Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Peach on March 10, 2009, 03:57:58 pm
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lo all!
finally I found some time again to do some funny pixxeling :P
The employee of the month is an old sketch I made but never reached a final stage. Now I'm working on it and right now I'm quite satisfied of the actual result, but felt a bit undecided on the background (great gap I have to fill in my personal experience)
anyway, this is the piece
(http://peach.smartart.it/private/wip/employee_10.gif)
it's representing a mustached grasshopper after being elected as employee of the month.. I mean: if I can prove that insects are better than humans this would be the result :)
there're are a few things I already have in mind to touch: hand's color and add a pocket to the shirt with some pens in it (a must imo).
but before that, get the right feeling for the background (light casting and the rest)
any c&c?
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Nice concept! For some reason I think a lack of pocket-with-pens, or other typical nerdy-stereotype artifacts adds greatly to the humour of the piece. In my mind its like its this irritating jock guy who has somehow managed the award, and is lording it over his more nerdy colleagues. Obvious irony follows.
Shading is looking slightly pillowy, particularly around the entire crotch area (including hand). That lighter blue shade you're using to AA the blue outline against the grey is too bright, and gives a really nasty look to the outline, imo. Check out Panda's avatar, I reckon that could be a good inspiration style-wise for this piece.
In terms of background elements, I say decorate his office with things that reflect his character, whatever you decide that character to be. Maybe a photo of his family on the counter... maybe even just make them regular people, not insects, to add to the weirdness. On the computer screen you could have something that doesn't really relate to work at all, such as Solitaire, or something. Might be why he has such a snide attitude about his award.
The mustache isn't immediately clear to me as a mustache. Comes across as some kind of depth shading to his face, making it look like his mouth sticks way out. Try going for something more obviously separate from the skin, like a black colour.
Keep it rockin'!
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My thought on the mustache is that it should be larger and more exaggerated in order to be more readable. Also, the perfectly rectangular sign and back wall disrupt believability.
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For some reason when I saw this I thought "Employbee of the month"
But he's not a bee so I'm just crazy.
Anyways I like it although I'm not sure about the huge middle finger, maybe make it slightly bigger then the others.
I feel it's a little over AA'd as well as as eyecraft what eyecraft said.
The volumes could probably be applied a bit better to show more depth, some of the shades don't really make sense to me.
His left forearm is also a bit bulgy for me I think also don't like how it meets at the inside of the elbow.
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thanks for the comments...
I've got a small update.
(http://peach.smartart.it/private/wip/employee_14.gif)
I didn't have much time to work on it, and I didn't touch the character, but I admit there's actually a problem with its left arm.
Anyway right now I've just tried to reach the right depth of the image. And I've tried to sketch an envious collegue.
Have some doubts on how to make the carpet (color is maybe wrong, it's the same used to outline the shirt)
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I see a lot of banding to clear up. Some of it induced by the AA, some of it just because of the outlines hugging a darker shade. Also seen on the roof to wall molding on the left slanted side.
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I see a lot of banding to clear up. Some of it induced by the AA, some of it just because of the outlines hugging a darker shade. Also seen on the roof to wall molding on the left slanted side.
Thanks for the comment,
I tried to clear the banding and smooth a little bit the whole.
(http://peach.smartart.it/private/wip/employee_19.gif)
Still there're some things that need some corrections: mustaches, hands outlines, computer screen (freecell should be perfect), pictures on the wall, the keyboard and maybe the panels in the distance...
am I missing something? any c+c?
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Hey! really interesting piece. but you aren't making the most of your colors and the banding is really hurting it! could be much more crisp :>
I messed with the colors a bit to point you in the right direction. try shifting the hue, it really adds a believable shadow to things, and makes it less dull and monochrome. Also I scribbled away at some places on the side where the excessive dithering was bothering me... so much dither @_@ much more than I would use, it looks noisy if you use it EVERYWHERE. I'd suggest picking where the harsh shadows are and removing the dither.
What you're doing is kind of like what beginners to digital painting a lot of times do, they use the airbrush exclusively when a hard brush often looks so much better. You would benefit from more definition, and less dithering will get you there if you're planning on leaving areas flat. I also played around with the speech bubble to show you some ways to AA I didn't see you do.(except I didn't finish the right, don't look!)
I left and circled a little bit of nasty banding. Nasty! I think thats it, good luck peach :3
(http://www.lolipopsicle.com/linky/help/employee.gif)
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I haven't read the other post but must say i like the edit Atnas made it makes it more cartoonish so i recommend you to add more contrast ;D btw. the left hand elbow looks somehow odd ??? the shirt is looking weird in there :huh: BUT it's looking great so far :y:
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Hey! really interesting piece. but you aren't making the most of your colors and the banding is really hurting it! could be much more crisp :>
I messed with the colors a bit to point you in the right direction. try shifting the hue, it really adds a believable shadow to things, and makes it less dull and monochrome. Also I scribbled away at some places on the side where the excessive dithering was bothering me... so much dither @_@ much more than I would use, it looks noisy if you use it EVERYWHERE. I'd suggest picking where the harsh shadows are and removing the dither.
thank you very much for the comment.
I'm working on this piece on the very spare time and sometimes I forget what I'm aiming at.
Anyway I tried to follow your suggestions: tried to correct the colors (atm I'm browsing with an uncalibrated monitor), removed the excessive dithering, added some more colors to make things softer and rearranged some things here and there.
now I don't know if there's something I missed that need to be corrected, but if someone have suggestions they're welcome :)
(http://peach.smartart.it/private/wip/employee_28.gif)
edit: I've arranged a wip animation:
(http://peach.smartart.it/private/wip/employee-wip.gif)
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Great update! Good fixes on the AA. Good reduction of overdither. I still think you could push your values a bit further though. That's most likely monitor differences, though. More saturated shadows would help, namely pushing the hand shadow towards a more vibrant orange. But overall a giant step in the right direction. It's just that the picture's main elements seem to underwhelm the viewer given their lack of contrast. Keep it up! c:
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Great update! Good fixes on the AA. Good reduction of overdither. I still think you could push your values a bit further though. That's most likely monitor differences, though. More saturated shadows would help, namely pushing the hand shadow towards a more vibrant orange. But overall a giant step in the right direction. It's just that the picture's main elements seem to underwhelm the viewer given their lack of contrast. Keep it up! c:
again, thanks Atnas
I tried to work a little better on contrasts and color tones, this is what I think is the best I can achieve: it's a little warmer and the main character is more saturated so that it can be read easily.
Right now I think I've spent way too much time on this piece and if there's nothing else that needs to be corrected I'll upload it to pj.
(http://peach.smartart.it/private/wip/employee_29.gif)
thanks to all who visited this thread and commented :)
here you can find the completed work on pj:
http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/41212.htm (http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/41212.htm)