Pixeling Process - Indeapth Tutorial
Above you will see the stages of creating a pixel. Going left - right. Step one, outline your pixel. Make sure you have a clean pixel, no scribbles or extra marks(see below for how it should not look) Next, color in your image with solid colors. Once you have filled your pixel, move onto step three by finding a bit darker shade. Do not overuse this color. Most likely the darker shades will be towards the end/corner of your pixels. Also on this step, choose a lighter shade for the stem part. Step four, find a lighter shade for your pixel. Mine, will be a lighter green. Remember to keep it towards the top end, this will make it more realistic. Continue this step for 5 and 6.
These are three examples of how you don't want your pixel too look. Example A, its very messy looking. Looks like somone rushed and tried to hurry their pixel. Do do this. Clean up the lines so it is a neat pixel with defined lines. Example B, is how you should NOT shade your pixel. It is very unrealistic looking. This way of shading is called 'pillow shading' and should not be used. Example C, this is not a good way of shading either. Know why? The colors look awefull! When shading, you want to gradually get to the lighest color. Jumping to many shades at once will create a terrible looking pixel!
So, now we will really talk about shading. How do you know where to shade? Think of the object your using. Ask where the light would hit this object if it was a real thing. For example, the rock I'v drawn is being hit by the light towards the right side. The lightest colors will be towards the top side of the rock. The other side will be darken since the lightsource is not hitting that part.