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[Kramlack]

I doodled this up in response to your Beemo;



When working with such small sprites, don't worry about including all the details. The yellow and red buttons, along with what I can only assume was slots and jacks on the side, aren't really necessary, and take away from the overall value of the piece. The yellow was barely readable, and the black line above just looked awkward. The stuff on the side just came off as stray pixels (to me at least). The arms being coloured were fine, but I felt the feet could've just been solid black.

Overall, I have gripes about my own Beemo as well, so I hope I don't sound like I'm trying to come in and stomp all over yours. Mine is prretty fat, where yours is more of the right size. I also liked the way your face was angled but felt like it was too hard to pull off correctly and opted out for a straight on face, on an angled body.

[Kevin]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but one thing I'm noticing is that you're tending to shade/highlight based on contours rather than form/volume. Using the sspinosaurus as an example:


It's a good subject for this, actually, 'cause his spinal ridge can sort of help illustrate what I mean. The ridge is mostly flat, so the highlights in your original sprite worked fine. The light only catches on the thin edge of it, and leave sort of a strip of lighter colour which conforms to the outline. You used this same method on the legs, though, leaving them looking as flat as the ridge rather than showing their more rounded form. I don't even know if this makes sense the way I'm describing it. Maybe someone else can help elaborate?

The other changes are minor. You can, where appropriate, add more volume to a sprite by varying line weight. You can achieve this by using coloured outlines (or no outline at all) in places where the light is stronger (so generally where highlights and midtones meet the outline). Some people also caution against using full-black as a darkest tone, preferring instead to use a darker variation of the shadows' hue (dark blue in this case). Personally, I use true black all of the time, so it's really a matter of preference, but something to think about, anyway.

[SolarLune]

I don't even know if this makes sense the way I'm describing it. Maybe someone else can help elaborate?

It makes sense, but here's a simplified example.



It's a really poor example, but in the ball on the left, the lighting's flat. On the ball on the right, you can see the shadows are curved to be on the side of the ball, and the shine isn't on the edge, but toward the light-source, yet opposite the shaded area.

[cynicalsandel]

I doodled this up in response to your Beemo;



When working with such small sprites, don't worry about including all the details. The yellow and red buttons, along with what I can only assume was slots and jacks on the side, aren't really necessary, and take away from the overall value of the piece. The yellow was barely readable, and the black line above just looked awkward. The stuff on the side just came off as stray pixels (to me at least). The arms being coloured were fine, but I felt the feet could've just been solid black.

Overall, I have gripes about my own Beemo as well, so I hope I don't sound like I'm trying to come in and stomp all over yours. Mine is prretty fat, where yours is more of the right size. I also liked the way your face was angled but felt like it was too hard to pull off correctly and opted out for a straight on face, on an angled body.

My instinct is to attempt to include every single detail, even though I'm bad at it. I knew the buttons all kind of sucked, but I had to post something for this daily workshop, and yesterday, I was struggling. Yours is miles ahead of mine. It's really charming. My only gripe was already stated by you, its fatness. Thanks for the advice!

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but one thing I'm noticing is that you're tending to shade/highlight based on contours rather than form/volume. Using the sspinosaurus as an example:


It's a good subject for this, actually, 'cause his spinal ridge can sort of help illustrate what I mean. The ridge is mostly flat, so the highlights in your original sprite worked fine. The light only catches on the thin edge of it, and leave sort of a strip of lighter colour which conforms to the outline. You used this same method on the legs, though, leaving them looking as flat as the ridge rather than showing their more rounded form. I don't even know if this makes sense the way I'm describing it. Maybe someone else can help elaborate?

The other changes are minor. You can, where appropriate, add more volume to a sprite by varying line weight. You can achieve this by using coloured outlines (or no outline at all) in places where the light is stronger (so generally where highlights and midtones meet the outline). Some people also caution against using full-black as a darkest tone, preferring instead to use a darker variation of the shadows' hue (dark blue in this case). Personally, I use true black all of the time, so it's really a matter of preference, but something to think about, anyway.

Damn, your Spinosaurus is sexy. I understand what you are getting at, but I don't know how to apply it. I know when I'm shading that I'm doing it wrong, but I don't know how to fix it. I don't think I understand form and volume very much, or at least how to represent it. I don't know about the second part though. I don't think I could pixel without black, but if better pixel artists do it differently, their methods probably have more merit than mine.

I don't even know if this makes sense the way I'm describing it. Maybe someone else can help elaborate?

It makes sense, but here's a simplified example.



It's a really poor example, but in the ball on the left, the lighting's flat. On the ball on the right, you can see the shadows are curved to be on the side of the ball, and the shine isn't on the edge, but toward the light-source, yet opposite the shaded area.

That ball example makes sense to me, I just can't seem to figure out how to apply it to my own art. I struggle with shading. I don't know why necessarily. Maybe I can't imagine light very well or something.

Thanks for the help everyone!

Day 21:



Tried pixelling Ness. Blah.

[keo]

that's not blah! that's the best piece you've done, I really like it!  but I'm a ness fanboy...

[SolarLune]

that's not blah! that's the best piece you've done, I really like it!  but I'm a ness fanboy...

Agreed. That's quite good to come from 16x16 characters to a full, fairly accurate depiction of an existing character (I couldn't draw it better). Nice, awesome job!

[Derek]

Damn dude your sprites are improving at a rapid pace! I can't wait to see what comes up next!

[keo]

Damn, your Spinosaurus is sexy. I understand what you are getting at, but I don't know how to apply it. I know when I'm shading that I'm doing it wrong, but I don't know how to fix it. I don't think I understand form and volume very much, or at least how to represent it. I don't know about the second part though. I don't think I could pixel without black, but if better pixel artists do it differently, their methods probably have more merit than mine.

The idea is to visualize your drawings as if they were 3d, I think that's a skill generally picked up from drawing from life objects. 

Then again, it's really easy to achieve something that has volume. try working with a gradient of 4 colors.  shadow, midshadow, base, highlight.  if you lay down your colors in that order, on top of eachother, you will get something that has volume and form.

[cynicalsandel]

that's not blah! that's the best piece you've done, I really like it!  but I'm a ness fanboy...

Thanks! I'm a Ness fanboy also, and when I didn't have any ideas of what to pixel, he was eventually the only thing I could come up with.

that's not blah! that's the best piece you've done, I really like it!  but I'm a ness fanboy...

Agreed. That's quite good to come from 16x16 characters to a full, fairly accurate depiction of an existing character (I couldn't draw it better). Nice, awesome job!

Thanks! It definitely helps having a reference picture to look at sometimes. In this case, the 3D model of Ness from Super Smash Bros. was sort of my guide.

Damn dude your sprites are improving at a rapid pace! I can't wait to see what comes up next!

If it wasn't for you and the other people supporting me, I'd probably still be making 16x16 sprites. I have you all to thank for the push.

The idea is to visualize your drawings as if they were 3d, I think that's a skill generally picked up from drawing from life objects. 

Then again, it's really easy to achieve something that has volume. try working with a gradient of 4 colors.  shadow, midshadow, base, highlight.  if you lay down your colors in that order, on top of eachother, you will get something that has volume and form.

I've never done well with drawing still lives in art class. Everything I drew always looked flat. I might try some volume type things tomorrow if I remember. Hopefully, I'll feel a bit better and have more time. I'll keep the idea of 4 colors in mind, though it is weird for me to think in that order. My mind instinctively wants to start with the base color, then shadow, then midshadow, then highlight.

Day 22:



I got sick today. So, I feel like crap, but I did attempt making Emolga today. It's a Pokemon from Black/White. The Eyes were difficult at this small of scale.

[Veo]

Your Ness sprite was pretty good and you has a great pose. I made an edit of your Ness sprite to try and help you improve it. The main things I feel you can improve on is contrast and proper shading


I know you said you had a hard time with shading so I made a little thing to show you how I go about shading. First I pick a light source so, in this piece I have the light coming from front and closer to me. What I do is put my brightest color as a base and I shade the places that wouldn't be getting much light if it came in that angle. Also, if you notice that I darkened Ness's Left arm ans leg because I want them to look farther away.


Also, I made saves periodically as I was working on it and made it into a gif to show how I got from point a to point b


Hopefully this helped a little bit. If you have any questions or if I didn't exaplain very well (which is probably the case) feel free to ask.

And I want to say I'm impressed by your progress. I'm also impressed by you commitment. I've tried to do "sprite a day" thing myself many times and I'm lucky to do it 2 days in a row before I mess it up >___> Keep up the good work!
(Ness is awesome)

[cynicalsandel]

Thanks for the edit Veo! Your shading is definitely a lot better than mine. I guess I just can't picture the shadows very well. I don't know how to explain it very well. I'm just hoping it is something that will develop with more practice.

Day 23:



Still sick. I know the shading is lackluster still, but I'm trying.

[SolarLune]

Thanks for the edit Veo! Your shading is definitely a lot better than mine. I guess I just can't picture the shadows very well. I don't know how to explain it very well. I'm just hoping it is something that will develop with more practice.

Day 23:



Still sick. I know the shading is lackluster still, but I'm trying.

You're right - it is something that comes with time. You're definitely getting better. The crab looks pretty good to me. I think the shaded area could be darker, as it's pretty light and hard to see - other than that, it's very well-drawn. Nice job! Hope you get better, too.  

[Kramlack]

You're definitely getting better, cynicalsandel. Something you might want to start playing around with colour theory. It's easy to do and doesn't require a lot of time or skill to do well, so it's definitely something worth giving a go at.

I'd recommend looking at colour wheels and trying out some shifting (hue shifting and saturation shifting, luminosity speaks for itself).

For example your red went like so;
HUE  002 - 002 - 002 - 002
SAT  175 - 175 - 175 - 175
LUM  075 - 100 - 120 - 145


The hue and saturation always stayed the same, which is really boring. My palette went like so;
HUE  220 - 230 - 000 - 005
SAT  225 - 200 - 175 - 175
LUM  060 - 90 - 115 - 135


It's probably hard to see from here, but my palette shifts from a dark purple to a light red (going into orange). Anyway, keep up the good work.

[cynicalsandel]

@Kramlack: I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

Day 24:



Just dum stuff today. I guess I'm just a little frustrated because I want to make sprites for games, but I have no style or ideas of my own. Plus, I only want to make RPGs. The 16x16 sprites were too short and fat for my tastes, so I was experimenting with a little bit larger size. So, I'm just trying to make an RPG base for my own sprites.

[cynicalsandel]

Day 25:



I can't draw fur. Haven't felt so motivated the past few days. I'm getting over my cold, so hopefully that will change, but I doubt it.

Yeah, I know this is sort of regressing, but I'll try something more ambitious soon.