New to pixel art/art and need help to understand banding

[Phlakes]

Hmm. I seem to remember some post, way back, talking about the small-scale banding that you get at the pixel level. There was an image explaining it, showing how putting equally wide pixel lines next to each other creates a jarring appearance (e.g. /// ). I see it on the left side of her red skirt.
Who did that image, was it Helm? Anyone knows?

Or do you mean this post?

I know Helm used that all the time.

[Kelmaro]

well the guide I was mainly using for banding was the one yrizoud found there, though its only helped me a tiny bit I think, one question though I have from that guide is, are fat pixels or fat lines also considered banding or is it just the staircase banding?


And about pillow shading I do know about it but just forgot about doing normal shading with this character, though thanks for reminding me.


also one thing I think might help me is if I had a picture that told me a couple spots that did have banding on the character

[Arne]

Yeah, those are good links.

Other pixel artists had to sort of invent the words for various concepts and it's a bit awkward to approach the concepts word-first now. It's a problem with art in general... when others throw terminology around it can sound all artsy fartsy, but once you know the abstract concepts you really enjoy being able to communicate those concepts fast.

[Ymedron]

I went on a banding hunt. I probably didn't catch them all, but I was getting nervous that someone else was doing it at the same time -> my work would be wasted.
Sized up to make it easier to point out the bands.

[Ashbad]

I probably didn't catch them all, but I was getting nervous that someone else was doing it at the same time -> my work would be wasted.

Not quite, even if they did find the same bands and fixed them; you'd still get practice with spotting them, and more importantly, removing them effectively.

EDIT: Oops, thought you were OP 

With that it mind, I think it's good to note that banding is something you should take care of very last when you're working; any changes you make could result in more bands, so the later you fix them, the less work you have to do.

[Ymedron]

EDIT: Oops, thought you were OP 

No harm done, I was replying to the OP:s plea to have a picture that points out some of the banding. I thought some more practical examples would help them understand the "rules" of banding and apply them themselves?

Though I just noticed I did this on an edited image rather than the original.   
Oh well, still useful I hope?

[Kelmaro]

@Ymedron: Thanks that should help me get a better idea of what equals banding and what doesn't. 

@Ashbad: Yea I thought that was the case though thanks for confirming that thought for me.

@Arne: Just want say thanks for taking this much time out to help me.



so I'm probably going to just start fixing and redoing some things with my character, and see if I can spot out the banding and make it better and once I'm close to finished or finished ill post it here to see if I made any progress

and also thanks to everyone else for helping 

[Kelmaro]

so here's a new unfinished version of the character, and while I was editing her I believe I could spot out the banding though still kinda difficult, and its also kinda hard to figure out where to put some pixels when banding occurs but I believe progress has been made. 




and I'm not sure if I'm not allowed to do this or not when I read the forum rules,(or if I should even bother)
but here's a sketch of what she's sapposed to look like that I made before this thread
just so some details make a'bit more sense of what they are sapposed to be
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/72/ramilliasketchcolored.png/

EDIT:just putting a closer to finished version up main thing that isn't finished is the gun and left side of her hair

[Ai]

You've really nuked that banding. Good job
You've also improved the contrast.
I highly recommend keeping a more neutral-midgray BG color rather than the latest white, as this makes it easier to get contrast and color right.

In a hurry right now, here are some other notes before I go:

* Use angles that are not at 45 degrees for organic shapes (her arms)
* teeth are indistinct from skin, and eyes are also. you need some kind of visual elements to separate these.
* teeth still have too much detail to read properly. Vampire style fangs are probably the best you can do and still have the mouth read.

[Kelmaro]

OK so first to update the main picture and add some others.

Ramillia

Child version of her (arms unfinished)
Tuna
and another character (pointing arm  unfinished)

Ok. now with the arm I don't really understand what the problem is with it in this situation, although I did try doing some other shapes with her arm, I couldn't really get anything I felt was as good.

though in certain situations I can understand why its bad, like with my other character I made there with her arm that's pointing, though that's basically the most unfinished part.

and about the teeth and eyes contrast to the skin, well these characters are basically early(Extremely early) character ideas for a game I would like to make in the future, so in game they would probably be zoomed in about 300% or higher, so the contrast of the teeth and eyes to the skin would be much more easier to see. though the teeth I think could still be a'bit better contrast wise though at the moment the only thing I could think of trying to do is changing her skin colour which ill try latter

and about the teeth detail, well I did try doing some other looks for her mouth and ill probably still keep trying, but with whatever I came up so far she either looked really goofy or it just made even less sense.

but one thing I was wondering when you say "read properly" do you mean the only problem with it is that at first sight you couldn't tell whether she had pointy teeth or something else because if that's the case well in game they would probably have portrait's when talking so at that point I would think it would be understandable what that detail is meant to be.

otherwise I don't quite understand what the problem is with having the teeth detail