Based on my previous sketch I made a pixel art version. To me it doesn’t look very convincing, which probably means I have to revise my process.
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I knew Ibispaint on iPad can do pixel art, sort of. However, its pixel brushes give more an impression of pixel art, than actual pixel art, more as an art meme rather than something to be displayed on a cathode ray tube. That isn’t a bad choice, especially since it allows art forms to be mixed.
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For the month of September 2023 micro∙blog organized a photo blogging challenge with daily prompts, and I adopted it for pixel art.
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1. Abstract
2. Buildup
3. Precious
4. Orange
5. Forest
6. Well
7. Panorama
8. Yonder
9. Language
10. Cycle
11. Retrospect
12. Panic
13. Glowing
14. Statue
15. Red
16. Oof!
17. Intense
18. Fabric
19. Edge
20. Disruption
21. Fall
22. Road
23. Day in the Life
24. Belt
25. Flare
26. Beverage
27. Embrace
28. Workout
29. Contrast
30. Treasure

It was mostly a fun experience. Sometimes I had to try another, less ambitious drawing, on other occasions I accepted a bad drawing for that day. I certainly did a lot of tracing to speed things up.

SepPixel for September 30, 2023, prompt: “Treasure."
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SepPixel for September 29, 2023, prompt: “Contrast."
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SepPixel for September 28, 2023, prompt: “Workout."
👾 ʎʇʇᴉʞ ‘sǝʇnlƃ ǝsoɥʇ uɹnq

SepPixel for September 27, 2023, prompt: “Embrace."
👾 xɐɯ oɹd ϛƖ ǝuoɥdᴉ ʍǝu ɹnoʎ ʎoɾuǝ

SepPixel for September 26, 2023, prompt: “Beverage."
👾 ǝɯ ɯoɹɟ ɟɟnp ou ʇɔǝdxǝ

SepPixel for September 25, 2023, prompt: “Flare."
👾 spl ǝɥʇ uo ʎsɐǝ

Turning a small illustration into pixel art is still a lot of creative drawing besides tracing. Shown is the intermediate size-reduction step I made in Procreate with a 1-pixel brush, and the 4x even smaller version in Pixaki. It’s based on an illustration from an image search.
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SepPixel for September 24, 2023, prompt: “Belt."
👾 uǝʞoɹq sᴉ ʇlǝq ǝɥʇ

Working ahead a few days in my current SepPixel challenge has shown me that my iPad needs upgrading. It doesn’t last longer than a few hours on a full charge, and drawings apps sometimes crash, probably because of low memory and software development with the M1 or better in mind.
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SepPixel for September 23, 2023, prompt: “Day in the Life."
👾 ǝƃpᴉɹɹod lɐǝɯʇɐo sǝʌol zᴉz∀ 🤭

SepPixel for September 22, 2023, prompt: “Road."
👾 ʎǝlloʍ qɹᴉɔʞ ɹoɐp

SepPixel for September 21, 2023, prompt: “Fall."
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I tried to draw a cute stylized cat from imagination, and see I’ll need more practice. Also, 64 by 64 pixels is a bit cramped for this art style. I probably need to bump it up to 96 by 96 or 128 by 128 pixels.
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SepPixel for September 20, 2023, prompt: “Disruption."
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SepPixel for September 19, 2023, prompt: “Edge."
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To get back into pixel art, I gave myself the challenge to draw the daily prompts (themes or alt themes) for r/SketchDaily on Reddit and post the result on both it and my blog. Here are the prompts and the links to blog posts with the drawing in it.
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1. July 26, 2023: Pillow Fight
2. July 28, 2023: Free Draw Friday, a portrait
3. July 29, 2023: Ogre
4. July 30, 2023: Witches
5. July 31, 2023: Microscope
6. August 1, 2023: Sandwiches
7. August 2, 2023: Disguise
8. August 3, 2023: Large Birds
9. August 4, 2023: Dusty Old Books
10. August 5, 2023: Free Draw Friday, black and white cat
11. August 6, 2023: Cycle of Life
12. August 7, 2023: Gloomy
13. August 8, 2023: Bump in the Night
14. August 9, 2023: Gudetama
15. August 10, 2023: Regatta
16. August 11, 2023: Free Draw Friday, laser shooting cat
17. August 12, 2023: High Society
18. August 13, 2023: The Angriest Looking Fish You Ever Saw
19. August 14, 2023: Beehive
20. August 15, 2023: Bears
21. August 16, 2023: Plumbing
22. August 17, 2023: Heavy Metal
23. August 18, 2023: Free Draw Friday (finished the bears of August 15, 2023).
24. August 19, 2023: The Matrix
25. August 20, 2023: Olympics
26. August 21, 2023: Donkey Kong
27. August 22, 2023: Galaxy Quest
28. August 23, 2023: Illustrate Your Reddit Username, Ditto version 2
29. August 24, 2023: The Muppet Christmas Carol
30. August 25, 2023: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
31. August 26, 2023: Movie Week Free Draw Finale (Raiders of the Lost Ark)
32. August 27, 2023: News Headline
33. August 28, 2023: Evolution

You’ve undoubtably noticed that the 30 days were in fact 33 days. Who is counting if they’re having fun?

It was indeed very enjoyable, though tiring. Doing pixel art is as slow as doing coloring pencils (i.e. very slow), at least, for me it is. I could easily spend 6 hours on a pixel art drawing, not counting research and pauses. It wasn’t sustainable on the long run. This is why I stopped as soon as I had another challenge in sight, the photo blogging challenge by micro∙blog, which I repurposed for pixel art, called it SepPixel.

SepPixel for September 18, 2023, prompt: “Fabric."
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