AuthorTopic: As if you didn't have ENOUGH newbies...  (Read 4534 times)

Offline Sihaya

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As if you didn't have ENOUGH newbies...

on: November 08, 2005, 09:39:02 pm
......here I come along, being all new 'an stuff.  I'm not really sure what's expected of me here, whether my style is acceptable or not and so on...but I heard this is the place to go for brilliant critique and the advice of professionals, so here I am.  I in no way hope to make a living this way (though that WOULD be nice, come to think of it)....so my work will probably never be pro-quality---I do it for pleasure.  I s'pose this is the part where I throw my work out and get yelled at :)  here we go. The only items that are NOT mine entirely are the outline for the chalice and the original flat isobase.

Not sure if this is considered adult--so I'll link it--please don't yell at me if it IS considered adult.  I'll take it down immediately.

http://www.imagechild.com/images/Dolls/statue.gif





 

Offline Peppermint Pig

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Re: As if you didn't have ENOUGH newbies...

Reply #1 on: November 08, 2005, 10:53:37 pm
Hello Sihaya, welcome to Pixelopolis. :)

Critique time, ready?!

The DS is alright. You probably could have used cleaner lines for the edges, though your shading and anti aliasing is okay. Would be nice to put something on the screen, or anti alias the border for the screen so it's easier on the eyes.

The flower is nice, though I have four main critiques of it. 1. The vinework could be smoother in places. Consistent widths of the vines could be an improvement. I like the veins on the leaf, though, very nicely done. 2. The beads of water are also good, but I think that more contrast could help there, with white specular lighting dots, and perhaps deeper and more saturant greens there, which brings me to my third critique. 3. The green seems too saturated, that or the pink is too dim. The lady bug is very cute. 4. I would probably suggest using less shades to color the actual flower. It's a nice composition with good balance and a number of interesting elements to it, such as the chewed up leaf.

The chalice looks to be a mix of cg (brushwork) and pixelled work. I would encourage you to create a chalice of your own and get used to drawing ovals and other geometries in pixel to create ideal curves.

The chocolate loooks more thoroughly to be a cg piece.

Alright, with your characters and the moon, I would suggest some anti aliasing to blend the dark color of the suit with the moon, and try pixeling the subtle dark atmosphere instead. Anti aliasing of the curled hillside and the moon to the background would also be good here. I think you've captured the likenesses very well. Perhaps try something like this at a smaller size to save time and focus on the detail.

Your isometric graveyard: Again, color seems to be an issue. Pixel art, fortunately, is a great way to study color relationships and there are a number of people here that can help out with tips. The gravestones are a bit sharp, but the grass is blurry, and possibly CG? The green of the grass is too monotone. Try making the darker green shade more cyan, and make the lighter green a bit more yellow tinged. This is known as hue shifting, and it can help out with creating atmosphere. Lastly, I think you should look at using a purplish or yellowish tint to the stone, rather than leaving it at a wholly neutral gray. You'll find that adding a blue tint to the stone, for example, that a night atmosphere will be added to the work.

I think your last piece, the trail, is my favorite. While there's quite a bit here that is CG based, there's some effort to articulate the leaves, and the blinking eyes are a nice addition. The gate in the background is good. It needs some AA, though. Again, study anti aliasing to get familiar with softening lines. The bark of the trees is too saturated. It feels as though the foreground is unnaturally lit up. You could compensate by making the sunset and sky colors a little lighter.

Good work with these. I look forward to seeing more, and maybe working on smaller pieces, so you can do some quick studies of different pixeling methods. Good luck!

Offline Sihaya

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Re: As if you didn't have ENOUGH newbies...

Reply #2 on: November 09, 2005, 12:06:51 am
Thank you so much, Peppermint Pig (I'm sure there must be something shorter to call you, hopefully I'll learn that in time--lol)  You don't know how much I appreciate your kind critique.  I've only recently come to realize I hadn't actually entirely understood what pixel art was!  You're right, I was mixing a hearty dose of CG in with my pixelling, now I am beginning to really see the difference--in a program like Photoshop, it's way too easy for me to "blur" the line between CG and pixelling, if you'll pardon the pun.  I'd like to rework a few of these pieces with my new understanding of how this is all going to work and see where I end up.  Hopefully with the help of this place,(and some tutorials)  I can get a good handle on separating my pixelling from my painting.

I'll work on color and contrast more, that seems to be a big problem with me--and post some results later--it's so refreshing and exciting to see that I'll be getting good, solid useful critique on whatever I post next.

If anyone has any advice on Anti-aliasing, or any good tuts on the subject, let me know?

I've found nirvana :P

thanks again!

Offline FaeryShivers

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Re: As if you didn't have ENOUGH newbies...

Reply #3 on: November 09, 2005, 12:30:26 am
I really like Nemesis's tutorial on antialiasing:

http://gas13.ru/tutorials/aa/

Peppys really good at anti-aliasing so I'm sure he can give you some good tips
or point you to somewhere else that can :D
Glad you like it here so far Sihaya!
« Last Edit: November 09, 2005, 01:11:09 am by FaeryShivers »

Offline crab2selout.png

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Re: As if you didn't have ENOUGH newbies...

Reply #4 on: November 09, 2005, 12:35:05 am
For resources on AA and other pixeling techniques, head to the 'General Discussion' of the forum and look for the thread called 'Tools, Tuts & Linkages'. It should prove a great starting point.

Offline pixelblink

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Re: As if you didn't have ENOUGH newbies...

Reply #5 on: November 09, 2005, 07:18:15 am