Here's a pixel pitcher (a pixtcher?) from a sketch.

I'd appreciate some feedback.
The pitcher itself is well into the refining stage, the bg not so.

The initial plan was to do it in 3 colors, there are 5 so far. I might still try it.

  

 

I'm spending hours on this background without much improvement.
Grrr.

     

Thanks for the color idea! I might have been overboard with it though. Here with yesterday's bg texture.
Then yesterday's colors again, with slightly different bg; then a crazy 2-color version. The middle one may still be my fav, but not finished yet.

It takes so long working on this kind of textures.

Contrast: do you think there's too much??? I find it rather low...
No, I don't have the thing, only the sketch, and that was a quick one, the bg was not like that at all. It was more of a study of light, and for that it was helpful with the pixelling.

IMO the biggest problem with the bg is that it is non-sensical...There's a shadow created by the pitcher which implies depth, but the rest of the background is just a flat abstract pattern, which I think makes it hard to focus. It kind of makes me think of this:



Just something I whipped up:

Another edit:



Maybe a hint of a horizon line could give the piece more of a focus though. Now looking over the rest I can see this is almost what you had in your first post.

Anyway, was the sketch based on anything - photo/real life/etc...?

Maybe you could add some extra objects into the scene; also, this was a challenge we ran a while back, you could maybe draw some inspiration from that.

Back on track with this guy.

I sketched it again last month. I realized I had got the shape wrong the first time, it's much more interesting than the mere oval I remembered.
Somehow I always manage to get the proportions wrong when I sketch; the left one is closest.



Newest pixels:



I think I have the bg issue under control now. It's not finished, but I can see I have the desired 'light on table' effect, with an acceptable composition.

But I'm no longer in love with the random dithering. I'll probably try again the 'crosshatching' I used for the hand.

Great improvement on volume and texture.  Contrast is looking better too.  Only thing bothering me is the square looking shadings near the bottom left corner.

I really like the colors from

Right now colors are a bit under saturated.  I really liked the crosshatching style, this would look pretty awesome with that too.

something about where the bottom of the handle connects to the pitcher just doesnt look right to me.... can't quite figure it out though.

the middle curve of the jug is lopsided, maybe?



the rest of your curves are elliptical but that one goes up real sharp on the left.

Meagz, you're magic!

       Latest:

Yep, something was wrong there!

The red ellipses are those I used so far. The large one is actually OK (but my former shading was confused and didn't look like following it), but the small one is wrong! When drawn in correct perspective from the top and bottom ellipses, the blue small one should be OK.

And then, it's suddenly easy to make the shading according to the shape, which at last becomes clear!

Thankssss. I love you! ;)


Manjaman: I promise I'll try!

Thanks, again! Good eye!



Two close versions, I've spent too long looking at them and can't decide which is best.

It's possible the problem is not fixed. Part of it is, I should make the lightest spots of this upper section come down lower, but then the plane change limit (blue ellipse) would disappear.

Also, I don't have that blooming thing with me (not before next May!), so I can't check how light actually works on it. I thought I had captured it in the sketches: so much for that.

Last look before posting: the problem is not fixed. I'll have to make at least the bright spot reach down to the ellipse. Whoever knows what happens then.


Edit: to unzoom, ctrl+click (maybe something else on macs).


Edited by Manupix - 28 February 2010 at 1:12pm

Hey guys. Back to the forum!
I can't believe I started this almost a year ago, and didn't come back to it for so long.

I've finally realized that my problem was trying to both shade and texture at the same time. Countless times have I poured fire upon people for doing just that, and rightly so: it just doesn't work!
So a while ago I removed all dithering and fixed the shading, not so satisfactorily again.

Today I decided to work directly from a photograph I had meanwhile taken of the thing, and made a few color reductions to understand better how light works with it. That was interesting, because it shows that the boundaries between colors can change very much in shape according to how many boundaries you want. The consequence of this is that trying to copy the shading either from the original, or the picture, is hopeless: no eye can see those boundaries.
Finally, arbitrarily deciding them according to the general behavior visible in the redux, and so that the volume looks correct was the thing to do.
I dithered temporarily with simple lines because it was obvious dithering would play a part in the shading; then I liked those lines better than the checkerboards and decided to go for them. Also, new color choices: I might well opt for the brightest.

Is this nearing the end at last?

Agree! Great thread.

Thanks guys <3 ! Great input.

ska: makes the perspective harder to understand
Ouch... because it's a flat surface in my mind since the first sketch, I just assumed everyone would see it like that. Eye opener for sure!
Why not a table?
Well, I kind of tested that in the early versions, at least in my mind again! Wasn't satisfying then.
So I'm trying to make it simpler, and to hint at flatness and perspective with those broad lines (still quite rough at the moment).
I also had the maybe not so good idea to add wine stains as a perspective help. It might work but messes up the composition a bit.

Jeremy: cool edits!
1 > right, that was a leftover from previous stages.
2 > not sure I understand what you mean: that I didn't draw the reflections and speculars as visible on the glossy surface? That's right, and I didn't really think about them.
Actually I have this problem with light that the early sketch and pixel had a certain light which I couldn't exactly duplicate for the picture (even though the setup was almost exactly the same, light coming from the same northward (northern hemisphere!) window). Mainly the nice diffuse reflected light of the early versions is no longer there.
You're right about the wine not being visible in the high color version, I will probably stay with the second version.

Anyway, I undithered again, and reworked the shading. Then I tried different unfamiliar texturing patterns. I'll have to study Dawnbringer some more... There I am now, one undithered and 2 textdithered versions.
One advantage of those textures could be that I'll be able to use simple lines on the bg, which I didn't before because of conflict with the jug.




Also: OUCH 59-16



Edited by Manupix - 28 November 2010 at 1:47pm

I see! Guess you're right; I'll check that in the next versions.
Merci! ;)

Meanwhile, 2 experiments, not very conclusive:
I did check Dawnbringer's work and for the first time I've begun to understand something about his textures. It involves colors of close values and different hues. It happens the wine colors are in this kind of relation to the jug colors: I just had to try. Needs more work and study...
Then, I think I might not be able to solve this without a new color, since one value gap in the mid-tones is too wide. So here's a quick test with an additional color -- this is costing me dearly in self-esteem!
Also I made the wine stain somewhat nicer; it might stay after all.





Edited by Manupix - 28 November 2010 at 6:08pm

FI-NISHED !!!!! And uploaded and I don't want to hear about it ever again. Ok, jus' kiddin' :S



After, again, innumerable and inconclusive trials and changes and tests, I decided to keep what worked best from previous versions. Texturing is consequently a bit of a patchwork, but I'm now convinced that a really clean rendering would require a large palette. That, or I suck.
Colors being still not satisfying, I tried some of my previous palettes then borrowed palettes from other artists and settled on something inspired by (not copied!) this piece by iLKke.
Why was I not able to come up by myself with a working palette for this, I wonder. I should rely more on technique and less on chance to pick my colors.

Thanks again for the help! <3 =)





Edited by Manupix - 03 January 2011 at 7:09pm