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[Flopsy M]

Hi all, been lurking for a while, and have found a lot of the topics on these forums really interesting. I'm starting off as an indie developer, covering the art and design aspects for a two man team. I would be the first to admit my pixeling skills aren't amazing, but they aren't terrible and I'm looking to improve.

Currently working on an isometric fantasy themed game, and am really happy with the progress. Have hit a little stumbling block with a building interior I'm doing. I am fine with pixeling a wall with lots of smaller bricks or stones in it, but am not sure of how you make larger flat surfaces look decent. I could just add noise, which gives texture but doesn't look quite right(as you can see in the one detailed stone on the wall of the house), and adding a flat highlight and shadow looked even worse. If anyone can help out it'd be great, hope this question doesn't come across as too simple.




Any critique on the rest of the picture will be met with hate and fire. I'm kidding- any comments would be great.

Thanks all!

[Shiny]

I don't usually (or ever) do isometric stuff, but here's a basic edit anyways:



A few notes:
- Try to avoid stranded pixels; they tend to read as noise. Instead, work in "pixel clusters"... unless it's some style thing.
- Try to work on a more neutral background color, or on one similar to the environment in which the subject will be placed. A bright red background really throws off your color perception, and isn't so pleasing to look at.
- Fully consider what the subject is. These are rocks embedded in some form of binding; they are unlikely to be perfectly flush. And if they are perfect, then you can bend reality for sake of aesthetics.
- My edit uses tiling, with very little variation. Not sure if that's what you were going for, but I wasn't going to draw any more of those rocks than necessary, haha.


And I thought it would be interesting to try adding an "overlay lighting" of sorts, to make it feel more vibrant:


(Looks decent, I guess, and takes only minutes.)

[Flopsy M]

Holey moley. That's really very good. I'll try to improve mine, and post a new version tomorrow. That said, on having a close look at your floorboards, I think I have a lot to learn- don't know how well this will go. I think my methods have been too strict in terms of picking what areas to shade, but am not sure how to change that. Practice I guess... Anyway, thank you for the time you spent on this, and I'll probably be back with questions pretty soon.

[Kazerad]

Dear God Shiny those tiles are beautiful. Like the OP, I am amazed and discouraged. Do you have any tips on learning how to do that?

[caffeine]

Dear God Shiny those tiles are beautiful. Like the OP, I am amazed and discouraged. Do you have any tips on learning how to do that?

practice

[BlueSweatshirt]

Looking at the real stuff always helps.

Low-res pixel art is all about tactful abstraction of the (literally)big picture.

That's one way to think about it, at least.
Hope that helps.

[Nix]

These look incredible, but I think something's slightly off about the lighting. It's too easy for me to "invert" it so that the corner is nearer to me rather than farther, like it's intended.

[Flopsy M]

Hi guys, sorry I took a while to get back to this thread. I have had a go at some of the planks, and tweaked the colours I've used. I have only done some of the planks, as I'm hoping you may have some tips on how to improve my attempt to improve, and didn't want to do the whole floor only to have to change it drastically. I used a more muted background colour, and attempted to use pixel clusters to imply texture, as opposed to the noise I had before. Once again, I would love any feedback! Thanks guys!

[Flopsy M]

Not sure what the policy on Bumping things is on this forum, so if this is naughty, I apologise and won't do it again.

I'd still love some feedback on my changes if anyone sees this, this is the thing I'm needing the most input on.

Maybe adding a couple of other images would help? I'm actually really happy with how these icons have gone (with the possible exception of the red powder), but feedback is still welcome on them!



Thanks!

[unsilentwill]

Well, it's unfinished. You can learn a lot about how something looks and even how to make it better just by applying your technique to the whole area. I suppose that takes more time, but being able to see errors yourself is an important step.

That sounds kind of mean, so here's some comments on the piece. The success of Shiny's edit came mostly from imagining each rock as completely flat. Shadows are not on the rock itself, but cast from rock. That is an important step, and the texture you are trying to apply should come after. The floor is looking good, if a bit mushy and warped.

For the icons there are two things to consider, first being getting over the hump of using outlines for objects (on the powder especially), which helps you concentrate on knowing your light source. Secondly overall it may not be a bad idea to go over your whole color pallet, and make sure you are using a good range of saturated and unsaturated colors. The yellow specifically is bright and unnatural, making the dirt look a bit like old corn.

Things are look pretty good though, keep practicing!

[Flopsy M]

Ok, that's fair. I was probably being a bit lazy. Sorry guys. That said, the feedback was useful, and made me look at the stones he pixelled in a new light. I think I understand that a little better. I have finished the floor now, and would really appreciate tips and feedback on the floorboards. I think it's a decent improvement, but obviously isn't perfect.

As far as the icons go, I'm quite happy with the style of using outlines on the majority of them, but you are right- the red sand outline is definitely too defined. The Yellow is bright because I was going for a golden metal outline over a wood panel. Not sure how i would change it and keep the feel of gold to it. I'm also trying to keep the colour scheme fairly bright and cheerful, but suggestions are always helpful.

[ToothyMang]

Looks alright, definitely better than I could do. But I think the wood is a little too messed up looking. Makes it too noisy and would be harder to discern objects on top of the floor. Just my amateur opinion. Keep practicing though, you seem to be making progress.