Help me reach next level
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: Pixel Art
Forum Name: WIP (Work In Progress)
Forum Discription: Get crits and comments on your pixel WIPs and other art too!
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=24661
Printed Date: 11 September 2025 at 8:12pm
Topic: Help me reach next level
Posted By: A2J2TIWARI
Subject: Help me reach next level
Date Posted: 26 October 2015 at 1:20pm
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Okay so, I want to know what I can do basically to hit the next level as a pixel artist.
I recently made this sprite 
And I want to know what I can do to improve it, make it so so good that I can join the ranks of other famous artists who just post one sprite and get more than 20 favs. Not that I am craving for it, but see it as a measurement for perfection and style. It's like they have certain style that appeals to masses. What can I do, to develop my own style? |
Replies:
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 26 October 2015 at 1:54pm
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I would fave this.
You are famous to me. You keep improving all the time. If you are ever craving... Go with a dinosaur or dragon. Heavy craving Mario riding dino/dragon. Heavy duty craving...dither the dragon (aDDD) ------------- |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 26 October 2015 at 2:19pm
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why don't you look into studying theories of style as a way to develop your own?
think of art as a commentary- for instance, to me, maybe the reason sonic the hedgehog became popular was that the sprites were so effective in portraying the edgy, counter-nintendo vibe that made the genesis cool and nintendo for wussies. Note sonic's spikiness, the edginess of the shoes and pixels. The genesis adopted this stylistic principle for many of the games. The edginess and the spikiness of pixels meant something more than the sum of their parts. This is kinda how I feel one could start thinking about developing their style. In any work you produce, what do you want your pixels to say? Do you have anything to say? What do the pixels of A3um or Jalonso or fool say? I find your above sprite pleasing, but it lacks punch because it is kind of generic stylistically. it is not what you pixel but how you pixel, so give more attention to that. Remember, there are no rules here. Only suggestions. Free your mind to pixel freely. Dont worry about whether it will be popular. Many incredible styles don't get recognized as much, but that doesn't matter as much as actually creating something with heart. So when you pixel next time, focus on creating with passion and fun? |
Posted By: Iscalio
Date Posted: 28 October 2015 at 7:29pm
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As far as this sprite is concerned...
The anatomy looks solid in many places, but I note a few places where it looks off to me. In general I'd look at more reference anatomy (but then again I'm a little obsessed with anatomy...). 1. the armpits don't have those purple lumps that you have coming from the upper arms, if anything the core muscles come out in back to meet the arms supported by the scapula. And the medial bicep surface tends to be quite flat, everyone thinks it's curved because the bicep is curved. 2. You're seemingly defaulting to circle-knee. How do knees really look? 3. Your upper thighs are uniformly wide and seat into the knee at the same height. The medial upper thigh muscles seat lower on the knee than the proximal ones, creating an interesting set of shapes. Your medial thigh muscles are extremely high seating. :b 4. The ankles and feet and toes seem a bit unsure. I think for one you're overexaggerating the bone protrusion. You might also be putting too much detail into the small toes and not enough into the large one? I dunno, this part could probably just be your "style". 5. The deep groove you've got in those stomach muscles makes them look odd. Maybe it's something you're going for, but feels wrong. 6. Also your face feels more cartoony and flat than your body. ********************************************* I think you're well on your way to your own "style" and your stuff looks solid. I don't know what it is about the new forum I can't access people's galleries directly anymore? "so good that I can join the ranks of other famous artists who just post one sprite and get more than 20 favs" Well I think a lot of those folks have been pixeling for many years. I decided to move over to create a pixel-only account on Deviant Art, where I think a lot of people go to find artists. And I've joined a bunch of DA and Facebook groups for pixel art. I think if you want to be very involved and improve and collaborate that's the way to go. Many of these more 'famous' artists I think have several media presences. If someone knows how to be famous and break into the games industry please tell me. I've graduated from probably the best video game school there is in DigiPen, taught by some industry legends like Tony White, then took a ZBrush course from Arenanet's FuturePoly school. I've worked in 3D, Flash and Photoshop for a good 9 years combined and still struggle to find a place in the industry. I've seen a lot of people trying to make art for games at least and it's not easy. Pixel art is probably easier to get into with less technical hurdles, but that also means a bigger group of people trying to do it well. And games that people might have paid $50 for 20 years ago people now want as Free to play. Games are extremely devalued in this regard. |