First Steps on Pixel Art

[kamol]

Hello there,

I already recently introduced myself and now would like to show you my first steps in pixel art.

Those following guys were created 2007 for the online platform Supertopic and subject to conditions of a creative commons licence. My aim was to build them as simple as possible so you could easily get a clue what the express. Also they were wished to be somehow "different" to what is usually used as smiley/emoticons. The choice of color was inspired by the colours of supertopic.de (as soon as you are a logged-in member everything now shown blue there turns to bright orange). I also tried to make them look as if they interacted with eachother if posted in a row.

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Some are static, some are animated as you can see. I’d appreciate your opinion so what do you think?

[Anarkhya]

Hello!

To be honest, what you submitted is not really pixel art, there is pixel work but what you have is more a hybrid thing (half digital-half pixelled).

[kamol]

Ah, ok, I should have known that this gradient thing could brake my neck here. Sorry for that...

So in other words those emoticons are not the kind of work that is to be discussed here, right? Maybe I have to have a closer look at my former little pixel experiments and see if something there is worth to be shown here. Or I just keep on reading all your posts untill I have someting new to show that fits into this discussion board. Thanks anyway. 

[Helm]

Stepping aside from whether your art is pixel art or not, does it benefit from the gradient, you think?



here's an 8 color version of your little guy. Does he lose that much for not having the gradient?

[Anarkhya]

Does he lose that much for not having the gradient?

Actually I do think that you'll make him loose his life by suppressing the orange tequila feeling, here is my 2 cents on this point, 4 colors :

[kamol]

The gradient was explicitly wished by the client I fear. It was supposed to make the character look more vivid. But thanks for the effort anyway. I am actually thinking about a similar set in greyscale or maybe just black and white, so maybe I could manage to make it to real pixel art there.  


edit: God, my English must have become rusty after all the time. Sorry for that.

[Anarkhya]

I am actually thinking about a similar set in greyscale or maybe just black and white, so maybe I could manage to make it to real pixel art there

Don't be afaraid to do so (you can also simply pixel rewrite a sample of your actual set) I also suggest thinking/reading/digesting about pixel, pixel def, pixel relations... it will help you to understand what is going on here.

[Mathias]

I would just like to say wow, you really image linked every single one of those individually.

[st0ven]

I would just like to say wow, you really image linked every single one of those individually.

hehe yeah its kindof fun to see all the [image] tags quickly replaced by an army of little orange peg guys.

Issue of palette conservation aside, I kindof like the little guys, the do instantly read 'emoticons' to me for sure, the shape youve given them helps make them look a bit more unique to the cirly face ones (just as the square ones on pix help make them look unique for us here).

given for what they are, i actually dont even mind the fact that youre using a gradient on them. i think that for a community that doesnt need to focus on the hardcore aspects of things the gradient makes it look very smooth at 1x, and the saturation of your oranges and yellows does well for its visibility.

having said that, the pixel art aspect in application on these guys is rather elementary, and while ive seen much much worse on other smiley sets, i dont think youll be able to get much rouse out of this effort on this forum with these. I can say 'yeah they look cute' which might really be the only thing that youre looking for, and in a sense i suppose i could say well done for that. theres nothing really more for me to say than that though.


wait wait  - are you ALSO sketchydan ? 

[kamol]

wait wait  - are you ALSO sketchydan ?  

Well... er.. let me think...


no.

edit: But thanks for your feedback anyway. I wasn't aware enough of the fact that you guys here are rather severe in your graphical restrictions. But nevermind, I know now what you are driving at here and i find it quite interesting to give it a try. So let's see if I can do any better. I am currently working on something simple in pixel art to get a clue about it.