Pixelation

General => General Discussion => Topic started by: kasan on November 12, 2006, 05:30:28 am

Title: I'm floored.
Post by: kasan on November 12, 2006, 05:30:28 am
I want to start out by saying that I am absolutely floored by the pixel art work I've seen on here.  I've been looking for pixel artists off and on for a few years now, when ever I get it in my head to start a project, and I always look for artists with out success (nobody likes to work for free, me included)  But I simply must say.  This is the best pixel work I have seen in years.   Seriously!  All of you are in teh wrong generation for the talent you have.  You should have been around 15 to 25 years ago and gotten work with the big names.  The quality of art here is simple amazing and I did not realize just what exactly COULD be done with pixels.   I'm truly impressed and wish I had the talent  and patience to do it my self.

My hats off to you Pixelation!

Now to continue my search for artists...

Kasan
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Feron on November 12, 2006, 12:51:28 pm
If you are looking for pixel-artists for a project, would it not just have been easier to post in the employment section and skipped all the kissing?

"You should have been around 15 to 25 years ago and gotten work with the big names."

Lots of guys here have been around for 20 years, and are in with big names.

Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Peppermint Pig on November 12, 2006, 01:41:35 pm
Thank you for the kind words!  :D
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: kasan on November 12, 2006, 08:41:29 pm
No the "kissing" is genuine.  Which is why I posted it here.  And while I am always looking for pixel artists,  I've got less to offer than most people on the employment section.  I suppose it wouldn't hurt to post an ad.

And wow.  I didn't realize that about some of the artists here.  I stumbled on this place a few weeks ago and lurked before I created my account to post a compliment.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Helm on November 12, 2006, 08:52:46 pm
We thank you.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Godslayer on November 12, 2006, 09:41:49 pm
Ja, thats nice of you. Thanks for being kind, though I hope no one imitates you. I could see this getting annoying.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Feron on November 12, 2006, 11:30:39 pm
Your project looks like it has some potential.  I think everyone is floored when they first come here.  I know i was!
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: kasan on November 13, 2006, 04:20:41 am
all projects have potential. :p  its just dedication that makes them shine.  I'm actually surprised I have as many people on board with me as I do, even if most of them are friends I've known for a while.  Its nice to see some support. :p
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: AdamTierney on November 13, 2006, 06:00:05 am
I wish I'd been born earlier (in regard to games, anyway). GBA and DS are cool but having incredibly-limiting restrictions like the 2600 allowed really force the artist to push the most out of their pixels. With GBA and beyond, artists can be sloppier or less meticulous and get away with it.

- Adam
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Peppermint Pig on November 13, 2006, 11:40:13 am
Just say no to 3D->2D downsampling.  :y:
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: goat on November 13, 2006, 02:15:04 pm
And index painting.  Say no to index painting.

And yes, thank you for the kind words.. we always appreciate them :)
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: 9_6 on November 13, 2006, 02:47:19 pm
I agree with kasan.
This board has a very high quality standard compared to other pixel boards.
There is a pile of many damn good artists here and the board is very active.

By the way: what is index painting and why should one say no to it?
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Evil-Ville on November 13, 2006, 03:37:11 pm
There's nothing wrong with index painting unless you claim that it's 100% hand pixeled.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: goat on November 13, 2006, 03:49:28 pm
There's nothing wrong with index painting unless you claim that it's 100% hand pixeled.

Most people don't make claims either way; not that I think our definition of pixel art is written in stone, but there are enough things out there that obfuscate it without people posting index painted pieces in pixel art hangouts without any clarification. My big beef, however, is that I see a lot of cases where an index painted piece could have been accomplished by hand much more efficiently and without a big time investment. 
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: 9_6 on November 13, 2006, 03:53:29 pm
Yeah... so what exactly is index painting?
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: goat on November 13, 2006, 03:58:41 pm
Index painting as I usually hear about it refers to using soft brushes or automatic AA to paint a piece within a restricted palette.  You still end up adhering to whatever palette restrictions were set forth, but since little to no consideration is given to the placement of individual colors, it isn't pixel art in the pure sense.  It can be hard to spot, but index painted pieces tend to have characteristically overdone AA, and the ones that are actually offensive to me have bloated palettes that typically stretch the limits of their target platform rather than stay optimized for efficiency and portability.

As I understand it it's not the same as painting something and THEN downsampling, though.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: ptoing on November 13, 2006, 04:51:37 pm
I think "pixelart" should be defined as "digital artform in which the artist has full explicit contoll over the palette and where every single pixel is placed"

Something like that. Indexpainting is ace tho for some things, like making quake or doom textures.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Helm on November 14, 2006, 02:14:22 am
only beef with indexpainting is that there's more to critique about it in a 'digital art' sense than in 'pixel art' sense. So that's why I think it doesn't belong here mostly. If someone however starts with soft stuff and dirty tools, and as he progresses, reigns it in, keeps the palette small, goes in with an one-pixel brush and fixes everything, generally, does it Made-style, then we're talking more demoscene pixelling than generic index painting, and there's more to talk about even within the context of Pixelation.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: goat on November 14, 2006, 04:34:52 am
That's what I'm saying; there's "nothing wrong with" index painting in the same sense that there's "nothing wrong with" any other digital medium or technique, just that it's not entirely pixel art and there are therefore better places for it than here :p
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Ai on November 14, 2006, 06:15:37 am
That's what I'm saying; there's "nothing wrong with" index painting in the same sense that there's "nothing wrong with" any other digital medium or technique, just that it's not entirely pixel art and there are therefore better places for it than here :p
Are there? I've certainly tried to find such a place. Hardly anyone seems to do it these days.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Helm on November 14, 2006, 12:51:51 pm
You won't find any places for it. But if you post on a generic cg critique board, you'll get generic cg critique. Still more applicable than palette conservation and dithering and aa critique we give here.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: goat on November 14, 2006, 03:00:49 pm
perhaps it would behoove us to expand our horizons a little in this area.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Sherman Gill on November 14, 2006, 05:44:03 pm
Eh, I like things the way they are, Goat. But change can be good, alot.

You should know that trying to expand Pixelation, if things went wrong, it would very hard to reverse any mistakes.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: goat on November 14, 2006, 06:20:06 pm
I'm definitely not talking about expanding "us" as a forum :p I'd die if the forum lost its tight, pixel-driven focus.  Okay, die is a little dramatic, I'd probably suffer a mild headache for a few hours, maybe some vomiting

I meant "us" as individuals.  I'd imagine the reason it's hard to find good index painting critique here is that many of us (myself wholly included) aren't very well equipped to give it.  Even if it's not totally within the topic of the forum, it'd still be nice to be able to help people that post such pieces here, rare as they are.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: ptoing on November 14, 2006, 06:30:47 pm
I am OK at indexpainting textures, but I would never use it for demoscene like pics, I find it not very effective for what I want to do when I make those.

A few Quake ones
(http://ptoing.net/ornament.png)

(http://ptoing.net/brick.png)(http://folio.ptoing.net/q1tex/q1tex3.png)
(http://folio.ptoing.net/q1tex/q1tex14.png)(http://folio.ptoing.net/q1tex/q1tex15.png)
(http://folio.ptoing.net/q1tex/q1tex4.png)

Quake palette
(http://ptoing.net/tut/q.png)

Some custom 32 colour palette ones
(http://ptoing.net/yellowstone_2.png)(http://ptoing.net/planks.png)

If there is enough interest I could cough up a video progress of doing one like these I guess.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Pawige on November 14, 2006, 06:54:46 pm
I'd be interested, those look pretty cool.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Lackey on November 14, 2006, 07:22:05 pm
What's your involvement with Quake, Ptoing?  I've never heard of it before now!
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: willfaulds on November 14, 2006, 07:46:42 pm
yup, interested.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: ptoing on November 14, 2006, 08:14:48 pm
What's your involvement with Quake, Ptoing?  I've never heard of it before now!

I just like the original Quake and at some point will deffo do some levels with custom textures in it. Actually I already have an almost finished DM level which I could texture up, but that is on the HD of my old computer which is in Germany. Same goes for a few Doom2 DM levels. I guess I need to take that HD over when I go visit over christmas :D

I think 3 people are enough, and I am sure there will be more people who are interested, hence I will make a video at some point this month.
But it will not be helpfull for people without Promotion I guess :)
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Gunne on November 14, 2006, 08:44:14 pm
make it 4! :D
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: kasan on November 14, 2006, 09:33:12 pm
I'm impressed I made a popular topic :p
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: ptoing on November 15, 2006, 03:46:45 am
Some new quick Quake 1 textures I whipped up, nothing special, video soon of something similar :)

(http://www.ptoing.net/door1.gif) (http://www.ptoing.net/door1.png)

(http://www.ptoing.net/tree1.png) (http://www.ptoing.net/tree2.png)
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: goat on November 15, 2006, 02:22:12 pm
I'm impressed I made a popular topic :p

I was wondering how you felt about your topic being hijacked :p


Cool stuff, ptoing, I desire to see more :P
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: kasan on November 15, 2006, 05:53:55 pm
meh, I'm a regular on a lot of other forums, so I'm actually fairly used to topic hijacking,  Just not used to it being an interesting subject instead of a flame war.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: ptoing on November 16, 2006, 01:22:09 am
This one took quite a bit longer due to planing and also experimenting to get the right base texture. Still not 100% happy with it.

(http://www.ptoing.net/wallpanel1.gif)

right one new, with a bit more contrast.
(http://www.ptoing.net/wallpanel1.png)(http://www.ptoing.net/wallpanel2.png)

tiling action!
(http://www.ptoing.net/wall1.png)(http://www.ptoing.net/wallpanel2.png)(http://www.ptoing.net/wall1.png)
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: goat on November 16, 2006, 02:13:29 am
yeah that base texture is a little busy, but given the fact that you're on a preset palette toning down the colors might not be an option :p

Bravo, though, premium arts.
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: Wayuki on November 16, 2006, 05:13:21 pm
I agree with goat. I'd tone down on the uniform blotchiness. Also, the sides of the panel are pretty blurry.

Your latest version <----> My quick edit

(http://www.ptoing.net/wallpanel2.png)(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v19/wayuki/wallpanel_example.gif)
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: baccaman21 on November 16, 2006, 05:19:23 pm
This one took quite a bit longer due to planing and also experimenting to get the right base texture. Still not 100% happy with it.

(http://www.ptoing.net/wallpanel1.gif)

right one new, with a bit more contrast.
(http://www.ptoing.net/wallpanel1.png)(http://www.ptoing.net/wallpanel2.png)

tiling action!
(http://www.ptoing.net/wall1.png)(http://www.ptoing.net/wallpanel2.png)(http://www.ptoing.net/wall1.png)

Do you ever sleep man? When do you find the time to do these things... surely now you're living in london you should be out partying or something... ?!!

As ever ptoing - great stuff... just out of interest (for my benefit and others) is this p'motioned? or p'shopped?
Title: Re: I'm floored.
Post by: ptoing on November 16, 2006, 05:23:05 pm
pete: Haha, yeh I do sleep, but I do not party much as i never was a big partygoer. But rest assured I do other things than just this :)
And it's done 100% in Promotion, Index painting, lots of brighten/darken/soften/tint and the like.

wayuki: I am fully aware of all the errors in it, but cheers for the edit :) I will post more of these, but I think I'll move it to the offtopic creativity thread from now on.