Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: thesydneylad on November 02, 2018, 05:59:30 am

Title: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: thesydneylad on November 02, 2018, 05:59:30 am
Same deal as the Batman sprite - strategy RPG sprite; inspired by Fire Emblem.

Didn't have room to include the feet, but IMO, it made it look better that way.

Green Lantern Sprite:
(https://i.imgur.com/V0ATfq5.png)

Pose is inspired by this image (creative liberties were taken):
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Green_Lantern_Rebirth_6.jpg
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: eishiya on November 02, 2018, 12:02:49 pm
It'll be easier for people to give you feedback and avoid repeating themselves and each other if you stick to a single thread.

This sprite has a lot of the same problems as the Batman sprite. The outlines clash and come too close to meeting in some spots, making it hard to read the anatomy. The arms are very long. IIRC Green Lantern's symbol is blocky and should probably be some sort of square or rectangle at this size, rather than a triangle.
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: thesydneylad on November 02, 2018, 10:58:50 pm
I decided to make edits on this sprite rather than start a new project cuz I wanted to do other things over the weekend.

Anyway, here's my edit. I changed the lower body to make a new pose.

My overall goal was to space out the outline more. I also shortened the limbs of the arms by 1 pixel.

Edit:
(https://i.imgur.com/SkYbUXn.png)
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: Zanorin on November 05, 2018, 10:18:47 am
Hey ! If I were you, I'd let go of the 16x16 pixels constraint for now. It's really difficult representing something that's anatomically correct and recognisable at such a small scale, and what I consistently see with your sprites is that they seem "crushed" in their tiny space.
Widen your canvas size a bit, it'll give you more room for creating, experimenting and learning imo. Then when you're more experienced and comfortable with the art of placing pixels, you can move on to a smaller canvas and add constraints such as color count, etc.

Pixel art is hard enough to get comfortable with without adding even more difficulties ^^
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: thesydneylad on November 07, 2018, 08:42:33 am
What would you say if I asked you for a more in depth critique, Zanorin? Please don't hold back.

Did I succeed with the anatomy in any area? I understand that the character appears to be 'crushed', which I can see now that you've pointed it out, but would a smaller pose had helped?

I was planning on making a smaller pose for the next character anyway, which was going to be a character sitting Indian style while floating in the air, using a circle to represent a shadow and the characters' cape being picked up by the wind.
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: Zanorin on November 07, 2018, 10:59:34 am
"Smaller pose" = even less pixels, right ? So no, I don't think it'd help atm (again, this is my opinion, and I'm not an expert).
My take would be, for now at least, open a 50*50px canvas, and try redoing it from scratch, without being limited by a frame.

You asked for a more indepth critique, so right now, anatomically speaking :
- his whole silhouette is bent as if he were tripping and falling over
- his head is as big as his lower body
- his torso is almost nonexistent
- the arms are longer than the legs

This all sounds kinda harsh, but hey you asked ^^ and I'd really like you to try following  a reference with a wider canvas.
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: Ryumaru on November 07, 2018, 11:26:08 am
(https://i.imgur.com/H7zeKs2.png)

for your next few projects:
- always use a proper palette ( NES if you continue with your current series) and strictly follow the limitations ( in this case, 3+1 colors) NO EXTRAS.
- have two references ( In the same document as your work!) 1: the pixel art style you want to emulate, 2: the source of what you wish to translate. They should both be visible as you are working on your piece without switching windows.
- Take no liberties with the style. If your reference uses 4 colors and has black outlines, you do the same.
- Continue  on the piece until it could be plugged into the game and acceptably fit right in, DO NOT move onto your next piece until this is the case. Heck, you could even start by recoloring and editing an existing sprite to get a better idea of how it might look- many have started this way.

Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: thesydneylad on November 07, 2018, 06:41:12 pm
Thanks as always, Ryu.

Thanks very much Zanorin, for going in depth. I'm doing pixel art strictly as a hobby, so harsh criticism doesn't get to me.
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: Zanorin on November 07, 2018, 09:39:19 pm
Quote from: Ryumaru
Continue  on the piece until it could be plugged into the game and acceptably fit right in, DO NOT move onto your next piece until this is the case.

I'm probably a lot less experienced than Ryu so I may very well be wrong on this (or maybe I'm just understanding the sentence wrong), but I gotta say I disagree.

In my experience, focusing/working on a single piece for an extended period gets me stuck, unable to see what's wrong with it and how I could make it evolve. If I stay away from that project and I don't look at it for some time (can be a couple days), when I come back to it every little misplaced detail becomes obvious, and I can start progressing again.
So what I do is I work on two or three small projects in parallel so my focus follows a "rotation" and I can see each piece with a fresh pair of eyes ^^ (I recommend this really interesting conference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM39qhXle4g) which also talks about this).
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: Ryumaru on November 07, 2018, 11:13:59 pm
Quote from: Ryumaru
Continue  on the piece until it could be plugged into the game and acceptably fit right in, DO NOT move onto your next piece until this is the case.

I'm probably a lot less experienced than Ryu so I may very well be wrong on this (or maybe I'm just understanding the sentence wrong), but I gotta say I disagree.

In my experience, focusing/working on a single piece for an extended period gets me stuck, unable to see what's wrong with it and how I could make it evolve. If I stay away from that project and I don't look at it for some time (can be a couple days), when I come back to it every little misplaced detail becomes obvious, and I can start progressing again.
So what I do is I work on two or three small projects in parallel so my focus follows a "rotation" and I can see each piece with a fresh pair of eyes ^^ (I recommend this really interesting conference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM39qhXle4g) which also talks about this).

Juggling a few projects is fine, but when the same patterns are present in the work, it's clear that steps need to be taken to push past the obstacle. The problem is never coming back to the pieces in rotation, resulting in spinning your wheels as opposed to going forwards.
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: thesydneylad on November 08, 2018, 02:11:17 am
Quote from: Ryumaru
In my experience, focusing/working on a single piece for an extended period gets me stuck, unable to see what's wrong with it and how I could make it evolve. If I stay away from that project and I don't look at it for some time (can be a couple days), when I come back to it every little misplaced detail becomes obvious, and I can start progressing again.
So what I do is I work on two or three small projects in parallel so my focus follows a "rotation" and I can see each piece with a fresh pair of eyes ^^ (I recommend this really interesting conference (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM39qhXle4g) which also talks about this).

You're both right, Zanorin. The problem with me is I've never edited a sprite before. I move on to a new idea. But it's about time I settle on a single project for once cuz if you look through all my attempts (which I'm not expecting you to or anything), I pretty much have the exact same problems. But rotating 2 or 3 projects would make me happy, but I'll try that out once I can actually make something good.
Title: Re: 8-Bit Overworld Green Lantern
Post by: Zanorin on November 08, 2018, 09:39:27 am
Alright got it.
@thesydneylad actually I have seen mots of your attempts when you originally posted them, and I agree on the fact that they share the same issues. And clearly, never coming back to edit your own unfinished piece isn't gonna help you progress.
So either you feel like doing two pieces in parallel (and in the end, abandon none of them !) in an incremental fashion, or you feel like working on only one project for now, in which case you should take a break when you feel stuck, but always coming back to it so you can actually progress and not restart from scratch everytime.