How is my perspective/shading?
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=18906
Printed Date: 23 October 2025 at 3:05am
Topic: How is my perspective/shading?
Posted By: Latch
Subject: How is my perspective/shading?
Date Posted: 19 May 2014 at 8:30am
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Hi guys I would like some feedback on my perspective and shading for this car, it's the first time attempting this so forgive me if I am horribly wrong!
This is the car both views (I have yet to do the front): 
This is my process to get it to the current state: 
Any feedback big or small is appreciated! |
Replies:
Posted By: buprettyinpink
Date Posted: 20 May 2014 at 6:46am
| Personally I'd remove the car's antenna, it almost looks like stray pixels to me |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 20 May 2014 at 7:01am
Bottom has no antennas, top has antennas. The reason for their inclusion was to give the car a more interesting look, but if the consensus is that it ruins the image I have no problem removing them. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 20 May 2014 at 7:30am
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Honestly, I see nothing wrong with this. But then, I'm not very good with this sort of perspective pixelling. All I can say is: good job :)
I don't think the antennas ruin the image, but I do think they detract more than they add.Especially when they're on the opposite side of the viewer, they look more like a crack in the roof than anything else, in my eyes. As for the background, I do feel that there's a slight mismatch in styles between the cars and their surroundings. The cars look cute, the buildings have a more realistic and detailed look, while the trees are quite abstract and neither cute nor realistic. Just my 5 cents :) |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 20 May 2014 at 12:04pm
I am still working on the environment itself. I altered it slightly based on what you said (the roads and path alignment are still WIP and the markings are off center and out of line in places, unintentional but will fix when I am happy with the rest).
Would you feel the buildings fit better? Worse? Or any pointers for improving the work? |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 21 May 2014 at 5:26pm
Quick Update, I changed the window on the left building and added in some traffic lights although I am unsure if they work for the perspective I am aiming for, thoughts?:
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Posted By: JohnnySix
Date Posted: 21 May 2014 at 6:05pm
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The original buildings had more character, maybe less contrast on the buildings , especially on the bricks, but keep the detail.
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Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 22 May 2014 at 6:10am
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The cars look great. I agree the environment does not quite match the visual cuteness of the cars. ------------- |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 22 May 2014 at 11:11am
I tried a hybrid of the two as I am still unable to grasp how to make the buildings more 'cute', where do I go from here:
Although after looking at the image again, If I added darker outlines to some of the building, would that help? Edit: Like this? (Left building outline, right default) 
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Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 22 May 2014 at 12:38pm
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Originally posted by Latch
I tried a hybrid of the two as I am still unable to grasp how to make the buildings more 'cute', where do I go from here: Add ponies and rainbows. Actually, that's a good question. The thing that makes your cars look 'cute' is that they have a very simple shape, relatively few details, a very clean look, and perhaps slightly cartoonish dimensions. I mean the dimensions are perhaps not strictly accurate, maybe the hood and the trunk are a bit short, maybe the wheels are a bit big, etc. The cars also pop nicely against the background thanks to the colours, the outlines and the shadows. They don't blend in with their surroundings as they would on a photo. Background stuff that detracts from the cuteness: - The wear and tear on the pavement markings. This is realistic, but not cute. - Trash near the gutter. Again, a tiny detail that detracts from the overall style, particularly because you've just painted it like noisy pixels, and no clearly identifiable object, like empty bottles or cardboard boxes. - (People may not agree with this point, but) the buildings have quite a lot of details that don't properly convey their 3D shape and don't have the same cartoonish style as the cars. A cartoonish style typically involves that people are huge compared to their surroundings. Cars have tiny trunks, tiny hoods, huge doors. Houses are tiny, with huge doors, like there's no way there would be room for very much inside. In regards to the traffic lights, they do appear to have the wrong perspective, almost seen from the side. For one thing, the red, yellow and green lights are circular, when they should be more elliptical when seen from above. Now, bear in mind that you don't have to do a cute style. But I'm just saying there should be a consistent style between cars and surroundings. I would either make the cars look more realistic, or do everything else in the same style as the cars. I'll see if I can do a quick edit and you can see if you agree or disagree. EDIT: 
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Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 22 May 2014 at 3:36pm
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Hahaha nice.
That helps a lot, I can see what you mean now whereas before I was quite lost with what to do, kind of a less is more approach, I will update with changes soon, thanks for the help so far. This may be off topic but what kind of pixel character would suit this style best? I've been trying to find a style to fit but I'm again unsure which looks best as a starting point. I added in some found sprites to an old picture to compare, the naked guy on the left is what I am thinking at this moment: 
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Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 22 May 2014 at 3:53pm
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Now, I'm very biased here, because I hate all 'chibi' styled puppets in pixel art with a passion. If I could eradicate either chibi pixel art or AIDS, I would need a few days to consider.
That being said, I do think that the 'chibi' style is a bit at odds with what I found to be a very lovely, very English scene. I don't know if this is actually supposed to be England, it's just what came to mind, because of the brick walls, brick pavement and yellow plates on the cars. If it's supposed to be England, I would try something that wasn't chibi. I'm also not sure I would use something with sel-out (selective outlining), but that's another judgement call, I guess. But yeah, in terms of perspective, definitely make sure that the characters are seen from above (like the traffic lights), and not the standard side perspective. |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 22 May 2014 at 4:03pm
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Aye it's England as I have been surrounded by these buildings all my life, I guess they rubbed off on me, good spot.
(Had to google chibi)and you'll be happy to know that it isn't my aim to have a chibi character, that was simply the best example I could find for a character that would fit the rest of the style. |
Posted By: CELS
Date Posted: 22 May 2014 at 4:33pm
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That's excellent :)
By the way, you have over 100 colours in this piece already. I would advise you to reduce it to a much lower number, for several reasons. 1) Using a smaller palette often helps unify the colours and the whole image feels more coherent, rather than different bits and pieces glued together. 2) Using fewer colour makes it much, much easier to make changes underway. It's easier to adjust the different colours in relation to each other, and it's easier to manipulate and move the pixels. It's hard to explain, but more colours = more work and/or difficulty, a lot of the time. 3) Long term bonus: using fewer colours may force you to think differently about the way you use colours, which helps you learn more about how to use colours. |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 22 May 2014 at 7:38pm
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I will keep that in mind and refine the colours when it comes to making the final art work, is under 100 the best max?
I mocked up some basic character templates but once again, perspective is giving me a problem. 
(scale will be fixed, the character doesn't tower the car intentionally) The top was the starting point, the bottom was me trying to soften the outline and put the character in the desired perspective, It was going fine until I couldn't think how to tuck in the bottom of the character. Most of what I tried results in the character looking much shorter. 
I THINK the chest is looking better but I just cannot get the lower half to work without him looking tiny. (Image of the men(side view(starting point characters)) in the scene which I am still working on) 
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Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 23 May 2014 at 6:01am
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The cars fall into a cute look because essentially the car is both simple and slightly exaggerated while remaining in scale and proportionate. To make the buildings and the environment also fall into the same cuteness you need to both simplify and exaggerate it while keeping it in scale and proportions. If I have time later today I'll make a quicky edit of a building, k. The people sprites are great. ------------- |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 23 May 2014 at 3:28pm
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Thanks, although the perspective for the characters is off is it not? I'm still trying to get a better perspective whilst retaining the characters but I am finding it near impossible.
I've been looking at these images and similar for hours, trying to see what it is that defines their perspective and I am at a loss: 
Is it just more shoulder and the rest as is? This is where I am currently: 
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Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 24 May 2014 at 11:37am
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Sorry for creating the new thread, I'm used to starting a new topic on a different subject, but, the more you know!
I will upload the animation began here which is to be edited thanks to CELLS suggestion: Keyframe run cycle: 
(again sorry for the size) CELS perspective edit: 
What are the conventions for conveying the 3/4 view? I tried for hours to tuck in the legs, bring the shoulders forward, reveal more of the head and all I ended up with was a tiny character. 
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Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 24 May 2014 at 3:14pm
Animation update thanks to suggestions by r1k:
Clothed: 
The animation perspective in game (I can't animate the character in the scene with the program I am using without spending a very long time to do so, so sorry for that): 
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Posted By: r1k
Date Posted: 24 May 2014 at 3:43pm
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you need to change the foot thats on the ground on the passing positions (frames 2 and 4). Look at the reference example again http://www.syrettdesigns.com/uploads/1/1/2/8/11288210/977794_orig.jpg - http://www.syrettdesigns.com/uploads/1/1/2/8/11288210/977794_orig.jpg the way youve drawn the foot on the ground is supposed to imply that we're seeing some of the bottom of the foot, since the foot hasnt been planted all the way on the ground yet and is pointing upward. By the passing position, the foot is basically flat on the ground, so we dont see the bottom of the foot anymore, so it has to be drawn differently. Even though this is just a base, you may want to put a simple 2 tone shading on it. Shadows can be helpful to imply when things are moving back in space, and also to show witch way things are bending. Heres a simple illustration showing what I mean:  |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 24 May 2014 at 3:56pm
Like this:
Or this: 
Or have I got it completely wrong? EDIT: I will work on a 2 colour version now 
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Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 24 May 2014 at 7:29pm
Before and after for the perspective:
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Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 25 May 2014 at 1:37pm
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http://www.pixeljoint.com/files/icons/full/walkdown6frame1.gif">
 http://www.pixeljoint.com/files/icons/full/ashwalk.gif">  This shows how shadowing helps the angle pretty well using a similar style as mentioned by r1k http://www.pixeljoint.com/files/icons/orc.gif">  http://www.pixeljoint.com/files/icons/full/lyra.gif">  *me searching the gallery http://www.pixeljoint.com/files/icons/mario_run_idle.gif">  ------------- |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 26 May 2014 at 5:13am
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Haha, I know the feeling I was look for hours for anything that I could get help with the perspective for so thanks for the effort.
I have updated my sprites with a darker lower half and it does help the perspective a lot more, I will upload the updates soon! |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 30 May 2014 at 2:26pm
Hello again, a quick update on some characters I have been making:
(Kudos if you can name all the second row) The top rows are not yet changed the bottom 2 rows show the flat and the (Hopefully(Although they could do with having a darker lower half)) slightly tilted characters. I have been reading up on colour pallets and I realized that I ignored the whole concept of them, and just created whatever colour I wanted/needed. So, I will be revising my work and creating a colour pallet to work from. As you may already get a sense for my art direction is there any pointers you can give? One thing I really would like to know is the amount of colours I should aim to be the maximum count, I know there is no rule but its good to get a sense of where you yourself limit at. |
Posted By: PixelSnader
Date Posted: 02 June 2014 at 8:31am
Hey I was just rummaging through some old files and I came across these. They're roughly the same size and perspective as what you're aiming for, so maybe they're of use as reference.
 ------------- ▄▄█ ▄▄█ ▄█▄ ▄█▄ |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 03 June 2014 at 7:28am
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Oh fantastic, thank you.
I made a quick edit to some existing sprites based on what I saw from the images you posted: Left = new right = old (Sorry for the brightness of the images, I really have to up the brightness when I create pixel art on my ipad) 
I am aware my pallet structure falls under the 'bad' category (I am yet to create a palate and fully read the guide) so forgive me for that. Does it look better now? |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 09 June 2014 at 8:13pm
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Hey all, I tried my hand at drawing the character facing in different directions,it is rough and I feel I have gotten as far as I can without some C&C!
Here is an animation: 
These are the individual frames: 
And a view of the angled sprite in a mock up scene: 
Any feedback no matter how big or small really helps so please feel free, be harsh too, the more harsh the better :) I am quite struggling to get the angled sprites to keep perspective with the rest of the image too. |
Posted By: Delicious
Date Posted: 09 June 2014 at 9:57pm
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I dunno what was said cause I didn't bother reading the comments, but... Looking better as you go on. Avoid pillow-shadding. Some colors are also very similar to each other and do not have the same level of depth as the vehicles. Also, the characters are far to large in comparison to the cars. |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 09 June 2014 at 10:38pm
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So when it comes to shading I should include much darker tone than I currently have or are you referring to the hair?
I will revise the cars once I have my characters down as I am happy with their look, so enlarging them shouldn't be too much of a problem. Thanks for the feedback |
Posted By: felchqueen
Date Posted: 10 June 2014 at 2:28am
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I like the scale of the people in relation to the cars, it adds an element of cartoonish humour. As for the updates to the characters, the lumberjack style one you've updated now looks like we're looking at him face on instead of slightly above, however the white t-shirt guy looks better, I think it's the darker colour on the midriff that's key. :) |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 10 June 2014 at 6:23am
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I see the scale of people to cars really off too but I don't mind that in this case. Lots of extra and useless colors everywhere which is such a shame. I still think the buildings are not quite the same style, look and feel and is my biggest crit. This edit is not polished or anything refined but is just intended to show you how I would tweak the buildings to better fit the overall look and feel.  ------------- |
Posted By: Latch
Date Posted: 10 June 2014 at 8:45pm
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Thanks a lot for the comments so far, and thank you jalonso for taking the time to create an example, that has really helped to portray what you were referring to earlier on and I especially like what you did to the pavement.
felchqueen, I felt the same way too about the lumberjack I'm sort of in between animating and trying to create a colour pallet as It (quite rightly) has been brought up that I am using a lot of unnecessary colors due to lack of understanding and a "Aahhh, It'll do" attitude so hopefully I can fix that when I have a suitable palate :) Speaking on the animation front I made a few more tweaks to the base directions before I saw these new posts : 
Thanks again! |