Pixel Face Graphics

[action]

Hey,

Here's some facegraphics

They're all about finished, just some touchups are needed.. but where

Any advice?

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[The Law G14]

Whoa, that's really good (in my opinion), I'm not much of a pixel artist, though, but I really like that style and how you shaded the face. Good job :biggrin:

 

[Perihelion]

Hey, looks nice! Reminds me of Fire Emblem; did you base it on anything? Anyway, your main issue right now is that it needs cleaning up. You have lots of jagged lines and messy shading between the different colors. There's also some banding around the chin.

I recommend smoothing out your curves and adding some anti-aliasing. You have lots of colors; use them! It's easier to explain with a picture, so:

Basically, for curves, the number of pixels in each segment should increase or decrease smoothly. Play with the curved line tool in Paint if you're still confused about how that works. Then, if you have a dark color next to a light color and you have a shade between them on your palette, you should use it to antialias between them so it looks smoother.

As for banding, it's when you have a bunch of pixels lined up next to each other in the same pattern, like:
xxx
yyy
zzz
or
xyz
wxyz
vwxyz

This tends to look crappy, so you should arrange your pixel clusters to avoid it. Helm talks about it and lots of other useful things in this thread.

 

[action]

Thanks, I'm working on that now...
It does look quite a bit like Fire Emblem... though
I did some touching up, and fixed the banding


btw it was based off this, but then I just kinda erased everything and started from scratch
http://www.spriters-resource.com/ds/hsl ... heet/15338

 

[Perihelion]

Looks a lot better, but I think you still need to refine your large shapes more. There are some inconsistencies that make it look unpolished. For example, there's a transition area of light blue on the right side of his head but not on the left. Also, the hood and shoulders still look messy. You could probably add two more colors for anti-aliasing on the hood and it'd look consistent with the rest of the piece, but there's something bugging me about it beyond that. I'd look up some photo refs and redo the creases if I were you.

Some of the pixel clusters and lines still aren't very refined, but if you fix the hair and the hood, it'll probably look good enough. That said, I recommend going over it and optimizing every single curve and line and pixel cluster and making sure you have the same amount of transition colors and anti-aliasing everywhere. Even if you don't want to go to that amount of effort for every single portrait in your game, you'll learn how to refine better.

 

[action]

Oh dear... that's not a hood

More touchups were done, and I... made it actually look like a scarf.



thanks for the advice

 

[Perihelion]

That looks tons better.

 

[action]

Thanks, I think I'll start working on the next one then

 

[action]

Alright, here's the new one!

only thing I'm afraid of is that it doesn't fit with the first (style wise)

 

[action]

alright, I dont remember what the multipost rules are for this forum... spent too much time in the rec room and forgot

but here's another face

 

[Perihelion]

We don't care about multiposting as long as each new post has new content. New portraits look pretty good, although the lock hanging down the girl's face needs refinement and her shirt looks a little loose/messy. Nice otherwise.

 

[action]

fix'd, maybe?


thanks

 

[Perihelion]

Better, but the curve could still stand to be smoothed out more. Still looks a little stiff and unnatural, particularly the inside shadow. Try redefining it with the curved line tool in Paint or something.

 

[action]

yes no maybe so?

 

[Perihelion]

That looks better.

 

[Echo Magnum]

Wow you have to tell me how you do this? great :smile:

 

[action]

I just made a basic head shape, shaded it. Then I sketched the hair with my tablet, and filled it in. The rest is shading and then fixing lines. Not much to it :I\

thanks though