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[Showcase] Digital/Pixel portraits

Tox

Tox

fight me
573
Posts
14
Years
I'm starting to get back into Pokémon and digital drawing after a huge break. Critique would be really helpful. I'm not that good with shading and my Gen VII style sprite looks a bit strange I think. Tips/Advice would be great. I'll hopefully continue to add to this. I promise that if I add more, it won't be more portraits of me lol.

Random self portrait
Spoiler:


Gen V-ish style mugshot
andrewsprite3.png


Gen VII-ish style mugshots
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__andrew_by_arishoz-dboxiut.png
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__terri_by_arishoz-dbq5tvo.png
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__annie_by_arishoz-dbrkkff.png
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__pearse_by_arishoz-dchd6vr.png


Older versions:
Spoiler:
 
Last edited:
Anastasia.R

Anastasia.R

1,542
Posts
16
Years
Oh whoa, I love your portrait drawing! It's got a neat style that's clean cut for the shading. Your pixel work is also impressive! Sweet job!

For shading help, it helps to study the object you want to shade. Clothing and skin, for example, have different surfaces and material (mostly clothes on material) that reflect light different. I was looking for some tutorials that talk about that, and among these pixeljoint tutorials there's one on shading. There's the url to the one I'm talkng about!
Shading is definitely tough, it takes some studying and observing. If you need anymore help, please let me know! Or someone else can comment about it as well. C:

Portraits of yourself is great, you're practicing styles and doing a pretty great job at each style you've done! Can't wait to see more!​
 
Tox

Tox

fight me
573
Posts
14
Years
Anastasia.R said:
Oh whoa, I love your portrait drawing! It's got a neat style that's clean cut for the shading. Your pixel work is also impressive! Sweet job!

For shading help, it helps to study the object you want to shade. Clothing and skin, for example, have different surfaces and material (mostly clothes on material) that reflect light different. I was looking for some tutorials that talk about that, and among these pixeljoint tutorials there's one on shading. There's the url to the one I'm talkng about!
Shading is definitely tough, it takes some studying and observing. If you need anymore help, please let me know! Or someone else can comment about it as well. C:

Portraits of yourself is great, you're practicing styles and doing a pretty great job at each style you've done! Can't wait to see more!​
Click to expand...

Thank you! I'm glad you like it. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out too.

I love drawing with pixels but I definitely need to practice a bit more. Thanks so much for sharing the links. If I have some time later, I'll definitely probably check them out. :)

I've updated my Gen VII-style sprite with a newer version. Not sure if it's better or worse but I especially tried to make the face closer to the style used in the games.
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__andrew_by_arishoz-dboxiut.png
 
Lilie

Lilie

Nebby, please.
7
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6
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Oct 30, 2023
The self-portrait has an incredibly cool style, I love it. The sprite work is also very nice! One thing I could think of would be to pick colors from official sprites as reference for some parts, particularly the hair. The games tend to use a stronger contrast between the base color and shading. The change in the update seems subtle but it actually makes a huge difference IMO! It looks much more like something out of the games now.
 
Tox

Tox

fight me
573
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14
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The Legacy of The Legends Creator :D said:
you did the proportions really well!
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot! ^^

Lilie said:
The self-portrait has an incredibly cool style, I love it. The sprite work is also very nice! One thing I could think of would be to pick colors from official sprites as reference for some parts, particularly the hair. The games tend to use a stronger contrast between the base color and shading. The change in the update seems subtle but it actually makes a huge difference IMO! It looks much more like something out of the games now.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much! That's a great tip! I'll try to make a few changes this evening.

Updating with two new sprites of original characters. I kind of rushed these so the details and shading still need a lot of work. But I want to post them anyway, just in case anyone has any tips/criticisms that could help make them better. I think I'll make a few adjustments anyway before starting anything new. :)
 
charmanderflame

charmanderflame

299
Posts
19
Years
Awesome job getting the style! You have yourself in game style. :) The self portrait is an interesting and unique piece, I like your style with coloring as well.
 
Tox

Tox

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573
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Decided to start fixing some of the sprites. Completely redid the body and I'm much happier with the new version. Old version on the left, new version on the right.
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__terri_by_arishoz-dbq5tvo.png
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__terri_by_arishoz-dbq5tvo.png
 
Last edited:
Fairy

Fairy

17,133
Posts
12
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  • Age 33
  • Seen Jan 12, 2024
Oh wow, okay, looking at the past sprite and the current one, your level of anatomical improvement is fantastic! Everything is proportioned much more accurately, the shading is so, so much more consistent throughout - the only thing you really didn't do is redesign the face! Seeing as you've improved so much, I'd love to see a more current take on that same expression. :)
 
Tox

Tox

fight me
573
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Fairy said:
Oh wow, okay, looking at the past sprite and the current one, your level of anatomical improvement is fantastic! Everything is proportioned much more accurately, the shading is so, so much more consistent throughout - the only thing you really didn't do is redesign the face! Seeing as you've improved so much, I'd love to see a more current take on that same expression. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks very much! I'm glad you think so too. I agree that I should definitely update the face too. I think I can definitely make a better attempt at the nose and mouth. Hopefully I'll get to this soon!
 

fighterx

6
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5
Years
  • Age 34
  • Seen Aug 18, 2018
This is some great art. The female with the white top, the hand reaching behind her looks a bit awkward, not sure why though.
 

Livmal

8
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  • Age 30
  • Seen Nov 28, 2018
The new body is definitely a great improvemet and I really like the colourscheme you went with for the blue one especially, keep it up!
 
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Tox

Tox

fight me
573
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14
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fighterx said:
This is some great art. The female with the white top, the hand reaching behind her looks a bit awkward, not sure why though.
Click to expand...
Thank you! Yes, I completely agree. I don't like that one at all so I'll probably redo her completely.

Livmal said:
The new body is definitely a great improvemet and I really like the colourscheme you went with for the blue one especially, keep it up!
Click to expand...
That's really nice, thank you!

greagrea said:
Nice job!
Click to expand...
Thanks!

------------
I redid the face here. I think it looks a bit better now.
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__terri_by_arishoz-dbq5tvo.png
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__terri_by_arishoz-dbq5tvo.png


I redid this a little too.
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__andrew_by_arishoz-dboxiut.png


Also added a new character. I like the face mostly but I don't like the body. Any critique would be appreciated.
gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__pearse_by_arishoz-dchd6vr.png
 
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Cloche

Cloche

エスパーレディ
788
Posts
18
Years
Some very good pixel work here! I think the issue with the last Sprite is the lack of "wrinkle lines" They aren't usually found in a game like Pokemon, however. So what needs to happen is the shading needs to be there in place of the wrinkle outline, instead of Linear, like it is here, if that makes any sort of sense? If you want I can try to show you on the actual pixel itself, but only with permission XD It's hard to find a good example in the Pokemon Universe, because people usually wear short sleeves. XD


Also, shading yellow is still my LEAST favorite thing to do and I've been a pixel artist for around 15 years. Picking the right shadow/highlight shade for your yellow is imperative. The mid range color kind of gets lost to me.

I really think you're off to an amazing re entry! Keep practicing it and you'll be back to where you left off in no time!
 
Tox

Tox

fight me
573
Posts
14
Years
Cloche said:
Some very good pixel work here! I think the issue with the last Sprite is the lack of "wrinkle lines" They aren't usually found in a game like Pokemon, however. So what needs to happen is the shading needs to be there in place of the wrinkle outline, instead of Linear, like it is here, if that makes any sort of sense? If you want I can try to show you on the actual pixel itself, but only with permission XD It's hard to find a good example in the Pokemon Universe, because people usually wear short sleeves. XD


Also, shading yellow is still my LEAST favorite thing to do and I've been a pixel artist for around 15 years. Picking the right shadow/highlight shade for your yellow is imperative. The mid range color kind of gets lost to me.

I really think you're off to an amazing re entry! Keep practicing it and you'll be back to where you left off in no time!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the advice - that's really helpful and encouraging. If you have the time, then please by all means feel free to make some edits to show me what you mean. I find yellow very difficult to work with too. I think I need to choose colours closer to the official sprites.
 
Cloche

Cloche

エスパーレディ
788
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18
Years
Okay So, this isn't perfect by any means, but at least you have a better example of what I am talking about.

1AeQ8RM.png


gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__pearse_by_arishoz-dchd6vr.png


I did this at work in like 15 mins, so its definitely not my best.
I used the color pallet from Ampharos. One thing about Pokemon sprites that I have noticed, is the shading is minimal, and the highlight is the prime color. This is way more apparent with the 3DS Games. I probably could have done with less shading, but I prefer to shade this way. Hopefully now you understand what I mean by wrinkle lines. XD
 
Last edited:
Fairy

Fairy

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Love these new updates. Your eye for color coordination and anatomy has improved drastically. Well done! :)
 
Tox

Tox

fight me
573
Posts
14
Years
Cloche said:
Okay So, this isn't perfect by any means, but at least you have a better example of what I am talking about.

1AeQ8RM.png


gen_vii_style_trainer_sprite__pearse_by_arishoz-dchd6vr.png


I did this at work in like 15 mins, so its definitely not my best.
I used the color pallet from Ampharos. One thing about Pokemon sprites that I have noticed, is the shading is minimal, and the highlight is the prime color. This is way more apparent with the 3DS Games. I probably could have done with less shading, but I prefer to shade this way. Hopefully now you understand what I mean by wrinkle lines. XD
Click to expand...
Wow, that's very helpful. Thanks so much for taking the time to do that. I see what you mean. It definitely gives the body more shape. I'll try to make another update soon using that as a guide. :)

Fairy said:
Love these new updates. Your eye for color coordination and anatomy has improved drastically. Well done! :)
Click to expand...
Thank you! It's really nice to hear that. :)
 
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