AuthorTopic: First Portrait Ever: CnC please [Nudity]  (Read 8778 times)

Offline Zizka

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First Portrait Ever: CnC please [Nudity]

on: June 05, 2012, 11:37:11 am
Hello again,

I've tried my hand at doing a portrait and I'm having a hard time. I'm trying to improve my pixel abilities and decided to do something pretty hard.

Reference (sorry, can't find the hide tag):



Here's my attemps (I'm using little paintings as a ''concept'':

1st:


2nd:


3rd:


4th:


Current 5th attempt:


Anyways, I'd really like to become good at this. I'm open to just about anything you'd have to say and I'm hard working.

Thank you.

Unrelated nudity:
« Last Edit: June 29, 2012, 12:41:34 am by ptoing »

Offline r1k

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Re: First Portrait Ever: Could Use Some Help

Reply #1 on: June 05, 2012, 07:01:43 pm
I think working this small is going to limit the amount youll be able to learn at this point, its just going to force you to use symbols instead of actually understanding the face's structure.  Try going atleast 32x32 for the face or 64x64 or something.  Anyways, first things first, I think you need to familiarize yourself with basic proportions of the face.  Heres a quick guide

the white lines show that the face can basically be divived into thirds at those locations.  Everyones face is a little bit different though so its easy to start off by dividing it into perfect thirds then making small adjustments to match the person closer.  For example, the middle sections a little longer in your reference.
The green line shows that the lower third can ussually be divived about in half somewhere around the lips, but youll need to check this for each person.
The pink sections are just an example of how you can look for different areas that are similar in size.  So I noticed that the chin and eye socket are pretty close in height here.
make sure to notice the basic shape of the head too, taking into note the proportion of the height of the head to the width.

you probably need more contrast in your palette too.  Most of your colors are pretty close and just read as one value.  There should be relatively high contrast between light and shadow areas, and relatively lower contrast within each of these areas for more subtle details.
« Last Edit: June 05, 2012, 07:04:48 pm by r1k »

Offline Seiseki

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Re: First Portrait Ever: Could Use Some Help

Reply #2 on: June 05, 2012, 08:42:23 pm
You're focusing on the wrong facial features, any features you choose to include will be read as extreme features due to the low res..
For example, the laugh lines are extremely subtle in the photo, yet when it's 1 pixel thick (which is as thick as the lips) and dark it suddenly takes over and looks like an old person.
And you're making the head way too thin..

Currently it looks like aerosmith wearing a wig xD

I had a go at this, mainly to see if and how it could be done, just a quick job..

I learned a few things..
Like, 3 pixel eyes in a row is a bad idea, since it looks like a creepy stare and kinda neglects how eyes are shaped.
Also cutting away the upper lip improved the look quite a bit (it's barely visible anyways), and trying to add extra pixels to the sides just made it into a creepy joker grin.
Now this is pretty much a complete makeover, you'll have to play around a lot with shading to make it look good.


edit: Could probably use an extra pixel in height for the forehead. And the darkest outline is too dark..
« Last Edit: June 06, 2012, 08:17:21 pm by Seiseki »

Offline Zizka

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Re: First Portrait Ever: Could Use Some Help

Reply #3 on: June 06, 2012, 12:11:04 am
Thanks for pointing me out in the right direction, I humbly accept your criticism. I've saved both your messages to my hard drive and will try again with a bigger size show it you later.

Offline Zizka

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Re: First Portrait Ever: Could Use Some Help

Reply #4 on: June 06, 2012, 03:09:11 pm
Ok, two new attemps. There's some improvement but I'm not quite there yet. Readability seem to be the issue. I've tried to put into practice everything you've said.





A quick comparison:

« Last Edit: June 06, 2012, 03:11:45 pm by Zizka »

Offline jinza

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Re: First Portrait Ever: Could Use Some Help

Reply #5 on: June 06, 2012, 04:51:41 pm
Alright when you do a portrait ,sometimes starting small may not be the best idea the more room you have the more details you can add within the portrait pixel art piece which you are working on.

Offline Seiseki

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Re: First Portrait Ever: Could Use Some Help

Reply #6 on: June 06, 2012, 08:17:05 pm
Sorry, but it's not really about readability, it still all about what features you're focusing on.
Since it's a girl you shouldn't try to bring out any features that mark strong facial structure since those are manly traits.
Like for example the chin and the dark patches under the eyes. You'd rather want dark patches above the eyes to make it look more feminine than tired.

As for the eyes, it still a crazy stare because it's one pixel with white around.
Usually your eyelid will cover the top and bottom of the pupil, if there's eye white around that it looks like the eyes are wide open and it also makes the pupils looks smaller.

It doesn't look that weird when viewed in small res, but when you enlarge it it looks really strange and scary.
But it's clearly an improvement!
« Last Edit: June 06, 2012, 08:19:37 pm by Seiseki »

Offline Cupcake

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Re: First Portrait Ever: Could Use Some Help

Reply #7 on: June 06, 2012, 11:48:01 pm
Have an edit:

-
edit -- original

Changes:
* I edited your palette: some of the skin tones are alright, but everything was very washed out, and the yellows you used look more like lemon-yellow than blonde to me. I think the teal you used as a background contrasts nicely with the hair, so I kept it.
* Moved figure up: you have a lot of unused space in your version and it's a little distracting. Added in more of her body.
* Shifted facial features a couple pixels up on the face to make her forehead seem like enormous. In the reference image the forehead is maybe 1/3 of her face, in yours it's more like 1/2.
* Reshaded most everything: I didn't work off of it directly, but for some of the tricky portions I found it helpful to size down the original image to the size you're working at, reduce it to 16 colors, and use it as a reference. Again, I did not work directly off it but I found it helpful for areas I wasn't certain how to shade.
* Dropped the lipstick color. Not strictly necessary, I was just reducing the palette and never put it back in. I'd make it less neon-bright.
* Made the eyes bigger. Mostly personal preference/style, they looked fine at the original height with bigger irises.

Offline Zizka

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Re: First Portrait Ever: Could Use Some Help

Reply #8 on: June 07, 2012, 02:05:45 pm
Quote
Sorry, but it's not really about readability, it still all about what features you're focusing on.
Since it's a girl you shouldn't try to bring out any features that mark strong facial structure since those are manly traits.
Like for example the chin and the dark patches under the eyes. You'd rather want dark patches above the eyes to make it look more feminine than tired.
Ok, I removed the dark patches under the eyes. I’ve messed about with the chin but can’t really find anything convincing so I’ve kept it.

Quote
As for the eyes, it still a crazy stare because it's one pixel with white around.
Usually your eyelid will cover the top and bottom of the pupil, if there's eye white around that it looks like the eyes are wide open and it also makes the pupils looks smaller.
Ok, I understand. I’ve removed the crazy stare.


Have an edit:

  -  
edit -- original

Changes:
Quote
* I edited your palette: some of the skin tones are alright, but everything was very washed out, and the yellows you used look more like lemon-yellow than blonde to me. I think the teal you used as a background contrasts nicely with the hair, so I kept it.
Agreed about the hair color, I’ve changed it.

Quote
* Moved figure up: you have a lot of unused space in your version and it's a little distracting. Added in more of her body.
Agreed, I’ve also fixed that.


Quote
* Shifted facial features a couple pixels up on the face to make her forehead seem like enormous. In the reference image the forehead is maybe 1/3 of her face, in yours it's more like 1/2.
True, I’ve fixed that too.

Quote
* Reshaded most everything: I didn't work off of it directly, but for some of the tricky portions I found it helpful to size down the original image to the size you're working at, reduce it to 16 colors, and use it as a reference. Again, I did not work directly off it but I found it helpful for areas I wasn't certain how to shade.
That’s a good idea but I’d rather stick to the original size as a challenge if you will.

Quote
* Dropped the lipstick color. Not strictly necessary, I was just reducing the palette and never put it back in. I'd make it less neon-bright.
I’ve decided to remove it too. I tried reducing the saturation of the lip color but in the end I thought it just looked better without.

Quote
* Made the eyes bigger. Mostly personal preference/style, they looked fine at the original height with bigger irises.
To be honest, I find the eyes a little big. The hair is really nice though.

This is what I got:

Before after

Offline Jeremy

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Re: First Portrait Ever: Could Use Some Help

Reply #9 on: June 07, 2012, 02:52:55 pm


Your colours are all very saturated and fairly light. It makes it difficult to differentiate between different areas. The teal background and brown border aren't helping that either. I agree with r1k, it would be easier to get all the features in with a larger canvas to work with (not massively so; perhaps 50 x 50?).