[WIP] First ever sprite - Monster

[robtyketto]

Greetings,

This is my first post and piece of pixel art, a monster sprite which was inspired by the classic acorn electron game, monsters (Screenshot below).


Monsters game is basically a coin-op conversion of the game Space panic.

I thought for practice I would do my version of the sprites and chose to use blue colours rather than red for one set of the monsters and instead of green tiles for the platform I will use a sandy/desert orange colour which I think will compliment the blues.

Below is my Monster sprite, Initially I did add try out dithering and attempting to give the monsters a fluffy feather appearance but in the end decided to submit the version of the monster below which aint pretty but the best from a bad bunch.



Looking forward to hearing advice and tips, especially regarding the shading, outline and anti-alias.
I left off a menacing mouth (though not in the original) as couldn't get the look quite right.

Thanks
Rob

[robtyketto]

I started work on the platform tiles which I wanted to be like the surface of mars.

Why it's nicknamed the 'red planet'  is odd as most google image searches show the surface like an orangey desert colour, maybe from satellite it looks red.



I then did a mock up with the exact same image tiled with a monster sitting on it.



Think I will add a mock background, black with some very simple stars.
I will read up about tiling so it appears seamless.

I chose the colours from a colour wheel as closely as I could to find complimentary colours, does it look ok?

I'm very new to pixel art and unfortunately cannot draw at all so I have to pixel it down straight away.

[Shrub]

  Too much contrast on the tiles. 

[Manupix]

I'm very new to pixel art and unfortunately cannot draw at all so I have to pixel it down straight away.

Nonono.
Drawing and pixelling share the same basics. Practising one is helpful to the other (both ways).
I strongly suggest to start sketching, pencil on paper. Start simple, it's mostly a question of learning to look.
Sketching is more natural and much faster than pixelling, it allows you to try more stuff in a short while.
Just do it everywhere and at all times, it's fun too!

[Shrub]

Yep. Generally, you won't get far in pixel art, if you never draw outside the computer.

[robtyketto]

Remembering I'm a newbie here when you mentioned the contrast of the red mars tile did you mean the colour ramp had colours where the luminous values (my colours were picked by contrasting the luminous value) were too far apart or something else?

I changed the colours for the mars tile and also added a black background with stars, though they look too clustered it's just a simple mockup to see how well all the colours work together.



Off topic I ordered this off amazon and looking forwarding to practising drawing away from my pc
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Book-Drawing-Barrington-Barber/dp/1848375360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273147983&sr=8-1

[robtyketto]

I've added the main spaceman, he looks a little stiff and after much rework Im not satisfied with him at all.

Await C+C so I can improve him.

Unlike other colour ramps rather than just change the kumnious values I took inspiration from browsing Amiga games screenshots with space men in.



Thinking the drawing and colours don't match so well with the monster.

[HC_Bret_Measor]

I'm very new to pixel art and unfortunately cannot draw at all so I have to pixel it down straight away.

Nonono.
Drawing and pixelling share the same basics. Practising one is helpful to the other (both ways).
I strongly suggest to start sketching, pencil on paper. Start simple, it's mostly a question of learning to look.
Sketching is more natural and much faster than pixelling, it allows you to try more stuff in a short while.
Just do it everywhere and at all times, it's fun too!

I agree 100% to this comment. I use to just focus on laying down the pixels and I did very little when it came to concept art. Nowadays I've taken up my pencil and I take the time to draw the stuff I want to do in pixels out on the paper. I can great 100 images way faster then moving pixels around to make 1 image.

Also I like your bad guy toon... but your rocks are unfortunately an eye sore I'll be watching this.

[robtyketto]

Thanks for all the replies.

Is the general agreemant that the rock need some work? If so what particular is making them so ugly?

I've redrawn my spaceman using the exact same colour palette as the monster, it looks bad but I think an improvement over the last one.
Experimenting with styles of spaceman at the moment so it suits the monster, maybe its looking to serious at the moment.

[bengo]

Robtyketto, we will be unable to help you until you've at least learned the bare fundamentals of art, til you've at least attempted a bit, drawing still life and from life, grabbing some beginner's books on art, etc. Sure we can HELP you, but its like trying to help a child with his/her math homework, if the child doesn't know math, how can we exactly correct their problems and show them what they've done wrong? What the child will end up doing is nodding his head, copy what we've done, without all the knowledge behind it, of course the answer will then be right, but the child will still not know how to get to that point. I am glad to see you attempting though, glad you've ordered a book, just remember art's tough stuff and theres a lot you gotta learn, well not too much especially for just this, but a fair amount.

[xhunterko]

"Sure we can HELP you, but its like trying to help a child with his/her math homework" -
I'm sorry, but I'd be slightly offended with this comment and the analogy in general.

"cannot draw at all so I have to pixel it down straight away."

Really? Honestly? Your tiles there show you at least have some understanding of a basic artist and the tiles show you have some knowledge of color. As for the tiles, they look more brown then red to me. Try adding some burgandy instead. Have you done graphics work before?

[bengo]

"Sure we can HELP you, but its like trying to help a child with his/her math homework" -
I'm sorry, but I'd be slightly offended with this comment and the analogy in general.

From the way you took that quote out, seems like you took it completely out of context and didn't even attempt to read over everything I said, you seem to do this a lot, you'll take things out of context and then make controversial statements in response. To be blunt, I'm not even quite sure what you're trying to get across, your response doesn't make a whole lot of sense, if you replaced 'I'd be' with 'I'm' it'd make much more sense. If thats what you meant, that you're just offended with it in general, I can't see why anyone would be, unless of course, you only read a small portion of my analogy, since that is not where it ended.

[robtyketto]

Okay, let's start with my drawing experience.

I haven't picked up a pencil to draw since school 15 years+ ago (other than since I made this post).

Within the last two years I have done some simple game graphics (sprite, backgrounds) for a few modules for my general computing degree (passed first class honours   ) using photoshop following tutorials and doing some basic pixel art in graphicsgale.

I took a beginners course of photoshop which basically was a tour of the common controls and how to use them and nothing to do with colours or art.

I have read sprite tutorials and practised, then presented my work in this post.

For C+C If someone said the space mans body anatomy is completely wrong and there are problems with the colour scheme I can work on this, I also know the approach is different for each individiual piece so exact anatomy of a man for cartoon sprites isn't the be all and end all (this is NOT me saying I don't want to learn these things, I do!).

Seems my confession that I INITIALLY put my thoughts straight into pixels has caused offence, I have been practising.

I think the consensus then is I need to practise a lot more and then post later on when my sprites are of better quallity?
 

[xhunterko]

"From the way you took that quote out, seems like you took it completely out of context and didn't even attempt to read over everything I said, you seem to do this a lot, you'll take things out of context and then make controversial statements in response. To be blunt, I'm not even quite sure what you're trying to get across, your response doesn't make a whole lot of sense, if you replaced 'I'd be' with 'I'm' it'd make much more sense. If thats what you meant, that you're just offended with it in general, I can't see why anyone would be, unless of course, you only read a small portion of my analogy, since that is not where it ended."

@bengoisha: My mistake. I did read the whole thing. I was thinking you were implying that robtyketto had a child like mentality. My bad.

@robtyketto: For someone with the lack of experience that your claiming, those redone rock tiles and sky background look pretty tasty. They also show that you have an understanding of how color and contrast work. Have you done any other art forms other then drawing and pixel art? You aren't a 3d modeler by any chance?

"I think the consensus then is I need to practise a lot more and then post later on when my sprites are of better quallity?"

The best way of practice would be to dust off that pencil, do a google search on people images, sketch it out best you can, and then sprite the drawing. Or scan/phot it in and sprite over the drawing. Do you also have a pen tablet?

[robtyketto]

I've done very little with photoshop and even less with graphicsgale/pixel art and never touched 3D modelling.

After I left Uni I have a friend who is taking a games programming degree and since I had learnt how to use flash we wrote a game together for a competion where I did a little of the coding and all of the graphics and sound (sound effects grabbed off the web).

This is where I spent the most time learning how to use graphicsgale and followed photoshop tutorials to draw a background and titlepage.
http://banditsat3oclock.hostoi.com/index.php

The plain on frontscreen is public domain clipart.

This was 18 months ago and now Im learning vb.net I thought I would set myself a challenge to create a game I played as a kid (like the other game), so I want to remake monsters.

So last week or so i began with graphics gale again and read up how to draw sprites again and now also practising drawing at the same time 

This is just for fun and to help me become a better vb.net programmer too.

Thanks for the C+C I think since I went uni at 27 (now 31) I've discovered a more creative side to my personality and want to explore it further in programming and doing pixelart for fun 

[Ichigo Jam]

Remembering I'm a newbie here when you mentioned the contrast of the red mars tile did you mean the colour ramp had colours where the luminous values (my colours were picked by contrasting the luminous value) were too far apart or something else?

I changed the colours for the mars tile and also added a black background with stars, though they look too clustered it's just a simple mockup to see how well all the colours work together.

That's a definite improvement. But there are too many gaps between the rocks - make the rocks larger and the space between them smaller; make them touch and overlap - and think of them in 3D! (My edit isn't great either)

Hue shifting is fun - try it! (Search the forum for plenty on this topic - and see what I did with the ground colours)

It looks like you've anti-aliased the monster against a lighter coloured background - there are messy pixels around the outside.
Also, I would suggest you should leave doing most AA till last, since it makes editing harder.

And finally, the shading on the monster is somewhat off - the shadow and highlight suggest different light sources to each other. Maybe try reading: http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm#light_stuff.

[robtyketto]

Remembering I'm a newbie here when you mentioned the contrast of the red mars tile did you mean the colour ramp had colours where the luminous values (my colours were picked by contrasting the luminous value) were too far apart or something else?

I changed the colours for the mars tile and also added a black background with stars, though they look too clustered it's just a simple mockup to see how well all the colours work together.

That's a definite improvement. But there are too many gaps between the rocks - make the rocks larger and the space between them smaller; make them touch and overlap - and think of them in 3D! (My edit isn't great either)

Thanks for all the help and advice.

I'm studying now (exam revision) till end of next week then going to put my effort back into this and look forward to posting my new improved pixel art 


Hue shifting is fun - try it! (Search the forum for plenty on this topic - and see what I did with the ground colours)

It looks like you've anti-aliased the monster against a lighter coloured background - there are messy pixels around the outside.
Also, I would suggest you should leave doing most AA till last, since it makes editing harder.

And finally, the shading on the monster is somewhat off - the shadow and highlight suggest different light sources to each other. Maybe try reading: http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm#light_stuff.

[Lizzrd]

When responding like that, you might want to add color to the things you say.