Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: NoahCopeland44 on March 20, 2014, 03:47:47 am
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Hello. My name is Noah. I am working a Youtube music project called "Groundpound Falcon" that does rock versions of classic video game songs. I am making a SNES title-screen-ish logo for the band and would love some pointers from some true pixel artists.
Here's a rough (emphasis on the "rough") sketch of the general letter shapes I want in the end. (only working on the word "Falcon" right now). This is just to get a general idea. The letters are little more square here than I probably want them (particular the C and O), I don't know how to makes curves lines look good.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/Draft2.png)
Here's what I am more concerned with. I am doing the first letter "F" until it's looks right. I figure there's no point doing a whole word if I can't do one letter correctly. ;)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/F2.png)
I'm a musician, not a pixel artist so that's why I am asking the people who actually know what they are doing. :lol:
Any guidance you have would help tremendously. Thank you!
EDIT: Updated Progress in post down below
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Before we can help you can you post the regular size of the F and not a scaled version? Pixelation has a nice feature where by clicking on it resizes the image plus it makes editing it easier if we have the standard size.
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Sorry to be blunt, but the sketch type is bad, and there's no point pixeling on a flawed basis.
Typography is one of the most arduous parts of design, so it won't be easy :D
You should look up typography resources first for some inspiration (here's one (http://typeverything.com/)), and come up with a few simple graphic concepts. Think carefully of each letter shape and proportions, consistency between letters, 'kerning' (spacing between letters), and overall composition and graphic meaning (adding wings to 'Falcon' isn't enough to make the word 'fly').
Only then should you start thinking about pixeling (http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixels/new_icons.asp?dosearch=1&ob=search&search=logo).
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Before we can help you can you post the regular size of the F and not a scaled version? Pixelation has a nice feature where by clicking on it resizes the image plus it makes editing it easier if we have the standard size.
Thanks, good point! I edited the original post to have the regular size "F."
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Your image editor has a text tool: use it. Drawing text from scratch isn't mandatory.
You'll need to try many different fonts, sizes and settings before obtaining a good starting point for the actual pixel art effort (cleaning up outlines and coloring the letters), and this experimentation cannot be done by hand. Moreover, basing the logo on existing fonts is going help you with simplified vector art variants (suitable for printing).
Also, depending on your needs, a larger (possibly much larger) artwork size could be better.
For example, if your em size is 50 pixels (more than in your current sample) and letters are printed 20 cm tall (e.g. in a traditional logo on the bass drum), each pixel is blown up to 4 by 4 mm: quite huge. A banner would be even worse.
Your F has a nice, tasteful treatment: if you work on good looking letters that fit together, with enough room to do something more complex than a vertical gradient, I expect the result to be good.
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Your image editor has a text tool: use it. Drawing text from scratch isn't mandatory.
You'll need to try many different fonts, sizes and settings before obtaining a good starting point for the actual pixel art effort (cleaning up outlines and coloring the letters), and this experimentation cannot be done by hand. Moreover, basing the logo on existing fonts is going help you with simplified vector art variants (suitable for printing).
Also, depending on your needs, a larger (possibly much larger) artwork size could be better.
For example, if your em size is 50 pixels (more than in your current sample) and letters are printed 20 cm tall (e.g. in a traditional logo on the bass drum), each pixel is blown up to 4 by 4 mm: quite huge. A banner would be even worse.
Your F has a nice, tasteful treatment: if you work on good looking letters that fit together, with enough room to do something more complex than a vertical gradient, I expect the result to be good.
Thanks for the tips! See, I didn't know if it was "cheating" to use the text tool haha. But you are totally right. The text tool is probably much smarter than I am at this point. I'll start experimenting.
Ok, I'm not quite following on the size issue. Lemme try to understand it.
Are you saying the image is too small in terms of pixels? For instance, if the F is currently 40px high, are you suggesting something larger like 100px or something?
Or are you saying something else?
I remember doing the album artwork for my old band's CD a couple of years ago. For printing, I had to create the image at 300ppi. Is kinda what you're talking about or am I waaaaay off?
Thank you for the taking the time to respond. I've been researching the fundamentals in addition to the advice on this form. :)
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I think he means that if you wanted to use the logo in real life, blown up for an A2 poster or something, it would be very noticeably pixelated. the fact its pixelated isnt a problem if its meant to be pixel art, but he's rightin that you may want to vectorise it later in Illustrator or something, for ease of use if its going to be printed in various mediums and scales.
Id just concentrate on the design for now man! you can scale it later if you need to.
heres a cool title screen logo/font, 50px high i think
http://www.emuparadise.me/Sega%20Genesis/Titles/Probotector%20(E).png
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I honestly think you should rework the letters a bit. This entirely subjective though. Since you said you were working on the F, I feel it would look better and more readable if you separated the forks on it. Also try to make the letter proportions and the kerning more uniform, for example, the F and A look small in comparison to the chunky N.
I think you could also work on a more interesting design. Here's an idea I quickly made:
(http://i.imgur.com/4afIs4L.png)
Don't look much into the letters, I hastily drew them with my mouse. The main idea is to try and do something interesting.
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Ok, Hi first of all :). As Manupix says. you are in a pretty complex area: typography design plus PIXELART, nice x)
From my experience, you should begin in other way. Start just from a separeted part of a typographyc logo could and would give you headeaches, since maybe you find the proper style and then you'll try to implement it on the rest and it didnt work out as you spected.
My recommendation: draw and sketch the logo COMPLETELY, i mean in paper. Find a way that is concise, it does not weaken itself, and with the least amount of uneven white space.
I guess you wanna make the logo in Uppercase, is a good thing, but watch the L and C of FALCON, between those two letters exists a big blank space that you have to look carefully.
Regarding literalize the idea, sometimes works, sometimes not. If you make it visually obvious, could work really awesome, but it takes a lot of work, because usually it is done in a very subtle way.
Here some webs to inspiration....most of this would not gonna help you since is design for brands, but if you take the time to look at them, after 20 or 30, your brain will give you some new ideas. I hope this helps :)
http://logopond.com/
http://logofaves.com/
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I think he means that if you wanted to use the logo in real life, blown up for an A2 poster or something, it would be very noticeably pixelated. the fact its pixelated isnt a problem if its meant to be pixel art, but he's rightin that you may want to vectorise it later in Illustrator or something, for ease of use if its going to be printed in various mediums and scales.
Id just concentrate on the design for now man! you can scale it later if you need to.
heres a cool title screen logo/font, 50px high i think
http://www.emuparadise.me/Sega%20Genesis/Titles/Probotector%20(E).png
I definitely want it to look pixelated. Not overly pixelated, but since it's for a band that does video game music, I want to look like a 16-bit title screen. I want the average man to look at it and say, "their logo looks like an old video game lolz"
Thanks for the reassure on the scaling. You're right, I need the design right first.
And dude, that's a cool title screen! thanks for sharing!
I honestly think you should rework the letters a bit. This entirely subjective though. Since you said you were working on the F, I feel it would look better and more readable if you separated the forks on it. Also try to make the letter proportions and the kerning more uniform, for example, the F and A look small in comparison to the chunky N.
I think you could also work on a more interesting design
I am certainly not against reworking the letters. That's one of things I could use guidance in. You are so right about the kerning. I will go back and fix that. Thanks!
I'll keep you posted and will post a revision soon.
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Okay, so I've been revising. Trying to go in a different direction because your posts and much-appreciated input.
Here some drafting I've been doing.
(original design on the left. I slapped a quick stroke for visual reference on the right image.)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/GPFLogoVer2-1wostroke.png) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/GPFLogoVer2-1wstroke.png)
Okay, so I've obviously got a long way to go. But I took a lot of what you guys said to best of my ability. I used the text tool instead of trying to shape letters from scratch and tried to give it something more fancy instead of the flaccid side-wings from the original.
-I tried to make the "F" have a beak-like falcon look, but it kinda looks stupid (especially with the stoke).
-Is the background winged circle too distracting or large?
-Does it look too "Affliction"?
What suggestions would you make from where the logo is now? Trying to figure out a direction. I really want a retro SNES title-screen type look. I wouldn't mind using dated things like cheesy gradients and stuff, because (if done tastefully) it can make look like 1991 (which is more-or-less the point).
I would like to explore the possibility of adding a thick outline to the letters like here (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/title.jpg) and here (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/Aerobiz_Supersonic.jpg)
Even considering doing a slanted 3D effect like Super Metroid (here (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1GfwrzqexqE/TxyfGLwJHsI/AAAAAAAANbk/TReukFr4Plk/s1600/Super_Metroid_%2528SNES%2529_01.gif))
Again, thank you guys for be willing to help me with this!
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The black borders mesh the details too much. It is entirely more readable on the left version. Rather than take your detailing to the outside edge of your borders why don't you try taking a step inside the letters and raise them forward with a bit of highlighting or a lighter shade of blue.
In my experience black/dark borders are really not so useful unless you are trying to help the bordered item stand apart from what is behind it. In your case they already do. So you don't need that border.
As far as the F goes.. I think if you worked the angle a bit more and made the back of the F look more like a wing (subtle changes) and perhaps give an eye to the Beaked portion. These are just thoughts and may not work at all. Worth a shot though.
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The black borders mesh the details too much. It is entirely more readable on the left version. Rather than take your detailing to the outside edge of your borders why don't you try taking a step inside the letters and raise them forward with a bit of highlighting or a lighter shade of blue.
Thanks, I tried the lighter blue thing. I like it, but I also put a black border around the lighter blue. It can work, but I need to fix the jaggedness of it all (look how jagged the "A" is).
And I gave a quick stab at shading the circle, and it looks pretty janky right now but I'll keep working.
I also haven't changed the "F" shape yet. I wanna do the wing thing with it that was suggested, so I should probably get the "F" shape in order before I move on. Again, I'm a musician not a pixel artist so anything you guys have will be a monstrous help.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/GPFLogoVer2-2.png)
Any tips or ideas?
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Okay, so I'm trying to improve ball in the background (see the post right above this for reference).
So, I need some critique. The shading looks dumb, but I can't figure out why it looks dumb. I tried to imagine a light source, but it didn't quite turn out. What can I do to fix this?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/CrappyBall.png)
Thanks!
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Light works in a certain way so that the shading isn't actually convincing.
But, IMO the main reason why the shading looks dumb is because it doesn't seem necessary. We can shade the ball as well as we want, but it would look out of place when the ball is supposed to have a pair of wings that are mostly just flat color.
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One thing that sticks out right away to me is that your shades take the form of: / As opposed to: )
It's not very conducive to conveying roundness.
Also, you have five different colours. I would recommend playing with three. Start with the middle/main colour of the sphere, fill the entire object with this colour and then chose a lighter colour and a darker colour and add them in where necessary. After this, perhaps choose a highlight to give it a little more pop.
Finally, a quick search on google images can provide you with a ton of really useful reference images.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sphere+shaded&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=WnpRU83DKYPJ0AWS5IDwBQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1746&bih=830
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Light works in a certain way so that the shading isn't actually convincing.
But, IMO the main reason why the shading looks dumb is because it doesn't seem necessary. We can shade the ball as well as we want, but it would look out of place when the ball is supposed to have a pair of wings that are mostly just flat color.
Thanks for your response. The wings are flat color because they are unfinished and I haven't even touched them since I made the initially shape. So ignore the ball-shading to wing-shading relationship for now. That said, do you think the shaded circle work look dumb even in context with shaded wings? (Serious question)
One thing that sticks out right away to me is that your shades take the form of: / As opposed to: )
It's not very conducive to conveying roundness.
Also, you have five different colours. I would recommend playing with three. Start with the middle/main colour of the sphere, fill the entire object with this colour and then chose a lighter colour and a darker colour and add them in where necessary. After this, perhaps choose a highlight to give it a little more pop.
Finally, a quick search on google images can provide you with a ton of really useful reference images.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=sphere+shaded&es_sm=93&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=WnpRU83DKYPJ0AWS5IDwBQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1746&bih=830
Thanks. You're right, I need to make things more rounded for sure. I'll mess around with the three color approach and post the results soon.
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Where'd you get those wings from?
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Okay, so I tried the three color look and wasn't happy with the results. Couldn't get it too look good, so I might be the problem.
I did, however, make the shading more ")" and less "/" (as Luke said) and it helped it look more round. Subtle difference, but it's there.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/GPFLogoVer2-3.png)
The wings I made with the Path tool in GIMP. I plan to shade/detail those but haven't yet. I also think the bottom few wings need some work. I think I made the last wing too vertical.
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v643/orgo87/GPFLogoVer2-4.png)
Update. I altered the shape of the bottom two wings to be less vertical.
If you notice, the stroke is also gone now. I don't whether or not I'll keep it.
I'm thinking of how to shade and detail the wings. How would you guys detail these bad boys?
EDIT: Looking at it now, it may not be a bad idea to do different wing shape.