AuthorTopic: Help a Beginner Out!  (Read 2404 times)

Offline Bickot

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 5
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Help a Beginner Out!

on: April 09, 2018, 03:42:01 pm
I've been doing pixel art for 2-3 months so far as a little side hobby, but I've been looking to take it more seriously since past few weeks. I fairly new to drawing and there's a lot of things that I don't really know much about such as forms, shapes, values, and how their applied to pixel art.

I've been enrolling into online courses that are centered around this, and while they do explain what they are, they don't really go into depth as to why their important. Which I find really frustrating!

I came to the forums hoping I could develop some idea of what I'm doing because at this point I just find a lot of things extremely vague.

Here are a few pieces I've made so far:



This was actually one of the first pictures I've made using Aseprite. I'd say here I really just doodled while borrowing some parts from other drawings like the beak and the scarf. I didn't really have any idea what I was doing at the time. You can say I was just drawing off references rather than my mind.



This one was my second drawing. Like the first one, I didn't really have any idea what I was doing and honestly it actually turned out worse than my first one. I also want add that I was experimenting with shading a lot more with this one, but I didn't much of an idea about it aside from making the lightest part the lightest and the darkest part the darkest depending on where the light is being directed.



This one was actually an accident. I was trying to draw a cat but the muzzle kind of looked more like a puppies so I went in that direction. This is also my first animation too, albeit it's pretty simple.



Believe it or not, this is actually my latest picture. Up until now, I didn't really know what I was doing and was really just sketching things I saw from other peoples artwork and applying it to my own. With this piece I actually made a silhouette which I added another layer onto to in order to draw on, which was something I've never done before. I also learned more about shapes and how they make up objects and such, which was something I kept in mind when doing this.     

Sorry if it sounds like I'm rambling, I'm just really confused with what I'm really supposed to be doing and what I can do to improve my artwork. So any critique would really be appreciated! I know all of this is overwhelming, but I'm just hoping someone on here can help me.







« Last Edit: April 09, 2018, 09:10:37 pm by Bickot »

Offline eishiya

  • 0100
  • ***
  • Posts: 1266
  • Karma: +2/-0
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/28889.htm
    • View Profile
    • Website

Re: Help a Beginner Out!

Reply #1 on: April 09, 2018, 04:39:34 pm
None of your images work. You can't hotlink from GMail attachments. Upload your work to an image host such as imgur instead.

Offline Bickot

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 5
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Help a Beginner Out!

Reply #2 on: April 09, 2018, 05:56:03 pm
None of your images work. You can't hotlink from GMail attachments. Upload your work to an image host such as imgur instead.

That's weird. They show for me, even when I'm logged out. But alright, I'll change it.

Offline heyguy

  • 0010
  • *
  • Posts: 234
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Help a Beginner Out!

Reply #3 on: April 09, 2018, 06:40:14 pm
Same, don't see anything.

Offline Bickot

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 5
  • Karma: +0/-0
    • View Profile

Re: Help a Beginner Out!

Reply #4 on: April 09, 2018, 09:11:38 pm
Alright, its been fixed... I think.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2018, 09:15:52 pm by Bickot »

Offline GoodyPundit

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 16
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • Gamer turn into a game dev <3
    • goodypundit
    • baguspundit
    • http://pixeljoint.com/p/160961.htm
    • goodygameworks
    • View Profile
    • www.facebook.com/goodygameworks

Re: Help a Beginner Out!

Reply #5 on: April 10, 2018, 04:00:46 pm
Hey man!
I think it's better to add some different color (especially on the outline/before the outline) to emphasize depth/shadow a little bit more,
I usually avoid same color positioned side by side, but that's just me :)
What do you think?  ;D



Sorry for bad english  ;)

Offline Vatterju

  • 0001
  • *
  • Posts: 5
  • Karma: +0/-0
  • strangeness
    • Vatterju
    • Vatterju
    • View Profile

Re: Help a Beginner Out!

Reply #6 on: April 10, 2018, 05:26:46 pm
Some advice; It's a good idea to clean up any rough or awkward edges you might have while doing an outline. The smoother the curve, the better it looks!
And when it comes to shading, don't shade the borders of a shape, this often looks unrealistic and kind of odd. My technique is to add colours in blocks, with a light source in mind.
When working with a limited palette, you can kind of cheat by using colours from other parts of your image to provide highlights or shading. Here's an example. I also darkened the colours a bit. High contrast can look pretty good when you only have about 8 colours.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2018, 05:29:32 pm by Vatterju »