AuthorTopic: Tiles C&C  (Read 35336 times)

Offline Probo

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #10 on: March 01, 2014, 06:28:32 pm
just noticed something that looked odd to me, where the brick butressess meet that stone wall. heres a few ideas i had

Offline Luke

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #11 on: March 07, 2014, 07:39:59 pm
Thanks for the edits guys.
@Probo: While your edit certainly looks more three dimensional, I'm really trying to work within 16x16 tiles.
@Grimsane: Your edit helped quite a lot.  Attempted to fix this issue in the edit below.

I think it's an improvement, but still needs to be tweaked.  C&C please.

Offline YellowLime

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #12 on: March 08, 2014, 05:27:54 pm
Top building:
The windows are too big, and too low.
Same with the door/gate. The change in width of the door's top "rim" shows a dynamic POV that is dissonant with the rest of the piece's flat perspective. (Also, the "rim" ends at the bottom along with the surrounding walls, instead of lower, killing the effect of it being in front)

The borders of the building are perfectly touching the sidewalk, with some measly little squares of grass in the corners...
This suggests that there was an empty land allotment (or however they're called), and then the building was constructed there.
That idea seems unnatural here, because usually some space is left between the building and the street.
I'd either expand the grass/ground section of the allotment, or simply remove it completely (change it to concrete or something) so that the idea conveyed is that the street was built around the building and not the other way around.

The sea/lake is way too calm, it needs some waves/ripples.

« Last Edit: March 08, 2014, 05:33:09 pm by YellowLime »

Offline Luke

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #13 on: March 28, 2014, 04:38:16 pm
I'm having some trouble with the perspective on the columns at the bottom. 
Help on this or C&C on anything else would be great.

Offline astraldata

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #14 on: March 28, 2014, 08:15:13 pm
You've removed most of the interest by removing the contrast in the wall tiles, though the sidewalk and cobblestone look better with the new colors.

Sharm's edit made your dreary look much more interesting to the observer (who are you creating this for -- you, or an audience?) and Probo did your construction some justice (an extra 16x16 tile or two I don't think will hurt to make your buildings visually appealing, unless it's a limitation on the game engine, though if that's the case, you might want to try a more modern one). As I don't like to be an ass about this kind of stuff, I do feel like people are offering you an awesome amount of help and you're just saying "meh, I don't care what YOU think should be changed, I like it because it's mine, so I'm not doing that. But help me some more."

That kinda defeats the point of critique, doesn't it?

If someone brings up something about your art, although it doesn't always need fixing, it does always need addressing in an objective manner. I almost didn't respond to this post because I thought you were being an ass at first by tossing (experienced) people's advice aside and saying "I like *mine* better." without ever trying to incorporate even a little of the advice they were giving you. Even if you do like yours better, you don't have to change your entire art direction -- just try adding a little something new to it. After all, drab colors or not, your windows are still too low and too large, and someone has already tried pointing that out already to you, which you also ignored.

I posted to this topic because you have potential, and I don't like that to go to waste. The most important thing I've learned about art is that the more you think you know about it in terms of style or technique, the less you really do know. That's why you should really try to take in everyone's advice to some extent and try to make it work for you in a way that you are satisfied with. Otherwise, critique is useless to both you, and to the person taking the time to hit that reply button, hoping you'll not ignore their time and energy (the older you get, the less you have of it after all, so the more valuable it becomes to you).

Just food for thought.
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Offline Johasu

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #15 on: March 28, 2014, 09:16:45 pm
Shouldn't your base lines match the curve you have already established upon the segmentation of your columns?

BTW I agree completely with astraldata's critique of your colors.  The walls are almost entirely unreadable without focusing really hard on it.
As I understand it, detail work on pixel art is best accomplished when you imply texture with your efforts and color choices.  When a viewer sees the work, that information should be relayed at first glance.  <--If they have to look closely and focus on an asset to read it properly, there is probably an issue there somewhere that could be addressed.

My eyes barely read the details of your bricks on this version.  They are too low contrast between shade and highlight for me to see without squinting and staring at it.
Other critiques I could offer:
Some of your shadows especially around the corners looks too boxy to match the surface.
The shadows of your columns seem to be going at an angle where the other shadows and highlighting implies straight on or from forward and above lighting.  (They don't match)
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Offline Luke

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #16 on: March 28, 2014, 10:31:37 pm
In regards to astradata's deeply philosophic post:  I appreciate anybody who takes the time to try and help me here.  I think I've made that appreciation quite explicit.  You sir, come off as quite patronizing though.

In regards to the lack of saturation on the walls.  Below is my reference.  That is the sort of texture I am trying to create.  Any suggestions?

« Last Edit: March 28, 2014, 10:34:58 pm by Luke »

Offline astraldata

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #17 on: March 29, 2014, 02:18:01 am
In regards to astradata's deeply philosophic post:  I appreciate anybody who takes the time to try and help me here.  I think I've made that appreciation quite explicit.  You sir, come off as quite patronizing though.

Maybe so. Wasn't my intention. I too only meant to help out. However, your appreciation, or lack thereof, wasn't what I was talking about -- it was simply that, as I was considering posting to your topic, and read this topic thinking "wow, look at all the great advice this dude is getting and just passing up; it apparently isn't worth my time to post about it... he'll probably ignore my advice too." -- then I'm sure there is someone else thinking the same thing as well. It was more a heads-up to you so that you might prevent that sort of thinking in the future with how you (didn't) respond thoughtfully to thoughtful critique. I wouldn't have mentioned it had I thought you had no appreciation for the critique. I was only trying to help you score a bit more.

With that being said, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot.

As far as your reference goes, it's really not that useful in the circumstances you're trying to use it in. Aside from perhaps construction lines, further use of this reference for lighting or color selection is not a very good idea. The wall portion is very weathered and old, plus the lighting is overcast and makes everything look dull and washed out, which sucks the vitality out of *any* image and is simply not pleasant to look at for any length of time, much less for a video game like an RPG you'll be looking at for an extended period of time. No amount of amazing gameplay will ever make someone want to look at washed out dreary images like the reference. There's a reason photoshop has an extensive set of color correction tools. ;P

My only suggestion to fix this saturation issue is to keep in mind the ambient color you want in the scene and whether you want the scene to be cool or warm, which will help you determine that. As far as I can tell, you seem to be mixing both cool and warm colors in your scene without regard to any unifying ambient color -- if you had one, I'd assume the wood on that dock would reflect that. In pixel art, the color of a single pixel doesn't matter as much as the color all the pixels combined give to the overall image. This is equally true in scenes such as yours. References can only help you so far with that though.
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Offline Luke

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #18 on: April 18, 2014, 02:52:07 am
I'm back again with a slight update.
Mostly the base of the columns, the windows and the street light.
As always, I would love comments and/or criticism.


« Last Edit: April 18, 2014, 02:56:58 am by Luke »

Offline Decroded

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Re: Tiles C&C

Reply #19 on: April 19, 2014, 08:29:01 am
Contrast and saturation consistently low makes image boring to look at.

You could at least consider more contrast between vertical and horizontal surfaces.
You can't argue against such a basic technique as that.

It also seems a bit pointless to post here just to ignore what seems at a glance to be good feedback.