I'll try and dig up some of my old work to post here.
Note: I use a graphics tablet and paint.net.

Alright, so roughly a year ago I decided to try my hand at GFX and just pixel art in general. Basically, I was just doing major edits. I got tired of it pretty quickly. However, I've been practicing on and off recently and I really want to be able to create my own graphics. I personally feel that I've improved a lot.

Here are some specific things I want to work on:

- Shading of heads
I can get the outline and details down, but when it comes to choosing colors and making them look natural and clean, I'm not so great.

- Shading of shields and swords
Any shading tips would be appreciated here too, again, shading in general isn't my strong suit at the moment.

Any other knowledge you have on GFX would be helpful too. Feel free to give me your personal thoughts, links to other threads, examples, etc. I'm not a total beginner with this, I promise.

One last question: For a person like me, what would you recommend I do first to get the hang of all this?  

I was unjustly banned from uploading gfx and admins won't reply  

I'm not that great at pixel art but try checking artwork from pixeljoint.com. I used to save pixel art files from there to open them up on Photoshop/Gimp. And then I would zoom in on their shading to study them as a guideline. That might be of help especially if you are completely blank on what to do. But yea, eventually you'll figure out how to shade your own way by applying what you've seen from different pieces of artwork, and by looking at how other gfx artists shade their heads on here too. The Graphics Design section of this forum is useful as well. I've seen players give tips on AA shading and etc. So I think that sub section would be the most useful to you especially if you want to learn more on Graal pixel art from real pros.  

Posted by Bioboss

I was unjustly banned from uploading gfx and admins won't reply

You probably kept uploading something even after it was already denied. Try contacting support.toonslab.com for an appeal.

Back on topic, practice copying works of pixel art that you like so yours matches the original. The more that you copy the more familiar the style will feel and it will be easier to make your own art in that same style. That's what I find, anyway.  

Posted by Brick

You probably kept uploading something even after it was already denied. Try contacting support.toonslab.com for an appeal.

Back on topic, practice copying works of pixel art that you like so yours matches the original. The more that you copy the more familiar the style will feel and it will be easier to make your own art in that same style. That's what I find, anyway.

Thanks  

If you want to improve your skill on Graal related works I'd recommend staying on this forum. This section should help you, just post a thread with some of your work there, ask for CC and I am sure you will have plenty of people flooding in to help you out  

Posted by Xeria

One last question: For a person like me, what would you recommend I do first to get the hang of all this?

Learn the terminology that is associated with pixel art/art in general. This will help you later on the road when you make a graphics thread like Psymons said and you ask for advice/help. People will say stuff like "fix the saturation" "to much AA" "it's 'pillowshaded' :o" so you want to know what they mean before hand.

Posted by MrSimons

If you want to improve your skill on Graal related works I'd recommend staying on this forum. This section should help you, just post a thread with some of your work there, ask for CC and I am sure you will have plenty of people flooding in to help you out

not sure if trolling or turning into colino  

Here's my basic tips on shading.

When it comes to shading there are basically 3 type of shades that you should always use to make them pop out more or realistic. The first type is your base color which is the main color like blue. Once you color in your base color, add in the darker shades of blue on the base color (This will basically be your shadow). Next you can add in the lighter shades, in this case a light blue (Sometimes the whiter it is the better, depending on the art). You can smudge the shadings to get more different kind of shades (Smudging is a tool in GIMP and probably on other programs too).

The more shades you use the better it looks, imo. But, I don't know if it is the same case for pixels since you have limited pixels to work on, meaning less shading.

As for shields and swords, different type of textures requires different shadings. I haven't able to completely get the whole different textures down but you can always analyze swords, how the light is very reflective and shadows are are very distinctive. There is a fine line between light and dark on swords.

Hope that helps.

And Practice makes perfect. Good Luck!  

Posted by MrSimons

If you want to improve your skill on Graal related works I'd recommend staying on this forum. This section should help you, just post a thread with some of your work there, ask for CC and I am sure you will have plenty of people flooding in to help you out

Thanks, that's something I'll have to try.

Posted by GOAT

Learn the terminology that is associated with pixel art/art in general. This will help you later on the road when you make a graphics thread like Psymons said and you ask for advice/help. People will say stuff like "fix the saturation" "to much AA" "it's 'pillowshaded' :o" so you want to know what they mean before hand.

From past art in general I do know those terms, so I should be good there. Thanks!  

Posted by GOAT

not sure if trolling or turning into colino

Graalians actually has a great pixel art community. Most of the people here are very knowledgable on key pixel art concepts like Anti Aliasing and having more contrast. Which makes it really easy for 5 or 6 people to come to your art thread and all say "good job, should add more AA though" or "Wow! cool."