[WIP] New to Pixel Art
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=3226
Printed Date: 11 June 2026 at 3:33pm
Topic: [WIP] New to Pixel Art
Posted By: cpaw88
Subject: [WIP] New to Pixel Art
Date Posted: 18 October 2006 at 8:22pm
 NEW (Oct 19, 2006 12:39am)  Reference Picture Used: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PantherTankColor.jpg - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PantherTankColor.jpg NEW TANK (Oct 19, 2006 7:12am)  NEW TANK (Oct 19, 2006 7:08pm)  NEW Alien RPG Sprite (Oct 20, 2006 11:11pm)  NEW Alien RPG Sprite (Oct 21, 2006 1:51am)  NEW Alien RPG Sprite (Oct 21, 2006 2:16am)  I'm brand new to pixel art however I got into it so I could make Hobie Games since I spent years learning to program games. I have done a ton of tutorials on basic drawing and I've learned to use Real Images to make my art. I have worked pretty hard to make this first piece of pixel art, however I'm not done yet. I have a lot to learn and add as well, right now I'm making a Panzer V (Panther) German tank for a small 2D game. I really need help on how to improve my art and how I can make the colors not look so dull. Please post helpful info for me and critic what I have done so far. I already no this is not a master piece or even close, however it's only my first pixel art project. (NOTE: I'm no longer working on the above pixel arts, I have moved onto another project, thanks!) |
Replies:
Posted By: Centrefuge
Date Posted: 18 October 2006 at 9:14pm
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I like how the camo wasn't just the same pattern repeated over and over. This looks ok for a first pixel art.
To improve: more contrast and shading, using highlights and shadow where needed. Pick a spot where the light is coming from and follow that. I think you tried that on the wheels but I'm not sure. Adding more detail is always good, and some decay or other things to give it personality, it's been used and in battle perhaps, so it wouldn't be too clean. And some perspective, unless you only want to see one side. And in that picture, it looks like the barrel could be a little thinner and longer. And those markings, such as that cross thing and the numbers, try adding those. Hope I helped. Someone with more experience than me might come along and help further. -------------  Someday I'll take over the world, just not today...
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Posted By: Pixel_Outlaw
Date Posted: 18 October 2006 at 9:43pm
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I think the main problem here is that you're trying to draw a child's view of a tank without noticing the small details. The colors arn't really dull the image just lacks depth and form. Add some light sources and also some small detgails. Good start however. ------------- http://www.shmup-dev.com/forum/"> 
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Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 18 October 2006 at 11:07pm
| Thanks you two for your great help! I'm adding some light to this peice of pixel art and so far it looks more better! I'll post a picture once I'm done, thank you! |
Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 18 October 2006 at 11:39pm
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Alright, I added some lighting and I don't think I went and overkilled the effect, now I need to make the wheels a bit shaded. How does the tank look so far? I will be making the tank barrel longer and smaller as well. My only problem is I'm not sure on what colors to use for lighting so I have a feeling I used not so great ones because it doesn't appear to match fully with the tank. |
Posted By: EyeCraft
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 5:16am
Hello there cpaw88, welcome to pixel art  . There's 2 main things that make this piece difficult to shade, imo. They are the camo texture and the fact that the tank is comprised of pieces all flat on the same plane, so light is basically hitting them all the same.Your first step is to define a lightsource to base your shading off. I have a personal preference to shade most of the things I do from the top-right. I think a diagonal for the lightsource is best, because if you imagine a box, it will have 2 lit sides and 2 shadowed sides, as opposed to a directly overhead lightsource, where the box would have only 1 lit side (the top) and 3 shadowed sides. Ok I'm kind of rambling. Pick a light-source, if it were me, I would remove the camo until after I'd finished shading the tank, and then add it, because I think that would make it easier. But thats up to you... Oh and I'd recommend looking up some Metal Slug screenshots to see how they went about pixelling their gorgeous tanks |
Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 5:26am
Thanks!  A lot of people told me to check out SNES graphics to learn better. I'll be sure to check out Metal Slug graphics (I love the series of Metal Slug, best arcade game ever!).I'm going to try what you said, however I think i'll remake the whole tank as well to try out some new ideas. |
Posted By: EyeCraft
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 5:55am
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No problem , yeah I bloody love Metal Slug. If you are going back to the drawing board, might I recommend you try a smaller size for it; I think that'll make it easier to work with.
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Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 6:11am
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Now I just finished this little tank! Thanks a billion for the advice on looking up Metal Slug Tanks! I hope this looks better!! It's only Grey and Black for now untell Im done with the full tank then I'll add colors!  |
Posted By: EyeCraft
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 8:53am
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The problem is you're drawing it on quite a flat angle, try adding a bit of perspective to it by showing other sides of the tank, such as the top face of the tank. Here's an example of what I mean (this is mine btw, also quite inspired by Metal Slug, hehe):  Notice how you can see the top faces of the tank as well as the side? Also, the wheels on that new tank don't match the lightsource of the rest of the tank. |
Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 12:08pm
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Oh I see, thanks! I'll add some angle to my picture.
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Posted By: Dra_chan
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 1:34pm
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Your tanks are very good for a first try, keep it up, I believe you will get the hang of it very doon
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Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 6:08pm
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Thanks for the comment! I just redid the whole tank and this is what I got so far! I don't fully no how to make it look more angled with colors since I'm still new to Pixel Art, however I hope this is a start. |
Posted By: EyeCraft
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 6:42pm
| Ahh, good stuff. I'll do an edit to try to give you a guide... |
Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 19 October 2006 at 7:33pm
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Thank you for whatever time you can spend helping me, it means a lot! Take care. |
Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 20 October 2006 at 2:18pm
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Is anyone else here able to help me improve? Thanks. |
Posted By: Pixel_Outlaw
Date Posted: 20 October 2006 at 2:35pm
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Ok well I don't know why your tank barrels look like blunderbusts. Either loose the funnel on the tip or make it a short wider section.
Hope you don't mind.
 ------------- http://www.shmup-dev.com/forum/">
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Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 20 October 2006 at 2:37pm
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Thank you for the tip. The reason it looks the way it does it because I'm not going for a real look but to learn how to color and make the tank have more depth, ect... I will make the barrel smaller however it does look a bit odd to be that big at the end when the rest of the barrel isn't that large. --- EDIT: Thanks for showing me! That looks a lot better then what I had before. |
Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 20 October 2006 at 10:11pm
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I tried doing a Alien RPG type sprite and this is what I came up with. I hope its not that bad for a first, any tips on making this better? |
Posted By: Blice
Date Posted: 20 October 2006 at 11:41pm
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Originally posted by cpaw88
I tried doing a Alien RPG type sprite and this is what I came up with. I hope its not that bad for a first, any tips on making this better? Looks like he has a beer belly xD, And the way the pants are out so much where the shirt ends. I think he should lose some weight.
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Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 21 October 2006 at 12:23am
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Hes supposed to have a beer belly, heh. EDIT: VictorR did a major edit on my little Alien guy to show me how to make it better.  Thanks to him for helping me learn how to improve this peice of pixel art. |
Posted By: VictorR
Date Posted: 21 October 2006 at 12:31am
| Hehe np!! |
Posted By: Souly
Date Posted: 21 October 2006 at 12:39am
 Did an edit to show you some things that you could've done with this. ------------- 
I am the jesus of PJ. |
Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 21 October 2006 at 12:50am
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Thanks! Thats very nice to see such helpful people on this forum! This is my new Alien! |
Posted By: Souly
Date Posted: 21 October 2006 at 12:56am
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You have three un-needed colors in your pallete. The three bottom ones.. They don't have much difference in color at all. They're really un-needed since you could make due with less colors. Also on such a small sprite it's hard not to pillow shade. But you need to figure out how shading works. Try picking a light source, I suggest using a lightsource from the top. And shade where you think light would appear brighter and where it would start to darken. -------------
I am the jesus of PJ. |
Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 21 October 2006 at 1:01am
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Thanks! Sorry if I seem a bit slow at this, a bit hard to get the hang of things the first time around. I have the light source at the very top middle. I'll do another edit and see what I can make, thanks for the tips once again. |
Posted By: cpaw88
Date Posted: 21 October 2006 at 1:19am
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Alright, I tried my best to get rid of some un-needed colors to my last version of my Alien and this is the new picture. Old - >> New - >> I hope I'm improving here. (NOTE: I'm no longer working on the above pixel arts, I have moved onto another project, thanks!) |