[WIP] Helicopter

[MysteryMeat]

A pattern, for visual flare

[BadMoodTaylor]

That's what I thought—it looks great

[BadMoodTaylor]

Update:



I really like the choppa @MysteryMeat made but didn't want to try and replicate it exactly.  I made a couple of attempts before this one.  I decided to condense the helicopter a lot for this one- the compact model - as it might be less realistic but more cartoony/cute.  Also decided to give it a go at adding a pilot.

I really am liking this version . . . but will see what I change my mind tomorrow.

[MysteryMeat]

looks excellent! Keep up the good work

[BadMoodTaylor]

looks excellent! Keep up the good work

Thank you and thanks a lot for the help! 

[tsej]

Update:



I really like the choppa @MysteryMeat made but didn't want to try and replicate it exactly.  I made a couple of attempts before this one.  I decided to condense the helicopter a lot for this one- the compact model - as it might be less realistic but more cartoony/cute.  Also decided to give it a go at adding a pilot.

I really am liking this version . . . but will see what I change my mind tomorrow.

There's some resolution mixing going on there, that tends to look bad.

[BadMoodTaylor]

Update:



I really like the choppa @MysteryMeat made but didn't want to try and replicate it exactly.  I made a couple of attempts before this one.  I decided to condense the helicopter a lot for this one- the compact model - as it might be less realistic but more cartoony/cute.  Also decided to give it a go at adding a pilot.

I really am liking this version . . . but will see what I change my mind tomorrow.

There's some resolution mixing going on there, that tends to look bad.

I am not familiar with that - care to explain?

[eishiya]

Resolution mixing is when you have some parts of an image (or game, or whatever) at a different "zoom" than others. For example, the character is at 1x (1 pixel in the image = 1 pixel on the screen), but the helicopter looks like it's been zoomed in 3x or 4x before it was placed in the image with the character.
Keep all your assets in the same scale at 1x. If you want the zoomed in "blocky pixel" look, do it afterwards the entire resulting image, so that everything is zoomed in the same.

[BadMoodTaylor]

Resolution mixing is when you have some parts of an image (or game, or whatever) at a different "zoom" than others. For example, the character is at 1x (1 pixel in the image = 1 pixel on the screen), but the helicopter looks like it's been zoomed in 3x or 4x before it was placed in the image with the character.
Keep all your assets in the same scale at 1x. If you want the zoomed in "blocky pixel" look, do it afterwards the entire resulting image, so that everything is zoomed in the same.

Ahhh, yes, that is what happened. I resized them both individually before putting into one image.

Thanks for the explanation!

[BadMoodTaylor]

WIP

So with the scaled up helicopter I am trying to match the pixel resolution (won't make that mistake again!).

I haven't even gotten to most parts of the helicopter but posting this image to ask for help on the area to the right of the door. I have tried several things but am not sure what I should be going for:



The top one I was trying to make the area to the right of the door look curved.
On the second one I tried to make it look flatter. I thought maybe there isn't enough pixels and colors to make a curved surface look good there.

I've read that dithering shouldn't be used on shiny/smooth/metal surfaces, correct?

Maybe I'm making it more difficult than necessary and trying to make it look too realistic? I'm fine with it being cartoony so should I cut back on the colors and changing them so often?

Just a little frustrated right now so any suggestions on what to try appreciated.

Also, can comment on which pilot you like. Tried with out black outlines then with matching helmet colors to helicopter.