Practicing outline-style
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=21200
Printed Date: 11 September 2025 at 4:02am
Topic: Practicing outline-style
Posted By: Lakelezz
Subject: Practicing outline-style
Date Posted: 31 January 2015 at 9:22am
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Dear PixelJoint-Community! Currently I am practicing an outline-style and would appreciate your feedback. I started to work on two pieces: The first one is "Mei Misaki" from the manga/anime "Another".  What I do not like / struggle with: - The hair I wanted to add a highlight but I struggle with combining the dark colours with some new light one and keeping everything consistent. Reference for the hair:  I know that my shape is not quite accurate to the original, however I will fix that later on. - Concept & Anatomy The left hand is seems not to fit but I do not know what to do with it. Maybe I should rework the whole gesture? If there is anything wrong with the anatomy (which probably is), I would be happy to hear about it. The second image is Faris Nyannyan from the manga/anime "Steins;Gate".  What I want to fix/improve: - The hair The colours occur to be washed out. The bright pink has a really soft transition, letting the darker pink be useless/unrecognizable and confronting to hard with the red. - The ribbons I could not manage to make them better. Any ideas to make them less giant with this style? - Anatomy, Outline & AA banding The arms and legs. Specially the arms though. The hands are still pretty much work in progress but the arms volume feel wrong. I am not quite sure how to tackle or fix this. Additionally I think there is some AA banding. Would you agree? Is there a possibility to fix that? Specially long lines, keeping a consistent direction are my problem... Here is a reference for her:  Please keep in mind: These are still work in progress :) Thanks for taking your time to read and I am looking forward for your ideas, suggestions, edits and help in general. |
Replies:
Posted By: RebeaLeion
Date Posted: 31 January 2015 at 12:58pm
| For ribbons on her head maybe try to do some little thinning(?) that way you could separate bow-knots a little. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 31 January 2015 at 7:09pm
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I guess you are right, RebeaLeion! However how to manage that with an outline around all the objects? On this way there will be always a thickness of 3 pixels (1 red of the ribbon - 2 for the dark red outline on each side). However I tried a little edit + skipping the red outline whenever I felt it would improve readability. Though this is still kinda against the style.. I guess.  |
Posted By: RebeaLeion
Date Posted: 31 January 2015 at 11:13pm
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i cant help with this, let us someone more experienced tell us that. I started skipping outline on my trees too. So I am curious bout this as well.
But since it's inside a sprite I think it's ok. Or you know what you could try ? try to add outline not the same exact red dark but one which is more similiar to hair value. :) |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 01 February 2015 at 2:01pm
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Oh, you at least tried giving me ideas :) I came up with this:  In this attempt I tried simply AAing the ribbons. Kinda works but still.. hmmm.. I appreciate any kind of help - must not be about the ribbon. There is a list of struggles in the first post :) |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 03 February 2015 at 7:20am
I made some edits. -Some experimental extreme highlight on the hair. -Lower hair part got shaped. -Minor fixes  -Hair colours tuned - still not sure if this tone fits to the original. -Some hair transitions have been improved. -Ribbon tweaked. |
Posted By: dpixel
Date Posted: 03 February 2015 at 7:14pm
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Here's an edit. Mainly a color/face edit. I found the face a bit creepy. Is it supposed to be? Maybe it can give you some ideas. Also, you had a lot of colors so close to each other, it was very hard to tell them apart. The dress and legs looks great (nice pixel clusters). The arms could use some reshaping...smaller wrists? larger hands?
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Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 04 February 2015 at 1:42pm
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Thank you, dpixel! I really like your edit and appreciate your commitment! In my opinion your edits made her look more like the original, which is quite a good guideline for me. Since I drifted off from what she actually looks like. Though you opened my eyes now, haha. All those similar colours were me practicing to blend over between the colours to provide a fluid transition. I made an edit, used nearly the same colour values as you. As far as I could see they are pretty close to the reference and they indeed work for the purpose of pixeling her.  I kept the old mouth. Your's might be more like the reference but I simply prefer the old one. Additionally the bangs has been emphasized with the red and darker pink. This might change in the next updates. Another point would be the eyes: I went for something close to your edit but changed that and added the white leather skin. As well as the face proportions were changed: Positioned eyes higher to a proper distance to the mouth and nose.Moreover the neck has been extended. Lastly I added some bright spots on the string on the right arm and her stomach - this might be removed as well. I am simply lacking time to make more edits today. The hand for example is cut off - I tried on improving anatomy but it is not that easy for me and also the ribbons are still a thing to be tackled. The could work like in your edit but they would miss the outline. I am not sure if I actually need them to stick to this outline-based-style, though. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 05 February 2015 at 1:29pm
I have done some updates. Though my time was limited again. First of all I tried myself on adding the hands. Also the hair has been tweaked around and the darkish border of the pony got removed with something much more fitting. Additionally I added some small shadows on the right bright side of the dress. Lastly there have been some pixels moved from one place to another or added - just some little stuff. What I just realized is the missing shading of frilly stuff. However I might gonna completely rework them in order to get closer to the original. While that do not mind them for now, haha. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 06 February 2015 at 1:20pm
Some more changes: -Pony is now longer and fits much more to the original. -Hair shading changed. -Legs shapes got synchronized. -A new outline around the white cloth on the skirt has been added. -The cloth's throwing shadows onto the skirt adjusted. -White ruffles has been completed in terms of shading. |
Posted By: dpixel
Date Posted: 06 February 2015 at 4:19pm
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The white pixels around the eyes just doesn't look right. I see it in the reference, but at this size it just looks confusing and hard to read. ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 07 February 2015 at 6:28am
I agree! As a result I removed the white. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 07 February 2015 at 5:39pm
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Starting off with this update: I felt like her legs were too thick and clunky. I prefer this change by far - though I might do some more changes on the right leg's shadow.  The colours were lowered from 24 to 15. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 08 February 2015 at 2:24pm
Another small change on the shoes. Does somebody think there has to be something fixed or changed in general on this piece? |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 09 February 2015 at 9:17am
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Old: New:  Changes:
Whenever you have an idea, suggestion, or an conceptual edit feel free to share this with me :) |
Posted By: rhlstudios
Date Posted: 09 February 2015 at 2:32pm
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I love watching your WIPs, you work so hard to make your pieces the best they can be and it's fantastic to see :D If you want to reduce your color count more, I notice that the colors used on her hair highlight are unique to the highlight. You can incorporate colors already used, this is just a rough example but you can play around with your existing colors  |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 09 February 2015 at 3:31pm
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Oh, I am glad you like watching my WIPs :) Did not really think that they are that great but rather slow and tenacious. Yes, I added those colours and told myself: It okay.. I probably need them... Bad excuse, haha. So I started to work on the following edit thanks to you.  Down from 30 to 24 colours! Though I use the pure black on the inner. I might go up to 25 or something to replace the pure black. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 09 February 2015 at 5:28pm
Here comes another additional attempt on Nyannyan: I remember having problems with adding the leather skin to the iris - this might work a little bit better than before. Though I am not sure. Any ideas? |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 10 February 2015 at 1:20pm
Ok, a last tweak on Faris. I will publish her now. If something pops up into my mind I can still apply little edits anyway. I used some darker skin tones to emphasize on the leather skin of the eye. Added some more texture on the right curly hair. Some minor changes here and there. |
Posted By: RebeaLeion
Date Posted: 11 February 2015 at 7:19am
| the final looks superior to your first sketch/attempt. :) |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 13 February 2015 at 1:22pm
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Thank you, RebeaLeion! There will be many more to come. Right now I am figuring out which character try myself on next, haha. While I am thinking, I am applying some new changes to Mei Misaki. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 13 February 2015 at 3:21pm
Some changes on Mei Misaki:
|
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 14 February 2015 at 8:58am
New changes! I might publish her soon, too. So I did some changes in her face. Specially to emphasize on the shadows and use my variety on tones much more. The area around her neck got changed a bit to stress out the neck and the surroundings. Her legs had a small shadow tweak as well! Both knee had like 1 or 2 pixels changed and the right leg's shadow got removed because it would make no sense at that position. Additionally the skirt cast shadow got brightened to provide a less strong transition. Lastly the line between both legs got softened up. Her mouth (which became a smile in the last update), got changed by some pixels. Things to think about: Moving her knees down. They might be too high. Skin colours. Even though I like it right now, there might be something better. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 14 February 2015 at 4:09pm
More changes! Lowered the colour amount from 23 to 20. The hair got changed a bit but I am still not happy with the hair. It should be different I guess. Additionally there were some small changes (neck area and so on..). |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 18 February 2015 at 8:53am
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I published Mei Misaki! http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/92726.htm - http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/92726.htm Additionally I tried to improve Faris Nyannyan.  The head has been lowered in order to fix anatomy. Additionally her jaw has been softened because her chin being too sharp. If you have any feedback, feel free to share it with me! My next step will be about creating an animation with this style. Therefore I will create a base which should be customizable by me. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 20 February 2015 at 5:13am
I did some more changes on Faris Nyannyan: - Head got changed: - Head is now shorter. - Facial expression has been edited according to the new head size. - A shiny effect was added onto the eyes. - Cheeks are more lovely now (soft blushes). - Legs are now shorter. - Hair got adjusted: - Reflection on the hair got almost totally changed. - Another AA gradient was applied. - Colour palette got tweaked. - Canvas got adjusted according to her new height. |
Posted By: rhlstudios
Date Posted: 20 February 2015 at 7:10am
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WOW!! Wow wow, her hair and face look amazing, like night and day! Very nice work, I found her face looked a little menacing before but now it looks so adorable and sweet! her hair reflection looks so much better too, as does her hair. Just wow, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I absolutely love watching your WIPS :3 |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 21 February 2015 at 4:55pm
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Rhlstudios, thank you a lot! Always appreciate your feedback! Additionally I am glad that you enjoy my WIPs : ) Before I start with animating this style I felt like practicing some more. Specially focusing on AAing. This time it is Aoba Tsugumi from the manga and anime "Kannagi". Oh, do not mind those depth on the clothes too much - I am switching the clothes around so often right now... I will fix them when everything is in the right place, haha.  I started to work on this today and used 15 colours. However the anatomy let me struggle so much and I am pretty sure her arms not correct. Anybody who could give me some rough edit to show me how it should be? Her hand gesture is also not that good I guess. Next is the head - which might be too big? However looking at the following references makes me wonder again. One more aspect is the detail in the dress. I am not talking about the depth in general but those purple lines leading up to her chest. Originally those are a feature of her dress which you can see on the second reference but I simply can not implement them... Any ideas?    Thanks for reading and of course I appreciate any kind of constructive feedback : ) |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 22 February 2015 at 8:56am
Another edit, changed multiple minor things. I tried to stress out the lines on her dress. However I am still not happy with this. Any suggestions about those lines? |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 22 February 2015 at 1:19pm
Just gave it another try:  I made her dress brighter in order to let the by lines back folded areas look deeper. As a result there is no need for those extreme deep purples anymore. This is based on the reference where the back folded area has the same shade as on the dress. |
Posted By: Limes
Date Posted: 22 February 2015 at 8:17pm
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Her skirt is kinda flat. The shading doesn't really fit her form. ------------- |
Posted By: Iscalio
Date Posted: 23 February 2015 at 6:34am
| cute |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 27 February 2015 at 5:18pm
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Thanks for your feedback, Limes. Also thanks for your one word impression, Iscalio. However I made some huge updates - including a total makeover of her size and everything.  Nonetheless her skirt is still pretty flat but I am not sure too add a good depth. I tried different things but they all do not work out. Any suggestions, ideas, edits? |
Posted By: Limes
Date Posted: 27 February 2015 at 5:34pm
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The outlined indent adjacent to the light source. Maybe just colour it in darker. It looks much less flat anyhow. ------------- |
Posted By: Boder
Date Posted: 27 February 2015 at 5:37pm
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I like that Aoba much, much better.
I'm glad you were able to fix up the proportions without any input. Good eye! ------------- No sig kinda guy :'( |
Posted By: dyluck
Date Posted: 28 February 2015 at 5:24am
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I think the outline should not be everywhere in the same color, there's places when the outline should me much clearer. Please, could some PJ member more experienced confirm this? |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 28 February 2015 at 6:25pm
Just a small update on the shoes and the right sleeve: Nonetheless I am not sure whether I let the right sleeve stay blank or let it as it is right now. Limes, thanks for your input but for now the outline will be independent from the light source. Boder, I am glad you like it : ) Dyluck, as I mentioned in Limes' reply, for now the outline wont be affected by the light. However I am still stuck on adding depth onto the dress. Any suggestions without changing the outline's colour? |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 04 March 2015 at 4:34pm
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In order to add more depth to the skirt I tried multiple things. However I am not happy with what I have got now nor do I feel like this is the best way. Basically there is the first version:  Then I decided to change the blue tone to give it a better synergy with the white tones. I also reworked the shading and used some lines to return to the style.  However I was not satisfied with the lines so I removed them:  Nonetheless nothing of this really feeling goot enough. Though changing the skirt's shape on the left might have helped into the right direction, haha. |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 05 March 2015 at 2:43pm
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New update! I decided to go with selective outlining to improve the depth a bit more. Though I tried to reuse the colours of her which ended up in only a small difference compared to the black outline.  As a result using new colours for the outlines could be a better idea to go with. Additionally making the blue darker ended up in a rather too strong contrast on the right sleeve. That would underline the need of using different and more outstanding colours. Still struggling with the depth of the skirt - this is really tough thing to get done well for me. |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 05 March 2015 at 3:58pm
you could get a little more depth with a single click of that good old trusty bucket xD though youd have to shade everything else similarly to maintain a uniform style... I do not think the sel out is working at all in the hands. The hands look like they do not belong with the rest of the pic because everything else has a well defined outline. Ironically, the hands are an area that need outlines the most, since they are overlapping the torso |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 06 March 2015 at 1:49pm
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Haha, the good old trusty bucket :D Thanks for your idea, Friend! It actually added depth but as you said: I would have to change the whole piece in terms of shading :/ However I came up with this, after the artist dpixer giving me an edit.  I really think the skirt looks better now. Lowering the usage of all the colours before just was not fitting to the references. Haha, actually I could fix the little hair strand, too! I am still thinking about the shoes... They need probably more changes. -------- Edit: I went for a perspective fix for the shoes.  Additionally the colour amount has been removed from 24 to 17 (without the background grey). |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 07 March 2015 at 4:28am
I went down to 15 colours (without the background again) and changed the shoes. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 07 March 2015 at 4:45am
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I know its not noticeable at 1X but the single pixel line at the bottom of the elbow is considered a bad habit in pixelart. You hardly ever want to see that even in small sprites.
------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 07 March 2015 at 5:21am
Thanks for pointing out! Is it fixed now or did I misunderstand you? |
Posted By: Iscalio
Date Posted: 07 March 2015 at 10:28am
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I'm not sure I understand either. There are single pixel thickness lines of a single color all over the model. What's going on at the elbow that's different? 0_o
um if you wanted suggestions...I guess the hand feel quite unfinished atm, maybe you were still getting around to that? on a related note her left lower arm (right side of image) feels bent and feels like it has as much or more thickness at the wrist than higher up the arm. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 07 March 2015 at 11:40am
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Yes. That's what I meant. That single pixel jump is bad form.
Similarly on the right shoulder that's colored in the lighter grey right at the bend where the dress strap is you jump from a single pixel to a long line...same thing. Clean up after yourself ;) ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 07 March 2015 at 1:16pm
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Thanks for your feedback, Iscalio! I appreciate it! Therefore I did an update on the hands :) Jalonso, thanks you a lot for pointing out my mistakes! As a result I tried to remove all those single pixels! Last but not least: The eyes got nearly completely updated! Edit: I changed the hand's shading according to the rest.  |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 07 March 2015 at 5:33pm
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Because you call this thread 'practicing outline style' I pointed that out. I see a lot of 'poor' lines still here and many singles that jump a little bit.
Its not always possible to be 100% clean but lines that 'jump' in any way generally look odd even to those that are not aware of it. 'Stepping' your lines whenever possible is the best thing to do and when it does not work then AA or coloring the outline can help. For example a line that is 3-4-3-5-5-9 will jump more than a 3-3-5-7-9 line. ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 08 March 2015 at 5:03am
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Thanks for the input! I checked all the lines whether they can be improved or not. Nonetheless I decided to increase the saturation. Here is a comparison via animated GIF:  Last but not least - the update without animation:  |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 08 March 2015 at 8:33am
For your consideration :) ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 08 March 2015 at 3:01pm
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Wow! What else have I to say but wow! This is some really lovely feedback of your's, Jalonso :) I am astonished of your commitment and neat presentation showing all the layers being used for the comparision. Even pointing out the "odd bits" to fully understand my bad habits. Just saved this picture on my ressource folder in order to get and learn the most out of it. Your suggestions were pretty much amazing and helped me a lot to understand using my lines even better! Here is the result:  I am pretty satisfied with the outcome and could hopefully understand enough of your example to solve all the problems as you did. Just thank you, Jalonso :) Anything else which could be considered changed or should I do a cut here and publish it? I am always pretty undecided about that :S |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 08 March 2015 at 7:55pm
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You are welcome. Its what we're all here for :) You lines are much cleaner now and I hope you noticed how 'stepping' lines always help thing flow. You have some coloring issues as it pertains to coloring shadows and some AA inconsistencies but as this was a line exercise I won't bother you...this time :p ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 09 March 2015 at 8:32am
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Originally posted by jalonso [...] You have some coloring issues as it pertains to coloring shadows and some AA inconsistencies but as this was a line exercise I won't bother you...this time :p Haha, you are not bothering me at all! The colours are a tough thing in this one for me. First I tried something out with more saturation but I disliked it and returned to this lower saturated one. If you have some advices on the colours for this piece feel free to "bother" me :P Here comes my new edit - focused on cleaning the AA more and changing the darkest red shade to a purple tone:  The shade edit was simply because I wanted this piece to look more interesting and less predictable in it's colour ramp. Well, I will have to keep changing the shades and colours until they really satisfy me. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 10 March 2015 at 6:28am
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Will your final pixel retain the blue BG? ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 10 March 2015 at 6:34am
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No, this background will be removed! Do you think I should stick to hue shifting to become more original? The other option would be analysing her anime colour more. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 10 March 2015 at 6:41am
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I was going to make an edit and just wanted to know if the BG was going to be in the final or if it would be trans. Because you are using a blue BG then colors are affected. Many like a plain grey (on the darker side) BG to work their colors out so as to have as little effect as possible. ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 10 March 2015 at 7:03am
| Oh then I probably should remove the background! It was planned anyway! |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 10 March 2015 at 8:21am
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I meant having a plain grey BG as you work to keep a cleaner eye on color as oppsoed to any shade with a color. You can remove BG when done. ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 10 March 2015 at 12:29pm
Oh, thanks. Is this grey dark enough? Only some really small adjustments - not colour-wise though. Nonetheless I tried some colour tweaking but I did not like them. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 10 March 2015 at 1:56pm
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The grey is a personal thing.
What you have there is very close to what I use. Notice how your greys in the shirt and socks now look bluer than they did before. ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 10 March 2015 at 2:36pm
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Yes! My mistake was that I took the same blue as being used for the base of her shirt. First it was bit darker but then I changed it which was a rather bad idea I guess. Honestly I am mainly working on those transparent-tiles indicating a transparent area and when I want to publish a new progress I save them onto a background. Back then I simply published them transparent. Any specific recommendation about the colours/shades? The purple shade might be too dark - not sure though. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 11 March 2015 at 5:17am
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I reviewed and went thru your colors and they are just fine and I find nothing wrong at all (not a color expert). I did tweak them for levels and balance and my palette is on the right side. You mention that you see something not quite working right and I was going to attempt to illustrate that sometimes its not just the colors but the lightsource and was going to show you how different lighting using the same colors can make the colors look different. I decided not to do this however because I felt it would both sway you from your artistic direction and possibly send you back to the start and since nothing is really wrong with what you have. I decided to go ahead and show you what little I did start on. For future pixels just remember that the lightsource direction and angle is part of the palette and overall color.  ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 11 March 2015 at 12:09pm
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Haha, your edit looks good but too 3d-like for the intended style :P Nonetheless I like you palette. I will try to care more about the light as a general indicator for the palette! This is what your palette changes plus some of my personal adjustment ended up with:  I might change the skin tone a bit more since I feel like it should be more like my previous one. Three more questions before I tend to call myself finished on this in order to move on: Do you think the upper hair highlight on the left side (the 1-1-1-1 line mixed of AA and brighter red) does band? The same goes for the highlight on the right side. Does this band too? Finishing of with the last question: Is a black line (as you suggest in your palette) working completely in this? Should it be a straight pure black? I see many different lovely pieces with blackish outlines and also hear quite diverse suggestions. |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 11 March 2015 at 12:31pm
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it bands a little, as does some of your areas that have too much AA (AA at 45 degree lines arent often needed), but you arent really getting any of the negative aspects of banding anywhere, mainly due to how big the image is. I think the black is working, since you reserve it mainly for outlines and very minimally for shadows. You really want to avoid too much black for shading, as shadows aren't really black and it can hurt depth. but you've used it well. :) I'd call this finished.  |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 11 March 2015 at 12:37pm
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Hey Friend! So my perception was right? Should I remove those AA banding in order to provide a more lovely zoom-in haha? Where are those other areas of banding just to be sure? Yes, this piece was a lot fun and great experience :) |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 11 March 2015 at 4:08pm
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yes your perception was right. You dont have to remove the AA, since it
is not effecting the image unless you zoom in. even still, it doesnt
really change the artistic merit of the piece. You have to make the
call. As a pixel artist, it isn't necessary to be this obsessive of
details like this, especially at this size. Generally, the smaller the
size, the more you can be nitpicky about these things. No one is going
to care that you have some slight AA banding in this piece. Generally,
it demonstrates great pixel work, and that is enough. Stop worrying so
much and keep pixeling new stuff ^_^ Maybe something smaller so all of
this focus you have on wanting to improve your technique will be useful. In the edit- orange= some think it is ok, I personally avoid it since i consider it a kind of banding. You can decide for yourself whether you keep it or not red-worst aa offenders. For you, it is usually 45 degree lines. 45 degress lines rarely need aa. Notice how the changes I did didn't really improve your image unless maybe if you zoom in? Yeah, your piece is done, time for new stuff! Great job.  |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 12 March 2015 at 2:47pm
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Nice example of what I have done wrong! Thanks a lot, Friend! I looked for similarities and tried to understand it on my own in order to learn it :) The marked areas gave me some neat tips of where to look but still I found many more points which I felt like where banding too much.  Well the last thing which is still bugging me is the 45-degree hair highlight strands. Without the AA they do not shine as much but with they might be a bad way of providing it. Any suggestions? |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 12 March 2015 at 2:54pm
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Its all fine.
AAing 45 degree lines is considered bad pixelling ;) ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 12 March 2015 at 2:56pm
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Yes, I thought that it is bad :D Any way to fix this? Without the AA it loses the shining appearance and does not fit to the other highlights :/ |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 12 March 2015 at 3:13pm
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No. That is one of those things 'about pixelart'.
Sometimes you can hide it when there's a busy BG or its inside a pixel. When its on the edges there's not much you can do cept maybe in this case another hair curl or a ribbon ;) ------------- |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 12 March 2015 at 4:23pm
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you can always make your highilghts and shading clusters thicker than single pixel thick. It's either be smarter with your shading clusters, take it out, or leave it (I'd only ever leave it if the banding is minimal, such as in your piece.) Sometimes banding is not really avoidable to depict what you want to. But yes, generally, AA'ing 45 degree lines is bad pixeling if you can help it. For your hair highlights, why not keep the AA if you feel it adds to the style of the hair? A little banding, if done intentionally is entirely ok. Next time though, if you really want to avoid banding, i'd recommend having larger highlight clusters so you can avoid banding come on, upload her to the gallery! :> |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 7:18am
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Thanks for clearing things up, Jalonso and Friend! Nonetheless I do not want to use the excuse "this is on purpose" to explain bad pixeling. Avoiding bad pixel behaviours and keep on working on bad pixeling is what I should focus on this piece. This is the new update. Does this way of highlighting work?  |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 10:00am
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side of cheek and bottom of chin is over aa'ed, probably meaning theres a slight problem with the line art. i showed how you can tweak the lines in the chin to not only use less aa (you want to use as little aa as possible), but also to smooth out the curve. -------------------------- cyan, with the writing at the top: Develop a sharper eye for how lines and clusters come together. I thought how the thin strand of bright red hits the dark spot at the top of the crown looked a little harsh, so I tried to improve how the clusters in that area locked together. red- banding (I want you to know that you can utilize all techniques in pixel art to sneak your way out of banding. Changing the line art, AA, changing shading clusters, anything is fair game. green- jagged lines that could be smoothed magenta- things to avoid (often for you, it is single bright pixels)  animated gif showing changes  |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 12:09pm
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Thanks a lot, Friend! You were a big of a help to get rid of all those mistakes! I took some time and tried to break down your marked areas. I tried to solve almost everything and then compared to what you suggest in terms of fixes. Sometimes / quite often our changes differ a bit or more but that should be no deal.  Is there anything important on the hair highlights I did? Do they work out? If somebody can give me feedback about this I would be really happy :) |
Posted By: dpixel
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 12:26pm
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I think jalonsos hair edit would be more fitting as far as shadow consistency
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Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 12:31pm
Well, I did a rough edit on your idea. I took the hair of Jalonso's edit and pasted it roughly above her old hair. The shadows and light feel way too 3D in my opinion. Edit: Though were you talking about the general idea of shadow placing? |
Posted By: dpixel
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 4:28pm
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Originally posted by Lakelezz Edit: Though were you talking about the general idea of shadow placing? Yes. just to match the shadow on the legs, dress, and blouse. I would think there would be a little more light on the top of the head than the edit tho. Too 3D? I think that may be the first time I heard that on here.  ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 4:43pm
Well, to a certain level I want to stick to the original anime references. That means avoiding too much 3D :P This a new attempt to display the highlights on the head! Edit: I shaded the left back hair. |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 5:07pm
| the new shading in the hair looks fantastic, but doesnt match the style as much as your old hair, because now the hair appears to have much more detail than the rest of her |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 5:17pm
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Hmmm, I do not think that it is too detailed because the hair is the only part of the references which is highlighted and shaded at the same time. I would not know how to combine the old with the new otherwise :/ |
Posted By: dpixel
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 6:33pm
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The new hair looks great!
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Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 13 March 2015 at 7:07pm
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I see what youre saying about the hair being the only shaded and highlighted part. The thing is you're right, but if you pay close attention to the anime style of your reference, all parts of her have the same amount of depth....Her hair in the anime has just hints of shadow and specks of highlight, dominated mostly by a base red. It's not really how youve drawn it in the new version, which is fine, but to my eye, I see clashing styles between your new hair and the rest of her. It kinda looks like a wig because youve given it more depth than her head, thus looking like it's sitting on her head rather than her real hair. idk, i like how you did the new hair, but I do feel it looks off with the rest of the style. I think all you would have to change is make the shadows of her skin more pronounced. Just my opinion though. She is all yours |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 14 March 2015 at 4:45pm
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I can understand what you mean. Nonetheless there is no clue in my mind how I could help this. Additionally my impression is the piece overall is fine. I do not feel any style differences. My pre-final edit:  I changed the eyes! Here is my reference:  Any final suggestions :)? |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 14 March 2015 at 5:40pm
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Wow.. The eyes look beautiful and really well pixeled. In fact, I think the change also helped solidify the style. :]
Wonderful ^_^ |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 14 March 2015 at 7:37pm
| I am glad you like it! :) |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 15 March 2015 at 1:12pm
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Just added to the gallery and see this in the description: "Transparency is used as well, so it will be 15 colours on pixeljoint!" Transparency is a color anywhere online. The technicality is that its a color with a mask but its still a color :) ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 15 March 2015 at 1:20pm
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Well, that is of course true. It will always end up as a colour but it is not a part of my palette. That is why I wrote this down. I am going edit that :) Thanks for adding it to the gallery, though! Here is the link for everyone who is interested and stumbled upon this thread: http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/93357.htm - http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/93357.htm |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 15 March 2015 at 1:27pm
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Originally posted by Lakelezz ...Thanks for adding it to the gallery, though! for everyone who is interested and stumbled upon this thread: Having a WIP thread and showing even the slightest effort is almost a guarantee it will be added. With the effort and work you put into it we should really have feature it, not just added  ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 15 March 2015 at 1:35pm
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Originally posted by jalonso With the effort and work you put into it we should really have feature it, not just added Haha, when I start working on a piece I totally get into it :D Sadly PixelJoint does not have a feature section  Except Weekly Showcase, I guess? Though that would be a time limited feature and is rather a user-voted section. |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 15 March 2015 at 3:47pm
| Sometimes works are featured as news on the front page when an artist displays lots of hard work. Last I remember is Ashcrimson. That guy is awesome |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 15 March 2015 at 3:53pm
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Oh! You are right, Friend :) I just found this http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixels/news.asp?cat=2294 - http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixels/news.asp?cat=2294 Thanks for pointing out! |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 15 March 2015 at 4:34pm
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That's kinda different. The featured pixel artists are kind of more like an interview with highly experienced pixel artists and or pixel artists that offer something unique to the world of pixel art.
I'm talking about a news piece on the front page, like the weekly challenge and pixel news. •~• can't wait to see your next piece |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 16 March 2015 at 2:43am
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Oh, I found another news entry about AshCrimson: http://www.pixeljoint.com/2014/04/16/4288/Forum_Highlights-_Tower_Shields.htm - http://www.pixeljoint.com/2014/04/16/4288/Forum_Highlights-_Tower_Shields.htm Is that the right one? My next piece is still not decided. I have three possibilities. Either I do a full scenery plus character piece, another anime character in the same fashion and style of Aoba Tsugumi, or a small tribute to Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds. I will decide that by today - already started to work on 2 of those 3 anyway. |
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 16 March 2015 at 7:02pm
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Friend is correct we feature a news item on threads from time to time when the artist shows effort and the thread contains enough info that others can learn from it just by reviewing. This thread almost had it all to feature but the breaking point is that the start of the thread was on another art than the last one that showed your progress and actually has enough tips, tricks and info for others. Its a little confusing because of that and featured threads should almost read like a tutorial. ------------- |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 17 March 2015 at 10:34am
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Oh, I see, Jalonso! I guess it cannot be helped :P Well, I wanted to do something small outlined. So I decided to create a tribute for the game "Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds". I had to restrict myself to keep the unique style to a certain degree. This piece is meant to look like a possible DLC, haha. I could mainly find animated sprites which I did not want to normalize. There were a few upscaled normal sprites so I decided to downscale one of them. Hopefully this not considered manipulating the original piece or stealing. This is the source file - it is not my art: http://www.senpaigamer.com/sites/default/files/news/sony/2013/12/27-phantom-breaker-battle-grounds-5.png - http://www.senpaigamer.com/sites/default/files/news/sony/2013/12/27-phantom-breaker-battle-grounds-5.png Here is the downscaled version with grey background:  This is my first attempt on it:  There are quite some more references but all upscaled (I did not upscale them):    I might just link them, when they are too big. Too bad PJ does not have a spoiler-BB-feature. There will be probably some more changes on the face to make it a bit more original but still close to the style. Any suggestions, feedback, or tips :)? |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 18 March 2015 at 2:14pm
Small update: I reduced the colours, changed some shapes, replaced some pixels, added some minor details. Any suggestions in terms of what I mentioned in my last post? |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 21 March 2015 at 8:59am
New update! I did multiple minor updates. Any suggestions? Please keep in mind that this style relates to the one mentioned two posts above. |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 21 March 2015 at 3:06pm
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is this an original character? I love it so far. And youve captured the style down to a fine art xD One thing that bugs me is the right hand holding the staff and the left leg poking through the dress. The arm I'm not sure what's going on, but I think youre trying to depict her holding it back, kind of like how you throw a javelin? The right leg, I'm just not sure what's going on either. it looks like her leg is sticking out of a hole in the dress, rather than simply sticking out under it |
Posted By: Lakelezz
Date Posted: 21 March 2015 at 4:52pm
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Thanks for your feedback, Friend! Yes, this is an original character created by me. I agree on all what you mentioned :) The thing with her leg was quite experimental. My intention was to make it look more interesting but did not work out that visually appealing, haha. Oh and the "javelin" is supposed to be a staff/wand but after you mentioned... yes, could be easily misread. So here goes my fix with all the points you mentioned:  The left side features the old handling of the... staff. Edit: Corrected the shading of the staff. |
Posted By: Friend
Date Posted: 21 March 2015 at 5:46pm
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awesome improvement. The arm and leg is now so much more readable. Now I think the pose could be given a small boost of excitement. I think if you take the leg closest to the staff and have her step back more with it (or bring the other leg more forward), it would emphasize more her pose. This brings me to another suggestion. In your references above, all of the arms and legs are shaded one brighter than the other to show which is closer. Try darkening the arm holding the staff in the same way, and try darkening (bringing back) the leg by the staff. Basically what I mean is try shading the leg by the staff darker to pull it back in space, and try the same with the arm holding the staff. |