Woodmouse's art stuff [random stuff, page 49]

[Skizzaltix]

Hm. I remember when I first came to these forums, I did pretty much the same thing Woodmouse is doing now--And as a result got some rather nice advice from Jetryl and many other people which, although I didn't follow it at the time, has stuck with me and, I think (hope), has made me better at giving and receiving critique, among many (Many) other things. That was a little more than three years ago.
No one's bashing Woodmouse, and doing so wouldn't do him any good. It would be great if he did follow people's advice right now, this instant, but if he doesn't... There's still something to be said for getting the creative flow going before working out the fine details. And hopefully, in three or four years, all this will have made him a lot better at rationalizing his work process, being gracious online, etc, etc. Right, Woodmouse?

TL:DR, maybe it won't help him now, but with any luck, all this will cause Woodmouse to move faster when he sits down and actually puts serious effort into art.

[woodmouse]

Ok, well... Hmm... I don't know what to say.
Anyway, I really can't get how to improve... So I better not ask for critic...? I mean, I don't know how to stop pillow shading. Everytime I make a sprite, it WILL be pillow shaded, even if I try to avoid that with my life... I have read all sorts of tutorials now, but it's the same result, even if I keep in mind, that "light comes from corner" thing...

[Skizzaltix]

Why "will" it be pillowshaded? Does an evil demon come and pillowshade it when you're not looking?
No, it's because you aren't used to doing anything different.
What you need to do is find an object, in the real, physical world, and draw that; shade it carefully. I highly recommend fruit, the lumpier the better--Anything that's fairly amorphous is good, actually. If you happen to have a kneaded eraser kicking around, those are great.
At first the results will look so horrible that you want to give up right then and there, but don't worry--They will get better.
(Also, a technical note on shading, and pencil drawing in general--Don't jam the pencil into the paper. Use very light strokes, and build up darker areas layer by layer.)

[woodmouse]

Does an evil demon come and pillowshade it when you're not looking?

How did you know about that? (joking xD)

I hope I got the shading in this right.

[Skizzaltix]

Well, it's not pillowshaded--That's a start
Unfortunately, I don't really feel like the shading makes sense for any one lightsource.

You really want to be doing this with pencil on paper--I know that doing it on the computer is more fun, because you can color and all, but it is much harder to pay attention to where stuff should go correctly when using a computer than when using a pencil.

[Lord Ork]

Sorry to ask that, but what the hell is pillowshading?

[thespaceinvader]

Essentially it's a common shading mistake whereby the parts of the object closest to camera are brightest, and the objects furthest from camera are darkest. It often comes about when people shade by following the outlines of the sprite, rather than following the forms of the object they're depicting.

[pauxlo]

Sorry to ask that, but what the hell is pillowshading?

Essentially it's a common shading mistake whereby the parts of the object closest to camera are brightest, and the objects furthest from camera are darkest. It often comes about when people shade by following the outlines of the sprite, rather than following the forms of the object they're depicting.

Or it comes from making a photograph with flash – which is really pillowshaded, since the light source is close to the camera –, and then copying this when painting.

So, if you take photographs for reference, switch the flash off.

[woodmouse]

Well, it's not pillowshaded--That's a start
Unfortunately, I don't really feel like the shading makes sense for any one lightsource.

Well, I thought metals have reflections. At least LordBob's armor tutorial says that if I remember correctly.

[Skizzaltix]

They do*--It's just that reflections, like all other kinds of light, follow rules--And I can't figure out what those rules are by looking at this picture.


(*In fact, everything has reflections, not just metal--It's just that metal is very reflective, so they are more readily apparent.)

[woodmouse]

Oh, ok. I see.
Hmm, I tried making this little guy, and well.. The result is... lol.

[Longbow]

I'm no artist, but I'd say that is one of your best sprites yet. Not quite Wesnoth style, but it looks good

[Corvvs]

Looks like a pokemon - very cute. IMO the shading looks realistic too - good job.

[ael193]

its like a green squirtle with a big head. but it is also probably your best sprite yet.

I advise you practice shading with pencil and paper, as well as working on perspective to help the quality of your art in general. it helped me, the advice people are giving you is completely valid, listen to it. eventually you will get better if you keep at it. my drawings now are far better than my drawings as little as 2 months ago, and my really early drawings sucked. with time and practice you will gradually become better as you develop better fine motor coordination and gain experience. you have potential, keep at it.

[Lord Ork]

Very funny. Good work, woodmouse.