Speed's Pixel Art Attempts

Not really attempts at pixel art, per se, but attempts at capturing VIA pixel art. xD

I'm not exactly sure how you guys grade pixel art around here, since it's a much different art form than digital art and tends to require a whole asston more time than traditional / digital art in order to get the same outcome. So for instance, adding a background to a pixel art piece would most likely cause the entire thing to take an ungodly longer amount of time than if you were doing the same thing via just digital painting / drawing. Not trying to make an excuse or say that pixel art is superior or inferior, just genuinely wondering. Also, because I guess pixel art focuses just as much on the "building blocks" of the image as much as the final image itself. ^^;

But I'm certainly about to find out! I'm mainly posting this here just to see how it'd work with me doing pixel art and such; bonus points if I DO end up getting a Sneasel this way. xD Basically this will tell me what I'll need to do more and/or less of to get a better outcome next time. ^^


Title: [email protected]$$ Weavile
Target Pokemon: Sneasel
Difficulty: Hard (55+)
Here's a signed version.

 

Not pixel art, but...one thing led to another. It started out as a sketch in Pokemon Art Academy and then I just had a little fun with it. Though I must say, on my DS it was a lot less...blue. But I guess that gives the feeling of an ever murkier area / denser fog.

The fog was originally me trying to get rid of the sketch lines in the sky. Of course, looking at this from a regular device there are STILL marks in the sky. Ugh.

Title: Just Chillin'
Target Pokemon: Froakie
Difficulty: Hard (55+)
you wanted it, so here it is.

I know I can buy a Froakie from the Mart if I really wanted one. I just wanted a little bit of a challenge, given my lack of experience with digital painting and such.

 

I don't think I have any art claimed, which I thought I did. So I'll nab Weavile.

 

I'm going to override your claim here and claim this for myself. It's been over a month since your claim. If you want to take it back cuz you started working on it, just let me know.

Otherwise, expect a curation in the week @Speed-X;!

 

I did start a curation for this, but go ahead--I didn't expect to get bombared with uni stuff that extended past midterms and it's just been awful.

 

I'll claim Froakie while we wait to see Smores' reply on Weavile.

 

@Speed-X;

Froakie Curation

Form

Drawing for Marts are great! Why spend money when you can get something for free?

The anatomy is pretty on the spot. I particularly like how Froakie's “beard,” for lack of a better term, and how it's slightly stylized. The expression is also unique and great. It sort of looks like the frog is meditating. At the same time, the frown sort of makes it seem like he's unhappy about something or perhaps being disturbed (though by what, I'm not sure). That feel clashes with the Just Chillin' title slightly, since the face doesn't quite match a relaxed resting, but that's a minor thing.

The only thing I can really see about form that could maybe be tweaked in the future is how Froakie is sitting. It isn't quite sitting, like it's in mid-motion, making it look slightly awkward underneath the frog where it meets the lily pad. The foot on the left looks slightly raised, but its mostly that bottom portion which makes the Pokemon seem like it's not quite sitting but not quite getting up either. Even if it didn't exactly touch the lily pad, it sort of looks like it's hovering a decent height above it, leading to that awkwardness. It's not super noticeable, but once my eye was drawn down the line of Froakie's body along the arms, I noticed it.

Overall, I like it, even if the sitting is sort of standard pose. The expression sets it apart from official works, and the setting is a nice touch.

Technique

The whispy coloring is pretty nice. It gives the piece a painted style, but even though you can see the lines where it didn't quite blend together, it doesn't look unfinished. It lets the body of the frog match the lily pad and the water. The only place where that stroked style isn't very obvious is the background—this may be because most of the reeds are just faded in opacity and not different colors. The sky doesn't fit this theme either. It may have been interesting to do a sort of setting sun sky with different blues, purples, pinks, and orange if you wanted to stick with the same matching style throughout.

I'm split on the outline. On one hand, I like how it makes the Pokemon stick out from the background, drawing the eye to it (also traditional for Pokemon art). On the other hand, the rest of the piece, in this style you've adopted, has more of a natural feel. I wonder what the piece would've seemed like without the outline. You can sort of see it on the right side eye, where the outline is faded and not so dark.

Shadows and highlights look great on the Pokemon. The only place I see them missing where they might be good is underneath the front feet. Even if the light casts most of the shadow behind, it's still probably possible to see a slight shadow where the feet touch the lily pad. One of my old art teacher always stressed that point. She said the darkest place is between two objects. This may also be applicable to the lily pad and the water, as well as the flower on top of the lily pad.

Background

That's really weird that the sky turned out like that if it didn't show it on the device. Really, those lines are the only really distracting thing about this piece, since they're so obvious and not subtle like the way you styled some other coloring. The fog did work on the upper portion of the reeds since its solid and murky. It's just that sky. There are also a few lines around the left side eye that look out of place, that were perhaps maybe sketch lines left over.

I don't have much experience using Art Academy, but it seems able to do the basic stuff just fine. Since the sky thing was an issue, maybe next time downloading it into another art program like Photoshop/GIMP/etc, once you've uploaded it somewhere, can clean them up. Another way to minimize the effect could be to trim the canvas a little. There's a little bit of unused space on top that could be trimmed. Maybe on the left side as well. That wouldn't fix the lines completely, but it would lessen how much they stick out.

It's also a little odd to see so much sky through the reeds too. Aren't grasses and such around ponds usually a little thicker? That would suggest that in between the reeds are some more shadows or darker areas. There's gotta be something behind them, even if it's just solid ground. Seeing so much sky, even right at the edge of the pond, almost makes it look like the pond is floating on its own plane XD

Result

Spoiler

Overall, great job. The style was interesting, and even if the background didn't quite work out, it's still a nice piece. On the whole you've got art techniques down even if you mostly dwell in the pixel realm. Just keep in mind some of those little details for next pieces!

I'm scoring this 55/55 so that means Froakie is captured! Enjoy.

 

Hahah, thank you. For clarification, the entire sky was meant to appear foggy and murky. A fog is covering the landscape. The sky can't really be seen because of fog. Anyway thank you for the critique!

 

I'll claim Weavile now too. Wish I hadn't deleted what I started on it before haha.

 

@Speed-X;

[email protected]$$ Weavile curation

Form

The Pokemon itself is very nice. The pixels are clean and sharp, as to be expected, but nothing looks wonky or out of place in the outlines. The anatomy looks okay, except for maybe the collar. It seems a little too narrow, like it cuts off before it hits the arms, like it's a part of Weavile's chest and not the mantle over the shoulders that it originally was. It's a little hard to tell for sure, since the scarf covers up most of it.

The pose itself mimics one similar to one of the official art pieces, but the arms are folded a little differently so that's cool. The scarf is also a nice original touch to the image. I do wonder about the arm that's touching the scarf end, though. The white marking looks like it could be some sort of original detail, which is cool. But it looks like the bend is at the wrist—does that mean the claw on the right side is dark instead of white? It's really hard to tell from the angle the portrait is in.

Seeing more of the Pokemon might help solve this. If there were more tiny details to set this Weavile apart from standard ones, like odd markings or anything, it might not seem so odd that it would have a dark claw, if that was the intent at all. For sure, pixels are hard to work with, but next time I'd like to see more of the mon! That also opens up the opportunity for showing off the sprites doing something cool, like battling. It might make a few things harder to see, but it would increase the dynamic of the pose/etc, too, instead of just a portrait.

Technique

Nothing is really out of place here. The shadows and highlights are great, with smooth lines of transition between them to the point where it almost doesn't even look like pixels. I also really like the extra attention to detail paid to the jewel in the forehead and the designs on the scarf. Those are really nice touches. They add that tiny bit of spin on it that makes it your own.

There's really not much else to say other than that, since the mon is the only thing in the frame. Nice work.

Background

To answer the question, yes, background is still important, even in pixel work. A piece of art is the whole thing, not just one part of it. Sometimes, extra details and effects not on the Pokemon itself can be just as important as the mon and really add to the theme or mood. In this case, I don't think the background needs to be anything crazy because you're right, it would take a long time, depending on how big you made it. But really, art isn't that quick regardless of what medium is used. Different people take to different styles with different speeds.

For this one, something in the background would've been nice. Your spriting skills for Pokemon are great, and I want to see what else you can make with them! In particular, something to contrast with the Weavile might've been cool, making it pop out. Another option could be to build on your theme. You called the Weavile badass, so prove it! Give us some thematic visuals. It doesn't even have to be realistic, just something interesting to look at, since we don't see too much of the mon. It's simple enough to keep the canvas size down so you don't have to go overboard on background details, but even just a little bit to frame the Weavile would be nice!

Edit: I forgot to mention, but the background doesn't necessarily have to be in pixel art. Blending art forms is really cool! The example that came to mind are the pixel IDs that were popular on dA a while ago.

Result

Spoiler

Next time, I'd like to see more of the Pokemon and some sort of background detail, however simple, but otherwise, what you have here is really solid. Nice job. I'm scoring this 55/55, which means Sneasel is caught!

 

@WinterVines

Thanks for the critique! I forgot to thank you. x]

I'm definitely adding some kind of background next time. Because you know what? They're not my forte because I don't work with them much, so I'm going to change that. And yeah, good point that I don't need to have my background be purely pixel art! I didn't think of that. I usually just like to pixel things completely not using other mediums, but I may just have to try that now. ;o

I'm actually working on something to get me a Snivy, so I figured I may as well try to go a little more in-depth. I could always use the challenge...plus I'm also going to utilize that June theme challenge that you proposed. Fantastic idea~