AuthorTopic: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite  (Read 12873 times)

Offline Joe

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #20 on: September 22, 2015, 07:31:07 pm
Careful, style is a detrimental reason to hide behind. Far more often than not a close-mindedness of style will prevent you from learning something useful.
I say this only to save you time down the road.
I'm not saying to copy dpixel's style but you missed the point. The increased contrast is far closer to real values and describes a face clearly; in its present state your sprite does not.
Zoom out, look at the bigger picture, stop treating your work so delicately. Push the values outside of your comfort zone, if this is anything other than a background piece it needs contrast to be credible.

Offline Linaru

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #21 on: September 23, 2015, 12:45:32 am
i do try to be careful when i am working on pixel art to make sure i learn new things.
Contrast is something i have struggled with before in my art work, i am constantly being told to 'increase the contrast' but every attempt i do just seems to make it look awful and off balance

now i am not saying dpixels looks bad its very good and its helped me get a few ideas on how to structure the face, but the odd dark contrast does make the face look messy and in my eyes its quite difficult to work out what is going on at a glance.

when ever i start drawing with higher contrast colours i find it very difficult to tell whether my work looks like the object its supposed to or if its just because i know what its supposed to be

i hope that makes sense, i do nt want it to sound like i am stubbornly defending my work because i have played with darker contrast on more than one occasion
Linaru Greyfall

Offline Joe

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #22 on: September 23, 2015, 03:23:13 am
No, that does make sense. My suggestion would be to still work with normal contrast, and the critiques you get will allow you to adjust your perception to that range over time.
You're gonna master it at some point anyway, may as well start now  ;)
That said, what defines the style you're going for? You're basically going for low detail? I can be better help that way.

Offline Linaru

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #23 on: September 23, 2015, 03:56:53 am
not really sure what you mean by 'normal contrast'

have been playing around with a rough tile set concept.. in-order to get a better idea of how my character would look in conjunction to the world. i normally dont go darker than #222222  but in an effort to increase contrast i have taken my black down to #111111

here's an example + new colour palette

the tile i have drawn here has a much darker contrast than id usually do and to me it looks a little aggressive and over-saturated


i am basically aiming for a smoother simplistic art style, i dont want to layer on to many shades of colour or to many details. something a bit like journey but in pixel art form,
only much darker and gloomyer..

perhaps something like this : https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BR61eFVCQAA1Sm-.png only less cluttered.
only 3-4 shades of colour.




« Last Edit: September 23, 2015, 04:05:35 am by Linaru »
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Offline PixelPiledriver

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #24 on: September 23, 2015, 04:33:24 am
Quote
i have played with darker contrast on more than one occasion
Not to split the definition of your words, but:
More contrast doesn't have to mean strictly darker.

Think about it as the included range of values instead and maybe that will help you.
The idea is to create clarity between sections, surfaces, forms, objects, etc thru an overall balance, but also on an edge to edge case of colors touching.

Where and why you place contrast is up to you -> stylistically, emotionally, dramatically, compositionally, exclamatory, etc
But the most most basic use is to make the image easy to understand.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2015, 04:35:30 am by PixelPiledriver »
And knowing that it is, we seek what it is... ~ Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Chapter 1

Offline Joe

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #25 on: September 23, 2015, 08:11:49 am
By normal contrast I mean the typical values you'd find under everyday lighting conditions.
Here's a step toward that direction.

   

The feet look like she's on her tiptoes, I don't really know what you're going for there.
The hair can be desaturated quite a bit and still be unnatural, it seems like that's what you were going for.
Breasts do not do that to a shirt, especially of that size. That line all the way down the left breast, just doesn't happen.
Belly button has too much detail for its size.
Imagine gripping a sword with your left hand, what shape does your hand make? Thumb goes over, wrist is relaxed.
Is the purple a scabbard? If so it cannot be bent as it would be physically impossible to draw or sheathe the sword.
I'd encourage you to outline her face so it's easier to read in light backgrounds.

Offline Linaru

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #26 on: September 23, 2015, 12:08:40 pm
Actually the purple was meant to be a bit of cloth

here's my attempt to find a bit contrast without making it to heavy..



the hair and skin i have not changed much as it kept ending up to bright in comparison tot he tiles and clothes.
i got rid of my old browns and used the same ones from the test tile set i threw together.

also altered the body a bit under her shirt layer and tweaked the shirt to have less of a crease

« Last Edit: September 24, 2015, 06:26:46 pm by Linaru »
Linaru Greyfall

Offline dpixel

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #27 on: September 23, 2015, 02:52:33 pm
To my understanding, pixel art generally uses way fewer colors than other forms of art for the ease of making changes, animating, etc.   And to create the desired effect with few colors the best tool is higher contrast.  Of course there are exceptions.

Your hair and shirt have almost no contrast at all.  And the purple cloth needs some defining line at least.  It's hard to tell what it is as it blends too much with the pants.   

Offline Linaru

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #28 on: September 24, 2015, 06:25:50 pm
i took a break did some tileset stuff then came back with a  fresh mind and modified the contrasts a little more.

Linaru Greyfall

Offline wzl

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Re: [WIP] [C+C] My First Largish Character Sprite

Reply #29 on: September 26, 2015, 10:29:36 pm
I wanted to give this a shot for some time since i'm a fan of unnecessarily long legs for female characters. (or generally disproportionate but still kind of working anatomy)

I think the lack of contrast in your piece is not just a matter of value (lightness) but also of color.
I'm no expert on the topic but as far as i understand it different hues at the same value (in HSV) can appear darker or brighter, so choosing a different color(hue) at the same lightness can increase your contrast as well. Combining those will create contrast not just in color but also brightness, or some-such. The theory is really weird for me, but i think i sort of start to get a feeling for it anyways.

Your skin  currently is very light and flat, the shadow turns towards grey which doesn't make it feel very alive. Also the way you shaded creates only a sort of banding gradient towards the furthest distance from the light. it seems very generic and doesn't play with the forms of the anatomy or pose.

finally i felt it is really weird that the body seemingly faces straight forward (towards the viewer) while the head and the arms suggest an i'm going right motion.