Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Hikari on September 13, 2006, 01:33:28 pm

Title: scary house
Post by: Hikari on September 13, 2006, 01:33:28 pm
I've just finished drawing this house.
this picture supposed to be dark and fearful:
(http://imagehost.ensellitis.com/images/891490582.gif)
There is not much colors at all. So I tried to add some. After 4 hours of experiments I've stopped on this:
(http://imagehost.ensellitis.com/images/553732222.gif)
The problem is that the coloured version is not so fearful. Probably it's because of a palette.
What variant is better ?
Title: Re: scary house
Post by: Draco9898 on September 13, 2006, 01:46:57 pm
The colored version is better and could be just as scary, try adding some cracks and falling apart stucco from the walls, maybe some cob-webs...Make the floor boards falling apart/in disarray.
It's just too 'clean' right now, make it look dirty/messy as a style.

I don't know about the woman's arms, they're just too long.

The pig is spot on and I don't think you could possibly improve it any further.

The jar on top of the paino just looks really cool
Title: Re: scary house
Post by: Gil on September 13, 2006, 01:50:55 pm
The first one is a lot scarier imo. I really like that desk you removed too... Ever saw colour in a scary movie? I haven't
Title: Re: scary house
Post by: fil_razorback on September 13, 2006, 02:41:10 pm
Chiaroscuro ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiaroscuro ) tends to make things scarier IMO. They used it in Resident Evil GC (not as strong as Wikipedia's but...) :
(http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/gc/r/e/revigc072.jpg)
(http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/gc/r/e/revigc004.jpg)
Very strong lightsource, very dark shadows


Low saturation may help too :
(http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/gc/r/e/rev0gc043.jpg)
Title: Re: scary house
Post by: Larwick on September 13, 2006, 09:44:53 pm
Yes i think one of the reasons the top one is so much scarier is because the walls are so dark, as if something could jump out at you from them at any moment. Everything also seems colder, and because there's less life in the background, you'll be really freaked out by the actual enemies popping up through it. I think the pig looks far better in the first one aswel, because the player will be staring at it wondering if it's part of the background or not. Reminds me alot of those freaky sepia pictures and whatnot.

Btw it's great, not so keen on the sprite though.
Title: Re: scary house
Post by: hate on September 14, 2006, 02:38:59 am
I think you should use contrasts and hard lights. the black version is really good and gives a really nice atmosphere. the other one is really nice too, but more 'flat'.
Not really constructive but i really liked what you've done.
Title: Re: scary house
Post by: Hikari on September 14, 2006, 09:00:28 am
Is it better this way ?
(http://imagehost.ensellitis.com/images/473421939.gif)
Title: Re: scary house
Post by: Meta|Fox on September 14, 2006, 10:35:07 am
hmm, thats good, very creepy vibe to it.
few minor issues though

The shading on the jar is facing away from the lightsourse
The highlights on the pig distract from the rest of the piece. (it just makes it look out of place)
The chanderleir chandalear chadawhatyacallsit erm light thing should be bigger
Title: Re: scary house
Post by: Helm on September 14, 2006, 10:38:33 am
I don't understand why you shy away from using pure black for the darkest shade.