i think im stuck at my current pixel skill level

[Ryumaru]

i think i have a great foundation of lots of pixel tecniques. ive read most of the tuts, some i keep coming back to( tsugomos tuts in my opinion have the best re-read value), but i want to get much better. oddly i had a dream about a game im making and in it the graphics were perfect and at a peak of proffesionalism. this made me decide to try and get better, but i just dont know what i can do
any help?

sincerly

pixelly distressed

[Panda]

I dont believe that by reading tutorials you'll become any better.

You should rather practice, but it works way better if you have fun. If you have any games/pictures you like, just grab it (reference wise of course) and try to copy how was it done, paying attention to the techniques used, palette choices and all. And while at first it will just look that you are just copying, eventually you'll learn and try to move forwards, that meaning you'll try to find you own way of pixelling (as long as you want to get better). You can also set yourself different restrictions like palette wise, or size wise and all, and that will give you more experience, I guess.
Think of it as a marathon, so no need to rush it at first, as long as you keep your pace it will come.

Just have fun and dont stress.

[Ryumaru]

oh i definitely have fun pixelin, its a definite boredom reliever. ive done the reference thing on various occasion, i remember one time i tried to do some of the things that helm does and man did i fail misserably . that marothon analogy is very interesting though, ill keep that in mind. even though i just want to get to the finish line now 

[Helm]

I think most artists feel that way a lot of the time.

Don't do aimless practice. I mean, it's one thing to say it, one thing to actually do it, and aimless practise is better than no practise at all (although sometimes you might go on for long stretches of not picking up a pencil and then when you do, you're magically better) but if you can, set schedule and work on your weaknesses from the ground up. Anatomy and human posing never ends, really, no matter how good you might think you are at any given time. Draw from reference a lot. Don't trace, rather stylize and reinterpret. Draw buildings, everyday objects, this will help you stop thinking the world in terms of naive symbols (a human face isn't just 'eye' 'eye' 'nose' 'mouth') and more as the complex constructions of volumes (blah, I can't express this) they are.

As for pixel-art specific, as it was said, study good art you like from games or demoscene, but don' get obsessed with understanding why they do as they do. Don't try to 'do the things I do'. I'm not sure what I do, if someone pressed me to explain, I could give half-assed theories behind shit, but in the end I 'do' what I do, and after the fact, I rationalize it. How we work is the product of very interactive holistic constructs, everything interfaces with everything. Artists do as they do not  because of pixel art reasons, but because of a design aesthetic that's well beyond the specific pixel art method. You might learn antialias and dithering and whatever, but the big battle will always be construction and content, and that doesn't have to do with the art medium, but how ripe your aesthetic is in your head. To get there (or on the way to there) actively soak up images. Reality, art, imagination. Be very aware as much of the time as you can. Look at a tree on the way home. Look at it from different angles, see how light works on the different surfaces. Try to soak in the resonance. Go home and draw it.

I am telling you all this, and I don't consider myself very strong on any respect. I'm not trying to preach as if I'm good. I feel most of what I said works to degrees for most artists, struggling or accomplished.


And if I'm allowed to say a final thing: there's no shortcuts. Don't hide behind an immature 'style', never rip art, never try to get good for the social benefits only. I'm sure we all do, but there should be something else driving, ultimately, some sort of feeling of accomplishment when there's expression going on. You should be the one to always challenge the trappings of your 'style'. Don't become warped-anatomy-dude-who-always-draws-the-same-character and don't become my-only-desire-in-life-is-to-do-fighter-sprites-like-KOF-guy and don't become lol-I-am-breaking-down-barriers-with-my-abstract-half-finished-art-guy either.

[goat]

What they said.

You'll be surprised what you learn by taking a break, and it's the best way to avoid aimless practice.  Most of growing as an artist is observation; a good artist can improve without lifting a finger, just by keeping their eyes open.  It's amazing how many people complain that they're in a rut, then make a piece and call it "done" when it's missing a whole lot.  For example:

thinking the world in terms of naive symbols (a human face isn't just 'eye' 'eye' 'nose' 'mouth') and more as the complex constructions of volumes (blah, I can't express this)

A lot of people will draw a head as Helm mentioned and call it "done".  When you ask then how they can improve it, they'll say "I dunno", even though it's obvious that a human head contains many underlying forms and textures that are way more identifying than facial features (the planes of the skull, the cheekbones and jawline, the shadows and tonality of these make up a person's likeness more than the size of their eyes, nose, or mouth).  Any sighted person looking at a human face can easily pick out these things, but for some reason it never occurs to them to render them artistically.  Being an artist isn't about holding a pencil right, knowing what a farrule is or how to compensate for gamma when you AA by hand, it's about breaking that barrier, and learning how to make your brain stop filtering stuff out between your subject and your finished piece.  Dutifully making dots on a digital canvas won't help you too much there, especially if it's empty to begin with.

Just because someone's been on the artist's road longer than you doesn't mean they have any shorter of a distance to go.  You're going to hit tepid periods throughout your entire life (most people I see get better by leaps and bounds rather than slow and steady).  Don't let a drawing beat you, you're the one holding the pen.

Also agreeing 10000000% with Helm's last paragraph.  I'd be de-modded and blackballed if I gave my honest opinion about some of the overstylized-crutch garbage that passes through here (or maybe not, I'll have to try).  People who do that triviliaze art in front of those of us who devote a little too much of ourselves to it.  Even in commercial products I see art that is technically well executed, but I feel nothing from because it is aesthetically and structurally bankrupt.

EDIT: I do have a point, and it is: cheer up, you'll get better.  All you have to do is want it bad enough.

[Ryumaru]

thanks for the replies, they were both very helpful. i think im growing much better in traditional art skills, especialy in the muscular and  skeletal anatomy area. once ive looked at a diagram of a muscle group that i understand and do a little schetch, i may not know how exactly the muscle contracts or stretches but ive got a much better idea of it and how to draw it more realisticly.

i think my art teacher would definitely keep me away from any stereotypes of just an "eye" if i ever where to do that, he always calls it a schema, dont know if its an actual word though.
ill try to observe more and soak in what i see, although its kinda hard to notice anything after listening to my teachers talk for 90 damn minutes.

do you think it would be beneficial to me to maybe take a break from pixel art for a while and focus on traditional art, then go back and apply what ive done to my pixel art?

[Helm]

I don't think anyone makes these sort of calls. You can say that you will, but you'll do what you'll do in the end.

To answer directly, there's only so many hours in a day one can involve in creative persuits before the brain fries. If you're asking if you should devote more of them to traditional skill honing than pushing pixels around, I'd have to say that ultimately, if you can, yeah. That's the way to go. But most people (even people who are employed in graphic design fields, ptoing does pixel art graphics for games, goat also, I do comics for a living) eventually get to do art a lot each day. And still, when we're done with work (or 'work', depends) we usually pixel for fun to take the steam out. There's a wonderful thing about pixel art most people don't realize. You can go from concept to finalized execution of a render in 2 hours. You don't have to do thumbnail, rough pencil, clean pencil, cleaner pencil, ink trace, ink volume, scan and clean, cg colouring just to get a character down. You just have to fire up Pro Motion, set it to 64x64 or whatever and enjoy yourself. This means that pixel art can be used as a limited scope leazure activity... it's not only that, but it's one function. So it's a great little art thing to have when you feel burnt out on your 600 dpi a3 illustration presentation that's due 2 days ago...

[Ryumaru]

heh, thanks for the advice, i think i will take a break from pixeling for a while and focus on traditional art. i think ill work on things such as my design and my anatomy. maybe taking a break from it will get me away from whatevers stopping me.

if anybody has any more advice please feel free to share, also any pros that have advice on how they go about there work would be very interesting to read.