Training Myself in Pixel Art [Eyeburn Ahead!]

[magic2345 252]

For the past few weeks, I've been doing lots of pixel art (well, perhaps just one piece per day/two days). Mostly, I've been doing trees and weapons. I am aiming to develop my own style, but currently, I'm just following tutorials and experimenting.

 

I need feedback on some trees I've done. Do note that I am bad (read: HORRIBLE) at picking colors and making a palette.

These are arranged from the oldest on the left to more newer ones to the right.

 

Trees (Get ready for some CRAZY trunk shapes!!):

 

 

 

 

 

I have read tutorials on color ramps and hueshifting. I have tried mixing and matching colors. But usually, my choices are...uhh...inappropriate and wacky. I also have trouble with textures.

 

The 5th tree from the left is made with the help of a very helpful tutorial made by Kiwinuptuo on deviantart. I love the way he/she shades his leaves.

 

Weapons:

 

 

 

 

 

For the first one, I was going for a glassy, icy look for the blade. I tried making the hilt be metallic, but it looks really weird.

For the second one, I am going for those weapons where the blades are made out of energy through magic (best excuse ever). Yes, the blade, orb, and handle are all separate.

 

 

As you can see, I have this uncontrollable urge to make crazy trunk shapes. XD

Mainly, what I need feedback on is:

1. Color choices (sorry if I burned your eyes)

2. Resemblance, as in "do they look like what they're supposed to be".

3. Shading.

4. Anything else that strikes you as odd.

 

Thank you!

EDIT:

Oh, I forgot to mention, that I am the kind of person that prefers to not revise/revamp a piece. I prefer making an entirely new one where I can apply things I've learned from making older pieces. So uhh, I don't think I will actually revamp/fix any of these....which is actually making me feel kinda bad for them.

Edited September 27, 2015 by magic2345

[+ caelumania 54]

I won't comment much on the color choices since I tend to use existing palettes or this (http://www.pixelfor.me/crc/F0D00732) but I do like the ones you have for the third and fourth tree. Sort of reminds me of a more saturated version of the kinds of palette my pixel idol (Syosa) tends to use.

 

I think some work is needed on resemblance. For the trees, well one could argue that they are trees. But if I were to describe them, I'd say the first is some sort of rock on a tree trunk, the second is fancy creep paper art on a pretzelish something, the thrid is some sort of organic material (an out of control spleen?) being carried by a gecko, the fourth looks bonzaish and the way the leaves are clustered look weird to me, the fifth one is the most okay but I think it needs more leaves. I kinda like the third and fourth ones best though even if the fifth is the most solid looking, maybe because those ones look like they have character to me.

 

I think your shading is good, I don't think a lot of beginners could make something that looks like a rock, creep, and organic stuff even if they wanted to. A lot of stuff I see from them really look flat (mine did for a long time, part of the axe looks flat though). I'm not insulting you or anything okay, I actually see potential here. It's like you've grasped shading quite well but simply don't know how to render things because you don't have much experience (and that'll come).  

 

Just keep at it and good job. 

[EpicFILE 200]

That's a really good start!

 

The color on the second tree (from the left) do burn my eyes a bit. O_O

I don't really mind about crazy shapes because you'll get better at drawing eventually. 

Your shading is very good for a starter!

 

My favorite is the tree on the right. It has good shading and good colors.

Good work! 

[magic2345 252]

organic material (an out of control spleen?) being carried by a gecko,

 

 

You nailed the descriptions! XD

The first tree was my very first try on making a tree, I had no idea how to shade the leaves and just randomly put squiggles.

The second one is accidental, but I liked the disco-looking leaves for some reason.

The third one....I actually almost puked after seeing the result from afar.    I was aiming for autumun leaves.

The fourth one, hmm, they do look like bonsai.

The fifth one. More leaves, eh? I'll note that down.

 

By character, do you mean their shape? Or their color? Or both?

 

For the axe, I was trying to go for those energy blades. You know, those glowing futuristic things. But I wanted them to be more...magical, not produced from science, but from alchemy or magic. But I do find something is off, not sure what.

 

Insulting? Naaaaawww. Thank you very much for your input caelumania.

 

Oh, and by the way, syosa is also one of my favorite pixel artists. He has a very cute style. Reminds me of FFT faces, but cuter and more pastel. I also like fool, the person who drew the dragon with a tree on it's back (the one on the site you shared).

 

 

The color on the second tree (from the left) do burn my eyes a bit. O_O

My favorite is the tree on the right. It has good shading and good colors.

 

You mean the one with the green leaves? Hmm...I was actually planning on reusing the palette for the leaves. Perhaps I should tone down the saturation?

Thanks for the feedback! I was pretty happy after I finished the leaves. I was stumped (sorry for the pun) when I tried adding texture for the trunk though. So I kinda left it bare. I tried making those rough bark textures but I failed hard, seems they're still out of my reach.

[EpicFILE 200]

No, I mean the one with flamy leaves.

This one. ^^

 

The other trees are fine. 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2015 by EpicFILE28

[magic2345 252]

Ahh, that one. I'm thinking it's because the red and green are clashing....no wait, or maybe the green is too bright? Too...neon-ish? Or is it because the whiter shades on the leaves?

 

Or is it them all?

 

I think I'll go and experiment.

 

Thanks for the input!

[xoferew 261]

Hey, it's my sibling in tree experimentation!  They definitely look organic.  They also look kinda like they're coming for my soul (perhaps the goal on some maps  )  You're showing a lot of trunk, which some trees do for sure, but some don't, so you don't have to on every kind of tree.  On that last one with the yellow trunk I wonder what it would look like if you copypasted those clumps of leaves all over it and then added some overall shading to round it out.   I think why it like it best is it is fringy, not solid at the edges like um, body organs might be.  The trunk shading looks nice especially on the body organ tree.  A great thing about trees is the species are all so different, some have rough bark, smooth bark, all kinds of shapes and leaf distributions.  One thing I try is googling up a page of images of a trees, pick a kind I'd like to base mine off, and then google up a page of images of that species of tree.  Then I keep checking back as I work, not matching one particular photo but using the whole pageful as references.  Then whatever I come up with doesn't necessarily look like that kind of tree but it tends to look natural.  A mistake I made with my pine trees was making them too front view and they didn't match well with the more top down rivers, etc.  So I overhauled them but it would have been a lot quicker to do it the right way from the beginning.  It's harder to keep that perspective in mind I think since in RL we don't see things from that perspective as much.  I don't know anything about color palettes, which is probably a bad thing.  I blame Game Character Hub which is like, "Here, have all the colors!!"

 

Make some more!  Post some more!

[+ Crescent 474]

I am not really good at making trees yet, but I am going to mention a tip about saturation and colors.

 

I like the color balance here and it looks good. But the shades can be improved, like the green shade - which is too dark.

Let me show you the differences...

The second one is a bit eyeburning, right? Because the saturation there is too high - while the first one uses a balanced saturation.

 

This one uses high saturation, especially the green shade - which is even not enough noticeable. Also, you should replace the purple to black, since it's looking very odd when in near the green color. If you balance it's saturation, it'll look pretty.

 

So, my main point of this tip is if you use a balanced saturation, the colors will automatically look very good - other then that, it's a very good start and I look forward to your future creations.

 

Though, I am not really good at giving suggestions or tips, but I hope it's helpful~

 

PS: What program are you using btw? I'd suggest GraphicsGale, it's a really comfortable tool for pixel art and it's the one that I use. The free trial doesn't have a time limit!

[magic2345 252]

A mistake I made with my pine trees was making them too front view and they didn't match well with the more top down rivers, etc.  So I overhauled them but it would have been a lot quicker to do it the right way from the beginning.  It's harder to keep that perspective in mind I think since in RL we don't see things from that perspective as much.

 

Hello there, brother (or sister)! I have this odd urge to show lots of trunks, I don't know why. XD

 

I'm planning to use the leaf shading style of the yellow tree more, because it looks good and...leaf-ish. As for looking at references, that's a good idea! I've looked at references for rocks, but not for trees. I am learning how to texture the trunk, because whenever I do it, it doesn't look like bark at all.

 

Ahh yes, perspective, very hard to do. As you can see, my trees look like they are for sidescroller games. On the other hand, the RTP trees look more front-view than top-down view. Either that or they're actually top-down view and my brain just can't compute perspectives.

 

I am actually having fun mixing and matching colors, although they usually turn out to be bad. Give it a try! XD

 

 

So, my main point of this tip is if you use a balanced saturation, the colors will automatically look very good - other then that, it's a very good start and I look forward to your future creations.

 

PS: What program are you using btw? I'd suggest GraphicsGale, it's a really comfortable tool for pixel art and it's the one that I use. The free trial doesn't have a time limit!

 

I'll try and lower the saturation. I tend to oversaturate my colors though, I don't know, it feels almost instinctual. I wonder why?

For the purple shade, hmm...you may be right, it looks too purple. I shall lower the brightness.

 

In fact, I am also using GraphicsGale! It's simple and you can even do animations! Very very useful for pixel art.

 

Thank you for the feedback guys! I will come back tomorrow (or a few days later) with hopefully, progress!!

[magic2345 252]

Alright, 72 hours have passed, and I need more feedback. So I'm bumping this topic to the curators of the forum!

[These are all organized from the oldest to the newest.]

 

I tried making another tree, this time with an edited palette of the first two trees, but with the fifth's style.

 

 

 

I kinda botched up the first one.

 

I also tried making one with the flamy/organ tree's palette (edited), but I decided to make it...a fire tree (?). I did three versions of it. Note that the leaves gives off light.

 

 

Yes, that last one has an eye in the middle. I made that because of a suggestion from a friend, he said to turn it into a monster sprite instead.

 

Besides trees, I also made boulders and rocks. These ones are a few weeks old.

 

 

The first one is supposed to be one of those round boulders (like the one in the RTP), I messed up the colors though. The second one is supposed to be a cracked boulder/rock.

 

I did another more recent one, based on the second try's palette (edited), also another cracked boulder (slab?).

 

 

I kinda like this one, but I think I overdid it with the highlights, I'm not sure. :/

 

Alright, that's all I have. What do you guys think?

[EpicFILE 200]

Yay! The flamy tree doesn't make an eyeburn anymore.

But... There's an eye on its trunk? Can it shoot a fire laser? O_O

(therefore, if you're planning to make it a monster, its name will be Eyeburn xD)

 

My favorite is this one. It's just pretty detailed and amazing. 

[xoferew 261]

Yes, that last rock looks great.  And also like chocolate.    Have you tried putting these things in a map to see what they look like in their natural habitat?  Also you might put an RTP tree/rock next to it on the map, to compare.  Your top trees maybe could use some overall roundness shading?

[magic2345 252]

Yay! The flamy tree doesn't make an eyeburn anymore.

But... There's an eye on its trunk? Can it shoot a fire laser? O_O

(therefore, if you're planning to make it a monster, its name will be Eyeburn xD)

My favorite is this one. It's just pretty detailed and amazing. 

 

Thank you for the kind words.

I actually wanted to animate fire tree so that it opens it eyes. But man, I don't want to animate those glowing leaves. XD

And it is now officially named Eyeburn.

 

 

Yes, that last rock looks great.  And also like chocolate.    Have you tried putting these things in a map to see what they look like in their natural habitat?  Also you might put an RTP tree/rock next to it on the map, to compare.  Your top trees maybe could use some overall roundness shading?

 

Oh yeah, it does look like chocolate. Perhaps if I resize it down to an icon's size, I can turn that into a chocolate icon. XD

For the trying to use it with RTP thing...Honestly, I haven't, I do expect them to clash HORRIBLY though. I am planning on making an entire tileset so that everything matches, but it'll still be a while until that happens.

 

By the way, what do you mean by overall roundness shading?

[xoferew 261]

I'm not suggesting to make it match the RTP, but when I put my trees on a map with an RTP tree I really notice things like how the RTP trees are more of a top down perspective, how they blend the edges into the background, how they use shading on the whole of the tree, how dark their shadows are, etc.  Then I am free to copy those things or not.  By shading I mean, if the leaves of the tree all together are like a ball shape, to maybe give the tree some shading to look like a ball?  Right now it looks more like flat sheets of leaves arranged three dimensionally on top of each other.  But looking good!!  (Except the eye tree which is looking EVIL) 

[magic2345 252]

Hmmm, I see what you're getting at. Now that you mention it, it does look quite flat. :/

I need to figure out what exactly makes it flat though. I...do have some idea, I think I need to shade them more. Hmm....top-down is a really weird perspective. XD

 

Thank you for the feedback and advice, Xoferew. I shall promptly look into this pressing matter!!