Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Fry on March 14, 2007, 08:19:08 pm
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/west_nile/skullpit.png)
Hello, I havn't posted much on here..
I've recently been inspired to toss together a pixel portfolio. This is my first piece which I call "The Skull Pit", spent about 11-12 hours so far. I essentially treated it as an animation layout background... This is my first real attempt at something like this.
Anyhow, any tips, criticism or comments on how to make this look as portfolio quality as possible would be greatly appreciated.
-Fry
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very nice :)
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i like it a lot. not sure how readable the skull is, if you ment it to be, but if you want it to fade back, leave it as is.
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Thanks Adarias,
I'm not too sure if the skull would benefit from being a bit more defined... I kinda like how it blends into the sand. My original design was quite a bit different and had a few smaller skulls submerged within the sand, but i found it was really distracting. Perhaps "The Skull Pit" isn't the best name for it. :P
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It's when I see stuff like this that makes me remember why I'm intimidated by the industry. Really nice stuff, I saw the face just fine. At first I didn't see the name and thought this was posted by DayDream, mainly because of the colors and how well they blend, especially on the left side with the greens.
Something about the lines in the sand aren't very convincing as gathered sand, especially the three lines to the left of the face. I don't like how they're just lines, no real form to make them seem like little hills.
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sweet! I really like this - the sand at the bottom of the screen is shaded almost like water, its a little weird, but otherwise badass man, nice job!
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Thanks a lot for the comments, yeah.. It seems I do have a few strange things going on in the sand which really serve no purpose whatsoever. I think I may play around with a few alternatives.
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Wow, amazing! I really like this... it's going to be hard to find crits... I guess I would say that I'm not sure of the scale of this picture, as in, I can't figure out if the skull is a huge skull-shaped temple, or a small skull in the foreground? It might just be because I'm stupid, but I'm confused. Also, what are those liney green-topped things in the foreground? I can't tell what they're supposed to be.
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Wow, amazing! I really like this... it's going to be hard to find crits... I guess I would say that I'm not sure of the scale of this picture, as in, I can't figure out if the skull is a huge skull-shaped temple, or a small skull in the foreground? It might just be because I'm stupid, but I'm confused. Also, what are those liney green-topped things in the foreground? I can't tell what they're supposed to be.
yes, I know what you mean, haha! The platform on the left looks way bigger and stands more out then the sand & the skull pit, so yea I am also confused now.
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Haha, wow... actually it's funny, I never really noticed that until it was pointed out. It very well does look like it could be a skull temple further into the distance. It's intended to be a smaller (well not entirely small... about the same size as the alter thing) skull which is in the midground with the alter thing. Kind of like a guardian of the tomb or something. The green things in the foreground are just some random vegetation I threw in (moss/grassy stuff) because I didn't like the harshness of the solid grays digging into the sand and grass, any suggestions on how to maybe make that read a little bit clearer now that you know what it is?
Thanks,
-Fry
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Hey man that looks really great. It's very rough, and clean at the same time, almost wonder if aa would ruin it. :y:
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As a game background, i think it may have too much contrast and saturation that would make sprites hard to make out. As a lone piece (such as an image for an intro or cutscene), it looks very nice.
The scale of the foreground objects makes them look small: the skull part looks like a small sand castle (such as one a kid would make on the beach), the perspective on the sand could contribute to this feeling of small scale.
It's a bit hard to understand the foreground as a whole: it seems to me there's an unfinished bridge on the left, which has no beginning nor end, nor does it cross any chasm. There are some plants under it which may or may not be forests, and it leads to a desert that looks like a sand box. Contrast between the layers and more object clarification/unification would benefit the piece, i think.
The skull's readibility isn't there at all, maybe add some aspects of real skulls so it looks more identifiable (cheekbones, reshaping the eye sockets), while not looking exactly like a skull (like a natural rock formation would).
Despite these factors, i quite like your work!
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Thanks Turbo,
Actually most of what was mentioned is intended to be smaller scale. I almost think that the size of the objects might have read a little bit more clear had I tossed a sprite in there (something to consider maybe?). The skull would probably be closer to the size of a sand castle than what most people seem to see it as. I think the pyramid type rock objects are really throwing the scale of things off to make it seem much larger than it really should be. The bridge-ish type thing was intended as more of a tomb/alter so that would be more of scale of a sprite human (had this been intended for a game).
I really appreciate all the feedback from everyone, so many of these things I never would have noticed had they not been brought to my attention.
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I have no advice to offer but I just wanted to tell you I really love this piece. It reminds me of the old western shoot em' up games. Took me a while to see the skull, but I'm slow so it has nothing to do with you skill. It also serves as an easter egg in my opinion. Goodjob and keep it up :3.
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Great scene indeed.=)
The only thing confuses me - how big is that place, I mean - can't say how is it scaled if you put a figure on it? Are the skull and pyramids meant to be huge?
Ok, finally get an idea to read the thread.. sorry, kinda slow today. :crazy:
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I think what is throwing the scale off for people is that they are focusing so much on the skull side of the image, that the details on the other side get washed out when they set a scale (to me) A character in there would definitely show the scale, although I'm not sure where you could put one where it wouldn't seem out of place.
Also I think you need to clarify what it is on the left (you called it a tomb/alter) I can see how it could be a tomb of sorts, but the back arch (not quite an arch but yea) doesn't help with this interpretation.
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Thanks,
Any suggestions in what might make the tomb/alter appear more like one? Do you think something like a statue/headstone might help the process? or getting rid of the arch?
I'm going to do a re-work this afternoon and see if i can clarify the scale a bit more. Perhaps I may even try a sprite in there, not sure yet. :)
-Fry
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I thought this was unfinished at first, because most of the sky is coverd with clouds, but the left corner is abruptly blank. This is an amazing piece, I really love the details.