USBeauty- Revisited
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=5843
Printed Date: 12 March 2026 at 12:22pm
Topic: USBeauty- Revisited
Posted By: l3m0n5
Subject: USBeauty- Revisited
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 4:10pm
I currently dont have a full version of the piece i am now revisiting for the weekly challange but i will post it as soon as i can get it. How can i improve this revision? I can see already how much ive improved from when i first made it.
ORIGINAL/OLDER(almost ashamed to slap it in):
 REVISITATION/ PRECIPITATION:  ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Replies:
Posted By: Kee
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 4:23pm
| What is it lol |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 4:31pm
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USBeauty? "USBeauty"? USB "Universal Serial Bus"? "Jump drive"? "The little thingie u stick into the back or front of the computer that u use to store data"?
I'm sure you've heard of it... ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: Kee
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 6:46pm
Yeh i have a few i get it now  whoops im stupid. Its good tho. I was thinking it was a finger of the statue of liberty ahah
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Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 7:19pm
wow now that you mention it, it really does look like a finger from the statue of liberty doesn't it? lol thats pretty cool, i might save the green verison for future pixelations but so far ive been experimenting with different color styles for this and heres my results so far:
   <-- when i left my blueish highlight buff color in there it gave a nice feeling of rust so i decided to save it <--and the one ive done most work on as of now and i think doesnt look half bad------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 8:33pm
EDITATIONS!! WOOPA!
 Remember folks, i NEED your C+C *wink* ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: Metaru
Date Posted: 14 January 2008 at 9:04pm
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honestly, i don't see much improvement of the original piece, yet something completly new(with the same errors, perhaps.) i don't believe that the case of that USB is made of amber. this is, these hightlighs and shadows at some point doesn't make any sense. you have one irregular dithering on the top, and a 50/50 below. cell shading would be way more useful, and still would not be adding new colors to the palette. about its general desing... if you're aiming for a particular aspect, lets say, a graffiti, you should the color it like a graffity. if it is a cartoon, then coolor it like a cartoon. mixing these things doesn't work, at least for this piece(wich does not mean you can try to achieve a mix of diferent styles). this may be a useful and interesting read. study it, i'm sure it will give you an idea or two about the colors.  ------------- I ate leel's babies |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 9:17am
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I see what you mean there met, but is there anything necessarily wrong with my orange ramp? Or just the way im executiing the shading and use of the ramp? Cuz i think i have contrast and not too much saturation in the ramp. An edit of just the orange ramp would help me understand what u mean better :D... Ill edit this post with the latest edit ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: Metaru
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 11:28am
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the orange ramp is fine, it has a good contrast value and hue shidting. now compare it with your blue ramp. while the colors on your orange ramp are clearly defined and they have a good contrast, the blue ones are way too similar between them. looking at your picture, it appears that you only have 4 colors there: 3 blues and one white. also, of what meterial is made the USB's base? a clean surface isn't? using dithering is not only a way to save some colors in your palette(wich is not necesary in this case, in my opinion, since you 5 oranges cover any tone you would need.), but also give a look of a rough texture. if you want this texture effect in your usb, then use it all over it. I do feel aslo that you don't have a clear idea of what do you want with this. it is a graffity? it is some kind of distorted shape? i feel that its going nowere and you're only focusing on the shading/couloring. if not the case, then would be a good idea to post what is you goal with this. if not, then, you'll better clear this before any advanced work. hope to help, of course. ------------- I ate leel's babies |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 3:02pm
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Actually, that DOES help. A lot. I tried making a new updated usb end ramp for the blue and reduced some colors but i dunno if it looks any better. And i seem to be in a ruckus about what type of surface i want my cover/body of the usb to have: SMOOTH: RouGh:
 As for the little bend at the end of the Usb's cover, I plead either insanity in my defence or just the fact that i wanted a sort of loose, urban, "broken" feel to it and i liked the way the little bend at the end looked but i admit it does not fit when the rest of the body is so rigid and straight and "realistic"-like as it is currently.
Blahooga. ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
I'm not entirely sure how to create the effect of a smooth texture but i am currently searching through some of the gallery to see some pices that have smooth textures that i can learn from.Posted By: Metaru
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 5:47pm
tsk tsk, "Cell-shading" ------------- I ate leel's babies |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 6:05pm
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To tell you the truth, im not entirely sure i know what that is. I thought i did when i read some game review on Zelda: Windwaker talking about that it uses "Cell shading" but i can't say i can execute it on command. Id really appreciate some links to tutorials on pixel cell shading or something ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: Hatch
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 6:11pm
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Originally posted by l3m0n5
As for the little bend at the end of the Usb's cover, I plead either insanity in my defence or just the fact that i wanted a sort of loose, urban, "broken" feel to it I totally understood the style you were going for, for whatever it's worth. But you have to take your subject matter into consideration. A USB thumb drive isn't generally thought of as funky or cool, you know? I'm not saying it couldn't be done, it's just an odd match. Note: the metal tip is badly out of perspective, and should be hollow. ------------- |
Posted By: BlackDragon
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 6:12pm
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cel-shaded_animation - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cel-shaded_animation Basically, Cell Shading is shading in smooth blocks. |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 6:25pm
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oh, u mean the way a lot of anime-type stuff is done? with basically the illusion of one shade color and one highlight color. I think i know what u mean, i was checking some tutorials on google as i waited for some posts too and i yeah i think im getting it. As for the bend, i think ill take it out since Hatch is right about it not really fitting the theme of a USB thumb drive.
And as for the shading..Is there anything initially wrong so far with the highlights or shading? I wanna get that right before i change it into a cell-shaded style of shading. ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: BlackDragon
Date Posted: 15 January 2008 at 6:42pm
| The only thing I see "wrong" is the metal part. Its cool stylistically and you can keep it, of course, but it won't fit in well with the cell shading style I think. |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 16 January 2008 at 8:55pm
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ok, update time. Been kinda busy since i got exams in a couple days *EEYULLLLLLL* so yeah i wont be really up and at it till Febuaryish. :D But dont let this stop you from critiqing and commenting. Okay so i got 2 directions i wanna take it in now and i just need ur honest feeback on which direction would go best in this case:  What i basically did was alter the little bend at the end into a sort of key-chain hole  What i was thinking for this style was just from searching other USB refrences on google and i thought of putting some sort of bulbish-type thing sticking out the side like SO  ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: Metaru
Date Posted: 17 January 2008 at 3:47am
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much better, but the metal part is a bit overdone. notive that, in your reference the metal isn't as shinny as the one you mae(wich resembles more the aspect of glass/ice)
------------- I ate leel's babies |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 17 January 2008 at 5:55pm
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wow, for once im actually gonna reject a suggestion. Although you're absolutely right there metaru, i just really like the way it looks very spiffy and shiney, and although not a realstic representation of the end of a USB jump drive, i will keep it all the same. Unless u can give me an edit of just that end that makes it look just as good without too much of the shine...hehe
(ill edit this post with my latest update) EDIT: See? Told you id' edit..hehehe
 ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 18 January 2008 at 4:41pm
Another USB life feature/modification...its going from a orange block with a metal thingie sticking out of it to a real usb...any thing i need to fix as of now thats wrong with the highlights/shading right now in either update...
 ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: Monkey 'o Doom
Date Posted: 18 January 2008 at 8:22pm
A quick edit to show how I would do the front to get that really high-contrast metal look; it's lacking a little bit of extra metallic effect on the edges, but it looks more realistic:
 Use the palette if you want; it's stolen from that ref pic you posted. ------------- http://pixelmonkey.ensellitis.com"> 
RPG is numberwang. |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 18 January 2008 at 9:38pm
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I see what you mean monkey. Thanks, i tried to not eat all of your pallete so i added the same orangish highlight tint in the ref pic into the piece...but other than that is there anything else wrong that needs fixing?
"> ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |
Posted By: Metaru
Date Posted: 19 January 2008 at 1:12am
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yeah, perhaps a big red text where you could easily read a tesis about how the high demand on Oil will affect world's economy, compared to the events that took place on 1929. lemon, of course i'm joking. but you are almost in the last stage of your pixels. now its up to you to find any posible flaws or elements that could be refined in order to finally say "its complete". ------------- I ate leel's babies |
Posted By: l3m0n5
Date Posted: 19 January 2008 at 10:39am
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woops, i meant to post my opdate on the earlier post but it didnt show up.. :/ so yes i agree meataru i feel im pretty close to finishing and i think this may be my last update, i decided the little hole thingie in the middle wasn't working for this piece so i slapped it out  soo...u want the citations for the thesis in MLA format or APA? ------------- "Hate is my enemy, Life is short and Life is plenty, keep my eyes on my path cuz i know who sent me" |