First PixelArt

[chigsam]

Well i did graphics but not in pixel art style. So I decided to find some tutorials and stuff. Then I came across this website so here I am. I'm new to this site so hello! Also I'd like to show you my first pixel art i just made now. it's my first so don't critisize me to bad. but comments on improvement are well accepted.

[ndchristie]

This really is just half-way through a hold-hands style tut, so my only suggestion on this piece is to look around and study pixel styles and spriting techniques, and then finish the tutorial.

[chigsam]

ya well i guess ill look around thanks for the suggestion

[Feron]

one tip is to save as .gif or even better, .PNG.  Jpegs will add unnecesary colors and generally distort things,

[chigsam]

i save as a jpeg only after i got my handy dandy photoshop CS2. When saving as a jpeg in photoshop you can change the quality of the image. so i maxed it out (i probably didnt have to though) and saved it. i just opened my paint and copy the image in my post into paint and its exactly the same not one color is different. but yes i get what you are saying for people who don't have photoshop. ill keep that in mind when i make them when i dont have photoshop with me. Thanks for the heads up!

[Zolthorg]

No form of jpeg is lossless.
your image is no exception.

[chigsam]

ok you made me do this *sigh*

 gif jpeg

[zeid]

...ok you made me do this *sigh*
I've used colour replace to show you
Jpeg


Gif


you effectively made the piece have 226 by turning it into jpeg as oppose to 15.

[chigsam]

wow thats crazy.  i guess what i was trying to say is that the apperance of the image doesn't change but if you do what zeid did it does actually change. Ok well im sorry i was kinda wrong i guess you guys are the experts

[Dusty]

Well in pixel-art, every pixel counts, and can have a huge impact on the piece. JPEG does whatever it wants with your pixels, whether you up the quality or not, and that = bad. You should have control over each and every pixel in your work.

[chigsam]

ya this time i made this thing (WIP) in a gif format so hopefully it will look good. Any comments on making this better would be great becuase i want this one to be a better succes.

[yosh64]

hey

Firstly, using either .PNG or .GIF for pixel art should always result in a smaller file size. The .JPEG format works best on images with a high number of colors, such as photographs. Also, I would never recommend anyone ever use the .JPEG while in the process creating any type of art, as it does indeed destroy data. Maybe you already know this, but you should always use a non destructive/lossy format when creating your art, and only ever use .JPEG for publishing your image. Anyhows I myself always try to use .PNG as much as I can, even at times when the the result is a slightly larger file size, as often I find the quality of the image is noticeably better.

Anyhows sorry about that, time to get back on topic.

Okay, your latest pixels seem to lack form/volume, and looks very flat. I think you need to think about the shapes/volumes that make up this character, and how the light hits it. I might try and do a quick edit for you. Ohh, I also think it might be easier if you make the light source from above.

cyas

[chigsam]

thanks i kinda couldnt figure out how to make him look a little 3D

[yosh64]

hey

I just started an edit... anyhows I think you may have used the .JPEG format in the process of creating this, as there is a rediculous amount of colors in it, which makes doing an edit a little tricky.

Also, I never mentioned the anatomy issues and such, as I think it's most important you learn how to visualise the form/volume and light and such.

Anyhows I will try do this edit .

edit

Firstly I greatly reduced the colors I would use, and painted a little palatte in the top left corner. I then decided on a light source, and tried to correct the shape, form, anatomy and proportions and such. Although I done all this in no particular order, I think it might be easier if you firstly corrected the shapes and such before defining the light and form/volume. Finally I looked at an image of Link & Epona, and further changed and refined things. Ohh, I also added greater contrast between each shade, and I also find it helpful to set a suitable background color (I prefer a dark'ish color) when pixeling.

Hmm, I'm not completly sure if I got the proportions and anatomy exactly right, as I think this is the first horse I've ever done. But this wasn't really the point of my edit anyhows, rather I wanted to get you to think about the form/volumes of the character, and how the light hits these. Anyhows I hope this helps .

cyas

[chigsam]

ohh wow thank you it looks great! and no i didnt accidently load it from a jpeg or save it as a jpeg. i just like to use lots of colors!
The only thing i see wrong when comparing both of ours is that mine isn't actually a horse it just looks kinda like one. i was going for a horse at the start but then i dicided to chnage it up a little. I'm losing the tons of colors i put in im down to about 7 now. and i put some lines in to show his muscles. im using your picture as a refrence so thank you! im also going to lighten the colors up and change the background color. Thanks again!

[chigsam]

Ok well i finnaly finished my horse! i think it looks good for my second pixel art! any comments or critise is great. i really hope you guys like this! Only 8 colors instead of 18 i think it was.

[Turbo]

It has improved, but only slightly. Look again at yosh's edit. Notice how you can clearly see the individual shapes of his creature even at 1x size, without zooming in, due to good choice of color contrast and palette. Also, inventing anatomy for a creature should always be based on real examples, to convey consistency, instead of an amorphous look that your new edit still has (and has had since the beggining).

Go bolder with contrast, make sure the detail you want to show reads without zooming.
Check image references for consistency (ALWAYS! Doesn't have to take longer than a couple of minutes to look up).
See work improve greatly

[chigsam]

im still not getting yo ufully after reading through it a couple times but heres what i could make out of it.

Use spread out colors and brighter ones?
if so then here: