Basic Pixel Doll Tutorial
Posted: 5th March 2008
Difficulty: Easy
In this tutorial, you'll be able to see the principles learnt from the basic tutorial being used to create a pixel doll. The base used in this tutorial is the Zephyr base - you can use another one if you like, but try to keep it small so that you can practice your pixel placement.
Contents
Dithering
You've probably noticed by now that my orange has very clear cut shading >> It's good to start off that way, so you can get the shapes right, but leaving it looking like that would just look odd @_@
To solve the code orange problem, we can use dithering to smooth it out - we won't have to use any more colours than we already have, dithering is all about pixel placement ^_^
There are only two colours used in the dithering example above. The grid-like patterns used effectively "trick" your eyes into seeing more colours than there actually are XD Dithering becomes very useful when you only have a limited colour palette to work with ^^
This took quite a while to actually dither, because of the curves, but I think the outcome is well worth the effort spent ^^
Thought I might mention it here - dithering is not necessary in all cases; I've seen a lot of people use dithering all over their pixel doll when it wasn't necessary and the effect was that it looked washed out @_@ The majority of the pixel doll made in this tutorial hasn't been dithered, just the orange, because it was needed there ^^
To solve the code orange problem, we can use dithering to smooth it out - we won't have to use any more colours than we already have, dithering is all about pixel placement ^_^
There are only two colours used in the dithering example above. The grid-like patterns used effectively "trick" your eyes into seeing more colours than there actually are XD Dithering becomes very useful when you only have a limited colour palette to work with ^^
This took quite a while to actually dither, because of the curves, but I think the outcome is well worth the effort spent ^^
Thought I might mention it here - dithering is not necessary in all cases; I've seen a lot of people use dithering all over their pixel doll when it wasn't necessary and the effect was that it looked washed out @_@ The majority of the pixel doll made in this tutorial hasn't been dithered, just the orange, because it was needed there ^^
Finishing Touches
Lastly, the finishing touches. These are the small details that really lift your work off the screen ^^ Some of the things I've added are shadows under the hair and around the green heart, stamen to the flowers and drops of water onto the orange itself, as well as some little sparkly things scattered around.
Add your signature to the final work, and that's it! o.o Now let's see it in animated magic ^0^
