My graphics showing/scold my art topic.

A place for your artistic side. Discuss techniques and tools for pixel art on the NES, GBC, or similar platforms.

Moderator: Moderators

3gengames
Formerly 65024U
Posts: 2284
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:57 pm

My graphics showing/scold my art topic.

Post by 3gengames »

Well.....wanted to try my hand at some simple graphics today. I went for some simple little screen and graphics. Here's what I have so far:

Image


Most of it is palette 0, the rock [Which will probably be removed] is palette 2, and the water is palette 1, but all 3 colors will be used. [I have to change that back, water will be shaded the bottom pixels of the white to a light blue for texture/height.] Palette 3 is unused for now and later on palette 2 should be free, too. So with only 2 palettes, I'm happy at how much art I got out of it.
All critique is welcomed. :) Thanks!
Drag
Posts: 1615
Joined: Mon Sep 27, 2004 2:57 pm
Contact:

Post by Drag »

Your graphics look nice, but the actual palette you're using (RGB-wise, not the color choice) looks really strange. o_O I wouldn't trust it. :S
3gengames
Formerly 65024U
Posts: 2284
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:57 pm

Post by 3gengames »

Yeah, I will find the correct correct colors later if needed, and they are quite a bit different from YY-Chr to NESst, so I actually already have two palettes. That is just the approximate one.


I also discoved with this that even though the green in the plants and grass is the same green, the grass looks so much darker with the black around it. Quite cool. And I also have two waters in there, and I think we can actually get two different pond types on the screen at the same time with animation, so that can be cool. :)
tepples
Posts: 22705
Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:12 pm
Location: NE Indiana, USA (NTSC)
Contact:

Post by tepples »

A field of green birds.

The dark green tile $09 looks like a cartoon bird, with the wing at the upper left and the beak at the right. Make it blue and I've found myself a new "follow me on Twitter" icon.
3gengames
Formerly 65024U
Posts: 2284
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:57 pm

Post by 3gengames »

tepples wrote:A field of green birds.

The dark green tile $09 looks like a cartoon bird, with the wing at the upper left and the beak at the right. Make it blue and I've found myself a new "follow me on Twitter" icon.
Damn. That's true now that I look at it. I'll work on another one later, but it looks fine to me if I can't make another. I also need to fix the fence graphics (dots on end piece vertically) and maybe make some grass not from a certain game with the same viewpoint. :roll: Also, the pathway needs rounded and fixed (Am going to make a palette of browns for trees and use it with the pathway to make texture) and the last palette we'll see what it can be used for when that's done hopefully. It was pretty fun making the screen, my first screen making with my own graphics so it's kinda cool to see it all come together.
User avatar
qbradq
Posts: 972
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:50 am

Post by qbradq »

I think your graphics look very good. I did not think the bushes looked like birds until Tepples pointed it out. I think it's a little bit like finding shapes in clouds at that point :D

I really respect how much graphical detail you've been able to achieve with so few patterns. I need to be taking notes from your work :D

I am reminded of the first Pokemon games by the screen. Are you working on an RPG?
3gengames
Formerly 65024U
Posts: 2284
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:57 pm

Post by 3gengames »

Sort of. Everyone has an idea of a game to bring to the NES, and mine is just an RPG, and I like the Pokemon style. I made these by look at the main pokemon screen and just trying each time after it. I hope the 8x8 tiles are big enough. I don't like the slopes either, but they work for now. I fixed the fences, and need to add the new palette for browns.


And I can't draw a straight line and have no artistic talent, so that'd be a huge mistake! :roll:

Here's the water detail added back and some nicer looking "mosh grass", I cant find another way to make it look like a plant, but this makes it look more swampy so I guess I achieved something! And the grass that is just a checkered pattern will blend on a TV so that's my idea behind that. Now I have to make new lake water, since I also realized the graphics for the water seem more like a waterfall and not a lake, although the one to the right might suffice with the same graphics.


Image
Ian A
Posts: 115
Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2010 8:32 am
Location: Maine

Post by Ian A »

I was gonna say that this looked very pokemonish, especially the water.

Okay, now to the critique. Keep in mind I am often wrong, and sometimes it's better to do the opposite of what I say.

I had no there were supposed to be slopes. It looks like thinner grass maybe? I don't think the thick plants looked like birds at all, but they did look like they were in a different perspective than the rest of the screen. A little shadow around their base would've been nice to make it look a little more 3D.

I think the water needs some sort of transition to it, like a slope downwards, even if it is only a slight slope, or otherwise it looks weird to me. Also, I kinda like the old water better?

You did a really good job of making it easy to read, especially with the few colors you used. Keep it up!
3gengames
Formerly 65024U
Posts: 2284
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:57 pm

Post by 3gengames »

You mean the thick grass? The slopes were above the pathway, are brown and black. :)

Well, here's a new one. Tried to get a bridge, but doesn't look so hot. I couldn't even make a nice one with 16x16 graphics and a whole palette. I'll have to work on that later. :) Also, water changed. Looks like a lake now, not a waterfall.

Image
User avatar
qbradq
Posts: 972
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 11:50 am

Post by qbradq »

Personally I liked the first one better :D
User avatar
tokumaru
Posts: 12427
Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 9:43 pm
Location: Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Post by tokumaru »

I think you should stop trying to do too much with just a few tiles. You can't make anything convincing if you don't use different tiles for the different parts. You can't make a convincing slope with just one tile repeated over and over, you need more tiles for the left and right edges. The same goes for the water, you can't make a square lake and expect it to look good, you have to make a few rounded water/ground tiles and surround your lake with them.
UncleSporky
Posts: 388
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 8:44 pm

Post by UncleSporky »

Remember your perspective. You're not showing a straight top-down view, as evidenced by the stumps/logs (otherwise they'd just be perfect circles).

Notice how other games like FF1 do their walls:

Image

You can see both the top and side of the horizontal walls. I'd say likewise, your vertical fences are fine but the horizontal ones should show us a side view of the fence. Also consider adding thickness like this:

Image
Denine
Posts: 397
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:42 pm

Post by Denine »

I don't know why, but It feels (for me) like pokemon style grafics :)
As for shades...bridge shade is good,but ground is looking strange(to me, at least)
User avatar
cartlemmy
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2010 4:41 pm
Location: California, USA
Contact:

Post by cartlemmy »

To me NES graphics become WAY easier when you start thinking in 16x16 as opposed to 8x8.
3gengames
Formerly 65024U
Posts: 2284
Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:57 pm

Post by 3gengames »

cartlemmy wrote:To me NES graphics become WAY easier when you start thinking in 16x16 as opposed to 8x8.
That was going to be my next step. Plus some serious palette thinking, as with the black as the main color, I'll need to have all water square. That is bad. I am probably going to fix it up more to 16x16. Then I can also not be so restricted on the different tile combinations I can use in a 2x2 block, since then the tiles will be that big in the first place.

And that bridge is way better, I'll try to do something like that later. But now it's time to shower and rest. This day sucked. :( Thanks guys, I'll update it when I have something. I'll also maybe look at the Pokemon NES clone and see how exactly their graphics are done and learn from it. Since besides the houses, they are damn good with the tress and such.
Post Reply