Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Antago on July 03, 2008, 10:16:52 pm

Title: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Antago on July 03, 2008, 10:16:52 pm
So I'm working on the rainbow world entrance. No, I am not a freak about total consistency yet :-) so indeed shadows and things will not be 100% astounding, however I'm working on a tree right now in front of the door and I am needing help on making it match the other tree.

(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b153/verdad/entrance2a.png)

p.s. clouds inspired (and background clouds, not entirely visible, designed by Alkaline. Foreground clouds are not his)
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Cow on July 03, 2008, 11:12:36 pm
I just have a few questions:

Why is the tree falling off the platform?
Why is there a blue to red gradient in the background?
Why didn't you give Alkaline credit for his clouds (http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=3973.msg75561#msg75561)?
Why is the grass and, I guess the rock/rabbit feces pile far higher quality than the rest?
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Antago on July 03, 2008, 11:20:42 pm
hahaha.
First of all, so sorry. Alkaline did make these clouds and I am actually not going to use these in the final version. He seems okay with me using them as inspiration, I talked to him.

Second of all I think your attitude really sucks. I am unsure as to why you have issues with a gradiented sky, I don't appreciate having my graphics compared to rabbit feces when I anyone can see that that is very unlikely a choice especially in the context of a beautiful rainbow world. Finally the tree is falling off the platform merely because it is and nature does indeed do weird things.

You can find this out if you'd do a little adventuring in nature yourself and if that is impossible where you live then you can study some photography books. Sometimes seeds fall near the edges of things and yet they still grow
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Antago on July 03, 2008, 11:57:39 pm
Ok I actually updated the clouds so that they are mostly mine for now
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Kren on July 04, 2008, 12:00:08 am
hmm, the grass seems from Sword of mana, the gradient is cheating in pixelart. I understand about the tree falling thing, but it is a bad idea in design wise, maybe you will like it but many people will not understand it. everything seems to be in a different style and perspective, you should try to fix the trees, since they are in a plataform view and not in the same perspective than the rest of the raimbow world.
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Antago on July 04, 2008, 12:09:51 am
Well I did make the grass and thanks for your valid points. As for the sky, it works, and sometimes cheating is healthy

The tree falling will work out the more I work on this level, you will see. There will be more trees and plants, things falling, vines, etc.
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Antago on July 04, 2008, 12:11:50 am
I'm thinking of turning the pile into a structure of some sort. Any suggestions?
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Cow on July 04, 2008, 12:12:02 am
Quote
I am unsure as to why you have issues with a gradiented sky
It burns.

Quote
I don't appreciate having my graphics compared to rabbit feces when I anyone can see that that is very unlikely a choice especially in the context of a beautiful rainbow world.
Actually I don't think I can deduce much from the environmental context, I can see flying glowsticks or possibly monocles, grass which appears to not obey the laws of physics, toxic waste barrels, a mutant tree grabbing the toxic barrel, a tree that has gigantic realistic flowers growing on it with confusing ambient lighting that's growing on the side of a floating island, a sign showing mech schematics, and a portal? I'm genuinely confused about what kind of environment this is, based on the context pretty much anything I said would be feasible.

Quote
You can find this out if you'd do a little adventuring in nature yourself and if that is impossible where you live then you can study some photography books. Sometimes seeds fall near the edges of things and yet they still grow
The roots that are on the top of the platform don't appear to go into the ground at all. And the roots would certainly not be able to penetrate metal, which appears to coat the whole... bottom and sides of the floating platform. Also both of the trees are off, perspective wise.

The grass really arose my suspicion because the quality of it is far better than the rest of the image. It definitely looks like it belongs in a Mana game or some such, the rest of the stuff doesn't really live up to it... at all. Unless you have a technique for drawing grass, or you know the how and not the why.
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Antago on July 04, 2008, 12:30:08 am
The world is not coated entirely in metal, you can see gigantic pile protruding from an empty crevace underneath the surface tiling. I think it's logical to assume the garden bed itself, if nothing else (and especially if something else) must at least be filled with dirt. :)

I am very thankful that you like my grass. I practiced a lot on creating grass, studying the Mana games years ago. I am absolutely thrilled that you really think it's high quality!! And I thank you very much.

I do have a technique for drawing grass, I think it work pretty well. I'd like to know more about making roots penetrate the ground, how would you go about depicting that? I was going to eventually just put some more grass blades over the roots before I finish the level, but if you have a better technique please show me. Particularly where they penetrate the DIRT, I was wondering how I was going to go about doing that
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Cow on July 04, 2008, 01:01:16 am
I would just have bigger roots, and do the grass thing, yeah. The tree is basically clawing the ground there to hang on and I think you could sell that idea a little further.

(http://xs129.xs.to/xs129/08274/tree611.png)

The perspective is still a little off, it was just a quickie. I also tried to make it look like the metal side bits were broken by it, because this is one badass, ghetto tree.
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: chriskot on July 04, 2008, 01:06:48 am
The metal tiles are perfectly square, as though they are being seen from a top-down perspective, while everything else is seen from a more slanted view. I think that you should begin by fixing this.

There is no consistency between the shading and outlines between the different parts of this image. This should be one of the first things that you fix because the more detail you put into something, the harder it is to change its basic style. I'm going to guess from the image and the comments that you have a habit of learning how do draw different things from different sources and then emulating their styles on those objects. Learning from example is good, but you have to put your own twist on it and form your own style to tie it all together. Don't just learn how to draw a particular object, learn why the artists have drawn them that way and try to apply these rules to other things.

The branches on the tree in the foreground look slippery, more like squid tentacles, due to the smoothness and the way that you've highlighted them.

I really like the flowers on the other tree, but while you've outlined the flowers themselves, the internal features such as the stamen are almost unreadable because they are not outlined.

I sort of like the gradients and think that they are appropriate in this case, but you should be prepared to receive a few negative comments on them since they don't fall within the boundaries of traditional pixel art. The same goes for anything with transparency, such as the beams of light under those glass platforms leading up to the edge.
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Antago on July 04, 2008, 04:36:01 am
haha I love your ghetto tree. Sadly I am jealous of it :( it has the reflection of the sky. you understand what I am going for
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Conzeit on July 04, 2008, 08:23:43 am
ugh...this is a mess of conflicting perspectives and styles. it is true your first critique was WAY agressive and that reasonably puts you in a defensive state, but right now you're just making excuse after excuse for every single bad choice in this mockup, and it's got deep issues that just dont let any of it come together.

I dont even know where to start critiquing, try to limit your style a little...dont draw an incredibly smoothed out pile of...whatever that is, and put it next to a doorway that has no trace of even any AA whatsoever, that is flat out wrong and no matter how beautiful any of the single pieces of your game is, nobody will apreciate it's graphics if you keep this up.

I say size down, do one basic floor/wall texture right and remove all that noise you have in there, you clearly cant handle showing that many diferent elements.
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Helm on July 04, 2008, 08:38:41 am
I don't understand what this piece of art is going for at all so I am a bit at a loss about how to approach the critique for it. Could you please at least clarify what exactly you've drawn yourself from this... conglomeration of items and styles, and what you've taken from elsewhere?
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Antago on July 04, 2008, 07:59:50 pm
ugh...this is a mess of conflicting perspectives and styles. it is true your first critique was WAY agressive and that reasonably puts you in a defensive state, but right now you're just making excuse after excuse for every single bad choice in this mockup, and it's got deep issues that just dont let any of it come together.

I dont even know where to start critiquing, try to limit your style a little...dont draw an incredibly smoothed out pile of...whatever that is, and put it next to a doorway that has no trace of even any AA whatsoever, that is flat out wrong and no matter how beautiful any of the single pieces of your game is, nobody will apreciate it's graphics if you keep this up.

I say size down, do one basic floor/wall texture right and remove all that noise you have in there, you clearly cant handle showing that many diferent elements.
Well I actually said in my first post that I am changing this piece a lot, which is why I asked specific questions. I still enjoy learning about the stuff; it's fun. As for my "excuses" I feel they were all valid or I wouldn't have said them. I did a good job of not being very defensive and I think everyone should drop the subject.

I have begun work on my floor tiles because I agree they look too flat, and this is something I was thinking about a while ago.
The "pile" was really just a mild experiment to fill the fact that I have not yet made any building tiles. I am not so good with creating "piles" anyway lol, I am offering $50 for some great cliff tiles, by the way.

I got a vision this morning for the building so I've begun work on it since you people seem to be whipping me in that direction now anyway. I will post this soon
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Conzeit on July 04, 2008, 09:12:51 pm
We all understand experimenting with different styles, we all have done it. Regardless, if you do plan to use any of this dont work on it along with all these pieces of disparate styles as if they were a single mockup, because it will transpire to a lack of direction in the whole look for your scene/game.

We are not pushing you to make a building, we are pushing you to make something that is actually coherent and doesnt look like a frankestenized mis mash of separate pieces that dont belong together at all.
Title: Re: Rainbow World entrance
Post by: Antago on July 04, 2008, 09:53:36 pm
Here's some progress thanks for the help!

(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b153/verdad/Extras/entrance2ca.png)