48x48 Pixel Art video + RTP face video

[CharlesGabriel]

Video #2 posted on August 10th, 2010:

Posted another video I made. I need critique on this one as well, thanks a lot everyone. Also, I made this before I got all these pointers and edits from all of you, so all you guys helped me with to improve the faces, I will apply it on the 3rd video. I was really tired when making this, and couldn't stop at the time, so I had to cut few small change frames, such as the coloring process in the end... also this explain why I messed up in the oval measure figure /  rough lineart really bad at first... at least I'm glad I saved the piece somehow lmao.

The video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsTSrruzQF8

Finished image:


Process sheet:


Video #1 posted on August 5th, 2010:

I made this couple weeks ago... I was messing around for a little bit, took an hour off and did this video. First video I make of me making pixel art, I want to do more complex well thought stuff in the future, this time around I didn't know what to draw, lol I think it shows in the process. But anyways, I would like to get some comments on the process and all, the final image as well under the links there in the video description.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j98kfPcqh8c

Thanks in advance.

[sorex]

looks great, especially for a 20 minutes job 

[CharlesGabriel]

looks great, especially for a 20 minutes job  

Thanks man. I need some criticism on how I make my sprites, I know that most people have a unique way of making their sprites, so if anyone has any tip or would like me to explain the way I create pixel art, I don't mind sharing the information... as you can see I was out of my mind so you'll notice some line erasing and experimenting with the hair hahaha.

And by the way, don't you love charamaker1999? look how easy it is to grab colors, erase stuff, everything is right there once you set it up haha. That's why I always recommend anyone who wants to cut time off and annoyances with the system to use this program.

[Cure]

so do you want crits on the actual pixelwork itself? because it'd be useful to post the final product as an image in this thread. the end result is more important than the process used to reach it anyway, we all work differently.
that being said, i don't think you spend enough time roughing out the forms. you drew an oval at a straight on angle then derived from that the various shapes of the skull and jaw. it would probably  be easier to rough out the cranium/rest of the skull/ and jaw first, rather than starting with an oversimplified shape that bears only a slight resemblance to the underlying forms it's attempting to capture. since you're working off an oval, you don't have the projection of the cheek or brow and the eye on our left projects outward.
also, i've always found it more useful (after the midtone is established) to start with the shadows, THEN do the highlights. and you seem to be pillowshading- you lay down one shade of shadow on the face, then follow that same contour with the next darkest shade (and your highlights follow the contours of the areas they inhabit. mouth is set maybe a pixel too low, and with such in-depth modeling done on the face, you're not going to be able to get away with an anime nose- it just won't mesh.

the lack of a pronounced chin is pretty bothersome- it's a defining characteristic of homo sapiens sapiens, after all.

[CharlesGabriel]

Yeah in that video I went a little bit disorganized when it comes to the process, mainly because I didn't plan it... although I agree with you about doing the shadows first, then the highlights. I start with an oval shape, just to judge how big the face will be in the space, but it's all about the lineart... that has nothing much to do or nothing at all with the picture, only size guidelines. Also notice how I am not careful, I don't go dot by dot when making pixel art, I go rough baby and THEN I clean up the lineart, after that I use light coloring, then from them on, I proceed and polish the lineart and add more stuff, and then shading goes, so are highlights... and ultimately I change colors and shade outlines. Don't forget this is a 24 minute rushed work, quality faces as far as my skill goes like, one of which is my current avatar of Testament, from the GGXX series. Thanks for the input.

Anyways, now that we're here... here is the finished product:



If anyone can do the edit, that'll be great... it'll only help me further. Thanks in advance.

Oh, and about the process on how I do facesets... here is another old process of Hanch from Drakengard 2... this one took me an hour to make:
So you kinda get a better idea, comments / edits on that appreciated too.



Edit: Updated the face the other day haha...



 

[Cure]

well size guidelines are fine, but you should map out the understructure a bit. so after drawing the general oval shape, maybe refine it into the orb of the cranium and map the general shape of the jaw. lineart should come a little later. general sizes> general forms> lineart

i'd think about doing a bit more with the mouth, hint at some lips at least, the straight line is a little too simple.

[Slade0Hiro]

don't think im the best to give advice but owell lol

looking at it, it looks like the heads at an angle but the face is more trying to be front view, not sure how to word that best,

looking like it should be that angle, the nose looks a little flat and i believe the mouth and lines under the eyes are a bit dark. love the hair though.



not the best.. i know, maybe someone more skilled then me will be able to give you better advice.

[Singularity]

Hmm. Yeah, I'm definitely digging the hair too.  
This is great work.
...And I'm also am concerned about the nose... it's bordering on Michael Jackson thin.  
For portraits, I'd almost always agree with Slade0Hiro's objection to the dark lines, but it looks like you're going for an anime style pic, which has a tendency to rely on outlines.

If anyone can do the edit, that'll be great... it'll only help me further. Thanks in advance.

In anime pics the shape of the nose usually stops very low, so I tried cutting out the highlight that was extending up.
I also tried a different color for the edges of the hair. It looked like the highlights were more green and the darker shades faded into blue, and the darkest shade seemed a bit too green to be continuous.

I wasn't really sure how to handle the mouth, because I don't want to change her expression. She looks neutral/serious in yours, and adding a single pixel above or below would completely define her mouth and change the overall emotion. I tried changing the shadow on the left to suggest a small lift, but quite frankly I don't mind the straight mouth. However, I do think you might consider raising it between the nose and chin.

As requested:
->

Hope this helps.

[Mike]

looks great, especially for a 20 minutes job 

Thanks man. I need some criticism on how I make my sprites, I know that most people have a unique way of making their sprites, so if anyone has any tip or would like me to explain the way I create pixel art, I don't mind sharing the information... as you can see I was out of my mind so you'll notice some line erasing and experimenting with the hair hahaha.

And by the way, don't you love charamaker1999? look how easy it is to grab colors, erase stuff, everything is right there once you set it up haha. That's why I always recommend anyone who wants to cut time off and annoyances with the system to use this program.

Yes I do I especially like how it keeps a record of the changes you have done in the right corner.  But isn't this program in a different language than english?

[CharlesGabriel]

@ Cure = Thanks again for the input.

@ Slade0Hiro = Thanks for the edit and the input. And michael jackson's nose? hahaha you're right.

@ Singularity = Appreciated the edit. I will download the edit. Also, it's supposed to be a male teenager haha, it's what happens when it's a 20+ minutes quick work...

@ Mike = Ohhh no, I keep the record piece by piece on my own, the program doesn't do that on it's own. I do it because if I screw up on the next part of the process, I can always grab the one before that and I can continue again from there... it's like as working with layers (since this program doesn't support 'em).

I just uploaded the process sheet so you can see it much better... also note how I keep track of the time, that's how I realized how much I have improved speed-wise. I'm soo ridiculously organized haha you have no idea... and it's all because I need to keep track of how much progress I make as far as experience and speed goes like.



And yes, this program is originally in japanese, then it was translated to english by I don't remember who... some people translated it to spanish and portuguese. This program is well known in the rpgmaker communities, mainly people who use rpgmaker 2000-2003.

I will edit this more, but I won't update the video since I already uploaded it and such... I will show my update in here, then I need further pointers from there... also I'll make him look more like a male haha.

[Tourist]

Crits on the portrait with green hair:

The style conflict between the eyes and the face/nose.  The eyes are squarish and spread very wide.  This style usually works with heads that are wide and squarish.  The face is long and thin and the suggestion of a nose is also long and thin.  These two styles conflict, and it doesn't look good.

I also agree with Cure that the face needs more bone structure.  Not a lot, just enough to give it some shape in the cheek and jaw.

Here's an edit.  It's not complete, but hopefully it helps.



a) original
b) changed the skin tones.  Instead of a single 5-color ramp, I went with a 4 color ramp and a pink.  I use these colors throughout, but they could use more work.  Good enough as a placeholder.
c) Reworked the face edges to give a hint of a cheekbone and a jawline.  Pulled the eyes in one pixel each and gave them a horizontal shape.  Drew a rough line for the nose.  Raised the mouth line one pixel up and added some thickness for lips.  Raised the browline one pixel.  Setting this up to be a real face rather than a character defined by hairstyle and hair color alone.  
d) First round of color.  Added highlights, shadows.  Worked on the eyes, softened the line of the nose.  Also, removed the white from the eye and replaced it with the lightest green.  It saves a color.
e) Lots of tweaking, also widened the neck.  Might be too wide by a pixel.  Shaved one pixel from the cheek, and using a change in lightness (lighter outline on the cheek bulge) to suggest the cheek is wider than it is.  It's a trick, but I think it works ok.
f) More tweaking.  Darker shades for the lips.  This really needs a medium green to look decent.  I think the highlight on the cheek needs to work, probably needs the color adjusted too.  Somewhere along the way I moved the ear one pixel closer to the face too.

I used a reference pic to figure out the shape of the nose and the start of the mouth shape (the third step).  Not a trace, just eyeballing some reference lines to figure out placement.  

Hope this helps,
Tourist

Edit: Ah, crud.  Ignore my edit.  I missed the line where you stated this character was male.

[goosemonger]

This is the first I've heard of character maker 1999, I just downloaded it and it's fantastic! Exactly what I've been looking for, most other programs are either too complex or don't have features that I want.
Thankyou!

[CharlesGabriel]

@ Tourist= Thanks for the critique, and haha I am to blame for the both sexes look of the character... but then again, 24 mins work. I have made another video, but it still fails since I had to cut up frames cause of the lack of memory I have in my HD at the moment... however, the next video of a face that I make, will deffinitely be more worked, worked to the best of my ability. I will analyze your points when I get home (at the library, have to do something here today).

This is the first I've heard of character maker 1999, I just downloaded it and it's fantastic! Exactly what I've been looking for, most other programs are either too complex or don't have features that I want.
Thankyou!

No problem, and good to know that you acknowledge the powerful yet "simple" features this program has. This program has been specifically made for videogame art, not just "Pixel Art" wait until you get to know how you use the animation feature propertly, haha you're never gonna get off the program.

[Kcilc]

Firstly my apologies for drawing the wrong gender, but I like drawing girls so that was half the reason I made this edit



Firstly, it looks like his right (our left) eye is about to fall off the side of his face. It's good to make sure you've got some skin showing at the very edge of the head since peoples' eyes are more in the middle of the head, and it only makes sense. Secondly, the bridge of his nose seems to be too flat; I understand this is anime, but even though it breaks most anatomy rules, you need to know how to break them to make it look good. Thirdly, his hair looks too much like rolls of paper, and not quite hair-like. It's good to make each section bleed into the other just slightly to keep it unified and hair-like. Your hair also seems a little lopsided. Fourthly, he doesn't have much of a chin, and no lips. Lips can be hard to pull off, since you need to be really subtle, but it's possible, and looks great if you can get it. Fifthly, the heck it's a neck! It connects to the back of the head, not the bottom. The very front of it is actually right under the very back of the jaw. Sixthly, the eye sockets would leave a noticeable cavity in the right (our left) side of his face. Seventhly*, the proportions are pretty anime right now, and I think that you should try drawing more realistic faces.

That was the anatomy I hope that I fixed up. I'd suggest you do some life studies and maybe pick up an anatomy book to read if you wanna get really great at drawing faces.
* I tried to keep your proportions since I didn't want to deviate too much from the vibe of your character.
 
Note:To make this look male, just try to get some more sharp angles, a more defined neck, and a more pronounced jaw.

Now I think I'll talk some pixel-tech at you. 

So firstly, there's a lot of banding going on everywhere. It's most noticeable on his jawline, but it's hiding in little nooks and crannies everywhere. Try to stay away from long lines of a single shade; if you do that, chances are you'll dodge a lot of blurriness. Secondly, you're spreading your shades out too evenly. I know it feels like a sin to abstain from using all of the colors you have everywhere, but if you bite your lip and choke your cat, you'll be able to overcome that and be able to reserve some of your colors for the more attention-hungry and important parts of your piece, and make it look amazing*. Thirdly, this goes pretty well next to secondly, your pixel clusters (the globs of pixels like the highlight on his cheek left (our right) cheek) are a little too small in some places. Don't be afraid to make some sharp edges and let the pixels shine through in all of their glory. You'll be surprised at how good they can look sometimes, and how much more alive your art will be without all of that super smoothness.

*Please note that my edit does not exploit what I've been talking about enough to be even close to amazing, and I definitely don't think it does. I just like to be emphatic

[CharlesGabriel]

@ Kcilc = Thanks, useful information. I downloaded your edit, and will study it sometime this week, also gonna attempt to get that anatomy book. I seen some at the local library, but they are more like medical-oriented books with a lot of underskin red muscle stuff and skeleton haha...

To everyone:
I have uploaded another video, refer to the 1st post of this thread for the image and details. Thanks in advance any edits and or details.

[Cure]

muscle and skeletal structure would actually be pretty good refs. it's one thing to know "the face has this or that feature, this area is raised, there seems to be some ridge here", and another thing to know why that feature is that, what its function is, and how it relates to the whole. the skull and musculature are what comprises the features, the skin only relates to them.

[CharlesGabriel]

muscle and skeletal structure would actually be pretty good refs. it's one thing to know "the face has this or that feature, this area is raised, there seems to be some ridge here", and another thing to know why that feature is that, what its function is, and how it relates to the whole. the skull and musculature are what comprises the features, the skin only relates to them.

Ouch haha, you guys mean this whole anatomy business literarilly!  I will grab that book then. The anatomy so far that I have learned are mostly examples made by some stuff I have found over the internet, anime stuff for the most part unfourtunately. But it's good to know what to do to head in the right direction, thanks again. Hey, by the way, got any comments on the new video I posted? it's on the 1st post, I modified it.

[Singularity]

@ Singularity = Appreciated the edit. I will download the edit. Also, it's supposed to be a male teenager haha, it's what happens when it's a 20+ minutes quick work...

oh, haha. My bad...

If you don't mind, I feel incline to try doing a second conceptual edit.

What may be working against you here are the hair, eyes/eyebrows, and neck. The hair seems a tad long in the back for a dude. Most guys with hair that long in the back end up with the mullet shape. The eyes might play an even stronger role. The outlining of the male eyes works in amine sketches because the lines are so thin. When reduced to pixels, they are thick and dark enough that they begin to look like eye liner. This 'mascara illusion' is working against you. As for the eyebrows and neck, I think you might want to aim for making them bushier and broader.



Hope this helps.

[CharlesGabriel]

@ Singularity = I don't mind it at all, that 2nd edit. Looks fantastic... thanks again (also for the criticism).   Well now that you guys have helped me out this much, time for me to put up another edit, of a male version of this face haha...



And the comparison of the Original one with the new Edit I made today:



And the experiments here haha:



You can see I was testing dithering methods and such... all sorts of failed experiments happen in the process sheet that never see the light haha.
You will notice also that I was separating any small progress carefully, something that I do when it comes to editing a piece unlike the original process.

About the blue character from the 1st post of the thread (2nd face) I will edit it as well, but later on this month haha... it's past 2am, I'm beated.

[EyeCraft]

Few things:



Approach the head as a structure, a 3d object. I find it most useful to plot the head's orientation as a box. You have the head as a 3/4 profile, but have made the common error of keeping the face in the middle of the head. Plotting as a box forces you to recognise where the face ends and the sides of the head begin.

Following from this, learn the "terrain" of the face. Where parts stick out, where they recede, where its flat. This is something anime largely discards, falling upon prescribed patterns of very slight shading and extremely flattened/simplified facial structures.

You seem to be taking in these prescribed anime patterns; "put shadow here, draw these kinds of lines for the eyes, make this shape for the nose" etc. I strongly suggest you cast aside such crutches and renew your approach to the head from a more complete understanding. I'm sure you will find your art flourishing.

[Singularity]

Wow, that's nice.  
I never thought flesh tones in the eyes would work so well. It seems you can establish the shape better without overpowering the outsides of the iris with bright whites, nor extending the entire pallet just for the subtle grays.

Video #2 posted on August 10th, 2010:

Posted another video I made. I need critique on this one as well, thanks a lot everyone. Also, I made this before I got all these pointers and edits from all of you, so all you guys helped me with to improve the faces, I will apply it on the 3rd video. I was really tired when making this, and couldn't stop at the time, so I had to cut few small change frames, such as the coloring process in the end... also this explain why I messed up in the oval measure figure /  rough lineart really bad at first... at least I'm glad I saved the piece somehow lmao.

This time around, I prolly should ask the sex of this person first.
I'm going to guess "dude" this time around, on account of the necktie, but hopefully I can focus only on with non-gender issues. 

Awesome start, but the hair kinda confuses me. I see bangs over the right (our left) side of his face but it looks a lot like a single bang unless I look along the bottom edge. Perhaps some additional shadows to split up the one shape might help. Following his bangs up, they seem to disappear over his head as if that hair is coming from the top of his head instead of the front of his hair line. You can work in a small arc to improve readability.
For how thick the hair is on our left, the shadow seem strong enough to start unbalancing the image. I'm a bit of a fan of tousled hair, but if you don't like the small sections of highlights everywhere, you might instead consider shifting the light source slightly higher. A top/down shadow effect would help keep the values a little more symmetrical.

Other than the hair, everything else I tried out seems petty, but I might as well list it.
I tried moving the hair slightly further over his eye to reduce tension of where it is, as well as starting the suggestion of an eyebrow at the edge.
Also, I moved the mouth up a bit and tried to make it more prominent, by adding in the darkest flesh tone.

...I haven't even touched the neck (or clothes) yet, but I think the neck will eventually need a shadow to set it under and backwards in space.
In any case, I can't wait to see what you do with it. Good luck! 

[CharlesGabriel]

@ Eyecraft = I'm loving the edit. I will keep your advice... it is going to take me a little bit to do so, as I gather references and information on the web regarding anatomy and such. You're right, most of my experience in doing faces, or my art in general has been anime / JRPG based, I have been attempting lately to do things the proper way. Your point motivates this idea further. Thanks.

@ Singularity = Thanks for the critique and the edit, also sorry for the delay man. Sleeping problems on my side (which is why all my updates are done from 12am to 4am haha)... but yeah, I finally got to updating the RTP face:



The comparison of the original...



And the new process sheet:


(It seems that photobucket has done it to me again, resizing the image automatically, which makes it blurry on the process sheet. Either way, you guys can see it as a form of preview, of the changes I applied so far).

One thing that worries me, is that this edit goes a bit too further from the original. I made the character a darker, and applied the same skin color I used on the update of the 1st face. Also, the coloring of the highlights in the hair, I want to find an alternative to that using the same palette... no luck as of right now.

By the way, here's the reference of the character, it's a guy:

[Singularity]

I much prefer the new one. The hair and facial structure are by far superior.  
I'm glad you decided to darken the blue color.

I'm not so sure about the checkered shading on the face though...
Kinda makes me think he has freckles.

[Elk]

The first guy pretty much resembles 90% to the guy from the RPGMaker 2000...

This is an edit from a game that I remember it from
originally he has cyan hair aswlel..





wish i could find the original though...

Ok i Just watched the vid, makes sense now.

[CharlesGabriel]

@ Singularity = Thanks again, love the edit man. I noticed you used a different color for the highlights on the skin, I normally use that yellowish one, but the one you choose works just as great. I agree with you on the checkered part haha, that was supposed to be some small dithering, but as you can see it didn't turn out too well hehe. I have to wait a couple of days before I can create another video since I have some stuff pending for the end of this month, but will have more stuff you can have fun editing. I appreciate it.

@ Elk = The original are the two ones I posted. The ones you posted are edits. First one is edit from the Rm2000 RTP, 2nd from the Mac&blue (japanese pixel artist) version of the RM2000 RTP. I'm surprised you know about the rpgmaker series, since it's really obscure in PJ / PL.

[fil_razorback]

Is it ? It's quite frequent to meet people doing sprites for these engines. They're easy to spot since they're all 24*32 

[CharlesGabriel]

Is it ? It's quite frequent to meet people doing sprites for these engines. They're easy to spot since they're all 24*32 

A lot of pixel artists make characters that size, since it's more of an ideal size for RPGs in overall, just like 16x16 / 32x32... but rarely (I never heard of more than 3 pixel artists and they're all japanese) that has made charasets for rpgmaker 2000/2003. The people who make characters use 32x32 and up resolutions since they all use rpgmaker XP / VX... and that's not to say no more than 10 people in the world do so... the rpgmaker scene in the entire world don't have more than 30 pixel artists, that's counting all the countries in the world... there are no artists (only illustrators and almost all of them either draw touhou or animu stuff hahaha) in the scene sadly.

*off-topic rant haha*

This comes to the oldest estimate I have... and that is that there are no more than 30,000 pixel artists in the entire world. I will never get off the fact that pixel art is one of the rarest forms of art (I say rare, because either people dislike it that much to not bother getting to make any, or they just don't have the guts to do so).