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?

Doh originally posted this in media market by mistake and Nadril replied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So here was his response:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nadril wrote:

 

 

 

1px brush

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I usualy find pixel art as iso.. at least what I see it as , but non-iso is pixel as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But thats about it to me. just draw it out pixel by pixel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Well, anything aliased (or manually anti-aliased) that is created pixel-by-pixel (to an extent, at least), without the aid of filters or transparencies, is what I consider pixel art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use layer masks, selection tools, and adjustment layers to help create some of my pixels, which may break 'the rules'. I also use a tablet, though I'm sure that's allowed. :lol:

isometric pixel art- follows all the angle rules, and might not always be filled in pixel by pixel, since noone could tell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

non-isometric pixel art-

 

 

 

can be pure pixel pushing, if its someone good at pixels, or someone bad at pixels could flood fill things and go on from there. Someone good at pixel art would also hand anti-alias and dither. Most good pixel art won't have a lot of huge space of one color unless it's a really big piece.

Something made in paint or something similar..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wikipedia is your friend ;)

Pixel art is defined by any form of art. When someone thinks of pixel they think. "Oh hey..paint..yeah..Mario!.." when the reality is that everything is made of pixels...art is the creation of something that has meaning to you and can be interpretted in any form or maner..thus pixel art = anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thats an abstract way to look at it..but it fits the puzzle.

i think its done pixel by pixel thats pixel art ;) takes more than 5 seconds too

Even in paint, there are more than just the paintbrush/pencil tools that you can use to create the effects, I think that the spill bucket tool is perfectly legal to use, as long as you spend more time with it and it doesn't look crappy :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

J272

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good source from wikipedia too :D

I think the general rules are 1px opaque pencil tool or equivelant with no aid from the computer. No Auto-Blending, Auto-AA, or anything 'Auto' for that matter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find it a stupid name for the style, as it is horribly confusing.

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.

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? (1)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does it have to use a limited pallete? (2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have to use a one pixel brush at all times? (3a)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or is it simply the lack of antialiasing (machine produced), transparency etc. thereby rendering each pixel natural and unadulterated? (3b)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What other factors are necessary? (4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. It's a style to me, the game Chrono Trigger and the old parts of the final fantasy series are that style. But it doesn't necessarily look like that always, but those styles are "good" pixeling styles to me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. No, but that's a great part of the challenge, and one of it's definite strengths, using few colours is the reason it's ever used if it's not the style you're looking for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. No, for example most paint tools are okay, you can say excactly what color the computer will use, I.E. no computer made antialiasing, like you were already on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. None, really, but since you said pixel art, I suppose it has to be something more than a blank white document ;)

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.

smelly socks sig took around 2 hours to make and mine took around 5 minutes. Its using MS PAint to make a sig pixel by pixel.

Yea, that's what I meant with you having a different approach, with what you're acheiving, seeing as you come from drawing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyhow, if there's something I like about pixeling it's the challenge of representing as much as possible with as little material as possible, like you said, and I'd like to see some more of that around here :)

i just use good ol ms paint, no palettes just my raw drawings.

Well most pixellers use shading to make their lines smoother and stuff. Thats all the auto aliasing is, so its hard to draw the line.

Pixel isn't how the technique is executed, it's the style of the end result. When you do pixel you are going for a certain style and look. Obviously you can't use a 10pixel AA brush to achieve those effects, but just because you don't use a 1pixel pencil tool doesn't mean what you are doing isn't pixel. And it's a stupid name for it anyway.

my sig was completed by blazer in 15 hours see for yourselfs.. no bumping this was last october lmao

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

said it somewhere in here anyhows i gotta go to sleep you can see an old godslayer too ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=913 ... rs&start=0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REMEMBER NO POSTING

Since I use a tablet, I wouldn't see a reason to use anything larger than 1px. Unless you're making something huge, like 800x600, that is.