[C+C]New to pixel art(and this forum)

[TestSubject06]

Hey guys, first post and I've only been lurking for like two days. Still really new to this, but definitely interested in getting better.

So I played around with Fireworks for a while, and made some pixel art stuff, and was hoping to get some c+c on it? My friends say it's really good... but that's friends, and I'd expect it from them

Anyways, here's a few of em:

Dirt tile for a platformer?







This was supposed to be a cave wall... I'm not really sure what it looks like.


I tried to make a tear, but couldn't get it to look liquidy.


This is half of a fireplace that was going to be in a larger scene, but I gave up on the scene. (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13349757/Pixel%20Art/FireplaceScene.png)
I like the fireplace, but that tree basically looks like crap.


Then Fireworks started crashing like every 20 minutes, making it impossible to do anything in it. So I've started using the free edition of Graphics Gale, and made a stump.

[Monochrome]

Not a bad start at all, I would say.

[Charlieton]

I think the best piece is the stone tile (and I think it definitely looks more like a bunch of protruding rocks, rather than dirt), if only because the shape is defined and clean.

The rest of your art - though clearly having been paid more attention to - is very dirty and full of noise most of the time. For example the cave wall, and the rock above it, have a heavy amount of unneeded dithering on them. This makes them quite hard to read; their shapes blurried. And there's no apparent reason why there should be any stray pixels on that santa hat. They seem completely arbitrary, and don't help the piece in any way.

Hard edges and jaggies are present in every piece, and in need of being cleaned up and smoothened with AA.

Despite all the criticisms above, I also think this is a pretty good start. All that I'm requesting is readability. Keep going! 

[Sharm]

The trick to making something look liquid is to shade it like it's transparent.  What I do is I have the shadow define the back side and then have the shine define the front.  The shine will often overlap the shadow this way.



Not the best edit, but it should give you an idea what to do and how to avoid the dreaded pillow shading.

[Facet]

Significantly better than my first forays into pixels but more attention could be paid to pixel level stuff.

Great overview of pixel-specific process by the lovely Cure here if you haven't caught this already.

Try cleaning up some of what you've got here already keeping these considerations in mind. 

[TestSubject06]

I think the best piece is the stone tile (and I think it definitely looks more like a bunch of protruding rocks, rather than dirt), if only because the shape is defined and clean.

The rest of your art - though clearly having been paid more attention to - is very dirty and full of noise most of the time. For example the cave wall, and the rock above it, have a heavy amount of unneeded dithering on them. This makes them quite hard to read; their shapes blurried. And there's no apparent reason why there should be any stray pixels on that santa hat. They seem completely arbitrary, and don't help the piece in any way.

Hard edges and jaggies are present in every piece, and in need of being cleaned up and smoothened with AA.

Despite all the criticisms above, I also think this is a pretty good start. All that I'm requesting is readability. Keep going! 

I like the hard edges, especially along the outer edge. I'm working on pixel techniques to get to a point where I can make game art for my own games, and hard edges help identify objects better, I'll probably use AA on backgrounds where it's okay to have things sort of meld together.
As for the santa hat, I tried to get the rough lighting of it being fuzzy, what would be a better way to go about that?

The trick to making something look liquid is to shade it like it's transparent.  What I do is I have the shadow define the back side and then have the shine define the front.  The shine will often overlap the shadow this way.



Not the best edit, but it should give you an idea what to do and how to avoid the dreaded pillow shading.

Oooh, I see I'll try another edit in a little while, I'm about to start working on sloped tiles.

Significantly better than my first forays into pixels but more attention could be paid to pixel level stuff.

Great overview of pixel-specific process by the lovely Cure here if you haven't caught this already.

Try cleaning up some of what you've got here already keeping these considerations in mind. 

I actually made most of these (save for the cave wall) after reading through that.

[Facet]

hey, no problem. You mentioned that you're new and I think ideally everyone should have a read of that tutorial before posting so that we're all on the same page.

You've demonstrated an admirable work ethic & willingness to learn. The problem I'm having is that there's just too much unrelated stuff here that makes critique a bit scatter-shot.

I'd like to see you take one piece or a scene comprising of a few related ones (perhaps something that you struggled with) and bring that to a high level of polish with the help of the board here. 

[TestSubject06]

Definitely, but it will have to wait a few days. I'm moving to Atlanta tomorrow morning, and have to tear my setup down this evening.

[Charlieton]

I like the hard edges, especially along the outer edge. I'm working on pixel techniques to get to a point where I can make game art for my own games, and hard edges help identify objects better, I'll probably use AA on backgrounds where it's okay to have things sort of meld together.

OK. You can still have some AA inside the edges though, as to make them appear less jagged.

As for the santa hat, I tried to get the rough lighting of it being fuzzy, what would be a better way to go about that?

Something like this?



Also, the lightning was inconsistent in yours, so I tried to correct that. By looking at the hat, light source appears to be in the topmost left corner. This would imply there'd be some shade on the cat's uppermost part of the face, as the hat would obscure the light from reaching there. However, in yours, that part is completely lit up.