cricket sprite
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: Pixel Art
Forum Name: WIP (Work In Progress)
Forum Discription: Get crits and comments on your pixel WIPs and other art too!
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9335
Printed Date: 08 June 2026 at 8:06pm
Topic: cricket sprite
Posted By: grumble-bee
Subject: cricket sprite
Date Posted: 28 October 2009 at 5:06pm
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hi everyone! i was working on this cricket sprite, i'm pretty far but something is bothering me about him and i'm having trouble finishing him. his back leg looks a little funny, and the shadow next to the back leg on the body. should i get rid of his "feet"? does this bother anyone else? there's something else but i can't put my finger on it! here's my cricket:  and here's the sprites i was trying to color like. i've never colored anything like them before so this is my first. (these are from a SNES game called "EVO: the Search for Eden".):  since i was going off these sprites, i haven't attempted dithering or anti-aliasing yet. i don't know if my sprite calls for those techniques. but i was hoping some fresh eyes can help me out! |
Replies:
Posted By: Manupix
Date Posted: 29 October 2009 at 2:36am
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Actually the back legs look best to me! Main problems are front legs, and attachment of legs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect - Insects have 6 legs attached from the thorax (middle body section). I guess you don't want that degree of realism, 4 legged insects are cute too... even if you don't actually have a thorax, the legs should be attached somewhere in the middle. The eyes could be more towards the sides. Light looks good except the strong shadows near upper outlines. Your light comes from above, no need for the darkest tone there. |
Posted By: grumble-bee
Date Posted: 29 October 2009 at 2:39pm
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thanks for the response i appreciate it! i'm actually pleased with his design, i have no interest in making him look like an anatomically correct cricket, in fact most of the bugs i drew in this series have fours legs. i wanted them to look more like critters and less like a science book. (after all sonic looks nothing like a hedgehog but we all accept that he is one) i tried knocking the top shadow off and it looks like this:  i think it might flatten him too much, or maybe it looks like the highlight on the body is misplaced? now i might just be nit-picking... the shadow i originally had at the top was not the darkest shadow, but 3rd form the darkest. the examples i was following also have the 3rd from the darkest at the top or the 3rd away from the highlight, which follows this http://z.about.com/d/painting/1/0/1/Z/1/ArtWorksheet-SphereValue.jpg - sphere diagram . i may re-work that highlight a little though now that i think about it... |
Posted By: Manupix
Date Posted: 29 October 2009 at 4:47pm
Quick edit: Yes, the highlights were misplaced, and too dark too. Don't trust that sphere: it's a graphic design, not at all a realistic light example! Besides, there isn't one light example: different materials appear completely different under the same lighting. I changed the front legs, moved the left eye, tried to suggest http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Compound_eye - compound eyes (which reflect light very uniquely: in this I failed!), suggested segments (not so good either), made new antennas. More highlights next to eyes and mouth, to give depth there. Your color ramps are uneven, too saturated, and too monochromatic. I addressed a few of those but not all: lightened the 2 darkest blue which were too close to black and too distant from the next blue; introduced a lighter blue shifted towards green; desaturated and hue-shifted pinks. Checked some aa and banding issues, not all and not perfectly. Mostly, my antennas might not work so well on some backgrounds. Depends on what you'll do with it. |
Posted By: grumble-bee
Date Posted: 30 October 2009 at 4:07pm
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wow! you're so great, you really went out of your way to help me with this, thank you! here's my version so far:  i love the eyes, and the blue you put on the notes, i would not have thought to do that. i also love the stripey texture you gave him on his body because it makes him more bug like but not totally a bug, which is what i wanted. i just can't get rid of his nubby front legs! i think it looks too cute all short and stubby :) i'm on the fence about the antennae, i like yours they look electric. i tried to do my own version, but i think i need to re-work them. eventually i wanted to animate him, and some time down the line he will be against backgrounds, i'm sure that will affect my antennae decision. i did the color corrections, but i'm not sure what you mean by color ramps? is there an "industry standard", a rule of thumb, or is it a personal preference? i can see that i was sorta close but i was still off, so is there some guide i can refer to? i'm still so new to the pixel world, is it awful that i don't know what an aa or banding issue is? is it ok that i use your edits in my own version? thank you so much again! i'm getting excited to work on more bugs! |
Posted By: Manupix
Date Posted: 31 October 2009 at 5:34pm
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AA = Anti-aliasing, meaning attempts at mitigating the jagginess of outlines. There is a http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5692 - simple tutorial here , first one on the first page. I did a little of that on the upper outlines of body and head. Sorry, I'm so used to write 'aa' I didn't notice, awful me! The outer outlines of sprites is usually not aa'ed, because of variable backgrounds. That's the problem with my version of the Banding is what happens when you have 2 or more contiguous identical blocks of pixels. You have some on the lower head outline, I didn't fix it. A very http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=8110.msg92434#msg92434 - detailed explanation here . A color ramp is a subset of colors from your palette, basically the 'same color' going from dark to light. You have 3 ramps: blues, greys, pinks. The tones in a ramp should be evenly spaced; your former blues had too close darks and a gap after them. Then, the ramps in a piece should integrate, not just stand separately to each other. You shift hues within each ramps to achieve this (and also to make better shading: realistic shading has either bluer shadows - outside scenes with blue sky - or warmer -inside scenes in warm colored rooms). More of this http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9215 - here and http://www.pixeljoint.com/2009/10/03/2938/Pixel_Artist_-_Syosa.htm - there . It's much more than 'rule of thumb' and 'personal pref': making a good palette is an essential element of any good pixel art, and it is by no means obvious. You have to understand how colors work, relative to each other, to the whole, and how the eye works with them. I'm just barely beginning to understand this myself, but it's probably the most fascinating stuff I learnt doing PA. Search the forums for all these questions, they have been discussed a lot times, here and at Pixellation. Using my edits: you're supposed to redo them by yourself, not copy-paste them (as it looks like you did, partly). Not that I care the slightest actually, but you'll learn more doing it! ;) Also, edits are usually quick stuff just to make a point, they need to be refined. Looking forward to more bugz! |
Posted By: grumble-bee
Date Posted: 02 November 2009 at 6:55pm
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aw you're so nice! i'll do some research before the next sprite, see if something clicks! i didn't realize how much information was here already. i tried cleaning him up some more, and tried to give more of my own "voice" there, but i'm still new to pixel art and don't have much of my own voice yet. also, i'm used to people drawing over my work and have me keep the changes but next time i'll try to spin it more my way! here's how he looks finally:  i kept trying to redo his eyes but nothing i did looked as nice, they kept turning out too flat and the reflections looked all wrong. these are my new antennae, i think i like it this way! i'm going to post him soon... thanks again for all your help! |
Posted By: Hatch
Date Posted: 03 November 2009 at 7:12am
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Originally posted by grumble-bee
I tried cleaning him up some more, and tried to give more of my own "voice" there, but i'm still new to pixel art and don't have much of my own voice yet Don't worry about this. Everyone has their own style and it develops naturally over time, without any effort (other than the general effort of improving at art, of course). If you try to force it, it'll be obvious and leave your art feeling stilted. Anyhow, looks like you're doing a great job, and I don't want to discourage you, but there may be issues with this getting into the gallery if you submit it with Manupix's eyes. I know he said he doesn't care, but the rules for gallery submission are pretty stringent. ------------- |
Posted By: grumble-bee
Date Posted: 03 November 2009 at 5:09pm
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thank you! i just need a ton more practice! i hope it won't be too much of an ordeal getting - i gave credit where credit was due. and i redrew everything pixel by pixel - i don't want to rip anyone off, but when people make corrections to my work, i'd much rather keep them 
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