Individual Pixel-placement Stress

[Dr D]

So recently I discovered a huge problem I seem to have when trying to create pixel art pieces, and was more or less wondering if anyone else has this kind of problem. But before I talk about it more I want to mention 2 things:

1) I like to think I have a little bit of OCD. Maybe not a severe case, and maybe not something like a professional would diagnose you with, but I can spend many hours trying to get something relatively unimportant to be just right.

2) This problem probably stems from my lack of skill and experience, and (hopefully) will be remedied as I improve. But at the same time I can see the possibility of it not changing as I improve, as well.

Anyways, when I begin to work on pieces, and all throughout working on a pixel piece, I often spend much time placing pixels, and not knowing the 'optimal' spot to place them in. 'Do I place this pixel here? Or maybe it looks better here.. Let's try this spot. Compare it with the first spot again. (Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-Y x10). Rinse and repeat, for many, many pixels, for many many hours. (I should also mention most of the art I create is for use in games.) Does anyone else have this sort of problem? Should I worry less about individual pixel placement?

I feel like I lose many hours of work with this rigorous habit, but also feel like I learn less, and my piece is far from reaching it's 'maximum potential' if I do NOT do this kind of experimenting.

[yaomon17]

Try a "blot in the basic shapes and then refine" technique. That somewhat worked for me. Keep in mind that the people viewing the art (I assume the people that will be playing the game) will probably not care about a pixel that is off and will be more focused on the gameplay and animations. That being said, this seems like a relative trivial think to stress over.

[blumunkee]

I think a lot of pixel artists here have a bit of OCD. I know I do...

But yeah, it sounds like you already know you are obsessing with individual pixel placement too much. It's just a matter of being conscious of it and moving on, even when you'd rather tweak pixels 'till your bones turn to dust.

[Ryumaru]

It may ease your pain and worry if you realize that to a certain point, you can no longer optimize your pixel clusters and you are reaching a point where single pixel changes are only changing the implied shape and not working to improve and solidify the pixel technique of an image. At this point you should have confidence in your decisions and the pixel clusters you have an affinity towards will become part of your style and pixel art specific language. Embrace it.

[Dr D]

@yaomon17
I don't think the technique is the problem. I mean at some point in time, I will go in to fine detailing regardless. But maybe that will change if I go into a more broad/loose style altogether. But, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
But you are definitely right that people won't see or care about small changes. I dunno if that's a good way to rationalize not trying to make something the best it could be, though.

@blumunkee
That does make me a lot more comfortable. 

I will try to break the habit.

@Ryumaru
You make a good point. But, I think another related problem is not knowing when something looks optimal. Sometimes, I spend a while trying to figure out the perfect place for that pixel, and when I find it, I become satisfied with it. Other times, I never do, though, and it kind of frustrates me. Do you simply just move on when you've spent too much time on something? Is it better to come back to it later with a fresh look on it, after not having stared at it for so long?

[Helm]

Dr. D, of course we won't find a fix for this if it's indeed pathological. What I would suggest if it's borderline is for you to consider individual pixels much less than you consider cluster shape. Individual pixels matter, but most at a low resolution. Start working at 64x64 or bigger, and look at how pixels interact, where it's much more vague and there are more options of good clusters, or at least clusters you can be happy about. Work with more colors and a higher res, or perhaps abstain from pixel art until you go to therapy for a while. If it's an OCD issue, its core might be completely divorced from its symptoms and you would have to do a lot of work before you pinpoint it and allevate it.

[r1k]

maybe force yourself to abstain from messing with the individual pixels with self imposed time limits.  Like, once you get to the point that youre just ajusting individual pixels like you say, impose a time limit, and after that you must stop even if there are still things that bother you.  Hopefuly after a while the time constraints will force you to recognize patterns in how you like to arrange the pixels and you will be able to get it to a satisfactory level within the time limits.  Maybe at this point give yourself less time, kind of weening yourself off, but hopefully gaining the ability to recognize problems and solve them without a bunch of tweeking.  Well I think it sounds good in theory atleast.

Is it better to come back to it later with a fresh look on it, after not having stared at it for so long?

yes, I think so.  You can often spot mistakes more easily if you havent looked at something for a while.  Probably for the same reason its often easier to see mistakes in other peoples work than your own.

[questseeker]

@yaomon17
I don't think the technique is the problem. I mean at some point in time, I will go in to fine detailing regardless. But maybe that will change if I go into a more broad/loose style altogether. But, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
But you are definitely right that people won't see or care about small changes. I dunno if that's a good way to rationalize not trying to make something the best it could be, though.

Even if you are compelled to "go in to fine detailing" because you are urged to "try to make something the best it could be", yaomon17's advice to refine iteratively is good for at least two reasons:

• It reduces the amount and difficulty of pixel by pixel changes. Many pixels will already get their final colour in the initial or intermediate "blocking out" of shapes and shades; the rest of the pixels, the ones which you are going to edit to take care of dithering, small details, unwanted clusters etc. will at least be embedded in a good context that will guide your painting.
• It offers an exit strategy. As you force yourself to learn to paint "top down", you'll learn to care less about individual pixels and more about the whole piece and general concerns like colour choice or effective shading, hopefully replacing your obsessive tendencies with skill and confidence.

[Dr D]

Whoa, lots of good advice here. I love you guys. Originally I was kinda hoping that some others here would have the same problem, to share my sentiment with. But of course, I don't actually wish such a terrible thing for you guys to have.

But yes, I will change up my techniques as suggested and also work on larger pieces. (I still do need to get a lot of small-sized game art done though. Perhaps when I work on some backgrounds or a title screen, though, we will see.)

And I will try the time thing on some art for myself.

Cheers, guys.  Let's see if I still have this issue in about 6 months from now.

Oh, and I don't seriously think I have OCD, at least I hope not. I didn't mean it that way.

[ptoing]

I actually have this a bit as well, it used to be worse. Just really over the top attention to detail, which sometimes can be bad because you miss the bigger picture. The suggestions you got here are all good.

And yeah, I am sure you do not have OCD. Proper OCD entails that you feel like something horrible will happen if you do not keep to some certain routine. When you start placing and erasing every pixel you put down a specific number of times, and think something will happen if you don't THEN you got OCD.

[PypeBros]

... Compare it with the first spot again. (Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-Y x10). Rinse and repeat, for many, many pixels,

How about cloning the part of your piece you're working on let's say 4 times, and do edits on each clone, forbidding yourself to use CTRL+Z at all ? At the end, you've got a sufficiently small number of variants to choose among (maybe some cut-n-paste needed to merge head of clone #2 with legs of clone #4, etc.)