Girl with sword
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=9455
Printed Date: 09 June 2026 at 12:28am
Topic: Girl with sword
Posted By: Anoniguy
Subject: Girl with sword
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 3:33am
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Soooooo I had such great results from the baseball girl topic I thought i would post another WIP and see how it goes. This was initially going to be sort of african/tribal with the spear and shield, but I decided to go with something that makes me feel a little less like a dick. So instead she'll be a martian a la Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter Of Mars, where the clothes are skimpy and swords and rayguns abound. Rather than a standalone sprite I think I might do a background if I get ambitious. We'll see.   Again, the arms really are screwing me up. If I make them more curved, the lines become lumpy and unappealing, but if I straighten them They look cartoony and unnatural. ------------- http://tillmyhands.blogspot.com/ - Till My Hands Fall Off: My Daily Sketch Blog |
Replies:
Posted By: Manupix
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 1:11pm
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Looks dynamic! ;) The left arm (hers) is too thin compared to the right, her left thigh too. I think coloring and shading will help a lot with the jagginess, however you might take better advantage of the 'natural' pixel line angles (0° -45° - 90°). As in http://www.pixeljoint.com/pixelart/46971.htm# - this piece by Susuwataris (I'm amazed at the way he/she does it). |
Posted By: Anoniguy
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 1:44pm
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It's really challenging for me to restrict myself to those angles, I'm really astonished at how naturally some artists can play by those rules. Ojh well, practice practice practice, right? The spriteart.org tutorials had a section on line angles and curves as I recall, but Stoven seems to have taken them all down completely now, so unless some wonderful soul has backups, and Stoven agrees to allow them to be posted, I think they may be gone for good... unless I'm just not recalling the actual links and they're all still up. >_> ------------- http://tillmyhands.blogspot.com/ - Till My Hands Fall Off: My Daily Sketch Blog |
Posted By: pipe
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 4:12pm
| Cant you just use AA to smoothen it(you are going to draw a bg right?) |
Posted By: Petrichor
Date Posted: 23 November 2009 at 11:24pm
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I actually think that she looks a little unbalanced--something about the positioning of the far leg. I wish I could be more specific but I'm not sure exactly what it is that is bugging me =/ Somehow her weight seems to be distributed unevenly on that leg. Maybe her lower leg is extended too dramatically and the knee needs a more acute bend? Not sure... Also Manupix and Pipe are right--AA and a coloured outline will help alleviate quite a bit of the jaggedyness I'm sure. I am also attempting to master figures with ideal pixel lines--it's hard D: I've been relying heavily on AA and coloured outlines to eliminate the ickiness. |
Posted By: Anoniguy
Date Posted: 24 November 2009 at 12:47am
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I'm not sure how AA works, but I'll be learning as I go. The background is most likely going to be a desaturated yellow/green, but I haven't decided yet. I see what you're saying about her pose. I know something is odd about the knee, but.. Yeah. I'm not sure myself. Here she is, in the crude beginnings of color. Dig the raygun.  ------------- http://tillmyhands.blogspot.com/ - Till My Hands Fall Off: My Daily Sketch Blog |
Posted By: Pragz
Date Posted: 24 November 2009 at 12:51am
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Look at every piece from "Mermaid" down to understand what AA is: http://pixeljoint.com/p/17355.htm - SHANN0N's Gallery She's a master of AA, to say the least. Take some of her pieces such as "Asian Pinup Girl", "Doll 8", and "Doll 5", put them in MS Paint and zoom in. Look at the borders and such. All the stuff that blurs the lines and makes them smooth is called AA. :) ------------- Hello - I'm new here. :) |
Posted By: Anoniguy
Date Posted: 24 November 2009 at 1:33am
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I know -what- it is, it's just that I don't yet know how to do it properly. XD
------------- http://tillmyhands.blogspot.com/ - Till My Hands Fall Off: My Daily Sketch Blog |
Posted By: Pragz
Date Posted: 24 November 2009 at 1:39am
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Again, just look at some of SHANN0N's stuff. See how she does it. Also, just look around the gallery. You know what AA is, so you can find pieces with simpler versions of it. Just build your way up with practice, practice, and... oh, erm... one more thing... PRACTICE! :D ------------- Hello - I'm new here. :) |
Posted By: ErekT
Date Posted: 24 November 2009 at 6:36am
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Raygun is super-cool! The shape of the left thigh (her left that is) lacks er, shape. Maybe flesh it out a bit? The left calf could also do with some more meat below the knee I think. As for angles, how about trying to put the arms into one of the tricky angles and then post the result here so people can help you troubleshoot it? Lookin' good so far :) |
Posted By: Anoniguy
Date Posted: 25 November 2009 at 1:51am
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I appreciate all the C&C you guys are giving me, you know - I'd be tearing my hair out in frustration if I had to figure this all out alone. XD So in case I forgot to mention it, thanks a whole lot! That leg of hers, good god! I have redrawn it about a dozen times, but it just isn't getting better. Eventually I went back to the original lineart, and made the lower leg a bit longer and added a little bit to the upper inner thigh sort of area. It's a little better IMO. What can I say? Also fiddled with her left arm. It looks less like one of Olive Oyl's now.   ------------- http://tillmyhands.blogspot.com/ - Till My Hands Fall Off: My Daily Sketch Blog |
Posted By: Dhr. Bosch
Date Posted: 25 November 2009 at 12:35pm
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this is awesome... i love raygun gothic. But i think she needs a steel bra... al the great pulp sci-fi covers and other artwork contain women who are either wearing torn clothing and are in serious peril, or they wear a steel/chrome bra. as an example look at the following picture of some promo material for the cult-classic barbarella: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.scifiscience.co.uk/img/extras/top50/girls/Barbarella1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.scifiscience.co.uk/extras/top50/girls/barbarella.html&usg=__dkWAXo3pDoiLjB7FheP8n1V8-FY=&h=546&w=512&sz=278&hl=en&start=21&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=bmjkwr4JbDlZmM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbarbarella%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26um%3D1 i would love to see this piece finished. ------------- Vanitas, vanitatum omnia vanitas |
Posted By: Anoniguy
Date Posted: 25 November 2009 at 1:23pm
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All in good time, Bosch. XD My inspiration for this is from the covers of the Martian Tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs - gold/bronze/steel bikinis are a must. ------------- http://tillmyhands.blogspot.com/ - Till My Hands Fall Off: My Daily Sketch Blog |
Posted By: Hatch
Date Posted: 25 November 2009 at 1:31pm
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I miss the tribal huntress vibe with the spear and big shield. Ah well
Anyhow, nice line art again! Your colors are a bit flat, though. You should wander about the hue range more rather than just brightness. Also, watch your bright highlights. They'll tend to make your skin look more like shiny plastic. ------------- |
Posted By: Ninja Crow
Date Posted: 25 November 2009 at 2:36pm
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The new arm has too thick a muscle group on the forearm. This exaggeration might be toned down if you continue the line all the way into her wrist, but that's just one suggestion, since I'm not actually changing pixels in real time to see what works. Hatch mentioned the striking highlight. Maybe try softening one edge of it? (only one side needs to be sharp) Very dynamic pose - looking forward to more of this. |
Posted By: Anoniguy
Date Posted: 27 November 2009 at 2:34am
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Here's a minor update, but just something to show I'm still working on it. I ditched the shine (well, hid it on another layer in case I change my mind). Fixed the arm. Added hair, bikini, tiara thing. I'm getting less and less happy with the colors. But I still no so little about picking them, I'm at a loss as to how I would vary my palette. I'm thinking of adding another figure to the image regardless of the difficulties, because doing a big green martian would be fun. I would LOVE to know why sometimes I just can't add my image. Insufficient permissions my butt. What an annoying glitch.  ------------- http://tillmyhands.blogspot.com/ - Till My Hands Fall Off: My Daily Sketch Blog |
Posted By: Manupix
Date Posted: 27 November 2009 at 2:50am
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I think the shine is much needed! ;) Colors: your ramp looks linear, shift hue in darks and lights (either darks > blues / lights > reds, or reverse, or anything else... considering the Mars sky is a greyish pink, shadows might look warmer). I like the general tones. The hair and 'clothes' are too Earth-like for me: wouldn't Mars fashion be a bit more alienish (even for hominid ladies)? Yeah, there's a bug. |
Posted By: Ninja Crow
Date Posted: 27 November 2009 at 11:45am
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Martian silhouette looks awesome. Maybe try some hue shifting like Manupix said. Make bikini more of a contrasting colour (silver with reddish reflection or even gold - at the risk of borrowing from RotJ). Arm is much improved. Didn't necessarily want the highlight gone altogether. Her sword looks like a long poker Without damaging your original, do a 'loosening' creativity experiment, and apply shapes to her body (tattoos, paint, stick ons, who knows?) and dangling cords or bead strings or strips of cloth or feathers, and straps with buckles or bosses or discs, in at least three different configurations. Then you can keep just the minimum ones to 'spice' up the picture that you like without compromising the oomph of the picture. Maybe you can even let us vote on the best elements. (believe it or not, sometimes less skin can be even more attractive, if the costume accentuates the forms into super-stimuli, which is why you see so many thigh straps on anime designs!) Don't let it harm the 'just a bikini' idea, but push it without worrying for a few tries to see if something inspires you! The Martian is really going to help sell this piece (though I don't envy you making an awesome Martian background) and I predict it's going to become one of the Joint's classic pieces, so please keep heart! Thanks! |
Posted By: Dhr. Bosch
Date Posted: 28 November 2009 at 3:13am
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if the martian is going to be green he needs antenae
------------- Vanitas, vanitatum omnia vanitas |
Posted By: Ninja Crow
Date Posted: 28 November 2009 at 2:24pm
| I would agree with Dhr. Bosch if the Martian fighting men of the Burroughs novels were described in that manner, or could be. But I don't think it's a critical detail (especially if it spoils the feel or the composition. |