Tyr Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 As there was now Questions board for GFX i was forced to post it here.Well, i was looking for some good pixelart tuts, and tried to make my first outline.i had no inspiration so i opened up a standard items.bmp, this make me decide to make a mage hat.As i have seen in the tuts, peoples start with an outline and then get some shading colors.here's the result so far: (zoomed x800 made in paint) [](http://imageshack.us)now when i tried to shade it, i failed lol. is there anyone who can show me how to shade this mage hat? (i think the outline is ok) i've already picked some colorsStuff made after gh0st's tut: [](http://imageshack.us) [](http://imageshack.us)any idea's suggestions?, thx!- TyrPS: for the ppl who don't know, i'm a mapper and a coder. NOT a gfx artist! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zade_o Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Are those 3 colors up top the color you want the hat shaded in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyr Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 yes, no good choise?also i'm not really wanting you to do it: just make a quick example so i can see how to do it.to learn actually ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zade_o Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 i know i was gonna just shade it the way I would and then blow it up and post it here for you to look at with an explanation…but first things first I think you're gonna need more than 3 shades... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyr Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 1 darker and 2 lighter ones? well its actually a pretty small image (as its zoomed in 800 times)go ahead :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zade_o Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Ok well actually I kept your light one as the lightest and made a few shades between that and the darkest and then i think 1 or 2 darker ones. Anyways… here's my explanation:A) You have to think about what part of the hat is gonna be catching the most light. I try in all my paperdoll stuff to make the top left of the screen have a "Light source" that would mean the top left parts of the object are gonna have the most light... In this example the top left of the brim of the hat and the left side of the pointed part (because it sticks up from the brim).B) In reverse, the bottom right would be where most of the shadow is, or around the edge of what blocks the light, in this example the pointy part sticks out of the brim which means the pointy part blocks sunlight from catching the bottom right of the brim, therefore around the base of the pointy part and the bottom right of the brim should be in shadows, thus the darkest part.C) Once I had those 2 sections shaded, I just went from the darkest to the lightest, trying to retrace the sections I already made in a moderately lighter shadeDid that make sense?(note I did this in a rush and I don't think I blended the light part into the dark as well as I should've.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 poo… you beat me to it... but yeah, choose your light source, and start from dark to light... its mainly a think as you go process... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L0lz Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Too much lighting and shading imo, just a tad less of those and it will look very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyr Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 thats alot ghost :)i count in your picture 7 types of "brown"?i'm trying to shadow it myself now in green, lets see what that gives :)EDIT: WOAAAH! took me only like 5 min :)**here's what i made** 5 colors:[](http://imageshack.us)7 colors:[](http://imageshack.us)i'm proud lol :), which one is the best? and what is the best format to save pixelart in? (this ones are PNG, but what bout GIF or BMP?)- Tyr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlord Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Either PNG or BMP. GIF can be used for pixel art but only has up to 256 colours, next to that, saving BMP/PNG as GIF results in colour loss.PNG when using it for websites.Can't really check the image though at the moment.Regards, Godlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akselj Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 I think BMP is the format Eclipse uses for GFX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlord Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Yes, but did he mention Eclipse?Regards, Godlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyr Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 tried to make a sword… don't know what to think bout it. (also zoomed x800)[](http://imageshack.us) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlord Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Too many shades, in my opinion.22 colours for a sword is a lot.It wouldn't be a problem if the sword used completely different colours but some colours look so much like each other that it is a waste. e.g. you used for the same hue and saturation the next luminosity values: 50, 55 and 60.That being said, your lightning does have some errors here and there. e.g. the knob of the sword looks too flat.What I don't get is why the red is there. You may answer, if you want.The sword doesn't look really sharp either. Intended?Something I suggest: either use your outlining or colour it like the content. Black isn't very great for outlining.Regards, Godlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyr Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 @Godlord:> That being said, your lightning does have some errors here and there. e.g. the knob of the sword looks too flat.mhh i agree…@Godlord:> What I don't get is why the red is there. You may answer, if you want.uhm well at first it wasn't there and then i didn't like the gold to gray.. i'll delete it ^^@Godlord:> The sword doesn't look really sharp either. Intended?ya, i had problems with the point :s@Godlord:> Something I suggest: either use your outlining or colour it like the content. Black isn't very great for outlining.i'll do that :D and uhm what about the hat? (with 7 shades)btw i like your critic on my gfx, as long as you don't start bout grammar ^^ (just had to say that)i'm redoing that damn sword now ^^- Tyr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlord Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 As the seven shades seem to look better than the five shades, it is still possible to create a hat with just five shades which looks good.The first is still the sword, the second is your seven shaded hat and the third that is your five shaded hat.The point is, I fixed the third one and added a fourth entry to the whole set. What did I do? I dithered it so, that the contrast isn't too high, it looks more natural now, as you can see. Although dithering is one possibility, you aren't forced to use it. I also fixed some problem with the outlining, that's why there is one colour less.Regards, Godlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyr Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 your right, it looks indeed better :o (can you zoom it at 800?)i redid the sword (not the hilt yet) is this an improvement? or is it again to much? :)[](http://imageshack.us)[](http://imageshack.us) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlord Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 It's hard to see though on a white background if the sword is good, perhaps try some dark background.Perhaps use dithering like I did with the hat to prevent a lot of colours being used.Regards, Godlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyr Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 [](http://imageshack.us)[](http://imageshack.us)ah lol so thats dithering, whats actually the problem of having 2 colors more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlord Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 > ah lol so thats dithering, whats actually the problem of having 2 colors more?It's something I am used to. Old games weren't able to have true colours, well they were able to but they only had a limited choice of colours like only 16 per sprite or for the whole screen.Another problem with two colours is that two colours less often looks better, although that's more likely to be subjective and dependant on the artwork itself.It is also easier to choose from a palette than from true colours anyway, in my opinion.The problem occuring with your sword, having it many shades is simply that it now either looks like plastic or either too perfect. This is where dithering can come in handy but again, it's not required at all. There are other techniques which are great too. I'm just showing dithering because it's one of the easiest to use.**Addendum**:The following screenshots are from an old game I play every now and then.Do you see the dithering yet? I do.Zoomed in. Dithering is very great to eliminate high contrast in graphics and thereby also allows some sort of transition.Regards, Godlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyr Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 lol its to perfect :)ok i'm trying to remove 2 colors with dithering right now.btw: at first i didn't notice it on the screen but then when you look at the bottom of the I from iland you can see it clearly, tough it took me some time ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlord Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 It's easy to see for me, but my resolution is only 1024x768 though.Regards, Godlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akselj Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 I think it's easy to see, and my resolution is 1680x1050. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyr Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 more natural now?[](http://imageshack.us)[](http://imageshack.us)compared to:[](http://imageshack.us)[](http://imageshack.us)i also used another color sheet, thx to Urimas Ebonhearth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godlord Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 [Tutorial on dithering](http://www.derekyu.com/?page_id=226).I'm not sure if you wanted to use dithering or not, if so, then I'd suggest to read the tutorial on the link provided.It looks natural and rusty on a way but I'm not really sure if this is what you want. Somehow it feels that there are some problems though but I'm not sure. It's easier to tell when the whole sword is done.Regards, Godlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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