AuthorTopic: pixel god video in MS Paint!  (Read 35229 times)

Offline .TakaM

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #80 on: December 11, 2006, 12:30:21 pm
Sorry about my earlier post. Coming back and reading it again, I notice that it sounds like a troll post. I appologize for that.

But back on the main issue, I still don't understand why half of everyone who have responded in this thread have been so smug and criticizing so negatively.

Yes, the artist shouldn't proclaim himself a "pixel god". And yes, such a self-proclaiming title does deserve some ribbing. And yes, this is not necessarly pixel art in the sense that it's not done in a "pixel by pixel" method. But all that doesn't take away from the fact that the artwork still is good regardless.
I don't think I could go so far to say its good.. just pretty much everything he did was done wrong, firstly the overall design is very generic and I think the only reason he used mspaint was for shallow attention grabbing (hehe)
but making a video of its being made just means he expected people to be impressed and immediately suspect fraud, that or he thought people could learn something from this- both are not reason enough to record a video for this specific piece
then hes called himself pixelgod, while its just an alias it still gives some impression of how high he regards himself, and considering he saved in jpg he must be a cruel god :P
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Offline snake

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #81 on: December 11, 2006, 12:41:29 pm
Sorry about my earlier post. Coming back and reading it again, I notice that it sounds like a troll post. I appologize for that.

But back on the main issue, I still don't understand why half of everyone who have responded in this thread have been so smug and criticizing so negatively.

Yes, the artist shouldn't proclaim himself a "pixel god". And yes, such a self-proclaiming title does deserve some ribbing. And yes, this is not necessarly pixel art in the sense that it's not done in a "pixel by pixel" method. But all that doesn't take away from the fact that the artwork still is good regardless.

Well, you summed up what most of us have been saying all along, at least for my part anyway. He's got skills above average, and clearly knows how to make a car-design. That, however, does not justify for the points mentioned. For that matter, you've got to take what people say with a grain of salt. The whole ordeal is pretty silly and I doubt anyone is out to hurt the guy.

Offline Ryona

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #82 on: December 11, 2006, 03:28:49 pm
Is that really a fact, though? Isn't there room for opinion on what constitutes good art? Aren't I allowed to have my opinion that this is, pretty dull, uninspiring, a terpid trace-over of a photograph, with little to nothing going for it? Is it smug or me to have such an opinion? Why?

It's just the way I see some people delivering their opinion. Rather negative and arrogant kind of manner. I understand that some people don't like the design for a number reasons outside the skill value. Yeah, it is a pretty dull pic. Like, it's just a car. I understand that. But, well, ehh... I'll just let it go. lol



I don't think I could go so far to say its good.. just pretty much everything he did was done wrong, firstly the overall design is very generic and I think the only reason he used mspaint was for shallow attention grabbing (hehe)
but making a video of its being made just means he expected people to be impressed and immediately suspect fraud, that or he thought people could learn something from this- both are not reason enough to record a video for this specific piece
then hes called himself pixelgod, while its just an alias it still gives some impression of how high he regards himself, and considering he saved in jpg he must be a cruel god :P

Point taken. heh
« Last Edit: December 11, 2006, 03:31:40 pm by Ryona »

Offline zeid

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #83 on: December 11, 2006, 05:36:57 pm
I've bolded all the main bits coz this is just a ramble topic

I agree with Ryona in that I think some people are delivering there opinions in a some what arrogant manner, but that could just be my and her interpretations. The truth is the artist has used the medium without realising just how it can be used, this is supported by the fact he doesn't use any real pixel techniques. I'm inclined to think he doesn't really understand the industry of pixeling (2d game graphics primarily). If he were to compare his piece to some of the pieces I have seen in professionally developed 2d games and otherwise then he would easily be out done. I think the most of people are aggravated more by the praise he is receiving for what they would consider relatively easy work using a pixel medium, and furthermore mostly inappropriate use of it. Helm is right when he highlights that the average person is impressed with mediocrity, however to the average person this doesn't appear as mediocrity, Yes his piece is a fair bit bland and unoriginal but then again most people don't do in depth studies of art, they like what they see which is why unoriginal pieces are common, maybe he felt like doing a car because he liked doing cars not for everyone else. And maybe he made it into a video because he wanted to share the picture he thought was rather nice, done in a medium that most (including himself) think is shit, and thought it would be funny ("like being a professional kazoo player"). I recall throughout my school days a surprisingly large number of people who could barely draw stick figures, hell I recall one person who always missed out the body in them and that was during final year highschool art class. Most people find ms paint an impossibly difficult art program hence when they see anything done in it that looks good, even with faults they are amazed, I recall when I first showed pixel art done with ms paint, they were pretty frikin impressed by my skills and I wouldn't call myself exactly that good knowing full well what others are capable of. The fact he has titled himself a pixel god is ignorant and big headed. But from those pieces of his I saw I wouldn't be saying he was a bad artist, just an artist with room for improvement, not unlike everyone. In short, what would Jesus do... :y: There is nothing wrong with having the opinion the piece is bad, but there is also nothing wrong with liking it. Art like all forms of attraction is entirely subjectively oriented(dependant on the person). some will like pictures of naked women others will like pictures of... goats (you know who you are ;)). So everyone take it a little less seriously.
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Offline Rox

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #84 on: December 12, 2006, 09:40:20 am
Not liking something because it gets a lot of praise is just as stupid as liking something because it gets praise.
Either YOU like something or YOU don't. If it's a matter of others liking it or not, sadly, then you are a tool.
That's true. I am somewhat of a tool. I'm aware of it, and found I can't do anything about it. I've always felt less and less interested in something the more I notice other people talking about it. I'm not sure if it's some bizarre after-effect of always having lived in the past, behind the times, sort of (I played Half-Life 2 for the first time in my life yesterday!), but that's the way it is for me. It might also have something to do with me being cautious and trying to stay as neutral as possible until I can experience something of my own. The downside of that is that to stay neutral, when everyone thinks something is SO GOOD, I balance it out by convincing myself it's NOT that good. I think I take that too far sometimes. I've got a recent example, too. Gears of War. Everyone I've seen praises that game. Everyone I know who's played it are scheming on forcing me to try it out as soon as possible. The impression I get from all of this, is that it's overrated. I know I'll like it if I try, but I haven't tried it, so to stay neutral I consider it mediocre until further investigation. Now I accept that it is good, even though it still doesn't interest me at all, but before it was released I was ashamed of all the extreme hype going on about a game I honestly DID think looked mediocre at the time. Hype is bad!

It's not a conscious choice I've made, to work like this. It's just something that happens. I'm not exactly proud of it. But I confess that I find it slightly more acceptable than assuming that something is AMAZING, just because everyone else says so. Even if it is, in one way, the exact same way of thinking. At least this way I can be pleasantly surprised if proven wrong. I think something in the past has triggered me to always avoid potential disappointment whenever possible, or something. This behaviour may be a part of that. Make no mistake, though, I never think something is BAD because people talk about something. It just lessens my expectations a lot.

Whee, psychology.

[edit] By the way, I'm talking about first impressions here. It's not like I'll ALWAYS hate EVERYTHING that is popular. See, I'm playing Half-Life 2 for the first time here, and I'm already having mental speculation with myself about what exciting things might happen if/when they make a HL3. It's a fantastic game. It's just, like I wrote above, my expectations on a product go way down the more people talk about it. But that's just how I expect it to be, not what I'll always think. Okay, I think I'm done writing now.. [/edit]


I guess that works in reverse, Rox? The most people hate MSpaint, automatically the more you think you're hardcore for working in it?
Heh, not quite. I've never said I'm hardcore. Stop judging me and assuming things! But, yes, outside of the community, part of the charm with pixel art is, actually, that I can make it with what seems to be passed as the MOST USELESS SOFTWARE EVER MADE. Because Paint ISN'T useless. It has uses, and I'm using them. See?

But... the kicks people get when they see pixel art for the first time, that's a minor point (even though it is fun to leave an impression on people). I've already established why I use Paint! It's easily accessable, and with pixel art being a minor hobby of mine, is all I need.
« Last Edit: December 12, 2006, 09:44:57 am by Rox »

Offline big brother

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #85 on: December 12, 2006, 06:36:32 pm
Here's a quick rant on Kinkade. When critics look at a painting (or traditional medium) they take into account their knowledge of art history. Art is communication across time and culture, which is why paintings that shocked 19th century France (Manet's "Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe", for instance) may seem meaningless to the common observer (who wouldn't know "The Judgment of Paris", genre painting dimensions, or several specific bourgeois socialites). Like any field, art delights in the esoteric, and the classic pieces generally hold more than a single layer of information. Throughout Western Art, an informal hierarchy of subject matter was established. Biblical and political scenes top the list, while still-lifes and landscapes are the lowest rungs. (One of the reasons that there weren't female "masters", since in Western Europe, women weren't allowed to study nudes, limiting their genres to the less-important ones, but that's a whole other topic) The primary reason for this distinction relates to the amount and type of information that a particular genre can convey.

Since Kinkaid is primarily concerned with targeting a non-educated art market, his paintings offer no communication beyond the superficial visual aspect. (As far as his technique is concerned, I suspect he paints heavily from photos or even over photos for the elements of nature in his paintings, but again, this is another separate point.)

As a result, Kinkade's work becomes the lowest common denominator, the dick and fart jokes of the art world.

Offline Helm

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #86 on: December 12, 2006, 06:45:39 pm
However we are not 'the art world', in fact what we do here (pixel art, game art) would be considered all sorts of hilarious or sad by the 'art world'. I think the posted picture by this Kinkade fellow is wonderful, I like the feeling I get from it a lot, though I am not a christian, nor an american (which are what Kinkade considers his audience) I appreciate it for other reasons than he ment them, or maybe for simpler ones that apply to most sensitive beings that enjoy nature.

Obviously, a picture of a waving american flag doesn't do anything similar to me.

Offline Akzidenz

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #87 on: December 12, 2006, 06:55:50 pm
Boo, I missed my chance to rant.

edit: whoop, I guess not, topic's still going

Kincade is technically talented, but his work is pure kitsch - not in the interesting contemporary kitsch-as-avant-garde way, either - in the completely intentional and unabashedly generic way.

Kincade paints cottages covered by snow in the woods because he knows that people are not scared or threatened or confused by cottages covered by snow in the woods. There is, purposely, nothing original or experimental or creative in any form. The reason for this is because he knows he can sell a painting that is familiar and unthreatening and beautiful. He knows that contemporary art in America has been a failure for the past 70-80 years because it's foreign and incomprehensible to the average American audience.

So, essentially..

American culture is afraid of the avant-garde (due largely to the fact that our disposable income has rapidly surpassed our level of sophistication). American culture is afraid of things that they do not understand, and they see no reason to attempt to understand them. This is why 8th-graders in art classes throw a few splats of paint on a canvas and make jokes about how they're just as good as Rothko or Pollack or Mondrian or (etc etc).

Ironically, it's also the same reason (or at least strongly related to the reason) that people regard Picasso as an absolutely timeless master while failing to acknowledge that he was actually a really unoriginal asshole. Or the reason that people regard Van Gogh as a master, and will tell you about how he cut off his ear, but couldn't tell you anything about why he's worth putting in the art history books. Or the most perfect and ironic example, where people paint quote-unquote "Warhol style" portraits of themselves without understanding a damned thing about what Warhol's work meant.

American culture (and not to just pick on Americans, here, this could be translated to most cultures) by and large does not understand modern art because they don't even understand how to learn how to understand it. And naturally, we reject and fear most quickly that which we can't understand.

WHICH IS WHY Thomas Kinkade is making a fortune and driving a stake into the heart of American culture at the same time.

Which is why most-if-not-all artists hate him with a burning passion (and give Kinkade postcards to their friends as jokes).

-phew-

edit 2 - Helm, don't think so poorly of pixel art's place in contemporary culture.. video games are (although nested deep within a state of serious camp) *the* contemporary medium for art.
« Last Edit: December 12, 2006, 07:00:02 pm by Akzidenz »
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Offline big brother

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #88 on: December 12, 2006, 07:56:43 pm
However we are not 'the art world', in fact what we do here (pixel art, game art) would be considered all sorts of hilarious or sad by the 'art world'.

I never claimed to be a part of (or that pixel art, Pixelopolis, or Don Knotts is a part of) the art world the textbooks recognize. However, Kinkade borrows the medium and techniques from that realm, so he deserves their critique. I just posted some rationale for the people who are like "I don't see why people hate Kinkade paintings so much. I think they're pretty to look at and my Grandma has one in every room and she bakes the nicest cookies imaginable and she loves me so she could never be ignorant."

I'm sure your Grandma is a sweet person. There's no need to push her down the stairs while you set fire to her Kinkade garbage.

Offline Akzidenz

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Re: pixel god video in MS Paint!

Reply #89 on: December 12, 2006, 08:11:23 pm
I'm sure your Grandma is a sweet person. There's no need to push her down the stairs while you set fire to her Kinkade garbage.

It's too late to save Grandma. I worry more about little Jimmy.
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