initial form working right
• Making "sub tiles" is a great idea for inorganic stuff. I made a few smaller chunks of stone and tweaked them in some of the larger tiles, adding moss and whatnot. This is very handy because it provides some semblance of structure as well, but does cut down variation. I should rework the lit edges at least.
• More colours help a lot at this scale - I was endeavouring onwards with my usual 3 tones but adding colours for highlights helps details pop a lot. Hi res tiles do well with a hi res palette

I'd love some criticism. What works, what doesn't, what should I bother fixing in this piece. Are there some clusters that really bug you? Are the tiles arranged stupidly? Should I get some unifying greys into the grass tile?

Edits appreciated, I'd like to get more adept at this size as I'm not as quick as I'd like to be (yes, I'll eat my words from the payment thread soon enough.) These were done in ~2 hours for what its worth, with half an hour or so wasted at the start.

I await your critique.

Title: Re: 32x32 Topdown
Post by: Tourist on March 03, 2011, 07:39:30 pm

I find the colors a bit painful.  Cheetos and ketchup spilled on a lime green .... you know, I don't know anything that color of green.  Maybe darken the green towards a pine needle color, and reduce the saturation on the rocks so that they read brown instead of orange?  I don't know what the red is supposed to be. 

I think the stonework looks good.

Tourist

Title: Re: 32x32 Topdown
Post by: Geti on March 03, 2011, 10:30:34 pm

This makes me think we may be having monitor calibration troubles, which bothers me greatly. I think what you're describing as red is to me a red-brown. However, with the image on a darker background I can definitely see what you're getting at, and I've been getting some similar comments around the internet, so I'll definitely have a look into cutting down the brightness a little.

Title: Re: 32x32 Topdown
Post by: TrevoriuS on March 03, 2011, 11:07:57 pm

When I compare my (gamma lacking, calibrated) laptop screen to most self standing lcd displays (most commonly setup in factory defaults) I see that I sometimes lack the range to display subtle gradients on the laptop, but the separate screens are so overly vibrant (most often) that half the colours are fully saturated on display while they're far from it in the settings. Therefore with this description and you getting that reaction very often, I think it is indeed a common calibration issue trying to make the image prettier rather than correct by adding vibrance to colours. It feels like I see the image in the top left (your original) and people defscribe the image in the top right; yet with very minor desaturation and only slightly darkening (by adding contrast) the image I think a result can be attained which looks recognizable and much more correct on more screens than just your own. You are limited in range and capabilities due to others' poorly calibrated monitors combined with your own calibration flaws and I'm afraid that's what always will be...

(http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/5909/tileset.png)

Title: Re: 32x32 Topdown
Post by: Geti on March 03, 2011, 11:12:12 pm

(http://www.deviantart.com/download/199553424/32x32_topdown_tiles_by_forsakengeti-d3at4eo.png)

Colour edit, which has already turned up in the OP, as well as attacking the grid a little. I'm going to work on other stuff now, but keep the criticism coming :)

I can't recalibrate my screen today, sadly, as it's overcast. I'm not even sure how to do that on a 6 year old laptop, but I'll figure it out.

Title: Re: 32x32 Topdown
Post by: Helm on March 04, 2011, 01:07:45 am

(http://www.deviantart.com/download/199553424/32x32_topdown_tiles_by_forsakengeti-d3at4eo.png)(http://locustleaves.com/32x32_topdown_tiles_by_forsakengeti-d3at4eo.png)

depends on the lighting conditions and what you're going for of course, but this is how I'd expect it on my monitor.