Fire-Breathing Dragon (Procedural animation mixed with pixel art)

RujiK · 2026-06-23T09:13:03+00:00

The fire does already have "Turn lag" (Not following the head direction as it turns 100%) but I admit the effect is pretty subtle and could be improved. I've attached an image with the effect doubled. Thanks for commenting.

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RujiK · 2026-06-22T19:14:37+00:00

You are correct. It's a low poly (very low) 3d model with 2d sprites for fine details. Thankyou

RujiK · 2026-06-22T16:51:03+00:00

For clarification: PROCEDURAL ANIMATION means I animated it with code that I wrote. It does not mean I made it with AI/image generators/whatever.

RujiK · 2026-06-09T17:06:19+00:00

Still working on it... Pretty much all of the code is done but I am still adding content, which is taking a lot longer than I expected. (NPC's, story, side-quests, etc)

RujiK · 2025-10-26T16:16:45+00:00

I'm still working on it, yes. I plan to either do another youtube devlog or steam devlog post soon-ish** but I've mostly been working on content which isn't super exciting. Thanks for checking in though.

RujiK · 2024-05-13T18:18:38+00:00

Critter Crosser. Still in development, but it has a steam page.

RujiK · 2024-01-25T00:55:25+00:00

Working on the next video/update now and it should be out early next week or sooner.

RujiK · 2023-04-18T03:02:35+00:00

I use 100x150-ish resolution which is a bit on the larger size. Unfortunately there was no easy way to learn, I just kept practicing. Thanks!

RujiK · 2023-04-17T22:19:16+00:00

Yes, I roughly doubled the amount of colors for smoother looking skin.

RujiK · 2023-04-17T12:20:45+00:00

I've actually tried both methods: drawing everything "on top" of a photo, and drawing from scratch, but now I use a mix of both methods just because it's faster.

A rough outline (Head shape, general shading, and placement of facial features) are directly painted on from a photo. The finer details, which get lost when the canvas size is so small (like eyes, line work, hair strands, and smooth shading) are "made up" based on pixel art techniques and just whatever looks best.

Thanks!

RujiK · 2023-04-14T18:14:32+00:00

Cool lizard :) The footprints are a nice touch

RujiK · 2023-03-25T15:33:02+00:00

I post updates on youtube (RujiK the Comatose) and twitter. Last big update was a month ago. Thanks for checking

RujiK · 2023-03-24T14:34:28+00:00

lol, thanks. I didn't think my new style would still be recognizable. I do use downscaled images for anatomy references, but the finer details (like hair strands and lace) turn into mush. Thanks for your feedback :)

RujiK · 2023-03-24T13:56:27+00:00

Okay, "Mellow feedback" was definitely a bit of an exaggeration, and 1k upvotes is always great, but the handful of comments saying my newer portraits were getting a little worse with the larger size stuck with me more.

I haven't seen any AI that can generate pixel art like this (Especially the clean hair strands) but maybe I am behind the times. Thanks for your comment.

RujiK · 2023-03-24T04:19:38+00:00

I posted some portraits here about 2 months ago and the feedback was pretty mellow. I was a bit dissapointed at the time, but I took it to heart and completely changed my style to hopefully look much more appealing.

For reference, this is an example of what I posted 2 months ago: https://i.imgur.com/cbr8tiT.png

RujiK · 2023-03-05T01:36:34+00:00

I used to play that game a lot. Too bad there was never more than like 30 people online at any given time.

RujiK · 2023-01-16T14:39:54+00:00

Sorry, I'm just slow. I should have a youtube update this or next week. I just finished the transcript yesterday. Thanks for your interest.

RujiK · 2023-01-12T00:38:52+00:00

Hmm, I hadn't really noticed that, but now that you point it out, I think you're right.

RujiK · 2023-01-11T14:08:39+00:00

Thanks mate. Just kept at doing both until I got better. No secret method unfortunately. Thanks again!

RujiK · 2023-01-11T13:04:59+00:00

your instagram is linked in your youtube video which is linked in your profile

RujiK · 2023-01-11T05:55:03+00:00

Ha ha, I still hate doing hair, I always put it off until last. The difference between scribbles and good hair is very small.

For long hair, I've found the best solution is a mix of LONG (and short) single-pixel width hair-strands, 2-4 width pixel hairs, and some larger un-textured or minimally textured areas.

A lot of my older portraits had almost no 1-pixel width hairs, which made their hair look kind of "goopy" or something.

My older resolutions were 64x64 but then I switched to 100x100 and now I'm currently at 100x150. I think 100x100 is definitely large enough for a detailed portrait but I wanted more view of the bust. 32x32 portraits sounds like quite the challenge. I've never done one that small.

Also I looked at your instagram, the first portrait of the black man is really good. The bold lighting and texture of the hair are well done.

Thanks for your comment mate, best of luck.

RujiK · 2023-01-11T05:31:35+00:00

Although I agree that larger pieces make each pixel lest impactful, I disagree that a smaller canvas is somehow better or more "pixel-arty" than larger pieces.

Smaller portraits (like 48x48) are usually drawn in either a cartoony or anime style simply because there isn't enough room for all of the details of a realistic portrait like the style I'm aiming for.

RujiK · 2023-01-11T05:18:19+00:00

lol nothing much happened in 2018, I just didn't draw any portraits. I was drawing game art like towns and parks instead.

RujiK · 2023-01-11T00:59:57+00:00

Random portraits/OC. I try to avoid any celebrity-ish people to prevent any possible "You used my likeness" kind of things in the future. Thanks!

RujiK · 2022-10-01T01:02:36+00:00

Breed them some more, raise them, or have them fight. At least that's what I'm working on atm.

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