AuthorTopic: New artists seek critique!  (Read 3537 times)

Offline LucidSappho

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

New artists seek critique!

on: April 19, 2017, 01:54:51 pm


My girlfriend and I are working on a game together so that she can learn pixel-fu and so that I can learn Unity and C#. Together we came up with the concept for our character - Strix - a grumpy robot owl in a futuristic setting where hard light is the way to be.

To that end, this is her first pixel art ever, which she asked me to post here for critique while she's at work. She's done plenty of art in traditional mediums as well, but we both want to know what's been done well and what's been done not-so-well here and how to improve. Hopefully in future we'll also both be able to post more pixel art here as we get further into development, as I'm also learning the craft. So basically hi, everyone, it's nice to meet you.  :y:

Offline Ergo__proxy

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 28
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: New artists seek critique!

Reply #1 on: April 19, 2017, 06:08:36 pm
really nice work and original concept! but seems to me more a bio android than a robot! the top violet "cape" look a bit rigid and solid! but i love it!

Offline LucidSappho

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: New artists seek critique!

Reply #2 on: April 20, 2017, 03:20:54 am
Thank you! She (and I as well) both agree about the poncho bit. We're sketching up some replacements, as well as slight recoloration and looking to restrict the color palette for the next concept bits we do for Strix. We'll post up more when we decide on another concept to block out!

Offline Curly

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 210
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: New artists seek critique!

Reply #3 on: April 20, 2017, 04:33:23 pm
It's quite good! Specially for a new pixel artist.
I recommend you to read about hue shifting for more interesting palettes.
(Here, for example: http://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299)

Offline LucidSappho

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: New artists seek critique!

Reply #4 on: April 21, 2017, 03:24:07 pm
That is an incredible treasure trove of information, thank you so much for finding that and linking it here. We're both reading over it and taking in as much information as we can, and we're definitely going to apply this stuff to the next concept we do, which should be over the weekend hopefully. We'll be coming back to post that up and get more feedback, hopefully it'll be even better  ;D

Offline hsn2555

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 112
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Hakuna Matata
    • View Profile
    • HsnGoneWild Gallery

Re: New artists seek critique!

Reply #5 on: April 21, 2017, 04:51:38 pm
nice work,  the anatomy and proportions look correct, i like it; however, i have some comments regarding the rendering.

the character looks more like a cat than an owl.
it also, especially the head and the ears, looks like a flat object 
maybe that is because she adds the highlight/shadows to small surfaces and the edges only.
try adding like a shine and cover more ares

also read about anti-aliased lines 



Be Like no other

Offline BatElite

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 117
  • Karma: +1/-0
    • View Profile

Re: New artists seek critique!

Reply #6 on: April 22, 2017, 04:44:17 pm
The only thing I really see as wrong is that the skirt is shaded as if it is a separate form. Mostly though the shading isn't giving me much sense of volume especially with the poncho - the entire shoulder/thorax area appears to be flat? The entire thing might benefit from shading more on par with the head.

I don't necessarily agree that it looks more like cat, but rather that it is a bit ambiguous since the beak (or whatever is there) is covered up. The head shape doesn't indicate much beyond "vaguely animal-like" to me.
Quote from: Cure
Well you tried your best.

Offline LucidSappho

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 4
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: New artists seek critique!

Reply #7 on: May 01, 2017, 05:13:31 pm


Sorry we've been gone, said we'd upload a new image last weekend but life got in the way, you know how it goes.

We gave the concept a second try - spent some time sketching things up and talking about what kind of character we wanted, then made another attempt at a concept sprite. This time we tried a couple things different.

First of all, we made an effort to incorporate hue shifting into the sprite. Neither my girlfriend nor I are exactly experts when it comes to color theory - I don't really do a lot of visual art and she tends not to color her art too much, so exploring hue shifting was a really fun and exciting thing for us. Another thing we did differently is that we heavily restricted our palette. Where before we didn't put much thought into restricting ourselves, we tried to keep the color count low this time. We weren't able to stick to 16 like we initially wanted to, (the count comes to 18) but we did try.

With that being said, some stuff is missing right now. We decided the symbol we put on Strix' chest before doesn't really work at this scale, so we're coming up with new ones. Also, the scarf isn't trailing behind Strix right now, because we weren't able to get it looking quite right and it was getting late. We know there are problems with this piece for sure and we want to know what everyone else thinks! We're looking at what we need to re-do and have some ideas of our own, but input from people who haven't been staring at it for hours is more valuable, I think, so any feedback you have is very much appreciated!  :)

Offline Araņa Feliz

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 6
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: New artists seek critique!

Reply #8 on: May 07, 2017, 03:11:22 pm
I very like it. you can add some more shading on the chest to make it look more bulky
 :y: :y: :y: :y:

Offline Curly

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 210
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: New artists seek critique!

Reply #9 on: May 09, 2017, 02:41:58 am
Nice style! Remember that shadows tend to have lower saturation than the main color. I think it looks a little harsh (not too sure if that's the word I want) right now.
I changed the colors a little and cleaned up some lines and shapes so it looks smoother.