AuthorTopic: GR#027 - F. Nietzsche gazes into you - Portrait  (Read 20488 times)

Offline Moribund

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #10 on: June 28, 2010, 04:17:43 am
Helm, your works like this one make me want to categorize them as modern pixel art. Your usage of the pixel definitely departs from the "retro" hayday of pixel art, and even most pixel works from today. Feels evolved, though not arbitrarily superior to pixel art that doesn't share it's artistic approach. This type of thing is like pop pixel art - the solid red hair, the vertical line dithered jacket, etc, all come together to present us with a fun-to-look-at sophisticated polish evidently the end-result of a profound comfort with the medium plus much experienced experimentation.

I have no useful criticism, but I'm definitely inclined to agree here. I see some pixel art here, and I'm like "WOW, that looks so lifelike, and in only 3 pixels too" but then I see some of your art, and I'm feeling it is communicating a statement as well as an image.

Offline 7321551

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #11 on: June 28, 2010, 06:56:39 am
Nice.
I don't think the skin technique completely works. Some of the regions seem independent of the surface shape, & reduce depth, especially at x2 or greater.

The top circle, especially—I cannot not see them as little shapes projecting from his head.

Offline Rydin

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #12 on: June 28, 2010, 07:54:08 am
The profound black outline around his iris in the line art is gone in the pixel version.  Both are weird for eyes.  Why so flat?
Man cannot remake himself without suffering for he is both the marble and the sculptor.

Offline Helm

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #13 on: June 28, 2010, 08:50:33 am
I thought there was no space to outline the eye at this res I though I'd rely on contrast between white and the skin tones to convey the conviction instead :/

7321551 on the top circle I agree that's a badly formed pixel cluster. I don't agree on the lower one, but yes, good catch.

The thing with this sort of work is that all the pixel clusters are interacting with each other on their countours and boundries. I am actually using the banding from where different slices line up to convey... something, I'm not sure what... a sense of broken-glass fragmentation, a sense of unreality? Anyway, it appeals to me. But if I want to change a pixel cluster later, I might have to change 5-6 clusters around it again to get the perfect angles and line-ups going. So in the edit below I chose to remove the offending cluster completely instead of trying to make it fit a proper platonic triangle shape and still line up.

I also changed another cluster that was bothering me and removed the shadow under the nose, which wasn't working as well as I thought it would originally, really.



Mathias and Moribund: I am very bad at taking compliments, heh. What you're describing about technique serving a statement or emotional communication is the goal I'm trying for with my art so I am happy that it works at least for some people. I don't know about 'modern pixel art' though, I guess phenomenologically something like that might occur but it's not within my objectives to mirror modernism or anything else, what I do just feels right to me.

Offline Chris2balls

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #14 on: June 28, 2010, 09:35:34 am
I hear you Mathias, I was aware of that issue... but I want to find a way round it, so here's my last stab:

Maybe this changes the feel of the picture too much, up to you Helm.

☑ Available for work     ☒ Unavailable for work
Check out my portfolio if you are looking for a pixel artist!

Offline Mathias

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #15 on: June 28, 2010, 02:55:03 pm
Compliments continue to be awkward for you eh. I don't see why, but then again I can remember having a former reluctance at accepting compliments, myself. I think after a while I just learned to just smile and say thanks, though.
Here's what I've come to think: The truth is that the average person usually can't even describe why they like a particular piece of art, it just "looks cool" so they dig it. It's safe to say most compliment-givers don't comprehend the full breadth of an artwork's meaning and purpose but they may still think it's good, so they compliment you. When I was younger (I'm 28 now) I made it a point to regularly share my work with others/friends, etc, showing things off for fun/feedback. But invariably, my viewers didn't understand anything enough to be able to have real appreciation, and my explanation often just bored them. My zeal was almost always unreciprocated. This led to my attitude towards showing "laymen" my work changing. Now, I'm rather reluctant to share and rarely explain anything. 'What's the point', I figure. So, too, with compliments, I take them with a grain of salt - they're almost always issued from an uninformed mind, or one not interested enough in what I do for their opinion to truly matter/mean something to me. Not that they're stupid and/or my work is some brilliant genius crap (it's not), they just don't "get it", so their compliments are just words, basic appreciation for the face value of what they see. I smile and say thanks, that's about it. I do appreciate compliments, but they usually don't hold much weight.
Furthermore, when I tell someone they did a good job on something and they try to duck the compliment by saying something like, "Oh whatever, that sucked!, or "Eh yeah, it could've been much better", etc, it's kind of annoying! I want them to just take the stinkin' compliment and move on,,,, geeze. Helm, you're not quite that way, I'm just relating my feelings on those that are that way.
And phenomenological . . . looked it up, that's a great word to use in analyzing art, thanks for the new word.

People like your work. They express appreciation for what they like. They may or may not fully understand it. Hopefully, us around here understand work posted to this site better than laymen. Surely we do, we at least partially understand what it takes to create a pixel artwork.



Chris, yep I was sure you already realized that/nothing new to you, just givin' feedback. Your latest attempt is a little better, but comes off to me as an overuse of the vert line dither fill. No pinky extension!? WHATCOMEON65678^
« Last Edit: June 28, 2010, 04:22:00 pm by Mathias »

Offline Helm

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #16 on: June 28, 2010, 03:27:44 pm
My problem with compliments isn't because I think people don't 'get my art', actually I think whatever people do get from my art is as valid as anything I had in mind while making it, generally I don't make a big fuss over communicating intention. Like, I don't think of a piece as a failure if viewers interpret it differently than what I had in mind while making it (and of course that's a pretty vague notion some of the time to begin with). I guess I'm kind of shocked the few times where something I've made was interpreted *in reverse* as to what I was going for (bizarro world like someone reading Marx and saying 'that dude is a fascist!!!!!'... it happens) but even that isn't failure for me. Failure is when I show something I've made and the viewer has no emotional or intellectual response to it at all. Foremost I feel successful when I make some piece of art and the viewer feels compelled to look at it for more than 2.5 seconds and think on why it is like it is and what it makes them feel. It's validating to help someone break out of 'consumption mode' and into 'reflection mode' even if it's very brief. As the modern world moves towards an information overload, such moments will be all the more precious.

My issue with compliments is stupid. On one hand I feel undeserving of compliments for various reasons (pretty common in artists, I've found). I don't thrive on getting any type of attention personally, that's just not why I make art. On the other hand I am inordinately suspicious of public compliment givers (especially gushing ones) because I tend to think they're trying to achieve something, socially, by doing what they're doing. I realize intellectually that a) I'm probably wrong and b) even if they might be social achievers, that doesn't mutually exclude the possibility of them having a real affinity for my art. But that's a difficult thing to internalize, emotionally. I am more relaxed when someone tells me 'good job' in private, and yeah, not to sound like a social retard but it took me a long while to realize that "thank you" + smile in real life are all the tools I need to get through this particular issue of mine. Back 5 years someone would tell me "I like this thing you made" and I'd be all "yeah? I don't believe you."  :'(

Offline Mathias

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #17 on: June 28, 2010, 07:13:09 pm
Humility is a beautiful trait. Or maybe better said, pride/arrogance is pretty ugly, and makes communication with those prideful difficult and irritating. You're a humble guy. All artists need humility. If an artist is arrogant, I resent him the better his work is, hehe!
For me, I no longer care if others appreciate my art. If I like it, I feel great. If I don't . . . well I'm not surprised. I'm a pretty harsh critic when it comes to things I've done. Good on one hand - I impel myself to always do better so I can get a better score when the piece is done (one of my biggest driving forces has always been to discover the extents of my abilities, I want to know what I can so, and couple that with a belief I've had since childhood - with some practice I can accomplish any artistic goal). And conversely I take very little joy from making things anymore, since upon completion I typically take a step back and think, 'eh yeah, that's . . . nice I guess'. There's very little payoff!

Having said that, I do still enjoy another's expressed approval of something I've done. Never ceases to feel good. We never seem to lose that childish longing for peer approval do we? At least on some level, right? Reluctant to admit it, but it's there.

I know that the approval of others can be powerful. In the eyes of others. Popularity alone, sells things. Mainstream gets the dollars.
I'm married, a few times I've noticed my wife's usual apathy towards my creations cured simply by some random person expressing interest in a work of mine. In these examples, her opinion turned because she realized that other people assigned value to art. Her appreciation was reactively increased, in effect. Not sure what to think of that, hehe. She's generally awesome btw, she just has no love of creativity.

Offline Helm

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #18 on: June 28, 2010, 09:54:46 pm
I don't know about humility, I mean, I'm not a very humble person. In that I don't lie down for other people and especially I do not allow their worldview to dominate mine. I hold my own art to some esteem as viewed by myself if that makes sense. I just don't expect other people to agree with me often because let's face it, most of the stuff I draw is weird. If anything I am terribly suspicious of overtly humble people that are also awesome artists.. seems like a social grace to me. But helm why would you begrudge anyone for having social graces you might ask. I don't know, I guess it's the symptom of any introvert nerd, that they expect other people to be as socially impaired and not-gaming as they think they are themselves.

So it's strange, I don't think my art is worthless (quite the opposite) but I think what's it worth it is worth mostly to me. I don't know how healthy that is, but it explains why I am kinda resistant to both compliments and fundamental critique.

Offline st0ven

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Re: F. Nietzsche gazes into you

Reply #19 on: June 28, 2010, 10:11:46 pm
Im not sure he means humble in the same way you are at least describing it though. humility could connote at least a hint of respect or restraint. respect of whats already been achieved, and knowing where you realistically fit in that much larger perspective rather than that limited scope that a fanboy might percieve the gap between him and you. One doesnt need to be subservient in order to achieve humility. Holding your work to your own standards rather than seeking to constantly measure against those of your peers seems to be a quality that truly passionate artists hold, and perhaps in that respect you hold humility to yourself. Accepting a compliment can be hard in this respect because the perception of the viewer basing said compliment might be from a completely different viewpoint of that of your own, and becomes a subjective matter that would be hard to internalize.

I can very much relate to your self assessment of your own art being 'weird' or not mainstream (i think a lot of artists can), though admittedly most of the things i pixel i shoot to be mainstream, but its that unique perspective that you as an individual have and how you render and interpret the world around you and the thoughts within you that make you interesting as an artist.

 mathias: i would encourage you to keep showing people stuff - challenge them even if the majority of them deflect it and complement out of sheer social courtesy. though maybe it would be more fun to do that if your subject matter shifted to something more provocative and less comfortable for people to casually view (heh).
« Last Edit: June 28, 2010, 10:20:18 pm by st0ven »