Speed collabs

[Skalle]

This thread is for Speed Collaboration pixels.
Here I and Bo will post some speed collaborations that we've done.
Speed collabs are pixels that we've made together to practice getting better and more innovative with fast pixelations. First we decide on a theme. Then we immediately start drawing the lineart, and we have 10-15 minutes to do that roughly. Then we exchange linearts and color each others linearts for 10-15 minutes, perhaps a little longer.

Round #1: No theme

Bo lineart
Skalle color
Skalle lineart
Bo color

Round #2: Theme "Cyborg ninja"

Bo lineart
Skalle color
Skalle lineart
Bo color

We will try to continue making more of these and posting them in this thread. Others may post here as well if they make their own.

[Bo]

well its not like i counted but the first one took way less than 15 minutes.

[Chilly]

Nice collabs, though a bit too rushed and jagged. I noticed on the later collabs that you two at least covered up the black outlines. So with a bit more fine tuning, these would be great pieces. ; )

[Pegucha]

hmm, I think fundamentally "speed pixeling" isn't as plausible as speed painting or sketching. When working fast, pixeling allows very little expressiveness. Granted, expressiveness can somewhat be shown through color choices and pixel placement, but pixel art in general seems too systematic for speed practices to be beneficial. I'm sure someone will disagree 

[Helm]

Actually I completely agree that speed pixelling in one sense in unremarkable ( no attention to detail ) and on the other, the artists don't have time to ponder and learn anything about pixelling through them.

[Skalle]

Seems you don't like the idea too much

Anyways: When doing an amount of these, like one a day, I actually think we will learn some things. When doing many pictures, not spending too much time on each indivually we get to try out many different combinations, techniques and colors, without too much inconvenience. If we pick new colors in every picture we might get to know the colors better, hues, shades, and dithering colors etc. We may also get a deeper understanding of the most important things of the pictures, and what is best and easiest to do first and so on. We can learn from our mistakes, and trust me, 10 minutes is a lot of time to make mistakes . When pixeling fast many times we may also learn to use certain techniques fast with a reasonable amount of accuracy. I.e. on the #2 that I colored I practiced to dither a lot, and adding a lightsource. The lightsource is pretty crappy and now that I study it afterwards I can think of different ways to make it better.

About innovation; we have to make pretty fast decisions. Given a theme, making up an idea of what to make and then immediately pixelling it, having to think fast, is good for future use I think.

Also it is fun 

[initial_reality]

Hi Skalle,
I honestly don't like those pieces very much but I think it's a good practice and you can get better doing a lot of them. As you said, we have to learn making the right choices.
I'd like to try myself a speedy collab sometime.
Good luck.

[Dogmeat]

honestly, I agree with helm. I see no point in speed collabs, as 90% of a truly professional piece of pixel art comes from the tweaking process. Speed is good in the sense of a timetable, but rushing pixel art is unproductive.

[Skalle]

Of course, these speed collabs are not proffesional pieces. We do them most for practice, fun, and earlier mentioned reasons. I do think we will learn from them, and it is fun. Also, 10-15 is enough to make a pretty decent lineart at the right size with some practice.

Btw, we're doing a speed collab right now so I'll update pretty soon to add the results. The theme is "Mummy".

Round #3: Theme "Mummy"

Skalle line
Bo color
Bo line
Skalle color

The last one was a little tricky to color since there were so many lines, but I think it turned out fine in the end.

[Locrian]

I like the colors of that last one.  It looks like his wrappings are made of gold. 

I also wouldn't think speed pixeling would be very productive, but each set seems to be better than the last, so maybe you two are on to something.

[crab2selout.png]

I kinda like the idea. I'm a horribly slow pixeller, and I could see exercises like this helping one to find ways to streamline the process and even ditch habits like applying AA in the middle of shading that'll end up being erased come time to apply selout, or when the shadows are tweaked. When I finish some of the stuff I'm working on right now, I think I'll give this kind of stuff a try. Not going to post them or anything, just trying it as a learning exercise.

I've got a question for you too, are these versions you're posting now the only attempts, or do you find yourself making a couple versions of the lineart and the colourjobs before you end up with one that you like?

[Bo]

nope, what you see here is the first and final versions.

[initial_reality]

I love this one! It's like the sunshine has made its way into the the deepness of a crypt after two million years and now the mummy takes a deep breath air, snap its fingers and say "yeah, shake it baby!"

[Skalle]

I love this one! It's like the sunshine has made its way into the the deepness of a crypt after two million years and now the mummy takes a deep breath air, snap its fingers and say "yeah, shake it baby!"

Heh.

I find it very funny that you said 2 million years 

[initial_reality]

ok, maybe not that much 

[Blick]

If nothing else, it seems to be helping your color choices, Skalle. Each round, your colors get more... I'm not even sure how to explain it. They fit together better.

Looks like Bo's been out of the game for too long. Come on Bo, get some more vibrance in there.

[Bo]

i wasnt out to long, ive never been any good at working fast with pixels.

[Conzeit]

your colors get more... I'm not even sure how to explain it. They fit together better.

cohesive?

[Peppermint Pig]

As long as it means new pixel art to look at, I'm all for this. I suppose one good aspect to such collabs is the increased rate at which you become familiar with another artist: Provided you do a few rounds of this with them, the line and color work will become natural. Symbiosis is good.

Really like your mummy themed stuff. Better than the first ones, though I did like the guy sitting on the island.