pixel art

[Halo2994]

Hello.

I have a question for you about pixel art.

Can it work?

I’ll explain. I have got a fairly young webcomic that I do that is was originally drawn in MS Paint. A few more fancy programs started being used later for effects and stuff.

Basically the comic consist of a number of MS Paint drawn sprites that get shifted around from panel to panel, think 8 bit theater but with less cool sprites.

My comic is sure never going to win any awards for art work but I think it certainly has a unique ‘look’. And the art is improving over time as I learn new tricks. Even a few people who were at first skeptical of my comic have told me that they were won over by the story and my charming smiling sprite (and I got all warm inside)

But sure enough a little early today I got some feedback from someone who was not at all happy with my comic and used words to descried it like ‘horrible’ and ‘ew’.

How seriously should I take this type of criticism?

Should I stick with my original design and simply let fans find me?
Should I cater to the masses and redraw my comic with a cleaner look?
Should I abandon my hopes of being a web artist and never set foot on the digital highway ever again out of shame?

Ideas?

-halo

[Meister]

First off, there's always going to be someone who thinks your work is bad no matter what you do. If you have fun doing it, go ahead.

Having looked at your comic now, I have to say the graphic's aren't thrilling, but only from a technical point of view. Many sprites look unclean and as if they were improperly resized. Nothing wrong with the design and writing as far as I could see, though. If you ask me, stick with it, but see if you can't clean up your art. Are those the characters like you created them or have they been resized before you put them in the comic?

[Big J.]

Try adding boxes around the text so it looks better. And although the art isn't great, It is noticable that it is improving. Don't quit comic making, just take a break to improve your skills and then when you're better make the next episode and people will be thinking "Whoa, was this even made by the same person!?"