AuthorTopic: First Attempt at Pixel Art  (Read 1646 times)

Offline Smoughvel_The_Fat

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First Attempt at Pixel Art

on: September 26, 2016, 07:11:25 pm
Hello! As somebody who only picked up pixel art a few days ago, I decided to join a public forum in hopes of criticism of my work, and gradual increase of the quality of my products!

Anyways, In my first attempts at creating a pixel art animation I decided to use a simple silhouette who is crying and occasionally looking towards the viewer.

Tear it apart, I know it's terrible (Since it's my first attempt at anything serious), but keep in mind I am a beginner. I have no background in art, nor have I attempted anything of this type in the past.

Sprite Sheet:


Animation:
« Last Edit: September 26, 2016, 07:21:04 pm by Smoughvel_The_Fat »

Offline eishiya

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Re: First Attempt at Pixel Art

Reply #1 on: September 26, 2016, 08:49:48 pm
The grey shading(?) on the face is barely visible, even when zoomed in. Use a darker colour. With how light it is, you may as well not have any at all. I don't think that leaving shading out on a face that small is a problem at all.
Similarly, the shading and highlighting on the tears doesn't make much of a difference, though it's more noticeable at higher zooms than the face shading is.

The highlights on the cloak could be made brighter. It also doesn't make sense to have highlights both and below. Try to think of a specific light source when you draw, and draw your highlights and shadows according to that light source. Sure, often you'll want multiple light sources, but it's much easier to start with one, and it often looks more natural to have your main lights and shadows obey a single light source.

The blue pixel on the character's face when they turn towards the viewer reads like an eye, but is positioned too low to be an eye. Even if it's intended to be a tear on their cheek, I recommend moving it up to where the eyes would be since dots on tiny faces tend to look like an eyes no matter what you do, and tears usually come from eyes anyway.

The big tears don't fall smoothly. Instead it looks like they linger in a couple of spots on their way down. Try animating a single 2px tear falling down first to make sure the motion is smooth and feels right, and after that, add details like turbulence (the tears rotating mid-air) and splashing upon landing. When adding those details, be careful not to change the position of the center of the tear from where it is in the simple fall, to avoid those strange lingering moments.

The framerate for the tears seems a little low. I feel like the animation should be played at a higher speed, but perhaps with a couple of extra frames inserted in the face-turning part to slow that down and to make it smoother.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2016, 10:39:31 pm by eishiya »

Offline Rydin

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Re: First Attempt at Pixel Art

Reply #2 on: September 27, 2016, 09:24:22 pm
If there is some context for how this piece will be used we can better help you go into a certain direction. Will it be for a game? Will it be a stand-alone piece of art?

What made you decide on this for your first piece of pixel art?

It's intriguing because how to capture sorrow with pixels?
Man cannot remake himself without suffering for he is both the marble and the sculptor.