Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: tbone on December 31, 2007, 10:50:29 pm

Title: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: tbone on December 31, 2007, 10:50:29 pm
Hello everybody!

I've been lurking for a bit and I've decided it's time to jump into the pool.

I've studied fine art for some time, but this is my first serious pixel piece (not counting some time I spent with Mario Paint when I was about ten) and comments and critiques are especially welcome!
Don't hold back!

edit: updated to show progress.

(http://www.tbone.name/gfx/avatar_001.png) --> (http://www.tbone.name/gfx/avatar_wip_01.png) --> (http://www.tbone.name/gfx/avatar_wip_02.png) --> (http://www.tbone.name/gfx/avatar_wip_03.png)

Here's the reference picture. (http://www.tbone.name/gfx/icon.jpg)

And have a Happy New Year!
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: Sherman Gill on January 01, 2008, 12:05:46 am
If you're not gonna make your own palette,  I would recommend you use one that's got more... useful colors, atleast until you get the hang of pixel art.
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: eck on January 01, 2008, 02:26:16 am
the ega colors you chose are... blah.  pick out some interesting colors from a ramp that isnt straight red, and have a bit of fun with it  :D

<- my avatar is ega if you need some color ideas.  edit coming soon, because i have an odd urge to do some ega work, so yeah.
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: eck on January 01, 2008, 02:58:35 am
(http://www.tbone.name/gfx/avatar_001.png) -> (http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/7369/editiojk2.png)

also, idk what the EGA restrictions are, but you might want to check em out


edit: double post  :'( :'(
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: tbone on January 01, 2008, 03:49:39 am
Sherman: I'm definitely going to use a more robust palette for later stuff, I just thought EGA would be an interesting place to start. I wouldn't want to paint my walls these colors, but it's fun to see what I can get out of them.

eck: Good point. I'm fiddling with the colors right now. Thanks for the edit!
 
The EGA palette restrictions seem to be any 16 colors out of a preset palette of 64 - according to Wikipedia of course. No other restrictions were mentioned.
I'm using the default, eye-burning set of 16 colors.
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: happymonster on January 01, 2008, 12:26:40 pm
At the moment your avatar looks up, while your photo looks slightly down. I would push the blue of your irises down to the bottom of the eye (no white below it), and then add a black pupil to show the direction you are looking in.
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: tbone on January 01, 2008, 06:13:41 pm
Made some adjustments. The eyes are no longer looking up, and I got rid of some shading that didn't seem to be helping the picture.

(http://www.tbone.name/gfx/avatar_002.png)
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: tbone on January 01, 2008, 08:04:30 pm
This one is more in line with eck's edit. I'm trying to use a wider range of colors from the palette - no sense in letting the other colors go to waste. It seems I might as well pick out four of my own colors if I'm going to do that.

(http://www.tbone.name/gfx/avatar_wip_01.png)
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: tbone on January 01, 2008, 09:40:21 pm
And an update.

(http://www.tbone.name/gfx/avatar_wip_02.png)
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: eck on January 02, 2008, 01:56:26 am
To much dither.
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: Sherman Gill on January 02, 2008, 02:28:47 am
I disagree with Eck!
Much improvement, in my opinion.
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: Cow on January 02, 2008, 03:05:23 am
I like the new colors, though some of the details and definition seem to have been lost in translation. The mouth/eye/ear areas mostly. Also, the hair looks like a separate entity entirely now, I think some color shared colors between the head/hair could bridge the gap a bit and give it some more flow. :y:

I quite like the original one actually as well, nice and a bit more subdued and subtle. Anyway, keep up the good work. :)
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: tocky on January 02, 2008, 04:41:30 am
no, eck is right about too much dither. or at least, you're dithering in places where you shouldn't.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13/tocky/tbone-ega.png)
a summary:
- i think you should drop the blue skintone.
- hair needs a darker shade
- eyes need a darker shade

I also think you might do better with a reference with different lighting. The problem with indoor/flash photography sort of stuff is that the light source is the camera, and you don't get shadows like you would if it was lit from elsewhere - so it doesn't define the planes of faces, or whatever the subject is, terribly well. Whereas in strong light you might get something like:
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y13/tocky/tbone-ega-differentlighting.png)
(which doesn't really look like you, but whatever. what i'm saying is that with different lighting you'd get better definition in the facial features.)
Title: Re: [WIP] EGA avatar
Post by: tbone on January 03, 2008, 04:14:55 am
Just a quick update. I've tried to address the crits - your edit was a big help, tocky.
Hopefully I've managed to reign in the dithering. Feels like I might be getting close to the final product.

(http://www.tbone.name/gfx/avatar_wip_03.png)