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How to pixel a small car avatar...

Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: The Lounge
Forum Name: Resources and Support
Forum Discription: Help your fellow pixel artists out with links to good tutorials, other forums, software, fonts, etc. Bugs and support issues should go here as well.
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2701
Printed Date: 06 September 2025 at 6:42am


Topic: How to pixel a small car avatar...
Posted By: d-p
Subject: How to pixel a small car avatar...
Date Posted: 02 August 2006 at 11:08am
How to pixel a small car avatar...
tutorial by http://pixeljoint.com/pixels/profile.asp?id=1155 - d-p
Hint: Click on the images to enlarge.

Step 1

Creation of a small pixel car is easy and quick work. Decide if you want to work on transparent or colored background. A light gray is quite neutral and easy to work on.


Step 2

Create the outlines of the car. Take a look at several photos if you are not too sure about the front view of the car. Don't try to round the edges too much, it wont work at that small size, the outlines should be symmetric. As you can see it does not look much like the car (aim: Passat 35i facelift), but it will do.


Step 3

Choose the base color of the car paint and fill the coated parts of the car.


Step 4

The headlights and blinker get some detail with a lighter gray. Simply light the reflectors within the headlights.


Step 5

A darker gray tone fits the plastic parts of the car and the front window. Gray tones can get handy, because you can reuse them often to shade and dither parts of the car. Before adding another color check if you are not able to reuse some gray in combination with an older color.


Step 6

A darker tone of my base color, some dark blue tone, helps to create some shadow around the grill, lights and on the hood. It's about time to choose the light source, we want the light to fall in from top front, which is kind of usual. So the dark blue is used on the bottom of the car. Look, some of the black outlines are already overpainted with blue.


Step 7

A very light gray is added on the headlights to get some depths into it.


Step 8

A lighter blue helps to look the car less flat, we paint some lighter areas on the hood.


Step 9

An even more brighter blue helps to make the paint job look convincing. The black lines in the grill are swaped to dark blue.


Step 10

The black outlines which arent already removed should be eliminated now, since we don't need them anymore. To replace them, choose the blue tones that we already collected till now. Light blue on the roof and dark blue on the bottom.

Step 11

The gray bumber looks way too flat. Some details help to change that, reuse the gray tones.


Step 12

The windshield should get some reflections, too. Add some lighter gray tones on it. Even the dark blue can be used for the fading out to the sides, because the dark blue fits the dark gray quite good in this case.


Step 13

A matter of tase: Add some more extras if you feel like customizing.


Animated version

Here is an animated version of the tutorial.



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http://iso.webmonk.de"> http://cc.webmonk.de">



Replies:
Posted By: jalonso
Date Posted: 02 August 2006 at 10:08pm
huh? people are always begging for tuts. Here is a simple, well written one and no one comments 

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http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9378&FID=6&PR=3 - PJs FAQ <•> http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=6 - Sticky Reads


Posted By: Fugitive
Date Posted: 03 August 2006 at 11:45am
Originally posted by jalonso

huh? people are always begging for tuts. Here is a simple, well written one and no one comments 
 
I think it's bloody great!


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Fugitve is playing on his XBox 360


Posted By: Larwick
Date Posted: 03 August 2006 at 1:10pm
Really nice d-p. I personally don't like the light on the windshield, looks a bit messy to me. :D But i'm sure lots of people will learn from this, good work!

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http://larw-ck.deviantart.com">


Posted By: kaltsu
Date Posted: 03 August 2006 at 3:39pm
Yay for tuts! \o/

Next you should teach us how to do cars in isometric view. I find it damn difficult.


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Not now honey, I have a deadline.


Posted By: d-p
Date Posted: 03 August 2006 at 8:20pm
Thanks for the nice comments so far, I totaly agree to you, Larwick,
the reflection was kind of the fastest way to deal the windshield.


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http://iso.webmonk.de"> http://cc.webmonk.de">



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