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Messages - Dessa
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21
Pixel Art / Re: Another Pony 100x100
« on: April 07, 2011, 08:01:42 am »
Quote from: pistachio on April 07, 2011, 07:20:06 am

And the muzzle protrudes, not sinks in--it makes her nose look like that of a cat or some other non-equine creature. Instead of putting a highlight above it, try putting a highlight on it (see StaticSails' edit).

Take a second look at the source.  The nostrils in particular.  If I add a highlight where Static put it, it's casting light under the nose.

*scrolls down*

 Then again, maybe I'm flip-flopping the persective here.  I saw the line in the pencil at the top of the nose, as though we could see the jaw and nostrils and the flat surface atop the nose isn't visible.  You're seeing the line as the fold where the bridge of the nose goes forward, which would mean we're seeing a lot of the top surface of the nose.  Looking it the picture in the top right of the reference, you guys might indeed have the right idea -- I can't tell for sure.  Either way, it would definitely read better the way you guys are seeing it.

Huh, I wasn't familiar with the terminology of banding until now, and I think I was only halfway aware of the concept.  Yeah, that stretch is giving me trouble.  I feel like it's where the shadow should lie, but it doesn't look terribly good.  What to do?  I'll fidget with it some more.

The other leg seems too thick to me too, now that you point it out.  It was in the sketch too, it seems, but I guess that's the sort of thing that makes that a sketch and not a final.  I'll thin it out a bit.  The other anatomical problem here that's just started to bother me is that her mane only sprouts from the top of her head, and not along her neck, which is both unlike ponies RL AND unlike Hasbro's pony designs.

As for the martini on her flank, yeah, cutie marks are a major pain.  I'll see what I can do, but I spent a good while failing to make that recognizable.  The irritating part of these is that they're identifiers for ponies almost more so than the faces (which can look pretty similar), so to eliminate it here is to lose something of value.  Making it bigger is the only thing I can think of, and meh to that idea.  I'll try it anyway though.

Oh, and yeah, she's a fan character.  Can't see Hasbro being cool with a bartender pony encouraging debauchery and alcoholism.

22
Pixel Art / Re: Another Pony 100x100
« on: April 07, 2011, 02:10:52 am »

Made the background transparent.  She matches the decor here!  Happy coincidence.

For the sake of practice, I moved the lighting from where you had it to slightly behind where it was (so that I'd have to struggle with my own color blots rather than using yours, Static).

THe biggest problem area is the head, and I'm not sure what to do there.  Now that I'm posting it, maybe the highlight on her flank should be a smidge larger?


23
Pixel Art / Re: Another Pony 100x100
« on: April 05, 2011, 10:51:10 pm »
Quote from: StaticSails on April 05, 2011, 07:53:42 pm


Just smoothed out some lines. Quickly (and poorly!) tossed on a highlight to see how it would look.

Just try rendering this out a bit more.

Ooh, now we're talking.  I was probably going to work on my shading next (since I haven't done much of it, and it's a weak point).  I left it out of the original because the show it's based on is so flat shaded, but I'm not against making this look better than the show :)

I guess the eyelashes in mine looked like an eyebrow, since that's what it became it your edit, so I probably need to make it more obvious that they're lashes if possible.  Looks great though.

I'm looking at your line smoothing and seeing quite a few things you did differently.  The most obvious was to change the outlines that overlap the figure to a lighter shade.  Why?  This would seem to remove some of the dimension.  Shouldn't nearer objects be bolder?  Or is there a more important principle I'm forgetting here?   I like what you did to the hair up top, and overall, it looks like you've thickened the major outlines, which really enhances the composition.

You also removed most AA from the outside, but isn't that only important when you have to deal with different backgrounds?  Against a white background, shouldn't the outsides be anti-aliased as anything else?

24
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP] Sakura sprite
« on: April 05, 2011, 05:33:20 pm »
Quote from: Helm on March 31, 2011, 04:25:22 pm
The way you highlight everything makes the sprite overbright and as if its hit by flash photography lighting at that. The selout is outmodded technology which I sincerily suggest to you that you reconsider. What is it achieving that you cannot achieve with other means?

Well, since you offered to explain it, what is the selout (I looked it up, but the answers were unclear), why is it outmoded, and what techniques better achieve a similar effect?

25
General Discussion / Re: what is your favorite pixel art program for any operating system.
« on: April 04, 2011, 11:08:23 pm »
I'm took everyone's advice a couple weeks back and started using Cosmigo Promotion.  Haven't looked back, even if it is a bear to learn.

26
Pixel Art / Re: Another Pony 100x100
« on: April 04, 2011, 09:40:54 pm »
I'm not familiar with the terminology, but I'm guessing you're talking about where the lines meet between the right rear hoof and the front left hoof and things get all blendy looking?  Yeah, that's the most problematic element in this, IMO.  I know my friend will be happy with this and totally not even see that, but I'd kinda like to see what fixes it.

Move it UP, you say?  I suspect it will make the middle more cluttered, but I'll give it a shot and see how it looks.  I'll take a looking at nudging it rightward or downward as well, and maybe connect that island of whitespace there.

Shading the back leg might improve it as well.

I'll post a revision after I grab some grub.

Original --------->Leg moved Right > Moved up ---->  Shaded


It wouldn't have occurred to me to move it up, but it looks the best of that batch (or perhaps shaded does), at least without heavier editing.  Rightward throws the anatomy off a little, and it'd need editing to make it work, but in theory, it'd solve the problem.  Shaded gives it the most pop, and it ought to have occurred to me eariler.  It would have saved a lot of time fidgeting at the borders.

I extended the knee line into the body for all of these, and it gives it just a bit more shape.

27
Pixel Art / Another Pony 100x100
« on: April 04, 2011, 11:22:34 am »
I made this one in part as a surprise gift to a friend, who designed, pencil sketched, and provided the colors for this pony, and in part to work on improving my line work.



Rough-Draft Line sketch

This is what I colored over, and I moved the lines around a bit when I did so.  Looking back, the lines I thought cleanest were roughest, and the lines I thought roughest were cleanest.


Almost-Final:
Final:

Reference sketch:


I'm already seeing a few places I goofed, (I always notice the mistakes more easily when I'm about to show people something I'm proud of), and one or two confusing elements that could use something extra to distinguish them, but I'll see what you guys find before I go at myself...

This one uses 10 colors.


28
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP]Novice, working on smileys for another board C+C welcome
« on: April 01, 2011, 12:42:51 am »
This being my first project and all, work has been haphazard, and if I'm learning anything, it's how to plan a project better next time around. 

I've tweaked a few of them and trashed a few of them, but I'm starting to feel like one image will become a template for the others:


 
1st > Current

Does anyone else ever feel like "I just did all that work, and all I managed to fix was four or five millimeters?"  I feel like that.  But them's pixels, I suppose.

I added colors, like Tourist suggested, to make lines cleaner and to help distinguish adjacent elements from one another.  I increased contrast between the face and face outline, and between the face base and the hair base (and the background), and I tweaked her hairline.  I'm leaving her yellow because she is a smiley, and some things are sacred in this world.

I also did that little half-pixel trick on the bottom of the face, and while I'm not settled on it being necessary in this particular image, it's working for some others (they need more love before I'll post them here though).  Also, that's a really neat trick.

I stole a technique I saw in Pokémon to suggest depth by making the "furthest" outline pixels lighter than the "nearest" ones.

And although it wasn't suggested by anyone, I restyled the hair so it didn't look like a Donald Trump Shredded Wheat biscuit.  This matches the hairlines of the references a bit more closely (the first one was more "human" looking), and isn't as Picasso-ey with the weird juxtaposed perspectives.

On the right track?

29
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP]Novice, working on smileys for another board C+C welcome
« on: March 29, 2011, 05:05:38 am »
Well, I should confess I'm working with a pirated copy of it, and I can only find Pro Motion in 4.7.  Suffice it to say I'm too broke at the moment for the real deal, or I'd buy a legit copy.  It either works differently or doesn't seem to be available in this version.

30
Pixel Art / Re: [WIP]Novice, working on smileys for another board C+C welcome
« on: March 27, 2011, 11:59:07 pm »
Dude, Pro Motion is the shit.  It's totally worth the effort.  One question I'm having trouble finding the answer to:  is it possible to reassign a set of pixels to a different location in the palette editor?  I'd like to be able to arrange the colors how I like spatially, but if all the yellow pixels are looking to the palette slot row 1, column 3, it limits how I can arrange them.  The help menu and Google haven't yielded an answer.

And FWIW, increasing the contrast is making everything make just a bit more sense.  Previously, I was making an effort to adhere as strictly as was sensible to the palette of the show, which is pretty tonal.  While the show's designs make for clear, understandable animation, they weren't intended for such small designs (although, it appears that some of the same things that make animated characters read well help out with teensy weensy things too, which is nice).

I've messed with the shapes a little here and there as well, moving that hairline around like Tourist suggested (is there a paint-style selection tool in promotion?  I can't seem to just pick up a part of an image and shift it -- it always turns into the brush), which has been really illuminating, so I've got plenty of crap to do now.  I'll post again when I'm stuck or when I'm satisfied.  What I've got right now could use some tuning, but it does look better.

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