Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Zerath on January 31, 2009, 01:04:12 am

Title: Need help with portrait
Post by: Zerath on January 31, 2009, 01:04:12 am

Hiya! I'm new here and in pixel art. Or at least new to actually caring how it looks. I'm having huge problems with larger surfaces.
Here's my attempt on my own face. :'(
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/Zerathal/omakuva.jpg)
Don't mind the shirt, hair or EYES yet. I'd like to get that skin in order first.
And here is my sad, sad face.
(http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e386/Zerathal/facemelt.jpg)
As you might have noticed, I'm not going the exact realistic way. I'd like to cartoonize this a little.
Comments are welcome, but I'm really after the tips for making good skin and cartoonizing this a little more.
Cheers

Title: Re: Need help with portrait
Post by: balls01 on January 31, 2009, 02:26:53 am

hey sorry, i know you want the cartoon look, but i am a man/boy of realism, even though i fail at doing so, there are a couple of crits following realistic anatomy you may want to follow:

firstly, the nose looks painted on, i suggest remove those two lines to open up the 'bridge' of the nose more.
your chin doesnt have that much definition to it.

thats all i will crit on without going into the eyes

Title: Re: Need help with portrait
Post by: donom on January 31, 2009, 03:36:35 am

ey.

I think the essence of cartoony looking stuff is that everything is simplified. So IMO you shouldn't use too many colors — I think a lot of cartoons even only use one for skin most of the time. Also, from that, dithering should be avoided because besides creating a third color, it adds a detailed, textured feel to things.

Have you found out about Andrew Loomis's books yet? They help a lot with drawing figures and heads, and many people seem to leap very rapidly to awesome drawing skills from studying them. I haven't had that success and am still struggling with basics, but comparing my drawings from 2 years ago when I started with them and now there's still a lot of difference.

There's a note by ptoing on skin shading: http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=56.msg808#msg808

I did an edit where I tried applying those and balls01's to your picture and exaggerated the shading some:

(http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/8176/omakuvatf1.png)

and then that one edited for less warm and less contrasting colors:

(http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/1485/omakuva2aw6.png)

also, it's recommended to present images as PNG or GIF around here I think..