Pixel art

Games can (and should) have great artwork, but for gameplay it does nothing; players soon look past it if the game is any good. Something I learned from A Theory of Fun by Raph Koster.
👾

This is one of those random scribbles and then make something out of it. Maybe I’m reaching the bottom of the barrel here.
👾

Sometimes what I draw doesn’t make sense to me. Then after some time it begins to make sense, somewhat. My fantasy is weird, non-productive. I like the colors, though.
👾🧸

This pixel art was crushed from 81.920 bytes into 3.473 bytes. It’s an Amiga LowRes 320 by 256 pixels drawing with 3 bit planes (8 colors), representing a rooster.
👾🐓

For some reason, I can make art on the RPi using an old Amiga LowRes format. I suppose it’s the limitations that stimulate my creativity, while with the full-blown iPad I’m still struggling because of the many options. Meaning, I have to think much harder before drawing on the RPi.
👾

I suppose I still need to practice (a lot more) to reach a pro level of art. Is it a duck or an ostrich, or something else altogether? 🤷 If it’s a duck, it’s fugly!
👾

I suppose with an iPad Pro 11 inch, and Apple Pencil 2 I can myself a “pro” now. At least I have added to Apple’s bottom line. They needed my contribution, surely. 🤣
👾

Maybe the last time for a while I drew with Multipaint from scratch, full of errors and slowness. Tomorrow I’ll go buy my replacement iPad.
👾

Doing all this drawing by mouse, cramping up my wrist, made me realize how dependent I am on an iPad with stylus. I realize a regular iPad is inadequate for my needs. Then a 256 GB M1 iPad Air is only €100 less than a 128 GB M1 iPad Pro. Only the Pro has Promotion⸺a must for artists.

😩 Decisions²

👾

Work in progress. I’m working with a mouse in Multipaint on my RPi.

What is he so happy about? I know, and you may too, once I’m done pushing pixels and uploaded it to my blog.
👾

A “little” thing as a broken iPad won’t stop me from making art. I made this when the iPad was almost gone.

And the other piece I made with a PETSCII editor on my RPi, based on a piece I did earlier this month.

Not having a backup for my Raspberry Pi makes me a bit nervous, as it should
🎨🐱👨‍💻🕹️👾

Analyzing @hutaffe’s (free) avatar from Make A pirate was a bit convoluted on my part…

Anyway, 100 by 100 pixel art, scaled up 8 times, with 53 unique colors, in isometric perspective, so typical for 2D games nowadays.

There’s a story here, stereotypical even, though better than I can ATM. 💡👾

As Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the eighties have taught us, cats can without most clothes, except the most essential, like a hat or a cane.
🎨🐱👨‍💻🕹️👾

I find it always such a surprise how a pixel art drawing I made subtly (or sometimes radically) changes to conform to the rigors of the C64 multicolor bitmap.

Other than that, I used some of the edging techniques (sharp, lost and soft edges). So there’s that too. Happy 😊 camper here!
🎨👽👨‍💻🕹️👾

Searching on Flickr for Creative Commons photos of kittens I found this cute black and white one. I used it as reference for my C64 hi-res bitmap pixel art drawing.

Sometimes less color is better. Especially if the one depicted is staring into your soul.
🎨👨‍💻👾🕹️🐱😈

I didn’t get to experiment with edges. Still, I drew something I love, so that’s good.

Maybe advice from an oil painter doesn’t translate all that well to pixel art. Pixel art has more in common with decorative art (like embroidery) than with traditional art you can hang on a wall.
🎨🐱👨‍💻🕹️👾

Public domain now?
🎨👨‍💻🕹️👾

I suppose the lesson to be learned here is:

Don’t look into the spiral, or you’ll go cuckoo, bananas, Dada

A quick peek is no problem, though.
🎨👨‍💻🕹️👾

Another day, another cat drawing. This time our more blocky version of a feline fellow creature. Sketch in ibisPaint X and final drawing in Commodore 64 multicolor bitmap (160 x 200 resolution, 16 colors). If I could, I’d knit him a cozy sweater.
🐱🎨👨‍💻🕹️👾

I think I’m starting to grasp how to draw in C64 multicolor. You get three colors that can be used anywhere, and per 8 by 8 pixels block you get to pick another color out of 16 possible colors. Careful placement of the pixels is key. If you do it right, you can have a very colorful image
🎨👨‍💻🕹️👾