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[Flopsy M]

Hi all, looking to start brushing up on my pixel art again, any critique of this attempt I knocked up today would be just grand!

I was going for a mock up of an small floating island for a side scrolling 2d shooter. I'm pretty happy with it, but any pointers would be much appreciated. The area I think is a bit shoddy is maybe the tree trunk.



Thanks in advance everyone!

[Shoryucas]

Looks great. Give a bigger, more interesting shape to the leaf blob and bring the base of it down a bit. You could make the roots longer and weave through the rocks a bit more for interest. Maybe give the rocks some color and overall unify the color scheme a bit. You could try a few oddly shaped rocks instead of many little ones, or at least show how they're holding together (dirt, roots, vines, etc). Also, no idea what those red and yellow things are, clarify those a bit visually. You made a great effort, keep working at it.

[keo]

make a gradient, shading the furthest rocks from the surface the darkest.

[Flopsy M]

Added a bit to this after your comments, I'm going to be doing a few more of these, so I'll work on the shading gradient in the next one and post it when it's done. How do people feel about the additions?

Yeah, about the red and yellow things. I was trying to go for sort of crystal orbs/smoothed gems, but wasn't sure how to show that in pixel art form. Anyone got any tips on improving them? I've tried touching up the red one a bit, but it's still a bit indistinct.



Thanks for the input so far guys, it's nice to have people around who'll chip in!

[Joshua]

I like the idea you have, thought I'd do a quick edit. One thing led to another, and then the quick edit got out of hand...



I'm no super artist, but here are a few things I was thinking about:

Color
I think the colors you chose are pretty solid. The largest change I did here was reduce the color count from 25 down to 12. I also played with the hues and added some contrast, but nothing major.

Form
I think this is the area where you stand to improve the most. As minnow said, there should be some gradation of value. Think of where the light would strike, and where it will not reach.  Because you shaded all your rocks the same way, your piece looks very flat. Even though it is pixel art, think of the object in 3D.

Composition
I really dig the idea you have here, reminds me of the desolation caused by the Nothing in the Neverending Story. Most of what I did here was remove/fix things that didn't make sense, and add areas of interest and places for your eyes to relax.

Hopefully this is helpful. Keep at it! 

[Flopsy M]

Wow, that's really good. I thing it's a slightly different style, but I think I can still get a lot from this. I've started another piece of the same sort of thing, but with a slightly tweaked style. I'm finding it quite difficult so far, but I'll put up the few bits I've done so far.



Excuse the palettes I've left lying around the place... Don't think I've got the hang of this method yet, any pointers as I continue?

[barbiturates]

the best advice anyone could give you right now is to stop using so many colors

i know that when you're just starting out you get this gut feeling that you should use every color you possibly can forever

but

dont do that
thats bad
stop it

[Flopsy M]

Interesting, I always just sort of used however many I felt like. I'd just kind of assumed that the colour restrictions people put on their pixel work was (originally) due to the limitations of the consoles being designed for, and then as a sort of throwback to those kinds of styles.

I know pixel artists often like to limit the numbers of colours they use, but is there a reason to do this, other than because that's how pixel art was "meant" to be done? Do you get a better finished result?

By the by, I will be posting work again soon, but I've been too ill to want to draw anything for the last few days. Soon though.

[Joshua]

I like to think of color like spices in a spice cabinet. If you used them all for every dish you made, it would be disastrous. A few spices that complement each other usually work much better.

I also find this true for non-pixel art.

[barbiturates]

Interesting, I always just sort of used however many I felt like. I'd just kind of assumed that the colour restrictions people put on their pixel work was (originally) due to the limitations of the consoles being designed for, and then as a sort of throwback to those kinds of styles.

I know pixel artists often like to limit the numbers of colours they use, but is there a reason to do this, other than because that's how pixel art was "meant" to be done? Do you get a better finished result?

By the by, I will be posting work again soon, but I've been too ill to want to draw anything for the last few days. Soon though.

didn't notice this post until now, whoopsies

using a smaller amount of colors in pixel art is generally to avoid some really nasty side effects that result when you pile tons of shades on and the short version is really just

using less colors results in a much sharper image overall, and it teaches you more about shading i guess??? because if you're working with less you'll have to try harder to make your work show depth
i guess
idk i suck at explaining things

I like to think of color like spices in a spice cabinet. If you used them all for every dish you made, it would be disastrous. A few spices that complement each other usually work much better.

I also find this true for non-pixel art.

also this yes