Hello,

I don't post on here often so let me introduce myself a bit. I have worked on pixel art since 2005, here and there, mainly to mock up games that I liked. For the past year I have been working on my first actual game project that I call X-Fire. It is based off of a lot of elements from old RPGs, such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest from the NES and Mario RPG of the SNES. I always wanted to relive a new RPG that gave a VERY similar feel but striving for its own. While those RPGs were based off the past medieval times, I was trying to recreate something more modern, dark themed.

My problem is, I am not using correct pixel art methods, I'm told. I am also aware of my excess use in dithering, but I enjoy how it adds its own mood to my dark theme. I'm not sure if there are other ways of achieving this theme, and would like to know if there are. I am aware that my light source is inconsistent on separate pieces (monsters) and I have shaded them poorly. I wish I could see if someone more experienced can help me with these issues. Perhaps even redo one of my sprites just to see if I can still achieve the same dark theme I'm striving for, if that's not too much to ask. I would like to learn a better approach to what I am doing wrong.



Please be gentle, I've worked hard and long on designing each monster. :/

If I use the other programs there's no other way I could master myself in Byond.

Byond has it as a convienience tool for small editing, really. I frequent Byond, however rarely, and I use GIMP. Just because I can't stand BYOND's little pixel editor doesn't mean I'm a horrible artist. (check my deviantart if you want to compare, it's on my website link here).

To respond to your last post: No you're not. The one before this post had better contrast between color, really. If you're trying to go for a leafy visual, I recommend trying to actually draw a leaf, and small leaves to form patterns, before you draw the tree. IMHO, you should ignore the shading and work with the outline first. Your outline is disproportioned on many levels. For starters trees usually show branches for some detail. Yours looks like it's psyically uncertain of where all the leaves are from. I'm sure there are cartoony appearances like this, but if you're going for a realistic approach, got to show those branches.

Did you draw the one before these 2? Because if you're going for a cartoony approach, that is more of a way to go than what you're doing now with these last 2.

But for some odd reason I just can't handle it with 5 brush size ._.'

Sometimes you have to go lower. I personally use brush size 1 for all my drawing/details (excluding large parts of coloring of course). It takes time, just be patient. I think you're just trying to rush your way through this. It isn't easy, but you'll get it down!

Gave a little minor detail and shine to the 'Kat', 'Venom Lizard', 'Blaze N' Bullet', 'Mage', and the isometric character sprites. Changed the color to the 'Beetle Knight' to not look too colorful. Added 'Hell Hound'.

Looks like I missed it with my horrible schedule. Best luck to all of you.

Correction, he's using BMP, not JPG. If you are trying to get a critique, use neither. I'm not sure about GIF though, I believe it has a 256 color limit, but of course, you're not going to use that much when coloring/shading work like that.

Rudy, not to be rude, but you didn't do much, except make a couple things slightly better (eliminating pillow shading for the shoes/legs), and everything else worse.

Marc, you don't have to exclusively use black as an outline. In fact, it's actually a better practice you don't at all. Where the light source fades away you should outline it with a darker shade. Where the light source starts, use a lighter shade. Also, darker shades in color theory tends to be blueish. Don't be afraid to use a mixture of colors (ie: blueish green or yellow) for shading opposed to using strictly, say, green. This applies to all your colors, they're too straightforward to actually represent detail. Another note is not to pillow shade, like you did with the shoes and legs. You had the head going in the right direction, but you're disregarding your own light source where his hair is blocking.

The bomb he is holding is ok, but it's a bit dark. Lighten it a bit.

I would explain more, or even show you what I am talking about, but I'm lucky enough to get the time to comment.

Hopefully someone can show you how to shade a bit better.