AuthorTopic: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP  (Read 42855 times)

Offline JackBauer24

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Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

on: June 25, 2007, 11:51:19 am
Hello to all.  I am new to this forum and really like what I see.  I have several projects going on but the main one I am working on is a battle in a small village in France, era WWII.  I am seeking advise on how to make it better.  Also, I am fairly new to the definitive methods of pixel art.  I grew up just drawing what I like to draw, which happens to be WWII German armor and vehicles.  Anyhow, I wont bore you any more, here it is, enjoy!

Jack

Offline EyeCraft

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Re: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

Reply #1 on: June 25, 2007, 03:23:47 pm
Gday Jack, welcome to the forum  :D. Well, where to begin with advice... it's a big piece so there's a lot to scour...

I'd say there's three main things you should address first:
- anatomy and poses of the soldiers
- colours of the piece
- shading

Since you say you mainly just draw for fun, I'll assume you don't know too much about various techniques, so I'll try to link to articles about them where I can. You might want to acquaint (or reacquaint) yourself with some colour theory, first off. The colours in this piece for the most part are all very saturated (especially the trees). You can vastly improve the look and feel of this setting by toning down alot of the saturation. I think your picture could especially benefit from some aerial perspective, also. Following that vein, the sky is too saturated and too dark, I reckon. Also, there's too much contrast between the clouds and the sky.

As for anatomy, the right-most soldier's arms are too short, and I think his legs might need to be a teensy bit longer (same with the other guys). Apart from that they seem to be pretty good.

And last but certainly not least, shading! Your piece lacks pretty much any shading at all. You should determine a lightsource (perhaps a midday sun overhead) and shade accordingly. This will be alot of work, but it will bring some much needed depth to the piece, not to mention beautify immensely.

That's all I've got for now, good luck with it. :)

Offline JackBauer24

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Re: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

Reply #2 on: June 25, 2007, 04:30:31 pm
Alrighty, let me see if I can figure out things out around here.  The men are easily fixed and thanks for the tips on them.  The saturation is a bit harder to figure out.  Do you mean darker colors of what I have?  The tank doesnt seem too bright.  Is the main problem the houses and background?  Then there is the shading.  I want to eventually have a battle-like atmosphere going on and so far I have come to a dead end.  What areas in particular would I have to nail to make the piece better?  Thanks for giving me advise.  Take care and have a great day!

Jask

Offline EyeCraft

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Re: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

Reply #3 on: June 25, 2007, 07:49:37 pm
The saturation of a colour is how vivid the colour is. For instance, the best way to visualise it I can think of is imagine a really really grey-looking blue, and then imagine a neon blue light in a night club. The grey-looking blue has low saturation, while the neon nightclub light blue has a high saturation. Maybe a diagram would be better for explanation:


Check out those links in my previous post.

Offline JackBauer24

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Re: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

Reply #4 on: June 28, 2007, 01:56:39 pm
Ah ok,  I get that now.  So is 100% of the image too bright?  I would prefere not to change the tank as I believe its fine.  Let me know if its not.  I dont mind the CnC.  Thanks!

Jack

p.s.  Update coming soon.

Offline Faktablad

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Re: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

Reply #5 on: June 28, 2007, 05:05:52 pm
You should, preferably, change only the parts that are wrong.  :P

But seriously, the main problem is that all the elements of the scene are treated with the same importance.  The background trees are colored in the same way as the foreground characters, the inside is colored in the same way as the outside, and so on.  What will bring this scene to life will be areas of contrast: contrast between areas of light and shadow, high saturation and low saturation, high detail and low detail.  Which area of the picture gets which side of each contrast depends on its importance.  Giving the most important areas of the picture the highest contrast will make them "pop" out from the rest of the scene.

Offline JackBauer24

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Re: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

Reply #6 on: June 29, 2007, 02:55:12 pm
Ah ok, gotcha.  One thing, should I redo the troops?  Im having second thoughts about the current ones.  Yes it would be a bother to have to redo but would that help the pic?  Thanks again!

Jack

« Last Edit: June 29, 2007, 03:12:59 pm by JackBauer24 »

Offline bengo

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Re: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

Reply #7 on: June 29, 2007, 03:24:43 pm
:huh: Wait.... what did you do to the piece? The only difference I see is that the sky is darker and that theres bricks on that house now.

Offline Jad

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Re: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

Reply #8 on: June 29, 2007, 03:33:55 pm
Yes, that seems to be the major changes.

Mr Jack Bauer, I'd suggest you download either graphics gale or promotion and work in one of these programs, since they enable you to change your wholy pallette on the fly. This means that you can change the colors you have already put down without actually repainting.

Try playing around with that. And if you already are using one of these programs, I'd suggest you play around more with colors. It'll help you for sure.
' _ '

Offline JackBauer24

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Re: Period piece: Panzers on the prowl WIP

Reply #9 on: June 29, 2007, 03:41:29 pm
Thanks for that tip.  Right now I am using a combination of MSPaint and Photoshop(For the layers)  I do all my stuff piece by piece.  Will graphics gale be easy to use if someone has been using MS Paint their whole life?  About the changes, mostly I added bullet holes to the blue building, and altered the other building.  Heres another question, should I ditch the checker pattern on the tank?  I did it so it would match the barrel, which was done the same way but with different colors to get the reflection and curve of the barrel.  Thanks again!

Jack

p.s.  I want the piece to be mid-day to late afternoon.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2007, 04:23:42 pm by JackBauer24 »