i showed some isometric art recently online some of you requested that i
make a longer process video on it so here we are
it all really starts off with an idea i have this little dwarf character called lumber who
you might recognize from all the videos if you've seen those i'm always trying to develop the story
that i have for him and his universe or what i like to call the lumber verse in a recent
video i shared a little teaser for a new character little wizard that i've got here so for this piece
i had in mind to share where the wizard lives in a wizard's tower i usually start off with little
doodles and notes in a notepad just scribbling away trying to generate ideas if i'm struggling
to come up with ideas i usually just ask myself questions about the world itself what kind of
character is the wizard where would he live what kind of environment would he live in what type of
things does he do those questions i think really help form a stronger idea at some point i do have
to stop asking questions about it and just start creating it otherwise i'd end up drafting out
the whole world which i've already done by the way so if you're interested in the lumberverse
we're only just getting started what the process which i think is quite vital is
gathering reference usually i'm looking for two types of reference the first type is sort of a
mood or inspiration board which kind of helps me explore different ideas decide on the tone
i want to set for the piece i just gather images from online you know google images pinterest and
put them all into a pure ref board pureref is a free software by the way i'd highly recommend it i
usually do the mood or inspiration board at start because it helps me push that initial idea second
type of reference is detail or technical reference which really helps when i've never drawn a certain
subject before for example if i was to ask you to draw a crocodile you might not know how to do
that accurately but if you first gather reference and do some exploration sketches you'll probably
be able to draw a much better crocodile there's more reference gathering and studying that you do
unless you'll actually have to rely on reference in the future so in this case i wanted the wizards
tower to be sort of a medieval building in tower but i've never drawn it before so i
just gathered some reference for it it's not about copying any of the reference directly
it's more about learning and exploring a specific subject so that you can help expand that visual
library that you've got in your mind so after getting an idea and gathering some references the
first part of my creation process is to do some exploration sketches to really help me learn the
subject matter that i'm going to be drawing and it's not about being perfect here a lot of people
ask me what canvas size i start out with and it's usually just an experiment i think the more you
do pixel art the more you learn about what kind of detail you can fit into certain sizes but for
my process i'm trying to keep it quite fluid if i need to expand or shrink the canvas at any point
i can and it's not a big deal so for the rest of the exploration sketch i keep checking back and
forth with a reference here just trying different things out at first it's kind of like putting
together a puzzle like you don't know which parts fit with what more comfortable i get with it the
less i actually need to rely on it so i can get more creative and start thinking more about the
design of the piece the basic idea is here with this one but for me there wasn't enough unique
shapes and it kind of just didn't fit with the rest of the house at this moment it looked like
a building and a tower two separate elements instead of one thing but it's no issue i just
delete it and try again increase the canvas size again this time ending up with a 240 pixel by 240
pixel canvas each grid size being 18 pixels by 9 pixels this time i try to really focus on each
building at a time and design it properly using basic shapes on the reference i really like this
sort of unbalanced unstable and quirky looking building i thought that would represent like a
loopy wizard character really well so i try to use that for the main building made out of cubes
and a triangular roof shape when i moved on to the tower i try and match that main building by using
similar shapes and design elements some of these things are kind of intuitive when i'm drawing like
something just doesn't look right or it looks out of place but i also find it helps to stop the sort
of doodle nature and actually start thinking while i'm drawing too so for the tower i get this cube
base with a triangular roof which matches the building and then i get that unbalanced tower
with the the cube room on top at first i was just gonna have this isolated platform and decorate
it with things that i thought might surround the wizard's house a little portal for traveling trees
fences and a little pond with ducks in it which is sort of spilling over the sides and maybe a
little bench to just sit and observe the world or something i was originally going to have just this
single platform but i wanted to try having these floating platforms around it because i think that
would be a little less pristine and more chaotic which i think would represent the character a bit
better this actually presented a new challenge in composition like where do i place the other
platforms in order to make the whole piece feel balanced but basically the more i added to one
side i kind of just tried to balance that with adding things on the other side all while trying
to keep the main tower the main focus of the piece by not adding too much detail to the outside
once i was basically happy with the sketch then time to add a new layer and start constructing
it all i tried freehanding it at first but i just really didn't like that approach i kept feeling
like i was losing control so i tried to construct the image using basic shapes this was actually my
first ever isometric pixel art piece but not to lead anyone astray here i actually did so
much research on pixel or isometric construction beforehand i'm not going to be going into how i
constructed the basic shapes of isometric pixel art all of the things that i learned tested and
refined during my research i compiled it all into a super simple guide for beginners which
you can check out here all of those construction tips i used in this piece here starting with
the basic shapes and then just building it up because it was my first large isometric piece i
actually started it over a couple times because i found myself losing track color coding each
shape helped a lot to distinguish which area i was working on and also to see how those basic
shapes fit around each other each shape was in separate layers as well so you'll see me hide
some shape layers as well so that i can focus on other parts of the piece like the roof which
was actually quite complicated when i was more comfortable with the construction i changed all
the outlines to black and started to merge them all together so that i could add more detail
so at this point i'm starting to add detail to each section i found this to be really easy when
i had the base structure in place because i can use those existing lines as reference and just add
on to it all of that research in the reference and exploration sketches earlier really helped out at
this point because it made me really comfortable when deciding on what details to add to the
buildings without having to constantly check the references you can definitely see similarities
between the reference that i was searching and the wooden structures that i put in this building as
well building that visual library was really key to avoiding some of that frustration here
saying that i did struggle with some areas a couple times you'll see me deleting the tower
because i just wasn't happy with it but usually when i struggle with one part of a piece i move on
to something else and come back to it eventually when i don't have a choice so i focused on some of
the easier parts like the portal the path details in the house the pond and the surrounding areas i
find those explorative elements a lot more fun and creative generally so that was a nice break
from isometric construction i definitely didn't do this all in one sitting either this was made
over the course of a week and i find it really helps to take a break especially if i'm getting
frustrated i'll go for a walk or come back to it another day with fresh eyes by then i usually have
a better idea of how to solve the problems when i get back to it like that pesky tower which was
actually no problem after i took a break then i could have some more fun again by adding some
more detail into that area you'll see my process shift a little bit too actually i think isometric
arc can be really clinical and precise especially when you're constructing parts that was definitely
the approach when constructing the house and the first part but as i was designing areas i
kind of let loose a bit more and just started sketching more roughly the rough trees on the
platform the shape of the platform which i imagine to be this layered sedimentary rock with floating
rock pieces hanging off it i find doing some rough sketches to be quite fun sometimes and it's good
for getting ideas down quickly but when it comes to putting those elements in and cleaning it up
i went back to the precision from before which is actually quite relaxing to just clean things
up as you go along figuring out the tiles for the house was a nightmare at first but i figured the
best way to do it was to just create one section and then offset the different sections copy and
pasting throughout i find it generally easier to make patterns through copy and paste and things
for the trees i just started off with a cylinder and a cone for the main section i added in little
asymmetrical details because i think that makes something look a bit more interesting than just
plain symmetry once i had one tree i could just copy and paste them for the rest of the trees in
the scene i usually jump around different areas like clean up one part see something else that i
want to clean up and just keep jumping around the piece until it's more cleaned up say i measure the
distance between the sediments on the rock to keep that consistent through the scene as well little
measurements like that which can help make things seem more cohesive when putting in the grass from
the top of the platforms you'll see that i took some inspiration from some of the references
that i found earlier i really like that uniform grass pattern i thought that looked really clean
and provided some nice visual contrast against the sort of chaotic and organic rock structures below
i also cut off some pixels from the top of the grass line to make that edge seem more
soft instead of a sharp clean edge the smoke on top of the house i went for a more organic look
too so it contrasted the clean precise nature of the constructed isometric house try to make it so
that it framed the house nicely without getting in the way too much i'm still coming back and forth
and messing with that wizard's tower i added another little chimney to the right hand side
because that just felt a little bit unbalanced to me i thought having multiple chimneys is
quite quirky as well it's like he's doing too much magic up there or something and needs the
extra chimneys to help out continue to refine and clean up the piece adding little mushrooms
and rocks to the grassy areas i did this until i was basically happy with the line work it's not
finished at this point but it's good enough where i can start doing some color roofs
the color is super important so before i jump into it and just add them in sometimes i like
to do little color roofs to get a better idea of the atmosphere that they're going to bring
to the piece these are super quick as well i don't spend a lot of time doing these but it
helps a lot for the first color off i had in mind this sort of cartoon fairy tale setting
which would be very vibrant and all the things would be colored very obviously the grass is green
the sky is blue it's unrealistic but i think it's good for a nice fantasy scene for the second color
roof i wanted to try a nighttime scene using the complementary colors purple and yellow the purple
being the more dominant color here and the yellow being more of an accent color i still wanted
to give an indication of the local color of the green grass and the local color of the brown dirt
but they're not actually green and brown at all they're just really desaturated purples and blues
quite close to grey on the color picker when you put these neutral grays against the most saturated
colours it pushes their sort of perceived colour to the opposite side of the colour wheel so if
you want a really dominant coloured scene still with some colour variety you don't have to go to
all ends of the colour wheel just play around with those neutral grays and you'll find you can give
an indication of different hues you might find that it'll look a lot more cohesive instead of
using saturated colors everywhere while i like the nighttime one it wasn't quite what i had in
mind so i went back to the daytime scene for the last one this time keeping the complementary color
idea so this time i was using orange and blue i still kept some other vibrant and saturated colors
in there but this felt quite welcome warm and earthy so i decided to go with this one the scene
we start off coloring in with flat values this is because i usually start in black and white
value first because you get a lot of control over lighting and it can help you build up the 3d form
properly but i actually changed my mind this time and took a color first approach i must have been
feeling confident that day or something there are positives and negatives to different approaches
and i usually find that with a color first approach i get much more vibrant colors overall
but it's super easy to lose control of the value structure so i knew i'd have to keep checking the
values throughout so i start with putting in the flat colors in for everything try to keep all my
colors limited at first not adding in too many and i put all the different colors on separate
layers so i can easily adjust them if i need to i'm constantly tweaking colors and experimenting
i really never get it right the first time so having that control to change them when i want
is really important for my process i didn't want the outlines to be so harsh so i colored them a
darker version of the color they were surrounding the roof became a darker reddy orange for example
to match the tiles the process to adding shadow for colors is pretty straightforward i first
defined the light source in this case it was to the very far left most likely sunlight here and
then i add in a new layer for applying the shadow i usually play around with the layer modes to find
which one works best for me for this piece i used the multiply layers for shadows and just reduced
the opacity until i thought it looked alright and i keep the same shadow color throughout
just messing with the opacity then i can easily tweak this later on and i'm refining the piece
refinement is probably my favorite part of the whole process it's when everything finally starts
to come together and you get your first glimpse of how the piece is gonna look when it's done to
refine it i usually just go through adding different color details and color variety
throughout you can easily add color variety by having different hues in one section of
the piece in the sedimentary rock for example it isn't just one colour it's multiple colours and
it was important to make sure these weren't high contrast against each other so they didn't steal
any of the focus of the piece and the same goes for coloring little details too the mushrooms
the rocks the ducks in the pond they're not meant to distract you or take away your focus they're
just there to help build the world and add more interest to the area throughout this whole thing
i wasn't really happy with the clouds surrounding the area it looked out of place didn't fit the
isometric view and made the scene look tightly packed and claustrophobic to me so i delete them
even though i'm in refinement and it's close to the end i find it really important to be flexible
and not treat the work too preciously either so that i can improve it if i need to i played around
with adding some more isometric shaped clouds but i wasn't really feeling it i was actually making
this live on twitch and i asked the chat for some feedback and i'm sure someone mentioned adding the
wizard to the scene and i really wanted to open up the space as if you were in the sky so i tried
just adding more platforms in the bottom left-hand corner seemed like the perfect place to just plunk
down a character that's looking over the whole place but instead of using the wizard i decided
to add lumber i thought this moment could be part of his adventure where he finally makes it to the
wizards tower he's just relaxing and taking it all in it really helps to ask for feedback and
twitch chat is the real mvp here let's get some hype in the chat before i finished off adding
lumber to the scene i continued to refine the scene by using color adjustments adding some more
color variety for interest thinking about using saturation as contrast to lead the viewer's eye
to the main focus of the piece which in this case is the tower i took a break and when i came back
i realized some of the shadows were wrong and it kind of made me second guess the shadows of the
whole piece so here you can see me sketching over it trying to figure it out but actually ended up
mocking up the scene in 3d in blender which made this a lot easier and gave me a much better idea
of how the lighting was supposed to work when i fixed that up i got to work on lumber i first just
started shaping the silhouette i originally had him standing up and leaning on his axe i didn't
really like it he looked more like a conqueror or something so i put him sitting down and looking
over the scene then finally i just had him sitting back and taking in the whole view which i think
looked a lot more relaxing to apply the light in i used the same light source as the rest of the
scene with more light hitting the back of the character another benefit of having a simple
cartoon character like this is their basic 3d shapes which is really easy to apply light and
shadow to compared to more complex shapes if you struggle with this kind of thing i'd recommend
just trying to draw some simple 3d shapes in different perspectives and apply lighting to
them overall i kept his colors quite dark because he's much closer to us i thought that helped give
a good sense of depth to the piece and i also made him quite low contrast and low saturation because
while he's an interesting element of the piece he's not the main focus the tower is supposed
to be the main focus here to finish refining this i just kept tweaking the colors and shadows
there's really no special trick here i just used overall adjustments like brightness contrast
hue saturation and kept messing with things overall making it more vibrant here when i'm
doing this i'm actively thinking about how i can drive the focus of the piece towards
the tower and keep that the main area that you initially look at and adding lumber was still
a little bit distracting so to push the contrast and the character even more in the tower building
added some more detail with the vines growing up the side i probably could have kept working
on this and refining it for hours but you gotta call it finish somewhere you can get a print of
this piece in my store if you have any questions then please ask in the comments i'll do my best
to answer i'd recommend checking out my pixel art tutorial playlist next thanks for watching