As a pixel artist, I struggle sometimes with making things consistent between several pieces. I love experimenting with different size of canvases, palettes and the likes, but sometimes a project requires you to keep certain rules consistent because you need every piece to look like it belongs with the rest. That was the case for me, planning to create different potions for my twitch banners. For that purpose, I’ve done a seventh piece that’s not used by any panel, exclusive for this post (until I have a need for it!):
I will admit, I started that flask in the banner with no plan, just dots, lines, vibes. I added as many details as I thought relevant and just had fun with it. But I decided that I would need to keep some sort of consistency for other pieces.
And that’s when I basically started doing the rest in the same way.
I started copying and pasting my neck of the bottle, because I wanted that to be consistent in all the pieces. I also wanted all of them to have the same height and width, and to be symmetrical. So guidelines for those proportions were really useful. I used other layer for these guidelines, which is extremely useful for revisiting this project back. Believe me, I thanked my past me for saving me this tedious work.
Most of the times, I don’t even know which kind of shape I’m doing. I just make my line and let the shape inform me. I’m not trying to make them look like a potion for a specific purpose, so if it looks nice, it goes. I work on one side. The symmetry condition is perfect for this, so I don’t have to worry about half of the image. Working smarter, not harder!
Next up, I add structural elements, in this case, the columns and the holes in the middle. I still use the guidelines to ensure they’re also symmetrical, but at this stage, I don’t care about shading. I also go with a general shape of the lower part of the bottle. In this case, I decided to make it quite narrow, so I don’t expect this particular flask to stand on its own. But this is fantasy, anyways!
Next step is basically rendering the bottom, which is empty. I kept it symmetrical, which is just a choice as any other because it makes no sense. This piece doesn’t have a cohesive light source, I know that, but I roll with it, and if I hadn’t told you, you wouldn’t be the wiser. Sometimes, simplifications comes to this: just roll with stuff and let the end result be pretty anyways.
I also started deciding where the liquid would be, understanding that the glass has a certain thickness, and even when refraction and reflection makes it look like it’s full, you can see some spots apparently empty. Specially at the bottom and around sharp shapes.
Then, I start shading the glass around with… basically not much order. I tend to put my light source in the top left of the picture instinctively, so I tend to go harder on the shados in the opposite side, but I also don’t leave so many places with a long string of the same shade of the glass to give it variation and the feel that the liquid interacts with it.
And yes. Bucket of paint tool for the interior. That’s me, I won’t deny it. From here on, we only have to render the liquid to make it look a bit more… liquid!
It’s quite self-descriptive. I added big blobs of white and the light shade to represent light spots and the darker shade to make shadows on the liquid. I love adding random blobs in the bottom to represent all the light sources bouncing around on the whole glass and creating shadows down there. I also include shines in big spots and close to the edge but not touching it explicitly. Shadows go in the opposite sides and help round (hah, geddit) the harmony and shape.
I also add the dark shade to the top, to signify the level of the liquid. You noticed I left a bit of extra height to the sides of that, that’s how several liquids act. Explaining why and how is way out of the scope of this post (but it’s surface tension, it’s always surface tension) so I encourage you to look for references. Which is something I’m not stressing enough, even when my depiction is really simplified, it’s informed by references and knowledge of how items interact. That will help the eye that looks past one second to your piece.
My final step here is to add bubbles. I tend to go with 4x4 squares without the corners to represent circles, and 3x3 squares on its diagonal. But also, I love breaking this shape, filling parts in, that would give it a bit of movement to the light and bubbles. It just helps break the space and give it a bit more of interest, for me.
So that’s the process for this particular set. Of course, you can go in whichever order and with whichever restrictions you want or need. I haven’t mentioned the colour palette, for example, which is something that I also keep consistent for branding purposes.
Not every series of art pieces is the same, not everyone will need the same treatment, but you should establish some guidelines of what you want to keep consistent, what you need to change and how to make your process go well for you. I started experimenting doing the first piece and it took close to three hours. Now, with the process streamlined, that potion of the tutorial took one hour. Including taking pictures of the process!
I don’t really have more insight than this, I am quite a novice at this size of canvas and to be honest, I’m experimenting more lately than ever in pixela rt, so my input might not be the professional help you require. At least I hope you took something you can apply to your own process in any kind and not be afraid of just messing around and having fun: you might discover something you really like to do!
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