So I'm doing a piece using the above palette. It's going to be sort of a celestial Whale like creature as part of a set. one of My major issues is Jaggies, I've read and re-read the tutorial on removing jaggies, but just cannot for the life of me get the back and "arms" to look good. any help/advise would be awesome. (note this is REAL early stage and the eye and mouth are not permanent, forgot to remove with upload)

cool thanks for that, any advice on line art though?

with B.G. and earth being eclipsed by the whale :

*UPDATE*

recoloured,shaded, changed a few minor details:



still worried about his Back... it feels so flat :( does no one have any advice for me today




Edited by jambox_josh - 22 November 2011 at 3:23pm

I know the back is bad... look at the previous posts in the thread and you'll notice I've been asking for help on the back for 2 days :/



I wanted the whale to be like an epic sun god sort of thing, like he is making light on Earth. thought it looked cool but critiques are always welcome. (as long as you give me a little advice on how to fix/change it)


Edited by jambox_josh - 23 November 2011 at 12:40pm

I didn't really get that the creature was the planets light source until i really looked hard at the picture (and read that that's what you're going for..).. i thought the creature was. .. like... laser beaming it or something.. kinda a destroyer of worlds..

I don't think it should conjure light from its eyes. that spoils any hope the creature has of looking friendly.

perhaps it could conjure light with its fins or maybe the whole thing could have a radiant glow?

I think a sun deity would have a radiant glow regardless..

an emitter of light normally does that..

i dunno. some things to think about since nobody else has any critiques for you.

Good luck

Edited by Partack - 29 November 2011 at 12:30am

here are three possible ways you could improve the back. 


Arranged in order of what I think is best to worst.


Edited by Frost Butt - 30 November 2011 at 2:32pm

If I were to submit this would it be accepted?

don't worry about whether it would be accepted or not.  Focus on improving on your pixel art skills.  It isn't bad currently, but it still is far from great. 
The whale is still very flat.  You need to better define your shading and your light source.  If the whale was covering the planet like that, then the whole planet would be mostly pitch black/purple whatev judging from where you seem to have depicted your light source. 
The shading on the whale needs more contrast

Again don't settle with the lowest standards!


Edited by Frost Butt - 05 December 2011 at 10:09pm

thanks for the advice! this is really only my 2nd attempt at pixel art so i still have a horrible time shading/colouring. if anyone has any ideas as to better palettes or what not that would be grrrrrrreat!

p.s. @mdog95 your pic never showed up for me :/

the colors you gave to the whale definitely give off a more deity-esque vibe.  It does clash much with the purple space environment in the background.  It is perfectly fine for it to be purple, but try to experiment more with hue to add more to the timeless quality you are going for, rather than a cartoony style you are depicting.  It's all about mood. 

As for the shading tips, I struggle greatly there, but try this.  Close your eyes an relax.  Picture this exact whale you have drawn in your mind.  Then add in the light.  In your mind, see if you can move the ball of light around in 3D space, and try to imagine how it would affect your whale.  Then after a while of doing this, bring your light source back to where you want it.  See it as clear as you can.  Then it is just a matter of pixeling it. 
Good luck!

I can't say for better or worse.  I don't know what you want to depict, or if you even know what you want to depict yourself.  I would guess that you are a bit unsure yourself.  I'd suggest settling in your mind with a mood/style and going for it instead of trying random colors. 

Is there another light source affecting the bottom of the globe? Otherwise it would be entirely eclipsed. Sorry if that was already addressed, I just skimmed the discussion. And I agree with Partack. I especially liked the way the gold looked against the green skin; like the swirls were made of light.

Also, the sky area is super one dimensional; are those space clouds? Maybe they could be galaxies?

Here is a test on one of those picture references you should check out.



It uses 6 colors but could probably make a similar effect with 3 purples, star color, and space color. Then, use a stylized dither effect and you should be able to achieve your desired result.

So more like this?



btw, this was created by taking the original image, indexing to a few colors and replacing those colors with the ones in your palette.

according to pj:specs I'm using 15 colours. I wanted this to be a 16 colour limit piece so should I add a colour to enhance shading on whale? if so, does anyone have colour suggestions?

sweet, I'll try using that dark blue, only concern is that it's really the darkest colour in my pallet for the whale, so by shading the underbelly that colour the detail lines will disappear, any ideas?

still trouble w/ shading any ideas from anyone??