Roman Pillar
 

Understand, the image looks flat because I made this for a 2d theme not a 3d type theme.


Attachment 48727

Not sure what you mean with flat for 2d and not 3d... you mean like a platformer? Regardless, just because it is 2D doesn't mean that it needs to be flat. Form and volume is important no matter if you're working with two dimensions or three.

I was pondering of making a game that is played on white copy paper. Each world is on a piece of paper and it will be black and white with just various shades. That's why I want it to be flat. A game of all flat images I think would be an interesting style of play.

Yeah, but even if it's printed, it'd still look nicer with a bit of depth.

Like a sketch drawing? Well it still applies... when you draw on paper or pixel in on a computer, most of the time you're going to try to give the object volume and such. However, to do it black-and-white with no volume could possibly be done, if done right.

Just an edit:
http://i41.tinypic.com/10nsyma.png
However, I took it to the extreme on contrast and volume. You might not be looking for something like this, however... and the high contrast might be detrimental in a platforming background where it can steal focus. But meh, it was fun to screw with.

Well, that does look nice, however I am not good at coloring, I can sketch it out pretty well but when it comes to color fml.

Hence it's always a good time to practice and learn :)
Mess around with me edit if it helps to figure out how to approach it. Learn why the pixels were placed where they were and how it effected the final outcome. However, if you're having a problem with defining volume and shading, it might be better to go back to pencil and paper and practice the good ol' fashion way before trying to 'fix it' in the pixel medium. Traditional art tends to always transcend other mediums as a back-bone. Everything you learn on paper and pencil and be transferred somehow when you're pixelling... not so much the other way around all the time.

There were also other small edits I made that you should keep in mind... mainly I squared off the bricks. Sometimes rounded bricks can work, but I don't think in this instance. It looked very awkward, most likely because of the lack of AA(which might be impossible to do, depending on how you will be using this) to help smooth out the lack of corners. I also extruded the top and bottom bricks a bit as to give the pillar a more flowing and noticeable shape. Before, it was weird to see the two thicker bricks actually being smaller than the rest of the pillar.

Dusty :D

When pixel art is printed, it always looks.. pixellated, and sharp. The reason for this is generally because printers can print say 300dpi, which is the equivalent of 300 pixels per inch. So in a space of one centimeter, if you have 32 pixels, where normally your used to maybe 150 different pixels filling that space, you now only have 32 pixels and it has to be enlarged to fit the area sufficiently.. It's quite interesting, design for web + print are two totally different kettles of fish, try printing luminous greens too for example. Anyway, maybe try gradients in photoshop and instead of having the light coming from directly in front of the pillar as dusty did, experiment and have the light coming from an angle.