[WIP] [C+C] RPG tiles

[Shade]

Hello
I plan on making a game and thought I would try my hand at making the graphics for it as well.  This is what I have so far and thought I would post it for C+C incase I am doing something wrong with anything I have made so far.


The fountain isnt finished yet, and the grey box would be used to overlay and make shadows.  Also the blue thing in the top left is supost to be a portal, does it come off as that or do I need to work on it more?



Here's an image with them placed together if it helps.

At the moment im using paint to make them.  Would there be much benifit to using another program like gimp?
Thank you for any advice in advance

Update: Latest Edit so far.

[Decroded]

I definitely think you should use Gimp or buy GraphicsGale (pretty cheap, weird to get started with but very powerful for pixel art) though some options need to change for pixel art. I don't use Gimp but you'll get plenty of help for Gale around here. 

I like that banner design and I like what you're trying to do.
The first issues you have is perspective, the fountain and portal things don't match the res of the scene, also wooden door should be more recessed by moving the bottom up a few pixels and casting more shadow at the top.
Sorry I can't link from my phone but I know Cyangmou has some cool beginner tutorials on his deviant art about working in this perspective.

Secondly you need to clearly separate the horizontal and vertical planes. This is done simply by making the whole wall darker than the floor. Make it a good separation with pretty strong difference in value.
Once you've done this we also tend to have single pixel highlight lines on edges such as the top of fountain facing us.

Color and texturing would come next.
We tend to also void using straight greys by "hue shifting" in some warmer colours where the sun hits and cooler colors in the shadows.

Keep a track of incremental progress as u work by saving new versions of the files or whatever.
I find reflecting on  progress by comparing the stages helps cement those choices so they become automatic.

[lachrymose]

I'm lazing around so I can post the tutorial links.

http://cyangmou.deviantart.com/gallery/37668128/Tutorials

http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299

From my standpoint you need to lower your saturation. You have a lot of eye-burning effects going on right now.

[Shade]

Thank you for the critique
here's what I have done so far.  I have darkened the walls and adjusted the door.  I dont thin I got the portal right yet, but will read the tutorials and get it right

I will work the fountain after the portal is right and will try adding a slight warmer tint to the lighter area's and add some highlight lines

Ive also desaturated the grass, vine, and banner. hopfully it doesnt burn anyone elses eyes.




I will also look into graphics gale

[Decroded]

Already an improvement but u need a but more value contrast between the planes.
Once u have a bit more, u can then use hues to separate the planes, the theory being that there is more yellowy light on the ground where the sun is hitting it.
Walls would have sparingly few yellowy highlights and some cooler shadows (various ways to do this including blending in blue and/or spikes in desaturation).

Look forward to seeing more progress 

[Cyangmou]

Your main problem is that you are currently focusing on getting detail in your stuff to make it beautiful.
You are trying to add detail by using dither everywhere. however this leads to a very grainy and not really detailled impression.
All the detail won't help if the base of the drawing isn't well established.

What decroded was talking about was that you have to fix your contrasts.


Focus exactly on what happens between step 1 and 2.
Observe what happens with the wall and what happens with the ground.
Also observe the relationship of the changes in the "big image" - focus on the whole scene while you are looking at it.
If you get a better impression through this, you can focus on step 3 (which is basically adding detail).




this means for you:

1) get rid of all details
2) focus on getting your contrast rights that everything reads good and stands apart
3) add detail, while keeping the overall impression you established in step 2

Spoiler

[Shade]

Thanks again for the critique 

Spoiler

I have removed the differing and increased the contrast. still need to remake the grass, since all it was, was dithered lol.

EDIT:I have done some more
I have worked on the grass, flowers, and rocks for the ground.
Spoiler

I am probably going to tone down the density of the flowers and stones.

EDIT2: Decreased the density of the flowers and stones.  I also made the flowers and stones fit into the grid so i could mix and match them better.  Made the grass greener, does it look better, or was it better the colour before? was wondering whether it was looking more dried out then tinted by the sun. 

There is also a texture on the slabs now.






The post was getting quite long so I added the older versions in the post in spoiler tags.

[lachrymose]

I still think your grass is to bright. To highly saturated without much contrast. This could just be personal preference.

[Shade]

Added some contrast to the grass, does this look better?




I increased the saturation on the flowers so they stand out more, they looked kind of washed out.

[Mr. Fahrenheit]

This got a lot better quickly, nice job. One thing i have to say though, your grass looks pretty repetitive so maybe try making a variation tile or two that you can intersperse to break up the patterns.