The Happy Snail
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=2928
Printed Date: 11 June 2026 at 12:26am
Topic: The Happy Snail
Posted By: Mirre
Subject: The Happy Snail
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 7:58am
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My newest pixel art piece. I'd like some crits on it before I submit it to the gallery
I'm going to make this transparent when finished. Please tell me what you think about it! :)
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Replies:
Posted By: Blueberry_pie
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 8:33am
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Wow, that's gorgeous. I really like it. Personally I think you should give the snail (only the snail, not the shell) a bit more colour to make it stand out more. Right now I get the impression that the shell is the most important thing in the piece, and that the snail is just part of the background scene. ------------- |
Posted By: tomster 785
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 8:35am
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maybe GG is wrong? ------------- c[ ] help Brian take over Pixel Joint by making him edit your sig! (to get out typos) |
Posted By: Fool
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 8:40am
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Looks real good.=) What programm are you using? You could easely found unwanted colors in photoshop if you shoose save for the web option and on pallete (left side) pick a color and click on transparent icon on a bottom. Picked color will becom transparent. Control that process with you own palette pickler on the image. |
Posted By: fil_razorback
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 8:41am
 Green = color you forgot to put in the palette |
Posted By: Mirre
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 8:59am
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Blueberry_pie: It's supposed to be that way :) Hard to explain what I thought of when making this piece, but the colours stay the way they are. S/he (they have two sexes, right?) is really happy about their shell being so outstanding. tomster: it hasn't failed me before. Fool: I'm using Graphics Gale, and Photoshop 6 to save to .gif. I'll remember that trick to the next time I lose a colour. Thanks!
fil_razorback: YAY! Thanks so much for the help! (Seems it was just me screwing things up after all, haha) |
Posted By: Souly
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 9:32am
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I think you're forgetting to add transparency.
Oh yeah, I forgot I'm at a friend's house using internet explorer. ------------- 
I am the jesus of PJ. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 10:46am
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Beautiful. I'm with pie about a dash of more color.
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Posted By: Souly
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 11:01am
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I think the ladybugs need a splash of red.
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I am the jesus of PJ. |
Posted By: Anlina S.
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 12:10pm
| I think this is gorgeous. The only crit I have is that I would like to see the body of the snail stand out more. Not necessarily with colour, but maybe by adding some highlights or lightening up your colours on the snail? after the shell and the wordbubble, the thing that jumps out at me next is the mushroom, because it is paler than the rest of the background, while the body of the snail seems to really blend right in. Even a small change would make it pop a bit more. |
Posted By: Mirre
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 3:39pm
Thanks for the opinions guys (even though the ladybugs will get NO colour, only thing that might is the snail). I've made some new colour tryouts to make the snail's body stand out more, and I wondered what you thought about them. Personally I like the second one the best.
 Fully coloured snail body.  Partially coloured snail body.  Lightened snail body.
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Posted By: PixelSnader
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 5:14pm
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i'd say give it some contrasting tints like making the surroundings in a murky green and brown palette, and the snail pink and blue and no pink background, just transparency------------- ▄▄█ ▄▄█ ▄█▄ ▄█▄ |
Posted By: Wannahlakujuu
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 9:48pm
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I rather like the original colors, actually. They have an odd sort of appeal...can't quite explain it. Heh like Snader said, make it transparent, to make the colors look more like they should. ------------- I am Spartacus |
Posted By: cure
Date Posted: 01 September 2006 at 10:54pm
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The middle version is definitely the best. You can count on this being on my favorites list when its uploaded. Not to rush you, please take your time tweaking it to perfection.
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Posted By: Mirre
Date Posted: 02 September 2006 at 1:02am
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*Cough* Guys... if you read the description I did write there that I would make it transparent when finished. No need to tell me! :)
snader: eugh, not pink! I hate pink. And there is a point in everything being gray, but if I try to explain it I'll sound way too deep and moody, haha.
Wannahlakujuu: thanks! :) Glad you liked my original colours.
ThereIsNoCure: wow, thank you! :D
Here's a fourth colour tryout. Lightened + partially coloured:
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Posted By: Aleiav
Date Posted: 02 September 2006 at 1:29pm
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I like it as well. You've definately gor an awesome eye for greyscale. :)
part of me wants it all to be colored, but if there is a reason to it being gray, I'd say keep it that way. ------------- |
Posted By: Larwick
Date Posted: 02 September 2006 at 2:23pm
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Firstoff: This is awesome.
I think once you lightened the snails body you lost some of the depth, and it's side now looks very flat and sort of just like a wallpaper pattern. I'd use some of those darker shades to make it seem more swirvy and perhaps even give it a wet texture, yet still keeping it light. I love how you start to see things you hadn't seen before in it, because some of the details are lost in the greyscale. -------------  http://larw-ck.deviantart.com">
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Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 02 September 2006 at 9:53pm
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I love this piece and it really won't fail no matter what you do. I wonder if the latest version would be better served if the shell glowed onto the mushroom and leaves with the coloring of the snail as if the shall was lit from the inside. A soft glow? ps. I too have a faved reserved for this ------------- |
Posted By: PixelSnader
Date Posted: 03 September 2006 at 10:35am
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so. tell us why its grey? ------------- ▄▄█ ▄▄█ ▄█▄ ▄█▄ |
Posted By: cure
Date Posted: 03 September 2006 at 11:24am
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I like the grey myself, but I too would like to know your reason. I'd also like to see how jal's idea would look. ------------- |
Posted By: Omegavolt
Date Posted: 03 September 2006 at 2:17pm
| Perhaps add a bit of sheen to the body too. Snail bodys are kinda slimy, right? Maybe not as shiny as the shell, but a bit of dull, concentrated shine to represent the slime coating. |
Posted By: Mirre
Date Posted: 04 September 2006 at 3:39pm
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Thanks for the crits guys! Since you asked me so nicely I'll try to explain, but I warned you that it would sound silly!
Okay; so this is alot about symbolism (apparantly). I had a few ideas in mind when maing it, but the most important one was abut people. You know how the world can seem like a gray and sad place? And then that person comes around like a spark of colour with their charm/humour/ideas/friendliness/etcetc. Why I originally made only the shell coloured was to enlighten that it isn't always the person itself that makes an impact, but what they carry on or how they make people feel and sometimes even change themselves.
Okay, that's deep enough of me, don't laugh! I'm bad at expressing my thoughts and feelings behind the art that I make.
Aleiav: might be because I mostly draw pencil stuff.
Larwick: Thanks! You have a really good point about it looking flat so I've added some shade and I think it look better now, what say you?
jalonso: I thought your glow idea was great and tried it out. I'm not so sure I managed to execute it very well though.
Omegavolt: Tried making it shiny, but that didn't work very well so I left it out. To make it look good I think I'd have to add another colour, and I don't really want to do that.
So, the newest version:
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Posted By: Aleiav
Date Posted: 04 September 2006 at 5:58pm
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Originally posted by Mirre
Thanks for the crits guys! Since you asked me so nicely I'll try to explain, but I warned you that it would sound silly! Okay; so this is alot about symbolism (apparantly). I had a few ideas in mind when maing it, but the most important one was abut people. You know how the world can seem like a gray and sad place? And then that person comes around like a spark of colour with their charm/humour/ideas/friendliness/etcetc. Why I originally made only the shell coloured was to enlighten that it isn't always the person itself that makes an impact, but what they carry on or how they make people feel and sometimes even change themselves.
Okay, that's deep enough of me, don't laugh! I'm bad at expressing my thoughts and feelings behind the art that I make.
That's not silly at all. It makes a lot of sense. ------------- |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 05 September 2006 at 9:12am
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oh yea, the glow looks great. With your explanation for the colors the glow makes more sense too.
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Posted By: PixelSnader
Date Posted: 05 September 2006 at 9:18am
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i'd keep the glowing one. ------------- ▄▄█ ▄▄█ ▄█▄ ▄█▄ |
Posted By: Lawrence
Date Posted: 05 September 2006 at 9:29am
What kind of trivial homogenised monoculture are we living in if we can't even express our deepest, most serious thoughts and feelings without the fear of people finding them silly and laughing at them? Mirre, I think that in this case, you are in fact the 'spark of colour' just for making this conceptual piece and talking about it.  I think it's great. The glow on the surrounding surfaces are excellent. Technically and conceptually this is marvellous, I'm adding it to my favourites straight away when you add it to the gallery!!
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Posted By: cure
Date Posted: 05 September 2006 at 10:07am
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The meaning and ideas expressed through art are often as important as the execution. I'll admit my own art is without an underlying purpose or greater meaning than what is expressed on the surface, and indeed the expression of ideas, feelings, and symbolism is not a trivial factor in art. I agree with every point made by Lawrence, this piece is visually stunning.
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Posted By: Larwick
Date Posted: 05 September 2006 at 10:33am
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It's great to know the meaning behind art. The glow looks great. I think the snail's body could do with a touch of secondary light on it too, even if it's just its head. ------------- http://larw-ck.deviantart.com">
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Posted By: Mirre
Date Posted: 05 September 2006 at 11:31am
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Here's the final one (yay, finally). Transparent and all! I hope you all like it, and thanks for the great C&C once again! I'm very glad that you liked the story behind the art too, so I'll add that to the description in the gallery as well :3
Whoo~, adding it to the gallery now...
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