Pixel Art

[Connor]

Hey everyone.
I'm far from being a good pixel artist, so I've decided to practice and learn a bit about it.

My first item, was what I called the Ruby Sword.
Not all that good, but it was my first attempt.

This is the second picture I've ever made, very boring to be honest.
I made it so I could mess around with shading and stuff.
I call it The Spear. (Very original, I know)

I'll edit this post with other stuff in the future.
Positive comments, and creative criticism please. :)
Note: If you want to use these, for whatever reason. Go ahead. No credit is needed to me.

[GKO]

Thats very good, a hell of alot better than i could do.

[Connor]

@GKO:

> Thats very good, a hell of alot better than i could do.

Thank you!
I'm a beginner, first piece of art work that I did "pixel by pixel".
I tried my best with the shading, turned out alright in my opinion.

Although, do you see anything wrong with it? Anyway I can improve it?
Any advice would help me a lot! :)

[saadhamza]

Yes, something very important. The… well i'm not sure if this si the right turn, but i think it's called the gradient? Well, the shading, it doesn't look right. It looks too obviously fake-ish. Other then that, it's very nice. Very good for a first try. There was a tutorial somewhere on that... can't remember it now though

[GKO]

The spear looks like guthans spear from runescape.

[Connor]

@Zonova:

> Yes, something very important. The… well i'm not sure if this si the right turn, but i think it's called the gradient? Well, the shading, it doesn't look right. It looks too obviously fake-ish. Other then that, it's very nice. Very good for a first try. There was a tutorial somewhere on that... can't remember it now though

Yeah, shading is something I need to work on.
Thanks for the feedback. :)

[Kemerd]

Really? All you did for shading was slap a gradient on it. Looks like a pole. Work on that.

[Connor]

@Kemerd:

> Really? All you did for shading was slap a gradient on it. Looks like a pole. Work on that.

I didn't have a gradient tool. I was using MSPaint.
It isn't that good because there the first two sprites I've ever made.

[Biohazard]

U don't need gradient tool, just download Graphics Gale, and read some tutorials.

[Connor]

@Kratosâ„¢:

> U don't need gradient tool, just download Graphics Gale, and read some tutorials.

I didn't say I needed a gradient tool, I said I didn't have one to reply to this part: "All you did for shading was slap a gradient on it.".

Which I didn't I did it pixel by pixel, with nothing but the pencil tool in paint.
These were my first attempts and I'm slowly learning, nothing from a beginner will always be perfect.

[Nayte]

A gradient is gradually changing shades from lighter to darker or vice versa.

Try giving the center pixels of your spear shaft the brighter colour, and shade according to a light source. Sometimes when you're zoomed in and it looks like trash, it actually looks pretty decent at 100%

For the handle, you may not even need anymore than 3 or 4 colours to shade it. :)

[Fuu]

@Nayte:

> A gradient is gradually changing shades from lighter to darker or vice versa.
>
> Try giving the center pixels of your spear shaft the brighter colour, and shade according to a light source. Sometimes when you're zoomed in and it looks like trash, it actually looks pretty decent at 100%
>
> For the handle, you may not even need anymore than 3 or 4 colours to shade it. :)

Yes… Nayte Has a brain. And it works well. I don't normally use more than 2 colors per item on a sprite, but the way you did it just looks bad. I think you should probably use less colors, and try to do the shading that Nayte suggested.

[Dark Crusade]

Don't work on a black background. Change it to a more neutral color with some hue. Perhaps a faint mid-green or something?

[Connor]

Thanks for all the feedback. I'll take it into mind when I decide to make my next sprite.

[Nayte]

Kreator makes an amazing point. I use a very faint baby pink, and it makes the darks stand out, but also allow me to differentiate the difference between my high lights.