AuthorTopic: First Actual Pixel Art  (Read 3914 times)

Offline araknidkid

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First Actual Pixel Art

on: August 11, 2006, 07:52:39 pm
Everyone's gotta start somewhere, so...my first attempt.



I think I made his legs too short. :S

Just give me some good criticism, because I want to get better.

Offline CrematedPumpkin

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Re: First Actual Pixel Art

Reply #1 on: August 11, 2006, 09:01:07 pm
It's not bad for a first sprite. However, work on the lines might help it look a little better, but the shading is pretty good except for the smoke, which needs to be more billowy and not shaded just as a gradient...that's all I got.
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Offline CrumbBread

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Re: First Actual Pixel Art

Reply #2 on: August 11, 2006, 09:21:24 pm
It looks good =) Of course, I am brimming with ideas to make it looks even better.

I advise getting rid of the inner black outlines, instead using a darker version of the adjacent fill color (dark pink on the shirt, dark grey on the hat, dark dark gray on the pants).

Also, pure gray is usually not the best choice -- even very gray looking material in real life tends to have *some* sort of hue.

Agree with pumpkin about the smoke - it doesn't look bad, just not a lot like smoke (I know from experience that smoke is difficult to draw =p).

You did make his legs too short ^_^ But if you're not going for ultimate realism, I'm of the opinion that it doesn't look bad. Cartoony, but not bad.

The arm with the cigarette is too short, though.

I also think that his back shouldn't be a straight line. It makes the piece look artificial.

The darkest shade on the hat doesn't show up very well.

The bill of the hat looks...well, I dunno how to make it look better, it just looks funny ^_^

This next issue might be intentional, but his head looks a lil' bulgy. On a 3/4ths view like that, the outer eye should be pretty close to the side of the head. Look at your own face in the mirror at that angle and you'll probably notice that outline-curve is very different from what is in your pic (mostly because on a real face, the cheekbone sticks out and the eyesocket curves in). I hope that made sense =P

I personally think he should have ears ^_^

I'm also going to tell you what I tell just about everyone =P Increase the contrast! If you're going to have shadows and highlights, make them count for something ;)


And about dithering in general:
Dithering should be used to suggest texture, or to blend colors. The colorblending isn't an issue here right now because the contrast is so low =) But as far as texture goes -- his hat, shirt, skin, hair, pants, and shoes are all dithered with the same pattern. This suggests that they all have the same texture, which is not what you want. Try different dithering patterns (not just checkerboard) and also try no dithering at all. If his pants are Corderoy (I'm not going to try to spell it properly, I'm hooked on phonics) then they'd have a different texture than if they were patent leather, and hence a different dithering pattern (patent leather, of course, would also have sharper highlights).

And finally,
I just realized something that looks wierd. His waistline bulged down quite a bit -- this suggests that he has a bit of a pudgy stomach. However, if he had a pudgy stomach, it would curve out on the sides as well, but it's perfectly square and straight. (This is part of why the straight spine looks funky).

I hope that helps you. =)

Offline CrumbBread

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Re: First Actual Pixel Art

Reply #3 on: August 11, 2006, 09:25:34 pm
Ah-hah, I just noticed that you tried to be sneaky and avoid pixeling more hands than you absolutely have to. ;) But he doesn't look like a hands-behind-the-back kind of guy, so my challenge to you is to make the other hand visible. It'll look a lot more natural to have it resting against his side than behind his back like that (if you want to put it behind his back, then look at yourself in the mirror with your hand behind your back. Your arm will be bent more, and disappear behind your torso, not your legs. Right now it looks like he has his hand in his back pocket...which is a possibility, but it's a pose that isn't easy to recognize =P).

Offline MrNormS

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Re: First Actual Pixel Art

Reply #4 on: August 11, 2006, 10:22:20 pm
Look at shoulder arm action.  He's really cartoony and needs some serious anatomy/proportion work.  The left arm is ridiculous.  Look at his head and his shoulder line.  I'm no expert with anatomy though, I just know that stuff looks wrong.

Offline Tremulant

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Re: First Actual Pixel Art

Reply #5 on: August 12, 2006, 12:42:44 am
You won't like hearing it, but I think some work on the fundamentals is required before you'll be able to go much farther. How are your traditional skills? Sketching, painting and the like? I'd suggest doing some light study on topics like anatomy, colour theory, lighting etc.

Don't get the wrong impression: I don't want to implay that I'm a master of anything (god no, soo far from it), nor do I want to be discouraging, but even for stylized/cartoony stuff, a basic grip on anatomy is required and the anatomical flaws here are beyond minor...

Some tips on colouring/shading:
The main thing is to try to think about how the light would hit on these objects if they were 3d. In your original picture, the shading is basically a gradient thatflows from right to left (light on the right, gradually darkening toward left). There are thing to take into account along the way. Like, eyes are generally a bit sunken in the head (resting in the sockets), so shadows fall around/under the eyes. The nose sticks off the face, making the tip brighter (highlighted), while casting shadows across the rest of the face.. not the best explanation, but maybe someone else can clarify.

Contrast is your friend. In this pic, the contrast is a bit low, making it hard to distinguish between light and dark, and, in the end, making the image appear flat. Up the contrast (make your darks darker, your lights lighter), and the end result will be a much improved piece. Keep saturation in mind while doing this, too, ass really high saturation can make a picture hard on the eyes (you saturation levels are good here: not to low, or bland, but not too high and eye burning, either).

As for colours themselves, a technique that many people around here seem to use (myself included) is hue shifting. Hues shifting is, well.. shifting hues... as your colours lighten and darken. So for example, if your midtone was red, the shadows might be, say a darker purple while the highlight might be orange (in which case, your shadow's hue shifts toward blue, highlight's toward yellow).

Apologies here, 'casue a friend of mine walked in while I was typing and I lost my train of thought :P I'll end it here...  I did a quick and dirty edit, though, that covers Mich of what I mentioned (didn't touch the lineart).

Offline Kren

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Re: First Actual Pixel Art

Reply #6 on: August 12, 2006, 04:49:09 am
hmm the face and the hat looks wrong.. in the edit.. unless thats what araknidkid wanted though.

Offline Blick

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Re: First Actual Pixel Art

Reply #7 on: August 12, 2006, 06:47:18 pm
Quote
hmm the face and the hat looks wrong.. in the edit.. unless thats what araknidkid wanted though.
Quote
didn't touch the lineart
He was just showing what could be done to improve it, but I'm guessing didn't want to alter the whole image as to keep some resemblance to the original.

I don't think many have mentioned that the posture is very stiff. Standing with your feet together and equal weight on each leg is really uncomfortable. As is holding your arms straight.