Pixel Joint Forum: New to pixel art

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Hallas
Seaman
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Joined: 19 August 2009
Location: United States
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Topic: New to pixel art - WIP game sprites
Posted: 20 August 2009 at 12:50am

Hey everyone, I'm new to pixel art and this forum. My friend and I are making a game and I'm doing the art side of it. I've been making some sprites and I could definitely use any pointers you can give.

1. Is the sprite big/clear enough?
2. Is my color choice/shadowing ok?
3. Does it stand out enough against the background (in this case the piano)

Like I said, I'm new to this so any tips are welcome. I want to make sure I'm on the right track before I start with animation.

-Hallas

Edited by Hallas - 20 August 2009 at 12:54am

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Hatch
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Posted: 20 August 2009 at 6:00am

Hey Hallas, welcome to PixelJoint.

I like the simple style you've got here. The two major things I would address are:

1) The shading on the head, particularly the back of the head. When you just have narrow lines of shading hugging the edge of an object, it makes it seem flat and bevelled. It's particularly noticeable with sphere-like objects, such as his head. Don't be afraid to dig in deep with your shading. Remember that the 3D shape of your subject is defined entirely by shading; it's not just a detail to be added around the edges.

2) His eyes are quite creepy! When you're working with pixels, you often don't have room to render every detail and outline every little bit. Sometimes what you're trying to render is actually smaller than a single pixel. So try to simplify and refine.

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FrostedMayhem
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Posted: 20 August 2009 at 9:09am

Everything that Hatch said + the piano could look more piano-ish. At the moment the keys just look like a grid where as it would (probably) look more like a piano if you worked on the individual keys [link]

EDIT: Just realised that you were asking about the sprite not the piano

Edited by FrostedMayhem - 20 August 2009 at 9:10am

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Hallas
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Posted: 20 August 2009 at 10:07am

Thanks, Hatch. I made some changes:

Better?

Also, FM, I'd actually welcome comments on the piano too. I'm using it in the game as well. Look on the bright side; at least you could tell it was a piano. Anyway, in terms of the keys I wasn't completely pleased either. The thing is, the only way (at least as far as i know) to make the keys more clear would be to either make the piano have less keys or make the piano bigger. I guess I could do the latter. I'd just have to make the sprite bigger. While I like your pic, the bigger keys take away a sense of correct scale in my opinion. Perhaps I shouldn't worry too much about realism though. After all, it's not like the sprite is super realistic.

Edited by Hallas - 20 August 2009 at 10:17am

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Doodle
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Posted: 20 August 2009 at 10:35am

Maybe for the piano you could use a gray instead of the black to separate the keys. Just something that suggest the keys are there?

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Hallas
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Posted: 21 August 2009 at 8:12pm

Thanks for the tips, guys. I think this looks a lot better:

What do you think?

Edit: Oops, there were still some mistakes I had to fix. Now it's done I'd say.

Edited by Hallas - 21 August 2009 at 8:38pm

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jeremy
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Posted: 21 August 2009 at 9:46pm

I think that the definition between wood tones is very crisp. All of your colours could do with some alteration; Hue shifting especially. (If you don't know what that is, go here :) ). The golden pedal bits look green, have a look at some sort of reference.

I personally try to steer clear of 0 saturation greys, as well as straight black and white. A bit of a brownish tinge makes things look much nicer. You also don't have to try and pixel every single little key. To give a little example of what I mean in this paragraph, have a look at the thing I'm currently working on, which just so happens to contain a keyboard :P

Having a pixel of two of clear space to represent each key is quite important.

Your sprite could use a little contrast. Not too too much because you don't wanna lose the current charm, just that the skin and shirt almost seem to blend despite being on opposite sides of the spectrum!

Black outlines are a little dominating, though I guess they'll be on a background eventually :)

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WIP (Work In Progress)
Pixel Joint Forum : Pixel Art : WIP (Work In Progress)

Author	Message
Hallas Seaman Joined: 19 August 2009 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 4	Topic: New to pixel art - WIP game sprites Posted: 20 August 2009 at 12:50am
	Hey everyone, I'm new to pixel art and this forum. My friend and I are making a game and I'm doing the art side of it. I've been making some sprites and I could definitely use any pointers you can give. 1. Is the sprite big/clear enough? 2. Is my color choice/shadowing ok? 3. Does it stand out enough against the background (in this case the piano) Like I said, I'm new to this so any tips are welcome. I want to make sure I'm on the right track before I start with animation. -Hallas Edited by Hallas - 20 August 2009 at 12:54am
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Hatch Admiral Joined: 05 August 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1387	Posted: 20 August 2009 at 6:00am
	Hey Hallas, welcome to PixelJoint. I like the simple style you've got here. The two major things I would address are: 1) The shading on the head, particularly the back of the head. When you just have narrow lines of shading hugging the edge of an object, it makes it seem flat and bevelled. It's particularly noticeable with sphere-like objects, such as his head. Don't be afraid to dig in deep with your shading. Remember that the 3D shape of your subject is defined entirely by shading; it's not just a detail to be added around the edges. 2) His eyes are quite creepy! When you're working with pixels, you often don't have room to render every detail and outline every little bit. Sometimes what you're trying to render is actually smaller than a single pixel. So try to simplify and refine.
	IP Logged

FrostedMayhem Seaman Joined: 24 April 2009 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 19	Posted: 20 August 2009 at 9:09am
	Everything that Hatch said + the piano could look more piano-ish. At the moment the keys just look like a grid where as it would (probably) look more like a piano if you worked on the individual keys [link] EDIT: Just realised that you were asking about the sprite not the piano Edited by FrostedMayhem - 20 August 2009 at 9:10am
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Hallas Seaman Joined: 19 August 2009 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 4	Posted: 20 August 2009 at 10:07am
	Thanks, Hatch. I made some changes: Better? Also, FM, I'd actually welcome comments on the piano too. I'm using it in the game as well. Look on the bright side; at least you could tell it was a piano. Anyway, in terms of the keys I wasn't completely pleased either. The thing is, the only way (at least as far as i know) to make the keys more clear would be to either make the piano have less keys or make the piano bigger. I guess I could do the latter. I'd just have to make the sprite bigger. While I like your pic, the bigger keys take away a sense of correct scale in my opinion. Perhaps I shouldn't worry too much about realism though. After all, it's not like the sprite is super realistic. Edited by Hallas - 20 August 2009 at 10:17am
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Doodle Seaman Joined: 10 August 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 26	Posted: 20 August 2009 at 10:35am
	Maybe for the piano you could use a gray instead of the black to separate the keys. Just something that suggest the keys are there?
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Hallas Seaman Joined: 19 August 2009 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 4	Posted: 21 August 2009 at 8:12pm
	Thanks for the tips, guys. I think this looks a lot better: What do you think? Edit: Oops, there were still some mistakes I had to fix. Now it's done I'd say. Edited by Hallas - 21 August 2009 at 8:38pm
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jeremy Rear Admiral Joined: 25 November 2024 Location: New Zealand Online Status: Offline Posts: 1704	Posted: 21 August 2009 at 9:46pm
	I think that the definition between wood tones is very crisp. All of your colours could do with some alteration; Hue shifting especially. (If you don't know what that is, go here :) ). The golden pedal bits look green, have a look at some sort of reference. I personally try to steer clear of 0 saturation greys, as well as straight black and white. A bit of a brownish tinge makes things look much nicer. You also don't have to try and pixel every single little key. To give a little example of what I mean in this paragraph, have a look at the thing I'm currently working on, which just so happens to contain a keyboard :P Having a pixel of two of clear space to represent each key is quite important. Your sprite could use a little contrast. Not too too much because you don't wanna lose the current charm, just that the skin and shirt almost seem to blend despite being on opposite sides of the spectrum! Black outlines are a little dominating, though I guess they'll be on a background eventually :)
	IP Logged