My second ever pixel art character!

[frenzykitty]

Is a cool cowboy dude holding a page of paper.

Gentle thoughts and feedback would be appreciated

[imgzoom]http://i.imgur.com/tfWJe3m.png[/imgzoom]

[Cassiebsg]

He looks nice!
I think though, that his head seems a tad too small in relation to everything else.

[frenzykitty]

I think so too. Also - a bigger head would make detailing the face easier

[Eric]

I like him. Be aware if you're going to animate him that you've "shot" him from slightly lower than the waist, which means low horizon lines.

[frenzykitty]

At the moment he is just drawing/rotoscoping practice, but you make an excellent point!

[Mouth for war]

Looks good but it could use some shading i think :-)

[frenzykitty]

I agree! Can anyone suggest a tutorial or something I can look at for advice on shading?

[.M.M.]

Try looking at this:
http://finalbossblues.com/form-and-light/
It's a bit different from classical tutorials, but I think it is a really interesting point of view at shading.
EDIT:
But maybe you're looking for something more like this:
http://www.natomic.com/hosted/marks/mpat/shading.html
http://makegames.tumblr.com/post/42648699708/pixel-art-tutorial

[Adeel]

Here are some comprehensive tutorials which can make you get started. If you find them useful, please thank Ghost because he was kind enough to share them with me.

Spoiler

http://art-eater.com/2010/07/test-1-darkstalkers/
This is an article about basic animation, using characters from the popular Darkstalkers fighting game as a reference. It's more theory than hands-on spriting but the references are awesome.

http://www.spriters-resource.com/
"The Spriter's Resource" infamous for ripping console sprites and making them available for download. Still, a lot of the stuff there is useful if you want to see how you can create really tiny characters.

https://www.pinterest.com/characterdesigh/
A huge (really huge) collection of character concepts, drawings, sketches, reference pages and whatnot. Should prove useful to anyone!

http://pyxeledit.com/
A program for making sprites. A very good program, I should say, because it is!

http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299
An in-depth article about what makes pixel art.

http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/
... and the matching forums. The people there are really friendly and just from browsing you'll get a sh*tload of cool pictures to learn from.

http://opengameart.org/content/chapter-5-color-palettes
A nice article about picking good colours for low-res art.

http://www.derekyu.com/?page_id=219
Derek Yu, of Spelunky fame, is a great spriter. Here you can find some of his tutorials and general discussion.

http://kitted.deviantart.com/art/DITHERING-TUTORIAL-Basics-69747353
A basic but extensive little tutorial on dithering. Essential.

http://vanmall.deviantart.com/art/How-to-start-with-pixel-art-121520884
First of a series of articles aimed at beginners. I daresay you will not find very many "advanced" things in there, but depending on your skills you may still find some good basic tips.

https://www.google.de/search?q=legend+of+kyrandia+hand+of+fate+screenshotsbm=ischbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=osbVUpLbIqf_ygPWooCQAQ&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1510&bih=934
If there is one game that really excels at low-res art and great palette choice, it's Legend Of Kyrandia II - Hand of Fate. It's also a great game, so if you don't know it, hit abandonia and PLAY it

http://rpgtoolkit.net/tutorials/graphics/lotuswares-pixel-art-tutorial/
I'm not too fond of RPG MAker tutorials, but this one actually does its job. Basic landscape creation and such. Nice read.

http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_almighty_grass_tile.php
This is a good site featuring many different aspects of low-res art. Just check the entries in the right sidebar- very good stuff there.

http://finalbossblues.com/thinking-in-color/
Another article focussing on colour choices. Another RPG Maker tutorial too, so take it with a pinch of salt, but I think it's still useful.

http://jazisnake.deviantart.com/art/TUTORIAL-Texture-Color-Theory-188959239
A nice little article about creating irregularly textured objects. Good read.

[close]

[Ghost]

If you find them useful, please thank Ghost because he was kind enough to share them with me.

Actually, since I lost TONS OF BOOKMARKS, thanks for posting this!

I do like the cowboy hat! The brim should maybe have a bit more of a curve- since this is low-res, exaggeration is key and these things are hell to sprite anyway...

[Adeel]

That message you sent is quite precious to me, Ghost. I treasure it because it's a chest full of information!