Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Batzy on December 03, 2008, 04:43:14 pm
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Started working on a new image and here's what i've got so far
(http://omploader.org/vemk2/vision.GIF)
I'll start actually pixeling this once i get the guy lines right
C&C would be nice :)
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I think the grass is too high and detracts from the attention of the man standing in it.
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I think the grass is too high and detracts from the attention of the man standing in it.
i'll change that when i have time ;)
What do you think should the image be bigger than it's now ???
Also do you see now any big mistakes i've done ???
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How about making the grass parting as he's walking/standing in it? That way it draws attention to the man, and we could see more of his body.
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i think the grass in fine and at a good height and that it's the background hills, being the same value as the character, that are what make him disappear.
value and color can be made a bit more important than they are in this piece. for instance, here's a quick recolor:
(http://xs234.xs.to/xs234/08493/hat846.png)
This has a very different feel and actually may read better, despite being softer. It may not be what you are going for but i'm just trying to demonstrate how color can set a mood rather than just define materials.
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i think the grass in fine and at a good height and that it's the background hills, being the same value as the character, that are what make him disappear.
value and color can be made a bit more important than they are in this piece. for instance, here's a quick recolor:
(http://xs234.xs.to/xs234/08493/hat846.png)
This has a very different feel and actually may read better, despite being softer. It may not be what you are going for but i'm just trying to demonstrate how color can set a mood rather than just define materials.
Thanks for the edit :)
after ndchristie did that edit i started working on the image and here's what i've done so far:
(http://omploader.org/vemxh/grassguy.gif)
and here's the same thing but played with the colors a bit :D
(http://omploader.org/vemxi/grassguy2.gif) (which one's beter ?)
Still don't actually what to do with grass and is the sky too dark in both images :huh:
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For sure the higher contrast one, but the grass stuff should be a little less dark. Beautiful, both of you. Also, for the darker one, background lost some of the subtlety. maybe combine elements of both? don't mess with the guy- he's perfect for the darker one.
Look at how far you've come!
(http://omploader.org/vemk2/vision.GIF) < (http://omploader.org/vemxi/grassguy2.gif)
You should be proud of yourself.
really, really nice work.
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I've really takin' a liking to this. I like the darker image more because the sun is directly behind him, hence the dark shadowing. Though the colors need to be more abrupt, like they need to go from light to dark really quickly.
Here's an edit.
(http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6532/newbitmapimagehl9.png)
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Heh... thanks for comments both of you :)
to next update i'm planning to add some detail and maybe change the grass in front of the dude (it's been bothering me for a while.)
I'll update it when i have more time to pixel ;)
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sorry for double posting but here's an update ;D
(http://omploader.org/vem1i/grassguy3.gif)
I updated the mountains and clouds as you can propably see :)
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Wow, the mountains are awesome. I think the sun and sky still need some work though. The sky looks a little unfinished compared to everything else.
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Update:
(http://omploader.org/venAx/update.gif)
Made few changes :)
am i getting the sky beter ?
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The sun is much better, but it looks like it's in front of some of the mountains. :P
As for the sky, I think maybe doing the left side similar to the right side would help.
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I love this- but now you're getting timid with progress. Time to go out of your comfort zone! heres a major edit:
(http://www.majhost.com/gallery/exendia/Misc/grass_man.png)
TA DAAH!
ok, here's what i did:
- Gave the poor guy a face.
- I love most of your shading, but did some major changes w/ shading on the coat, and general lighting fixes.
- Not much of a sucker for the blobby light you had going on from the sun, changed it.
- Added one color.
- Added a lot of dithering, and messed with the mountains.
- Did not mess with a majority of your colors, they are mostly perfect. Besides the one i added i wouldn't change it at all colorwise.
- Other stuff i forgot.
I love your art, and hope to see you progress and grow! I can't wait to see more from you.
Good luck pixeling!
Tallyho!
Shrike
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Extensive Edit:
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p203/blackdragon_photo_bucket/GrassMan-1.png)
I did a lot of the things the last guy did, but I felt the need to put in a little better example of how to do these things.
Notice the cast shadow of the man, the lighting on the clouds, the color changes, and the darkening of the mountains, etc.
Couple things I'd like to say:
Your pixel technique is kind of sloppy, take care to place each pixel induvidually.
The composition works a lot better with the mountains being black because
1) It is more realistic (photo reference: http://blogs.salon.com/0001970/images/2004/11/06/Desert%20Sunset.jpg OR http://www.travelblog.org/Wallpaper/pix/sunset_wallpaper_brazil-1600x1200.jpg),
2) The focus is now brought to the man. We have a triangle of bright spots and the man is dead in the center.
Another thing I'd like to mention is the water color. The water in your peice is blue. Water reflects the sky, so in my edit the water is purple.
Last thing is color in general. You had many unnecessary colors in your peice, and I took a out a huge chunk of those. These were put to better use by blending colors, or adding colors to the sky. The same pallete is used TROUGHOUT the peice, and that's what color conservation is about.
Hope this helps.
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Well, unless there's a secondary light source, I think he'd be a whole lot darker than that, considering the sun is DIRECTLY behind him.. Just like the mountains.
Also, the grass should be darker, from our view, as well, because we're not seeing the lit up side.
Anyways, those will be problems unless you want a completely dark piece. It's good as it is, but those points you may want to consider if you want to be fully realistic.
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Going more into your last statement Dr D, indeed, you don't have to follow realism, if 'cheating' with that makes your piece nicer.
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Extensive Edit:
(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p203/blackdragon_photo_bucket/GrassMan-1.png)
I did a lot of the things the last guy did, but I felt the need to put in a little better example of how to do these things.
Notice the cast shadow of the man, the lighting on the clouds, the color changes, and the darkening of the mountains, etc.
Couple things I'd like to say:
Your pixel technique is kind of sloppy, take care to place each pixel induvidually.
The composition works a lot better with the mountains being black because
1) It is more realistic (photo reference: http://blogs.salon.com/0001970/images/2004/11/06/Desert%20Sunset.jpg OR http://www.travelblog.org/Wallpaper/pix/sunset_wallpaper_brazil-1600x1200.jpg),
2) The focus is now brought to the man. We have a triangle of bright spots and the man is dead in the center.
Another thing I'd like to mention is the water color. The water in your peice is blue. Water reflects the sky, so in my edit the water is purple.
Last thing is color in general. You had many unnecessary colors in your peice, and I took a out a huge chunk of those. These were put to better use by blending colors, or adding colors to the sky. The same pallete is used TROUGHOUT the peice, and that's what color conservation is about.
Hope this helps.
This is a nice edit, but i think that you lost a lot of the power it had before. The colors i was completely in love with, and now it doesn't look as good IMO. I think a happy medium between yours and mine would be perfect. The not dark mountains did bug me, good point. But what you said about focus- the man was the focus in both of ours. Yours is just inverted. My man is extremely dark, and yours the opposite, while in mine the surrounding area is light and yours is dark. So its really a matter of opinion, but as i stated before i think your edit lost some of the power.
I did notice the million colors he had, but was mainly too lazy to knock them down. Be sure to do something about that, Batlorder.
And doing something different with the mountains as an experiment would be good too. Blackdragon, if I'm being totally rude right now its because your edit is as good or better than mine in some ways, and to me you stole my thunder. Sorry if I'm trying to strike down your crits. I just- meh, no excuses needed.
Looks like we scared Batlorder off. :P
Good luck pixeling!
Shrike
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I think i have to study this more before making any updates :)
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This is a nice edit, but i think that you lost a lot of the power it had before. The colors i was completely in love with, and now it doesn't look as good IMO.
Care to explain? What about the colors makes them "weaker"?
The not dark mountains did bug me, good point. But what you said about focus- the man was the focus in both of ours. Yours is just inverted. My man is extremely dark, and yours the opposite, while in mine the surrounding area is light and yours is dark. So its really a matter of opinion, but as i stated before i think your edit lost some of the power.
Again, explain the loss of power.
Blackdragon, if I'm being totally rude right now its because your edit is as good or better than mine in some ways, and to me you stole my thunder. Sorry if I'm trying to strike down your crits. I just- meh, no excuses needed.
Apologies not needed. Your critique is as good as mine. You've made some very good points. All in all I was just trying to illustrate some points and give suggestoins to help this artist grow, as all crits should.
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I've been a little lazy but atleast done something:
(http://omploader.org/vMTJ4YQ/update.png)
I think i've clean it up but haven't still changed any color but took some colors out of it :P
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the grass looks to organised for what i believe to be Mongolian, Balinese maybe Chinese farmer, also the fact i also seem to think hes rather poor and depressed and looks like hes just about to pull up the grass to get his daily wager or something...
so in some aspects i rather the messy un organised look... just when it gets sloppy thats where the issue becomes one i think we should look at
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this is a bit OT but what does the fact that he might be Asian have to do with the regularity of his grass? and why group balinese in with the chinese and mongolians? just seems like a set of very strange assumptions.
I agree that the grass should be less regular but the logic stuck out to me as bizarre ???.
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the hat... the mountains... the hair.... just seems to me that the poor parts of Asia....... Vietnam even maybe. and so if poor im guessing he wouldnt make his grass very perfect like that family who changed thier hedge into a christmas dumpling
sory if ot seemed offencive, i didnt mean it in that way at all
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Haha... it was fun to read your comments :) But really i'm out of ideas what should i do with the grass and should i make a rod or something to that guy ? i'm going to change the color theme a bit and could the mountains be just brown/grey like in BlackDragons edit but not so damn dark ???
and with the sky i think it doesn't need any clouds after all.
What do you say ?
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Put some tilt on the grass. As it is right now, grass standing perfectly vertical isn't very...appealing. Put a lil sway on the grass, like a 30-60 degree tilt. Adding a blade of grass in the dude's mouth is pretty gangsta imo