Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Pizza Tom on December 29, 2008, 01:57:35 am
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I'm currently working on several art projects for my studio art class, one of which is a large pixelated version of myself. I'll be hand painting each pixel (at 1x1 cm each). But before I paint, I figured I'd come here for critique on mah pixels. :3
(http://i40.tinypic.com/dggc93.png)
:P If you couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a novice. I tried to reduce the color count, but I'm not sure how to do so without the nose completely disappearing.
(http://i43.tinypic.com/2ij5205.png)
(oh yeah, I should probably also mention I'm going for a more cel-shaded style.)
Edit: er, images appear not to be working. :0
Edit2: Thanks, images are working now. :3
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Try uploading them at tinypic.com
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Small update:
(http://i44.tinypic.com/10ooacg.png)
Tried to smooth out that square-ish highlight on the face, and took out a hair color.
I feel awkward using MS paint for this stuff, can anyone suggest any other programs that aren't super complicated? I'm just tired of not having a transparent background. :P
edit: Fixed some things, got rid of two colors.
(http://i44.tinypic.com/244duv6.png)
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Hello. Welcome to pixelation. I can tell you're new in the artform of pixels. Here's a lot of critique that might be of use to you.
First of all, yes, mspaint is not something most seasoned artists will suggest you use. I use Cosmigo Pro Motion but it's not free. Many people use Graphics Gale, some use Gfx2 (which recently recieved a windows build), some even still use Deluxe Paint on their emulators and such. Search and find what suits you.
Second, don't work on a white background, it'll make the whole image look more washed out, well, not exactly. It'll make you think your piece is darker than it really is and therefore you'll choose lighter colors to compensate, and this way you actually will end up with a washed out piece on any other background color than white. I suggest a pleasant middle tone with a slight hue you can update through cycling the color spectrum as you work to see if anything sticks out.
Third, if you use reference (photographs or anything else) here in Pixelation, we strongly encourage you to state that fact and supply the reference. This isn't just copy protecti-- this isn't just protection against plagiarists, it's also a good idea. If we can see your reference we can tell you how far off the likeness you might be.
Fourth, you use a lot of colors. Your mindset is this right now: 'every new thing I draw needs its own set of colors. The eyeball needs one, the hair need their three, the nosetrill needs one, the shirt needs three, the inner shirt needs three.' This leads to a very big palette with no reuse and a very plastic, almost consumer design aesthetic which you should be aware of. If you like it, sure, go with the big compartmentalized palette. However from your piece of 25 indexes I scaled back to 16 colors and I ask you, which seems more colorful, yet harmonious? There were a lot of just redundant shades as well which could be removed without any information or detail loss.
I used less colors but covered a lot more ground because I reuse a color from the shirt in the face or in the hair and so on. How can I bridge the gaps? I make the hue drift as the color changes. The face has greens, purples, browns in it now, which I can use in the clothes and in the hair and vice versa. This is done a lot in pixel art and I personally do it waaay more than I did in the edit below, which is pretty tame but you might not want something more colorful or extreme. Search the forum for 'hue shifting' for more on how and why most pixel artists around here do this. It isn't just a 'style'. It's a very valuable skill for the pixel artist on the whole.
Fifth, I would suggest cleaner contrasts that help shape the forms and also to use more range in values. There's very little dark in your image as it is, and the middle range is also underused for a lot of bright stuff. Is this intentional?
Sixth, I uh, used a lot of pixel art tech to shade the edit. I used antialiasing, but very carefully to not make things more blurry or to create banding (if these terms are new to you, please run searches in our forums as they've been addressed a lot of times in the past.
Here's the edit:
(http://www.locustleaves.com/wink.gif)
What I love about your piece is that it has an attitude about it (which I tried to augment). It tells me that -unless you're working heavily from reference, in which case I wouldn't really know- you have a good eye for character and you know your way through other types of art, which is great. Pixel techniques can be taught and Pixelation is here for that. Concept of aesthetics and characterization cannot as easily be conveyed here.
This is my first good deed for 2009. Have a nice new year.
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Whoa, thanks, that's way more feedback than I was expecting all at once. :D
I'm a bit surprised that I forgot my reference! Here it is:
(http://i41.tinypic.com/5zhap0.jpg)
I wish I could accept your compliment about the "attitude" of it, but I did pretty heavily reference. I also used the magic of math when figuring out where each part should go, so I really can't take credit if it looks good. Looking back at it now though, I see there's a heck of a lot more I could do with it.
Hm.. I would like to unify my palette a lot more than it is now, but I rather like the bright purples in it. I feel like it's more expressive of my personality, somehow. But hey, I'm here to learn right? Just gotta experiment. :3
I'll see if I can whip up an edit tomorrow. Thanks and happy new year!
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Alright, tried to listen to some of Helm's advice, and also managed to take it down to 12(?) colors. Color counter says I have more, so I must have overlooked some colors that I tried to get rid of. :(
(http://i41.tinypic.com/n6ueqd.png)
I'm aware of techniques like dithering and all that good stuff, but there's a reason I'm trying to avoid using them, at least for this piece. See, when I'm satisfied with it, I'll be constructing it in 3D with a layer of cardboard for each color. If that's not a good enough explanation, here's a sample of what it'll look like, kinda:
(http://i43.tinypic.com/1jl1c.png)
So each color a different layer, with it getting higher as the color gets lighter. Maybe it won't be that awesome, but I have confidence that it at least won't look horrible. :3
Obviously if I were to use dithering, the end result would be a nightmare to create, as there would definitely be a lot of single pixels to cut out. So I'll stick to cel shading, at least for this one.
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Hi, here's an edit for you...which actually might be redundant now i've read your above post about the layered card :ouch:
(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i13/assasin_pk3r/portrait.png)
it's basically just building upon your newest version (and taught me a bit too off of helm's brilliant edit :)) to try and give a real as a representation of your reference as we can.
hope that helps a little :blind: ;D ;)
- Rob.
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Wow, that edit really brought attention to my lack of darks. :0 Here's an update, trying to keep that point in mind:
(http://i39.tinypic.com/m7gk0x.png)
A few things I notice now that I look at it again:
-My eyes are immediately drawn to the right (our left) shoulder. I think maybe there's too much contrast there? Or not enough elsewhere?
-Somehow, parts of the shirt (mostly on the left (our right) shoulder) look flatter, even though I added darks to try and give it depth.
Also messed around with the palette some more, hue shifts are fun!
Oh, and one more thing. I'm probably making this way too detailed now for my project, any advice on how I can simplify it without making it cartoony? I feel like I'll need to get rid of a lot of the wrinkles for that, but I dunno which ones are important enough to keep. xP
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The reson the left shoulder looks flat is because the lights and darks don't interact in any meaningful way.
(http://lorne.lastchancemedia.com/Images/two/Tricksandcrits/25.gif)
You need to uh, umm, forms, more... Stop trying to use the dark grey to convey minor details in the folds, and focus more on conveying the folds as a whole.
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(http://i42.tinypic.com/sqr05x.png)
Tried to emphasize the forms, rather than details, as one Mr. Gill suggested. (Some rather large parts still look kinda flat to me though. Ugh.)
I got rid of a lot of folds that quite simply didn't need to be there, as well. If anyone spots any more unnecessary details, please let me know! ;D
Oh, and one more thing. The shadows on the side of the face are looking more like something stuck on the face than another tone. Is the leap in brightness too much for the lightest and second-lightest skin tones, or is it just me?
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Changed parts, mainly just small details..
Made the nosel hole lighter by one tone, added a somewhat line of darker tone on the left and changed the eye to be more like the reference.. It looked kind of chinese
Don't know if it looks better, up to you really :}
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p181/tikeshe/eye.png)
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Hmm. Quake, your edit definitely makes the skin more smooth, I think, but it's just too dark for me. xP I tried making the midtone a bit lighter instead of making the light tone darker. Dunno if it really accomplished much though. :/
(http://i42.tinypic.com/15sahlj.png)
I feel like I'm reaching the point where I can't do much more on this piece. Or maybe I'm just sick of looking at it. XD Anyway, I need to start constructing it out of cardboard soon, so I'll call it done wherever I'm at with it by Saturday evening.
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i think quakes edit does help i think you went super cool kung-fu crazy with your highlights. i know this is for a painting or whatch-a-ma-wanna-do-with-it. sorry i added one color if thats ok, i basically got quakes edit and put some highlights in it.....and added a color
(http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/3144/dudeaxo4.png)
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Because of time constraints, I'm afraid I have to call it done where it is. Wish I could work on it more, but this and another huuuuge project need to be done before the 15th. :blind:
Thank you all for your help with this! I feel like I learned a lot. ;D I'll post pictures when it's done.