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Very nice venomai. Love the color choices too. We need more digital paints from you!

Don't know until you try! And then I can get a real test! Thanks Nad. It has some of the things that the one in the sticky does, but more sections added, and more exercises. I think most folks here would benefit from the perspective section. I wanted to add even more, but this is supposed to be basic.

New version. changes: -I took out the writing exercise altogether. Was just too boring. -used simpler objects for initial shading -added a section on perspective. - all exercises should more or less be on their own page now. And that tomato picture must have been large, it is now only 1.6 mb despite being longer. Thanks for all the feedback!

Korla, I think you have a good approach to it. The original point was not to torture the artist, but to allow the display of game elements within a limited pallete for video game sprites. And since I started video games with atari...then nintendo 8 bit...etc. I remember all those good examples :) That is why to me we are really doing something different with most of the pixel sigs around. The goal for pixel sigs is not to limit the pallete per se, although some might like that challenge. But it is to present as much information as possible in a small space--to create a compelling scene. And the buyer really doesn't care in most cases how that is accomplished. They just want to see their vision turn into a good signature. So my goal, the couple times I did a pixel, is not to do a purest pixel (though I do in most respects, just not the one pixel brush thing), but to do something that gets the scene across.

Interesting article on wikipedia. But I still think if you are making "pixels" for the sig community that no one will be impressed by you hunching over your computer for an extra 2 hours just because you wanted to use the 1 pixel tool instead of say painting with a 4 pixel brush and then shading. If you really want to torture yourself, just do it the quick way, then have someone whip you later . As my boss used to say, work smart, not hard. Of course..I suppose you could work smart AND hard. But in this case that would mean making lots of sigs the easy way :) Now ,I do agree that on the shading, dithering, anti-aliasing etc. you should do it manually, just so you have more definite control over the process. Oh, and in some programs resizing elements automatically anti-aliases so you have to be careful about that too.

Yeah I feel the same. That is why a tablet pc would be the closest I would come. I do art only as a hobby, but my real job does require a notebook computer at times, so a tablet would be the best of both worlds :)

Doh originally posted this in media market by mistake and Nadril replied. So here was his response: and this was my response: just out of curiosity, and for argument sake.... if you want to make a whole area one color then shade on top of that with manual dithering, will it actually look any different if you use a bigger brush, or even a fill to lay down your whole area color, rather than a one pixel brush? And if it doesn't look any different...do we do it just to torture ourselves? and how would anyone actually know? From what I can tell it would look no different. A solid (opaque), non anti-aliased patch of color is the same no matter how it got there.

As some of you might have noted I suddenly started doing pixels, at first because of the name that artist contest. Then tried one more just for the fun of it. I am curious though what makes a pixel to you? Does it have to use a limited pallete? Do you have to use a one pixel brush at all times? Or is it simply the lack of antialiasing (machine produced), transparency etc. thereby rendering each pixel natural and unadulterated? What other factors are necessary?

You are the only one of us likely to be using it soon at the probably retail price of $1,000 and the intended audience of professionals with work flow concerns. If I was going to spend a grand I would definitely get a cintique over that. Of course, I would need a bit over a grand. For that matter I would love a tablet pc. Like a cintique in some way, but more justification for the cost...and portable!

Updated the face a bit. I find faces frustrating in pixel. there is just not enough space to put all the elements in the right way.

There is not much that you can't do with default brushes. my favorite is not a ps brush at all. It is the fine art 2 collection rough O brush for painter 7, obtained at pixel alley. It, like the rest of the fine art collection emulates traditional paint brushes.

Second pixel for a competition. I like how it came out.

This is for a contest for Emma. I am not really stressed over whether I will win, but thought it came out nicely. But all that manual dithering...wow...just too long to do. I think I like the digital work better :) And I can get large prints of it when I am done. Edit: re-worked the face a bit.

skulled, it is alright, but hard to make out the figures. they are sort of..er..bloblike. Thanks Korla, and yes, I have little concept on how to do true pixel palette's etc. I agree on the figure. But not enough to actually go redo it! haha. This may be my first and last!

Nice coloring on that one. I have to say after the first, the second was more humerous, though obviously low brow. But as was mentioned, it might not make sense without the other.

My first ever pixel sig. I found it tedious and fairly boring compared to digital painting. But I think it came out alright. I originally did it for the name that artist competition, but neglected to look at the IMAGE SIZE requirements! doh. And in the true spirit of pixel sigs...you can place BIDS here: http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?p=2039772#2039772

Not your fault :) I should read before I rush off to start! It was fun for a change. But in general I think pixels would be long, boring, tedious drudgery. If ya took the time to dither etc. the way it should be.

Thanks. I plan to include some of your suggestions in my next iterration. In fact, I think what I will do on the look at the picture thing (pretty sure that is a tomato by the way), is to pick a picture with quite a bit of detail, have them look at it, then go to next page with questions, which they answer WITHOUT looking at the image. That would make it more fun, more of a challenge. And would require less writing...woudl be multiple choice for the most part. Thanks for the suggestions all. I am also going to make more primitive shapes for them to shade first. As to the blending...the blending itself is not terribly necessary, just looking for dark to light tones.

Doh! had a pixel all worked up--my first ever, ready to try to fool people. Unfortunately...didn't see the 500 x 500 in all my excitement! ah well, here is the image. Will go back to the drawing board now.

Doh! done for name that artist, thought I would fool people by doing a pixel...which I have never done. But ah well, forgot the 500x500 thing! Makes a decent action scene though.

new topic: action scene

If you wish to avoid peer to peer file sharing then you can find the Loomis books on this site: Even in the loomis books you will find nudes represented in graphite, so keep in mind that this may not be appreciated by many people's parents etc. (for those to whom that applies) That said, IF THEY APPROVE (that is, specifically say so, not that you assume so) go to that link and look up figure drawing for all it is worth. http://www.saveloomis.org/

An essay is not what I had in mind. They should be just putting short words or fragments. Anything to get the thought down. I might need to edit the description. Of course, I am using it in a class setting, but I want it so clear that you could use it without it. Thanks for the suggestions.

Oh man I wish I could afford illustrator. The mesh tool in my old version of corel is lame. I agree though, for painting base layers even corel is awesome. You can get just the right shapes.

The formatting should be the same in the browser. It should open in a browser version of acrobat. Those look like the same ones I got before I edited it. You might try making sure it is not opening a cached version from your temp internet files so that you still see the same errors. To make sure you have the new version, are the spoons still overlapping? If so you are still seeing the old version. Were these errors after the update?