AuthorTopic: Old Stuff from an Old Member  (Read 5230 times)

Offline PK Mays

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Old Stuff from an Old Member

on: September 26, 2005, 07:24:41 pm
Hello, some of you may remember me from Pixelation as blu_munkee. I haven't done any pixel art in a good year, but I seem to be feeling the call again. Here's some old large character pieces I did a little over a year ago. C&C would definitely be appreciated on these, as they probably represent my current pixel skill level (although I may be a bit below these without a little more practice).



This was an experiment using black, white and red. I remember Sals posted some screenshots from a game in this style, which is where I got the idea from.



I wanted to do something with sharp anime gradient shading on this one.



Another piece in the same style.



This was an exercise in hand made anti-aliasing. The face came out nice, but if I where to do this again, I'd probably draw the muscles without so much segmentation.

Well that's most of my old stuff. I only made a few piece last year, after another pixel hiatus, so there's not a lot to show. Hopefully I'll have some new stuff to show soon. Piece.

Offline AlexHW

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Re: Old Stuff from an Old Member

Reply #1 on: September 26, 2005, 08:28:30 pm
Nice work, I remember some of these.
As for c&c, I'd suggest trying to use less black lines, because in all of these, the line-art stands out because most of it is black. Might be part of the style though (like the last one).
Welcome back!

Offline Kazuya Mochu

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Re: Old Stuff from an Old Member

Reply #2 on: September 27, 2005, 12:48:17 am
Pretty cool! you really put a scence of prespective, plus you do the thickness of objects really well. I like the style. though I may go and agree with alex on the lines. maybe you could like... not do them so dark. any ways, awesom stuff.

take care,

Kazuya Mochu
Image size doesn't matter! It's what you do with your pixels that counts!

Offline sonrisu

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Re: Old Stuff from an Old Member

Reply #3 on: September 30, 2005, 01:31:03 pm
I think this stuff looks really good, and while I'm not that great at criticising stuff and letting one know what might make it look better, I'm going to try (only for the first one).

On the Black/White/Red image I can't help but going "wtf?" when I look at the bottom half of the character. The "shorts" part of the pants look way too huge, and way too lose. How can they possibly stay on like that? It just looks really weird. She's got a very skinny torso, and then the pants are super thick looking. It irks me out. Also, unless she's standing on her toes, the feet look real weird; mainly the shoes and where the bottom of the pants come in contact with them. The knuckles of her fingers look to be a tad too straight, too.

Other than that I think it looks great. I love how the shadows look and I really like the overall design of the character. :)

Offline SplatPixel

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Re: Old Stuff from an Old Member

Reply #4 on: September 30, 2005, 05:34:21 pm
freaken hell! very nice stuff.. u have and and amazing style going. all your characters are tight as hell. i'm not gonna crit because i'm too lazy, nice work.
...

Offline PK Mays

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Re: Old Stuff from an Old Member

Reply #5 on: September 30, 2005, 09:01:23 pm
Thanks for the critiques. The first 3 pieces were meant to look like an anime cell, hence the bold black lines. Compaired to the last piece, I think I prefer that sharp look to the lines instead of the smoother style in the last one.

As for the black and red girl, I agree with the proportion/clothing problems. Her pants ARE supposed to be big and baggy, but the idea was that the sweater is tied around her waist to hold them up. I guess I didn't draw the sweater tied tightly enough. Also consider the scientific fact that ninjas don't live by normal rules of gravity, so it very well may be totally feasible for their clothes to just be suspended from there bodies.  :D

And as for the shoes, I think I remember drawing them and thinking, "This is a girl, her feet are too big." So I shrunk them them some and then thought, "Hey, It'd look cool if her feet where receding, like, in perspective and junk," so I shrunk them yet again, heh. Problem is the rest of the picture has no perspective at all, so the feet kinda warped into their own little universe.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2005, 12:54:46 am by PK Mays »

Offline Conzeit

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Re: Old Stuff from an Old Member

Reply #6 on: October 03, 2005, 02:44:58 am
Hey, Blu! =O wow, how was the military...(navy was it)?

 that sals-inspired piece, which is it actually inspired on? that wind-based game idea he posted ages ago? or the detective Atari game? both were based on red and black

did you hear about him leaving here?...I think it's a shame.

anyway, um....that is one ridiculously big sword. hah. I actually like her expression, there's something oddly 8-bit like about it, something in the shape of her eyes looks right out of NES

The hand holding it, it's very weird the way you didnt specify the shape of her palm at all, it looks as if she had a tube for an arm, with just fingers sticking out of it, no hand. the way you drew the lower section of the thumb is also just, wrong, there's no way the thumb could connect to the hand that way.
I also think that for this one...the outline are just wasteful, they dont really say anything the shades couldnt, but they do make it look quite...unfinsihed.


The redhead is great, I really like the whole area from the bust up, I love the way those fringes of hair cast a shadow on her forhead, and I absolutley adore her expression, which is very well emphasized by those crossed arms.
There's something strangely appealing about the leg folded below her too.

something about that fist gripping the blade just looks wrong, I can kind of see that you were going for a sort of abnormally wide palms style, but you still did it in a way that makes it all look flat. that sort of armor over both her hands looks to be laid on a different plane than the hand is.

the waist area, well you sort of put the elbows and her waist in the same lighting situation, and that flatterns the whole thing, I think her waist should be darkened

the crotch, well..it's just wrong :p um...her buttocks should stick out below her panty, which should only cover her cunt, it kind of looks like she got up in a hurry and put her panty over one of her buttocks right now XD

that leg that she's holding up, seems to be more hurried than the rest of her. all of her other extremities have a very unique shading, but this one kinda just screams gradient. I'd like to see it detailed with maybe some tendons at the back of her knee, or some real butt definition

The purple one, I actually like a lot. I love the way that furred leg looks so well textured, whitout even using an excessive amount of colors, the overall composition and the way the legs bring the attention to that beautifully shaded arm is great

My crit I guess would be, the hair which seems to be on a completly diferent lighting situation, it looks as if it being lit by the camera and thus only shows texture, it doesnt seem to be affected by the same lightsource the rest of the pic is at all. The way you drew her strands of hair is also pretty boring, since they all go down her head quite orderly and there's no irreverent detail to break up the monotony. I would re-shade the whole hair, try to make it fit more with the harsh top lighting the rest of the pic shares

And the last one, it just hurts to look at.
Are you insane? why would anyone ever  do all that AA by hand? I can understand when you want to display extra detail in a small sprite, and AA is the only way, but looking at stuff like what you and Pep do, it just hurts.
« Last Edit: October 03, 2005, 10:57:26 pm by Camus »

Offline PK Mays

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Re: Old Stuff from an Old Member

Reply #7 on: October 07, 2005, 10:10:02 am
Camus!!! Thanks for the in-depth critique!

I've definitely learned that the grey and red piece is the weakest of all these. I'll be more careful with the line art on my newer pieces, so those little errors won't show up as much. And she's inspired from the GBA mockups Sals did, I remember him posting a standing animation with the characters scarf blowing in the wind like Strider. Very cool.

But...I can't agree with you're comments on the redhead's crotch. I'm no pooch expert, but I'd say that's about how it should look.  But the perspective is all messed up on the hands. If you imagined her without the gloves, you'd notice how freakishly long and thin her arms are.

As for the catchick, I was going for a sort of fancy hairdo, like a stiff one with lots of hairspray in it for style. It might look better without all the segmenting, but it also gives a kinda animal hair look to it. I'm split both ways. You're right about the highlights though, damn lightsource still gets me sometimes.

I actually genuinely enjoyed doing all that AA on the last one, especially on the guys face.

Thanks a ton man!