Thread: [JUNE] Snivy and Joltik

If I have to post this on BMG I will, but until then I'll post this and leave it here on PXR for a few days. :> Or so.

Pokemon: Snivy
Rank: Hard (out of 55)

It doesn't look like the art gallery needs signatures anymore, but just in case here's some work-in-progress posts:

Line art and flat colors
Main part finished, background WIP

Claim! Let's see who can grade whose picture first! (I'd be okay with it if you won)

@Speed-X: I win!

Oh wow! This is pretty great!

I’ll start by talking about the shading, since I think I’ve got the most to say about that aspect of this piece. It’s done, for the most part, really nicely. In particular, I think the shading under Snivy’s neck and down its belly to its feet, as well as on the back of its head, really give the picture a lot of depth. They’re exactly the right hue/shade, too. I think the shading on the leaves at the end of its tail could have used a little extra work, however. The shading is sort of an odd shape, and I know that’s partly because the leaves aren’t nice and round like its body. I tried to do a Google search for some good reference pictures, and this is the one I thought would be most helpful:



Both this picture and yours have the light source coming from above and center. While your leaves are angled a little more outward, I think you could shade them similarly, with more of a flat shading that comes up farther on the leaves. I think the shade of green you used for the darker area is actually just a hair too dark, too. At least, if you were going to bring the shadow up, it might be worth trying something a little lighter.

I also want to take some time and talk about your highlights. Again, there are some places they look really nice, and some where they could’ve been improved. I think the way you brightened his yellow areas around the eye and collar really stand out excellently. I like how you lightened the outline in the brighter areas, that helps a lot too. The lighter green on his back also looks nice, although it seems like you added a shadow right in the middle. I’m assming this was supposed to be coming from the leaves or its head, but I can’t see an obvious source here, so it looks a little out of place. The light source seems to be coming from up above rather than in front of or behind Snivy, so you probably didn’t need to have either the tail or head cast a shadow on his back. Finally, I’m not sure the yellow areas are totally appropriate for the areas on the top of Snivy’s head and the tips of its tail leaves. There’s a lot more blue than yellow in the shade of green you chose for Snivy, so any highlights should probably look more like the light green you used on its back, unless there’s some sort of yellow light source. The sun doesn’t seem to be shining bright yellow or gold anywhere else, so I don’t think that’s the case.

One detail I think you just may have missed—the yellow parts of a Snivy’s collar continue down its back and right up to the leaves on its tail. Having that extra bit of color may have helped tie both the leaves’ shading and the yellow highlight together with the rest of the picture a little more.

Okay, moving on to Joltik. Since it’s not the star, I won’t say too much. I like how you managed to bring in a lot of detail in such a tiny space, although I think it may have been a little too much. Unfortunately, when you zoom out a picture, if you try to keep the same resolution, details just stop looking like themselves and start looking like a bunch of pixels smooshed together. That happened to some extent with Joltik’s eyes. I think you may have been better off picking one or two colors. In such a small space, you only need a color or two to feign detail even though it doesn’t seem like it when you’re working up close. The other parts of Joltik’s body look great, however, particularly the outline.

On to the background! It’s really astounding how well you represented the grass in this pixel art. I can see so much detail and you created the illusion of so many individual strands. The flowers were a nice touch to add a splash of color to what would otherwise have been a large field of green. I also like how you created the clouds. I can see a lots of layers of blue that create the fluffy texture.

Grade

Overall, I really liked this piece. The only things that really stood out as being worth a second look were the shading on its tail and back, and the yellow highlights. Otherwise, it is a really great image, and I’ve got no problem rating it a 55/55, so Snivy is captured.

Unfortunately, because Joltik is so small and not really the center of the piece, I don't think this counts for the monthly theme.

Thanks for the crits, Elrond. I don't agree with the crit against having the greenish yellow highlights, though, but I'll explain why:

A big thing about my pixel art in particular is that I like to conserve my colors. Why use another shade of real that I'll hardly use of I can get the same, if not better result of I use one of the green colors? Another thing is hue-shifting. I like to experiment with hue-shifting quite a bit. That also might explain why the shadow color is too dark. I really could have done something about that, though. Ah well.:>

You know, come to think of it is also could have a lot to do with habit. Without a background its a different story; but
WITH a background, you have to take into consideration the rest of the atmosphere too in order to create something more harmonious. I'll definitely watch out for that next time.

Come to think of it I probably could have used the light green. But thank you for your pointers! To be honest I totally forgot it's yellow stripe and how it runs down its back from its collar. ._. You're right about Joltik's eyes; I probably shouldn't have added so much detail as to not hinder its readability. :>

My idea with the June theme probably didn't go as expected; I more likely ended up doing more of a May theme. ;P Beautiful sunny summer day, grass-type Pokemon, flowers, etc. xD So you got a point there! Ah well, no biggie. <3

Again,thank you so much for taking your time to give some crits. URPG or not, I ALWAYS appreciate constructive feedback!!! And doing so can take a lot of energy. But you still managed to find plenty of things to talk about. Thank you!! @Elrond