AuthorTopic: background to simple?  (Read 4833 times)

Offline immortalwombat

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background to simple?

on: May 23, 2017, 11:20:30 pm
Made this character and decided to give him a background. I'm relatively new to pixel art as this is my third attempt.

Offline Tycho Magnetic Anomaly

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Re: background to simple?

Reply #1 on: May 24, 2017, 09:34:30 am
Hi there, first of all I am new to this forum, and new to pixel art too so please don't take what I say with any seriousness.

I think what you have done is pretty fine considering its the foreground sprite that is the focus. The only thing I might say is that the blue robes he is wearing are getting washed out with the blues of the sky, and sea in the background, and the result is the contrast between him and those parts could be better.

I am not sure if you are working with a restricted pallet, but I might recommend changing the color of the sky to something else, perhaps a very very light pink (yea sometimes odd colors for skies gives nice results).. if you can use gradients even better,  or even try dithering to break up the uniformity of the solid sky color.

something like this perhaps:



Detail wise I think what you have is spot on, since the focus is the character a non-busy background like you have might be ideal.

Good work, and best`o`luck

Offline immortalwombat

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Re: background to simple?

Reply #2 on: May 24, 2017, 10:59:21 am
I agree, especially the water. I like the sky in the first one quite a bit. I might even go for a dusk setting or maybe just change the robe colors.  I also like the gradient use in your renditions and will likely play around with that. I'll mess around with it and post the results. Thanks for the pointers!
« Last Edit: May 24, 2017, 11:23:32 am by immortalwombat »

Offline r1k

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Re: background to simple?

Reply #3 on: May 24, 2017, 05:36:54 pm
add some space to the top and bottom of the canvas, so that the characters head and feet aren't touching the canvas edge. Having them touch decreases the sense of space as it emphasizes the reality that the character is inside a flat box. Having objects edges line up exactly with the canvas edge also decreases the idea in the viewers mind that the world inside the canvas expands beyond its edges.

Offline immortalwombat

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Re: background to simple?

Reply #4 on: May 25, 2017, 02:56:05 am


So i decided to go with the blue/green sky and a more grey blue ocean. I added a bit more detail to the background as well as made some minor improvements on shading the character. Also increased the canvas size by a bit.
« Last Edit: May 25, 2017, 03:00:48 am by immortalwombat »

Offline Roach

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Re: background to simple?

Reply #5 on: May 30, 2017, 12:15:00 am
God I love this piece. I really cant wait to see more from you. If i was to point out some things it would be that the shield isn't proportional to the arm perspective wise., your shadows should also be harsher. They are too soft. also the sword should be casting a shadow. Just because something's a different color, doesn't mean it sets it apart as a new object. You gotta think about the depth of field and shade accordingly. The shadow on the ground should also have a shadow for his tail and sword. Other than that Really love this design, fantastic.

Offline Schwee

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Re: background to simple?

Reply #6 on: May 30, 2017, 05:21:29 am
Character and everything looks decent but in my opinion you need to increase the image size and give the character a bit of room to breathe.  I just googled 'composition' and found this:  http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules  I am sure you could find more information if you choose to.  Keep up the good work!
Looking to collaborate.  Hit me up, especially if you are a GM programmer, or if you just have some sweet ideas.

Offline immortalwombat

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Re: background to simple?

Reply #7 on: May 31, 2017, 12:04:41 am
Thanks for the input guys it means alot. It might be a bit before I get back to this one as i just made a portrait of a buddies ff14 character for a discord icon and ended up being asked to do a bunch more lol.  I can expand the canvas some more and play with the shadows although I guess I'm just a fan of soft shadowing. maybe just on the spots that need a more defined outline or possibly more gradation on the caracter? I'll definitely play around with harsher shadows a bit. As for the shield is it the size or maybe it needs to be farther over to the left? Or maybe add some curvature?

Offline immortalwombat

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Re: background to simple?

Reply #8 on: June 01, 2017, 02:45:17 am
So I decided to try and add some shadows for the sword. I'm going to try and add the tail soon although I've been struggling to make it look right. Shadows are fairly new to me so any edits or suggestions would be appreciated



 

Offline Tycho Magnetic Anomaly

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Re: background to simple?

Reply #9 on: June 01, 2017, 07:15:24 am
The difference between the background on your first post and your last iteration shows a marked improvement, but you know, as you have improved the background I feel another issue has arisen in that the detailing and in the background no longer matches the detailing on your character. I know this post was related to your background, but since you seem to have nailed it pretty well, I thought to just make the definitions on your character a bit stronger.

Just some highlighting here and there, such as the cloth, embossing the dragon crest into the shield, giving the thing between his legs a different color to help the contrast between the other cloth. I have stuck to the colors you used asides from the sword, and edging of the shield where I had to introduce more shades of grey to try get that metal look.
The light blue highlighting on the cloth could be improved my using a new color, or more.




The clouds you had on your firsts post, I sort of liked them, perhaps you could try to bring them back over the sky you have, but not so many clouds?.. worth a try.

Well anyway just a few ideas you might consider to make the character sit better on your by now pretty  darn sweet background...  keep it up :)
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 07:28:48 am by Tycho Magnetic Anomaly »