AuthorTopic: lemon icon  (Read 10899 times)

Offline lief

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lemon icon

on: September 08, 2005, 07:00:18 am


its not actually for anything in particular.  (thanks pep)

Offline sonrisu

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #1 on: September 08, 2005, 04:21:39 pm
It looks great, but I can't help but feeling that the left on the left side is just way too huge. From what I recall of seeing images of lemons the leaves on a lemon branch aren't usually the same size as the lemon itself.. or are they? Either the leaf looks much too large, or you could move the lemon over to the left a bit. In any case, the leaf competes for my attention against the lemon itself. I'm not sure what you're trying to have the focus of the icon be, though.

While it's not detrimental to the piece, is there a reason why you chose such pale colors? (I'm not sure if that's the correct terminology for what I'm trying to say). when I think of a lemon I think of vibrant yellow (and a more vibrant green, if leaves are involved).

Also, the shape is nice and lemon like, but what about making the nub on the end stick out just a little more? I think it would help make the overall shape look a bit more lemon like. If you look at it for long enough it starts to look like an egg.

Offline SplatPixel

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #2 on: September 08, 2005, 04:25:06 pm
very nice... i have no crits for it. looks like what you say it is, heh. i like the detail you put in something so small, nice work.
...

Offline lief

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #3 on: September 08, 2005, 11:20:38 pm


tried tweaking the nub, bloody pixel polka.  ummm the colors pale, they didnt work too well hypersaturated but i've tried to adjust slightly.  the layout is done now, maybe next time.  how is this new one?  i tried a new thing in the background and also made it transparent, which means i lost a bit of aa. oh well.

Offline lief

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #4 on: September 08, 2005, 11:57:12 pm


thanks helm: seperated tones as suggested.

Offline Helm

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #5 on: September 09, 2005, 12:14:22 am
That's cool, but for future reference see how pixel art stops making much sense at 1x zoon at 1024 and so on:

Yours:     Mine:


As long as you don't zoom in, the difference between the two is minimal. Mine is a fraction of the number of colours you used though. I don't know. Is this important a skill to know? Probably not. We're not optimizing for 1x zoom are we? Just keep in mind that the smaller the pixels are, the more clarity is more worth the effort than detailwork is. That's why 16x16 sprites are still so difficult to do right in my opinion.

Offline Faceless

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #6 on: September 09, 2005, 01:39:10 pm
Actually on my monitor (@ 1280x1024), the difference is quite huge, and lief's is by far the better looking. Colour reduction is all well and good, but sometimes you (not you in particular though i have thought it to be the case on a few of your edits; but not all) take it to far.

And as for crits... I don't really have any... just throwing my 2 cents in.

Offline Helm

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #7 on: September 09, 2005, 02:22:29 pm
check your monitor brightness/contrast, Faceless.

Offline ironwallaby

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #8 on: September 09, 2005, 04:22:07 pm
I'm on 1400x1050, and the two look the same at 1x. I agree with Helm, though: dithering and color minimization are both valuable skills. Why? If you learn to do more with less, you gain more power. It isn't that you may ever need to use it, but it's that you can if you wanted. It gives your brain more angles to perceive from. It makes you much more versatile of an artist and person even if you never need to draw something with less than 256 colors.

Same reason why all programmers should learn LISP.

Offline AlexHW

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #9 on: September 09, 2005, 06:19:14 pm
Helm, the difference is quite noticable on the lemon part, which you have made to consist of only 2 values that dominate the space, produceing a flatened sense of the volume which was once there. Now it reminds me of those cell-shaded pictures that use only like 2 or 3 colors. This is a large step away from the feel and intention of the original in regards to the actual lemon part.

Offline Zolthorg

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #10 on: September 09, 2005, 07:24:47 pm
I'm running 1027x7## and i can definately see the two shades in the lemon, my contrast is at max, which is how i like it.... thought it does make grays look terrible to me.

Helms edit on the lemon is perfect, aside from the darkening (causing it to look like an elongated orange), however, the leaf looks more like a rock now and is rather gritty.

Offline Helm

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #11 on: September 09, 2005, 08:59:50 pm
there is no 'how you like it' when it comes to monitor calibration. If you want to do art/view art on your monitor, calibrate it neutrally using some online tester. Contrast to max is insane.

I do not see what Kon is saying, possibly because my eyes are like that? Or because I have a properly calibrated monitor? In 1x, mine is a bit harsher and darker, but generally intact. The volumetrics are faked with the dithering. The edit was exaggerated anyway, to show how dithering works at such a res I don't see the point of people coming and posting on this thread about how my edit is 'not as good'. I wasn't trying to upstage lief. I explained from my first post that optimization for 1x zoom for pixel artists is of arguable use to the pixel artist. On irc again, lief said that he intended this to be seen at 1024, and therefore I was explaining how you must make pixel art with what res you have in mind at all times. He understood (discussed it over irc). This isn't me trying to make a better icon. It's me showing how at that res detail and colours and clarity take on a different pecking order.

Offline CrematedPumpkin

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #12 on: September 09, 2005, 10:28:57 pm
No matter what I do the difference is huge, maybe I'm not doing it right. So I'll crit lief's.
I really like the leaves on it, really great texturing on the whole thing. can't say anything bad until I fix my moniter.
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Offline Faceless

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #13 on: September 10, 2005, 03:31:53 am
there is no 'how you like it' when it comes to monitor calibration. If you want to do art/view art on your monitor, calibrate it neutrally using some online tester. Contrast to max is insane.

I do not see what Kon is saying, possibly because my eyes are like that? Or because I have a properly calibrated monitor? In 1x, mine is a bit harsher and darker, but generally intact. The volumetrics are faked with the dithering. The edit was exaggerated anyway, to show how dithering works at such a res I don't see the point of people coming and posting on this thread about how my edit is 'not as good'. I wasn't trying to upstage lief. I explained from my first post that optimization for 1x zoom for pixel artists is of arguable use to the pixel artist. On irc again, lief said that he intended this to be seen at 1024, and therefore I was explaining how you must make pixel art with what res you have in mind at all times. He understood (discussed it over irc). This isn't me trying to make a better icon. It's me showing how at that res detail and colours and clarity take on a different pecking order.



It wasn't my intention to say you were trying to upstage him.
However, I felt it necessary to voice my opinion as I see lief's lemon as being better off without the extreme colour optimization that you presented.
When making pixel art I think it's valuable to have others' opinions on any critique given.

If I made an edit of someone's lemon icon and applied copious amounts of pillow shading I'd expect someone to say my edit wasn't an improvent so as not to mislead the person I was critiquing and also to inform me of my error.

That said, I'm not saying colour reduction has no merit, nor am I saying you don't know what you're on about. I'm just saying that the edit you made is noticeably different at 1x on higher resolutions (my monitor may not be exactly calibrated, but it's roughly where it's meant to be at as I did have a quick look at one of those calibration charts. Definitely no maxed contrast or brightness.)

Offline Zolthorg

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #14 on: September 11, 2005, 06:58:57 am
there is no 'how you like it' when it comes to monitor calibration. If you want to do art/view art on your monitor, calibrate it neutrally using some online tester. Contrast to max is insane.
the Truth

anyways, yesternight i humored you and fiddled with my monitor to "negotiate the lemon in many angles"
I could still easily see the darkening effect of limiting the actual colors.

Offline Mercury Rising

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Re: lemon icon

Reply #15 on: September 11, 2005, 02:02:57 pm
Like Zolth I tried many setting on my monitor to see it, yet even at min, max, default and many other contrast levels and I could still easily see the limited colors.  You would really benefit from adding a lighter color then having that dither to white.
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