How to make something actually look good?

[TrueSlav]

Lately I drawn this thing, and thought how I could further improve it. I'm talking about shading, perspective etc.
second attempt:

Guard_1.png (701 Bytes) Viewed 4676 times

(Ignore the attachments below)

[Badnorth]

Clear outlining and shadings I guess?
I suggest u to use pixly as it has loads of stuff to play around with.
E.g. Brightness & contrast.

Example of eh, an img.
Can't say this is a good one since im still bad at this.

[Avalyn]

I use a preexisting unit as my template. Then I just keep the body, add different armour, accessories, hair, clothes, etc. Maybe change the hand posture and leg placement. But I find it really helpful just to have a unit as a base.

Other than that, it's really just making clear lines - but not too many. You want just enough to give the impression of the shapes and outline. If you draw every line it makes the whole unit very dark and hard to distinguish. Shading is very important too. I use my base color, and then make two or three lighter and darker shades of that color, and use those to shade, instead of a burn or dodge tool. I do that for the clothes, skin, hair, etc.

I also try to avoid simply downsizing an image to the required pixel size. I find that it is easier just to take a picture and use it as a reference for the pixel art.

As you can see with the attached images, they bear a strong resemblance to some other units - swordsmen, lancers, archers...
I find that this method works really well for buildings and any kind of unit.
Hope this helps!

[makazuwr32]

@Avalyn can we use ice statue and master assasin images in aof?

Also welcome back!

[Avalyn]

@Avalyn can we use ice statue and master assasin images in aof?

Also welcome back!

Fine by me! and thank you

[Stratego (dev)]

Hello Avalyn!

I am so happy to see you! hope you are doing very well!

your images are awesome - as always

daniel

[Avalyn]

Hello Avalyn!

I am so happy to see you! hope you are doing very well!

your images are awesome - as always

daniel

I am doing very well, thank you!

[Gral.Sturnn]

Looks whos back!

[Stratego (dev)]

Hello Avalyn!

I am so happy to see you! hope you are doing very well!

your images are awesome - as always

daniel

I am doing very well, thank you!

those starwars units are so nice i want to re-stsart that project!

[Badnorth]

He, its avalyn. Make me good at pixel art via pm.
See u there.

[Avalyn]

@QuadrupoleStrat here are the images I referenced in my message. I couldn't attach them.

[Badnorth]

Thanks. Pm restricts attachments.
Is this bear 1? I don't see bear 2..

Edit- tis okay now. Thx.

[Badnorth]

Ok, this is one of my works I made yesterday.
Could u examine it?

From this:

Template archer.png (780 Bytes) Viewed 4648 times

To this:

unit_sparabara.png (1.96 KiB) Viewed 4649 times

[Avalyn]

This is a really rough draft of what I'm talking about with the template.

[Badnorth]

Oh, thats the wrong template.
I used p.archer to make sparabara.
It has the same names so I accidentally pressed it.

I used that template to make the slinger redesigns yesterday.
So, that template was made from archer template.
**********************************************************
Larger muscles and shorter torso? I see.

[Anchar]

Clear outlining and shadings I guess?
I suggest u to use pixly as it has loads of stuff to play around with.
E.g. Brightness & contrast.

Example of eh, an img.
Can't say this is a good one since im still bad at this.

I downloaded a program with the same name from Google Play, but I can find the contrast setting in it, can you tell me?

[Gral.Sturnn]

I personally recommend another app called pixel studio it has more features available i think

[Hyuhjhih]

I am using pixel art 2D

Got enough perfection, but require much more time for more realistic features

[Anchar]

Yes, I also draw through Pixel art studio, but the function of which you can change the contrast is paid there.

[Badnorth]

Go to - Colors at menu button anchar.