[WIP] Absolute first try at pixel art. Help! Floundering! :)

[zaphyr]

Well, after being registered for months, I finally decided it was time to have a go myself...
This is my first ever attempt at any pixel art, about an hour diddling around in photoshop, I made this horror:



It's too dithered, the scene is too cluttered and the colours suck, these things I know... But what to do about it?

C+C desperately sought! Where should I go from here?

An excellent site, btw, both inspiring me to even try this, and then making me inflict it on your poor eyes... I'm so sorry...
Thanks guys!

[Sohei]

I personally think that grass and trees are the hardest thing to make in pixel art, because they don't have regular structure. And to make  it irregular, chaotic and good looking is the top skill of an artisan.
It's not the best choice to pick as a first step.
Major disadvantages of given pieces - lack of adequate lighting.
Square artificial objects may be a better decision.

[kitty]

That's mean Sohei! :[  You can pixel whatever you want zaphyr and you get better when you do things that are difficult.

Your latest version is the best version so far.  You could straighten the horizon to be perfectly straight.
Also think of the power of each color because you have some colors that are almost exactly the same.

[zaphyr]

Major disadvantages of give pieces - lack of adequate lighting.
Square artificial objects may be a better decision.

Yeah, I think you're right there Sohei.  Also, after adding the detail on top of my blocked out cheesy shading, i'm finding it pretty hard to re-light stuff and not wash away the details...  Thanks for the feedback and, I have to say, your trees are awesome , I really like how the sunlight almost shimmers through them.

Kitty, I feel guilty since I'm using 6 shades of green, and I wanted 4... Maybe I will try to desaturate the image and recolourize it.  Sohei is right though, I just sat down and started pushing pixels around without much thought, and while I'm pleasantly surprised how it turned out, I probably should study lighting and perspective a bit more for my next go. 

Thanks for the feedback peeps!

[LuckwithinFavor]

I like it, It looks great for just beginning!

For myself, I suck completely when it comes to making Turfs (grass, cliff-sides, ect..)
But I have gotten a lil' work when It comes to trees.
Here's a Tree Hut I made for a Zelda RPG I've been working on. (its the kokiri shop house)

For the base trunk of the tree, you could try giving it some definition on the roots, here's an example for you I drew up.

[zaphyr]

I like it, It looks great for just beginning!

Thanks 

I like the cracks in your shop, especially the ones that run vertically, although the red bit over the door seems a bit asymettrical? Anyway, good job!

I tried to add roots at the beginning, but it ended up looking like some mutant octopus.  I tried following your guide, and yeah, I think it's working now.  Not entirely sure about the one behind the tree on the right, i think i made it stick out too far. oh well. Thanks for pushing me to add them back 

I am really quite happy how this is progressing now.  Thanks again everyone!

[LuckwithinFavor]

No problem
Anyway we could see where it's at now? 

[zaphyr]

there you go.  Progress is slowing down.  The rock needs redoing, and I still think the tree bark looks quite wrong, but I need to figure out how to bodge it into the style of the leaves now that I added the highlights (too much like plastic? hm, not sure).  I'm not happy with the way the landscape darkens as it goes further from the camera, either. I'd like to haze it out, but I need to figure out how I'm going to make that happen without too many tears. 

Uh oh, looks like the real world is beckoning, but I'll carry on with this in a bit.  See you soon...

[LuckwithinFavor]

Try giving the Backdrop (the blue) something to look at, like a mountain ridge in the distance, I'll give you an edit in a minute
and as for the rock, try putting a few grass blades standing infront of it, so It looks as if its in the grass, not layered over it. 
good job on the roots by the way! 

[zaphyr]

Well, I had a go adding the mountains and a few other trimmings, and here's what I have now.  I think the mushroom is a little, um. bright .  Also I have no idea how to texture the mountains nicely.  I think i'm going to have to study some reference images for that one.