a mug shot

[gamingjustin]

I'd never done a pixel from reference, so I figured a cut and dry self portrait would be a good place to start. I feel it looks inconsistent in its current state, but I'm unsure of how to fix it-- the ears and hair especially. Is it possible the palette is affecting this? I can get a smooth look on the face, but the darker areas are more difficult. So, if anyone can lend a hand-- any tips/suggestions at all-- it would be much appreciated! I want it to look polished, but it still looks incomplete.

Also, I was all over the place when I worked on this. I started in an old version of Photoshop Elements, roughing in values and line work. Then, I shifted gears to the recently discovered Grafx2 which is wayyyy beyond my understanding at the time being. I mucked around with colors for what seemed like an eternity until I settled on the pale red/purple look. Afterwords I shrunk it down and chopped it a bit; 128x128 was too large for me. I hacked at it to make it more defined, then flipped back to Photoshop to jack up the contrast and seriously work on the individual pixels. Whew. So, now I'm stuck.

[Pointlesssoldier]

Whoa... I'd say you pretty much nailed it. I guess the only issue (as you noticed, as well) would be the ears. I would make them parallel to the sides of the face. Also, the AA near the darker side of the face seems a bit jagged. I'd smooth that out.

You pretty much got most of the work done, so congrats! I'd do an edit, but I have a calculus test to study for...

[gamingjustin]

thanks for the input! yeah, i guess those ears wing out a bit and looking at the reference they're a bit more tall and straight. i took note of the poor dithering on the neck and realized there are other problems as well (thickness and such). i'll pick at it some more.

[Mathias]

Pretty good job, man. The newer palette is much nicer, too.

I saw too much difference in likeness too really be happy with this, though. I did a quick analysis edit type thing - original on left, toggling pixelled version you made/quick sacrilegious Photoshop color redux to prove the pixels could be better placed, outlines of major elements traced using your pixel version/outlines of major elements traced using the Photoshop blasphemy version.



Yeah, I went ahead and finished the top of the head manually. Why on earth did you crop it? Create the thing, then crop it for application to different purposes, such as an avatar. If you crop it now, you'll be forced to use it cropped that like for everything, it's much more flexible to have all those pixels there if you need 'em.

[gamingjustin]

Wow, that's a tremendous help! It always bothered me how the first, rough grayscale version looked more like me than the final. I was so focused on getting a smooth look with the palette and placement of pixels that I sort of filled in the likeness with my imagination instead of looking closely at the reference. Another funny thing is how the final is too tall and thin. When I draw for fun (I often draw cartoon-like) I draw my characters this way; longer exaggerated face, larger lips, bulbous nose... it sort of bled into my self portrait.

It's reassuring to see I wasn't too far off when it came to eye, nose, mouth, etc. placements but at the same time unsettling that I truly could not see the differences between my picture and the final pixel. Interesting! So, thanks for the fresh set of eyes, Mathias, and as for the cropping... It's just a weird thing I do; an arbitrary, forced restriction. It looks to be a habit I should break.

Rough edit: old vs. new



Eyes are still a bit droopy among other things (actually, that whole area is still funky), but I'm glad it's turning out better. I worked from Mathias' file so the colors changed a tad (although it's tough to tell on an iMac lcd monitor)? Ah well, if anything they look better.