Casual Pixel Art Encounters

[.TakaM]

In this age of care free one night stands and fast food, a place is needed where we can post some pixel art for a few quick crits without the hassle of managing a thread and providing all relevant information.

This is that thread, it's basically the same as the OT Art thread except it's for pixel art. Maybe you just want to share something you made, to make sure it looks alright to other people, it's not a huge piece you've been committed to for a while, or maybe it just doesn't quite deserve it's own thread.
A good general rule of thumb for this thread would be to not post more than one or two pictures per post


I'll kick off this thread by breaking that very rule with what I've been working on and also sorta took over the OT discussion thread:
(original version)
(ptoing's edit) //typofix! don't misspell my name!!!
(pistachio's edit)


So yeah, if anyone wants to offer some criticism go ahead, or if you'd like to post something of your own don't let me stop you.

Again, to summarize this threads purpose;
This is a low commitment megathread where you can just offer up work or advice and discussions will naturally take shape, don't worry about posting something different in the middle of another discussion.

[32]

I've been wanting something like this for a while now. I guess I just never thought to actually suggest it . I also think this thread would be nice to get some pixel theory type discussions going in, I've often had questions but never bothered asking because they were so insignificant and there wasn't really a place for it. This post might be a bit long cause I have a few things that I've been thinking of asking.

I have to agree with Ptoing and Pistachio on the pupils. Your edit is better than the original but I think the pupils really make him look more focused/pissed off. That animation is incredible, so smooth and 3d, love it.

Long story short me and a friend (programmer) have been trying to get a game project going and I think we've finally come up with something that works for both of us. These first few images are from the first iteration which I canned because the animations were taking more time than I have.

(she's naked for story related reasons and would have been wearing a shower curtain on top[also my first serious attempt at animating])

And then this third image is of what we're doing now (which I will probably post a thread for when I'm further through)


The thing I'm wondering is I kind of came up with a theory that I could use sel-out effectively if I used the Lightest and darkest 100 (50 each) points on the brightness scale for characters (which is also nice for contrast) and then the middle 150 for backgrounds. I would like to know whether anyone has done something like this and whether anyone thinks it could work. So far it looks okay but I'll have to get some of the animations in game to see.

The last thing is whether anyone knows how to get custom brushes working in graphicsgale, I found an old thread from '06 or so a while back but it didn't work for me. I really want a 2x2 brush.

Hopefully that's not too long a post for the thread

[JJ Naas]

A good general rule of thumb for this thread would be to not post more than one or two pictures per post

Except.. wouldn't this be a good thread for posting dumps of finished pixel art that you want to show off but can't alter anymore?

[Sherman Gill]

32: The legs switching colors on your animated lady is really distracting and weird. The posing is also very strange. Besides that it looks nice though I like the way the hair moves.

[Photocopier]

A good general rule of thumb for this thread would be to not post more than one or two pictures per post

Except.. wouldn't this be a good thread for posting dumps of finished pixel art that you want to show off but can't alter anymore?

I think TakaM means that the same picture shouldn't be posted too many times (A piece that is criticized and subsequently edited arguably warrants it's own thread)
lots of unrelated pixel art however seems like a fine idea  .

[Argyle]

A good general rule of thumb for this thread would be to not post more than one or two pictures per post

Except.. wouldn't this be a good thread for posting dumps of finished pixel art that you want to show off but can't alter anymore?

I think TakaM means that the same picture shouldn't be posted too many times (A piece that is criticized and subsequently edited arguably warrants it's own thread)
lots of unrelated pixel art however seems like a fine idea  .

What I think he was trying to get across is that it should not be a thread for you to dump a whole portfolio full of pixel art into one post.  Focus on just posting about one or two pieces so it doesn't become a "Dump every single sketch or piece you never posted on PixelJoint into one post" thread.

And I like your creepy faceless sprites' palettes, 32.

[pistachio]

On the naked woman punching ( ) I can't help but feel the uppercut could use a bit more "oomph" (as well as the first punch, where the character barely seems to move. I like the second punch though). It doesn't seem like jabbing your opponent with your elbow would do much.

Here's an edit. I also cleaned it up a bit for you.



By the way, the albino holding the giant chainsaw could possibly yield interesting animations, but her stance seems odd. I'll probably make a quick edit on that.

You know, I've always wanted to make a pixel animation. Don't be surprised if you see one by me in this thread.

@OP: Am I doing it right?

[32]

@Pistachio- I couldn't work out how to do big arc-y movements and keep them looking oomphy, whenever I put a frame in between they looks super slow and weak, I was thinking motion trails but never got around to trying it. I didn't actually get around to fixing all the stuff I eventually noticed because I'd spent some 3 or 4 hours on it up to that point. My problems we're always with the first and third hits, the second remains my favourite of all the sketches I did, probably mostly because I actually researched the movement a bit first. The first one kinda got lost in translation between my original sketch and the final one, the punch doesn't even extend past the foot now. I should probably note that its playing a but faster in firefox than I would have had it and it's messing with the oomphyness.

Your edit is definitely an improvement. I'll keep it in mind if I ever decide to go back and finish that one (which is probably likely if you guys keep critting it )

The blue haired girls weapon is actually a sniper rifle with two sword/bayonets on it. The plan was for it to be able to alter its own gravity and fire bullets that did the same. So it would appear weightless in the idle and then heavier in attacks and the like. I would probably redo her pose as well though(it looked better originally), I kind of did them all before I had thought a whole lot about where I was going with them.

@Argyle- I kind of liked the facelessness, I think it probably lost its appeal when I upped the colour count on everything else, though. I should probably mention that the palette is inspired by/partially stolen from st0vens sprites here.

@Sherman Gill- The pose(on white hair) was something I was always thinking about changing but kept deciding not to, I don't think I really captured the stance I was going for though, the leg still looks twisted, I also dumped the arms down in favour of arms up once I started to animate. If I go back over the animation I will try to make the leg blinking a bit more subtle, it was bothering me too but I think it makes it look more 3d.

I think it would be better to have another thread for pixel dumps, I think takaM's intention was for this thread to be critique based and we all know how dumps work out in the critique section.

[pistachio]

2 in a row!

As for keeping big "arc-y" movements "oomphy", I'd suggest using lines of actions. Basically a large curvy line used to give a sense of movement and grace throughout the figure; you can see remnants of one in the edit below. Here's an example--several actually.

And with that, trying to keep this short, here's an edit of the character whose pose I had a problem with. Note: NPA. Conveying this through pixels might be more difficult to do. You said you wanted to keep it "weightless" in idle animations but heavier in animations? Hope I kept that in mind.



To differentiate from the other poses I left the head in a slightly different rotation. Sorry if it's a bit blurry; I just quickly scaled it down in MyPaint. Hope you get the idea, though.

[32]

I see what you're going for but I think the pose looks a bit strained for an idle, it feels like its one frame into a big thrust attack. That character was one I had a reasonably clear idea of what I wanted, she's supposed to have like an 'I don't care' kind of air to her movements. Like she's just out for a stroll where she happens to be kicking ass, my idle could stand to be a bit more dramatic though. Tilting the head is a good idea though, they did all end up very similar in the face and I never went back and used more colours to fix that. I'll try to do an edit when I can so I don't feel like I'm wasting anyone's time.

By arc-y I mean there's an arc in the movement of the limb,  such as the upper cut or a spin kick, where the movement is really long and follows through the point of impact. I have been working with lines of action a bit in the idles (evidenced in that sketch I linked) I guess I didn't really keep that up in the animations though. I'll keep it in mind for what I'm working on now.