The VG Resource

Well I'm fairly new to free form pixel art...much more new to nature pixel art. let's jump in!



this is the first coloration and the fruition of many hours on a late Wednesday afternoon.


(#2 has lower color count)
I proceded to do a few color swaps and hue shifts....I added some yellow into the original (sorta...). I still don't know which is the one I like...or people will like most.

(#2 has lower color count)
I then shaved shapes out of the larger shapes in order to create a bush(?) as well as smaller plumage

(#2 has lower color count)
I want to make trees have the ability to be cut down, so the best way to start actually making the tree live was make the dead tree


(#2 has lower color count)
I extended the tree and tried my best to keep the core color pattern...obviously the colors are temporary (I can't find colors I like any suggestions?)...it is super "pixelated" and needs variations added so it's not so boring.


I then decided to throw some of my leaves together and layered them making the back 15 points darker and the far front 15 points lighter... it looks nice, but I'm lightly sad that the branches were mostly lost.

I want to create 4 direction based fallen versions....and eventually make wind animations (direction based as well)


this is supposed to be varying amounts of iron ore


just took my ore colors and started layering colors added two more colors and as little detail...a basic golem was born... not sure how to bring it to life...idk about a face....maybe some "magic" should be holding it together....blue or green would work best for that. idk (minable golems?)... I'm going to revert him to a rock pile first see if he looks decent

there we go...still needs work, but this is becoming pretty decent I feel



this is the first piece of a system of wind powered ship sails...this is a very carefully made piece

(#2 has lower color count)
my second piece of work in the wind controlled series and it is pretty okay I think

These pieces were particularly difficult for me and I need some C+C

alright, didn't check all of them but i can see from the first tree top that your palette is huge

the first top has a palette of 84 different colors, which while it does look good, could definitely use some palette reduction

I used paint.net (posterize function) to auto reduce your palette down to 12 shades instead of 84; this is a dirty way of reducing color and you'd want to go back in and fix lost detail and alter the palette afterwards, but shows a rough idea of what it would look like




you can see that even though your palette is cut by nearly 75%, your image is now crisper and more readable, even before tweaking and fixing lost detail


If you are wanting a more "authentic" pixel art feel for your graphics, smaller more defined palettes certainly help


All this aside, i think what you have here looks quite nice and is a stones throw from the minish cap edits from not so long ago

keep it up

(10-03-2014, 08:12 PM)Sevenstitch Wrote: [ -> ]alright, didn't check all of them but i can see from the first tree top that your palette is huge

the first top has a palette of 84 different colors, which while it does look good, could definitely use some palette reduction

I used paint.net (posterize function) to auto reduce your palette down to 12 shades instead of 84; this is a dirty way of reducing color and you'd want to go back in and fix lost detail and alter the palette afterwards, but shows a rough idea of what it would look like




you can see that even though your palette is cut by nearly 75%, your image is now crisper and more readable, even before tweaking and fixing lost detail


If you are wanting a more "authentic" pixel art feel for your graphics, smaller more defined palettes certainly help


All this aside, i think what you have here looks quite nice and is a stones throw from the minish cap edits from not so long ago

keep it up

I edited the OP is that better?

here is my latest piece I need lots of help on how to clean it up...and animate

Edit: I know there isn't pixel consistency, but without redrawing everything Idk how to fix it

My main beef with that is the pixel aspect ratio. Some things look scaled up, others look like hey're at a normal resolution. There should be one consistent scale throughout the scene here, so it's not jarring like that.

(10-08-2014, 11:09 PM)Koh Wrote: [ -> ]My main beef with that is the pixel aspect ratio.  Some things look scaled up, others look like hey're at a normal resolution.  There should be one consistent scale throughout the scene here, so it's not jarring like that.

here this is better

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I also have no idea how to animate the book opening

Edit: I started but it is off

Hmm...you've got the general idea down, but there's a little bit of jumpiness in your animation. Remember, if you're trying to draw something 3D, it helps to break it down into it's basic shapes. Here's how I would draw page turns...



You start off by drawing a semicircle and attaching it to the top of your flat pages. Then, draw a line connecting the center of the circle to it's circumfrence and animate the line counter-clockwise. If you do the same to the bottom of the book and connect the tips of the lines, you'll get a flat page that flips to the other side! The only problem with this approach is that it looks really artificial, and doesn't allow the page to realistically bend. You can smooth out the animation by moving the line less distance per frame, though.

Here is my newest venture a gui

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removed frame 9 to smooth the animation

It seems like there needs to be another frame just before the book is fully open
Looking at the middle where the binding is, the book seems to just jump from an angle to fully flat and it's a bit jarring.
Honestly I'd probably double the amount of frames that are currently there, though I realize that's a lot of work.

PLEASE note: the frames of the reference that DragonDePlatino posted are not evenly spaced. I still feel like you are straight missing a frame from your animation, but keep in mind the angles you may be looking at might not be evenly spaced.

on ANOTHER note, evenly spaced may not be what you want. If you want a good, smooth animation that feels right, and not just one that looks smooth, you will need to have it accelerate across, and settle (decelerate) on the other side. So, the frames at the beginning will be closer together, slowly spreading apart, and being the furthest spread at the peak (90 degrees, facing up) and therefore the fastest movement. Then it is the slowest at the end, essentially mirroring the starting frames, with each frame being closer and closer to the next one. If you need a visual interpretation, I might be able to make a mockup, but I don't trust my skills that much right now. If I did the math, I could probably pull it off, but I would really be trying to wrap a sinusoidal motion around a semi-circle and I'm not sure if it would look the way I expect or even if I'm overcomplicating the math for the model. Anyway, I hope this was helpful.

I have started the process of making a phoenix type sprite and could really use some C+C

a single feather (maybe an item)

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Here is the animation of the crest feathers

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A quick edit to the third feather

Decided to work on the front while I sort out how to do the side

I'm confident I can make the wings in this view

The wings are very nice I think I took the time to add the bends and flame stretching...idk how to convey this in the side view yet...if someone could supply some basic lines I should work from I'd really be greatful