Deep Blues Gang lineup

[KaiserFate]

Haha, thanks, a quick edit would be very much appreciated.
Although I do understand the basic gist of what you're saying.
I actually come from an illustration background and because of this, I do think very strongly in terms of lines, shapes and treating each 'part' with a light source.
The main problem I'm having with pixelart right now is that I'm finding it's very limiting, but when I work within those limitations I'm apparently not doing it properly (black lines, dithering etc). There's a whole art to this that I am quite new to, I'm trying to start out slow but it may take a while before I start hitting all the right keys.

[HughSpectrum]

I'm currently studying what NES games do use black outlines to see why it works for those games (note that not every NES game even uses black outlines for sprites), but for now it's extremely important to work with the form over the lines, and try to avoid over emphasizing the lines.

[KaiserFate]

I'm currently studying what NES games do use black outlines to see why it works for those games (note that not every NES game even uses black outlines for sprites), but for now it's extremely important to work with the form over the lines, and try to avoid over emphasizing the lines.

Yeah, not all games use the black outlines, I just liked the look of the games that do. But thank you all for your help, it's been extremely helpful so far!!

[Lizzrd]

Not to be offtopic or something, but most nes games that "had" black outlines had a black background.

[HughSpectrum]

Right, though there are a couple with non-black backgrounds.

The only reason I don't want to talk about black outline techniques any further because it obviously isn't considered a good practice, NES or not.

[KaiserFate]

Okay, let me ask you guys something.

I've given it some thought and I've decided to edit out the black outlines. Personally I like the look of black outlines on these sprites but I'm hearing from just about everyone that it's 'not right' and that it's not how real artists of this variety create their images.

So the question is, if I want these sprites to look just a little bit more than 8-bittish - they give off a Nintendo 'vibe' but with less restrictions (we'll say it was one of the first games of the 16-bit era and made by a team of seasoned 8-bit artists who were still finding their feet);

What exactly do I do with the outlines? Do I give them the 'knockout' treatment, and make each line a darker colour of the fill colour neighbouring it? Do I do this to all of the lines, including the outside ones? Should I ever use black, anywhere? What exactly IS the 'correct method'?

[PypeBros]

I've given it some thought and I've decided to edit out the black outlines. Personally I like the look of black outlines on these sprites but I'm hearing from just about everyone that it's 'not right' and that it's not how real artists of this variety create their images.

The problem is not that it's "right" or "not right". The problem isn't even that it's "not NES". Even in NES sprites - as you pointed out - some  do use black art lines (I spotted it on Chip'n'Dale, for instance), some don't, some use coloured outlines (TNMT), some have a black "outline", but no black "artline" (megaman).

The problem is to ensure that your character has:
  - good readability on any of your game's background
  - clear identification of its features.

The thing is, black lines draw attention very strongly. And because you're doing pixel art, they can quickly become too thick compared to the rest. They also "flatten" your overall work because they don't match the lightning: they're black regardless of whether this is a shadowed or a enlightened area. For that reason, people that want to convey volume of their characters (as opposed to cartoon-looking sprites) prefer to use tinted out/art lines because it's easier to adjust the shade you use for the line compared to the shade you use for the shape.

They won't be any issue with characters such as Mr. Trenchcoat or Mr. BigBlue. Your winston cyborg has much more features, but he's smaller than the other guys. At that scale, black art lines degrade readability. Finger and face are hard to identify. The gun and chestplate look flat because having strong black breaks the effect of close specular spots.

Generally speaking, as size decrease, artline-based pixel art becomes more and more difficult to master because one misplaced pixel breaks the whole thing. Helm has a great theory for that, which I personnally failed to practice so far.

[7321551]

Well, if you personally like the black lines, keep them. I don't think anyone will be mad at you or anything. There's no point pursuing criteria that you yourself don't see the value of. If you don't assess your work by your own principles you're working blind. (there has been a lot of talk lately about "rules", not sure what's causing it?)

My opinion is that the lines work okay in the larger characters like Castello, who looks like a character from a charming point-&-click adventure, & works poorly with the smaller characters, because, as has been pointed out, the line-weight changes with the relative size of the sprite.

Here's an attempt to convey how thick a 1px line is at this size, perceptually.

If you like thick lines, then that might not be a problem.

If you'd like suggestions for a technique to use, I suggest what blumunkee did up there - light-dependent outlines, I think they're sometimes called. Has lines, easy on the eyes.

[KaiserFate]

PypeBros and Mr. Numbers, thank you very much for your insights.

Makes a lot of sense, actually. I see what you mean about how as my sprites get smaller, black becomes more dominant.
Winston in particular gave me a lot of trouble because he is very complex but also very small. I'm going to have another go at some of the characters who seem too 'packed' - Winston is surely in that category, and I was also thinking of giving Victor Hedwig and Elvis Gloom a bit of a facelift (but that is in general owing a lot to the fact that I started with them and got to a stage well past them as I worked on the newer sprites).

Edit: Just finished an edit of Winston.



He now has a five-o-clock shadow, his metallic hilights and glints are now far less busy (and as a result, the gunshape is clearer), and I incorporated the chestplate suggestion. I think overall the design looks a lot tighter now, and at this resolution especially, the forms are more obvious.

[HughSpectrum]

First of all, no matter what kind of pixel piece you're doing, try to rely on shading and highlights for detail when possible.  Even for a naturally cartoony piece, you need to have the mindset of a sculptor creating a 3D image, where colors lift or push a part of a picture into different planes.  This is needed on the face where the left eye thing and the mouth are seemingly outlined (I think the older piece is actually better in regards to the face due to a creation of a 3D shape).

The gun isn't gripped very well, and seems to be at a very odd angle.  The thumb should wrap around the other side of the gun handle.

Also, get creative with your gray colors.  Instead of several levels of gray, toss in colors here and there among the grays in order to create vibrant effects to the gray.

---

Now for critique specific to this style.

When working with black, your colors need to dominate the black lines in order to create volume.  They need to fight the good fight for attention, and win such a fight in order for black to be effective. Your "main" colors need to be distinct and contrasting from black to create a balance, and this usually means high contrast color ramps.  Usually your color ramps are going to start at a dark color and end at a very bright color (like your red to yellow colors), and often make use of specular highlights that make colors capable of overpowering black.

But in cases like the blue pants where the main color is already very dark and needs to remain dark and it doesn't make much sense to have strong highlights, you usually need to darken its shades in order to make the main color more contrasting.  With NES colors, it gets to the point where you may as well use black itself for the shading, which can make the main blue a strong enough color to create a 3D image despite not being a bright color.