AuthorTopic: My Pixel Stuff  (Read 10014 times)

Offline DrDerekDoctors

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Re: Nova the Dark Star Blade - W.I.P and CHOMP

Reply #10 on: February 19, 2006, 09:43:33 am
Crap, tbh. Doesn't appear to have had any effort put into it. Shading looks like jpeg corruption.

[sarcastic]oh, ok this helps sooooooooooooo much im sure all the helpful pixel facts will make me make a really good pixel[sarcastic]

what the hell, i am really knew to pixeling and your practically saying your work is crap now leave this forum now, well i dont give a crap im proud of my work and your a crap head

Well I'm sorry, but it really appears that I put more time into my reply than you did into your pixels, tbh. They're incredibly simple looking. I think Helm's advice is very germane - you need to practice a lot so that you produce something which isn't horribly broken in every conceivable way and which can actually be improved through advice. Quite frankly the images you posted are awful and there's very little which could improve them outside of the delete key. It's not like there isn't a HUGE amount of really good artwork on this forum for you to study, and there are links to many, many tutorials too. I'm not saying that people have to post good artwork to get a useful comment out of me, but at least try...
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Offline GOODNIGHTdestroyer

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Re: My Pixel Stuff

Reply #11 on: February 20, 2006, 04:31:49 pm
Look at other peoples pixel art on this forum, try to copy what they did. Learn from their works.
And I am finally seeing that you were the one worth eating.

Offline Turbo

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Re: My Pixel Stuff

Reply #12 on: February 20, 2006, 08:14:09 pm
I did an edit of Chomp, hope you don't mind. I'm no expert on any of these fields i'm about to talk, but over the time i've learned the basics, and i'll resume them so it may be able to help you.

Color choice: kept some of you colors (the "mid-tones", middle colors between the lightest and the darkest shades) and tweaked others, by changing hues, saturations and lightness until i achieved a nice contrast. Your original colors where too bleak and close to each other (little variation in hue/sat./lightness between them), one of the most usual mistakes for beginners.

Another important thing to keep in mind is to use a limited amount of colors. This was done in the past for lack of memory reasons in computer games, but that isn't the case nowadays. Still, using a limited palette does help you keep a more uniform look. If you need to smooth out some part of the drawing, just pick a color between those basic ones you have. This is usually done not only in pixel art (which normally is small), but also by digital artists when doing larger pieces. They pick a few basic colors, apply them on an initial rough "shaping" of the piece, and mix them together to blend the shapes where needed.

Volume definition: the shading didn't quite convey three-dimensional shape for the character, it looked like a carboard cutout blob. Shading is one of the most important aspects, if not the most important, in defining the look of the character, giving it depth. I changed the placement of the light source so that i could convey better the shape of it, as an example. You placed the light source in front of it, which is ok but can lead to poor shading (pillow-shading) if not done corrrectly. Even in cartoon and anime style drawings, shading makes all the difference.

Texture: i believe that your inital shading attempt was trying to give texture to the head and "teeth" of the character. But it was chaotic and desorganized, and that doesn't work. It must follow some sort of order for the viewer to interpret it as something and not random noise, as some people pointed out.

Ok, here's a brief explanation of what i changed:

1. Fixed some of the outlines to look more clean (less "jaggy"), and changed their color to a darker shade of the interior color. Change the left corner of the teeth to give it a more round look, and the colors, removed some and altered others. Different shading.

2. Changed the textures. Tried giving a glossy, "metally" look to the teeth, and a furry look to the surface (using only 3 colors for each, would look better with another color but it was just for the example).

3. Added Anti-aliasing and Selective Outlining (look at tutorials for explanations).


9 colors + background transparency color.

All of these things are explained on the tutorials, or on critiques from other works. I suggest you lurk a bit around here, read critiques to other works, and incorporate those in your works.

P.S.: wow, that's a lot of text up there.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2006, 09:13:54 pm by Turbo »

Offline Krizmo

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Re: My Pixel Stuff

Reply #13 on: February 22, 2006, 07:23:54 am
Wow, Turbo, that's a HUGE improvement from what it started off as, nicely done. Although I still think that the zig-zags are quite.... horrible. They look like random lines just drawn inbetween two other lines.
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Offline kr_default

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Re: My Pixel Stuff

Reply #14 on: February 23, 2006, 08:17:55 am
Turbo, you are the BEST ;D you have helped me so much, i will post what i made from your help over the weekend, THANKYOU and VERY NICE EDIT!!! THANKS A BUNCH!!!!!

Offline entivore

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Re: My Pixel Stuff

Reply #15 on: February 23, 2006, 08:57:54 pm
If you ask me, this "You didn't put any effort into this" is a cop-out.  Clearly he did put some effort into them, or he wouldn't have completed 4 pieces, each of which look like something, fundamentally.  It's true they look simplistic and childish, but that just means he doesn't know how to make things look as they should.  They are expressive and creative in nature. 

How can you refine something until you know how it's supposed to look and why?  Sit a random person down in front of an advanced math problem with no guidance and you'll be lucky if they write anything at all down after 10 minutes of frustration.  That doesn't mean they didn't try.  Why do people expect newbies to art to be any different?

And that seems to be the main problem... you can't really do pixel art until you know art in general.  The suggestion to hit the books and tutorials is a good one, but where to start?  First, read up on art theory.  A good book is "drawing on the right side of the brain."  It talks about how you should learn to draw "what you see" rather than simplistic symbols you've come to associate with what you are trying to draw.  Also, look at tutorials concerning color choice, and definetly shading/highlighting tutorials.  As for what to practice... start by drawing, coloring, and shading basic shapes such as a sphere, cone, etc. that can easily be compared to references and reality.  Once you can do that easily, those skills will transfer over to the more complicated things like your jellyfish's head.

Try these two links for starters. . .

http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/tutorials/light01.htm
http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
Only in the darkness can one most brightly shine

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Offline goat

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Re: My Pixel Stuff

Reply #16 on: February 23, 2006, 09:20:42 pm
It's not a copout, it's an honest appraisal that takes a measure of balls to dispense, and I respect that.  Once you start making a case for defense of crappy art, you trivialize good art and hamstring anyone whose feelings you're not trying to hurt.

That's not to say that helping someone that's absolutely, totally fresh isn't below any of us, and most of you stepped up to the task.  Backpats for everyone *pat pat*
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Offline entivore

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Re: My Pixel Stuff

Reply #17 on: February 24, 2006, 08:13:21 pm
Please, it takes no balls to diss a newbie over the anonymity of the internet.
Only in the darkness can one most brightly shine

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Offline Lick

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Re: My Pixel Stuff

Reply #18 on: February 24, 2006, 08:37:02 pm
Quote
Crap, tbh. Doesn't appear to have had any effort put into it. Shading looks like jpeg corruption.

I have to agree that this comment was way too harsh. The statement that he didn't put any effort into his pieces is.. subjective. And clearly, you did not put much effort to posting with rule #1 in your mind: Don't be an ass! You just couldn't hold it in, could you? I'm sure your last comment can be seen as helpful, but there are a million and one ways to put it, without hurting ones feelings.
In general I'm not really a newb-protector, but what really got on my nerves is that you didn't apologize, didn't better your attitude. You actually tried to -defend- your assholeness. Immature, tbh.
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Offline DrDerekDoctors

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Re: My Pixel Stuff

Reply #19 on: February 24, 2006, 08:56:06 pm
Well fair enough, if that's how you see it then there's no way I'll talk you around to my way of thinking. I stated things as I saw them, I gain no pleasure in saying bad things to newbies. I just honestly believe that the entry level to this community is somewhat higher than was being displayed, and that it also appeared to be the work of somebody who had not looked at anyone elses work before posting theirs in an effort to do an even halfway competant job of it.
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