Pixelation
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Vercingetorix on January 09, 2010, 03:03:19 am
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Hi,
So i was just wondering what people recommend for beginners in pixel art with regards to Size, number of colours & that sort of thing.
Should beginners place a few self imposed guideines on themselves to reinforce good practice when just learning and what kind of guidelines do the more experienced pixel artists recommend for the sake of learning?
hope that makes sense?
your thoughts & opinions would be greatly appreciated
thanks
edit: ooops! I think i put this in the wrong spot, It probably belongs in General Discussion - don't suppose anyone can move it for me :-[
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Pixeling for me is to control every color, so have a decent color amount that you can recognise and reuse those colors effectively again
that's what I do...
"Learning" pixelart is impossible I think, or wrongly termed...you can only achieve various techniques and restrictions (tiles, palettes)
everything else is applied from traditional art or better yet, the general art knowledge
If you have art knowledge (and of course practical experience) just jump into the cold water and see if you get a heartattack or not :P
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If the beginner has no fundamental artistic skills, they should work on those much more than they work on their pixel art. If they become better at their art fundamentals, they'll find they've also become better at any 'target medium' they might go for later.
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It's really up to the individual how they want to learn. But I think the best way to go is with low-colour counts. If you have a grasp of traditional art knowledge as Helm and Elk have noted (and I concur!), then I think the best approach to picking up pixel art is working with some of the restrictions of old systems such as NES/Famicom, Commodore 64, or Gameboy Classic.
Such restrictions enforce concepts of colour recycling, contrast control and readability. As Helm has remarked in this superb thread (http://www.wayofthepixel.net/pixelation/index.php?topic=8110.msg92619#msg92619) these restrictions also force you to deal with critical pixel cluster arrangements, and build up ideas of what arrangements of pixels work within particular contexts, and which don't.
As a personal suggestion, I don't recommend working with palettes much over 16 colours for pieces; it's too easy to get sloppy with palettes and keep racking on extra, unnecessary colour indices in place of practising good colour economy. 16 gives you lots of freedom, but still demands efficiency, imo. Can't really make clear suggestions for tilesets/mockups. I usually go with a preset global palette with those. But I suggest having a go at some of the system restrictions with tilesets.
As I said, it's up to you.