Pixel Joint Forum: Revenant King [WIP]

Message

Hello! New here so I'm not completely sure if I'm doing this properly. I've been working on this piece over the last week, drawing it from reference, using the AAP-64 palette and I would like to ask for some advice on my work:

1) I know small clusters and orphan pixels should be generally avoided, however, in my reference this dude seems to be wearing some sort of chain mail not sure how to represent that texture in a better way without making it look too messy

2) I'm also planing to do a background and also add some mist at his feet, I was wondering if that could be achieved without the use of opacity options and how is that done exactly

3) I've included 2 versions, one with a darkly lined and outlined beard and the other one with lighter lines, which version would you say it looks better?

4) If you feel like pointing out anything else feel free to do so, I would be grateful :)

Also here is the reference I'm working from:

Author	Message
Paint Elemental Seaman Joined: 21 April 2025 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4	Topic: Revenant King [WIP] Posted: 25 July 2020 at 7:44am
	Hello! New here so I'm not completely sure if I'm doing this properly. I've been working on this piece over the last week, drawing it from reference, using the AAP-64 palette and I would like to ask for some advice on my work: 1) I know small clusters and orphan pixels should be generally avoided, however, in my reference this dude seems to be wearing some sort of chain mail not sure how to represent that texture in a better way without making it look too messy 2) I'm also planing to do a background and also add some mist at his feet, I was wondering if that could be achieved without the use of opacity options and how is that done exactly 3) I've included 2 versions, one with a darkly lined and outlined beard and the other one with lighter lines, which version would you say it looks better? 4) If you feel like pointing out anything else feel free to do so, I would be grateful :) Also here is the reference I'm working from:
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Hapiel Rear Admiral Joined: 30 June 2023 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3266	Posted: 26 July 2020 at 5:06am
	Hi Paint Elemental, welcome! Nice work! I prefer the beard with black outline, it looks more consistent with the rest of the image. As for the chain mail: Textures are hard and require a bunch of experimentation. Because of the regular/repeating nature of the chainmail I would consider a repeating dither pattern, for example this: Sometimes details are too small to be drawn individually, and you'll have to find a way to suggest the texture in another way, or ignore it and highlight other features of the chain mail instead..
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Paint Elemental Seaman Joined: 21 April 2025 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4	Posted: 27 July 2020 at 5:37am
	Thank you for the advice! Just made another version and I think I already like it better.
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Hapiel Rear Admiral Joined: 30 June 2023 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3266	Posted: 28 July 2020 at 3:21am
	Nice, you applied that pattern much better than I could have! One more bit of advice, the sword tip is a bit hard to read, since it's not visible in the silhouette I would consider increasing contrast, should be easy to make the armor darker and the tip/blood brighter in that area!
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Paint Elemental Seaman Joined: 21 April 2025 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4	Posted: 03 August 2020 at 12:34am
	I've tried to lighten up the blood at the tip but the next shade of red lighter than what I've got there is a bit too bright (it's the same red that's nearer to the hilt) and didn't like it, I've tried, instead to keep the sword tip dark and make the armor around it lighter, not sure if the readability problem is completely solved though
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WIP (Work In Progress)
Pixel Joint Forum : Pixel Art : WIP (Work In Progress)