Well i started this background earlier. I'm trying to portray a calm, soothing feel at sunset. I've decided to dither. Heres the plain version.

Saint Minor, in the future, if you're going to trace a photograph please say so:

For a brief moment before I read the post, I thought Lawrence had done a jaw-dropping edit

You grow up. You're the one who traced it. And I can go lower, so don't sass me.

Aleiav you do have your harsh moments. And i also dont think its 100% wrong to not post that you traced it, just in a WIP thread.

That you trace, doesnt mean you want your picture to be exactly the origional... So you dont have to follow it exactly when you feel its better when you change things... And please stop talking bold, it ignores me.

I'm not to fond of the whole tracing thing, particularly that you didn't notify us when you submitted it and worse still from the word phrasing it seems you may have been claiming it as your own:

"by taking a photograph of a calm, soothing feeling sunset." Would have been a nice addition.

But putting that behind us I would have to agree with Aleiav that your tracing isn't exactly that useful to you. Not necessarily because it isn't close enough to the original but more so because of the way you seem to be handling the piece.

To better state why this trace wont help due to your approach:

Combined with the dithering you have started really sums it up. A lot of people new to the pixel scene seem to think you can take some general shapes and forms then whack on some dithering and it will look good.

Dithering is another form of shading, however the main reason for using it is for color restriction. It is used to blend from one colour to another, you apply the highlights first then approach the piece with dithering. There is a very good reason for this! If you dither too much the piece will look grainy (there are colour rules as well but, meh). Before you say, "but i want a grainy look, bcoz of the sand and sh*t." No you really don't, If you want a sand texture yes you can dither but don't need to dither everything.
here are some nice samples i'm going to show you to, mainly because i am to lazy to make my own:
Sand texture case 1:
http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/2662.htm
note the dithering is structured and not random. The person decided where to put the dithering to better convey both the texture and the colour and shades.

Here is another few samples to give you an idea. OMG there is no dithering!!@!121!21!!!??@#! (just so that everyone knows when you texture sand with no dithering i get all giddy)
http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/13592.htm#
softish dirt can be portrayed by clever textures (that aren't dithered).
http://pixeljoint.com/pixelart/22491.htm#
Sand can be portrayed by lines that define its shape. (this piece actually surprised me, it isn't the best piece in the world but it was a very good example so my hats of to 'de Thch')
So why does limited/low dithered sand look good... sand=soft. Grains of sand are really tini tiny. As such when you apply large areas of high contrast dithering and claim that it is 'a sand texture' you are wrong. Furthermore lack of dithering greatly eludes to the feel of softness in the sand, so whilst it may not necessarily perfectly represent sand it evokes the emotions associated with golden soft sand more so.

Furthermore you dithered water! water is smooth it doesn't have little bumps all over it. The dithering of water is excusable if the colours aren't staunch contrasts from one another! Also you dithered the sand INTO the water. water retains a level to it, this means that it will appear to cut the sand, look at the shore line closest to us in the photo that you traced. The sand and water are very separate, the reason it appears otherwise further away is because it seems blurry and less detailed as it gets further from us. It appearing less detailed is another reason to restrict dithering, constant dither levels at different distances is like having a growing pattern as it gets further away.

It seems to me you are abusing the pixel mediums techniques a tad if you dither the way you are doing now. It is similar to manual AAing so much that the piece just looks like a giant blur. Really you should improve on a smaller level then starting this big to learn that these techniques need to be used with constraint, foresight and preferably some experience.

Oh and everyone just chill
OR FOR EVERY PERSON WHO GETS UPSET OR RUDE I KILL A PUPPY!!!

Edited by zeid - 05 July 2007 at 9:22am

Duh, he followed it on some level. He didn't follow it well though. You're really starting to piss me off and you're not contributing to anything but the level of annoyance, so please STFU.

At any rate, zeld I think your whole post was pretty much amazing. Thanks for taking the time to make such an in-depth post. I'd like to see your suggestions be taken.

Is there going to be an update on this at all?