Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: BoodyA on July 10, 2015, 09:29:21 am
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Hello, Iv recently accepted a job position of graphics artist in a game currently in development , thing is there was already half of a tileset finished so instead of recreating the whole thing , the owner of the game asked if I could add on it , which means I had to adapt to the style path already drawn, Iv started with the cobble stone , this is the 3rd time I stay up till 11am trying to fit this together, here is the style iam going for
(http://i57.tinypic.com/wk0dgp.png) ( this is the tile that already exists)
here are my numerous cobblestone tile that failed to fit that syle x.x
(http://i61.tinypic.com/2wnvbee.png)
I know what Iam doing is wrong by just keep trying to make the tile and hope it just matches the style instead of actually studying it and understanding how light works better , I am just trying to create a cobblestone tile that fits both grass and the rocky mountain tile, any help would be greatly appreciated thanks for your time. :) , (ps:if any one has the time to actually tutor me how I could grasp the way light works and how to actually adapt to some one elses style that would be amazing <3)
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You really need to spend more time looking at the tile that you are trying to match. Let's only look at the cliff rocks and ignore the grass.
It doesn't have any dithering. It also doesn't have highlights or much in the way of single pixel thick lines. All of your tiles have either dithering or single pixel lines.
Then there are the colors. You should just use the same colors that he used, in the same way that he used them.
If you do these two things you should be much closer to what is desired.
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Just to add to the last one, you may notice that the rocks are lighter brown but the shadows of them almost feel purple. You need to include a lot more hue variation from lights to darks and try to go from warm to cool. Also the first one of yours is by far the closest because it is almost split into each plane while maintaining the smoothness and still being 3 dimensional. In fact the first one probably works fine the colours just need adjusting. :y:
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imho, it would be easier to understand the style of the rock+grass part if you first try to create standalone rocks that match the style, as it will be closer to what exists. Using the same palette is also a good way to ensure homogeneity. Once you're satisfied with that, small patches of cobblestone lost in the grass may help to approach full cobblestone tile.
Don't lose hope: your tiles are actually quite good although not matching the other's style.
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Thanks Ill try my best :)
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looks like scale is ur biggest problem.
the rocks ur drawing look like 32px tiles while the original is 16px.
here's a little edit to give u an idea where it seems to match alot better thought u might even be able to go smaller rocks maybe.
(http://i.imgur.com/IRD2Zv9.png)
I'm thinking ur not using a proper tiling program either perhaps?
You can try Pyxel Edit (http://pyxeledit.com/) for free though the $9 version is MUCH better.
Here's the .pyxel file (https://www.dropbox.com/s/6m7qyaaehrnepd5/matching%20tiles.pyxel?dl=0) I was editing if ur interested...
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aah your cobble tiles are perfectly matching, what I see you also have different in your tile is that and correct me if I am wrong here
a) there are big spaces between your stones
b) the stones are short therefor your not using a dark color inbetween the stones
c) your highlights are coming from above the tile to show light source and not from to bottom to show tile thickness
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Oh I totally missed that 16x16 you posted x.x , anywho ill re make another one ,but here is a quick try after looking at your tile , I tried making the stones abit smaller with bigger spaces but it looked weird so I added a flat second layer of cobblestones beneath it with a slight darker color any thoughts?
(http://i59.tinypic.com/fx8epx.png)
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some relevant points:
if this is a natural formation it makes sense that the stones use the colours of the cliffs.
try to have a similar level of contrast the grass. ur latest one is a tad too faded.
it should be less contrast than the cliffs though since they are a "solid" meaning they are more important to the gameplay and thus should have higher visual priority.
u still seem to be having some small tiling issues so what software r u using?
while ur at it u might want to fix that grass tile.
there is a bit of a horizontal line on the seam between tiles just needs a few pixels adjusted to smooth that out.
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What about if you did something like this with the rocks? Use the darker color from the original in between the rocks. I think it might look even closer if you had the same proportions of colors in the rocks as the original...
(http://i.imgur.com/YJbaQP8.png)
I tried to fix up that line in your grass for you but I ran out of time.
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That looks nasty imo plus it would interfere with sprite readability a bit.
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snip
I also don't think that is a good idea. The very idea of a background is that while it should be nicely detailled, it shouldn't fight for attention with the sprites.
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Sorry for the delay iv been abit busy with my life :P really sorry about that , here is my take on hopefully this would be the last edit or pre-last? :D so yeah tried 16x16 tiles as decroded suggested it works like a charm you were totally correct it was a scale issue, also I didn't draw the cobble stone outlines and make them all connected together instead i drew the cobblestone tiles them selves separate but included some mini stones for the spacings inbetween also used the color palette of the rock mountain, I do think it needs to be abit more brighter ,but whenever I try different colors it messes up Iam really glad you guys had the time to chip in with your knowledge and experience , greatly appreciated , still open up for any criticisms :)
(http://i60.tinypic.com/2hicgb7.png)
Note the dark colors were used so that the cobblestone would fit along with the mountain it really didnt blend when I used a bright color :)
quick update:
Iv created a transition tile for grass over cobblestones (ps: quickly added the transition tiles on paint didnt create corners so i had to place them randomly Iv made them just to show how its supposed to tile together, not intended to tile that way :) )
(ps: still need to fix that grass tile thanks for pointing that out decorded :) )
(http://i62.tinypic.com/34ytlq9.png) (http://i62.tinypic.com/357lhrc.png)
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hey that looks pretty good the darker colour seems to work well.
I'm only viewing on my phone so I can't see in detail but definitely looks better :y:
good luck with the rest of the project do share if ur allowed to.
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Rule number one of dirt/grass combo:
High detail grass <-> Low detail dirt
Low detail grass <-> High detail dirt
So yeah, that's why that latest iteration works best so far and why Blobber's edit seems to be a step in the wrong direction (I was going to suggest high contrast to match the rocks too, until I saw that destroy the noise ratio).
Your biggest problem seems to be that your style just doesn't match the original though. Few suggestions (most have already been mentioned):
1) No new colors. Use the existing palette and resist adding even one extra color. It's not working for you.
2) No dithering. The original has no dithering and combining flat shaded rocks with dithered rocks is the best way to create dissonance.
3) Big shapes. The rocks are very chunky, so no small detailed rocks (this ties in to my first comment about detail).
4) Scale has to fit, your rocks feel extremely zoomed in, compared to the original.
5) Perspective. All your tiles are top-down, while the original is not, of course that's not going to work. Note that decroded's edit is also in the wrong perspective.
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Rule number one of dirt/grass combo:
High detail grass <-> Low detail dirt
Low detail grass <-> High detail dirt
I disagree
consistency and overall visual priority is more important.
while some textures might need to be a bit more grainy, both of these textures ultimatively serve the same functionality (walking over them) and therefore should have about the same amount of detail. If the gap of detail is to bg, the visual priority on a bigger scale (between elements with different functions) might get messed up.
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Just so you know, I hadn't seen the latest version when I posted that. That latest version is definitely a step in the right direction. So yeah, certain comments, like perspective and scale look pretty good to me in that latest one.
Also note that you generally want 4 to 6 different tiles of every kind to allow for some randomization.
Here's some studies from years and years ago:
(http://art.game-designer.org/portfolio/pixel/MOCKUP_grass.png)
(http://art.game-designer.org/portfolio/pixel/MOCKUP_desert.png)
I disagree
consistency and overall visual priority is more important.
while some textures might need to be a bit more grainy, both of these textures ultimatively serve the same functionality (walking over them) and therefore should have about the same amount of detail. If the gap of detail is to bg, the visual priority on a bigger scale (between elements with different functions) might get messed up.
Fair comment, I get where you're going with that. I think striking that balance right is important.
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amazing replies thanks alot, by far one of the best topics iv started due to those tons of useful information from talented people like you :) I would just like to take the time and say you guys are my idols :) , back to the projects I do love the various tiles per texture ,but is that applicable to the cobblestone tiles? I was thinkg of making a pure solid color tile with corners of the cobble stole tiles as in cracked floor leading to a solid one also the opposite too a fully removed cobblestone with dirt instead any thoughts? (ps:Id love to keep showing what ever I make in this project as long as I keep recieving such amazing/helpful replies :) )
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Heya guys, after decroded mentioned the grass tile issue I went ahead and tried fixing it which ended up having a weird pattern, so I decided I'll go with my own made grass tile judging from your opinions I'll decide whether I'll keep it , edit it or just fix the old one :) pleas tell me what you think guys :D
(http://i62.tinypic.com/2eqbfv5.png) (ps: the tile on the most right was my first try in making a new tile , didnt match the cobblestones so I kept going till I got the one on the left I just thought I'd put it there since I thought it looked nice :P )
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what software are u using?
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I am using the software you sent me the last time (PyxelEdit)
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any other art programs like photoshop or gimp?
probably worth combining with another program in ur arsenal.
i personally use photoshop coz im used to that but cyangmou uses gimp and look at him go...
the point is combining P.E. with these programs offer lets u get a bit more artistic with ur tiles when u feel like it.
something to keep in mind for future perhaps.
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Oh I was using paint.net at first but then started using pyxel edit :)
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Iam done with the grass tiles + transitioning :D
(http://i61.tinypic.com/t8l0y1.png)
any thoughts?
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I couldn't see the transitioning without resizing. (Sry I think I didn't mean what I wanted here - edit- )
The leaves on the rocks are not that much visible at first glance.
Instead of scattering the leaves, why not try to make the grass grow in between the rocks?
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That's not a bad idea Lisandra, but maybe it shouldn't be instead of. An alternate set where the grass slowly fades into the cobble would be fun indeed. These transitions are harsh, so having the variety would be cool.
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lisandra is correct that would look much better.
try to keep the grass in perspective, at the moment it looks like someone has cut the lawn too low and there are lawn clippings scattered on the ground.
the blades of grass on the rocks are too dark too.
there should be a few bright coloured blades scattered around to stand out against the dark rock.
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Hmm so like a transition for the transition? :)
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I think is more like multiple transitions :)
Then you have more variations and your tiles will be even more cool
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Hello, sorry for bursting into this thread,
You should have been made aware from your employee (Nico) that the tiles that were already made, were not made for him or for free use
It was I that created them as a WIP some years ago, please send your employee my regards and suggestion to refrain from using my intellectual property, I told him many times to not do this, but since its not yet worth it to take legal actions, all I can do is telling him.
He should stop trying to spend as little resources as possible
You are definitely not at fault, but it would be delightful if his developer(s) created the tiles from scratch
He is free to contact me though to buy them
(http://i.gyazo.com/aa1a7fae44cce35c0630d5647ef106dc.png)
I like the various attempts of creating crubblestone tiles though, your recent edits look a little blurred though
You are free to imitate the style and colorvalues though, but not in that very composition
In interest of your progression of improvement, you can continue creating sprites that revolve around imitating the style, once the rest of the environment is made, you could create new cliffs and whichever that would then match your style more properly and transmit a better homogenic feeling (as stated above)
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wow :mean:
i hope ur getting ur money BloodyA this Nico guy sounds pretty dodgy.
i would say only show him everything as compressed jpeg until he releases funds but when u post here everyone can see it... :huh:
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Hmmm I see well the only thing Iv used were the rocky mountains Ill contact him and let him know that :) sorry for any inconvinience note that the rest of the tiles were remade grass/cobblestone/cliffs etc... (ps: Ill be creating new rocky mountains as for the rest they are made from scratch just the same color palette if that is all good with you :) )