AuthorTopic: Okay, so I feel kinda odd...  (Read 3287 times)

Offline cb43569

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Okay, so I feel kinda odd...

on: January 31, 2007, 09:26:48 pm
I joined here to I could tell people that their pixel art rocked, and also so I could recruit spriters for my game, and... I tried to make some pixel art of my own. It's crap, it sucks, I have no grasp of anti-aliasing or dithering, so there isn't any, and the colouring is terrible, but this is seriously, my first ever pixel art.



I'd love to improve it, but I've said already, I have no idea at all of where even to start :-\. I get the feeling that it's too wide. Also, it's not shaded at all, and I've no idea at all how to shade it... the hilt is wooden, the blade is metal. Where do I start :crazy:?

Although, the silhouette ain't bad... I think.

Offline ceddo

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Re: Okay, so I feel kinda odd...

Reply #1 on: January 31, 2007, 10:00:39 pm
Well, you shouldn't be thinking of dithering or anti-aliasing at all for the moment. Not until you understand the basics of lighting.

http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/links.asp?id=2192
« Last Edit: January 31, 2007, 10:03:40 pm by ceddo »

Offline Terley

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Re: Okay, so I feel kinda odd...

Reply #2 on: January 31, 2007, 10:32:42 pm
I do agree that you need to work on your the quality of your artwork before hand, learn lighting, proportions, colouring etc etc before you start trying to become a pro at AAing, I see it as a way to further improve your work to make it easier on the eyes.. If your work is very minimal than AAing is mostlikely too soon to consider..

But as we're here I couldn't help tuning up your silhouetted sword, its a much nicer size to work at imo, the bigger sword is too big.

>edit> >down to 5 colours>

My first edit was just showing how far you could go to with AAing, went to 7 shades which gives it the smoothest look without using too many shades. But you could reduce it down to 5 with it still looking pretty smooth. At first glance you couldn't notice the difference but it does depend whether your working to a limited palette.

for the general structure of the sword I'd probably change it like this..

I've not got anything interesting to type here..

Offline MoD

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Re: Okay, so I feel kinda odd...

Reply #3 on: February 01, 2007, 09:57:08 pm
I think the big ornament at the bottom is excessive. Unless it has a name or something (you know how those RPGs are) that gives it a need to be like that, I say go with something lighter, smaller, less distracting, and more practical.

The sword could use more interesting and convincing colors. I'm not sure what type of material you were going for with the brown, but if it was wood, stop there and change it. I'd feel a lot safer having a metal handle and handguard than a wooden one, and the color you look like you'd be using for it isn't very natural. Try decreasing the saturation and looking at the material you decide on in real life. The metal bit could have been at least rudimentarily shaded with flat blocks of color to indicate tilt and some high contrast for a metallic look. Also, in general using pure grey is a bad idea. Give it some tint to contribute to interest and mood in the piece.

While you're working on a sword, look for references for different types of sword. These will help you out a lot with your linework and form and should give you some ideas for details and shading as well.

Offline cb43569

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Re: Okay, so I feel kinda odd...

Reply #4 on: February 02, 2007, 11:19:49 am
Thank you, everyone, for all the criticism :).

And MoD, I know the colouring's really crap, that's why I didn't want to post it. Yeah, the handle's meant to be wooden. I tried to give the actual blade some tint and some better lighting, but it just didn't look good :(.