Pocky Love Edit:// finished?

[Bisque]

28 colours + transparency.

i wasnt specifically aiming for a low colour count so if you think 28 is too high..sorry :/. I'm bad at that i gues.

I used black for parts of the outlines, I hope it looks okay x_o. If not, how can i fix it?

btw that is milk pocky that she is holding, which they no longer make ;_;. RIP my beloved.

uh, and the purple thing is a torn bunce stuffie. I dont know why I put it in there lol.

Bunce= haha



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EDIT://

OKAY so thanks to some useful cnc I -think- I'm done? Maybe not but i hope haha xD;.



from my last edit down the page there, I've fixed the foot/shoe/leg angle (hope it looks okay now. If it doesnt, tell me and i'll work on it more x_x;), aswell as reduced the colour count by 1 more so that i now have 15 colours.

@Helm: I took away the useless grey and replaced it with the dark blue i used to outline the coat. Soo..no blocky black, but still no 'wasted' colour =p. I don't think it looks too bad with the blue.

so yes, any more cnc ppls? o_o;;

[Helm]

lo.

forget the black selout. It doesn't make any sense. I say replace colours with something softer, or lose the single pixels altogether.

coat reds do not need more than 3 colours. Wasting shades.

two darkest grays identical, close to black, you should collapse.

skin shades and coat reds could easily ramp into eachother.

purple creature doesn't need more than 3 purples either.

This could be 16 colours.

Love it, otherwise.


here's a unified palette edit. Could be done better. Shows how to get from disparate colours to a cohesive 16

[lief]

had to google "pocky"

ok, it looks really good so far.  you should draw a different shoe for the foot on the right (her left).  make the dress shadow the legs more.  most of the color ramps could only have a maximum of 4 colors and still be effective.  the detail on the milk pocky doesnt work too well with those colors, as helm was saying, the outline overpowers any contrast that may be on it.

c'

[Bisque]

lo.

forget the black selout. It doesn't make any sense. I say replace colours with something softer, or lose the single pixels altogether.

coat reds do not need more than 3 colours. Wasting shades.

two darkest grays identical, close to black, you should collapse.

skin shades and coat reds could easily ramp into eachother.

purple creature doesn't need more than 3 purples either.

This could be 16 colours.

Love it, otherwise.

uhhh..i only understood about half of what you just said, lol x_x;. 

[Helm]

the black 'dots' you have following the big pockey stick, that's selout of some sort. Sorry if I wasn't clear. The edit shows what I ment, hopefully.

when I say collapse I mean take two shades and find a middle one from the two.

see what I mean about skin and coat shades ramping into each other on the edit.

Also added contrast, dunno if you like, that's an artistic choice, since your art doesn't have to go in a game, so less contrast is fine.

Sorry if my crits were very fast and spartanly put.

[Bisque]

the black 'dots' you have following the big pockey stick, that's selout of some sort. Sorry if I wasn't clear. The edit shows what I ment, hopefully.

when I say collapse I mean take two shades and find a middle one from the two.

see what I mean about skin and coat shades ramping into each other on the edit.

Also added contrast, dunno if you like, that's an artistic choice, since your art doesn't have to go in a game, so less contrast is fine.

Sorry if my crits were very fast and spartanly put.

its okay i'm just..not as knowledgable about these thigns as you x_o lol. I'll learn eventually.  Thanks for the edit, I'll zoom in on it and try to apply your suggestions to mine.

[Helm]

Did I mention I love you?

[Zach]

lol^^

are pocky's tasty?

[Bisque]

lol^^

are pocky's tasty?

yes xD i love them haha

Did I mention I love you?

uh...o...k o_o;; rofl *blink*

[Bisque]

First: sorry for the double post :x.
Second: sorry it took me so long *low attention span* xD

Third: yay edit!



right= original
middle= helms edit
left= my pathetic attempt rofl

There were some parts of helms edit that i didnt understand or didnt quite like due to personal prefferences. I squared them and will explain lol x_o

A. I just have a huge thing against using #000000 for large areas unless i absolutely HAVE to and ..I didnt feel that i really -had- to here. Plus I wanted that little bit of detailing on the hair there. I used #000000 for the detailing and a slightly lighter grey for the rest of the hair. I dont know if you can really notice much of a difference by just looking at it, but i layered the two and compared them. I found that i preffer the way I made it haha =).

B. The skin was 'outlined' with the darker skin shade here, but after outlining it with the purple and comparing again I think the skin tone outline made it look somewhat..puffy(?). I dont know haha :x.

C. I was confused on this part. It looks like theres a second lightsource hitting the back of the socks? I didnt understand why it was there. It didnt specifically look -wrong-, it just didnt seem right either haha.

D.Again theres that backlighting so to speak..and i just dont understand why its there ^^;. Could I perhaps get an explination? Perhaps i'm missunderstanding what it is.


Altogether I like how it looks now more than when I started, and after staring at your example for a GOOD LONG while hopefully i've sucked up some knowledge on how to use colours more wisely, and cross your fingers, next time maybe i'll be able to do so more effectively (no promises there haha) x_o.


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OH I also plaaan on trying to redraw the shoe lief suggested. I just havnt gotten to that yet haha. One step at a time =o

[Helm]

your socks are better than my socks, good idea with the greens there. The shade on the hair is still wasted, sorry. I see your preference on no pure black, and can't counter it with anything, it's just a choice. But the shade you used is still wasted at 1x zoom and 2x zoom ( aaaalllllllmost)

about B, also smart, the purple became an all-purpose contour shade, nice idea.

about the surface tinting. It's just light bouncing off. It doesn't make sense 100% but I thought the purply creature would be both highly reflective ( hence the sock thing ) and at the sime time absorbant of the red of the coat ( there's a red tint on it's left side ) which strictly speaking, I'm not sure can happen, but I like lighting details that mesh things together. It's a style thing, I should point those things out after I do them, and not let people wonder if they're valid edits or preferences of the editor. But you seem to have the hang of disregarding the aspects of an edit that aren't useful to you.

the backlighting is there to make the purple dude a little bit more interesting to look at, nothing smarter or more insightful there, sorry.

Liked how you used the white on the face for a little more highlighting, completely forgot it although I had the shade and I put it on the hands.

All in all, it shows that you took my pointers very seriously, and I am honoured that you did. You're a very good artist, what is missing is further familiarization with the pixel art medium, it's tricks and techniques. And that's what this place is here for! I'm glad I helped, and I'm glad that you put in the effort. If I took over your art too much with my edit, I'm sorry, it's just that I have fun editing ( I'm a dirty copier!! ) and get carried along.

[Bisque]

haha i think we're both going to be anal when it comes to the hair . To me with just the black my eye goes STRAIGHT to the hair and really just doesnt want to leave. Its too solid. But thats okay haha ^^;. It may be that the colours on my screen are a little different from yours too :x. Becaue even not zoomed i can make out the extra shade haha.

I actually got the idea of using the purple from the face area of your edit =p. The side of the face is purple and i thoguht ' hey why not?' and tried it on the rest haha.

aaand..my brain has just officially shut down since its 7am and i have yet to sleep. i'll think of something to say to the rest of that later lmao

[Helm]

if you have photoshop, go to control panel, run 'Adobe Gamma' and calibrate your monitor as best you can. Pixel art cries when made on wrong monitors. If you don't have photoshop, google 'on-line gamma calibration' or something, there's tests.

[Dusty]

You're not alone when it comes to true black being used. Many don't like using it as it gives it a feel of being flat in pieces. But all in all, when it comes down to it, it's personal choice and preference.

One thing I think you really need to do is work on your contrast. Helm's edit really shows that more then I can describe. Also, I think the blob is in need of some highlighting, gel takes in light much like glass, and moreso since you seem to understand, eyes. It reflects a lot of it back which gives it a bright highlight.

Also, I feel the hair having a purple tint was better, it gave it a more lively feel. The grey/brown gives off a dull look.

Her left foot I feel is in need of an angel change, it looks too uncomfortable.

Overall I think you've done a great job capturing the anime feel.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, which I'll add on about Helm's post. Ya. Pixel art, seeing as it's very small and focuses a lot of detail, contrast and colour. Make sure your gamma is right and monitor brightness and contrast are both high as they can go.

[LuciferianSoul]

You paid good attention to the critique and fixed it up really well.
Too bad I came in a bit late to give any good C+C, because I think it's pretty much finished now.

I think it's awesome, it's like an anime video game styled character and very cute.
And I love Pocky.

[Helm]

Make sure your gamma is right and monitor brightness and contrast are both high as they can go.

what's this what's this? That's not how a calibrated monitor is set up!

[Bisque]

if you have photoshop, go to control panel, run 'Adobe Gamma' and calibrate your monitor as best you can. Pixel art cries when made on wrong monitors. If you don't have photoshop, google 'on-line gamma calibration' or something, there's tests.

I've actually done this before and ended up farking the screen over x_o. It basically white washed everything, 'twas horrible. Perhaps I did it wrong lol, I hope I do not do so again. Cross your fingers for me haha.

EDIT://
Ew I started to do as you asked and one of the steps for it ended up white washing the screen again x_o. Theres nooo way that that could be the way it supposed to look. Soo..I stopped haha. I'm sorry! x_o

One thing I think you really need to do is work on your contrast. Helm's edit really shows that more then I can describe. Also, I think the blob is in need of some highlighting, gel takes in light much like glass, and moreso since you seem to understand, eyes. It reflects a lot of it back which gives it a bright highlight.

Also, I feel the hair having a purple tint was better, it gave it a more lively feel. The grey/brown gives off a dull look.

Her left foot I feel is in need of an angel change, it looks too uncomfortable.

Overall I think you've done a great job capturing the anime feel.

1.I made a mistake in my post ^^;. The one on the left is the ORIGINAL lmao. So the one with no contrast is what i started with.
2.*points to number 1*
3.Yup lief already suggested this to me and I already stated i just hadnt gotten to it yet.

[CrematedPumpkin]

Really good job. I'm assuming the one up a few posts is the finished (?) one. I really like it, but putting the yellowish color in the eye makes them look evil somehow. It might be that the face around it looks a little darker. I'm assuming you probably took the skin highlight from the pocky (cause thats what it looks like) but I think that it is a little too bright and makes the skin look really weird. It looks really dark, then really light, and makes the mouth look strange.

And helm, how is a calibrated monitor set up?

[Bisque]

Really good job. I'm assuming the one up a few posts is the finished (?) one. I really like it, but putting the yellowish color in the eye makes them look evil somehow. It might be that the face around it looks a little darker. I'm assuming you probably took the skin highlight from the pocky (cause thats what it looks like) but I think that it is a little too bright and makes the skin look really weird. It looks really dark, then really light, and makes the mouth look strange.

And helm, how is a calibrated monitor set up?

haha actually the finished one is in the original post

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EDIT://

here rofl. this is the finished. i'll put it here too

[CrematedPumpkin]

hehe...oops. I missed that one. Ok, disregard everything I said, that one looks great

[Bisque]

its okay rofl. its just hard to keep threads organized and in a steady 'flow' w/o double posting a thousand times which isnt allowed x_o.