AuthorTopic: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!  (Read 12069 times)

Offline Capta1n_Henry

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 135
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

on: April 18, 2016, 03:47:08 am


Please tell me what I can do to better myself.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2016, 04:10:09 am by PixelPiledriver »

Offline Glak

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 114
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

Reply #1 on: April 18, 2016, 04:32:10 am
First, stop pillow shading.  Here's a simple tutorial that I found for you:

Offline Skaz

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 111
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile
    • My DeviantArt

Re: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

Reply #2 on: April 18, 2016, 01:09:55 pm
Search for tutorials, there is plenty of good tuts for pixel art. This site has some really good ones: http://2dwillneverdie.com/tutorial/

Practice, a lot. And draw, because it would be a mistake to believe that pixel art and drawing are tow different things. Get good a drawing, practice a lot, don't hesitate to imitate some stuff you like, you will lean a lot by imitation. Pixel art is pretty good material to de-construct, it's made a few pixels, try to understand why some sprites a so good.

And practice. A lot!

Keep up!

Offline PixelPiledriver

  • 0011
  • **
  • Posts: 997
  • Karma: +6/-0
  • Yo!
    • View Profile
    • My Blog

Re: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

Reply #3 on: April 20, 2016, 07:31:03 am


And knowing that it is, we seek what it is... ~ Aristotle, Posterior Analytics, Chapter 1

Offline Capta1n_Henry

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 135
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

Reply #4 on: April 20, 2016, 01:21:23 pm

Offline Gil

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1543
  • Karma: +1/-0
  • Too square to be hip
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/475.htm
    • View Profile
    • My Portfolio

Re: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

Reply #5 on: April 20, 2016, 02:01:36 pm
Can we see some of your pencil drawings? I think you mainly have problem with representing volumes. Everything looks like cardboard cutout.

Offline Capta1n_Henry

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 135
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

Reply #6 on: April 20, 2016, 02:19:22 pm
Can we see some of your pencil drawings? I think you mainly have problem with representing volumes. Everything looks like cardboard cutout.
I didn't draw it on paper I just kinda... did it

Offline Ai

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

Re: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

Reply #7 on: April 20, 2016, 02:26:31 pm
Well, it's possible to work out stuff like perspective, volume, and lighting[1] in pixel art.. but, pencil and paper is much quicker to work with (and more fluid, if you are working with a mouse rather than graphics tablet). That's important because you will make a lot of mistakes and most likely need to repeatedly redraw a thing while you are learning how it really works.

[1] PixelPileDriver's edit mainly focused on improving those elements, IMO.
If you insist on being pessimistic about your own abilities, consider also being pessimistic about the accuracy of that pessimistic judgement.

Offline Gil

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1543
  • Karma: +1/-0
  • Too square to be hip
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/475.htm
    • View Profile
    • My Portfolio

Re: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

Reply #8 on: April 20, 2016, 09:20:32 pm
I wasn't asking about this piece. I was asking to see a few pages from your sketch book, so I can gauge your drawing skill better. Pixel art is too rigid to show artist's intent, so I usually ask for some sketch book sketches to confirm suspicions I have about technique and skill and such. It's also a good way to find out which exercises can help you get where you want to be. At your level of skill, most of your practice should probably be done on paper anyway, only jumping to pixel art to make the final pieces you want to create.

For example, you might want to play around with volumes and sketch a few dozen sketches trying to figure that out. Then you can study mechanical parts you like with that knowledge of volume. In the end you put it together by doing a few silhouettes of robots until you get comfortable, and then do a couple full robots to get the hang of how they work. After all that, you open your pixel tool, and pixel a robot.

I'm a pretty decent artist, but if you were to ask me to draw a robot off the top of my head, I probably wouldn't fare much better than you at first. I'd want to at least do a few pages of sketching and trying out things before attempting.

Does that make sense?
« Last Edit: April 20, 2016, 09:22:50 pm by Gil »

Offline Capta1n_Henry

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 135
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: HELP NEEDED! How do I better myself?!

Reply #9 on: April 21, 2016, 01:19:09 am
I wasn't asking about this piece. I was asking to see a few pages from your sketch book, so I can gauge your drawing skill better. Pixel art is too rigid to show artist's intent, so I usually ask for some sketch book sketches to confirm suspicions I have about technique and skill and such. It's also a good way to find out which exercises can help you get where you want to be. At your level of skill, most of your practice should probably be done on paper anyway, only jumping to pixel art to make the final pieces you want to create.

For example, you might want to play around with volumes and sketch a few dozen sketches trying to figure that out. Then you can study mechanical parts you like with that knowledge of volume. In the end you put it together by doing a few silhouettes of robots until you get comfortable, and then do a couple full robots to get the hang of how they work. After all that, you open your pixel tool, and pixel a robot.

I'm a pretty decent artist, but if you were to ask me to draw a robot off the top of my head, I probably wouldn't fare much better than you at first. I'd want to at least do a few pages of sketching and trying out things before attempting.

Does that make sense?

Huh, I never thought of that. I've just jumped straight into it without a clue what to do. Thanks man.