MysticJhn
stuewan
I have been thinking, since entering the most recent PMC skin contest, if I could do a good skin that's not shaded at all.
Use an almost plastic, base colors only look, but still look good.
We usually think of "good" skins to be shaded, although to be honest I like a lower amount of shading than the "standard" skin uses. We've trained ourselves to like so much detail crammed into 64x64 pixels that no two touching pixels are the same color or tone. Detail is automatically good, right?
However, like I said, I already prefer a bit less shading than most, and I think some skins are so overkill with shading that it hurts the final image. People even have a standard shading style, some copied from how skins are "supposed" to be made, that it all starts looking the same. Of course too much shading is subjective, and I'm sure I fall into the same old same old shading patterns myself sometimes.
However, is shading the only way to make a "good" skin?
Detail doesn't mean it has to look 3D or "HD" to be good (btw, hate that term on skins, it's not HD just because you shaded it well. It's still low def pixel art).
I'm not thinking something as plain as a Lego figure, although these days Lego figures irl contain a lot more small details without even painting the backs of the body.
Just something that looks good and like something, but lacks any shading variation, relying on just plain colors to give a feel to something.
The problem is that skins with zero shading at all feel amateurish and subjectively bad.
What do you think?
Could a shadeless skin work, or does it need some shading to feel real?
Use an almost plastic, base colors only look, but still look good.
We usually think of "good" skins to be shaded, although to be honest I like a lower amount of shading than the "standard" skin uses. We've trained ourselves to like so much detail crammed into 64x64 pixels that no two touching pixels are the same color or tone. Detail is automatically good, right?
However, like I said, I already prefer a bit less shading than most, and I think some skins are so overkill with shading that it hurts the final image. People even have a standard shading style, some copied from how skins are "supposed" to be made, that it all starts looking the same. Of course too much shading is subjective, and I'm sure I fall into the same old same old shading patterns myself sometimes.
However, is shading the only way to make a "good" skin?
Detail doesn't mean it has to look 3D or "HD" to be good (btw, hate that term on skins, it's not HD just because you shaded it well. It's still low def pixel art).
I'm not thinking something as plain as a Lego figure, although these days Lego figures irl contain a lot more small details without even painting the backs of the body.
Just something that looks good and like something, but lacks any shading variation, relying on just plain colors to give a feel to something.
The problem is that skins with zero shading at all feel amateurish and subjectively bad.
What do you think?
Could a shadeless skin work, or does it need some shading to feel real?
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7
1
I'm a firm "no shaded skin, 64x32" type guy, so I'm down with anything like this.
2
I think this could be a really neat basis for a contest, actually. There's a really difficult balance skinners have to maintain between keeping a piece visually interesting, but not cluttered. What shading offers is definition- it's def a creative choice. Good food for thought! (๑>ᴗ<๑)
2
That would be a neat contest, although it would probably hard to define the rules for no shading. For example, how different does a color need to be to declare it a different color and not just shaded? The difference in tints might be considered a shade by a judge.
I’d still like to try such a contest, though.
I’d still like to try such a contest, though.
1
The skin I showed as an example was actually for the "simplistic" contest where shading was forbidden :D there's recently been one such contest.
6
I do agree that "good" and "bad" in skins is subjective and that a shaded skin =/= a good skin per say and that a barely shaded skin =/= a bad skin per say.
Personally I think a skin is good when it makes sense. When the artist clearly put thought and effort into the overall skin. I can like a barely shaded but original and creative skin more more than any copycat teen girl skin even though the latter might have better coloring and shading.
That said, shaded skin versus unshaded skin:
I think it also very much depends on what you want for your skin in-game, and how you look at skins in general. Personally I prefer my skin to match with whichever texture pack I am using. But you can also see a skin as a standalone thing and then it's really just a matter of preference.
Personally I think a skin is good when it makes sense. When the artist clearly put thought and effort into the overall skin. I can like a barely shaded but original and creative skin more more than any copycat teen girl skin even though the latter might have better coloring and shading.
That said, shaded skin versus unshaded skin:
I think it also very much depends on what you want for your skin in-game, and how you look at skins in general. Personally I prefer my skin to match with whichever texture pack I am using. But you can also see a skin as a standalone thing and then it's really just a matter of preference.
2
That looks really good! Love the shaded!
4
Personally I like something between the amount of shading between the first and second skins.
For me, the first has too much shading.
As an example of too much shading, the shoes on the original image's shoes are black
as compared tot he bronze color on the second skin.
The second skin wouldn't be bad at all if not for the solid grey arms.
It need something to break up that empty grey field.
The arms feel unfinished.
The shoes could use something extra, like some shine to them. Too flat.
Still, it does make me think a shadeless skin would work.
For me, the first has too much shading.
As an example of too much shading, the shoes on the original image's shoes are black
as compared tot he bronze color on the second skin.
The second skin wouldn't be bad at all if not for the solid grey arms.
It need something to break up that empty grey field.
The arms feel unfinished.
The shoes could use something extra, like some shine to them. Too flat.
Still, it does make me think a shadeless skin would work.
