Pixel Art Wiki

[PixelPiledriver]

I think people like using small palettes because they don't want to have to think about what color to use when they draw something.

While that's a valid approach to using colors, just as using a random palette is valid, it only barely touches on the use of limited palettes.
There are many popular ways to select and use colors, but it is also easily invented.

I guess for a palette to do something well, it would have be particularly well suited to drawing particular things?

It depends on the purpose of the palette and the goal of the artist at the time.
Some purposes:

Global
Colors used to represent all objects in the image/world.
Can be broken down into sub palettes, using a small group of colors per object.

Object
Colors specific to a single object making it unique from other objects.

Group
Colors used on several objects.
This creates a relation between them in the mind and eye.

Theme
Colors used to represent a specific event/object/character/idea.
Some examples:
Event -> Christmas: Red + Green
Object -> Egg: White + Yellow/Orange
Character -> Santa Claus: Red + White + Black
Idea -> Magic: Rainbow!

Mood
Colors that evoke a certain emotional response.
These overlap into other moods and are easily repurposed, but some examples:
Anger: Red
Happy: Yellow
Sad: Blue

Natural
Colors specifically chosen to represent an object as it is seen.
Drawing from life.

Iconic
Colors chosen to represent an object as it is thought of/ known as.
Green grass, blue sky, brown dog.
Drawing from the mind.

I'm missing some purposes and each has many more properties, challenges etc.
It's worth investing some time into later.

anything made with that palette will ultimately end up looking like Final Fantasy IV

Only if the groups of colors are used in the same combinations and balances.
The meaning and usage of a palette can be tweaked.
It's a short step to take happy colors and draw something horrific.

They are a part of the fun of the medium. Thing is, people take them too seriously.

It's ok to take fun things seriously. 
Closely analyzing a subject allows for ability to manipulate and be creative.
As a mostly graphics programmer I do a lot of color math.
While it is not always palette related I utilize some knowledge of color theory every day.

[Pix3M]

What do we really mean when we say that people take palettes too seriously? I think colors are a huge subject when it comes to art.

Plus not all of us are aimless and largely experimental with color. It just takes a bit of knowledge of color theory to just know what you're doing and just constantly make purposeful, minute adjustments to get the effect you want.

[ptoing]

I think if you develop a specific clustering technique to accommodate for the limitations of the CGA palette in EGA mode, that's an EGA technique. Just as if you develop a set of guidelines for rendering with MS Paint, that's MS Paint technique.

I think this is pretty silly. There are no special techniques that people use to render with different palettes. The only thing you do is how you use the colours, which is something that falls under colour theory.

Reading "MS Paint technique" made me laugh.
At best you could boil it down to certain workflow steps which are ideosyncratic to a certain program, like MS Paint, or Deluxe Paint. All you are doing in the end is adding pixels, subtracting pixels, or changing the colour of pixels (which really is ALL you are doing if you reduce it to the lowest level), different programs give you different ways to do so, but there are no tools I am aware of that have things which are fundamentally different at a workflow level that you could call it a technique, and MS Paint certainly not.

You could call certain ways of working a technique, like the technique of working from an outline, or from polygonal fills or from a scanned pencil drawing. Just like there are different techniques of applying paint only a canvas. But calling something MS Paint Technique or EGA Technique makes no real sense. It is similar to an artist only using red, yellow and blue paint to mix everything he paints and calling it the Red-Yellow-Blue or Primary Colour Technique.

[tcaud]

Reading "MS Paint technique" made me laugh.

I'd appreciate if you didn't troll the thread.

Lately the wiki is being used as a resource link station. I think there is a lot of potential there and I really do think that if we work hard then there will come a time when a person will be able to set aside a day and just browse the wiki in one sitting (or over a week) and come out a pixel art expert.

This reminds me: how many pixel art tutorials have been archived to the Way-back Machine? It would be a shame to lose the all that knowledge and effort to circumstance, don't you think?

[ptoing]

Why do you assume that I am trolling? I am just giving feedback and my opinion here.

[Helm]

Perhaps telling people what they say makes you laugh is a touch rude. But on the point, you will find many old hands in Pixelation to be very resistant to making up new terms, because we grew up in an environment (old Pixelation) when this sort of talk happened way too often and led to very weird inter-community results, so if we don't need a new term for something, we won't endorse it.

[tcaud]

"Technique" seems like the only way to explain the subject to the technically disinclined. Sure a very technically (even mathematically) inclined individual can appreciate the term "color theory", but what we're really talking about is blends. I think the word "blend" requires too much experience for newbies to appreciate, because "blend" is both a verb and a noun. Such words must be treated with caution when writing for laypeople. And, the article touches on topics other than blends besides.

Whatever happened to the old board anyway? Is all that art gone forever or did things just fall apart somehow?

[Helm]

Sadly 'technique' sounds cool. THAT is bad for laymen.

[ptoing]

"Technique" seems like the only way to explain the subject to the technically disinclined. Sure a very technically (even mathematically) inclined individual can appreciate the term "color theory", but what we're really talking about is blends. I think the word "blend" requires too much experience for newbies to appreciate, because "blend" is both a verb and a noun. Such words must be treated with caution when writing for laypeople. And, the article touches on topics other than blends besides.

Do you realise that this is a highly patronising sentiment? Blending is not a very complex concept at all. I understood basic colour blending when I was in kindergarten and so do most kids if you explain it to them.

Really, it is a much better idea to go into concepts like colour theory and do write ups on that instead of making up stuff like EGA technique. What Helm wrote about the "it sounds cool" is very true as well. Stuff that sounds cool might attract laypeople to it, even if it does not have any great value to the subject.

And to the specifics of EGA technique, how would you differenciate EGA technique from CPC technique from +4 technique from MSX techique from C64 technique? The only thing you can say is that you have different colours which go together in different ways and you might have some system specific limitations.
But that does imo not warrant calling the different ways you use different sets of colours together a technique. Arne 16 colour palette technique, Dawnbringer palette technique... Try to focus on broader things like clusters, general colour usage, antialiasing, dithering and stuff like that.

Having a whole bunch of tutorials on how to make grass tiles potentially will serve more as a crutch for lazy people than anything. It is better to make it clear to people that they should try and use reference, ideally from real life, and try to abstract from there, to whatever suits their needs. There are enough trees with very round crowns and blue reflected light in their shadow already.

Whatever happened to the old board anyway? Is all that art gone forever or did things just fall apart somehow?

The original board got hacked back in 2004 I think it was, that stuff is lost. The posts anyway.

[PixelPiledriver]

Do you realise that this is a highly patronising sentiment?

Exactly.
Relax tcaud.
There is some benefit to unveiling information 1 layer at a time as things become complex or specific.
But there is little benefit to assuming people might not get it.
If the information is clear and helpful then people will take the time they need to understand.
Or they will ask for another perspective.