I'm an aspiring pixel artist and would like to know if there are any good comunities out there. All i found was pixel joint but they're on a COMPLETELY other level than me. I mean they're ridicoulusly pro.
Join those two that were mentioned. If you expect to be a pixel artist, ya gotta join in with the "pros". They can give you advice and pointers that will make your art better. If you try to start one, you won't get any members and you probably won't progress very much in your skills.
It's kind of like not working at a hospital because you just got out of Med School and aren't as experienced as the other doctors.
I think there are enough pixel artists here to give tips if you post your pixel work on the Digital Artwork forum. We're not on the level of some of the Pixeljoint guys, but we've been doing game graphics a long time, and some of us have a reasonable background in traditional art too (like radiosity and colour theory and stuff).
For instance, your black jaguar is pretty cool when you look at the non-stretched original on Photobucket (right-click and follow the original link, all). However, a good trick is to suggest black rather than truly using it; so for example you can use shades of blue and grey to create highlights, giving your panther a kind of sleek sheen to its fur, and lets you build a little muscle tone in (which will make your panther/jaguar teh ossumness).
I'm not a fan of the black motion-streaks you're using, they seem a bit too bold, and the motion on the head is so slight that it doesn't merit such an effect on the head too. There's an argument for keeping it on the legs and tail, but not really the head in my opinion
I also now love you, because you've done what I'm ALWAYS telling people to do, which is manipulate the whole form rather than just moving limbs! The butt and shoulders of the animal clearly raise and lower, although this could be more pronounced maybe...
Something about it was bugging me, however, to do with the legs, but I couldn't twig what it was... But I have found it!! The legs are ever so slightly out of time.
If you take a looksee at this picture I drew for a tutorial:
(click it to expand if it's too small)
This is a walk cycle, but you can skip the 2nd half to create a run cycle.
Using the top row, you can see that when running, the dog kind of bounds. The legs pair up, so front two and back two are almost synchronised. And the front legs mirror the back legs almost.
Most importantly, you can see from the diagram I drew how the legs are pressing against the floor. I drew an orange block to show this, and you can see from that that the dog is almost passing the floor space from front legs to back legs when they're in the middle. Then back legs kick the floor away and front legs lift and throw forwards, ready to grab another part of the floor.
They grab it (rear legs lift now) and again, they drag the floor backwards where the rear legs have come forwards to intercept it and propel it further.
It's just like they were passing a stone from front to back, front to back.
Too, doing it like this, with some shading as well, you can show the thigh muscles curling up around frames 3 and 4, ready to pound the floor again. Just seeing the muscle will make the animal seem more powerful as you see it playing under the skin
Well thank you lad! This is actually my first "Real" shot at pixelart (Seeing that I just made some crap in the in-built animator for my games) and my second shot is at my deviantart page.
I looked at that way of the pixel forum and there's like no "good job" or positive praise at all, they just go straight at picking out the flaws. I guess that's good if you want nothing but hard critisicm but it's nice to hear what you're doing right or feedback on the concept as well.
Well, you have to take it with the right attitude. It's the nature of professional communities to pick out what needs fixed-- they almost always don't mean it offensively. They're used to commenting and having their work commented on. It comes naturally to suggest what could make it better; they don't see it as finished until it's perfect. Think of it this way: If your friend is painting a car, and there is a relatively small ugly splotch that doesn't have enough paint, but they don't see it, you'll obviously point it out. The praise comes after it's done. "Wow that looks great!" I think that analogy works well for a lot of constructive criticism scenarios.
It's also hard to tell what their tone of voice is since it's over the internet.
And granted, there are some mean people who say useless stuff, but you can't avoid those people on the internet.
"And granted, there are some mean people who say useless stuff, but you can't avoid those people on the internet. "
However, you can ignore them. Mean people often just want attention. If you don't give it, they get annoyed. And annoying attention lovers by ignoring them can be fun. (Don't call my fun twisted, I have other ways, too. )
Originally Posted by Black Jaguar Well thank you lad! This is actually my first "Real" shot at pixelart (Seeing that I just made some crap in the in-built animator for my games) and my second shot is at my deviantart page.
(I know you cba when seeing a link of any sort so: )
REMEMBER! The lineart isn't mine!
Comments and critique encouraged.
EDIT: Deadman Dines: I read through your tutorial before making the sprite, thanks for making it!
I'm a little confused. How can this be your 'frist real try at pixel art' if you didn't do the line art? Trust me, if you really, truely want to improve you have to draw and color it all yourself. If you take shortcuts you're only cheating yourself.
I don't meant to sound too harsh. But becoming a better pixel artist is just like becoming a better transitional artist, or anything else for that matter; takes hard work and practice. Piggybacking off someone else's work isn't the way to go.
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They can give you advice and pointers that will make your art better. If you try to start one, you won't get any members and you probably won't progress very much in your skills. 
on DA you'd just get a load of screaming kids asking how to dress a pixel doll. Whereas our screaming kids don't play with dolls 
And here there is more of a chance that your art will actually be seen. 
Edited by Knockturnal
