[WIP] Janitor

[BadMoodTaylor]

He's very geometric. People don't have sharp edges...

What sharp edge?  Can you point out a sharp edge?

[trough]

He's very geometric. People don't have sharp edges...

What sharp edge?  Can you point out a sharp edge?

Enlarged it again-I'm finding the small canvas really difficult.

Really? I think the smallest is your best:

[BadMoodTaylor]

He's very geometric. People don't have sharp edges...

What sharp edge?  Can you point out a sharp edge?

Enlarged it again-I'm finding the small canvas really difficult.

Really? I think the smallest is your best:

Thank you!  I see what you are saying, that helps a lot.

That is, if this fixes it:


Maybe I'll try to go find some more tutorials or learn some more before bothering you all anymore, ha.

And not sure whether to say thanks on the comment on the small one as I directly copied that from Earthbound (for practice) and then just changed the face:


But still, that's the best?  No shading or anything?  I still have a lot to learn about evaluating pixel art . . .

[BadMoodTaylor]

I made a sprite sheet of him just for practice and curious what to see he would look animated:


Not sure how I like it.  I like a cartoony vibe I get from it but at the same time I think it looks like a baby in pajamas. A friend told me it looks like a monkey.  Also, don't feel like the profile face captures what he looks like from the front.

Should I just go back to small canvas?    I redid the very first one quickly and got this:



Which one seems to have more potential?

Any feedback appreciated!  I am still very new to this.

Also, I know this forum isn't for this but if you want to see the sprite sheet in action you can see here:
http://www.loubagel.com/janitortest/index.html
Just ignore some of the hideous tiles I was practicing making and misc other stuff   

[lpflicke]

I personally think you should use the smaller canvases.
I made edits of your smallest and the one you just uploaded for practice.Most of it is just colour changes- darker areas are more red while lighter areas are more yellow.  I also changed the skin to be a more like your higher res-one, dont know if the yellow was a stylistic choice but I just went with the skin colour because I prefered it.

[Dessa]

Enlarged it again-I'm finding the small canvas really difficult.

Smaller sizes make for more difficult challenges, and a greater need for cleverness and compromise, but being able to handle small spaces will make you much better. Even when you go back to big canvases, you'll appreciate the ability to add small details to larger things. This is a skill worth some struggle to develop.

[BadMoodTaylor]

Smaller sizes make for more difficult challenges, and a greater need for cleverness and compromise, but being able to handle small spaces will make you much better. Even when you go back to big canvases, you'll appreciate the ability to add small details to larger things. This is a skill worth some struggle to develop.

True.  I've realized that in my struggles, ha.  I want to improve so will work with smaller canvases.  Thanks for the tip!

I personally think you should use the smaller canvases.
I made edits of your smallest and the one you just uploaded for practice.Most of it is just colour changes- darker areas are more red while lighter areas are more yellow.  I also changed the skin to be a more like your higher res-one, dont know if the yellow was a stylistic choice but I just went with the skin colour because I prefered it.

(referring to the bigger one:)
Wow, I am blown away! I love him now . . . but now what can I change? He is your piece of art now, ha.

I was planning on trying out different colors—I am horrible on picking colors and have no method—but was just focusing on which pixel should be what first. I didn't realize it would be night and day like that!

I do notice all the pixels of shading you have changed so thanks for that as that is very helpful.  I knew some parts didn't look right but ran out of ideas to try.

I think it is crazy how only the colors and shading on the face was changed, not the mouth to make him smile or anything, but yours looks like a happy guy and mine looks a little unstable! Haha.

I'm still not so crazy on the little one, I mean I can definitely see the improvements you made and will learn from it so thank you and I appreciate you taking your time to do it, but I just think the face looks odd.  I guess I should challenge myself to make it into something I like . . . or just make the canvas 2 or 3 pixels bigger 

[lpflicke]

I think yours looked less happy was because 1.The colours were quite desaturated and 2.The shading on the face such as under the eyes makes it look like he hasn't slept while the thicker shading on the side of the face makes his face look a bit bony. As for colours you havent done much hue changing though I'm not great with colour choice either.It can depend on style so you need to find the colours that suit your need.

These are some general references for color:



as a general rule dark areas use colder colours eg.Blue or Purple while light areas use warmer colours like Yellow.

[BadMoodTaylor]

Thanks @lpflicke for those tips.  I looked up some tutorials on color theory and how to make good ramps for pixel art.  Don't know why I waited so long to do so . . .

I have been creating some other characters off of his frame.  Not even a first draft but just trying out anything that comes to mind, for fun and ideas, so a lot may look similar (as won't use them all) and I'm sure there are pixels here and there to fix.



Any feedback definitely still appreciated though.  Especially since I haven't started working on other animations so a tip now could save a lot of reworking later.

[BadMoodTaylor]

Some random updates: