AuthorTopic: Amstrad CPC Lion [WIP]  (Read 7536 times)

Offline skamocore

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Amstrad CPC Lion [WIP]

on: August 22, 2008, 07:09:39 pm
Hello Pixelation,  :o

I worked out how to set an image to double wide pixels in Photoshop, so I decided I would test it out and try making something with Amstrad CPC constraints. I ended up making a lion.

This is what I have so far:

> > > > > > > > >
« Last Edit: September 11, 2008, 05:04:34 pm by skamocore »

Offline Ai

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Re: Amstrad CPC Lion

Reply #1 on: August 23, 2008, 04:03:05 am
Is this your first CPC pic?You certainly hav a good grasp of the stylisms useful with doublewidth pixels.
The lion's mane could be a bit more organic -- from footage and photos I've seen they tend to look scruffed and slightly irregular
In general you've got a decent basis for a picture here -- mainly it needs more black to define shapes more srongly, and some more detailing.
I hope to see further progress on this soon :)
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Offline skamocore

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Re: Amstrad CPC Lion

Reply #2 on: August 23, 2008, 08:29:48 am
Yeah it's my first time doing anything in wide pixels; thanks.

I tried fixing a few things up:



*I played around with the mane. I think it looks better now. I guess it was looking a bit like Santa Clause before.
*I added a bit more black.
*I hue shifted his chest area, I think it looks a bit more interesting this way.
*I tried making his body a bit more chunky and less tube like.
*I moved the clouds around.
*I tried moving his feet into a more natural position.
*I made his ears a bit more visible.

still there's something that's not looking quite right...

UPDATE:



UPDATE 2:



I think the texture on his body is much more liony now...
« Last Edit: August 23, 2008, 02:29:11 pm by skamocore »

Offline Ai

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Re: Amstrad CPC Lion [WIP]

Reply #3 on: August 25, 2008, 03:28:21 pm
* That shading is definitely more lion-y
* You seem to be editing in Adobe 1998 colorspace. For most pixeled works, it's generally more sensible to edit in sRGB colorspace.
* I just noticed, your colors are not gamma corrected (which means on a typical monitor they will appear much more similar than they should on a real CPC). You can fix this by applying gamma 2.2, or its inverse, .45, depending on how your paint program works.

* The color usage is better than I thought (after I applied the above correction)
* What I actually meant was that the background could use a little black to define what it is. I tried it quickly, didn't work out (as you can see)
* The ear seems to a) be 'cuter' (obviously rounded shape) and b) be more obvious, in the reference pictures I've looked at.
* The lion's torso could have better volumetrics. My edit fiddles with this a little.
* I looked at the grass color and promptly changed it. Now I have not decided whether it actually needed changing or not..
* You're probably overusing dither a bit on the mane.. I think this is because you don't have dark red, #ba0000.
* Blue pixel on the flowers looked a bit odd to me, I tried a red to replace it.

Something's wrong with my edit, I'll show you it regardless:
Ah! -- it's the black.. your black seems to not actually be black! Check it! It's 040404! (in a colormanaged viewer, all will look okay since 040404 is sRGB black in Adobe 1998-- however on the web you cannot rely on functional colormanagement and should assume sRGB.. for the next few years, at least :) (firefox3 displays it correctly)

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Offline skamocore

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Re: Amstrad CPC Lion [WIP]

Reply #4 on: August 28, 2008, 09:34:51 am
thanks! I didn't even notice I was using 1998 D:

I'm not 100% sure if I've fixed it properly...but I am using this palette:



Anyway, I've completely changed the scene. Your edit on my background implied water, which wasn't what I initially intended (it was supposed to be some kind of abstract mountain ???). But after thinking about it for a while, I decided that I would go with your suggestion. So basically it's a beach scene now. I know I should've really planned this out at the start, but it began as something kind of spontaneous. Keep in mind the water is still sketchy at the moment.



What I've done:

*Changed his body to pure yellow, which I think makes him stand out a bit more. Especially now that it's beachy.
*AA'd the clouds, still not 100% sure if this is looking that much better at the moment.
*Added a shadow (I knew I was forgetting something :P)

*I tried clearing a bit of dithering on the mane, but it looked a bit flat, but I did remove some of the cyan up the top, I thought that was a bit too much.
*I've left the ears, I played around with them earlier on and personally I'd rather have them move visible.

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Re: Amstrad CPC Lion [WIP]

Reply #5 on: August 28, 2008, 12:19:36 pm
there is something like a palmtree or so missing ;)

Offline skamocore

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Re: Amstrad CPC Lion [WIP]

Reply #6 on: August 28, 2008, 06:37:15 pm
ok, little update

I think the reflection in the water fills some of the sense of something "missing"

I'm still open to more C&C, I'm thinking maybe I need to do something more with the sky/clouds, since now thay're looking a bit plain in relation to the rest of the picture...

Offline skamocore

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Re: Amstrad CPC Lion [WIP]

Reply #7 on: September 01, 2008, 04:23:21 pm


Ok, a bit of an update. The main thing I've changed is the clouds. It makes the top part of the image look a little less 'plain', but it's not really looking right at the moment.

Offline Dex

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Re: Amstrad CPC Lion [WIP]

Reply #8 on: September 01, 2008, 05:15:42 pm
The only thing that doesn't make sense to me is why a lion is standing on a beach! :D

The pixeling technique is great, though!

Offline skamocore

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Re: Amstrad CPC Lion [WIP]

Reply #9 on: September 03, 2008, 01:22:06 pm
Thanks.

A bit of an update:



I think I'm close to being finished now...