Tired Devil - looks jagged - what to do?

[spajjder]

Hi.

Very nice forum here.

I've been trying to draw some pixel art, but have not quite hammered it down.
This is supposed to be a tired Devil. However, I would like critique on him. He feels a bit jagged to me, more than I would want.

Is it the outline, AA, or colors that is the problem? Thankful for advice.

Oh and he is made in Asesprite



https://imgur.com/a/iSeiLXf

cheers,

Spajjder

[Hoogo]

you might want to try removing the outline to see if it looks better.

• It's not clear where your light is coming from, you're pillow-shading a lot, especially the horns
• It's not clear which, directions the horns are going (straight down, curls, ect.)
• Your AA shouldn't be just a lighter shade of your outline, it should combine the background and drawing colours
• Try not to use perfect blacks for outline and for pretty much anything. You could have used a darker shade of the skin for example
• The clothing lacks texture, it's not clear what it is.

I tried to tweak your drawing a bit, I focused on shading and reducing the outlines so that it doesn't look as sharp.

I hope this helps you in any way

[spajjder]

Hi.

Thank you for the reply.

I've looked up pillow shading and tried to change that so that light comes from above on right. Tried to take away the black outlines as well.



However, if a person is looking at a screen for example, wouldn't it be natural for it to become pillow shading? looking at old snes games it seems to be pretty much standard way - that the light seems to be coming from the front.

Also, black outlines. I see you reduced the amount of "green" AA - and that looks better. Less jagged. But black outlines also seem to be pretty common in pixel art - to make it stand out from background. How to think about that? is it better to go with a whole outline round the character and try to not have it within the silhouette?

Thanks again for your advice!

[Hoogo]

However, if a person is looking at a screen for example, wouldn't it be natural for it to become pillow shading? looking at old snes games it seems to be pretty much standard way - that the light seems to be coming from the front.

Well I guess that's what comes the most naturally. However you must always ask yourself where the light is coming from in order to avoid it. In old game, I think it' always assumed  that the light comes from above, even when you can't see it.

But black outlines also seem to be pretty common in pixel art - to make it stand out from background. How to think about that? is it better to go with a whole outline round the character and try to not have it within the silhouette?

Yes it's very common, it depends on the effect you're looking for. It can make your art stand out, but it can also make it look like a flat surface. For instance your character looks more three dimensional after you removed the outline, compared to before.

You're welcome and I hope I answered your questions well

[Decroded]

Looks alot better please keep going.

However, if a person is looking at a screen for example, wouldn't it be natural for it to become pillow shading? looking at old snes games it seems to be pretty much standard way - that the light seems to be coming from the front.

No no.
Please remember old console art was designed for fuzzy CRT TV's.
They gave off a different look back then.
Bright pixels would bleed lots of light across darker ones.

Personally I default to light that is coming from the top left, because we read left to right so it seems to flow more logically.
Also games tend to scroll left to right so it makes sense for the left side of objects and characters to be lit.