Yo! Last night I went to art/entrepreneurial lecture from the dudes who made artaic, who make custom mosaics for you with machines, they're cool, check them out (http://www.artaic.com/) [Remember that dude who installed that octopus pixel piece in his shower?] They are partnering up with a local nonprofit that teaches/pays highschool kids for art.

Anyway I was networking there, and one of the main people in charge of the nonprofit was telling me how they want to start doing night classes for adults, suggesting that I could be a teacher at one of them. My initial thought was to do a pixel art class because I feel it's an under celebrated and niche artform. They are on board and want me to make a proposal outlining the deets, highlighting that the way to get people in the door is to market it as a fun thing to do and meet dates.

Here's where I'd like some input from the community. How/can pixel art be taught in such a casual environment? When I first entered the scene, I felt a bit of a wall due to perceived pretentiousness and elitism. This of course was dispelled the more I learned about technique and pixel decorum.

Can it be framed in a fun way for beginners, how would you go about teaching pixel art in class? Have you ever been formally taught pixel art by someone or through institution? Does the artform have a place in the classroom? Any ideas/suggestions welcomed! If this is a terrible idea, let me know.

I don't think yaoman is adovacating tracing (correct me if I'm wrong), but rather to do it as exercise. That way the large shapes stay fresh in your mind when you're pixeling and thus it's easier to break down the forms.

Another thing you can do for the same effect, is to do a color reduction on your original ref image. Maybe 6-10 colors max. That will break down the shapes and light into an easier way to disseminate them.

You said you want to make the skin look more 3D. The way to do that is to use more contrasted shades. To get the effect you have to imitate how light falls on the subject. The human face is a complicated structure, so it's hard. Don't get discouraged. Study the ref. There's some strong reds in his cheeks, and some yellow in his forehead, that's a place to start for some varied tones. Also look into some hue-shifting.

Hope this helps.

There's a great article in this free ebook about skin tones on p.214.
http://www.artbypapercut.com/downloads/
Also just a terrific reference in general for 3D modeling/concept.

After pushing myself to push this further: