AuthorTopic: Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.  (Read 4998 times)

Offline Mirre

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Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.

on: January 26, 2006, 04:25:44 pm
My submission for the Dreaming in Pixels contest. It's not finished yet (as you can see on trees and the cliffs/mini islands in the front). But since I will be going away over the weekend I would like as much C&C on what I have done so far, as possible so that I can finish this in time when I get back. I have done quite alot on this so I think it won't be that hard to give me your opinions anyways. I am also wondering wether I should give it more contrast or keep it this way? It might come out too dark is what I'm thinking. There's also a stray colour somewhere that I can't find (and believe me... I have been searching). It says 29 colours in GG, but I only have 28 in the palette.
It looks better on a dark background.


Offline Acke

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Re: Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.

Reply #1 on: January 26, 2006, 05:20:15 pm
hey thats pretty cool so far. i dig the backlighting on the trees,  i think you should do the same thing on the rocks tho. i'd probably up the contrast on the "butterflies" a bit aswell, to make them glow a bit more.

funny to see another "umebo" on the boards... what are the odds? :P

Offline Dhaos

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Re: Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.

Reply #2 on: January 26, 2006, 06:15:18 pm
Your piece is comming out very well, very nice atmosphere. Unless I'm misinterpeting the scene... I think the mounds under the trees should get darker the further back they go within the scene.

Can't wait to see this finished ^^.

Offline Drunkyduck

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Re: Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.

Reply #3 on: January 27, 2006, 12:28:46 am


I used selection by color and selected the whole palette. Those two pixels remained unselected.

Offline Helm

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Re: Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.

Reply #4 on: January 27, 2006, 05:47:55 am
The problem is not one of pixelling, it is one of construction. The scene is too ordered. two rows of trees, aligned, same shape (mostly), shame tendrils, same leaves, and in the back, symmetrical shadows of more implied trees. The rocks the trees are one are the same too. What you should have done (and sadly it's probably too late to tweak at this stage) is use reference of real pictures of swamps and forests, if not directly, just so you can have the fractalized orderlesness of reality in mind when you draw.

Now, there is this interesting byproduct of this effect, that the scene seems more gameartish, like implying tiles and the like, but I both doubt you were going for this, and that it actually helps this piece.

This piece will not be as good as you need it to be without a major overhaul.

Offline Silver

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Re: Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.

Reply #5 on: January 27, 2006, 02:41:37 pm
Very nice submission !
Cant w8 to see it finished !

Offline ptoing

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Re: Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.

Reply #6 on: January 27, 2006, 09:07:48 pm
First of all i have to agree with helm, the construction is not the best and a bit boring, but your techniques are generally good.


I made this little animation to show that you are not using your colours to full impact. Don't be afraid to aa and buffer with seemingly strange colours, in many cases it can work. Similar brightness is just as valid in many cases as a similar hue when making a colour ramp.

Here is an image I made a few month ago to emphasize this. source image with no aa and then 2 different strength of aa in the 2nd and 3rd row (6 aa colours).
Important is to see that all 4 ramps work equally well.

A straight grey ramp from black to white, a ramp where the aa colours are blueish in hue, then one where there is a colourshif white-yellow-orange-purple-black and at last one where the colours have nothing in common and smooth aa is just achieved due to the brightness of the ramp and NOT the colour. They all work and imo the later two are more interesting to look at.

Below are two further edits of your picture with yours always to the right for easier comparison.

Increased contrast and unified palette


Reduced colourcount to 16colours without losing any detail information


I hope this helped a bit for future pictures you do, keep on pixeling :)

cheers
There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.

Offline Helm

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Re: Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.

Reply #7 on: January 28, 2006, 02:47:49 am
16 colour palette went overboard, it's now monochromatic. But the step before it is key.

Offline ptoing

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Re: Dreaming in Pixels W.I.P.

Reply #8 on: January 30, 2006, 09:32:15 am
16 colour palette went overboard, it's now monochromatic. But the step before it is key.

yase, i know. I just wanted to do it to see if i can without loss of detail info :P
There are no ugly colours, only ugly combinations of colours.