But why?



Color is composed of Hue, Saturation and Value.

Mainly, our color value is what makes the sub pixel interpolation works. In the case of the black background, interpolation is seen as the following sequence:

Value   0, Value   0, Value 54, Value  0.
Value 54, Value 68, Value 95, Value 68.

In the case of the white background it looks like this:

Value 100, Value 100, Value 54, Value 100.
Value   54, Value   68, Value 95, Value  68.

In a graphic manner:



Why does this crap matter at all? You already discovered it but I'd rather explain it in case anyone would like to read about this since is a not-so-easy subject. Sub pixel needs two lines of pixels to work, pretty much like in the example image I posted. And to look smooth both lines have to follow the same sequence pattern, in this case: Dark - To - Light - To (Rinse and repeat)

What happens when changing the background to a white color is that both lines no longer follow the same sequence, one keeps following the Dark - To - Light - To but the other line start working as a Light - To - Dark - To sequence what makes the sub pixel animation to stop working at all, hence the pop.

Thank you, you explained it much better than I could.

If you pay close attention to your last edit you did (Dark Border on Light Background), it kinda pops less than the first attempt but it won't look as fluid as the other two attempts (That you totally nailed), and for what I know this have no workaround at all.

You already figured out how to use subpixel animation on a white background modifying the colors of the sprite wich for me is the only way possible. Again if I'm wrong about this please let me know!

No, I think you're right, I just wanted to see if it was possible.

You know, the sprites look really weird when I see them in 100% zoom.
I guess sub-pixel animation is mostly for low-res art.

But the problem is that yellow and white are very close in terms of value. So it won't read as well if you have a brighter outline.

You're absolutely right, I totally forgot how similar yellow was to white (traditional painters use yellow sometimes to produce lightness or whiteness).

If you invert every frame of the first animation, you'll see how it *should* look like with a white background (but now with a blue balloon).

Damn it works like rain.

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In summary:
1. If the background is black (or dark):
The border color should be close in value to the background, so dark values. While the inside color is lighter than the border. (values: inside color < in-between value < border value)


2. If the background is white (or light):
Vice-versa of 1. Border color is a light value while the inside color is darker.
I applied that knowledge to the shadow too. (values: inside color > in-between value > border value)



3. Dark border on light background (and vice-versa)
Download the images and study the 2nd frame.
You'll notice that in the original, the in-between color is used on the first silhouette. However, in this modified image, I used the in-between color for the second silhouette. You'll have to see it for yourself.
It's more like the balloon is expanding and shrinking in the opposite direction of the original, but it gets the job done.

Yeah I wish I didn't do the shadows at that angle... I prefer the way you did your shadows but it was too much of a hassle for me to redo the lighting for the house.

I've done a quick and dirty... quite frankly my skills need to improve for being able to draw grass properly.

The couch and TV where given shadows. They were initially flat, because I wanted them to look like they had different colours. However there's only so much you can do with the gameboy palette.

I'm treating this as a first piece and tossing it aside so I can move on to other things.
I don't think perfectionism will help me improve my skills much.
Thank you for the feedback!

I've learned a decent amount of pixel art and grafx2 while doing this piece.
It's by no means a masterpiece, so I would like some critiques from more experienced pixel artists.

Game Boy palette used: https://lospec.com/palette-list/nostalgia

Edit: Sorry, I meant to post an embedded image but had no idea how to: