Pixel Joint Forum: Self-Portret WIP (Critique needed)

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timothyw
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 10 January 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3

Topic: Self-Portret WIP (Critique needed)
Posted: 09 February 2018 at 1:10pm

Hey all!

New here on the forums, but have been a longtime fan of the art on PixelJoint. Recently I got inspired to make a self-portret to use as an avatar. This is my first real attempt at making something with pixels. I'm not very good at drawing so I lack the skills to properly work with lighting, but I'm pretty happy with my attempt.

I'm trying to go for a minimalist pixel art look, but I'm not sure if what I have now qualifies as pixel art... (I did tediously make it using only pixel tools (pen, line without aliasing, brush without aliasing) with some help from my laptop touch screen)

This is the WIP:

I'm quite happy with:
- The shape of the head, beard and hair
- Some of the shading in the face and beard

I still need to work on:
- The ear
- The hair

I'm not happy with:
- The eyeballs
- The eyesockets
- The lips (can't find any colours that work out for me and have no idea how to show some of the skin that surrounds my lips without it looking bad)
And I really haven't found a way yet to make 'em look better...

If you've got any comments on any part of this piece I'd be glad to hear it! Any good guides or links are also much appreciated.

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Hapiel
Rear Admiral

Joined: 30 June 2023
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3266

Posted: 10 February 2018 at 9:35am

Welcome, glad you finally joined for real :D

Do you have a reference picture that you're working from? It would be nice to see :)

It looks alright for the most part. The thing that stands out most to me are the shape of the lips, which seem to be very diagonal to me.

Why do you work with such low contrast? Have you tried more contrast between all of the colors?

What's going on with the interlaced dithering on the top of his forehead? In general I often discourage much dithering, as it also gives an unintended sense of texture...

As for the eyes.. you seem to give so much attention of detail in some parts (very specific colors on the eyeballs and irises) but fail to include some basic stuff such as eyelids on top and bottom. Also with some Anti Aliasing you could make those irises a lot rounder!

Good luck

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timothyw
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 10 January 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3

Posted: 10 February 2018 at 3:09pm

Originally posted by Hapiel

Welcome, glad you finally joined for real :D

Thanks! Happy to be here :)

Originally posted by Hapiel

Do you have a reference picture that you're working from? It would be nice to see :)

I'm using several pictures, but for privacy concerns I'd rather not share those. When I get more comfortable with folks here on the forums I'll reconsider.

Originally posted by Hapiel

It looks alright for the most part. The thing that stands out most to me are the shape of the lips, which seem to be very diagonal to me.

Good point, I've been staring at this picture for so long I didn't even see that it was looking so diagonal. I'll have a go at correcting them.

Originally posted by Hapiel

Why do you work with such low contrast? Have you tried more contrast between all of the colors?

I'm not sure why I did it. I just kind of stuck with these colours since they looked good to me and I didn't want to screw up, but I'll fiddle around a bit with the contrast.

Originally posted by Hapiel

What's going on with the interlaced dithering on the top of his forehead? In general I often discourage much dithering, as it also gives an unintended sense of texture...

If you want an honest answer: because I had no idea why people used it in pixel art and I thought in that place it looked alright and made it more *pixely*

I'll see if I can make it look nice without the dithering.

Originally posted by Hapiel

As for the eyes.. you seem to give so much attention of detail in some parts (very specific colors on the eyeballs and irises) but fail to include some basic stuff such as eyelids on top and bottom. Also with some Anti Aliasing you could make those irises a lot rounder!Good luck

Thanks, I'll try some anti-aliasing and maybe cut the detail a bit in the eyeballs a bit.
Also I struggled with making the eyelids look good so I undid those changes. I'll have another go at them with some different reference pictures.

Thanks for all the feedback!

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eishiya
Commander

Joined: 04 August 2022
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1109

Posted: 10 February 2018 at 3:39pm

You've got a lot of (very faint) noisy textures in the hair, especially the eyebrows. Noise does not look like hair. Instead of trying to suggest individual hair, try to focus on locks and other larger-scale features made up of many hairs. You can suggest "hairiness" by having the shadows and lights have irregular shapes instead of drawing individual hairs or noise.

Beards usually have a couple of gaps under the lip, and moustaches are either long enough to cover up a part of the upper lip or short enough that the gap between the lip and where the hair starts to grow is visible. In both cases, the facial hair isn't very likely to line up so perfectly with the lips, so it looks rather unnatural as-is.

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timothyw
Seaman
Seaman

Joined: 10 January 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3

Posted: 10 February 2018 at 4:58pm

Yeah I have really been struggling with making the hair look good, I'll get rid of all the noise and go for shadows and highlights.

Also you are very right about the beard-free area surrounding the lips, though that is challenging for me as well.

Ill have another go at it next week and post an update when I've made sufficient progress.

Thanks for the feedback!

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Hapiel
Rear Admiral

Joined: 30 June 2023
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3266

Posted: 11 February 2018 at 3:54am

I wanted to make a quick edit to show what can be done with the contrast, but it got a bit out of hand and I sketched some random bits too, such as the eyes.
Also, I noticed that the palette is all over the place, which makes it harder to org anise. Check this analysis here

If you use about 16 colors for this it will be much easier to manage, alter, and turn into something coherent.

For this edit I automatically reduced it to 32 colors.

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WIP (Work In Progress)
Pixel Joint Forum : Pixel Art : WIP (Work In Progress)

Author	Message
timothyw Seaman Joined: 10 January 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Topic: Self-Portret WIP (Critique needed) Posted: 09 February 2018 at 1:10pm
	Hey all! New here on the forums, but have been a longtime fan of the art on PixelJoint. Recently I got inspired to make a self-portret to use as an avatar. This is my first real attempt at making something with pixels. I'm not very good at drawing so I lack the skills to properly work with lighting, but I'm pretty happy with my attempt. I'm trying to go for a minimalist pixel art look, but I'm not sure if what I have now qualifies as pixel art... (I did tediously make it using only pixel tools (pen, line without aliasing, brush without aliasing) with some help from my laptop touch screen) This is the WIP: I'm quite happy with: - The shape of the head, beard and hair - Some of the shading in the face and beard I still need to work on: - The ear - The hair I'm not happy with: - The eyeballs - The eyesockets - The lips (can't find any colours that work out for me and have no idea how to show some of the skin that surrounds my lips without it looking bad) And I really haven't found a way yet to make 'em look better... If you've got any comments on any part of this piece I'd be glad to hear it! Any good guides or links are also much appreciated.
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Hapiel Rear Admiral Joined: 30 June 2023 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3266	Posted: 10 February 2018 at 9:35am
	Welcome, glad you finally joined for real :D Do you have a reference picture that you're working from? It would be nice to see :) It looks alright for the most part. The thing that stands out most to me are the shape of the lips, which seem to be very diagonal to me. Why do you work with such low contrast? Have you tried more contrast between all of the colors? What's going on with the interlaced dithering on the top of his forehead? In general I often discourage much dithering, as it also gives an unintended sense of texture... As for the eyes.. you seem to give so much attention of detail in some parts (very specific colors on the eyeballs and irises) but fail to include some basic stuff such as eyelids on top and bottom. Also with some Anti Aliasing you could make those irises a lot rounder! Good luck
	IP Logged

timothyw Seaman Joined: 10 January 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Posted: 10 February 2018 at 3:09pm
	*Originally posted by Hapiel* Welcome, glad you finally joined for real :D Thanks! Happy to be here :) *Originally posted by Hapiel* Do you have a reference picture that you're working from? It would be nice to see :) I'm using several pictures, but for privacy concerns I'd rather not share those. When I get more comfortable with folks here on the forums I'll reconsider. *Originally posted by Hapiel* It looks alright for the most part. The thing that stands out most to me are the shape of the lips, which seem to be very diagonal to me. Good point, I've been staring at this picture for so long I didn't even see that it was looking so diagonal. I'll have a go at correcting them. *Originally posted by Hapiel* Why do you work with such low contrast? Have you tried more contrast between all of the colors? I'm not sure why I did it. I just kind of stuck with these colours since they looked good to me and I didn't want to screw up, but I'll fiddle around a bit with the contrast. *Originally posted by Hapiel* What's going on with the interlaced dithering on the top of his forehead? In general I often discourage much dithering, as it also gives an unintended sense of texture... If you want an honest answer: because I had no idea why people used it in pixel art and I thought in that place it looked alright and made it more pixely I'll see if I can make it look nice without the dithering. *Originally posted by Hapiel* As for the eyes.. you seem to give so much attention of detail in some parts (very specific colors on the eyeballs and irises) but fail to include some basic stuff such as eyelids on top and bottom. Also with some Anti Aliasing you could make those irises a lot rounder!Good luck Thanks, I'll try some anti-aliasing and maybe cut the detail a bit in the eyeballs a bit. Also I struggled with making the eyelids look good so I undid those changes. I'll have another go at them with some different reference pictures. Thanks for all the feedback!
	IP Logged

eishiya Commander Joined: 04 August 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1109	Posted: 10 February 2018 at 3:39pm
	You've got a lot of (very faint) noisy textures in the hair, especially the eyebrows. Noise does not look like hair. Instead of trying to suggest individual hair, try to focus on locks and other larger-scale features made up of many hairs. You can suggest "hairiness" by having the shadows and lights have irregular shapes instead of drawing individual hairs or noise. Beards usually have a couple of gaps under the lip, and moustaches are either long enough to cover up a part of the upper lip or short enough that the gap between the lip and where the hair starts to grow is visible. In both cases, the facial hair isn't very likely to line up so perfectly with the lips, so it looks rather unnatural as-is.
	IP Logged

timothyw Seaman Joined: 10 January 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Posted: 10 February 2018 at 4:58pm
	Yeah I have really been struggling with making the hair look good, I'll get rid of all the noise and go for shadows and highlights. Also you are very right about the beard-free area surrounding the lips, though that is challenging for me as well. Ill have another go at it next week and post an update when I've made sufficient progress. Thanks for the feedback!
	IP Logged

Hapiel Rear Admiral Joined: 30 June 2023 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3266	Posted: 11 February 2018 at 3:54am
	I wanted to make a quick edit to show what can be done with the contrast, but it got a bit out of hand and I sketched some random bits too, such as the eyes. Also, I noticed that the palette is all over the place, which makes it harder to org anise. Check this analysis here If you use about 16 colors for this it will be much easier to manage, alter, and turn into something coherent. For this edit I automatically reduced it to 32 colors.
	IP Logged