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[cynicalsandel]

Other than just needing more practice and skill, the only problem I really run into is not knowing what to pixel. I assume I'm probably just gonna keep doing "fan art" or whatever because I have no imagination.

[Conker534]

You're really improving, one thing you need to let go is, like on the jack sprite those black lines really throw off the image. Use darker versions of the colors near it, like you did in totoro.

[SolarLune]

Other than just needing more practice and skill, the only problem I really run into is not knowing what to pixel. I assume I'm probably just gonna keep doing "fan art" or whatever because I have no imagination.

Nice work. I think you should work on original characters, as that allows you to actually try both making interesting characters, as well as making more interesting poses and usable sprites. And sure, you have imagination! Just think of something - anything. Think of a guy doing something, and pixel it. Think of a typical something - businessman, shop owner, thief, ninja, scientist, alien, space cop, whatever, and draw it. Draw something like something that you really like (i.e. an original character in the style of a game / show / cartoon / movie you like). Imagination isn't coming up with something that doesn't exist yet. It's pretty much just recycling.

[cynicalsandel]

Mr. Drippy from Ni No Kuni. I got pretty lazy with him, so there are a few things I don't like. Art is just frustrating in general. When you are trying to get better its this weird feeling of knowing things are wrong, but not knowing how to fix them. I feel a little uncomfortable without outlines. I guess it could be holding me back, and I probably don't know how to use them correctly in the context of pixel art.

I'm probably gonna try to pixel something that could actually be in-game art tomorrow. I would do more today, but the Sound City documentary that Dave Grohl directed is on. I like to come up with excuses to get out of doing anything productive.

Thanks for the comments. I know the Workshop isn't the most active or interesting place all the time, so I appreciate you guys posting here. I'm not confident enough in my work to post in the "Show your pixel art" thread. I wish I was better not only because that's my goal and it would help in the making of games, but also so I could try to help out other people in the Workshop.

[cynicalsandel]

I started today off with a goal in mind for once. Basically, when I think of a game idea, there is usually an art style I picture in my mind while doing so, and for my current idea that I'm obsessed with, that style was that of the Gameboy. The Gameboy was my first video game console, so it's not too surprising that I really like the look. Nostalgia.

The first two things I pixelled were these:


Just trying to get a feel for the size restraints. Then I messed around with the faces a bit more and decided to lower the pixels on the eyes, which was kind of an "Aha!" moment for the whole pixel cluster thing I always read people talking about. The face looked a much more natural perspective, with the two above now looking like they were looking up.



Obviously, if you look at the beginning of the thread, you'll see that I have worked at this size before, but I was just sort of fumbling around then. While I don't believe these new ones are perfect, I feel like they show a better understanding of how to work at this size.

I didn't want to stop there though. I started work on an actual mockup, with tiles and such. I spent quite a bit of time doing everything over and over again, but this is where I'm at..



I'm going to continue working on it tonight, but I wanted to get this post in before I either forgot, or it was already past midnight.

[cynicalsandel]

A bunch more work done. I'm kind of proud of this. Maybe with a bit more work, I'll post it in the Mockups thread of the main Art forum. I'm really starting to feel the restrictions of the GB, and I'm most likely not even following them correctly. The positive is that it leaves me a lot less worried about color. It's hard for my color blindness to mess this style up. The only thing holding me back is my own artistic inexperience, but it feels much more manageable.

However, doing this really showed me how slow I am when it comes to pixelling. It makes an actual game seem that much more distant.