Underground dungeon
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=14728
Printed Date: 09 June 2026 at 4:17pm
Topic: Underground dungeon
Posted By: Pookaball
Subject: Underground dungeon
Date Posted: 15 July 2012 at 7:37am
Starting from scratch after so long. Oh hi pixel-artists. I have been playing some old games such as Dungeon Keeper, or Rogue and some other Dungeon-themed games, if you understand what I am trying to say. So, I got some "inspiration" from these games and made a quick sketch of a dungeon with Paint.Net tool. 
Yes, I did actually use some automatic tools for the lightning effect, but I swear to Pixel God I will remove it later and add my own lightning, "drawn by hand". 
And oh yea, don't forget to give your opinion and critics! 
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Replies:
Posted By: LachieD
Date Posted: 15 July 2012 at 9:41am
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I think the lighting effect is distracting for evaluating your piece. I also think you need to texture properly the floor platform, the roof, the water and the robe so we can give better feedback.
What would be my first step with the image: 
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Posted By: Pookaball
Date Posted: 15 July 2012 at 9:56am
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Thanks for the advice, LachieD!
I am already working on the details and I will post an edit some time later. |
Posted By: Pookaball
Date Posted: 15 July 2012 at 11:27pm
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So yeah, I have updated the dungeon floor, walls and made a rough ceiling edit. The guy's robe has been tweaked a bit and he now holds a sword in his hand.
I also added some versions with and without lightning effects if someone wants to see it. Here's the full version - torch and darkness applied. 
Torch light only 
Darkness only 
No shade and no torch 
I still think this sucks, especially, the ceiling. Can someone give me advice on how to draw the ceiling? |
Posted By: Yuran
Date Posted: 16 July 2012 at 1:03pm
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Normal bricks, left to add a little picturesque - a different tone of bricks, bugs, water (remake), under the shadow of the character, the light from the torch - only handmade!
Otherwise, it looks awful. All location looks empty (remember DiabloII, or the Lion heart ... How are designed sewage .. Not just all lined with brick tiles, and curbs, holes, shaded corners, pillars, heap of stones and heaps of anything else) "little picturesque" - ha! not little, and thet more work, then better. Try to do the individual parts and to operate them, rather than trying to work as if it were a painting. Нормальные кирпичики, осталось добавить немного живописности - разный тон кирпичей, дефекты, вода(переделать) тень под персонажем, свет от факела - только ручная работа! Иначе всё выглядит ужасно. Вся локация выглядит пустовато (вспомни диабло или Львиное сердце... Как там оформлены канализация?.. Не просто всё выложено кирпичной плиткой, а бордюры, пробоины, затенённые закоулки, колонны, груды камней и кучи чего-нибудь ещё) "немного живописности" - на оборот много, и чем больше этой работы тем лучше. Попробуй делать отдельные детали и оперировать ими, а не пытаться работать как будто это картина. |
Posted By: LachieD
Date Posted: 16 July 2012 at 3:32pm
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I think you are overestimating yourself here. There are simply too many problems with this piece, perspective-wise, anatomy-wise, shading-wise, for anyone to be to give non-discouraging inputs, beside overhauling the whole piece for you. I can agree with Yuran here. I recommend trying to do part by part in separate works, and work from the lessons learned in that process. I also think you should look for some references for you character. I think you winged it here. That won't ever work until you got skills and experience.
Some quick patches I did, hope they give you an idea: 
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Posted By: WyPuK
Date Posted: 17 July 2012 at 9:11am
| Nice work, man. |
Posted By: Pookaball
Date Posted: 31 July 2012 at 7:51am
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Really big thanks to Yuran and LachieD for help and advice.
I will try as hard as I can to improve this awful thing I drawn. |
Posted By: LachieD
Date Posted: 31 July 2012 at 2:16pm
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No problem. I'm also learning.
Just be aware that until you improve your drawing skills, you will highly dependable on good references for lineart, and it will be a slow and often discouraging process. But it's the only way for those who are learning pixel art and drawing in the same time to produce non-discouraging looking work. Some will say you shouldn't pixel until you can draw, but I know people who got good in drawing by starting with pixeling. Just don't ignore the fact that some progress in drawing skill must happen or you will accomplish very little in pixel art. Until then the following is mandatory, but is also always recommended: find a good reference (or more of them), copy (not trace!) the shapes you need into lineart (black lines on white background), repeat until you get it more or less right, cleanup the leanart (no connecting pixels!), fill regions with base colors, experiment to get the best result, start shading/AAing. Of course, different when doing tiles and stuff like that. But in general, the above applies. |
Posted By: Yuran
Date Posted: 31 July 2012 at 3:25pm
for example
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Posted By: Pookaball
Date Posted: 01 August 2012 at 5:53am
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Here's a small update editing water and adding moss to bricks.
This also finally replaces lightning made with automatic tools with my, the hand drawn one (I think all this lightning idea is a bad one. Maybe I should remove it?). I also tweaked the walls a bit. Here are the two versions. With light : 
Without Light : 
Even if the lightning is a good idea itself, I need to redraw it again. The whole thing looks awful, any way. This needs a lot of time to get better. I am also planning on adding more stuff to the dungeon itself such as the stones, bricks, some "Cave Interior" things and some more water enhancement. Maybe a bridge or fish inside the water. And more actual detail for the bricks and character's robe (and the character himself), moss, which does not look any well now, and, of course, THE CEILING. |
Posted By: Pookaball
Date Posted: 25 November 2012 at 5:35am
Fine, so I've decided to remake the whole thing. This is what I've got so far, planning to make more. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 25 November 2012 at 5:52am
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Staring over is smart in this case :) •Try softening the lineart using existing greys. •Clean up the water to the pixel clusters are clean and precise. •Perhaps shift the grey ramp just enough to the blues so you can use it for reflections and highlights but remain distinct enough to remain in the greys. ------------- |
Posted By: Pookaball
Date Posted: 28 November 2012 at 11:00pm
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A small update with a test of moss&dirt implementation. Also changed the water (slightly) Still need advice on what to do next. |
Posted By: Pookaball
Date Posted: 29 November 2012 at 10:34pm
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I've been told that making the water dirty will be a good idea, but I don't know how to do it. I can't do it with dithering, and I am disallowed to make it with blurring tools.  Maybe the dirt isn't really necessary? |
Posted By: r1k
Date Posted: 30 November 2012 at 3:30am
heres an edit |
Posted By: Pookaball
Date Posted: 30 November 2012 at 5:28am
| Oh, Thanks, that's exactly what I needed! |