Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Steel Monkey on November 02, 2005, 07:00:23 pm

Title: Floater thingy
Post by: Steel Monkey on November 02, 2005, 07:00:23 pm
This sprite:(http://www.maj.com/gallery/steely/Pixel-art/floater.gif)
From this Doodle:(http://www.maj.com/gallery/steely/Pixel-art/pics.gif)

What do you think
Title: Re: Floater thingy
Post by: Skalle on November 03, 2005, 12:42:59 pm
I see you've made some common beginner mistakes here, like the geometry and saturation. I post a guide here to try to help you make it better.

Guide in six steps(seven including 0)

(http://img492.imageshack.us/img492/2572/floateredit9kt.png)

0. This is and example of an isometric view. As you can see, in isometric views theres a width/height ratio of 2/1. That means theres two pixels on the width for every pixel on the height. I hope you understand by the illustration.

1. Start by making a rectangular shape of where and how big the body of the floater will be.

2. Building the shell. Draw a line to define the upper edge of the shell, line A. Copy that line and put it on the other side B, then rotate it by 180 degrees to make the lower edge C. The curved line is displayed to the right of the ship-in-progress.

3. I just draw a curved line outside the front to smoothen the rough shape.

4. Now add the window bubble thingy. Make it stand out a little in the front so it won't look like a paper glued to the shell.

5. Add the arms. In your picture the arms look big and rough, and inconvenient to move. Also I think the placement of the guns are odd, so in my example here i made crab-claws instead.

6. It is very important when coloring, that you chose the right colors. In your floater picture you made the common mistake of using over-saturated colors, and grey with no saturation at all. If you need help changing the saturation, just ask. Also i tried to shade the window bubble thing like a glass bubble, and used some colored outlines, which looks good if you use them right. As you can see I didn't make the fire, and I didn't make those patterns you made. If you want to give it a shot to make a new floater with my instructions, please do, and add whatever extra features you like.

It's very important to keep in mind to keep the view, the geometry and the outlines clean. Those aren't perfect in my picture, but I think it will do as an example.