The "Best" Art Style

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The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144228)
Well, apparently people aren't huge fans of my art style, and I was just wanting to see what people have in their minds as to what the "best" art style would be. Just upload a picture here to show what you mean. I'm curious.
Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144240)
:D
Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144244)
All right, I'll put down zero shading for something to do...
Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144246)
<3 <3 <3
Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144252)
Wow, thanks for the suggestion koitsu! it looks way better than my previous one!

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Masterpiece.png
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Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144257)
Allright, does this actually look better? I used less colors.

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New.png
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Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144263)
Better compared to this? -> download/file.php?id=2930

If so, yes, I think it's an improvement. This has better contrast in the colors, making things look less muddy to my eyes.
Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144265)
Espozo wrote:
Allright, does this actually look better? I used less colors.


Much nicer, The right arms is a lot more pronounced in this version.
Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144267)
Shonumi wrote:
If so, yes, I think it's an improvement. This has better contrast in the colors, making things look less muddy to my eyes.
UnDisbeliever wrote:
Much nicer, The right arms is a lot more pronounced in this version.

:shock:
Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144273)
I think your sprite was fine, but since you're asking for suggestions, I poked at it a bit. In the attachment, original on the left, modified on the right.

A very good tip in the art world is that white and black are to be used sparingly, so I removed the white areas and replaced them with the next shade down. Straight white is good for glossy or wet surfaces, but that'd appear more like dots or lines of shine, rather than entire areas of bright white.

A trick to help with 3D form is to make the stuff farther back darker than the stuff closer to the front. I've also seen tips suggesting to gradually make things darker as they get lower on the sprite, but I don't think that looks the best in every situation.

Something important when dealing with lineless art is that sharp changes in lightness, color, and/or texture is what creates the boundaries between two overlapping objects. At low resolution with a limited palette, you have to be very careful to keep your boundaries clear. For example, in the original sprite, the leg to the right looks like the boot blends into the thigh too much, so when I darkened the leg (for the 3D form tip), I intentionally interrupted the flow of the shading on her thigh when it met the top of her boot, to clarify that the boot is a different material than her flesh despite the two objects sharing the same flesh tone palette. I also did this with the jeans on her leftmost leg, and with the butt of her rifle poking out from behind her arm.

The rest are changes just based on preference. I darkened the pony tail to make it look like it's farther back than the rest of the hair. I also changed the hair's texture slightly, but original looks good too. I lightened her eye-white slightly to make her pupil stand out better, but again, the original looks good too. I darkened her ear because it stuck out too much; with long hair, the ear is often buried or recessed into the hair, unless the hair is perfectly neat and straight, which I'm assuming it isn't on this character. I also changed one pixel under her eye to give her some slight facial structure (more nose). I also poked at her arm until it looked "clean". I dunno how to explain it, but with too many dark pixels in the light areas, the arm looked like it had dirt on it. Lastly, I touched up the shading on her feet to give the boots more of a rectangular shape down the side.

At the end of the day, I think your sprite looked fine even before I poked at it, but if you're honestly looking for some critique and for for some ways to improve, I hope the stuff I pointed out is helpful.
Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144298)
I think there is too much darks and lights, and not enough mid tones. Maybe move the midtone shades inward a bit. I find it visually confusing that the gun is the same color as her skin. I would use a different hue.
Re: The "Best" Art Style
by on (#144538)
Biggest advice I can offer is try to avoid pillow shading.
http://nekkers.deviantart.com/art/Furc- ... -267667160
http://www.natomic.com/hosted/marks/mpat/shading.html
http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_p ... ?TID=11299 (See section on pillow shading)