Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: milleja46 on November 07, 2011, 06:19:55 pm

Title: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 07, 2011, 06:19:55 pm
Ok i've started to try and learn how to make pixel art for games i want to make but i'm confused. I try and make tiles and such but i just can't get them to look as good as other pieces i've seen. I know it will take time to learn but i want to learn what i can to get better. One thing i've done semi right(mostly because i drew it out first) was a sprite i made:

(http://i42.tinypic.com/9knrqt.jpg)

but my problem is when it comes to stuff like the grass tile and such:

(http://i43.tinypic.com/2gwxu7o.jpg)  :'(

 ??? Is there any guides on how to do this right so that i can make this better? (btw i have: gimp, ms paint, and graphics gale to do this)
Any help would be appreciated thanks
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: pistachio on November 07, 2011, 08:04:30 pm
Sometimes I feel like a bit of a novice myself, but here are some tips to start with:

Learn the fundamentals. Try drawing cubes, boxes, cylinders etc. to get the hang of basic forms (you'll need them.)

Drawing from life helps immensely with learning the characteristics and proportions of an object you want to draw, particularly humans and animals, probably the most common. Studying, possibly copying the work of masters (that exist out there in the field of pixel art as well) helps as well. There are some tutorials in the Tools, Resources and Linkage (http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=3467.0) topic that will get you started, and, as always, here's another (http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299) I usually refer to.

But remember that this won't happen overnight, or even the course of a few nights!
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 07, 2011, 08:07:13 pm
Thanks for the tip

but before i even read your suggestion i did something right in gimp XD i'll probably never do this again at this level XD

(http://i42.tinypic.com/15dm81u.jpg)

I still need to learn the grass stuff though i keep looking at others and it makes me mad when i try to do it myself. The sprite i had in the first post was a hand drawn one(yet another fluke that came out great(though i haven't uploaded my most recent changes to it i actually added some shading and such))
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: Sharm on November 08, 2011, 12:17:51 am
Don't worry, if it was easy it wouldn't be worth it.  Picking a light source and drawing from references will help a lot.

This is my favorite tutorial to get the concept behind the good pixel art, not just walking you through how they did it:

http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_almighty_grass_tile.php

Just remember, all the greats went through this stage.  As long as you keep your mind open to possibilities and always want to be better, you'll be able to get there.
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 08, 2011, 01:22:24 am
Yea i've looked up that tutorial many a time...the problem is i'm still lost on stuff like the grass and such XD
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 08, 2011, 12:11:44 pm
Even studying others work doesn't help that much XD looking at sharms grass i came up with:
(http://i44.tinypic.com/2h3yk1x.jpg)
which isn't much better than the first post's grass XD
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: imnumberfour on November 08, 2011, 04:18:40 pm
You seem to be using very large texture scales, try your hand at making 16x16 grass first.
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: Sharm on November 08, 2011, 04:19:34 pm
I think it's better.  My next step was to tile it over a large area and see what stood out.  Then I tried to eliminate the grid.  I don't agree with everything on this tutorial (following it exactly makes it not tile well), but this is the one I followed to get my grass in the first place. http://pixel-zone.rpgdx.net/shtml/tutmini-grass.shtml
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 08, 2011, 05:43:29 pm
@imnumberfour well the reason i started at such a large scale is because i've tried at 8x8 or 16x16 and it seemed to small of a canvas to work with XD

@sharm yea i'd found that tut long ago and it's nice grass and a good tutorial at that but i don't agree with it's style of grass because that frankly looks like weeds and trash compared to the tile i saw of yours XD don't know why but i perfer the more detailed grass types  :-\
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 09, 2011, 03:20:06 pm
Well this is a better piece of grass i think  ::)

(http://i44.tinypic.com/pramf.jpg)
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: toaster on November 09, 2011, 04:58:39 pm
I think this version is a lot better, but when you tile it it doesn't look really random. I think that's because of the light place in the middle of each tile:
(http://i.imgur.com/JQcEj.png)
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 09, 2011, 05:07:03 pm
Well you do have to admit it does tile right the shading just sucks... XD though i need to fix that since really and truly the light should be coming from the top left...
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: Sharm on November 09, 2011, 05:22:55 pm
You're trying to hard to outline the grass.  Get a good reference image or two of grass and try to see if you can tell how the blades of grass are individualized without being outlined.  Then see what you can do to copy that feel.
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 09, 2011, 05:30:16 pm
Well it probably should actually be strands but i can't figure out how to get the right pallete for it or how to do the strands right...
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: API-Beast on November 09, 2011, 09:22:27 pm
Don't! work with single, hard defined grass strands. Work with a general structure instead.

The "Structurization" part of this tutorial shows quite well how you do that:
http://kiwinuptuo.deviantart.com/art/Pixel-Art-Tutorial-Shading-184136991
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: jams0988 on November 09, 2011, 11:12:07 pm
^Yup, pretty good tutorial. This one, by the same author, is good too: http://kiwinuptuo.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3d4ufx
Covers different textures like water, stone, and grass. All of that artist's tutorials are worth checking out though, I think. They're pretty helpful.
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 10, 2011, 01:52:23 am
Wow thanks for that  ;D though with the grass thing i gotta disagree i like the detailed stuff and a guy finally helped me understand it somewhat  :lol: but i will be checking those tuts out with great detail :D
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: Mathias on November 10, 2011, 03:47:29 am
Keep it simple.

Look.

(http://i.imgur.com/7VyzB.png)

Z:LTTP is detailed. But the tile artists responsible were so conscious of smart use of contrast and focal points everything ends up feeling incredibly balanced, as a whole. This game's art is brilliant, in my opinion.
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 10, 2011, 11:09:59 am
Yea i'd thought of trying a style like lttp but i could never figure out how they made it so simple yet it looked so good XD

But I just seem to like grass like this:
(http://i40.tinypic.com/154gl1d.jpg)

(btw i made that myself)
Then i loaded it into tiled and it seems to tile right and look good:
(http://i42.tinypic.com/5flptw.jpg)

Edit: note: the map i tested it with doesn't look like that normally ^ i zoomed in before i saved it
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: Phlakes on November 10, 2011, 03:11:04 pm
Honestly, grass tiles probably aren't the best place to start for a beginner. Good looking complex grass needs very precise and deliberate pixel clusters and some techniques that involve illusion more than actual form. When I was just starting out, I could barely even understand all that. I'm not saying you should give up on this one, but you're basically trying to play Freebird before you learn chords.
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 10, 2011, 03:41:30 pm
Well i know i should learn the basics which i in a way have...i'm just trying to get the shading and such right to make things look right especially palletes...if you think i'm too far down for a beginner what should i be working on to get better?
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: jams0988 on November 10, 2011, 04:54:55 pm
I'd suggest doing some non-pixel-art. That helps me, at least. If you can't draw it on paper, you definitely won't be able to draw it in MS-Paint, right? XD
If you're looking for simple things to pixel, start with basic shapes, maybe? Spheres, cylinders, and such. Again, if you can't pixel those nicely, you don't have much chance at doing something more complex like a tree or something like that. Starting super basic and working your way up is probably the fastest way to learn...
Then again, it's probably also the most boring way, too. Do whatever suits you, heheh.
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 10, 2011, 04:59:24 pm
Ahem...gimp

But yea i get what you're saying...i can draw some of it on paper but it's the getting it right in the computer that's the problem to make sure it comes out right with shading and such because half the time i tend to contrast the colors too much or don't practice as mcuh as i should but i've really got to check out those links metioned from deviant(though have to wait till i'm since though the comps here have gimp i can't access deviant because they block that for some odd reason  :ouch: )
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: toaster on November 13, 2011, 06:44:47 pm
I'm not nearly as good as other people on this forum, but I tried to do an edit on your princess sprite. I think you should try making her stand a little more natural, lik a human instead of a robot:
(http://i.imgur.com/4PwXh.png)
I hope you can use my advise. :)

Toaster
Title: Re: help with learning pixel art
Post by: milleja46 on November 13, 2011, 11:41:42 pm
Yea that's what i'd been trying to do on paper before i loaded it up to the computer again...i've still alot of learning to do but that princess sprite will probably get a 2 month break until i finish my class project based on the lost colony of roanoke