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General Discussion / Re: More colors = less pixel art? Help me understand.
« on: June 10, 2017, 08:37:38 am »
Heyas, sorry only spotted the new replies on this now.
Cyangmou .. wow thank you for the in-depth write up there, I also appreciate how you broke it up into disciplines of application, rather then pixel art as a whole, which was partly a factor for my post.
I would like to go into a bit more depth about what I mean, because I think i feel the original hook, so to speak, of what I was trying to get at has been a little lost. I do understand the "why's" with regard ultra low color counts, but this was more of a case of wanting to know if there was pressure on folks coming to it new that there was a sort of obligation to use tiny pallets if not it would be frowned upon by people who rigorously follow the science of pixel art.
For me personally I don't think of pixel art as a whole as being this science/religion where there has to be x,y and z, or its just not pixel art. Its that feeling I was curious to know if why so many people I see are posting with tiny pallets, or if its a case they are working on games and have locked pallets, or is it a case as you rightly mention about keeping animation and color compliments easier to work with. I don't know, which is why I asked in the first place.
Most newbie posts here seem to be posted without context of what the application of their work is, and "sometimes" i get the feeling that some the new posts I see are simply "experimenting" with pixel art rather then having it intended as something with real application, and in that context feel they are taking the tiny color count a bit too far as if they feel anything else it wouldn't be pixel art.
Also this was never meant to be an argument, I was/am genuinely curious, since I am new myself and from a personal point of view I find making something look as best it can, with whatever is available (from a learning point of view), getting accustomed to that, THEN iterating on that to form other "styles" such as lower res, lower color, alternate shading techniques such as dithering..etc etc
Also, the term "pixel control" has been mentioned here a few times, but there is also color control, there is just as much discipline in controlling colors no matter how many there are, as there is with controlling individual pixels.
Regarding being able to point to specific examples, well as I stressed its a feeling, which is why in particular I wanted to hear from new folks, I realize the people who have responded so far to this are more then not experienced/skilled/ beyond the total entry point phase.
In general, every few posts from newbies I questions, not their ability or subject, but why they confine themselves to often pallets as little as 6 or less colors.
Also I have been hanging around game developers for a good few years, often on a daily basis, and on more then a few occasions I have heard "younger" people commenting on other peoples work saying things like "oh make it more pixel art" when in fact they where looking at 16bit pixel art styles... there seems to be this association that authentic pixel art has to look like NES or earlier whether the application is for a game or not.
Regarding just the "why's" of using low colors, I was pretty satisfied from about the 2nd response on this post about that and see the value more then ever of minimizing work due to time budgets, in particular with game dev.
Guys, all good points really, and thank you all for going into the depth you did, It's made things clearer for me for sure.
And I suppose as a final note, which I have already said, I love all the styles, I really do, there is something to admire and stand in awe with every piece and it inspires me no end.
Cyangmou .. wow thank you for the in-depth write up there, I also appreciate how you broke it up into disciplines of application, rather then pixel art as a whole, which was partly a factor for my post.
I would like to go into a bit more depth about what I mean, because I think i feel the original hook, so to speak, of what I was trying to get at has been a little lost. I do understand the "why's" with regard ultra low color counts, but this was more of a case of wanting to know if there was pressure on folks coming to it new that there was a sort of obligation to use tiny pallets if not it would be frowned upon by people who rigorously follow the science of pixel art.
For me personally I don't think of pixel art as a whole as being this science/religion where there has to be x,y and z, or its just not pixel art. Its that feeling I was curious to know if why so many people I see are posting with tiny pallets, or if its a case they are working on games and have locked pallets, or is it a case as you rightly mention about keeping animation and color compliments easier to work with. I don't know, which is why I asked in the first place.
Most newbie posts here seem to be posted without context of what the application of their work is, and "sometimes" i get the feeling that some the new posts I see are simply "experimenting" with pixel art rather then having it intended as something with real application, and in that context feel they are taking the tiny color count a bit too far as if they feel anything else it wouldn't be pixel art.
Also this was never meant to be an argument, I was/am genuinely curious, since I am new myself and from a personal point of view I find making something look as best it can, with whatever is available (from a learning point of view), getting accustomed to that, THEN iterating on that to form other "styles" such as lower res, lower color, alternate shading techniques such as dithering..etc etc
Also, the term "pixel control" has been mentioned here a few times, but there is also color control, there is just as much discipline in controlling colors no matter how many there are, as there is with controlling individual pixels.
Regarding being able to point to specific examples, well as I stressed its a feeling, which is why in particular I wanted to hear from new folks, I realize the people who have responded so far to this are more then not experienced/skilled/ beyond the total entry point phase.
In general, every few posts from newbies I questions, not their ability or subject, but why they confine themselves to often pallets as little as 6 or less colors.
Also I have been hanging around game developers for a good few years, often on a daily basis, and on more then a few occasions I have heard "younger" people commenting on other peoples work saying things like "oh make it more pixel art" when in fact they where looking at 16bit pixel art styles... there seems to be this association that authentic pixel art has to look like NES or earlier whether the application is for a game or not.
Regarding just the "why's" of using low colors, I was pretty satisfied from about the 2nd response on this post about that and see the value more then ever of minimizing work due to time budgets, in particular with game dev.
Guys, all good points really, and thank you all for going into the depth you did, It's made things clearer for me for sure.
And I suppose as a final note, which I have already said, I love all the styles, I really do, there is something to admire and stand in awe with every piece and it inspires me no end.
