Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: DanTheFlyingMan on February 21, 2008, 07:00:42 am

Title: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: DanTheFlyingMan on February 21, 2008, 07:00:42 am
Hi, I've recently decided to try my hand at pixel art. So far I have only created two pieces, and would love some feedback on them!

This is Dan The Flying Man:

(http://dantheflyingman.org/2.gif)

My main concern with this is that the shadowing seems kind of awkward, I couldn't really figure out how to get it right.

My second one is... Well, I don't really know to be honest.

(http://dantheflyingman.org/1.gif)


At the moment I am just using MS Paint and a mouse for this, and already it is becoming a strain on my wrist (yeah, it's pretty pathetic); does anyone have any advice on how to make life easier until I get a graphics tablet? Also, each of those took around 1-2 hours, is that an excessive amount of time for pictures that simple? How long should they take?

Thanks!
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: Helm on February 21, 2008, 04:06:01 pm
Hello! Heeeeere comes helm with the banding (http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=5556.msg66232#msg66232) post!

Is that piece of advice clear or should I elaborate further?


Here are more things for you to ponder :)

Totally straight ramps! The reds are reds and the greens are greens and you up and down the lightness and that's it. But if you look at a surface more critically you'll notice that it has loads of subtle tints and variations of the color on it. A yellow lightsource like the sun naturally, tints a bit yellow. The blue atmosphere diffuses the yellow and also tints blue. Shadows get a somewhat illusionary complementary tint. Furthermore, every surface has its own qualities that determine what color they are and how they reflect other colors. A shiny plastic cup will have a strong specular on it, whereas a rug will not. A sweaty, oily face will have a strong specular, but diffused by the pores so it looks more scattered than smooth, so on! Right now you're shading without keeping these things in mind!

Another thing, closely tied to the above. The volumetric qualities of the primitives you're shading! You're not keeping them in mind or you don't understand them enough. Look at the ball here

(http://www.mmhk.com/e/products/zaxwerks/3d_invigorator_pro/images/primitives.jpg)

and compare how the light works on that and how it works on the cap of the first dude you're shading.

Then concern yourself with the shadow that the cap should be casting on the face, and the shadows that the arms cast on the body, so on.

Ask yourself, where is your lightsource, and how is it hitting the primitives that compose my character?

Read this carefully http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: Sherman Gill on February 21, 2008, 06:29:11 pm
That 3D render looks... wrong, Helm. Shouldn't the secondary light be a slightly more saturated version of the grey and not yellowish grey?

???
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: ndchristie on February 21, 2008, 06:39:20 pm
That 3D render looks... wrong, Helm. Shouldn't the secondary light be a slightly more saturated version of the grey and not yellowish grey?

???

my thoughts exactly about the color; and it's hardly as though flat smooth surfaces receive flat smooth light and are devoid of reflective properties.

still, i think the point was more about shadow cores and reflection of light from local from surfaces.  of course, there are no surfaces visible at and angle that would influence the cap, so the shading there is probably more accurate that it would be is a secondary source was admitted.
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: Elwin on February 21, 2008, 06:52:23 pm
Ehh wasn't this thread for critting dan's work? lol :P But, crit: I don't know why you're AAing the darkest shade... Stop that xD Animation is good :) Would have posted a bit more, but I'm in a rush ;)
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: TrevoriuS on February 21, 2008, 07:23:22 pm
Throw this scene in a raytracer with only 1 light source and fight out how wrong that 3D render is indeed.
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: Rosse on February 21, 2008, 07:31:35 pm
That 3D render looks... wrong, Helm. Shouldn't the secondary light be a slightly more saturated version of the grey and not yellowish grey?

???

Uhm, how could a grey be 'more' saturated? Gray is a color which has no saturation (in HSV/HSB-Mode). If you increase the saturation, the grey gets a tone. In Helm's example yellow because of the sunlight (I suppose, but it's a bit inconseqent. Because if there is sunlight, there is a sky which brings in a blue/cyan tone).

Sorry if I go that much into off-topic but I think you should really not forget that in nature there's no such thing as saturation (well, there are colors and we call them saturated compared with others). Saturation is a term which comes from the computer HSV System (as we use the term here). In nature there are just a bunch of electromagnetic waves with various wavelength and different amplitudes. And in our eye (with the rods (Values) and cones (R+G+B)) these waves create a 'color'. And this grey we talked about earlier is not a color per se. A grey (perfect grey) is when the cones in our eyes are stimulated by the same amount. This can be simulated with the RGB sliders. Use the same values in R+G+B and there is a grey. If you decrease one color, the grey gets a tone which is complementary to the color which is decreased.

Uhm, what was I talking about? Yeah, there are no 'saturated' greys ;)

(I don't want to be a smart-ass, I just love to talk about theories and because of the 'Keen Mind of Pixelation'-Thread ;) )
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: DanTheFlyingMan on February 21, 2008, 07:40:30 pm
Thanks for all of the advice everyone.  :)

I had another try at the shading on Dan The Flying Man's hat. Am I going in the right direction here?

(http://dantheflyingman.org/dancap.PNG)
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: Jamie on February 21, 2008, 07:48:28 pm
Is anyone else getting a cpanel login when they open this thread? no other threads do it apart from this one for me  ???
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: Sherman Gill on February 22, 2008, 01:07:34 am
Uhm, how could a grey be 'more' saturated? Gray is a color which has no saturation (in HSV/HSB-Mode). If you increase the saturation, the grey gets a tone. In Helm's example yellow because of the sunlight (I suppose, but it's a bit inconseqent. Because if there is sunlight, there is a sky which brings in a blue/cyan tone).
The image looks like it has a slight blue tint in it, so not pure grey. Though, it might just be the yellow in the highlight throwing me off.
Also, Dan the Flying: Hat looks better indeed!
And, for when you shade the shirt and belly, keep note that the shadows on the skin will follow the shadows on the belly, because they're pretty much the same shape, so there won't be a highlight on the skin right below the shadows on the shirt like there is now.
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: DanTheFlyingMan on February 22, 2008, 08:26:43 am
I had a go at editing my picture of Dan, though I am not entirely sure it looks much better.

(http://dantheflyingman.org/dantfm2.PNG)
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: #36005A on February 22, 2008, 03:07:37 pm
Hello DanTheFlyingMan, I remember critiquing your art on SomethingAwful (under a different name, of course). Welcome to Pixelation!
Anyway, as of now your Dan character appears to either have a spotlight shining directly onto him, or he is close to reaching the light at the end of a tunnel. Unless this is the desired effect, you need to focus on fixing that flat shading. It seems like you're pulling things from your concept of "what things should look like" rather than the way they actually appear in life. For example, as Helm pointed out, your "reds are reds and greens are greens." This simply isn't the way light works.
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: DanTheFlyingMan on February 22, 2008, 08:50:10 pm
I think I get what you mean now. So colours like this will look a bit more natural?

(http://dantheflyingman.org/dantfm3.PNG)
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: Helm on February 23, 2008, 12:24:42 am
The colors do look more natural, but the sources of the light are head-on. What is the lighting situation here? Where is the lightsource? Is this a sunny-day piece? Then shouldn't most light be coming from directly above?
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: DanTheFlyingMan on February 23, 2008, 03:16:29 am
I was thinking more of a sunset.
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: Rydin on February 23, 2008, 03:32:31 am
Out of curiosity: How did you animate those breasts in Ms Paint?
Title: Re: I'm a complete newbie.
Post by: DanTheFlyingMan on February 23, 2008, 03:56:21 am
Out of curiosity: How did you animate those breasts in Ms Paint?

I didn't animate them in Paint, I just used Paint to draw each frame and then put them together in some crappy GIF program.