I'm sick, so started on some pixel piece to pass the time.

28 colours so far, not planning on passing 32.





Comments and critique apreciated.

Hi there.

I made an edit for you.
It's only the head and chest area I edited.


Though the idea is very nice, the execution is currently lacking a bit. One of the things that stands out the most to me is that you seem to want this to be TOO smooth.
In pixel art, there's often no room for this since it's at such a small resolution. You want everything to look well defined and readable. That is your first priority. After that you can smooth things out.
But still, you don't want to loose any of that volume or readability because you smoothed it out too much.

One of the reasons that it looks so soft, and lacking in contrast, is the amount of colours you used.
ProMotion counted a whopping 100 colours!

This is far more than you'll ever need in pixel art. In the largest of pieces you might need 64(And even then, a really complex piece. Such as http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/6661.htm), and in mockups you may find more sometimes because of a lack of optimalisation.
For a pixel art this size you will never need more than ~32 colours.
You have so many useless colours in this! And with useless, I mean colours that you can't differentiate from one another.
There are many colours that are practically the same, but just a teeny tiny bit lighter. This is unneeded.
Try to use as little colours as possible. You might even be able to make this look better with as little as 20 colours or so.

You also seem to put too much effort into the textures, before you've created the basic forms. And in this way volumes are obscured. Which makes the whole piece look flat, and dull.
You seem to have tried some secondary lighting, by letting that light from the fire light the underside of her breasts. Though correct, it's too much.
Just a subtle line as I demonstrated in my edit suffices. It's also alot less light than in your version. Because the light does loose some of it's intensity when it hits that cloth.
On metal it would probably be the same colour, but on a matte surface like a dress, it would never remain it's original intensity.

What I suggest here is that you study some pixel art upclose. Discover what makes it pixel art.
And I also think a volume study wouldn't be out of place here. Study how light falls on an object, and what it does to the form, the contrast and the overall appearance of the object.

It's looking pretty nice so far.
The biggest problem I'm seeing here is that it isn't anatomically correct.
I don't know if you have used any references. If you didn't: You should.
Here's a few pictures you could use:
http://vote29.com/myblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/human_male_skull.jpg
http://www.daviddarling.info/images/human_skull_side.jpg

Another problem is that you're not using enough colours to really define the forms in the skull.
It appears rather flat now because you simply haven't added enough contrast. I used 2 more shades in this edit to demonstrate what I mean:

[I also played with the lighting from the eyes a bit, hehe]

I think I fixed most annatomical issues here, and fixed the volume problems you had going on.

Quote from: ndchristie on August 13, 2009, 08:14:52 am

I've come out of lurking just for this one topic!  Feel spesh?

Gee, I'm honored

Quote

I don't really have the time to talk much about this yeti, but after reading this, i can say a few things with absolute certainty that were apparent from the first post and not disproved by the latest:

speed and workflow are more dependent on the artist's confidence in his form than the media itself, and quality is highly dependent on the way a work is shown.

As for your estimate, I actually think there's a dozen people here that could do a nice sketch in 1 hour, especially those who own tablets but not necessarily.  I don't want to call them out, I don't think dick-waving contests further artistic expression, but all of the mods plus fool, st0ven, snake, etc could no doubt lay out a figure with some rough planes and texture sketches.

http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/15981.htm# i use Helm as a reference because I remember being impressed with the speed he notes here when he posted it.
Where does that speed come from?  Is it from years working with a mouse?  Is it from years of traditional drawing?  Is it from not really caring about how long he spends on something?  Is it from enjoying what he does?  I can only guess, but I would assume all of those are factors.

The original sketch you posted, the shrunken and cleaned version, it might be good for some places, but it's not good on a very clear or very large screen and because it was not done though by hand, it would take a much longer effort to be made say, handheld-ready than it would take to clean a pixelled image.

In the end my main question though is - why are you so desperate to prove this point?  Are you trying to prove that an ability to place more than a single pixel at a time covers ground more quickly?  We don't need research to show that, it's apparent from its own framing.  Pixel art is about having a quality and attention all its own, not about being quick and dirty (and that posted sketch is REALLY dirty).

If you want to improve your speed and skill with pixels, don't waste your time tying to prove that it's slow, believe in yourself for more than 30 minutes and make things happen.  ignore the clock, ignore other means, find yourself in the media and draw.  If all you're after is becoming a better low-res photoshop artist, there are other forums.  Just making a topic about what you don't want to do and don't think others can if they tried (despite evidence ALL OVER THIS SITE) is confusing to me.

I get the feeling that you're taking things to seriously and from an angle that does nobody benefit.  Turn off the stopwatch.  Paint a tree in your yard.  paint a caterpillar on the tree.  paint your face with jam.  tickle a baby.  REVEL IN SOMETHING.  I don't love the manarilla because helm did it in an hour, i love it because it's so little and freaky and the red is just so rewarding to look at!!The rest of us are almost universally here because we love what we do.  To seek dismissal, to label things impossible (or unworthy)-- these pursuits are fruitless and depressing.  I hope something in here clicks .

I was going to do a thorough response to this but then I though why bother, I'll just reiterate my original point:

Talk is cheap, show me something of similar quality done in an hour. So far all I've heard is talk and statements like "you just aren't good enough", and "you gotta have the right workflow" .

Quote from: Scribblette on August 13, 2009, 06:36:26 am

I'm a bit confused over why on something meant to be incredibly hairy we'd see the muscles as well defined as they are here, most notably on the arm. To be honest, to my unprofessional eye, the shoulder volumes look better defined in Helm's version, the hair better in the three relevant edits provided - and I also see what look like stray white pixels towards the left, making it look grainier than miscdude's attempt. Maybe there is more to be learnt from them?

As for the stray pixels, those were intentional and were meant to add to the backlighting / reflective effect.

To me it looks good, but its one of those things that some people won't like and some will. It's also possible that I overdid it in some parts, but I'm pretty much done with this piece, so I'll live with it.

Okay. Show you something of similair or better quality of something done within an hour.
Did you even read Nd's post?

I'll post the link again:
http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/15981.htm#

That. It's quality wise superior to yours, and done within an hour.

Why are you dismissing every help that's being handed to you?

Are you so incredibly convinced that you are right and everyone else is wrong?
Why is is so important for you to show everyone that it's impossible for you to make something excellent in an hour?

It IS possible to make something of quality in an hour. Something that Mantrilla by Helm proves.
Just because you can't pull it off because of a lack of experience, doesn't mean there isn't a single pixel artist who can.

You seem hellbent on proving to everyone that pixel art is terrible, tedious, time consuming work.
But if you hate pixel art as much as you seem to: Why do you even bother making pixel art?
You've always seemed like a very reasonable person to me, but your attitude in this topic isn't doing that assumption much justice.