[WIP] Another pixeled portrait

[EvilEye]

Great, new pumpkin smilies, I can barely tell the expressions apart

I thought I'd try pixeling the portrait this time.

Here's the creative doodle:



And the semi-reference:

http://www.anti-soft.com/graphics/pixelation/ref112.jpg

Here is what I have so far ( progress is left to right ):



Update:



Feel free to comment and let me know if I am overlooking any major flaws.

-----

Part 2.

Sketch:



Progress:

[CrazyMLC]

I'm thinking some more AAing and some lighter outlines would help.

EDIT(literally):

[Elk]

I used to work on something, maybe give him this stringy hair look by using other colors next to each other and so on
had a more updated version but I lost it haha, love formats...
Hope it helps somehow

[EvilEye]

I'm thinking some more AAing and some lighter outlines would help.

I'm still fleshing out the basic picture so AAing is on the backburner for now.

I used to work on something, maybe give him this stringy hair look by using other colors next to each other and so on
had a more updated version but I lost it haha, love formats...
Hope it helps somehow

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8861/kael14.png

That's what I call an ambitious pixel project Elk, it should take a few years to finish at least I'd like to see a more updated version if you ever find it.

Personally I was going for a fuller haired look. Almost like a mane. And he's not an elf btw. There are no Elves in my game.

The hand is fighting me here. Unfortunately the only reference I have is my own. It's supposed to be an almost-but-not-quite clench-fisted look.

The actual viewing area is only 75 x 75 so a lot of that mess is cut out. Here's about how much you'll see in the final version:

[Tourist]

It's very nice.  It looks like an 80s cartoon star (in a good way).

It' s a nitpick, but I can't tell what the main focus is.  My eyes are drawn to the hair because the white color contrasts strongly with the purple face.  But I don't think the hairdo is the focus of the character.

The gesture might be the focus, but the hand gets cut off when you crop it.

So...the face?  If the background is pale (like the hair) then the face will leap out.  But the face is also rather plain.  The eyes could work, but not the flat black eyes you have now.  They don't pop.  Glowing eyes would work, but they're a bit too common.  Maybe give him a scar to break up the facial symmetry and draw the focus?

But really, it's just a nitpick.  I think the character works ok.

Tourist

[big brother]

Quick question: are you drawing the portraits with magenta as the initial background?

[EvilEye]

It' s a nitpick, but I can't tell what the main focus is.  My eyes are drawn to the hair because the white color contrasts strongly with the purple face.  But I don't think the hairdo is the focus of the character.

The focus is the hand then the face, or was planned to be. I may have to move the hand around later.

Quick question: are you drawing the portraits with magenta as the initial background?

Yes. 255r, 0g, 255b is my transparency so its the background by default.

Here is an update, and I fooled around with the background a bit.



What do you think? Eyes or no eyes?

[Tourist]

Recrop from the original for hand and face.  You can probably squeeze another row of pixels from the bottom and add them to the top, but this puts the hand and face closer to the golden ratio corners of the image.



Hope this helps,
Tourist

[EvilEye]

Recrop from the original for hand and face.  You can probably squeeze another row of pixels from the bottom and add them to the top, but this puts the hand and face closer to the golden ratio corners of the image.



Hope this helps,
Tourist

It looks good there, but for some reason it doesn't seem to meld with my other changes.



No hand.



Hand.

What do you guys think? I am debating whether or not to just ditch the hand completely, its becoming a real pain.

[heyy13]

I personally like it without the hand, but the hand does give a point of differance. *shrugs*

[Jad]

Ditch it I say, the head-only version feels like a portrait, also implies a less awkward stance, more majestic somehow. Like it lots.

[EvilEye]

Well I am glad some people like it without the hand because I just cannot get the hand to work. Not enough room or something.



Next update should be a lot cleaner.

[Mathias]

(Good lord elk, that WIP is loco, essay. You chose to debut it here? Sure woud like to see it finished!)

Beautiful and catchy work as usual, evileye. I prefer no hand as well. I liked it, but it was too awkward; didn't work yet. Like the lightened/glowy eyes as well. I think the facial features are well-done. Hair and garb certainly await polish, black outline ixnay.
On a different observational note: I don't think this portrait objectively expresses this character as either "good" or "bad", in reference to your game, could be antagonist or protagonist material - neutral. Though if anything it might make more sense he's good, due to all the light coloring, seems more benevolent than malevolent.
My biggest complaint/wonder is the consistent use of muted pastelish colors for this game project of yours. I never have preferred them, and though you use them well, in an appropriate sort of painterly style, I can't help but wish you'd pull in some stronger more vibrants shades. Just a little survey data for ya, you should definitely stick with what floats your boat, not mine or anyone else's.

Keep up the great work.

[EvilEye]

Thought I might as well do an update, in case anyone has some advice.

My biggest complaint/wonder is the consistent use of muted pastelish colors for this game project of yours. I never have preferred them, and though you use them well, in an appropriate sort of painterly style, I can't help but wish you'd pull in some stronger more vibrants shades. Just a little survey data for ya, you should definitely stick with what floats your boat, not mine or anyone else's.

Keep up the great work.

I am open to any color edits if you want to show me what you mean by pastelish colors. Most of the time my colors are highly saturated.

[politopo]

yoo hoo, color edit, my fvourite! 

I just add that in my imagination, Odin is cold colors... and perhaps try reducing them, it's like you use one and half times the ones you need.
I liked the version with the hand, but maybe this way it is more clear.

[alkaline]

edits on edits homie. i feel like while your colors are saturated, they become too saturated in places and redundant. for example your second darkest purple doesn't add much in terms of volume and is only more saturated than the darker tone. i also don't like the outlines but yeah i didn't feel like figuring it out right now so i evened out the surrounding colors a bit

[EvilEye]

Had a lot of real world stuff taking up my time lately and got a little side-tracked.

The color edits don't do it for me guys, both of them seem to deaden the colors too much. Thanks for the input though.

Not sure what it is about the armor, but it doesn't look right to me, so I am going this direction:



It just looks a little less awkward to me.

[dpixel]

I kind of liked the hand.  It kind of added some more depth, interest or something.  Also I'm not sure about the current hair.  To much bangs...kind of like a pretty boy.  That's just my taste though.  Nice work overall.

[Helm]

Here's a few things I see about your art that seem to come up every time.

1. From the value range that you have available, from 0,0,0 black to 255,255,255 white, you seem to work in the middle upper register. You have very many near white colors and usually just black, a close to black and then huge jump to middle shades. I think the human eye is more used to see hue variations in low middle shades, which is where most master painters worked too, with strong and defining hue jumps towards highlights, and shadows the melted towards a grainy gray. I don't follow this idea to the letter (I have a propensity for saturated near-blacks, personally) but it's a valuable thing to consider, how you're effectively *straining the eyesight* if your viewer with all the near colors in the higher middle/highlight range.

2. At the same time, on your lower values where black lineart turns into a sculptured object, there end up remaining single pixel or two pixel clusters of black or near black that make the lower end of your image look EXTREMELY SHARP. This effect couple with 1. above makes your art have this unpleasant - to me at least - effect of a botched photoshop levels/curves middle point pass. It misses the valuable middle-low register in the values but yet the black is punching and sharp and there's a multitude of whites. Are you aware you're doing this? Is this a conscious choice?

3. On a straight pixelling related point, single pixel clusters or two pixel clusters, when used so much and so prominently (because your black and near black is so far away from the next shade) they read as specks, blemishes and/or noise. This is something to consider regardless of the color and value thoughts above.


Your latest.

Contrast & color photoshop pass

Careful pixel level edits and manual color calibration pass.


I don't know if you do this, but I suggest you look into the edit in your paint program, flip between the two frames (this is why I put up animation flips usually) because there's lots of suggestions on the nitpickery level as far as facial features and shading go.

[Ben2theEdge]

Here's a quick NPA edit, I didn't have time to properly pixel it but the general ideas should still come across.
.


Basically there's big issues with volumes and hues. You're trying too hard to preserve the lineart, so in the colring there's very little flow in terms of light/dark, everything is very washed out and consequently the only thing that jumps out are the outlines. Balance and flow are something that should be present in the value and hue of the piece as well as the general composition.

Positive and negative space are present in your lineart but you've colored it in such a way that there is none, it's all very flat. If you were to take out the linework this piece would be nearly indecipherable. Hue and value can and should be used to help communicate the space that you are trying to portray. After the initial sketch I believe this is the most important step in any finished work and should really be taken care of first, before you even start thinking about detailing. Look how much the picture pops when you add a bit of variety, without making any drastic changes to your character design.

[EvilEye]

I don't much care for the dark-green look. I like parts of the face edit but in some ways it makes him look to rugged.

The pixel blotches you refer to is probably the parts where I haven't finished it yet. At least I hope that's what it is

I really like that. That's the direction I was trying to go, strong highlights on the face. Didn't seem to get there for some reason, maybe I told myself I could just lighten the colors later and then got stuck.

Meh, well here's some progress:



And maybe a crown / tiara? Better / worse?



Here's a feeble attempt to edit the colors a bit:

[ptoing]

The valuejump issue both Helm and Ben mentioned is even worse in these last ones than before.
If you don't see what they mean you should consider calibrating your monitor.

[Helm]

I don't much care for the dark-green look. I like parts of the face edit but in some ways it makes him look to rugged.

I didn't spend time on an edit because I wanted you to tell me what you like or don't like about it. The issues with it remain, and in the latest color edit they're exacerbated, even. If you want this piece to strain the eyes and not have too much depth, that's fine, just let us know so I don't keep trying to illustrate a point that's useless to you. If you also see it as an issue and want to amend it, I'm sure you can do it without a dark-green tint and/or the ruggedness.

[CrazyMLC]

It looks very nice, but the haircut looks very feminine, not really suitable for a royal/god-like/tough-guy figure IMO.

[Opacus]

It looks very nice, but the haircut looks very feminine, not really suitable for a royal/god-like/tough-guy figure IMO.

I do not agree!


But seriously, there's nothing wrong with long here. I like it really. Adds something mystical.

[EvilEye]

I don't much care for the dark-green look. I like parts of the face edit but in some ways it makes him look to rugged.

I didn't spend time on an edit because I wanted you to tell me what you like or don't like about it. The issues with it remain, and in the latest color edit they're exacerbated, even. If you want this piece to strain the eyes and not have too much depth, that's fine, just let us know so I don't keep trying to illustrate a point that's useless to you. If you also see it as an issue and want to amend it, I'm sure you can do it without a dark-green tint and/or the ruggedness.

Ok then, as far as just the face goes, is this better?



*Update*



*Update*



I think I'm getting close to done here. Any comments?

[politopo]

I don't want to be offensive in any means, but let me say that you moved from the "angry mage-warrior king" to the "gay prince" look...
If this is the look you are going for, i'ts fine, but with refining you lost all of the harshness and depth the original design seemed to have.

[Ben2theEdge]

The issues with contrast, volume and negative space are still just as present now as they were originally. Because hue and volume are virtually nonexistant and the contrast and saturation are very high it makes the image very difficult to look at. Your outline is the only distinction between the different forms and because the contrast is so high it overexcites the viewer's eyes and the picture becomes jarring and unpleasant. But without those dark outlines it would be too faint and indecipherable. I don't understand why you're so intent on doing this. Is it a "style" thing, or is the picture supposed to look like an overexposed photograph? In any case the issue of balance and readability is becoming steadily worse which should be causing a lot of concern.

Hopefully this illustrates the point. the first is obviously your image. the 2nd is the actual abstract 2D forms that the eye sees. the 3rd is a version of those forms with more balanced values to differentiate them. This is not the only solution or even a particularly good solution, but hopefully it illustrates the point. In my last edit this is basically what I did (although I think I made the form of the hair lighter than the form of his face)

[EvilEye]

I don't want to be offensive in any means, but let me say that you moved from the "angry mage-warrior king" to the "gay prince" look...
If this is the look you are going for, i'ts fine, but with refining you lost all of the harshness and depth the original design seemed to have.

Hmm, hopefully the crown helped masculinize him a bit.

The issues with contrast, volume and negative space are still just as present now as they were originally. Because hue and volume are virtually nonexistant and the contrast and saturation are very high it makes the image very difficult to look at. Your outline is the only distinction between the different forms and because the contrast is so high it overexcites the viewer's eyes and the picture becomes jarring and unpleasant. But without those dark outlines it would be too faint and indecipherable. I don't understand why you're so intent on doing this. Is it a "style" thing, or is the picture supposed to look like an overexposed photograph? In any case the issue of balance and readability is becoming steadily worse which should be causing a lot of concern.

Hopefully this illustrates the point. the first is obviously your image. the 2nd is the actual abstract 2D forms that the eye sees. the 3rd is a version of those forms with more balanced values to differentiate them. This is not the only solution or even a particularly good solution, but hopefully it illustrates the point. In my last edit this is basically what I did (although I think I made the form of the hair lighter than the form of his face)

You guys just don't like my colors here do ya?

This particular picture is in a super-lighted atmosphere, so it's supposed to be a bit surreal.

Tell me what you think of these:



Less saturated version:



Minor color edit:




Now that I look at it, the problem may be the neck, which could be too dark.

[Dex]

I don't know, I still feel that the hair is causing most of the contrast issues.

It doesn't seem to get darker except under the crown and it doesn't really have a hair feeling.  Personally I would say to push the tones on the hair further and make it a bit darker, especially towards the left edges where the shadows would theoretically be. With such dark tones on the face, the hair is left looking light and flat. Giving the hair a tad bit more depth might help fix this.

Either way, it's looking pretty good! Keep at it.

[EvilEye]

I started doodling a bit and came up with a totally different look for the hair:



Maybe this fixes the flat look?

I am having trouble toning down the colors. If I desaturate them even a little it sucks all the life out of the piece, making it look grey-ish.

Does this look like an improvement?



Here is my attempt to darken it a bit, I think it loses some of the effect:

[Pixelized]

I think with it being darker it makes alot of the details that are lost in the lighter version "pop." It looks amazing and the character comes off a lot more masculine with the darker edit. Keep up the work, its coming out really good either way

[EvilEye]

Been real busy with my job lately. I hate doing real work.

I've decided to leave the portrait as is and move on to the sprite.

Sketch:



Pixels:

[CaKsTeR]

A little readability issue involving the right (his left) arm. It took me a few seconds to find it in the sprite.

Of course, seeing as how this is an extremely WIP image, the matter might be resolved on its own.

Lookin' nice 

[EvilEye]

I've been messing around with this and getting nowhere for quite some time.

Might as well post an update.



The character is too multicolored I think. So I've been messing around with a new color scheme.

[Jakten]

The original colour scheme looks as though his shield and sword are glowing and he comes off looking like a god. I prefer this one though it looks really nice. I don't really like the combination of colours in the new image though the over all colour of his body suits his portrait better.  I'd use lighter colours, I liked the feel it gave on the original version.

I love seeing your steps in making these, they are very good.

[Vampire Elf]

Honestly, I prefer the old sheild, it looks more pearlescent.

About the darker scheme you used on the face; I think you might've gone a little too dark, you could try curving it more towards purples to keep it from looking dull.

Something along the lines of those ^, may work.

[Tuna Unleashed]

on your elf dude imo its been getting worse and worse. the refinement and stuff is all cool but in the first few he looked mystical and badass, now he looks more feminine and prissy. my personal favourite is the second one, the hand just looked really cool. anyway, thats just my two cents

[Etchebeur]

I made one edit by the odin24;  
Im newbie and need practice so much  


and please, someone have a good colors table ? or a tutorial about that? are very important, to me 

[EvilEye]

Update:



Tried to rework the pose a bit, it was looking a little too static. Also changed the costume.

The original colour scheme looks as though his shield and sword are glowing and he comes off looking like a god. I prefer this one though it looks really nice. I don't really like the combination of colours in the new image though the over all colour of his body suits his portrait better.  I'd use lighter colours, I liked the feel it gave on the original version.

I love seeing your steps in making these, they are very good.

I simplified the colors so I could see the basic design of what I was doing. Something didn't look right and it was hard to tell what it was because of all the detail. I'll change them back when I get the basic design right.

Honestly, I prefer the old sheild, it looks more pearlescent.

About the darker scheme you used on the face; I think you might've gone a little too dark, you could try curving it more towards purples to keep it from looking dull.

Something along the lines of those ^, may work.

Nice color edits. I'm done tweaking the portrait though.

on your elf dude imo its been getting worse and worse. the refinement and stuff is all cool but in the first few he looked mystical and badass, now he looks more feminine and prissy. my personal favourite is the second one, the hand just looked really cool. anyway, thats just my two cents

 

This one came out pretty close to what I had in mind originally. Not a perfect match but close.

I made one edit by the odin24;  
Im newbie and need practice so much  


and please, someone have a good colors table ? or a tutorial about that? are very important, to me  

I'm done messing with the portrait. The eyes look nice, the jawline is probably overdone. Check the general section for tutorials.

[Tuna Unleashed]

I'm not trying to force anything on you, i just figured i may as well share my opinion. it looks awesome either way.

[EvilEye]

Did a lot of messing with the robe.



The previous version didn't work out very well when I cleaned it up. I run into that problem a lot

[Vampire Elf]

I much prefer this armor design, though the waist could be cinched in a bit, he seems awfully bulky. I do like the other more symetrical/flows away from him style on the ''skirt' more than this current one though, It added some balance.

[EvilEye]

Fleshed out the robes a bit more.

Not sure about the bulky comment, maybe it was the lack of shading on the mid-section.

[Pawige]

I think it's because his chest is so wide compared to his head. In the first one you posted his chest is broken up by a lot of the little details and things sticking out, making it obvious it's just decorative armor or whatever that's giving him so much bulk, but here, it looks more like a tight coat or breastplate, making him look very massive.

[EvilEye]

Well I toned him down a bit chest-wise. I was having some trouble with the robes so I did the old cop-out and just covered part of it up with something else. This is probably closer to what I wanted originally anyway.



*EDIT*

I had to bring the sword in closer because the sprite didn't fit the spritebox for my game.



I got a LCD monitor and it really changed the look of the colors. The black is really noticeable now, almost so much I want to add another shade in between. How do the colors look to everyone else?