Another floating island
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=16317
Printed Date: 09 September 2025 at 9:35pm
Topic: Another floating island
Posted By: skittle
Subject: Another floating island
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 10:48am
|
I can't figure out how to make the tree look like it's being ruffled by the wind. As you can see I have kinda tried to do it but it looks wierd :/
Any help will be greatly appreciated 
One thing I want to mention is that I drew the line art on paper and then scanned it. I'm not sure if this is considered against the rules though. |
Replies:
Posted By: Raf
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 10:49am
| The pic won't load |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 10:52am
| ah, yeah I had this problem too and I'm trying to fix it. ;_;. |
Posted By: Andreonh
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 10:52am
| You need to update your DropBox permissions on that file so everyone can see it. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 2:26pm
|
This is a great looking image and nicely laid out. but... ...you are not ready for this size at all. Reduce by 70% AND then begin. You simply haven't mastered some essentials and basics that would be required here. This piece can certainly teach you a lot because its going to require patience and dedication. Go slow and post lots of updates. Be ready to redraw parts as you pick up knowledge and tips from all. When something is said and you are not clear ask and ask again. Don't worry about who says what, anyone who takes time to comment has something to offer so be open. Lastly, get yourself an imgur.com account. Image hosting is easy, pixel friendly and works nice with Pixeljoint. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 12 May 2013 at 2:41pm
|
Thank you for the suggestion, I think I'll heed your advice!
I think my next project will be a set of castles. I'm definitely gonna come back to this piece when I improve though. Thanks for the response! I'm just curious but my artistic skills haven't always been the best, could that be what is affecting my pixel ling skills? From what I've seen from most of the artists on here they seems to be good at art in general. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 13 May 2013 at 5:50am
|
Originally posted by ADrawingMan ...I think my next project will be a set of castles. I'm definitely gonna come back to this piece when I improve though... This is a terrible habit and the single most destructive thing any artist can do. Its cool to have ideas in mind for future work and they are great to have for those times we get a block. Write them down or remember them and think about them occasionally but DO NOT start something then get another idea and start that. This leads to nothing getting done. You have a solid idea here so make it a goal to work on it and learn as you go. You can always revisit or remake at a later date. Many do this and its great fun. Just reduce the canvas here to a size you can handle and where you can focus on coloring and the smaller things. Originally posted by ADrawingMan
...curious but my artistic skills haven't always been the best, could that be what is affecting my pixel ling skills? From what I've seen from most of the artists on here they seems to be good at art in general. Some have natural abilities others have to work harder. We are all unique and make pregress in unique ways. Very few are born with great artistc vision and the ability to realize their art. It takes work and deication and most importantly it takes patience. Regardless of art styles, pixelart is a great style because it forces you to be dedicated, controlled and delibarate. This will help in all other art styles and is the reason I think its a great style. Master, or at least conquer the basics in pixelart and you'll have the required tools to excel in other forms. If art is your thing and you are passionate about it then practice all you can. Work out design issues in your head and on paper/compy as often as you can. If you can afford it get educated but if you can't then don't sweat it and keep practicing, learning on your own and always seeking ways to expand your artistic ways. ---- So... reduce that image and get crackn'!!! Post updates often and don't give up. That castle can wait. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 13 May 2013 at 1:00pm
|
Alrighty! I think I'll get on it immediately!
I'm doing just the tree right now and nothing else (no towers or anything). Though I'm not sure if it is too big (450 x 539). Though I could of course do the towers first and then the tree but what do you think I should do first? |
Posted By: Raf
Date Posted: 13 May 2013 at 1:23pm
| I think it's as Jalonso said: Resize the pic to make it smaller. This big requires way much more details, and rustling leaves are tricky business. If the entire image is smaller, you'll be able to get away with adding less detail. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 13 May 2013 at 1:33pm
| Oh... I see (:L). |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 14 May 2013 at 6:06am
|
Originally posted by ADrawingMan ...what do you think I should do first?... This is far too personal. You have to find your own way and see what works for you and is most comfortable. I would however consider starting with the rocks underneath the island and the trunk of tree as they are the harder surfaces to create and will make or break the whole scene. There are lots of great refs in the gallery if you need to study these textures. While you may worry about the wind in the tree canopy that is actually not that tough to convey so don't tie yourself down. ------------- |
Posted By: CraftyPixel
Date Posted: 14 May 2013 at 9:12pm
|
- Cute clean style, but it's way too huge! If you're going to approach learning the tree's structure I'd recommend starting a little smaller :P - Made a small edit for you :)  Study Details :P |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 15 May 2013 at 2:48pm
|
I would go even smaller than that so that you can ficus on technique. ------------- |
Posted By: CraftyPixel
Date Posted: 15 May 2013 at 4:11pm
|
- Mmm... Technique doesn't necessarily mean size. I know it's seen like that in the pixel joint community by majority, but in general... not so much. For example : http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/61838.htm Which is greater in size than even his original pixel size... I think he just needs to study in general, which isn't bad, it just says there's always something to work on :P |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 15 May 2013 at 6:16pm
Here's my newest version so far, not much but it is a start. I resized it a bit (I could possibly make it smaller) and did simple colouring in
I was thinking of making gears coming out of the island, thats what those wierd things at the bottom are :L. @CraftyPixel Whoa, extremely beautiful! |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 15 May 2013 at 6:24pm
|
I was thinking that maybe I'm being to careful of how I go about making my pieces. I think that maybe I'm possibly being to precise even when my piece is just in its first stage. I think that I'm worrying to much about how clean it should look and that is possibly restraining myself?
After seeing CraftyPixels edit I saw how everything looked very carefree and flowy and not at all very restrained by black lines and such which is what I'm doing. Maybe I should try to avoid black lines and not view them as a boundary of where the colours should go. Erm, I'm not sure if I'm explaining it very clearly :/. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 15 May 2013 at 7:01pm
|
kk, here's my newest WIP with me not being restricted to black lines (looks kind of similar to CraftyPixel, )
I'm kind of excited :). edit: Added gears |
Posted By: ultimaodin
Date Posted: 15 May 2013 at 8:22pm
|
Looking much better. remove those black wind lines though.
------------- The world is but a shadow of emotion, cast in shades of grey. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 16 May 2013 at 6:55am
|
Originally posted by CraftyPixel - Mmm... Technique doesn't necessarily mean size. I know it's seen like that in the pixel joint community by majority, but in general... not so much. For example : http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/61838.htm Which is greater in size than even his original pixel size... I think he just needs to study in general, which isn't bad, it just says there's always something to work on :P Of course it does not matter but for new pixel pushers reducing the canvas allows for more dedicated pixelling and the ability to still see the 'whole' when working zoomed in. Your example is a rather poor example because it takes advanced dedication and perseverance to make a piece like that and as Elk states in the description, "Overall the total span was half a year, 410~ pure work hours." New pixelpushers would most likely get bored, lose interest or simply get frustrated following that route. It makes far more sense to work as small as possible and grow the canvas as the experience grows. I've come to this by seeing so many new members join, begin to pixel, aim far too high then fall on their ass. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 16 May 2013 at 12:13pm
I'm trying out dithering to see how it'll look.
@Jalonso Hm, I see what you and it makes perfect sense but maybe I should try doing it at this size because it may help bring me out of my comfort zone? @ultimaodin Thank you, and fixed! I think my next step is gonna be comparing how the simple dithering looks vs. no dithering |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 10:48am
I was working on the towers today...
|
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 12:08pm
|
Totally agree with jalonso. I've been a teacher of Pixel Art in the university and noticed this very same problem. I finally had set obligatory reduced sizes for all the works since nobody would be able to actually work on the pixel level properly and finish the whole piece (which leads to frustration).
Elk's works shouldn't be taken as an example, he's rather unique for his extreme patience and we shouldn't expect new pixel artist to be like him. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 12:38pm
|
But is this really considered too big? I mean it is quite smaller when compared to the original.
Most of my island up to this point have been considerably smaller than this one which is why I'm doing one at this size. I wouldn't really mind resizing it more but what would be a good size for someone of my skill level? |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 12:47pm
I can see you are hesitant and as always you decide whatever you wish. Its your art and your vision and anything ever said to you is advice and suggestion for you to consider or ignore, k. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 12:53pm
| I think I'm gonna go with the smaller one and as you said next year a bigger version. My skill level right now actually may in a way ruin the bigger version. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 12:59pm
|
Originally posted by ADrawingMan ... My skill level right now actually may in a way ruin the bigger version... Its not that it will ruin it its that you'll likely get frustrated and impatient. In the small size you can focus, concentrate and learn little tricks of all sorts. You have pixelart techniques to learn PLUS general design, lighting and coloring skills to develop. Consider this an exercise in your artistic development. In about a year revisit and improve and then after that remake in your original size. Begin by generally laying out the colors as you have then add the lighting roughly and leave detailing for later on. I would say that what will make this image work or fail will be the rocks and the tree trunk so whenever youare ready to begin detailing begin with those. The treetop, sky and other stuff is easy so leave for later on in the WIP process. Post lots of updates for constant feedback. k. ------------- |
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 1:02pm
|
Your first image was 637 × 877 = 558649 pixels, which is insane xD!
Anyway, your piece looks awesome and will still look awesome even if it's way smaller. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 1:09pm
| I'll start on the trunk immediately! I'll try adding little flowers and such later too. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 1:16pm
|
OT: Whenever I begin any pixel the way I determine what the canvas size will be is to determine what is the smallest item in the pixel that I want to read clearly and then base everything off that. When I reduced your image I can see that even the mushrooms will read clearly at that size so thats about the size I would go with. If, for example, you wanted to place a figure in the window and have the character have some expression then I would go much bigger and begin pixelling the character to make sure it will all work. If I wanted an angry worm in the root of the tree then I would go with your original size. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 1:38pm
|
Ah, so it's kind of like thinking ahead or planning ahead. Funny thing is I've actually never thought of something like that (thinking ahead).
@AtskaHeart Thanks! I'm gonna try to make this piece veery purrty. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 1:49pm
Lesson #1 - Planning - 
------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 4:52pm
Here it is so far!
|
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 17 May 2013 at 8:53pm
|
Looking good and I like the square canvas too. This gives it a more airy and floaty setting. I think you should at this point rough in your major lighting too. The light is generally coming right to left which is cool and you generally have everything in its place. However, the turret with the cannon should be casting its shadow into the foliage more that that so that its set in depth. The front tower will cast some shadow too but less than the far back one. The lower mushrooms and gears will need to follow this too but you don't have to worry about that now because your palette is not yet established. Start pixelling and detailing the rocks and tree trunk using the colors you now have (these can and will be tweaked later) and use as many as you can in both to conserve colors but have at least one shade in each area that will give the illusion that each have their own unique ramp. For example use a purplish shade to shadow the rocks (the sky being blue casts its color on this surface). Then perhaps use a grey/neutral for the trunk. These 2 'unique' shades are the right hue/shade when they serve as the basis of the ramp for the cannon and even the gears which you can build after the base of the rocks and trunk are set. If you don't understand something just ask, k. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 18 May 2013 at 9:11am
|
Here's question 1.
Should there be a dark outline around the tree? Such as a dark purple or dark brown? And question 2 ;) Which lighting makes more sense? The one on the left or the one on the right? 
|
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 18 May 2013 at 9:30am
|
Left for me, but I would also add a small light on the left face of the island. It would be nice to see a three point lighting on this illustration:
http://bit.ly/10BZWHN http://bit.ly/12jTtiO It's not only nicer but more natural :p. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 18 May 2013 at 9:35am
| Neat idea, I think I'm gonna test that to see how it'll look. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 18 May 2013 at 10:08am
|
I was thinking about what you said and there's something that I've run across.
Wouldn't it look kinda funny with 2 light sources?Everything that's dark on the right of the island would suddenly become light... maybe I'm not thinking about it properly. @Jalonso I'm working on a wood texture, am I doing it right? 
Erm, I organized my dropbox and that in turn changed the paths of all the files... so all the pics above this will not be seen :/ |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 18 May 2013 at 10:34am
Added rocks! :P
|
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 18 May 2013 at 2:02pm
A fast example about what I was talking about:
The second light source is a small one, with a blueish color. Imo, it adds some depth that may look better if it's applied to textures :p. I love the wood btw!! |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 18 May 2013 at 4:52pm
| Too, it does look nice! Would you mind if I used this little edit and added to it? |
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 18 May 2013 at 5:02pm
| Sure, go ahead! :p But you should also apply the back light on the trunk and towers. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 19 May 2013 at 5:59am
|
Originally posted by ADrawingMan ... Should there be a dark outline around the tree? Such as a dark purple or dark brown? Visible lineart is a design choice only you can make. I personally, would have no sharp lineart in this scene but maybe one single outer lineart may work? All is looking good so far :) ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 19 May 2013 at 12:52pm
|
I'm gonna crop it when I'm done, don't worry :P.
I'm gonna try to fix up the top of my tower, the cannon and the clouds. 
|
Posted By: CraftyPixel
Date Posted: 19 May 2013 at 12:58pm
| - Looks good overall, but I think you should go back to the smaller canvas size . you're making yourself do too much work! o.o - |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 19 May 2013 at 1:20pm
|
I wasn't planning to really work on all the clouds, I think that I just got a tad bit carried away when I started on them ;). But you're right, cropping now makes more sense.
I also wanna mention that the colors that you used for the clouds in your edit are the colors that I'm using for my clouds. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 19 May 2013 at 2:43pm
| I think I'm calling it done. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 19 May 2013 at 4:02pm
|
Its ok and gallery worthy and all that stuff, but... ... I am very disappointed and will not personally add to the gallery. Another Mod will have to do so. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 19 May 2013 at 5:08pm
| Is it the clouds? What is it that has not met your expectations? If it is the clouds or something else I will gladly try to revise it and add to it more. |
Posted By: crozier
Date Posted: 19 May 2013 at 5:21pm
|
I think you should continue to work on the highlights and shadows on the top of the tower. They are messy, unrealistic, and should be displaying the curve of the cone. http://www.sketchwiki.com/shading/shading-cone.php
The shading on the cylinder on the towers is also distracting. The leftmost part of the floating island is kind of funky, also. Not a huge fan of (what I think is) the cog/gears, and mushroom (jetting out of the side). The greens in this could also have a little more contrast and texture. The lightest green is especially off-putting. Also put some texture in the grass. You mine as well, and the grass could use some work.(its kinda jagged) The highlight on the brickish tower could also be upped, slightly in size and contrast. The second lightsource (or whatever is effecting the leftmost side of the tree and land is unnessessary. I would ditch it completely, as it is only adding colors, that you don't need. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 19 May 2013 at 5:34pm
|
I'll get to work on the shadows. Though I like the idea of the second light source and I will probably end up keeping it. Thanks for bringing these things to my attention.
Jalonso mentioned the shadows previously but I think I may have forgotten that. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 20 May 2013 at 10:09am
Alrighty, I removed the shrooms and the gears... those can come later. Right now I'm focusing more on the cone. Here's a rough thingy right now.
Small preview thingy 
|
Posted By: onek
Date Posted: 20 May 2013 at 12:32pm
|
firstly, this has improved a whole lot since ur first post, this has potential to become quite a nice little piece..
i think it was definitly a wise choice to go smaller in size which will teach u a lot about the essentials of pixel art however before u go any further in refining on pixel level and getting lost in detail stuff i think it is important that u impove on ur composition.. right now everything looks slightly slanted, doesnt convey much feeling of depth and overall looks a bit empty and abandoned... i think u really need to throw those mushrooms back in there since their red makes for a strong contrast in the overall blueish scene and therefore gives the eye some more to work with.. also its always good to have leading lines which can guide the viewer through an image either telling some sort of story or just simply by creating depth and sucking the viewer into the image... heres a quick edit, trying to create more depths and atmosphere through different depth layers and lighting 
|
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 20 May 2013 at 12:41pm
|
Wow, this edit does give it quite a lot more atmosphere. I think I'm gonna do something in the background to give it more depth but in terms of colours... I think I'm gonna stick to my guns. I will be adding the mushrooms back but after I do other things such as revising the cone and the clouds.
I may (Most likely) add a bridge connecting another island in the background. After seeing the lighting on your tree I think I will also try to edit mine. |
Posted By: onek
Date Posted: 20 May 2013 at 1:10pm
|
yeah not too fond about the colors in my edit aswell but i thought theyd fit the golden-hour-ish lighting i got going with those shadows and stuff
.. anyway main thing imo is that u really need to turn that island a bit |
Posted By: Marina
Date Posted: 21 May 2013 at 6:00am
|
I think i should follow the tips of all of you as well, because i am also kind of hard head and I dont organize much my stuff :P I will go to the point. I think your scenario is good, but the tips they gave you are right too. Maybe will be easier for you to learn the technic if you start doing smaller things. At the moment, i can say that i like the concept. But the point, is how will you bring it till it's completely done. You can take a look of several references that use a similar style as yours (or maybe, that's the concept that i got in my mind). For example, you can take a look on The legend of Zelda Minish cap. The palette is colorful, and the shading is simple and effective. Not too hard. Maybe it will help you a bit. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 21 May 2013 at 1:13pm
|
Yeah, I was kind of hesitant when Jalonso talked to me about resizing it but now I really not regret doing it. I guess the last things to do is the shading and the clouds... apart from that I don't really think there's much else for me to do (or at least that I can think of).
Minish Cap is actually a very good example, their colors are cute. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 21 May 2013 at 2:51pm
|
You are not there yet...you have lots and lots and lots to do. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 21 May 2013 at 2:53pm
Added a flag. I think it's ready but I think I should get a "okay" from someone or a last critic.
@Crozier I removed the gears and stuff but as for the grass I kind of like the jaggy look and to be honest I would prefer it without texture. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 21 May 2013 at 2:54pm
| Ah... what would you suggest that I should add or try to fix? |
Posted By: ultimaodin
Date Posted: 22 May 2013 at 12:14am
Hey man, you have way too many colours. Here is an edit with 24 colours and a few slight adjustments: ------------- The world is but a shadow of emotion, cast in shades of grey. |
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 22 May 2013 at 1:36am
|
^*likes*
But I feel the pink is being desaturated by the green on the left area. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 22 May 2013 at 12:33pm
|
I really like what you did with the cannon. Yeah... I think that most of my colours may have been mostly from trying to do AA :P. I'm not exactly a huge fan on the purple, but I must say I really love the brighter colours. What did you do exactly to reduce the colour count?
Is adding pink like that just a style or does it affect other colours somehow? Here's an edit of your edit (I kept the purple on the mushroom because I thought that it looked really cool with it) 
yay, 7777 topics have been made! |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 3:22pm
I just changed a bit of the colors on the trunk... I'm not sure if it could be considered done at this point. I haven't been doing much with it now though.
|
Posted By: crozier
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 5:24pm
|
The right part of the tree is rather boring and not as tree-ly curved as the left part. Also the outline is kind of killing it.
I also really dislike the bottom part of the tower. The crazy bricks with the highly contrasting leaning bricks is not too appealing, in my opinion. Perhaps dull the bricks, and make it a more consistent pattern. (oh and the leaves on the bottom side of the tower is strange). The bottom few clouds are a bit out of place due to their strange curves. The large lumps aren't as nice as the clouds above it (with the smaller bumps). Also the specks near the clouds aren't really needed. They are merely distracting. Anyway, its certainly a lot nicer than when you started. Good luck with this, and don't forget "Rome wasn't built in a day." |
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 5:52pm
| Well you definitely improved a lot! It still requires some more detail and refinement, yet I understand it's time consuming :/. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 23 May 2013 at 6:14pm
|
Be patient...its worth it. Break the image into many small squares and 'pixel' those as stand alone art pieces. Focus and be deliberate in your pixel placements. If it looks funny it is. Focus on each 'cluster' or color area on its on and clean it up. You have lots of stray colors here and there so clean those up too. Now is the time to tweak your palette. For example in this square you can change the sky a bit darker to use for AAing the roof, or add a new blue or find an existing color somewhere that works. Don't make me go over there and whack you.  ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 24 May 2013 at 10:26am
|
Please don't whack me!
I think I'll try this idea out, it may help me focus a lot more and I'm gonna go over all the colors I used and take out all the unnecessary ones. @crozier I see what you're saying about the left side of the tree and I totally agree with you. I think I'm gonna try making the brick lines more subtle and make them so they don't pop out as much. @AtskaHeart It is quite it is quite time consuming but I think that the one of the main reasons why it is taking very long is probably due to the fact that I tend to run out of ideas when I'm pixeling. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 24 May 2013 at 4:39pm
|
I picked through it using the tiled method, I may have to go through it one or two times more again to take out some colours but here it is so far...
I don't think the bricks are 100% yet but it is an improvement I think (I like them better than the previous ones that is). 
Anyone have any ideas on how to fix that funny little piece of leaf that is covering the bottom right corner of the tower with the blue cone? |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 4:27am
|
Your problems are all still the same: You are not 'working on the pixel level'. When I mentioned breaking the canvas into smaller parts that was the point of that. I'm starting to think the canvas should be even smaller now, like half. ------------- |
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 5:04am
|
I must agree with jal :/.
Adding an example of pixel level detail 
|
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 9:07am
|
Ah, to be honest adding rocks like that never really crossed my mind. But now that I see it with rocks I think I give it a try.
I think I really didn't think about adding details like that because I was attempting to mimic my drawing on paper to much. I think I'm gonna try a few more things before considering resizing again. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 9:53am
|
Still on the attention to 'on the pixel level' You have many ugly spots that you should notice and clean up. These are some.  You have lost control of your colors and its going to cause you a lot of work. You are up to 110 colors. Here are lots of areas of waste and strays.  Use colors in more than a single spot and remove any and all needless shades as you go. Here I quickly brought down the color count to 44.  You don't seem to cross the 'on the pixel' level threshold so you might need to consider a fixed, small palette and canvas  ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 10:03am
|
Uh oh, I didn't realize I had that many colors :/.
I'll try picking through it with the tiled method you showed me but... here's what I got using the tiled method right now. 
Actually I think I may know one of the reasons why I have a ton of colors. I'm using GIMP and I noticed that sometimes my opacity is 99% which may be what's causing so many colors? I switch to 100% opacity when I notice this but this is just a thought on what could be causing so many colours, or I may have been going overboard with trying to do AA. I just removed all my AA and I'm gonna forget about that for now. I'm gonna try to focus on details and try not to get tangled in all the other stuff. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 10:07am
|
Oh, that's better. Focus like that on all areas and this size canvas will be ok. Yes, watch that 99% thing. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 12:53pm
Here it is so far!
|
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 1:03pm
|
Doing good :)
Notice how the purple and the darkest brown in the rocks are almost the same color. Edit that dark brown to be just a bit darker so it doesn't blend with the purple. If dark enough then consider making all the black be that real dark brown. ------------- |
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 1:39pm
| Good job! The purple could be more purple/blueish or like jal says, the dark brown darker. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 2:06pm
|
Ah I see what you mean. I tried making the purple darker than the brown so it would look more like cracks.
@AtskaHeart Thanks! I like your edit much better though :P. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 2:17pm
|
For now work on the tree trunk, rocks, mushrooms, towers, etc.
Leave ALL grass and the green part of the tree for after because that will need more attention. On the tree trunk FOCUS on being clean and pretty. Get rid of any I pixel sized gaps, they are ugly. Use colors other than the ones you need sometimes. For example, the white dots in the blue mushroom are in shadow so they are not white use a blue that 'reads' white but is not. Think light and shadow with every pixel... ...focus on the pixel level. E: If you are going with an outline on the outer side of everything then be consistent and don't leave any gaps. If you are only selectively outlining (selout) then be consistent with that. ------------- |
Posted By: Hapiel
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 3:15pm
|
Good luck with your island ADrawingMan! I have some tips for the rocks at the bottom of your island: perhaps be a bit more subtle. Not every rock needs to be surrounded with a dark outline, for example if one overlaps the other you could technically not see a line! Zoom in on Atska's example and see that they are not all completely seperated. @Jal You do such a great job at creating artists! I have said it before but not often enough: Without you I would not be here. And now 5 years later you are still doing it, helping beginners step by step to a masterpiece! Forever patiently with clear instructions and edits. Please give yourself a gold star in my name for best C+C ever! ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 4:02pm
|
You're right! I think I did what's similar to Atska's rocks but more on the lighter side of the island. On the darker side I seem to have more outlines.
But on a different note, here's how things are going so far with my tower. 
The tower is far from being called done, right now I'm trying to get a feel for what the bricks should be like. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 26 May 2013 at 4:48pm
|
Put 'on the pixel level' on hold and go back to 'planning' Find your blocks by coloring them in (think perspective, size, design, layout, look and feel, etc.) then refine from that and when satisfied c/p onto the main art. Think of it as a stand alone asset that you'll paste in. You are basically making the wireframe. Left you a blank to work on :)  @Hapiel,  ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 27 May 2013 at 5:32pm
Oi, this is what I've done so far.
To be honest I don't think I really wemt back into planning mode but rather planned on a "pixel level". I'm not totally sure if I want my tower to be completely covered in a brick like texture. I was thinking that on the dark side of the tower there would be slight hints of brick (I'm gonna try to make them more pronounced later) and going towards the lighter side of the tower the brick would be very subtle. This is still just an idea I'm toying with at the moment though. After looking at this from a distance I think I'm gonna make the subtle brick textures on the light side more noticeable. |
Posted By: AtskaHeart
Date Posted: 28 May 2013 at 5:36am
| A brick texture shouldn't be full of bricks, but hints that there are bricks (which is actually more eye-pleasing). |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 28 May 2013 at 6:04am
|
I agree that they shouldn't be all defined bricks. The wireframe is just so that wherever you do place lines you know where they go. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 28 May 2013 at 2:40pm
I haven't had the chance to do a ton (school and all that) except change a few of the colors.
|
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 28 May 2013 at 6:02pm
I changed a bit of stuff around, whatcha think?
I feel more comfortable with the position the window is in now. |
Posted By: onek
Date Posted: 29 May 2013 at 5:09am
|
man, ill be honest with you..
i think there hasnt been much improvement in the last 10 updates or so.. u hardly take any advice :/ the island thing is still crooked, the compostion is bad and theres no real sense of depth (which there should be, you know, its in the sky... which is like vast and stuff...) it looks abandoned and boring .. bring life into it... birds, smoke... anything.. the thing on the top is quite unreadable.. i suppose its a connon or something.. make it smoke, have the fuse burn (or is it?... idk, cant read it), put down a pile of cannonballs on the ground... the texture on the bottom doesnt work.. dont seperate the blocks with outlines.. it just looks like a bunch of loose stones, about to fall down... the colors are dull, the clouds shaded badly.. color count is way to high for what it is.. and makes dithering (as on the roof) completely unnecassary... sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but to be honest i get a bit p***ed of when people dont take any advice.. there were a lot of very good tips given in this thread.. but u didnt really stick to any of those, except for making it smaller... and honestly, i like the big version from the start better than what u r at now... so why even bother with pixel art..? maybe just make a digital painting, or vector or something along those lines... anyway...heres another edit... have a good look at it 
|
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 29 May 2013 at 1:58pm
|
I see what you're saying in all but in regards to the island being crooked, I kind of like it, I feel as if it gives off a sense of floatyness.
I totally agree with you saying it's dead but shouldn't birds and all that come later when I'm done the towers? But addressing the fact that it should've been bigger, I must disagree. I doubt I would've made it this far if it had been bigger. I do not want to seems rude by ignoring advice if that's what I'm potraying, but if that is what I'm doing I guess I must apologize (and I do mean that sincerely if that's what I'm doing). For example, I love how you did the mushrooms on your edit (the colors and all) but I wouldn't want to use those colors or the mushrooms, not because I don't like them but solely for the fact that I feel as if I'm copying and not putting any real effort into it at all. Something like this may be interpreted as ignoring? But now that you say it I think I'm gonna try to fix the cone on my tower and possibly the color. I'm planning on adding things to make it seems more lively (birds and such) but I was thinking of adding those things later. I also rather fancy the stones on the bottom of the island because it does look like what you're saying, a bunch of stones ready to fall (I rather like the look). Now that I see your clouds it makes me want to touch up on mine too which I will definetely be doing. Again, if I seem like I'm ignoring advice I sincerely apologize. If there is advice I try to heed it and think it over. I may not necessarily use it but I do try to take it into consideration. |
Posted By: onek
Date Posted: 29 May 2013 at 3:03pm
|
u really shouldnt be thinking like details (birds etc) are best left to the final stages of refining..
everything u want to include in ur picture should be there right from the beginning albeit being just some blocky shapes or so... just something to get the idea your initial sketch should be clear and thoroughly planned out so you can just refine it further and further as u go .. thats what pixel art is about imo.. refining coarse shapes and perfect them towards best readabilty possible what u are trying to depict here is some sort of landscape (skyscape?) and in that case composition is the most important factor .. a good landscape/scenic painting entire lifes from composition and should carefully be planned out.. starting out with a good sketch is essential to get a good composition.. and good compostion is essential to get a picture that works i see this problem with many beginners on this forum .. they simply start out with a bad base.. wrong anatomy, bad composition etc.. and then later on get lost in rather unimportant stuff like techniquewithout fixing the real issues i think ur biggest problem is that u are working too contained... just moving in the borders of ur initial lineart.. i dont like this linart approach at all because in most cases the results just end up looking stiff and boring be a bit more daring and block out general forms with a big brush (like the clouds and the tree top ) and then refine further... u are far from a skill level to get the perfect line art right away... what i would do is just take ur picture as it is now and go crazy and wildly paint over it trying to feel the volumes, the light and the shades... FEEL ur painting! :) |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 29 May 2013 at 3:24pm
|
I see what you mean, sorta let loose. I actually talked about this on page one if you search a bit.
I don't think I'm gonna exactly let loose on the rocks under the island but I think I going to do that for the tower. And yes, my next update will definetely Include better clouds, cone, and rough birds. So in all, my plans for the next update in order will be: Working on the tower, rough birds, clouds etc. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 05 June 2013 at 3:03pm
My internet has been down so I haven't really been able to show you anything, any who, here it is.
The one on the right uses a pallet similar to that of onek. I didn't do a TON of stuff mainly due to another project that I got caught up in. |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 06 June 2013 at 4:14pm
|
Erm, I've kind of run into a snag in terms of leaves. To be honest I'm not sure if this tree will even look good with leaves (it probably will if I'm able to do it right). I tried using a style similar to this http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/77185.htm
but to be honest it look hideous! I'm not really sure at this point what style I should approach this with. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 06 June 2013 at 5:30pm
|
Suggest leaves instead of actually going overboard. remember its obvious its a tree. You still have a lot of cleaning up to do and fine tooth comb all over the place...no slacking. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 07 June 2013 at 4:25am
|
I know, I try not to slack as much as can. I noticed that there are some rocks that need some tweaking so I may try to fix those.
I guess I'll try to do the tree leaves later when I can actually call everything else done. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 07 June 2013 at 5:29am
|
Originally posted by ADrawingMan
...so I may try to fix those... Not try..DO! ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 09 June 2013 at 8:27am
Some bricks that I like a lot more than the previous. I fixed a few rocks that have been bothering me on the bottom of the island.
|
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 09 June 2013 at 10:19am
|
The bricks on the little square look nice but don't follow the lines of the tower and are more of a pattern than a texture. I do like them being simple like that.
...kill the birds. ------------- |
Posted By: skittle
Date Posted: 11 June 2013 at 8:00am
I destroyed the birds but I'm slightly curious to why you would suggest to do that. I was fooling around with making the tree look spiky.
What would you think the final product should contain? |
Posted By: RileyFiery
Date Posted: 11 June 2013 at 2:08pm
|
He's joking about the birds. He has a deep seated hatred against black birds because of a traumatic experience as a small beetle. I like the jaggy/spiky outline a lot more than the previous. The window is a tad odd. It looks like it leans towards the left while the tower leans right. |