updated thread, shading excercise with cube bird

[youts_wid_shanks]

well, I decided that I'd like to do pixel art, so I just dl'd the free version of graphics gale and doodled these two little guys:


little pink bird guy, i really like him, and this is the first thing i've done, but i know he probably could be done alot better


this guy i like alot less, and i spent alot longer trying to make him right..

I know I can improve alot of course, so any criticisms and suggestions would be great! also, i'm not entirely sure how the rules of the forum go so I hope I haven't done anythin wrong eh

thanks 

[Warwolt]

They look a bit dark. Id suggest tone down the saturation and make them a bit lighter. Dunno much else.

[youts_wid_shanks]

i see that now that i'm on a different monitor, they're alot darker than i thought.. i'll change that when i switch the monitors around tomorrow

[SinX]

Why don't you just adjust the monitor?

[Ornust]

He might have a crap monitor like mine, in the sense that no matter how you adjust it, it's still a crap image. (Syncmaster 932B  )

I think I agree with the one relevant comment on this thread, however. But here is my edit, which uses minor adjustments such as Highlights, shadows, minor dithering and better line-art. From

[Zero]

Hate to be the one to say it Ornust, but the original looks better. imo at least.

[youts_wid_shanks]

He might have a crap monitor like mine, in the sense that no matter how you adjust it, it's still a crap image. (Syncmaster 932B  )

I think I agree with the one relevant comment on this thread, however. But here is my edit, which uses minor adjustments such as Highlights, shadows, minor dithering and better line-art. From

hmmm, well I don't think i like the edit that much either, sorry... It just seems like alot of unneeded colours and the shading under the head seems blurry... I appreciate you doing it though. (sorry if that's stupid commenting on an edit of my own work ^^)

[AdamAtomic]

Well, I guess it's just a matter of opinion. I think mine looks better. 

Ornust: Stop posting one-liners that do not contribute to the critique of the piece.  I have had to delete a LOT of your posts lately.  Consider this a warning; the next one-liner I delete will be a strike against you.

Youts: These are cute characters with a lot of potential!  A good exercise I think would be, since they're so small, to strip them down to the line art and try shading them from different lighting angles, using just a few shades of gray (like 25, 50, 75 for example).  This is something I do a lot that has helped me immensely - it will get you thinking about the 3d form of your design and will help you start to think about what lighting will best show off your design.  Working with just a few colors will allow you to try lots of different ideas in a VERY short amount of time!  I think the lineart on your bird character is pretty good, but I would refine it a bit on your skull guy; I think his teeth are too far back, and it seems like it could use a bit of a cheekbone structure; something to make it look more boney and less balloony.  Keep at it!

[zeid]

I am not a fan of the skull guy. It looks like you tried to create more complex shapes then you should have for his face and in doing so lost a lot of depth. When dealing with this scale the main thing to focus on is depth and lighting (the exercise Adam Atomic suggested sounds very good for that). On the point of lighting, your bird man (who I like a fair bit) isn't lit as well as he/she/it should be. You seemed to have ditched the light direction when highlighting his arm closest to us. By touching up his knees a tad he gains a little more of a supported look and reaffirms a better sense of balance. you can also ditch some colours (probably more then in my edit) and if you want him to have a gut add another highlight in there (didn't do in my edit). Also something to note is when shading your line art you aren't dealing with a colouring book, feel free to break lines up if it will look better.
>>>

[Stefano]

I like the skull man and I felt as he was being neglected, so I did an edit myself.



I guess most of the things I have changed (without mentioning the usual stuff: hue shifting, AA) regard the actual assemblage of the character. I've tried to do it in a manner that would preserve the overall feeling to your original sprite.

First, I basically tried to change stuff that would make the head look more like an actual skull. The nose was brought up and the cheek bones are now more prominent. I've also tried to blend the teeth to the rest of his head, bringing the upper jaw out of his face, mainly because they were showing as vertical bright lines on an area that (according to the original anatomy) should be shaded. Additionally, I choose to give him a more angry look (with frowned eyebrows and squinted eyes) because that's how I figured this character behavior is supposed to be as he's leaning forward with his arms back and closed fists. Basically a defying pose. But I assume that this last bit is just a personal interpretation of how you drew it. 

Another important thing worth mentioning: As the head has too much small details (and is his most distinguishable feature), I though it would look more readable if the rest of his body would just have a darker an less saturated color, using a dark shading "frame" around a more contrasted and saturated face, bringing all the attention to it.

I did add two more colors but I think I've put them to good use.

-Stefano

PS. I hope I didn't mess the sentences beyond understandability. This is as better as it gets...