WIP (Work In Progress)
 Pixel Joint Forum : Pixel Art : WIP (Work In Progress)
Message Icon Topic: Limited Palette Post Reply Post New Topic
Author Message
pixelblink
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 19 February 2023
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2865
Quote pixelblink Replybullet Topic: Limited Palette
    Posted: 23 July 2005 at 3:07am

ryan-gfx kindly suggested to me that I maybe rethink my pixels a tad bit. To be honest, I use transparency layers to create shades on my pieces which can add alot of colours to a piece that doesn't necessarily need it. That said, I'm trying to rework some pieces down to less colours by using a limited palette.

Starting off this self-challenge of mine is the bucket from the well piece I did. What do you guys think? 12 colours including transparent background

IP IP Logged
ryan-gfx
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 25 June 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 244
Quote ryan-gfx Replybullet Posted: 23 July 2005 at 3:23am


It helps to do non-iso pieces too. Such as faces that are shaded. Set a palette of 6 or 7 colors and shade a face... it really helps
IP IP Logged
iSTVAN
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 03 March 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 626
Quote iSTVAN Replybullet Posted: 23 July 2005 at 4:08am

I'd suggest reducing the colours even further. To me it simply seems impractical to use twelve colours on something as trivial as a bucket.

The iso work looks tight, but I've always found your pixel art to lack in contrast and have an abundance of different colours.



I made a little edit. I used a colour replacement technique to reduce the amount of different colours, then upped the contrast in GraphicsGale. Personally I find the result more aesthetically pleasing, but you might be pretty well fixed in your own style, and I respect that.

  

IP IP Logged
pixelblink
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 19 February 2023
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2865
Quote pixelblink Replybullet Posted: 23 July 2005 at 11:51am

Ryan: sounds good dude. Maybe you guys could test me by giving me a palette to work from and an item to draw?

Istvan: I've never been big on HIGH contrast. I'm a big softy. Your edit is nice but, I don't find it as appealing and some details are lost (the bottom looks cut off completely)

IP IP Logged
ryan-gfx
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 25 June 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 244
Quote ryan-gfx Replybullet Posted: 23 July 2005 at 1:38pm


This may not be the best example, but something like this. Make a small palette of very few colors (I picked 3) and try to make a face... I tried, but unfortunately my face turned out looking like Quinton Tarentino
IP IP Logged
pixelblink
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 19 February 2023
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2865
Quote pixelblink Replybullet Posted: 23 July 2005 at 1:57pm

Update well scene with 33 colours in total:

IP IP Logged
Amythist
Midshipman
Midshipman
Avatar

Joined: 11 July 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 48
Quote Amythist Replybullet Posted: 23 July 2005 at 3:57pm
PB, I really like when you use a ton of colors, it looks amazing, and I agree with the lower contrast thing. I would suggest doing what Ryan says ^_^'
IP IP Logged
TheDarkHawk
Seaman
Seaman
Avatar

Joined: 17 July 2005
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 26
Quote TheDarkHawk Replybullet Posted: 23 July 2005 at 5:36pm

Low color pixel doesn't impress most who are unincorporated with the whole idea of it. Real people out their like gradient like(no not basic gradients), high res work. I love low color work as long as the AA.

IP IP Logged
Ensellitis
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 19 June 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 10099
Quote Ensellitis Replybullet Posted: 23 July 2005 at 6:32pm
I beg to differ on that Hawk.  The srt work of people such as Ryan and a few others who were using less then 30 colors, and making these pieces with so much detail it was unbelievable.  Especially Sedges 3 color drawings that look like they have alot more.  Most people I talk to find pixel art so amazing because you can do so much, with so little.
ಠ_ಠ
There's a pubic hair on my keyboard. What the f**k?? I "mow the lawn" so it's not mine. Gross.
IP IP Logged
iSTVAN
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 03 March 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 626
Quote iSTVAN Replybullet Posted: 23 July 2005 at 11:35pm
PB: Haha, I botched the bottom bit whilst copy and pasting it with the select tool. Didnt realise until I'd uploaded it cos your transparant colour is black and I couldnt be bothered reediting it. It's easy to fiddle around and have the same amount of detail, I just didnt feel the need to touch up your nice work, just fiddle with the colours. But like I said, each to their own!
IP IP Logged
zi-double
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 05 October 2021
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 277
Quote zi-double Replybullet Posted: 24 July 2005 at 4:52am

Pixelblink I completelly acreed with iSTVAN that:

"I've always found your pixel art to lack in contrast and have an abundance of different colours."

=================

:) GDGB :)

IP IP Logged
Niss
Midshipman
Midshipman
Avatar

Joined: 26 April 2005
Location: Germany
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 57
Quote Niss Replybullet Posted: 24 July 2005 at 5:56am
You will be surprised how much you will learn with a careful colorselection. I used photoshop for my pixelstuff until this year (meaning I used photoshop for my 5 pieces scattered over 2 years) and I were very wasteful color-wise. I used transparencies for shadows and reflections and that stuff. But when I started using GraphicsGale I had such a simple way of creating my own palettes and damn colors are a world of their own. Really it's a very important part of pixel art. So enjoy it you will really become obsessed with them 
Oh and for the softness: You can still have low contrast with a higher saturation. I can't swear on it but I think that Kenneth Fejer ,a master of soft colors, is choosing colors that way...
IP IP Logged
pixelblink
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 19 February 2023
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2865
Quote pixelblink Replybullet Posted: 24 July 2005 at 12:06pm

Thanks Niss! (And everybody else). That's precisely why I want to try limited palettes - to reeducate myself and get more creative with less to work with.

I'll try and work on the contrast thing a bit more. Personally, I see nothing wrong with my lower contrast pieces. I find it make them look more 'real' and less cartoony.

IP IP Logged
iSTVAN
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 03 March 2005
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 626
Quote iSTVAN Replybullet Posted: 24 July 2005 at 11:13pm

Fair enough, PixelBlink old boy. I think it makes them seem a little duller, but it certainly makes them tend to blend smoothly as far as tones go. Whether or not that is a good thing.

I dont totally understand this procedure of using transparency layers for shadows and reflections...I've always hand picked colours, sometimes fiddling with contrast or other things in Graphics Gale apon completion (although I always pixel things in MS Paint). Could some one explain this alternative colouring technique a little for me?

IP IP Logged
Saboteur
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 29 January 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 888
Quote Saboteur Replybullet Posted: 25 July 2005 at 1:33am

Make a black (or appropriate colour as to the theme of your peice) layer in the shape of the shadow, and set the layer transparency to something like 20 percent or something.

So it takes all the existing colours and darkens them all, essentially. I'm against it because it gives so many damned colours.

"I was minding my own business and walking across a pebbled path, and a Duck started giving me the business."
IP IP Logged
zachriel
Midshipman
Midshipman
Avatar

Joined: 18 March 2005
Location: Sweden
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 51
Quote zachriel Replybullet Posted: 25 July 2005 at 4:59am
I believe pictures with high contrast and pictures with low contrast are completely different styles. As pixelblink said, low contrast makes a picture more realistic, while high contrast makes it more cartoony, or made up. While it is amazing to see an art form like pixel art create a realistic scene which could've been a photograph, I love to relax my eyes from what I see everyday with some cartoony and colorful pieces.

I definitly think you should stop saying high or low contrast is better than the other, because how I see it they're both the greatest, depending on the viewer's mood at the time and the artist's use of techniques.

It's like saying isometric is better than non-isometric




Er.. Sorry for going slightly off-topic.. I've already given you a good comment on deviantART, pixelblink..

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everybody else.

despair.com
IP IP Logged
Aleiav
Commander
Commander
Avatar

Joined: 08 April 2016
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2380
Quote Aleiav Replybullet Posted: 25 July 2005 at 1:47pm
I think your contrast instn't that big of a deal becuase to me, it doesn't make your work look blurry or anything, but more conrast would likely be more interesting and aesthetically appealing. Alltogether, with less contrast, you haven't done poorly by any means. I would suggest, though, making the handle on the basket thingy something other than silver because it looks a bit odd. Maybe black?
IP IP Logged
Post Reply Post New Topic
Printable version Printable version

Forum Jump
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot create polls in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum