[WIP] Pixel-art videoclip project (C+C)

[mattib]

Hi guys, I'm totally new to pixel-art. I'm a flash animator, so I've always worked with vector graphics.
A friend of mine asked me to do a videoclip of a song from the album he recorded with his band. My idea was to make a videogame-style animation (mainly in the style of sidescrolling fighting games like "TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist"). The project should be an affectionate parody of old gaming, so elements of different styles will be borrowed (martial arts moves, explosions etc). However, is a couple of months I'm trying to get the handle of this art, reading tutorials, studying the classics and stuff. I'm finding it really funny and interesting and the latest experiment came out quite good so I'd like you guys to tell me what to improve, what to change etc.

This guy is a Shaolin Monk that I plan to put in the video as an enemy, but this single sprite will probably not find place in it: while I'm quite satisfied I think I need to exercise more and I want you to tell me on what should I work to improve. Thanks.
I've been inspired for the stance from a pic that I found online, but it was made totally from scratch with pencil on paper and then scanned and pixelated

[mattib]

uhm....well I'll try with some other sprites that i drew directly on my computer.
This one for example, I really don't like it very much...those should be some background mountains to be tiled. If you tile them they probably still don't match exactly, but that's not the point, I'd really like some suggestions on the art. Thank you

[jams0988]

Welcome to the forum! Don't feel too bad if your art doesn't get many replies. I've been on a million different art forums over the years, and there are only two types of art that get people talking: amazing artwork and god-awful artwork. Because of your lack of replies, you can rest assured that your artwork is somewhere in the middle, so you're doing pretty good for a beginner. =)

For your monk, his pose isn't very convincing. With his legs so far apart, his balance from front to back is very stable, but his balance from side to side must be awful. He'd fall over if you pushed him on the shoulder, and he'd have a very hard time moving quickly during a fight while he's doing a half-split, hahah. Bring his legs closer together, and get him in a crouching sort of position or something. Look up some real kung-fu experts for reference, and copy a few of those pictures until you get the stance right. The mountains are okay, but why is the sky green?

And what art program are you using? I'd suggest Graphics Gale or Pro Motion for pixel art. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, so maybe both? Open Canvas and Paint Tool Sai are my two favorite painting programs, if you want to give painting a shot, too. (You should, it'll help your pixel art as well!)

Just remember to always use references, and you'll learn quickly. As you get better at drawing, you'll need them less and less.

[yaomon17]

Also, use either the .png or the .gif format, not .jpg

[mattib]

thanks for the replies. I didn't feel bad or offended, don't worry! The software I choose after some rehearsal is Graphics Gale.
The sky is not green, that's just a color I put there, where will be transparency.
Since I actually exported some .png but I've hosted the pics on facebook ('cause I needed to show a friend also) which probably converted them in .jpg... I'm going to repost them with another hosting and fix that color too.

so pngs, Mountains:

uhm..those tree also are not that good


Monk (I think I need to work more on the shadings...):

as I said, I actually used a pic as a reference for this stance. I pointed that out because even if i just had a peek on the image and then use my memory to draw it came out really similar (that's luck, heh) I feared that you might consider it ripped off! I don't think is a guard stance hovewer, more like a showoff. Anyway i'll try to make a more balanced stance, maybe with a breathing animation. Oh, and for that...what do you use to animate pixels? While I found graphics gale good for drawing I actually didn't find confortable in the animation part... so If you have any suggestions...also, I plan to put togheter my pieces in flash for the final animation...like sprite animations people do with sonic and mario sprites...but if you know better ways to do it let me know!

oh, and this is a tree, but since I've followed quite closely a tutorial, I think it came up quite well..but still the author of the tutorial has a big responsability


last thing, I'm from Italy. I know that my English is quite good but still some errors will come up, just to let you know!

[mattib]

I did another pose for the Monk, this time more balanced.

Well...I improved a little the face and the shading on the cloth...but I think it could be improved more.

I've tried to color the outlines and I think it gives a good touch to it, but I don't like the exaggerated shading under the right (his right) leg and the cloth flapping from the back..

[Phlakes]

but I don't like the exaggerated shading under the right (his right) leg and the cloth flapping from the back..

That exaggerated shading is what all shadows should be. Before, it had almost no contrast and looked more like it was just colored in. Try shading like this everywhere.

[yaomon17]

Moar contrast
Smaller head.

[jams0988]

Yeah, his new pose looks a lot better. Also, like Phlakes and yaomon said, you need more contrast in your shading. For me, I find that anything less than a 10% difference in color isn't enough. So if you're working on a scale out of a hundred, take off/add ten saturation or lightness. If you're working out of 255, then 25 or so. Note that this isn't a set rule at all (no rules are in art), but in general, it should help you out in the beginning. At least *try* shading with more contrast first, and if it doesn't work in a certain situation, simply reel it in. You usually want your sprites to have as much contrast as possible, since you're working with such small areas of color.

Good luck! =)

Edit: Ah, also, your tree looks okay, but it looks a little flat. Here's a guy with a few pretty good pixel art tutorials, one of them being how to make trees: http://kiwinuptuo.deviantart.com/

Try to imagine things in big, basic, 3D shapes when drawing, then work down to your fine details. When I draw trees, I start with large blobs of color, making big spheres, just to show where the clumps of leaves will be and how light will hit them. Only after I've roughed out the shape like that do I start adding leaves in. Everyone works differently, but I think the way I do it should be easy enough for anyone to understand, considering my skill level, heheh.

[mattib]

Thanks everybody for the feedback!

@Jams:
You are right, I've improved the shadings on the tree a little bit and now it looks a little better


@Yaomon:
thank you for spending time on my drawing! The hands look very cool, expecially the right one!  For the head on the other hand, I'll try to make it smaller, but not that much, I'd like to keep a cartoonish style (but not too much, and not manga-style) basically the one I use on my other works.

@Flakes:
Gonna try reshading it.
thanks

ps. As I said before, I feel graphics gale really not intuitive for the animation, while I think it's good for the layers etc. What could I use to animate it? I can't even set the FPS in here!

[Phlakes]

Are you sure you're totally new to pixel art? I couldn't do something like this for years.

Although, the stump needs improvement. It looks to smooth for rough bark and too rough to be smooth, and that one extra line of pixels at the bottom just makes it less clean. It's probably best to go straight either way.

[mattib]

ehe, thanks but for this shading I used a little trick that speeded it up a lot: the shades are black pixel on a new layer with a low alpha channel.
I got a question:  graphics gale sets white automatically as a transparent color and that could be okay, but I expected the png to be transparent. Since I'll have to put togheter the different sprites, how do I set a real transparent color?

[jams0988]

Go to the Graphics Gale site. The FAQ explains how to do it, hahah. I'd tell you myself, but I forget, and I need to get to work. It's some stupid work-around sort of thing you need to do though. XP

[HughSpectrum]

You need to go to "Images -> Add Alpha Channel", and then when saving your .png an option appears "with alpha channel".  Set that.

[mattib]

thanks!
updates on my project soon.

suggestion on how to set framerate on graphics gale? I really don't understand that. Uh, and the onion skin button too... i press it but nothing happens!

[pistachio]

Finally got around to an edit:



Shading is more round, and less "flat", that is to say highlights and shadows are focused less on just the edges and instead used to hint at actual forms. This is more obvious in places like the left leg.

Put the arm in a different position, redrew hands.

Feet are now on the same plane.

Redrew face to include more shadows and hollow cheekbones to reflect some age. Didn't do much with the ethnicity part though.

By the way, looking better on that latest tree. Although, I agree, the stump is looking a bit plain (unless it's a baobab, in which case the canopy should be much flatter, but how likely is that?) Hope to see the sprite update soon!

[Stava]

Hi Pistachio
Your version is looking really good, but there's an issue with the leg, it looks off balance like he would fall on his back

I did a fix on it and I'm not sure if I did it right, but here's my idea lol

[yaomon17]

I made an edit of pistachio's edit too (which was absolutely amazing )
I still thought it needed more contrast and I reduced the color count.
Good Luck

 

[mattib]

ehi guys really cool edits! thank you
right now I took i little pause on the monk while studying a little anatomy on paper to edit it myself to look better. Your suggestions on shading and stuff are helping a lot and I'm exercising with pixels on inanimated objects that will be in the background.
Pistachio, your edit is really helpful, and you conviced me to redraw the head (I'm thinking of making it a little more cartoony). Anyway the guy should actually be a kid



the good side of making him a little older is that you can highlight the chinese face features.. which is good (I put the shaolin monk because the song actually has some lines about China)

[Gatts]

Made a pallete and shading edit  on the amazing pistachio edit



The older pallete needs more contrast and value range!

[Stava]

I did some edits on it, hope you like it lol

[mattib]

ehi guys, I'm working on some background stuff... look a this (still Work in Progress, a lot!) train wagon. It's being a pain! The main action will take place ON it, so the roof is going to be a floor actually



I put the monk as a size reference and to show the glass transparency, but other characters are supposed to be there
The main problem is with the ceiling..I don't know how to make a good "metal" texture. you can see different experiments on different slabs. What would you do?
I have a texture problem on the back of the wagon too!
On the side I'll probably put some hiphop graffiti

[Sharm]

I would get some reference images and put some dents here and there (but not a lot) to give it some variety.  Here's a workable one for the metal:


Of the roof tiles you've got so far, I like the one that fades bright to dark.  I think you should add a few rivets to it.

You should lower your windows, they're much too high and don't line up with the door's window.  Train car windows are near the middle so you can see while sitting, but have to bend over to look through them while standing.

[mattib]

look at the roof now



I've improved the rivets (didn't know the english word for them ,thanks) and now they look better. I've changed also the lightning but do you think that repeating the same shades tile to tile is a good solution? It seems a little bit unreal, on the other hand it could be a reflection effect. The problem is that a single shading fading from left to right of the roof will create the same lack of texture that it had before..

[mattib]

hey guys!
I didn't abort the project...but I've been busy with a lot of stuff recently as I am moving to London for a while. I also bought a new computer, and it is a MAC.
Now, Pixen is laggy, but I found this site which is constaintly updating and fixing it as it is open-source.
https://github.com/philippec/Pixen the Pixen you can download from here is stable and good.

the problem is... I can't manage to cut and paste in the same layer :S
and also flipping and rotating isn't easy at all.
Do you know good alternatives for MAC?

I'll post soon other pieces from the project...right now I'm working on the animatics but I'm getting back to the pixels soon!

[mattib]

edit

[mattib]

hey guys I'm back.
Don't worry, I found the way to run GG on my mac.
The flash animatic is nearly finished (stuff that I don't think you are interested in) so I am back to the pixels...
this background is very "work in progress". For example the tiled wallpaper is ugly but it's just a very first draft.
What I am stuck on is the texture on the wardrobe. It is supposed to be wood, but it should be like a treated wood not a rough one, the texture on modern forniture is very light and I have some trouble to render it.
Have you got some good references (in pixel art, not photos)? thank you.
Any other suggestion will be welcome, but keep in mind this is in a initial stage still

[mattib]

sorry here it is

[mattib]

okay, maybe too much of an early stage. I'll post some progress. Hope this time I get some replies ...
the elvis poster is traced from a photo, that was the effect I intended to do.. notice that the wardrobe is still a problem!


now look at this guy... I don't know, the outline doesn't satisfies me, because I quite like what I did on paper and I'd want to do something that gives it justice. Maybe I did something wrong in the paper drawing? Or is it a tracing method issue? do you think I could trace this drawing in pixel art and make it look good? I don't think is too much detailed..