Face & shading of a character (mild NSFW- bikini)
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=26693
Printed Date: 11 September 2025 at 5:39am
Topic: Face & shading of a character (mild NSFW- bikini)
Posted By: sbsn
Subject: Face & shading of a character (mild NSFW- bikini)
Date Posted: 13 August 2019 at 3:27pm
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Hi. The face looks kind of flat as it is, and I have no idea how to bring detail to it, what would you do? And
the bigger issue - shading. I'm not sure if I chose the colours
correctly and the shading looks blocky - especially on the legs. I've
seen similar images with just 1 shading colour + outline that looked
much better and I don't know why that is. I tried adding colours but it
becomes muddy and loses the style I want to convey (cross between anime
and old KoF sprites). I also have an issue with the belly. I
tried many things but this is as good as I can make it look and I don't
think it's good enough. Any input is appreciated.  It's a static image so I'll add a bit of AA to it later. Also never mind the lack of feet, I just have to figure them out.
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Replies:
Posted By: Chonky Ben
Date Posted: 14 August 2019 at 1:56am
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Initial thoughts:
- The face could be a it bigger. That will let you add detail. - The eyes are crossed. Easily fixed! - Pick a light direction! Arms and legs have light from the left, breast areas are pillow shaded (is there a joke in there? Probably not a good one) so suggest light is coming from the viewer. - The blockiness comes from using bands of shade. As we have limited colours in pixel art, try pushing bands to the edges and have mainly two-tone shading to suggest shape. - Add highlights to the hair and shadow to the face to help bring in detail. I'll have a play. If you have examples of specific work you want to capture the style of, please supply it! :) There's a lot of Manga out there and KoF spans the 90s through to a few years ago. |
Posted By: Chonky Ben
Date Posted: 14 August 2019 at 1:59am
Here's an idea for shading those legs. See the right leg (her left) for the edited example. Here I use two main shades to define the shape, then the remaining shades can be used for aa (or defining further shadow nearer the edges if you like.) I've used a lighter outline colour on the lit side, which softens the edges a little. Some AA on the inside here helps as well. More to come probably. |
Posted By: Chonky Ben
Date Posted: 14 August 2019 at 5:23am
Caveat: I still consider myself a beginner in pixel art, so I just hope my edits can provide some inspiration.
So a few edits here: - I added some shadow to the face and enlarged it a bit to fit in more detail. It also looked a touch small. After that I had to raise it a pixel as she looked a bit hunched. - I added highlights to the hair to create more detail, then worked it a bit more to try and get some volume in there. Apparently she's curly now. I used shadows to create the nose, define cheekbones and show where the hair is occluding the light. I made the shading on the breasts a bit more asymmetrical and allowed it to follow the light. There's a little work on the hand outline and around the top of the leg from the previous edit. Hopefully this gives you some ideas. Let me know how you get on. |
Posted By: Chonky Ben
Date Posted: 14 August 2019 at 5:29am
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You wanted to know why the shading works better with two colours. Well, I haven't had time to read this fully, but have a look at the images on this page:
https://www.artinstructionblog.com/drawing-lesson-a-theory-of-light-and-shade - https://www.artinstructionblog.com/drawing-lesson-a-theory-of-light-and-shade You'll see that when light hits a sphere, there's a surprisingly sharp change from the light area to the dark area. It's not an even transition. In pixel art, with limited shades available, we can often reduce this down to just two shades to get the same effect. You'll see this effect in the link as well, as hand drawn images. I tend to think of body parts as (very) distorted spheres, so similar rules apply. I just have to find the line on the shape I'm drawing. |
Posted By: sbsn
Date Posted: 14 August 2019 at 12:07pm
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Hey, thanks for all the replies. The face and hair you did look really great, I'll definitely follow your lead. I played with body colours a lot and I think it works much better now. The light comes from behind the 'camera' now, If you want, I can post a reply with the image once I'm finished
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Posted By: Chonky Ben
Date Posted: 14 August 2019 at 2:27pm
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I'm glad you found something useful in there! I would love to see how you get on, please do post your progress.
It's probably a taste thing, but I tend to prefer images where light comes from the side and above. It feels more natural than light coming from the camera, especially in scenes like this which are (presumably) beach-based. We expect to see light from the sun, which is above. It may get visually confusing otherwise. Also, light coming 'from the camera' can easily trick you into pillow shading, so be careful! Good luck with it. |
Posted By: sbsn
Date Posted: 16 August 2019 at 11:10am
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Here's the finished work. Took me some extra time but I'm satisfied. The palette change was a big difference. http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/128408.htm
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Posted By: Greycloak
Date Posted: 16 August 2019 at 4:40pm
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One thing I would point out is about her right arm (the one holding the beach ball). I would likely drop the shoulder and elbow a tad, because right now her arm looks a bit too rigid. Also, the shadow under the arm that goes across the beach ball should not be a straight line, as this gives the impression that the ball is a flat object. The shadow should be lighter at the point where the beach ball touches the forearm, and extend further at points where the arm is far away from the ball. That would help show the curvature of the beach ball. (The beach ball's curvature also suggests that it should still be slightly visible on the other side of her forearm.) Otherwise I think it turned out really well.
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Posted By: Chonky Ben
Date Posted: 18 August 2019 at 8:00am
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Yeah, great work! Massive improvement on the original.
I agree about the shadow under the arm on the beachball, compared to the rest of the work it looks below-standard. There's a stray red pixel on the upper part of her right leg as well. Apart from that you've caught some of the shiny effect from KoF with your use of skin shades. Well done. I still think there's a little confusion about the direction of light, but it's a minor point. |