Transfigured Forest
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=26698
Printed Date: 11 September 2025 at 5:40am
Topic: Transfigured Forest
Posted By: dogboydog
Subject: Transfigured Forest
Date Posted: 19 August 2019 at 2:15pm
|
Hi, I am a software developer looking to eventually make a game in my free time. I have very little experience with pixel art but I'm hoping you guys can help me learn and improve. Even if nothing comes of the game, it'd be nice to have some pixel art to my name at the end of all this Some non-pixel concept art: https://imgur.com/a/6G8hBnz (more here on instagram https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/transfiguredforest/ ) I am not set on a style yet. Hopefully you guys can kind of see what I'm going for with the concept art. I love the feeling of mystery in some older games like Metroid and Zelda. And the ambiguity and strong world-building of some modern games like Dark Souls. Also find the story of the development of Cave Story very inspiring I haven't done much pixel art so far but feel free to tear into what I have. A few items from the game: Marcel's Potion 
The Skull of Seeing 
I plan to post more as I work on it. Maybe the snakeman or birdman enemies next. I'm having a huge amount of trouble trying to make anything passable for the main character...I feel like I might have to build my way up to that since it will require the most animation. Let me know your thoughts and suggestions! I'm not locked into a style especially as I have so little experience...I've been looking at Gameboy style palettes up to higher color counts. Not sure what would be best for this project! I should mention by the way that this game is a "Metroidvania" style game, so basically sidescrolling perspective. |
Replies:
Posted By: Chonky Ben
Date Posted: 20 August 2019 at 2:04pm
|
The first thing to address, I think, is your line work. Getting smooth and consistent lines is an important step towards making your work look professional.
Here's a couple of edits and some examples of bad and good curves. 
If you count the pixels in the curves on the bottom right, they always move in steps of 1 pixel more or less than the previous step. Also, alternating step amounts doesn't happen. This is to stop things looking rough and jagged. So a line made up of steps of 4,3,2,2,1,1,1,2,2,3,4 for example will look smooth. 4,3,2,3,2,1,2,1,1,1,2,1,2,1,3 etc. will look jagged. Try to avoid horizontals followed by diagonals followed by verticals. These look like hexagons rather than curves, even though they follow the rule above. And try to avoid right-angles as well. Top left you'll see an alternate way of doing a horn. Goat horns tend to twist, so light and shadow would also twist around them. Line issues have been smoothed out and the thickness is more consistent. Top right is another way of doing a horn tip. This is mainly showing smoother line work. In both those cases I've given lighter outlines to the lighter areas. This achieves the effect of an outline, but adds in some information (outlines don't convey information, just increase readability in some cases.) It also looks a bit less harsh and a touch smoother. I commend you on your lines always being a single pixel thick. :) Good luck on your learning journey! |
Posted By: dogboydog
Date Posted: 20 August 2019 at 2:17pm
|
Thanks for the feedback. Your edits look really good. I will have to practice doing smooth curves. It's still really difficult for me, but I think I understand what you're saying. |
Posted By: Chonky Ben
Date Posted: 21 August 2019 at 3:19am
|
Practice is the key. It seems hard at first, but once you've worked some images for a while with these ideas in place, you'll start to get a feel for it.
The good thing about pixel art is that if things don't look great, you can shift some pixels around until they look better. You're working with few enough pixels that trial and error is a valuable tool. Over time you'll pick things that work first time more often. If I can be clearer about any of the points I raised, let me know. |
Posted By: dogboydog
Date Posted: 22 August 2019 at 6:39am
|
Do you draw freehand at first and then correct the curves to these principles?
Also what if a curve follows a long straight section...then where do you start counting so that the number of pixels lines up to the rules? If you know what I mean. Like if there is a line that is ten pixels long, then a curve starts on the end of it... I am editing all the lines on the skull. It's taking a while and I'm not sure if I'm doing it right lol. Some curves are hard to create using the rule. I will try to post my edit soon. |
Posted By: dogboydog
Date Posted: 22 August 2019 at 2:20pm
|
I'm sure this looks like I didn't do anything, but I tried to fix the curves where I could. I'm sure there are still some that I'm missing but I tried to get the horns, skull, and strings on the horns to follow the rule you mentioned... Maybe if you could circle the ones that are still bad I could see more easily. I might try another item soon 
|
Posted By: dogboydog
Date Posted: 22 August 2019 at 3:54pm
|
Diadem of Knowing  I think the gem in the center could look better, but wasn't sure how. |