AuthorTopic: Grass/Dirt Tileset [Platform]  (Read 3624 times)

Offline Angelonias

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Grass/Dirt Tileset [Platform]

on: February 25, 2015, 11:50:29 pm
That took soo long damn.. But hey, look what i got! ;D



Now look my progress to this: (Scaled up 3x for you)

And finally i do the 2 upper tiles:


I am completely new to this. This is my first try. I couldn't really find any tutorials
 on making Platform tiles. So i ended up doing what i think by my own.

My Steps:
1) Because i have problem picking colors, i found a reference that looked sweet and kinda stole the colors from it and made an pallet:

2)I made my own Workspace on Paint. Simple and cool:

3)I did what you see on the gifs up there. And ended up with this small tileset:


The tiles by the way are 32 x 32 pixels.

Is what i do right? Do the tiles look cool? Everything.. go ahead and tell me!  :)

One question that i have so long now. Why is it problem if there are many colors?
« Last Edit: March 01, 2015, 02:55:50 pm by Angelonias »

Offline StarRaven

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 108
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Threadkiller
    • View Profile

Re: Grass/Dirt Tileset [Platform]

Reply #1 on: February 26, 2015, 06:50:40 pm
The long bright highlight on the left rock really looks out of place, and because it goes the whole length of the rock, it really flattens it. Your grass also isn't really grass-shaped... it looks a little like clumps of fur. I wish I could help you more there, but I have yet to master the grass tile myself.

I think dithering is a bit out of vogue these days. It's a lot of work for little reward, and your art would be much cleaner and more readable without it. Maybe try anti-aliasing instead -- that's where you take a middle color and soften the line edges between two colors. Your dirt colors could use some adjusting, as there's a really big leap between the two middle ones.

More colors isn't really a problem, at least, not these days. But having fewer colors makes managing them simpler, and produces cleaner art. Plus, well... with fewer colors (or a smaller canvas) there's really only so much you can do wrong. If you keep pushing the pixels around, they'll eventually fall into the right place! (That's how it feels to me, anyway, haha.) It's hard to effectively pick colors in a program like Paint -- maybe try GraphicsGale (it's free.) It's similar, but with layers and color management.

You don't need to scale up your work, by the way! You can click an image to zoom in. :3

Other than the dithering and that one out-of-place highlight, I do rather like the way you've rendered the rocks. It's a good start! Keep working on it!

Offline Angelonias

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Grass/Dirt Tileset [Platform]

Reply #2 on: February 27, 2015, 02:58:36 pm
I think dithering is a bit out of vogue these days. It's a lot of work for little reward, and your art would be much cleaner and more readable without it. Maybe try anti-aliasing instead -- that's where you take a middle color and soften the line edges between two colors. Your dirt colors could use some adjusting, as there's a really big leap between the two middle ones.

More colors isn't really a problem, at least, not these days. But having fewer colors makes managing them simpler, and produces cleaner art. Plus, well... with fewer colors (or a smaller canvas) there's really only so much you can do wrong. If you keep pushing the pixels around, they'll eventually fall into the right place! (That's how it feels to me, anyway, haha.) It's hard to effectively pick colors in a program like Paint -- maybe try GraphicsGale (it's free.) It's similar, but with layers and color management.

You don't need to scale up your work, by the way! You can click an image to zoom in. :3

Hey thanks for everything! :D I thought noone will ever answear.

So, you don't like dithering. I am 100% with you on that. I just thought pixel art was that way and i kinda had to do it.
Obviously not. Also, thanks for answearing my question, because i wonder long now! :P

I will try GraphicsGale AND i know you can zoom by clicking but in some browsers it makes it fogged when you zoom in.

Thanks for your response friend, you helped alot! :) (I will try everything you said)

Offline Ai

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1057
  • Karma: +2/-0
  • finti
    • http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/profile.asp?id=1996
    • finticemo
    • View Profile

Re: Grass/Dirt Tileset [Platform]

Reply #3 on: February 28, 2015, 12:17:49 pm
Overall I suggest to work on lightsource direction. The grass is lit mostly as if the light is on the left, but the stones are lit as if the light is on the right. The light -color- is pretty good -- it has that in-bright-sunshine look working for it.

I always think of dithering as a type of airbrushing. I definitely don't want to airbrush everything, it can look pretty unnatural. And when I do dither, it's one of the last steps I take, after I'm sure that I have the basic picture working well, to add the impression of additional shades where I feel they're needed.

If you insist on being pessimistic about your own abilities, consider also being pessimistic about the accuracy of that pessimistic judgement.

Offline Willabee

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 34
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Hello, Sweetie!
    • View Profile
    • DeviantArt

Re: Grass/Dirt Tileset [Platform]

Reply #4 on: February 28, 2015, 05:25:11 pm
I actually like the use of dithering in this. It gives off a sort of retro gaming feel and (for whatever reason) I'm learning to like that :P
I also want to say THANK YOU for showing the steps in a gif. You just helped me learn a bit more about how to make rocky textures (which I really need to work on) :D

I think the only thing I would really like to see different is a slightly earthier tone to the dirt. I took out 15 points of green value in each of the earth tones, and I think the slightly redder version helps it look more appealing. My guess is because the redder tone contrasts better with the green grass. Just a thought.

The left is my edit, the right is the original.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2015, 05:27:56 pm by Willabee »
I'd love to be a part of this and all, but I can't take it. I wish I wasn't so touchy, but the fact is -- I am! So to save you all the trouble, I'm heading out. Thanks for the help so far! It really means a lot :) You're all beautiful, wonderful people with beautiful, wonderful art. Keep it up!

Offline Angelonias

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Grass/Dirt Tileset [Platform]

Reply #5 on: March 01, 2015, 02:37:02 pm
Overall I suggest to work on lightsource direction. The grass is lit mostly as if the light is on the left, but the stones are lit as if the light is on the right. The light -color- is pretty good -- it has that in-bright-sunshine look working for it.

I always think of dithering as a type of airbrushing. I definitely don't want to airbrush everything, it can look pretty unnatural. And when I do dither, it's one of the last steps I take, after I'm sure that I have the basic picture working well, to add the impression of additional shades where I feel they're needed.

Hahaha so true, now i realized that. I know of lightsource direction but i wasn't focusing on that so...DAMN i am bad!

Also your steps on dithering helped..i am new to this so i don't really know how i am going to use it. Thanks friend  :)

Offline Angelonias

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Grass/Dirt Tileset [Platform]

Reply #6 on: March 01, 2015, 02:41:57 pm
I actually like the use of dithering in this. It gives off a sort of retro gaming feel and (for whatever reason) I'm learning to like that :P
I also want to say THANK YOU for showing the steps in a gif. You just helped me learn a bit more about how to make rocky textures (which I really need to work on) :D

I think the only thing I would really like to see different is a slightly earthier tone to the dirt. I took out 15 points of green value in each of the earth tones, and I think the slightly redder version helps it look more appealing. My guess is because the redder tone contrasts better with the green grass. Just a thought.

You are welcome. I am proud to see that someone finds useful my own way of creating dem tiles!  ;D

Also, surely your colors look much better. :y: As i said before i have hard times picking colors.

Thanks friend!  :)