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Topics - Beoran
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1
General Discussion / The sheer infinite possibilities of pixel art
« on: June 19, 2009, 03:47:11 pm »
Some people may think that pixel art is a limiting type of art, since we can only work at the pixel level, with very few colors. But I was calculating a little, and it can be shown mathematically that the possibilities of pixel art are sheer infinite. For reference, let's keep in mind a very big number, 4*10**79 (4 times 10 to the power 79), or 40000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000. That number is the current estimate for the amount of hydrogen atoms in the whole universe!
Now, let's take a look at very small pixel art piece of 16 x 16. How many possibilities are there? Well, it depends on the number of colors. If we use 2 colors, then there are 2**(16*16), or 115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007913129639936, possibilities, which is "only" 1/345th of the amount of hydrogen atoms, but still, a lot more than there are stars in the universe!

Once we use 4 colors, then there are 4**(16*16) or
13407807929942597099574024998205846127479365820592393377723561443721764030073546976801874298166903427690031858186486050853753882811946569946433649006084096
different possibilities! That's just astronomical! More than there are hydrogen atoms in the universe!

And, if you'd use 24 bits full color, then there would be (2**24)**(16*16) or
3375152182143856118491117448868264047748245269061354378998711510846650037846741324165030982375991521461354629508635213511720607262070
2805213786429827261190495295209725036214861444552245271001884442331336463841183659029156587178439044751051570054376203776342097110897
6401193279180123374243133559193596396525678717812867692707110267091573529243487775155745125792074301249607450177138114756335603617462
4023137218698763328189000397512451741043623275178605325803090424898978434337358002042906439972398162921003968619981201705996204089414
5649613141899373457990136110124033082268445299759214270557020697837444729628470445553597383435232465858124331879290922696980222735667
3323935612163123006229898288296485668393765657478972738362500087728995623901601898523186831764997784754495348973021510834485352883671
3359219844441024401290307061953847602312108701182160272713034206236029269419691503075347557104718762157767773401597106128626624077600
0199761459471444940463293093653202098729357658867135004032110599475307618336429187822239334863636668860337516076025023807524328879162
1421498051541281795034053907109943737835019482117307228603598377500903352726158479078471240691411993347222620555343776990543813708613
3733747157454846874399266047577502857228026799413570499383535597769544263543294619356182101708973662737907113148393068453262295239889
7715491344942216169944540811346628089421863683937920456996873353908785220590722518585909106605811532117238941679346587984132366957891
3577817597952200345811734734797262357003215294955397764406926445582844693488706710559959872030627305252763960269629167183586298455205
5649515251359787092798278577467492976507248514968246279440892612726761606062392337083935905843484661050153215422112962406633569826605
0975882792155955005954460099419877138745992453542401993667168494168245722096801075794308992327588609520244453197182140416
different possibilities! That's a number so insanely huge it's unimaginable!

This interestingly enough shows why it's important to limit your palette when making pixel art. Using a limited palette limits the possibilities somewhat, but with an unlimited palette, the amount of possibilities is bewildering. It also proves that pixel art is indeed, an art, for it takes great creativity to make anything that looks nice within the vast amount of possibilities. Pixel art as the spiritual descendant of pointillism. What do you think about it? ^_^

PS: These numbers were calculated using the Ruby programming language , which has great facilities for handling astronomicallly large numbers.

2
Pixel Art / (Nudity) Back with my female RPG base, better and improved... I hope!
« on: June 18, 2009, 08:03:14 pm »
Edit: Latest version is on the right:


Edit: Progression from the beginning to now:


Hey, I'm still working (very slowly) on my big Action RPG, and I'm currently refining my RPG base once again. I've finally decided to follow the advice I got before, and stop faking depth. In stead, I focused on making the character readable, feminine, and as attractive as I could within the style I'm looking for and within my skills. I'm fairly happy with the result you see above, but I'm open to any suggestions. I think I really have to learn how to be less perfectionist, though, as I'm still working on the same sprite frame I was working on 6 months ago >_<  see http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=7075.0).

3
Pixel Art / [WIP] (Nudity) Female character base slightly elevated view (not 3/4 anymore)
« on: September 09, 2008, 07:43:49 pm »
This is work in progress sprite base for a female character in 3/4 top-down view, in slight anime-style as the head is 1 to 4 of body size, with a lot of space for "big hair" on the top. The two arms are different as the right hand is opened flat and the left one is clenched in a fist.


Update: current version.



Reference used for this image:

I used this reference because it has the style I like. I tried to capture the essence of the shape of the female sprite, whilst trying not to come too close to the original as I'm trying to learn from the reference, and not rip it. :-[

Restrictions: I want to restrict colors to 2 for the eyes, 4 for the body, 1 for the lips. Sprite size will be: 32x64 I want to use palette swapping to produce different skin colors, and reduce my overall spriting workload.

Any C&C is appreciated.

4
General Discussion / IJI, a classic 2D game made by a friend of mine.
« on: September 05, 2008, 07:09:10 pm »


I apologise if this is inappropriate, but my friend finished his 4 years of work on classic style 2D video game. It's really great fun, and the art is in a mix of 2D pixel and polygon style, so I think you people may enjoy it. It plays a bit like Metroid, but the graphics are more Another World style.  It's freeware for Windows, but runs OK with Wine in Linux too. Mac people may be out of luck.
Get it here: http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php




5
General Discussion / Perception of color of skin and hair
« on: June 24, 2008, 07:20:57 pm »
In my search for a good color palette, I decided to inspect the colors of the hair and skin in photographs of me an my wife. I was quite surprised by the results, so I'd like to her your ideas on this. (Perhaps, to clarify I should add that I am a very pale skinned European and my wife is Asian.) 

  • The half tone of my skin is a desaturated and grayish hue of red orange (HSV around: 20 40 80) . When looking at the photograph, I would say my skin is pinkish or whiteish, but that shows that the camera reacts differently than the mind.
  • Generally, my wife's skin is not more yellow as one would expect, but simply darker, that is, with a lower value (HSV around: 20 40 50 ).
  • In normal light circumstances, shadows on the skin have a more orange/yellowish hue (around 25). This is different form what I read  before.
  • My auburn hair is a very dark shade of pure red.
  • My wife's black hair seems to be an extremely dark shade of orange/yellow.
  • Lastly and most importantly: using "natural" colors from photographs does not work at all for pixel art, unless you are going for a very realistic style. In any more sketched or anime style, the natural colors look way too dark. I tested this on a rather good base from FrozenChild82 on deviantart, (not on my own crap) so I can't show it example here, but you guys can try it yourself on your own stuff (if you didn't do so before).
    The human brain seems to use some kind of extreme "jpeg" style compressing when seeing, and the colors of reality into a kind of symbolic colors that are different from reality. I think the brain especially brightens colors. Also, it seems that contrasts are highly simplified in our brain.  Hue also seems to be somewhat unreliable, and tied to prejudices in the brain.

So I guess my conclusion would be to use photographs only for guessing the hue. The saturation and value should be set to match mental expectations. What your idea about this all?



6
Pixel Art / WIP Main character sprite set for the ARPG I'm programming.
« on: June 19, 2008, 01:49:43 pm »
Hi, first submission here. I'm a good programmer but less good an artist.
This is 20x40 Sprite set for the main character of my future action RPG.
I am well aware that these sprites are lacklustre, I want to go for a sort of simple / anime style for my game,
basically something that looks "good enough" to be playable and enjoyable, since I also have to put my time in actually programming the game.

Anyway, C&C please. Should I carry on, or should I look for someone to help me with the artwork in stead?

Also, I need tips on how to construct a nice general palette, that has a cheerful feel to it .
I'm currently using a calculated "evenly spread" 300 color palette (based upon HSL) with many straight ramps. :p I'd like to reduce it to +-64 colors. 


 

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