Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: skw on October 07, 2009, 12:03:36 pm

Title: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (C64) + my tall-pixel experiment (new) :D
Post by: skw on October 07, 2009, 12:03:36 pm
a composition I've got in mind while finishing Summer Leaves. . ., can't yet decide what mode it's going to be (most certainly Multicolor, since I want to retain it fully colored).

anyway,

(http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/trains.png)

(http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/trainswp.png)

I want to capture an overwhelming emotion framed by the sea of clouds, and give it a dynamic sensation of moving forward.

in this thread we'll be going through the creation process which might be a little slow though, I'm lagging behind at work. any suggestions are always warmly welcomed!
Title: Re: Far Away Trains Passing By (another C64 pee-ahr-gee)
Post by: EyeCraft on October 07, 2009, 03:26:03 pm
Already looking promising. The brightness of the distant mountains helps a lot in establishing a forward momentum. The aura around the figure silhouette doesn't fit, imo (dunno if its temp or not). I feel like the image is too uniform with its shapes at the moment, maybe have a kind of transition from dark to light in the sky from left to right to further urge the eye to the distance. The moon feels distracting, I feel like it could work better as a subtle and more distant element.

Could perhaps use the dark blue more in the sky to have a stronger cool tone throughout the image, reinforcing the appeal of the warmth of the mountains.

Orrr transition the sky dark to light from top to bottom... a kind of haze on the horizon. That would help establish the silhouette. Maybe seal the left edge with more silhouettes, of foliage, twiggy shrubs or rocks.

I dunno, brain is just exploding with ideas at this point.
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (another C64 pee-ahr-gee)
Post by: skw on October 07, 2009, 10:33:33 pm
thanks a lot, mate! I'm testing, or has already tested some of your ideas. will try to adopt/expand them, and explain closely what I did when I get further.

(http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/trains2.png)

hope that helps to provide more information and dispel vagueness some more.

ps: the planet in the background, the central point of the composition, what the observer on the left is looking at, is where the "trains are passing by". I guess this helps to give some subtle connection between micro and macro; plus it's the name of a CD I'm listening atm. ;)
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (another C64 pee-ahr-gee)
Post by: skw on October 08, 2009, 10:42:23 pm
our train is going forth. . . yet not enough time to finish it tonight. :(

(http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/trains3.png)
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (another C64 pee-ahr-gee)
Post by: Mathias on October 09, 2009, 02:48:27 am
C64 wide pixels. Hmm, it's morphed quite a bit. I like the odd impressionistic stylin' you got goin' on.  It's different. What software do you use? You must have some nifty brushes (which is not a bad thing [darn pixel purists]).
Your latest version is much more inviting to peer into, though it does lose some energy - the chaotic purple and grey texturing of original was too stark/jarring/repelling. This version's distinction between foreground and background is ambiguous - I'm not sure if the yellow mountains/ground texturing is distant background or closer middle ground. Grey/purple/light blue "cloud" far right is also ambiguous, it doesn't seem to be anything/abstracted. It's behind the apparently distant mountains so it can't be foliage, must just be sky gradient shading.
The way the figure's head sits on his neck, partly obscured by his large collar distracts me, his head looks disembodied, like it's floating, that was my first when I saw it - I wasn't sure if it was his head right off, because of it's disconnection. Actually not a huge issue, only a small touch-up will fix.  The smaller moon lower left of large planet is distracting, perhaps less contrast for it. Nothing else in the scene is shaded like it, it sticks out.
Since you're emphasizing emotion, even greater abstraction could work. I like the wispy grey stuff upper left - it doesn't suck attention and it fills in some space lending something interesting for the eyes to bounce around on.
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (another C64 pee-ahr-gee)
Post by: skw on October 09, 2009, 06:53:36 am
thank you, Mathias. I pixel in ProMotion (V6) which is not a straight widepixel painting software, so that what occasionally happens is that I work on the normal size pixels then scale them down and up again. I'm using tall brushes mainly, like the ones graffiti is sometimes made with; never considered it a dirty trick. :)

you know, it's one of those pieces you keep doodling in your spare time not really to pixel but to calm down after a tiring day, I guess that's why I'm taking it slow, and change a lot during the process.

I'm glad to hear the new version is much more pleasant to the eye, I wanted to retain some of the lost energy in its composition so that the clouds on the right haven't been left out (which way I also tested, with the planet moved a little to the right).

The floating cranium issue, I hear you; and probably know what to do with it. I guess I will also need to stress/lit up the coat a little bit more. the foreground/background ambiguity can be fixed up by deleting that black stuff to the bottom left, this is another thing I'm going to focus on. I will think of the clouds as well, and try to find a place for the smaller sphere.
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (another C64 pee-ahr-gee)
Post by: skw on October 11, 2009, 07:24:48 am
will get back to the main piece soon, as for yesterday I was preoccupied with this:

(http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/midibot.png) (http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/midibot2.png)

http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/47122.htm :D
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (C64) + my tall-pixel experiment (new) :D
Post by: skw on October 15, 2009, 04:23:33 pm
perhaps i killed it by adding too many complex lines and shapes, but well. . . you just have to call it quits at some point.

(http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/trainz.png)
http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/trainz.prg (http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/trainz.prg) (C64 executable)

once again, thank you guys!

http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/47296.htm
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (C64) + my tall-pixel experiment (new) :D
Post by: Helm on October 17, 2009, 12:45:44 am
yes I think there's too much going on for its own good. Rough edit:

(http://img391.imageshack.us/img391/744/trainz2.png) (http://stuckinthe90s.eu/pixels/trainz.png)

This is the same issue I've had with a lot of your past works. More details and stuff doesn't make a better picture all the time, and especially with mood pieces I think it usually detracts.
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (C64) + my tall-pixel experiment (new) :D
Post by: QuickSilva on October 17, 2009, 07:10:35 am
I agree with Helm. By removing distracting details the viewer can imagine what would be in the scene instead of having them all forced on them at once. Also, the small added black in the lower right adds some balance to the overall piece.

All in all though, very nice.

Jason.
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (C64) + my tall-pixel experiment (new) :D
Post by: skw on October 18, 2009, 03:05:28 pm
thank you!

This is the same issue I've had with a lot of your past works. More details and stuff doesn't make a better picture all the time, and especially with mood pieces I think it usually detracts.
you're right, usually i have too many ideas to incorporate in just one piece. that wouldn't be much of a problem if we were discussing bigger canvases, but the resolution of 160/200 pixels is just not enough. sometimes i create the details one by one separately (as was the case here, since i worked on it nights, a few in a row), then search nervously for some space where to place them. you end up with having too many details just like i did with this one. frankly, i wouldn't know what to do with them if not the edit where you have this fresh insight in the design you look at all the time. yeah, it's much more atmospheric without the star layer and, as quicksilva says, much more balanced without the purple shit on the left (your edit adds some more depth top the scene).
alright, then i'll try to eradicate this nasty habit (i'm just recalling the industrial dawn feedback you gave me and it turned out to be one of my most successful pieces), just as the necktwisting problem. thanks for pointing that out, i do appreciate it.
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (C64) + my tall-pixel experiment (new) :D
Post by: Helm on October 18, 2009, 07:54:11 pm
no worries. Canvas size has nothing to do with it. Doing one idea justice is hard enough, doing 10 of them in the same piece is always much more difficult even if the piece is huge.
Title: Re: [wip] Far Away Trains Passing By (C64) + my tall-pixel experiment (new) :D
Post by: skw on October 18, 2009, 08:46:06 pm
that's right, but if i had a bit bigger canvas size i could always expand the composition so that all the details are not in the same place all at once. nevertheless, as what we have agreed on before, the case with mood pieces is that the less is the better, or the more space the better the impact -- whatever the canvas size, that's right.

and what do you think about the tall-pixel piece?