Newish to Pixel Art - My first perspective background image.

[Tycho Magnetic Anomaly]

Hi folks, This forum really caught my eye the other day and I thought to sign up to try it out. I am relatively new to pixel art, but its usually been orthogonal perspectives, either top-down, side-on or whatever.

I created this bladerunner-esq scene as an entry for AGS forum contest, and it is my very first attempt at making an adventure background specific/traditional perspective pixel piece.
I have done a lot of post processing over the pixel art which might make pixel purists a bit squeamish though

Although I really don't consider it a full complete piece, such as more work on the floor, ceiling, more little details such as things in the open drawer, and things on the shelves behind the bed..etc etc.  alas I had to stop tinkering and call it a day.



Here is a timelapse video of most of the work, not including the extra post processing work.



I think my biggest lesson learned was to start with drawing a vanishing point (expanding the canvas) and creating guides, my result from "eyeing it" seems a bit all over the place    . Anyway I thought to use it as my first post here, and if anyone has any tips or methods, or can see how I can improve technique it would be fantastic.
Regarding getting the basic structure to things .. is it best to line draw out or fill shapes as I go, I seemed to have a lot of trouble and time rubbing out lines, then losing the detail, often having to restart small sections.


(can you embed video on the forum?)

Anyway, I see some absolutely jaw dropping work on this forum, your imaginations astound me. Keep it coming folks

[yaomon17]

Embed video ^

[PixelPiledriver]

Yo Tycho!
Welcome to Pixelation! 
Dope stuff, good feeling. 

Some of the shapes could be cleaner, like the left side of the stool and other places.
Sounds like you were on a time budget tho.
Good on you for focusing on completion rather than perfection.

I question the placement of the ash tray and tea cup.
It adds a nice messy, too busy to think straight, risk and charm to the piece.
Tells a story and draws interest, so the fact that I question it is good.
Maybe add more wrongly placed items?
Or maybe just a couple is good enough?
Dunno.

As for using lines or solids, there's pros and cons to both.
So use whatever is going to flesh out the current step and and help you move to the next.
A nice combination is to draw solids and then cut into them with erased lines.
Experiment to find what feels good for you and always modify your process to fit what you're working on rather than a standard.

Redoing parts isn't a realistic concern.
Editing, improving, fixing, refining, etc, is just the nature of art.

Personally I prefer a bit of warping and wrong perspective.
But that's just my taste.
Of course it's better if that's intentional.
So if you want it more regular, def fix it up

For embedding youtube videos use the yt tag and the video id found at the end of the link.
Like this:

Code: [Select]

[yt]iOKECERd6KE[/yt]Changed it for you.

Welcome aboard and happy pixeling!

[Tycho Magnetic Anomaly]

Hey, thank you for the welcome and feedback on this, oh the video embed too

Sure a few of the objects are placed to emphasize certain things, such as the blue mug being AGS logo, the mug I had made previous for something else, the plan was to put it on the corner of the desk at the extreme left of the pic, but the angle was slightly off and it look slightly better on the stool. The ashtray/cigarette is there to give an impressed someone is there at that moment, but perhaps off in the background cooking or whatever.  I agree they are a bit oddly placed, and I defiantly agree that there are a whole lot of mistakes with regard perspective, I mean just look at that open drawer on the desk lol ...  When I get some time from my other project I will perhaps like to come back to this and put in some more additional details, clean up a few areas..etc

Regarding the post processing, I think I was perhaps a bit heavy with that, a bunch of people noted that a reduction in the post processing would be better so I just did a quick tinker. thought I must say I think the atmosphere which was a big component in what I was trying to capture has been a bit lost with the modified version.



And yes I really do like exotic/warped perspective in illustration/art ..etc If i ever do a background again I might like to try a new technique with exaggerated perspective.

[Magpie]

I prefered the first version, except for that laptop screen. It's too bright, it draws attention away from the rest of the image, particually the light coming through the window. I'd keep the first version, just get rid of the yellow and reduce the screen glow down to the same level as the other screens. If you do want that screen to stand out, maybe try having it light blue so it contrasts with the yellow sunlight?

[immortalwombat]

I wish I could offer some critique but alas I'm not to sure what advise to give. All I can say is I really like this piece. The ambient detail is great. really love the light rays. Just wanted to give some positive feedback. Keep up the good work. ( I have a soft spot for cyberpunk/ future tech stuff)

[LomDom]

From an artistic perspective I have to say it is an stunning piece, but analizing it as a pixelart work is far more complicated. So Im just going to say that if you want to do a more traditional approach on pixelart you may want to get rid of all the glows and transparency stuff going on. You could also try to work with a limited palette (from 24 to 100 colors), because  I bet this piece has +1000

[Tycho Magnetic Anomaly]

Thankin`yee kindly Magpie,  immortalwombat and LomDom for the responces and suggestions.

Yup totally agree as a pixel art piece it hardly qualifies, though the reason for this piece was not as a focus on pixel art but rather to produce a background for an adventure game with mood and atmosphere.

Since doing this piece I have since learned a bit about traditional pixel art methods, mostly from looking at other peoples work or helping  other people on this forum. I have lots to learn indeed.

Here is the 13 color noir version


 

[32]

In regard to using post effects: I think the end result is very nice and definitely support their use but I feel like there is an issue of the underlying art being highly aliased. I feel like adding these very smooth post effects really clashes with that and makes spots with high contrast aliasing look especially jagged, such as the blinds and there the bed frame sits over the mattress. Some anti-aliasing on the underlying pixel image would really help I think.

I do recognise that this is sort of an established style in the pixel landscape now but that's a feeling I always get when I see it.

Very nice image overall though The only thing that stands out to me as being off perspective is the pillows.