Pixelation
Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: Durnus on August 02, 2009, 04:25:28 am
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For practice, I did some pillow shading. I tried using a reference and dithering, two things I haven't tried yet. I'm looking to get better at shading, so any criticism appreciated. I think I might have used too many shades ( :-[ ), but I guess that's why I'm asking for help. Thanks for anything and everything!
(Sorry if someone's already done this before. I just had to. :D )
Reference: http://www.sunraycleaners.com/specialty/images/pillow.jpg (http://www.sunraycleaners.com/specialty/images/pillow.jpg)
First version:
(http://galacticgaming.net/hosting/d/pillow-shade.png)
Latest update:
(http://galacticgaming.net/hosting/d/pillow-shade8.png)
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The far border has spurious highlights, which also contribute to making it look jagged. The reference doesn't look like that.
The middle is perfectly flat, like a floor tile would be. The reference obviously isn't; you might need to exaggerate the curvature (and to invent a random bump pattern), but it is necessary to make it look like a pillow.
I don't think you have a sufficient pixel budget for the wrinkles around the middle of the right side; I don't think they are necessary to make the surface look like cloth (the natural shapes around the corners are enough).
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According to your reference, you need to decrease the lighting brightness a tiny bit, and move it away from the edge a tiny bit, too.
(that's just what I think, I'm probably wrong. ;) )
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I tried adding detail into the center part of the pillow... but after a while I still couldn't figure out what to put in there. :blind: This is the best it got in my experiments, but I know it can be better. I also attempted simple anti-aliasing on the top edge, because even without the hard highlight it still looked jagged. (It could just be my prejudice against it though considering how jaggy it looked before I changed it.)
Anyway, update (not even sure if it's the right direction):
(http://www.galacticgaming.net/hosting/d/pillow-shade2.png)
Thanks for the help.
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This is awesome. :)
Shading feels pretty accurate to me, although I think the reference photo has more contrast. Here's a couple things you might try:
* Use a much lighter, less saturated background color, or
* Darken your shading colors a bit, or
* All of the above
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I made the background much brighter, made the colors contrast a lot more, and added some more anti-aliasing around the edges. Looks much nicer now, thanks!
(http://www.galacticgaming.net/hosting/d/pillow-shade3.png)
Still don't like my "wrinkles," any suggestion on that? I've haven't drawn tight-fitting cloth before... and I'm unsure where to find some. All the pillows around my house are tight enough that there's only maybe one fold going all the way across if any--and that doesn't really happen on this type of pillow. ???
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Honestly, I'd just leave the wrinkles out. You'll get a good fabric appearance if you avoid making your color transitions too sharp (your dithering accomplishes this pretty well as it is).
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Quick edit. Your wrinkles don't work because they look too grainy. I didn't solve that problem, but I think it looks fuller without them.
I also upped the contrast a bit, and I think it should be higher.
(http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7092/pillowshade3.png)
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I really don't think I can top your edit (brilliant shading there), but I looked at what you've done and came up with the following.
(http://www.galacticgaming.net/hosting/d/pillow-shade6.png)
First of all, I upped the contrast some. I also completely redid the shading, doing more dithering and following the light "pattern" you saw. I do agree that the pillow looks much more pillowish without the wrinkles. Some of my dithering just looks plain messy though... I'll try to find a tutorial for myself regarding that. :blind:
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I think you are almost there with that version of the shading..maybe a mix between what you've got and Joe's version i.e. Joe's version's outline and edges of the pillow look pretty aces but I'm never very sure of the type of dithering he's used.
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Updated the borders to look more like Joe's (thanks redballoon) and tweaked the shading.
I also revamped my palette to be yellow highlighted and purple-shadowed, and I think it looks much better. Should I stay with it or go back to less color?
(http://www.galacticgaming.net/hosting/d/pillow-shade7.png)
I'm pretty pleased with it so far. :)
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I'd definitely say stick with the purple-yellow palette - it looks much more interesting.
Though I would still work a little bit more to balance out the contrast; the dark shade sticks out a bit too much, causing the creases and back-end to look almost out of place.
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Ok, I finally got around to changing that color to a brighter one, and I think it's pretty much finished.
(http://www.galacticgaming.net/hosting/d/pillow-shade8.png)
I still want C+C if you've got any; I want to improve it, although at this point I think it's good enough for my purposes. :)