Fresh to the medium of the pixel! small artworks

[Bromden]

Hi,

As mentioned, I am brand new to pixel art. I have been sketching and painting IRL for a good amount of years now, but I thought I would take a look inside this genre I had long neglected. to get to the point, I have been painting with Photoshop for the last couple days, but this evening I decided I would like to work on a much more hands-on, precise method of painting, that being the placing and erasing of individual pixels!
One thing I particularly enjoy about using blocks of colour is how our eyes seem to build a texture up using the limited information. Because I was a quite keen to try this out to its full extent, the bee-keeper looks a little chaotic; suggestions on how to decrease the madness without taking away too much from the piece would be much appreciated!

I have been primarily working with lighting and colour; please excuse the clichéd city scene, it is after all just a tester!

I would appreciate some constructive criticism on both the bee-keeper and the city scape, as I would like very much to work on them a little more.

I have enlarged both pieces for convenience sake, and because they look a little better that way 


CityScape:


Bee-keeper(light background):


Bee-keeper(dark background):


Thanks!


here are the images at there real size:

[Mathias]

Ahhh discovering the joy of the pixel, eh? You have made a very wise choice in finally acting upon your instincts.
A warning though - PA is extremely time consuming if done well.

Now how much of stuff like this -
http://wayofthepixel.net/index.php?topic=8110.0
http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299
have been able to review?

[Bromden]

I had read the pixel joint post, but Hilns I had not. Interesting read, he made the process sound (to me at least) much more akin to tile work and mosaics, which I had never really associated it with. thanks for the link!

I would however appreciate some advice for my own work. When I begin a picture, I tend to use rapid, interpretive lines of varying shades to explore the form of the object (much like sketching). This initially feels very wrong, but somehow I muddle through to a better picture. The methods referenced in the pixel joint post were the following: 1. line drawing--> filling in, and 2. using patches of colour and working up detail. Currently I have only really worked on a canvas of 32 by 64, or around that, and I am struggling to transition to a large size... which method would you recommend(considering the work I've showed you)?

Finally, how can I improve my bee-keeper? there still seems to be something "off" about it!

Thanks!