Over the last year or so I've been slowly, slowly practicing drawing, modelling, and all that good stuff. I rarely ever have as much time to commit to it as I'd like, so my progress has been...well..glacial.
But there's always been something a little lower than the high end that I've wanted to get into. Something that doesn't require high end multi-core computers with gigs and gigs of ram. Something people have been doing on those old jalopy computers that were around everywhere back in the 70's and 80's. Nevermind shaders, ambient occlusion, or any of those other fancy technical words. If your machine could display more than 16 colors onscreen at once, you were on the cutting edge!
Those were simpler times back then. The kids minded, you kept your doors unlocked at night, and no one had heard of dub-step. If you wanted to make a pretty picture on your computer, you used tools roughly as powerful as MS Paint. It was a great time to be alive.
...and I'm trying to recapture the essence of those halcyon days. WITH PIXEL ART!
I've been playing with it for about 2 weeks now, and I've come to realize it's simplicity is somewhat deceptive. It doesn't take much to do, but you have to learn to do so much with so little, and have a good understanding of how colors work together (which, admittedly, is a skill I only halfway have). What I'm about to show below are my two most recent attempts at honing my pixel skills. The first one is my latest work in progress, and the second a goofy attempt at an isometric perspective that's only good for showing my progress.
So here goes, my stuff, and what's quickly becoming my technique.
Much like any art, you start with the bare basics. I'll begin with whipping up a line drawing of what I intend to build. Nothing fancy, just getting the shapes down.
Next up, I'll start the coloring and shading. Give it some depth, so I'll know what I'm working with.
Looks kinda cool, in a mushy sorta way. If I wanted a simple cel-shaded look, I'd leave it at that. But I'm a detail whore, so I trudge on...
And more detail. This is supposed to be a futuristic desert building. It needs to look like it's exposed to the elements.
And some more detail. I'm kinda thrilled with these canopies I'm about to show off. It took tons of studying pictures and an uncountable amount of abortive attempts to get them right. But I finally did, and I think they look pretty cool. This more than anything shows me I might end up being kinda good at this.
That's as far as I've gotten thus far. It's taken me about 4 days, including today, of experimentation and studying other people's work to get to this point.
And for the fun of it, I mixed up a night shot right fast to see how it'd look.
Though like I said above, this isn't quite my first attempt. I've been goofing making little props to get a feel for it, and my first big problem was my isometric room. I liked the style when I was a kid, so I thought I'd make an attempt at it for my first real go.
I started it out similarly enough. Lines and more lines.
Add in the detail, which took FOR FREAKING EVER. I'd say it took me about 6 days to get to this point.
And more detail. I decided to toss in some furniture for flavor. It looked like it was going okay at first, but then I threw everything together, and realized...
...I made the bed too big. That's when I decided to try something a little easier to get more practice in.
So tell me what you think. Critique away!
But there's always been something a little lower than the high end that I've wanted to get into. Something that doesn't require high end multi-core computers with gigs and gigs of ram. Something people have been doing on those old jalopy computers that were around everywhere back in the 70's and 80's. Nevermind shaders, ambient occlusion, or any of those other fancy technical words. If your machine could display more than 16 colors onscreen at once, you were on the cutting edge!
Those were simpler times back then. The kids minded, you kept your doors unlocked at night, and no one had heard of dub-step. If you wanted to make a pretty picture on your computer, you used tools roughly as powerful as MS Paint. It was a great time to be alive.
...and I'm trying to recapture the essence of those halcyon days. WITH PIXEL ART!
I've been playing with it for about 2 weeks now, and I've come to realize it's simplicity is somewhat deceptive. It doesn't take much to do, but you have to learn to do so much with so little, and have a good understanding of how colors work together (which, admittedly, is a skill I only halfway have). What I'm about to show below are my two most recent attempts at honing my pixel skills. The first one is my latest work in progress, and the second a goofy attempt at an isometric perspective that's only good for showing my progress.
So here goes, my stuff, and what's quickly becoming my technique.
Much like any art, you start with the bare basics. I'll begin with whipping up a line drawing of what I intend to build. Nothing fancy, just getting the shapes down.
Next up, I'll start the coloring and shading. Give it some depth, so I'll know what I'm working with.
Looks kinda cool, in a mushy sorta way. If I wanted a simple cel-shaded look, I'd leave it at that. But I'm a detail whore, so I trudge on...
And more detail. This is supposed to be a futuristic desert building. It needs to look like it's exposed to the elements.
And some more detail. I'm kinda thrilled with these canopies I'm about to show off. It took tons of studying pictures and an uncountable amount of abortive attempts to get them right. But I finally did, and I think they look pretty cool. This more than anything shows me I might end up being kinda good at this.
That's as far as I've gotten thus far. It's taken me about 4 days, including today, of experimentation and studying other people's work to get to this point.
And for the fun of it, I mixed up a night shot right fast to see how it'd look.
Though like I said above, this isn't quite my first attempt. I've been goofing making little props to get a feel for it, and my first big problem was my isometric room. I liked the style when I was a kid, so I thought I'd make an attempt at it for my first real go.
I started it out similarly enough. Lines and more lines.
Add in the detail, which took FOR FREAKING EVER. I'd say it took me about 6 days to get to this point.
And more detail. I decided to toss in some furniture for flavor. It looked like it was going okay at first, but then I threw everything together, and realized...
...I made the bed too big. That's when I decided to try something a little easier to get more practice in.
So tell me what you think. Critique away!
