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My Pixel art; thoughts, and help me improve


MrCakehat

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Hi all, first up, I've only started to get into drawing pixel art, and people are amazed and think I've been doing this for years, (I've never been good at drawing, decided to try pixel art pretty recently and picked it up quite well), But I really don't think I am THAT good. Mainly because I (personally) think I don't have enough variety, and I am not sure how to add to what I have already done.

For example, what I have done below, I'm not sure what I should do next with the floor, and also it all looks like one big giant blob of grey. It needs more variety, but I have no idea how to improve it in that respect. Any ideas?

It's suppose to be some sort of dungeon-ish type place.
The tiles in the top corner I put there to show what each piece looks like.

 

(This is all done by me from scratch by the way, so to everyone, please don't use)

 

Screenshot_grey_zps6058233a.png

 

Also here is some of my other work, they were games I was making, but put on hiatus because of time and just generally couldn't get the pixel art right (I like to do the art first, then do the programming, if I can't get the art right, I get frustrated and stop the game altogether...)

OldGuy2.png

 

UnrealMap.png

 

SameDarker.png

 

Some Space game I was making:

CombatScreenshot.png

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I can't really offer you any advice as I'm not a visual arts kinda guy, but they are very nice looking! Can't tell that you just started at all. Maybe one of our more visual-inclined members can offer you some words of wisdom.

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You are actually really good :D I am definetly no artist but this is my 20 cents worth:

 

-With the first image there is too much going on. Either make the walls way thinner so the floor is the main thing. Otherwise make the floor tile heaps more simple, like just a plain concrete look with some cracks or something maybe?

 

-The second image of the character is awesome. I think you nailed that one XD

 

-The third and forth are TOO much of the same thing. Make more kinds of grass/concrete and add them in randomly. Although the first one you tried to break up the samey-ness with the flowers, the flowers are all exactly the same. Variation will make it much more pleasing to look at!

 

-The last one is good. The stars don't appear tiled which is good. The planet however looks... wrong? I think it's because everything is so smooth/ no islands etc... Maybe some cloud cover would look good aswell :)

 

Anyway, like I said, I'm not artist. And you can definetly draw, none of the fixes I have thought of have to do with your actual drawing. Just the way you put it all together :D

Keep up the good work and hope I helped!

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Looking at pictures 3 and 4 of the RPG world I would suggest you darken the shadows a bit more. For example on the red house you can barely see the color difference from the front to the roof. The shadows on the ground also need to be way darker.

 

Also I would look at some old pixel style RPG games like: Zelda, Wild Arms, and Beyond the Beyond, that use the front/top world design you're using for reference. One thing that I just noticed looking at my manuals for the last two games I mentioned is that you have your light source set up backwards. The sun should be at the bottom left of the screen so the shadows appear in the upper right behind houses and other objects. Having your shadow coming forward is very distracting and will be in extra work. With the way they have it buildings and other object will cover the shadows behind them and you won't loose depth.

 

The fencing and mini-characters look good.

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Ah thanks a lot guys, it's hard to tell how good or bad something is, when you have made it yourself, but your comments inspire me a lot!
But yes, like a lot have said, it's the variety part I have trouble with. I just don't know what to add to the scene, or how to put it all together to make it look nice. Design is not my strong point.

I will take up all your advice and try to add it to the scenes, the more stuff you say that's bad, the better!

 

@TinnedEpic; Yes the shading is a bit much, but without it, in my own eyes it looks a little too bland. Like something is missing and just does not look right. That's why I added all the extra shading.

@EnigmaGrey; What do you mean exactly? what do you disagree with? Could you show an example what you mean?

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey all, just a tiny update, I tried to have a go at "directly top-down" for the first time and this is the result. It looks a little empty I know, but I am not quite sure what to add... I tried to have everything not have any black outlines too, and it seems to look alright. I know the trees do not have proper shadows, I'll get to that... one day hahaha...

Any thoughts to add to this one? It's just so damn empty...

 

(And yes, I reused a couple of things, like the grass, but I've to do grass again, and it NEVER looks right, not like this one)

BUILDING_SCREENSHOT_zps857f6d5c.png

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