Looking for Critique, just started (have minimal basic art skills)

[draco7777777]

Hi, just started doing pixel stuff 3 or so days ago, just purchased Asperite and have been looking up lots of tutorials, FAQs, forum posts, etc.
 
My basic art skills that I have are just knowing basic color theory and shading (atleast what you should do, not that I can shade that well) and having some experience with drawing (I'm good at stippling and that's really it, that and abstract stuff like PeterDraws if you've heard of him.)

Everything I've attached I followed a tutorial or prompt, and if you'd like a link to the posts/videos let me know. For instance the landscape is pretty much a recreation of the one in the tutorial while the skull is my own design off a prompt (asked to make it with a limited color palette.) I'm still trying to learn all the intricacies when it comes to this stuff like not having jaggies or making sure I don't have 1 pixel all by itself but there's a lot to consider so I'm hoping someone can help point out any flaws or big issues that I'm not seeing and anything I should consider when going back and fixing, etc.

Hopefully I'm starting out on the right foot, I'm really hoping to get better so please don't hold back on any comments, as long as it's gonna help me improve I'm not one to be deterred by harsh truths, yaknow? Ultimately my goal is to learn to animate better and become proficient in creating characters. Thanks. 

[draco7777777]

Here are more from the same site/prompt

EDIT: I just saw the "post single artworks for critique, no artdumps" so oops, sorry. If you can only comment about one then critique the skull. Thanks

[Chonky Pixel]

Welcome! I hope you find this stuff as fun as I do.

To avoid an essay I'll give you a quick 1 line critique  of each of your works. To be fair I'm pretty new to this myself (a year or so I guess) but I've picked up a few ideas along the way.

Firstly, please use the "insert image" control (below bold) to insert your images. you can upload them to Imgur first, then get the URL by right-clicking and selecting "copy image URL".

So, really not bad at all for 3 days in! Good work. Here are some thoughts and ideas.

The ball: Nice squash and stretch, but it changes volume as it bounces, so it looks unnatural. As it's 2D, make sure the area is constant all the time, so if you squash in one dimension, stretch in the other and vice versa.

Smoke: Looks pretty good!

Scene: Lookin' good! Your light source is coming from left and above, but you're adding highlights to the underneath of some things.

Skull: Difficult to read and a bit flat. I happen to know this tutorial, I remember doing these things myself. Hang on...



There. I'd probably do these a lot differently now, but also, I'd been doing pixel art for a bit more than 3 days when I did them! Click to expand the image.

It's easy to shade and apply light to just the edges of a piece when you first start out, but you want to think about the shape of the object in 3D and follow the curves with the light and dark areas. What will stick out? Where will it cast a shadow? Just shading the very edge can make something look flat but embossed.

Same with the face. It looks flat (although very readable.) Think about how the cheeks and nose will behave in the light and apply shadow and highlights. (I'd brighten up the face on my one if doing it now.)

Mug: Maye try giving the steam a curl? Your smoke animation might help? I'd like to see some bolder shading to define the cylindrical shape of the mug, myself.

Shovel: I like the 3D effect from the shading on the blade of this one, but I think you have too much outlining. You could try getting rid of the internal outlines, letting the shading and different materials imply boundaries.

Sword: Your blade and handle are nice and 3D, but the guard is the same shade both in and out of the light. And a different volume?

I hope you get something out of these ideas and I'm not coming across too negative! Keep it up!

[Craky]

Hello,Greetings from pixel arts newbie!

Honestly, your arts looks awesome, It makes me kinda jealous hehe, you seems to have grasp a good understanding of shade in which i was weak at, so i'm quite excited to see more from your arts, i can't really have much suggestion for you

but i can think of some for slime

So slime are a sticky creature, You can add a splash particle in between it's impact to the ground, you have a good grasp on the smoke particle so i think you can do it

For a little practice, Add a little accesories to it like Hat!, it is a solid object that interact with a jumping squishy object, pay attention to the volume of the hat (following chonky pixel's critics) see how you manage to animate it when the slime fall to the ground (will the hat stick? or it fall before the slime).

I hope it helps you in any way, and sorry if my english broken.