Pixelation

Critique => Pixel Art => Topic started by: neverest on March 18, 2006, 12:30:20 am

Title: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: neverest on March 18, 2006, 12:30:20 am
I don't spend any time just practicing spriting so I thought I'd try something for fun. The main thing I wanted to do was use a more conventional and logical process, as I have the habit of lining one bit, then colouring it before I've even finished measuring out the proportions. Also I'm generaly bad at stances so i thought I'd practice with a robot.
(http://img473.imageshack.us/img473/1053/robofin4uv.gif)

and this was the process:
(http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/4946/roboprog3ga.gif)

any crits apreciated. thanks
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: David on March 18, 2006, 04:25:41 am
I think you've done very well in all that you set out to do. Everything looks very solid but the last step. I think dithering hurts in this case. I understand why you did it, but if this thing is made of metal or shiny plastic the dithering ruins the effect. Also you shifted the contrast down a notch (this is most evident to me in the side of the head) taking away a bit of the crispness it had. My final minor quibble is that you could add some nice detailing on him. Run some lines down the sides, numbers, letters, or any sort of design. He's quite plain at the moment.

Hope I haven't discouraged you -- it's actually very nice.
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Lick on March 18, 2006, 09:54:16 am
That's a nice mech! I like the fact that you showed the progress, really inspiring. I agree with David that the dithering in the final image kinda removed the glossiness. And also, the gloss doesn't seem constant; the head seems to be shinier than the rest of the body.
Some area's of the image look pillowshaded, for example the left-arm.
The secondary light, I'm not sure where it comes from. The right (really close to his ass), or top-right (that would make his back reflect also, but it doesn't)?

BTW, I would love to see a completely selective outlined version.  :o
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Nix on March 18, 2006, 12:04:20 pm
that would make such a nice game . i adore the colour scheme. :D
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: neverest on March 18, 2006, 02:35:58 pm
ok, updated version:


(http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/4346/robofin23lo.gif)


Thanks, yes you were right about the dithering David, I much prefer it without. Generarally I find a lot of robots I see a bit fussy with unneccesary ornamentation, so I went with more of a shapely style. But I can see now it may want a little something in some of the larger areas. I also might practice doing a much dirtier version like my original pencil sketch.

Agreed the secondary lighting was a bit off, hopefully thats rectified now. it should be pointing towards his back (west south-west). I think what threw it most was the shine on the head which I've moved round. I've also tried to make the glossiness more consistent.
Thanks for all the help.


Edit: tried a distressed version:

(http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/839/roborust9eh.gif)
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Rawsushi on March 18, 2006, 08:41:30 pm
Love the design. I think I prefer the lighter version of the robot more.

I did an edit of the darker version. Hope you don't mind.

It's animated against the original so you can see what I changed.

(http://www.monsoon2d.com/images/thedump/isorobotedit.gif)
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: baccaman21 on March 19, 2006, 06:53:09 pm
Hey neverest... hope you not sour with me after the Background thing? :S

This looks cool man... love the design... really sweet.

Have you considered knocking the far arm and leg into the b/g a touch... ? To make the foreground limbs stand proud a little?
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Dhaos on March 19, 2006, 08:53:57 pm
Nifty, I like the topmost version alot, more subtle shading. Being that you used a dark outline, might consider AA'ing more to it...

Monsoon2d, great edit. Contrast is your friend.
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: neverest on March 19, 2006, 09:07:48 pm
Hi Monsoon2D, no I dont mind when its pretty like that!
I wasnt very happy with the optical bit in mine so I've gone for a bit of a compromise, I realy liked what you did, but I wanted to keep a bit of colour in there as well. I've also taken into account some of the other bits you did, the undershine is really nice and I've applied that to some more of the body, also I was initially worried too much aa might spoil the style but after seeing yours I've added that to most of the edges. Oh  I've also added some proper shadow to the legs and back.

(http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/5531/botnew24ty.gif)

baccaman21, no thats fine, fundamentally I am here to learn, although I felt I'd followed the rules, I just wasnt sure if I'd done something wrong, but I can't say I lost much sleep about not having set up the gif pallette! I'll worry about that when Mr Nintendos knocks on my door with a sack of loot  :P

Back to the bot, basically, no. hehe I hadnt thought about it but I guess I could maybe desaturate them a little. To be honest I'm not really too keen on that look, its ok on a side view, but in that case it greatly helps tidy up any animation, which I dont think is such a problem in iso. Regardless I might try it anyway, I may change my mind when I see it.

Thanks for the comments etc

Edit: Thanks Dhaos, yeah particularly after seeing that edit I'd noticed that also, hopefully thats rectified a bit in the new version.
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Dhaos on March 19, 2006, 09:19:19 pm
Nice update, the orb could use some shading on < side to indicate its more round...basically darking it slowly with your existing tones. It would also be pretty cool if you gave some illumination to the barrel of the gun. The blue you used on the orb might do. Again very nice fixes, this bots turing out well.
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Darion on March 19, 2006, 10:15:48 pm
Oh, I love this. I think what you have now is great.I like the mood of the second one a lot more.

I do have one question, though. What is that bit coming from his neck to his ... thigh? It seems like a border or so, but its hard to make out. Unless hes made of rubber, you should add some kind of device that enables him to rotate his head, because it looks like his body is bending.

Nice job.
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: baccaman21 on March 20, 2006, 09:22:49 am
...phew... that makes me glad.  ;D


look at these interesting results... based on my previous suggestion to ya... (yeah I know you said you're not keen on the look but I was curious to see what it might look like....)


So I did two tests, one where I darkened the rear leg and arm...which I think looks kinda nice. But I'm inclined to agree with you neverest that perhaps it wouldn't neccessarily work in ISO...
(http://pete.ptoing.net/Petes_Pixels/Bot_darkened_leg_n_arm.gif)

The second one based on what you were saying about not really liking that style, so I chose to go with what you're saying and compromise a bit with what I like to do with outlines... I'm not that keen on full black outlines, (as you may have noticed) so I thought I'd knock back those legs by tinting the outline... it's subtle... but I think it works... and is an interesting result.
(http://pete.ptoing.net/Petes_Pixels/Bot_lightened_leg_n_arm_line_only.gif)
It's interesting because the interior colors appear subdued... this is a perfect example of what I call 'tonal edging' - it may have a proper name but its something I discovered a long time ago.

I used to edge everything in black. But, one of the things with outlining in pixels is that the color you choose to outline and area with tends to effect the interior colors. An interesting experiment is do is to take a WHITE square and edge it with various color tones, see what happens to the white... it takes on the color of the edging. It tends to work better the smaller the area but It's an opticle illusion that one can take advantage of when pixeling... it's a bit like adding a color wash when painting on canvas in acrylic. 
(http://pete.ptoing.net/Petes_Pixels/Color_outline_test.gif)
Having said that Black edging does make sprites stand out it's true, but sometimes It can be overwhelmingling distracting and besides there are other ways to make your sprites jump out from the screen - I guess it comes down to design and style.

Generally speaking I very rarely use black in sprites these days. I use dark tones. Very dark tones. Really Deep Blue, Sometimes Purple... but that's just me...

Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: neverest on March 20, 2006, 06:41:01 pm
Actually they're both nice, and the tonal edging effect is certainly interesting.
If I were to use one I think I'd be inclined to go with the second one. Although the first is nice I feel it might be a bit severe if used in a game, particularly I was thinking if you had several of the bots onscreen - some in front of others might look a bit odd.
I like the subtlety of the second one, its enough to make those limbs stand deeper than the rest. It may even be an idea to go one step further and use the darkest blue to outline the torso and head, then perhaps make the black an almost-black and leave that on the nearest arm and leg.

with the black edging, its not something I always do, in fact I can say that i dont really have any set style yet, as until now I've only pixelled for whatever game I happen to be working on at the time.
It is something I'm quite fond of as a style sometimes, the only reason I used it on this was that the colours I was using reminded me of some pen & wash work I used to do, and I thought it would be nice to hint at that.

This was an update I did yesterday but never posted. I had missed some aa and I redid the barrel shine. Thats assuming its a gun and not an industrial leaf blower.
(http://www.whitevinyldesign.com/stuff/robo_rust.gif)
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: vedsten on March 20, 2006, 06:59:20 pm
love how that piece is turning out, adorable colors as well as design, single crit: you might wanna remove the bottom part of the dark outline, defining the barrelhole and replace it with a highlight instead, keep it up
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: BlackEye on March 29, 2006, 12:18:21 pm
hey neverest

i guess there's someone ripping your art
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/30867704/

and i think this isn't you, because he also upped mockups from kenneth fejer
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Lick on March 29, 2006, 01:04:48 pm
O my, that guy really sick in his head? He's even saying things like 'This is my best work to date! Has taken me over 2 weeks to complete, and is really actually one of my most faviourte pixel works ive done.'

Screwed up :S
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Rerg1 on March 29, 2006, 01:08:09 pm
Wow nice man. The Colour around the barrel is really kewl  ;D
I wanna see more man.
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: baccaman21 on March 29, 2006, 01:31:10 pm
naughty naughty - very naughty...  :'(

Get the gloves out dude... time to crack some skullz...
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: neverest on March 29, 2006, 01:44:18 pm
 :o I'm shocked, thanks for pointing this out BlackEye. I guess I'll have to join deviantart just so I can cyberkick his ass. He could have at least ripped the newest version haha
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: BlackEye on March 29, 2006, 01:45:34 pm
O my, that guy really sick in his head? He's even saying things like 'This is my best work to date! Has taken me over 2 weeks to complete, and is really actually one of my most faviourte pixel works ive done.'

Screwed up :S
i hate this kind of people...
i wrote an email to kenneth and he already replied on this guy's dA page

i'm glad i found him while i was browsing the pixelart section, neverest :)
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: baccaman21 on March 29, 2006, 01:50:56 pm
oooo... scandal... I don't see no post from kenneth... if someone took my material and claimed it as their own I'd gut the mutherfunster...
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: BlackEye on March 29, 2006, 01:54:21 pm
oooo... scandal... I don't see no post from kenneth... if someone took my material and claimed it as their own I'd gut the mutherfunster...
http://hazorthepirate.deviantart.com/ latest comment
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: neverest on March 29, 2006, 01:56:32 pm
Yeah I just read Kenneths post. Well I just emailed deviantart and informed them, pointing them to this topic so hopefully they can sort it out. Thanks again.
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: baccaman21 on March 29, 2006, 02:06:15 pm
GET IN!!! Have it!!!
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: ptoing on March 29, 2006, 02:17:53 pm
ask them if they can give you his ip number. then we can check if it's also a member from here or kick his ass if he should ever come here.
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Lick on March 29, 2006, 04:01:42 pm
ahh greatness! SWEET ASS KICKING around here!!  :P
Title: Re: Isometric bot...thing
Post by: Darion on March 30, 2006, 07:46:11 pm
Uhm ... I'll just say congratulations. I am waiting for the day when someone rips my art. Its not like they could do something equal if they tried, so I wouldn't worry about it.