Crazy Cat [WIP]

[Scribblette]

#1 In order to make the progress you want, you really should take everyone's advice: put this existing cat on hold, draw a cat from the reference in this thread, let people help you on that and then come back to this cat. You are not abandoning this. It is very unlikely that you will make the progress you want until you do.

#2 One alternative is to draw on paper how you would like this to look, and then scan it or photograph it and link it here so we could possibly help you better. Follow it up with a pixel art outline - without colours, just the line art - and people can help you correct that, and you can get closer to your crazy cat with the fundamentals right.

I'd recommend #1 first before anything, though.

Edit - Agreed with the chap below me, too.

[#36005A]

Follow it up with a pixel art outline - without colours, just the line art...

Or perhaps, to better illustrate 3 dimensional form (and the way light hits an object), just "block in" the volumes. Even if it's just using a large brush in grayscale.
See this post by AdomAtomic for more info: http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=6794.msg79015#msg79015

[Ddawg]

#36005A: Wow, that sounds weird. I might try it, though.

Scribblette: I just don't see how drawing can help you PIXEL art better. I'm not trying to be mean but I'm just saying...
And this is how I want it to look, but just improved.

And I also thought about what some of you have said about how light falls onto an object or whatever, and I'll work on the shading and stuff later on. But for right now what I want to do is get the whiskers to look alright and shape his head out. Maybe later on I'll do the "shades of gray" thing #36005A suggested.

Whiskers and head shape. Better now?

Which one of these 3 do you think looks better? I'm thinking 2. (The difference is the whiskers)

PS: is it readable as a cat, now?

 

[EkbatDeSebat]

Scribblette: I just don't see how drawing can help you PIXEL art better. I'm not trying to be mean but I'm just saying...

Whether you are drawing with pen on paper, painting on canvas or drawing/pixeling on a computer: you are working on art! Over the past several hundred years, certain techniques have been developed to render an image. It would be unwise to not look into it, as you will deny yourself the basics of art. Which apply to pixeling as well.
It doesn't matter if you want to create a realistic image or a caricature: The same rules of art still apply.

Let me give you an exagerated example:

Simple basics like rendering a shadow on a sphere correctly so that the sphere looks round. And not something else. I'm sure you can tell that the right image is not a sphere.
It won't be a sphere in a realistic setting. And also not in a comic setting. The science of the right shadow is simply faulty.

So I'd advise to look at some realistic stuff (be it a cat or a ball) and draw that on paper. Wielding a pencil is a lot easier than figuring out where to place your next pixel, and it puts you pretty much at the same place where all the great artists once started
Draw, a lot! At least one hour a day and draw not what you think you see but what you actually see.
I think you can put that to the test by drawing a mug or teacup. It's the infamous test to see how your technique is developing (or not).

Hope this helps in any way!

[Ddawg]

People think they know me.
I do draw, I have my own character and I draw him like 10 times a day in a note book I got just for him.
I put him in comics, and I have some other characters he can interact with. I draw perfectly fine, but I don't like to DRAW pixel art. That's just me.

And as you can see here...
(I did the Black & white thing)
...I fixed the shading.

Now, you have to agree he looks like a cat now. And like I said, I'll work on the COLORED shading later.
For right now, I want to work on his head and his whiskers. (with pixel art, not paper.)

[Larwick]

People think they know me.
I do draw, I have my own character and I draw him like 10 times a day in a note book I got just for him.
I put him in comics, and I have some other characters he can interact with. I draw perfectly fine, but I don't like to DRAW pixel art. That's just me.

Sorry to be offtopic but i have to point out that you've misunderstood what we're trying to say. Drawing your own character, as you say, is not the same as drawing from life. Drawing from life will help you to understand lighting, curves, textures, different surface qualities, object anatomy and many more key points.
You say you don't like to 'draw' pixel art, but try to think of it that you ARE drawing pixel art when you click your mouse on the screen. The same rules apply with linework, shading, lighting in pencil drawing as they do in pixel art. Also just to be sure, when we tell you to draw to practice pixel art, we don't mean for you to draw pixels on paper. Just draw like normal. If you simply don't want to draw from life, and say that it's just the way you are ... have you thought that it may be a good idea to change your attitude to this?

 

[Ddawg]

have you thought that it may be a good idea to change your attitude to this?

Yes.

My current attitude: I don't give a crap about drawing, how's that gonna help me do PIXEL art on my computer?

What I want my attitude to be: 'Thanks, I'll just fix that on my COMPUTER.'

And who said anything about pixeling on paper? You guys just don't get it.

If your gonna help me pixel, thank you very much, but if not...

I would really like it if we all could start over, and I could listen to some USEFUL advice about how to pixel on a COMPUTER.

What I am generaly trying to say is: Just help me pixel, I will accept your C&C on pixeling. But please just don't say anything about drawing.


STARTING OVER: How can I improve my Crazy Cat?

Which of these whiskers looks better? I'm thinking 2.

And here's a black and white version:


So what do you think? How can I improve this?

[Dr D]

Sorry, but I just don't think you're getting it. Pixelling is drawing.

Pixel Art is just a medium.

Drawing on paper can be art, and pixelling can be art. In the end what you want is good art, and to learn it, you study the fundamentals, and practice them. It applies to any medium you use.

I don't think there's anything wrong with you trying to use the computer to make art as a beginner, although I don't recommend it. I just think it's the fact that you're not really getting it that's getting everyone so worked up and reluctant to help.

Drawing, using a different medium, WILL help you pixel, or make better art.

Now if you mean to say, help me use the strictly pixel-art oriented pixel techniques, (such as dithering, anti-aliasing, etc.) then you should say that, although it's not going to help you make better art, really.

Also, in your above example, when you say you fixed the shading, I don't mean to be rude, but you really didn't, you might be impervious to seeing it as you don't seem to have the knowledge in your fundamentals. It's a good thing though, that you posted in black and white. Leave the detailing, anti-aliasing, for later.

You cat still needs a nose.

[Ddawg]

Okay, I'm on your side now.

But I just STILL don't see why you can't teach me what you would on paper, in pixeling.

I WILL start all over, with better shading, if you guys promise to not talk about drawing.

[bengo]

If you don't learn, we can't help you, its be much easier to use pencil and paper than click around with a mouse in ms paint, larger draw space, easier to use pencil, can carry around with you, easy to life draw with. As said before, pixelling is just a medium, if you draw with pencil and paper it will cross over into your pixel work, thus allowing you to make more visually pleasing pieces, you will also be more confident in what you do. Do you think Atnas, Helm, Ptoing, any good or half-decent pixel artist has not life drawn? Its proven to work, use it to your advantage.