Where to learn Pixel Art?

[schifers]

Guys,

I live in Brazil and we don't have here a big gaming industry. There is few schools where we can learn 3D modeling, digital painting or even pixel art.

We have many colleges and universities that can teach you traditional art, but it is rare to find someone who can teach you digital art.

There is one more problem. I don't have too much time to learn art attending classes inside the school.

So, my doubt is, do you guys know a good place where I can learn drawing, painting, digital painting, pixel art, on-line?

I'm looking for an on-line course that can teach me those subjects. I was browsing Art Insititute of Pittsburgh's site (www.aionline.edu) and I found a Bachelor's Degree on Game Art & Design.

Do you guys know this place? Is it a good place to study?

Do you guys know some place else where I can learn these subjects?

Dou you guys know some courses that I would pay for modules and not a full bachelor's degree?

Thanks in advance...

Bruno.

[JonathanOfDrain]

There are no short cuts to any form of art (except maybe screen printing and abstract art).

I don't live in Brazil, so I don't know how much I can help. I don't think you can goto a school for pixel art, if you can that'd be weird. You really should probably look around the forums. A lot of the people here are going to school for art or already did. I know Adarias is a doing something in fine arts, he's really good with a pixel. Helm is a artist for comics/graphic novels, I don't think he went to school. If I'm wrong about any of this I hope they correct me. My point is you don't need to goto school for pixel art to be good at it. Most everything you learn from sketching, painting and sculpting even is applicable to pixel art and vice a versa.
To be honest I think if you practice enough and don't whine you'll be a decent pixel artist in no time, assuming you've drawn or painted or something before. A formal training is a really nice thing and any degree you get from it looks really good on a resume. Getting your BFA is usually proof that you know what you're doing with art.
This forum is usually really good about getting some constructive criticism, you might develop some new friends who could also help you out.
I would avoid proprietary schools like the Art Institute. They don't give back as much as they should. I know a handful of unemployed graduates of Art Institute in Boston. Also learning something so unique as art over the internet is kind of weird. You'll have to look into a bit more and make your own decision. I thought it was weird taking a math class only, but that's just me.
I know most community colleges allow you to take a few classes. You can do that.

Do more research and much more drawing.
Hope my advice helped.

[schifers]

It helped a lot. Thanks for the advice. I will keep practicing for my own. The thing is, it seems that if you didn't start to draw when you were very young, the thing turns to be a bit more difficult. I keep trying to do good draws, but it seems too difficult to reach a level that I can tell that I'm good. I will come back to my books and web tutorials. Thanks again and I hope I can some day post something in a forum that people will like. To post something, you should at least like what you are doing and I still don't like my drawings. Keep practicing, like everybody says, it seems to be the key for learning drawing. Bye!

[Cow]

Practice only goes so far. If you lack the natural-born talent and the advantage of starting very early in life, you can forget becoming a competent artist.

That's just plain old not true. :<

[Sherman Gill]

Practice only goes so far. If you lack the natural-born talent and the advantage of starting very early in life, you can forget becoming a competent artist.

Bullshit. Practice and trudging through feelings of worthlessness are all it takes. Being born with imagination helps, but your imagination, like most parts of your brain, gets better the more you use it.
Of course, starting early is an advantage, but if you start later atleast you probably don't have to unlearn as many bad habits .

But seriously, I absolutely sucked at art until I was about 12, I have super-shaky hands and any circle larger then a penny that I draw looks like it was drawn by a three year old. The only reason I'm any good at all is that I taught myself about values and form and started doing life studies (Not enough of them, though ) a few years ago.


Erk: Fuck you cow

[Godslayer]

Practice only goes so far. If you lack the natural-born talent and the advantage of starting very early in life, you can forget becoming a competent artist.

Good one.

[skw]

Practice only goes so far. If you lack the natural-born talent and the advantage of starting very early in life, you can forget becoming a competent artist.

horseshit! however, just like with, say, foreign languages. . . the sooner you get to something, the better you get *at* it. there's also anoher quote which says that if you aim at nothing, you'll achieve it every time.

in Ancient Times, for example, artist were not treated as talented guys with imagination (like we take them today), but rather regular craftsmen. anyone could learn how to make art, anyone can do the same now, it's just a matter of patience.

edit: whoops, a new reply has been posted; no energy to answer that tonight. . .

[Sherman Gill]

Being a good artist is different from being successful.

Also, point out to me a person who became a nationally or globally renowned artist and didn't start at a young age or possess an incredible amount of what people call talent.

How the fuck am I supposed to find out whether a successful artist started drawing early in his life?
I could bring you hundreds, if not thousands, of biographical writings that don't say anything about whether the person drew when he was young. It's something you only really write about if it happens.
However, I'd have to point to the classical eras, when apprenticeship was common and people had to handmake their tools. You think they drew alot as a kid when it either cost a lot of money or a lot of work?

There is no money in art nowadays. Anyone who argues otherwise is lying to you, because if it was so lucrative, there would be as many artists as there are business majors, doctors, lawyers, etc. I'm being realistic here. Less than 1% of the people here on Pixelation will make it into anything. Of the population that does, less than half will actually make a respectable living out of it. The market for 2-D has been dying since the mid-90s, and it's on its last leg now.

I think less than 1% of the people on Pixelation plan on doing pixel art commercially. Also, I'd say there's only been a steady increase in interest in pixel art, and even more so in 2D art in general, since the playstation/N64 era. Of course, that's another thing I can't prove. Besides that, it's true, it'd be a hard living, but fuck, I'd rather do art and live in slums then work as a lawyer and live in a mansion.

There's also a lot of people who work commercially here. I'm not entirely certain about any of these but I'm pretty sure Ben2theEdge, Baccaman, AdamAtomic, and Helm all make a living out of it.

Unfortunately, both of our arguments are based primarily on opinion, so I doubt this will be resolved any time soon .

[Helm]

A lot of people here make a living out of the arts, they just don't have any reason to shout it out.

"Practice only goes so far. If you lack the natural-born talent and the advantage of starting very early in life, you can forget becoming a competent artist."

Competent craftmanship is largely up to proper method and repetition of execution. These things can be taught to almost anyone. Craftmanship, while taking a lifetime of work, is the 'easy' part. Artistry is an issue of vision and esoteric desire and that is not something you hone or learn, it is something you live, I think. Here in pixelation we deal in craft, technique, so on. These things can be learned by anyone.

[Feron]

Bullshit? That's funny. How many of the famous people on Pixelation have actually made it into the industry and became recognized? How many make a living (enough to live off of + luxuries) off of art? There's only one person I can think of who comes here and made a living from it at one point, and that's Henk Nieborg. (sp?)

i for one know that Sven (ptoing) is living of freelance graphics.  I think its Adam's main job too.

Plus i don't ever remember henk nieborg coming on this forum.

[madPXL]

I'm working in a mobile game studio and I can live enough with...

so yes, mobile phones provides pixel art job (also there are a lot of craps...)

@schifers : the only tip that I can give you for your start on pixel art is this place !
try to draw many things : objects, characters, backgrounds,...
Post your stuffs here, and you will receive critics and comments to help you to improve.

you will see a lot of improvements in the future when you will check your first works

[skw]

Bullshit? That's funny. How many of the famous people on Pixelation have actually made it into the industry and became recognized?

mind that those who actually *made* it into industry, have never focused only on crafting pixel arts, leaving it as a branch of their ample artistic workmanship.

The market for 2-D has been dying since the mid-90s, and it's on its last leg now.

I'd dispute. 2D graphics has had its renewal since e.g. GameBoy Adv. and the like appeared on the market IMO, and when the cellphone business became directed at gaming mainly. it's early 2000s to mid-2000s AFAIR and still, it seems there are many prosperous companies hiring new 2D artists.

[Frychiko]

Yeah, there are PLENTY of people who make a living with pixel art who don't post here (or not much at all), although most that I knew weren't exclusively working with pixels. I used to make a living exclusively with pixel art but have since moved on.

[Froli]

Skurwy is right, the mobile stuff and specially Nintendo DS just screams for pixel art work.. Some games just work best in 2d, like Castlevania series, Dragon quest (except 8 ), Freaking Pokemon, Contra..etc.

Speaking of Contra 4, did you know that some of the members here have worked on this game?
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/review/941461.html 
Let's attack aggressively. 

2d Ain't gonna die.

And where to learn pixel art? this is the place. It's full of treasure and it's free.

[Willows]

I don't believe in natural born talent*, and the advantage of starting at a young age is very strong evidence of the distances that practice can take you.

*In my opinion : Any person is an accumulation of their experiences and history to that date. Nothing comes from nowhere, so "natural born talent" could be bred into your bloodline or pop up as a dormant gene of sorts, but it doesn't just come out of nowhere.

And even if you don't have anything resembling an ancestry laden in art (I don't, though I'm hardly a good example) it is VERY possible to learn how to bandy swords with the best of artists, it's just going to take a lot of work.

[Indigo]

I can give you a list of over 15 good pixel artists on these forums that make their living off pixel art.  Me included.  that just cracked me up

as for the pixel industry dying - people have been saying that ever since the n64 and playstation.  Each time it is claimed, the pixel art industry doesn't die, but rather it moves... here is a historical progression thus far for pixel art

Arcade/cabinets, major consoles, handheld consoles, mobile/cell phone market, and we're just beginning to see the shift into the toy industry.

where will pixelart go after toys?  who knows.

[schifers]

In my opinion, pixel art is a wonderful slice in the 2d art. I don't think it will die any day. If you don't have games to build, (I think there will always have), you can work with animation, you can work with web site design.

I remember that I read in one place that some guy started to draw and paint around his 30 years (just like me now) and today he has like 40 years and after 10 years drawing he can make pretty nice paintings in oil.

I think that I can still learn it. Maybe, when you are younger, your brain is more receptive to new skills, but I think, like some people said here, you can still learn it with patience and a lot of practice.

Well,

Like I said. I will keep trying and maybe someday I will post something here that you will like.

Thanks for all the answers and opinions.

Bruno.