Alright, I just wanted to get some advice, and feedback on my work. My portfolio can be found at http://8bitskinny.tumblr.com/. I'm also a freelance pixel artist who's interested in helping others with project's and games for free.

Here's a sample of my work.




Edited by ModernYorkster - 28 April 2011 at 3:23pm

Except the robot, they all seem very blurry and are covered in jpg artifacts, even though they're all gif files (except the robot, which is jpg). So did you enlarge jpg files and resave them as gif?

If you're using photoshop (I don't know what options are in other programs) when you enlarge something you need to select the option that says "preserve hard edges" and only enlarge it in exact multiples. For example, exactly double, triple, quadruple, etc.

Saving a file as a jpg compresses it to reduce the file size. The result is a loss of quality and the appearance of "jpg artifacts" which look like clumps of random, messy pixels when you zoom in. Because of this, jpg is never considered a file type appropriate for saving pixel art. Once you save something as a jpg it is ruined as far as pixel art is concerned, and can only be fixed by resaving the original file (only if it's not a jpg) to something like gif or png or by remaking it.

The robot also seems to have mostly 2x2 sized pixels with some 1x1, 1x2, and 2x1 ones randomly mixed in. Was it worked on after being enlarged? Or did you not enlarge it by an exact multiple?

Edited by tanuki - 28 April 2011 at 2:23am

But what I'm saying is that there's just no reason to save pixel art as a jpg. For example, look at that new image you edited into the first post. It's 37kb. I just converted it to a png on my computer and now it's less than half that size. So when you save pixel art as a jpg not only does it ruin the image quality but it also increases the file size. I don't mean to sound like I'm badgering you here on this, but there's literally nothing that you gain by saving it as a jpg. Jpg is meant for photographs, since its very name (originally/sometimes jpeg) stands for "joint photographic experts group".

My point is just that you'd really be doing yourself a favor if you avoid mixing pixel art with the jpg file format.

Edited by tanuki - 28 April 2011 at 3:57pm

Tanuki, thanks for the advice. I removed all .JPG files and replaced them with the raw .GIF. The results removed all close up pixelation.

Jabberwock, I've got the reduced size .PNGs on my computer. I enlarged the images a bit so I could capture the old NES, SEGA vibe. Thanks for the program, I could more than likely use it.

Edited by ModernYorkster - 29 April 2011 at 4:09am