[WIP] [C+C] My first steps..

[Veehmot]

Hi, I'm a programmer trying to learn pixel art (and drawing at the same time). I drew a few pixels before (almighty programmer art) but nothing of interest... So now I'm trying to do something more interesting.

I begun this little girl, but as much as I try, I can't / don't-know-how-to finish her limbs, so I'm asking for advice.

I know it's ugly overall, but for now I want to focus on finishing her limbs

The original:


My try:


Thanks! And sorry if this thread is misplaced.

[ABC]

Two things I think you should do:

1: make her bigger (16x32 instead of 8x16).

2: show us a sketch of what you think it should look like (this can be as big as you want)

[pistachio]

ABC, I agree. Low resolutions are very restricting, although with enough experience, there are more things you can pull off. Not to say that you shouldn't start small. Essentially, here, you're just utilizing common symbols and individual pixels to convey features, like dots for eyes and lines for limbs. You could give it some character. Think about it, this could be used as a template, and a generic one at that. The character's accessories are practically interchangeable. Think about how it reads at not only 2x scale and up, but at its original resolution, as well. In this case the symbols I mentioned earlier stand out perhaps too much.

Other than that the colors are very, very saturated. The flat shading, on the other hand, isn't much of a problem for me. I've seen this technique accomplished many times before. But again, the character is ambiguous.

Gradient on the hair (yellow to pink) does not make much sense, and by the way, I advise against using straight gradients.

Some of these points are hard to get across, edit coming right up!



1- Yours, with replaced palette. Looking better already. 2- The start of my edit, blocking in rough shapes. 3- Finished version. Head redrawn, torso refined, rest of sprite tweaked. Added outline. I just like outlines.

I took a lot of liberties here. For one, I suppose my edit looks older than yours. Hard to tell if that's what you wanted.

Note that the palette I used here (slightly modified, and to demonstrate how less saturation and some color variety makes a difference) belongs to Arne; credit to him.

Also, might I redirect you to this tutorial if there are terms you still don't understand.

[Seiseki]

At that resolution it's hard to go wrong anatomically.. Because people aren't made up out of blocks anyways
I don't see what's wrong with the legs you did.

Personally and as previous posters have pointed out, you should try doing a larger resolution. But that depends on how serious you are when it comes to learning pixel art and sorta what kind of pixel art you want to make.
A good advice that I think applies to almost anything but especially for art, look at others work and try to recreate it, look at references.
With pixel art is quite easy to try a lot of different variations and placement of pixels.
If you recreate someone else's work then you'll learn the proportions, style and such and eventually you'll be able to create completely original stuff.

[Veehmot]

Wow! Thanks for the reply and specially thanks to pistachio for the edits! I was really surprised about how palette can change so much an image.
I read some of the tutorials in the tutorials section, and maybe I was wrong to learn to draw at the same time that learn to pixel art. I thought that with less pixels, it would be easier, that's why the size of the image, and that's why I don't have a larger sketch. But I'm reading an art book already and practicing basic anatomy.

As for the style I want to accomplish, I think my inspiration comes from these (relatively) simple designs:

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?uid=1159


http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?uid=1405


http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-21/?uid=4268

[ABC]

If you want to get better, you have to work hard. It's fun but hard.

Just like in all arts, I don't think you should copy other people's style, but rather always get real life references and from there you will develop your own. Ask yourself: How is it in real life? rather than How do other artists draw it?

That said, learning how to pixel can teach you alot about drawing: simplification, use of an harmonious palette etc. so I don't think it's a bad idea to do both.

[Seiseki]

Just like in all arts, I don't think you should copy other people's style, but rather always get real life references and from there you will develop your own. Ask yourself: How is it in real life? rather than How do other artists draw it?

Depends on if you want to replicate real life or a certain style..
A lot of things can be learned from seeing others work that are really hard to learn from real life, especially with a more cartoony or abstract style.
Of course the best option is to do both.
But if you're not used to drawing seeing how others do it might be easier because you see all the different elements that makes up the piece, especially if it's pixel art.

And if you're practicing anatomy and/or technique you don't really have to worry about being original, that usually comes naturally as you develop your own style.