Pig Man Portrait

[Sandwich]

Just made this little thing last night, wanted to see what you all think! Done in GameMaker's sprite editor. I consider this finished, but of course any critiques, comments, and edits are welcomed.

Thanks for looking!

[Glak]

You have four pinks in the head but you are barely using two of them.  Compare how you used them with how you used the four tans in the collar.  In the collar you are using them to show the form; do the same for the head.

The whole image lacks contrast between the shades.  This is especially true in the collar.

[Joe]

Huh, using GM's built in editor is probably more masochistic than MS Paint, though GM being my personal entry into pixel art I have fond memories of it. I would say this: if you intend to pixel for any serious amount of time, or make games, or get better at art, staying with such basic tools is going to make it all that much harder. There's no palette management which is core to pixel art, no layers, tile management etc. There are a few good dedicated pixel programs out there, I would recommend GraphicsGale or Aseprite maybe. GG's free version has everything you need right now. The full has gif saving, and it's around $17 which is nominal.

Of your sprite I'd say you have contrast in all the wrong places and I'd like to know what your thought process was in color selection. For example on the one hand it seems like you were timid in pushing the areas where you do suggest form, but on the other you've got these stark lines that kinda ignore the rest of the image. It could easily be improved with a light source and shading with respect to the forms. Very basic problems but nothing you can't correct with some practice.

[PixelPiledriver]

Some thoughts:



Take Joe's advice fo sho.

[Sandwich]

@PixelPiledriver
That edit is really cool, and I see what you're getting at, the head shape is much more defined, and the color is put to better use. As a side note, the main reason I didn't fill in the arm patch on the left was because I felt like I couldn't indicate a definable icon in the small space provided.

@Joe
My thought process toward color selection was honestly just stuff like "red", "tan", and "pink". I really don't know a whole lot about making colors work together well, and I knew something about the colors was odd. Couldn't really figure out what I did wrong though, so thank you for making it more clear.
I agree that I was pretty timid in terms of suggesting form, and I think this comes down to my lack of confidence in how to define forms well. For instance, I rarely feel sure of exactly how a fold in cloth should look, or how the shading should look on a person's face.

I will definitely look into GG as well.

Anyway, thanks for the advice! I'm really looking to improve, but I could never put my finger on what bothered me about my art, so I'm glad you both took the time to provide some perspective.

[PixelPiledriver]

As a side note, the main reason I didn't fill in the arm patch on the left was because I felt like I couldn't indicate a definable icon in the small space provided.

It's ok that there isn't enough space.
Small details and even entire objects are distorted by perspective.
Not everything will face the viewer directly.
There's no need to make it specific.
Try to imply the existence of objects that are distorted beyond clear visibility.
I didn't mess with the jacket much, these are unfinished thoughts.
But the patch caught my attention as a good source of character, so I put a few pixels in it.

Def spread your colors around and try to achieve a balance of descriptive contrast.
Rather than colored props that make up the character. --> not always important, simple broad colors can work fine as well, but that's my way of explaining the changes I made.