Pixel "Art" Attempt, Need C+C

[LRH]

So this is my first ever attempt at pixel art. It's kinda like what I wanted my first game to look like. As if it were done properly... (maybe I'll get to work on it as a game?)




But anyways! I would love some words on this, and I would really appreciate things like:

*How to make it appear as though moonlight is coming in.
*What to put in the bookshelf without making it look stupid.
*How the picture can be improved in general.

I know it's pretty awful and needs a lot of work, but I've seen miracles happen in the critic's lounge, maybe I can be an artist. 

[Darius Poyer]

i would suggest playing Trilby's Notes. there is a room very early in the game that uses periodical lightning to light up a dark room, probably similar to what you want to do. basically what you want is to outline the furniture in a very dark blue. simple one-tone shading would do for that.

[Jakerpot]

I can't really see something. It's MUCH dark there.

[Arboris]

Just like Darius already said. When it's really dark, we don't really see colours anymore, just shades of gray. Try to create distinctive silhouettes of the surrounding objects in a monotone dark colour (dark gray or dark blue)

[Khris]

Also, dark purple.

[LRH]

I get what you're all saying, but that's not what I'm going for. When the moon is out and the blinds are wide open, you can see things. Not well, but you can see them. This, I think, is a big difference from a game such as Trilby's Notes, since it is raining and one could assume it is also very cloudy. The lack of light makes it more difficult to see colors, sure. But if there's SOME light, it's possible. What I've tried to do is bring those colors a lot closer to the color black to pull off the effect. Later on there will be clouds in the sky, and perhaps then would be a more suitable time for the trilby's notes-esque silhouette style.

I've made a few edits of my own.



The light from the window probably needs work, and I've just started to add books as an example of what I plan to make for the whole shelf.

[Khris]

Here's the histogram for the latest pic:



I can't see anything except the window, time and bright spots. I can see stuff when looking at it full-screen though.
My point being, you can convey really dark without making the image all black.

[LRH]

A very good point...
I also failed to realize if I gave modest color to everything in the room, the walls would certainly be included.
I'll toy with it a bit then re-post later.

[Chicky]

Dude, you must have some serious monitor problems :/

[LRH]

Dude, you must have some serious monitor problems :/

I do keep it very bright, but in fullscreen it looks fine on any computer I've tried. However, I guess fullscreen shouldn't be manditory...

[LRH]

Here is my most recent attempt, improved with great thanks to the fellas on IRC!

[Blue]

Here is my most recent attempt, improved with great thanks to the fellas on IRC!

Your image still has colour in it...
You can learn a lot just by paying attention to things in real life.
If you lie in bed one day and you cannot sleep, try to get up. Don't turn on any lights, and just wander about in your room/apartment/house and try to look at everything while asking yourself "what colour does it have?" Not the colour you KNOW it has when it's daylight, but what colour does it have when it's night.
Your brain will store this information, and when you need it for e.g. painting a room at night, you will remember how it looks. Or at least you will remember some of it.

A quick overpaint of your image. I'm not saying this is the right way to do it. But this is how I would begin.


First, I increased the light, so the furniture became visible, then I removed all colour and gave the image a blueish tone.
After that, I gave it a bit of contrast, and finally I tried to define the areas in the room where I would guess the light from the window would fall.

Keep working on the image, and paying attention to everything around you. That's the best advice I can give.

[LRH]

Blue, let me start by saying that this paint-over is fantastic. I love it!
I have some questions:
1.) You said you removed all color. How did you decide on what shade of gray to give each wall, etc? Is there an easy way to do this (just clicking a black and white filter?), or do you just have to kind of 'feel' for it?

2.)How did you accomplish the blue tone?

[Blue]

Blue, let me start by saying that this paint-over is fantastic. I love it!
I have some questions:
1.) You said you removed all color. How did you decide on what shade of gray to give each wall, etc? Is there an easy way to do this (just clicking a black and white filter?), or do you just have to kind of 'feel' for it?

2.)How did you accomplish the blue tone?

If you use Photoshop, then there is a Colour Adjustment Layer you can add, that allows you to quickly play around with colour.
It is located in the menu "Layer -> New Adjustment Layer -> Hue / Saturation". When clicking OK to the box that pops up, you'll get 3 slide bars to adjust the color. The middle one is called Saturation, and setting that one to -100 makes the whole image grayscale.
After that, I checked the "Colorize" setting. This gives the whole image a tint of colour, that can be adjusted with the first slider.

So as you can see, I didn't decide the colour for each wall etc. That would have taken a lot more time. That part, I'll leave up to you.

If you don't have Photoshop, then you can use Gimp. It's free, and can do a lot of the same things that Photoshop can.

[LRH]

Ah, okay. I have gimp. I'll try it out later. Thanks