AuthorTopic: The Future Of Pixel Art  (Read 37145 times)

Offline AdamTierney

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #60 on: July 31, 2006, 06:14:53 pm
New Super Mario is only partly 3D. Look at the enemies closely. About half of them are pre-rendered.

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Offline Meta|Fox

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #61 on: August 01, 2006, 10:41:49 am

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Offline Radioactivity

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #62 on: August 02, 2006, 11:52:40 pm
Maybe instead of trying to keep 2d pixelart games alive, us as pixel artist should now be striving make pixel art into a trully accepted art form, with exhibits etc. All of us who want to see pixel art survive forever should now instead of concentrating on the past of pixel art (ofcourse we shouldn't forget our roots) and it being all about games, should now be trying to use the techniques we have learnt through creating game art etc to creating works of art. Well, it's late, my grammer aint great at the moment and trying to express my idea doesn't seem to be working, so if anyone understands me, thats awesome :).

Offline Rox

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #63 on: August 03, 2006, 07:49:10 am
Pixel art as an art will never die. Art forms tend to stick around forever.
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Offline snake

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #64 on: August 03, 2006, 12:12:28 pm
I've tried to put a little thought into this before posting, it's been going through my head a lot the last couple of days.

I think we can all conclude with one thing: Pixel art will not die. I have yet to see a single artform dissapear no matter how endangered it may be.

Now, I've read the suggestions that we need to promote Pixel art as an artform to preserve and educate. While this is a good idea in many ways, it's not as simple as that. Pixel art is in all respects a digital medium and can be regarded as the very basis of all digital art (that it's made out of the most basic part of digital visual media: pixels, and that it was the first digital media computers could produce. This includes text.) As many of you are aware, digital art is usually frowned upon by cometees of 'finer arts' unless its printed on a peace of paper or in physical form. If pixels are not shown on some sort of screen, the purpose and basis of the pixel piece shown is changed (meaning, for example, that it is no longer digital in the same sense). Also note that pixel art, like all the other art forms when they originated, is a practical art style. It was and still is made to do a job, be it to show icons on your PC or to show a character in a game.

Of course, putting a printout or a screen showing pixel pictures on display at, for example, a museum would help shed some light on pixel art, is it a good idea to let it evolve as an artform rather than an active tool? First of all, as I understand it we still don't have a pinned down set of ruled defining what exactly is to be defined as 'pixel art'. The view that the common man has about pixel art usually goes along the lines of: "a picture made of dots on a computer" or "what people use when the machine isn't good enough for 3d". It's a good idea to educate the common man, but if the view of pixel art shifts from computer generated art to a fine artform, then pixel art is going to evolve in that direction. If you were to make a large, grand pixel picture and put it up for display, it is going to look stunning. Personally however, I don't feel that this is what pixel art is meant for and partly the reason Digital painting was made.

But let's say that this is the direction that we take pixel art. I've had to learn and study modern art for 3 years as part of my general arts class, and modern artists have a tendency to stretch the borders quite a bit. There are artist that paint by hand single frames from comic books and show it off as something new due to the production method. If people start hand painting square tiles, is this still what we were hoping to show the world? One of the forms of art I loathe the most are the kind of people that paint large, messy squares on a canvas and go into endless elaborations of what it represents, how the strokes where made, why it was made and so on. This is not out of ignorance, I understand very well how and why this is done and the artist are, naturally, able to explain themselves. However, I do not like this art direction at all because it is art for arts sake. It is made by artists for artist and the only people that can judge them have to go through extensive learning to do so. So why am I mentioning this? Because that is the direction Pixel art might go if it is to be regarded as an artform by the general public. I do not want to see smeared ms Paint lines on display at some fancy house with some guy explaining that its his 'soul rage representing the horizon of hope'.

This i merely an example though. There are people who try to make graffiti an accepted artform and yet it's practitioners are still displaying it as an underground artform, keeping it alive. Personally, I would think that the best way to preserve pixel art is to have an open comunity where people are able to learn and display their pixel art, much like we do here. After all, the net is digital and so are pixels, few other artforms have it this convenient. The question that then commes to mind is: why would people still make pixels? Demand for pixel art will drop, that is a fact. Still, pixel art is still favored by indie gamers that create small scale or limited games. If there are people who are educated in pixel, then there must exist people that are willing to make something professional in pixel. If someone is able to stun another with a grand pixel piece, then interest and use of pixel will still be practiced, even if home consoles or local store PC games all become full 3d.

Well, that's some of the stuff that's been stored in my head about the subject. Might have messed up some of my explanation, but I'll leave you to make what you want of it. ;)

Offline Helm

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #65 on: August 03, 2006, 01:03:00 pm
Quote
why would people still make pixels?

same set of reasons people use any outmodded technical method to make art: because it's charged with specific aesthetic properties that are not there in digital painting. I suggest you think about what those might be.

Offline ptoing

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #66 on: August 03, 2006, 01:37:19 pm
Of course, putting a printout or a screen showing pixel pictures on display at, for example, a museum would help shed some light on pixel art..

I am dreaming about doing an exhibition with pixelart, but if i will ever do that it sure as hell wont be prints, but there will be HUGE screens displaying the pictures. Pixelart needs the light!
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Offline snake

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #67 on: August 03, 2006, 01:59:02 pm
same set of reasons people use any outmodded technical method to make art: because it's charged with specific aesthetic properties that are not there in digital painting. I suggest you think about what those might be.

I agree. I was in no way implying that pixel art has no value other than it being favored by indi developers. Pixel has a very distinct feel to it that I am very much fond of. For example, one of my all time favorite adventure games is Police Quest for just that reason. The game had some incredibly blocky graphics, giving room to your own interpretation. You can't get that same feeling with more painted media. I was mainly focussing on its position in games-development.

In light of ptoing's comment, i did find this: http://www.petterbuhagen.com/ Check out 'current' and 'previous'.

This guy has made an exhibition of old Nintendo pixel art with hand painted pixels on walls and montages. If this is the best way to go is open for discussion.

Offline Helm

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #68 on: August 03, 2006, 02:02:50 pm
I don't think this is the best way to go, nor do I think anyone really promotes this route. These people that use the symbolism of early game art in their artistic exhibitions, do it based on the nostalgia involved with Super Mario World and what else. They're not doing something that is alive or vital, they're doing 'retro'.

But pixel art, while based on limitations of obsolete machines indeed, can be much more vital than this, in my opinion. You don't have to be in a gallery to be relevant.

Offline ndchristie

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Re: The Future Of Pixel Art

Reply #69 on: August 03, 2006, 04:02:07 pm


art forms similar to pixel-art have been around for centuries, i dont that the current, computerized use of grid-based artistic expression will die out completely, and if it does, it will probably have given rise to something similar that transcends pixels completely.  perople like to make things with blocks :P
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