Pixel Joint Forum: CHALLENGE 5/16/2011: Zarblay Xemplok

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   CHALLENGE: Zarblay Xemplok
Create an image of a  character called "Zarblay Xemplok", a native of the planet Spectrus. You must pixel this character using only the ZX spectrum palette. Here is  all the known information about your character - Zarblay has:

    A large nose.
    Two tentacles.
    Three eyes.

You may present the character in any way you want, from a facial portrait to a full body image. But whatever you choose, Zarblay must be the main focus of the piece. Your piece must also show all three physical characteristics listed above.
Optional Bonus Challenge: Use real ZX spectrum restrictions. Have a look at this guide, created by Ptoing.
Canvas Size - Max 256 (width) x 192 (height).

Colours - Max 15; Use only colours from the ZX spectrum palette:

Transparency - No.

Animation - No.

CHALLENGE RULES
Participants have until this upcoming Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) to submit their entry (strict). Don't forget to check the 'Submit to weekly challenge' checkbox.
Only new pixels allowed.
Open to all members.
Posting WIPs in this thread or in new threads in the WIP section is highly encouraged, but ONLY SUBMIT YOUR FINAL ART.
CHALLENGE JUDGING
Every Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) the previous week's entries are judged.
Every week a new voting poll will be posted for previous week's entries.
Winner announced the following week.

CHALLENGE PRIZES/GOODIES
Top three finishers will receive an award displayed in your PJ gallery profile for all to see and envy.
Top finisher gets to call the following week's challenge...sweet.
'Participation' ribbons will be given for all who enter.
No matter what happens you get challenged :)
CHALLENGE VOTING
Vote now for your favorite pixelart in this week's challenge!
CHALLENGE AWARDS
The Zarblay Xemplok pixel art challenge is complete and we have three new champions. This week's challenge awards go to the following pieces:

Look Daddy, my first badge!!1! by Jinn
zarbie at spectrus beach by tomic
Zarblargh by a3um

Thanks so much to all who took the time to vote and participate in the challenge! 

zarblay xemplok by solrac
Zarblay Xemplok greets an Astronaut from Earth by Advarsky
Problem Zarblay? by Life Dairy
Z to the X to the S to the PECTRUM! by Mrmo Tarius
downtime by weezllane
Awkwardness by XSkull_ReaverX
boo! by zombi2
Zarblay Xemplok by yaomon17
Zarblay Xemplok Siren by TropicalSnowcone
Zarblay Xemplok by vassink
Oldman by Ismail
Monster Zarblay! by Mrmo Tarius
Zarblay Xemplok by xxmantisxx
What am I on? by Kanonsis
Xemblay Zarplok by showtime

Author	Message
administrator Admiral Joined: 03 March 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Topic: CHALLENGE 5/16/2011: Zarblay Xemplok Posted: 16 May 2011 at 12:01am
	CHALLENGE: Zarblay Xemplok Create an image of a character called "Zarblay Xemplok", a native of the planet Spectrus. You must pixel this character using only the ZX spectrum palette. Here is all the known information about your character - Zarblay has: A large nose. Two tentacles. Three eyes. You may present the character in any way you want, from a facial portrait to a full body image. But whatever you choose, Zarblay must be the main focus of the piece. Your piece must also show all three physical characteristics listed above. Optional Bonus Challenge: Use real ZX spectrum restrictions. Have a look at this guide, created by Ptoing. Canvas Size - Max 256 (width) x 192 (height). Colours - Max 15; Use only colours from the ZX spectrum palette: Transparency - No. Animation - No. CHALLENGE RULES Participants have until this upcoming Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) to submit their entry (strict). Don't forget to check the 'Submit to weekly challenge' checkbox. Only new pixels allowed. Open to all members. Posting WIPs in this thread or in new threads in the WIP section is highly encouraged, but ONLY SUBMIT YOUR FINAL ART. CHALLENGE JUDGING Every Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) the previous week's entries are judged. Every week a new voting poll will be posted for previous week's entries. Winner announced the following week. CHALLENGE PRIZES/GOODIES Top three finishers will receive an award displayed in your PJ gallery profile for all to see and envy. Top finisher gets to call the following week's challenge...sweet. 'Participation' ribbons will be given for all who enter. No matter what happens you get challenged :) CHALLENGE VOTING Vote now for your favorite pixelart in this week's challenge! CHALLENGE AWARDS The Zarblay Xemplok pixel art challenge is complete and we have three new champions. This week's challenge awards go to the following pieces: Look Daddy, my first badge!!1! by Jinn zarbie at spectrus beach by tomic Zarblargh by a3um Thanks so much to all who took the time to vote and participate in the challenge! zarblay xemplok by solrac Zarblay Xemplok greets an Astronaut from Earth by Advarsky Problem Zarblay? by Life Dairy Z to the X to the S to the PECTRUM! by Mrmo Tarius downtime by weezllane Awkwardness by XSkull_ReaverX boo! by zombi2 Zarblay Xemplok by yaomon17 Zarblay Xemplok Siren by TropicalSnowcone Zarblay Xemplok by vassink Oldman by Ismail Monster Zarblay! by Mrmo Tarius Zarblay Xemplok by xxmantisxx What am I on? by Kanonsis Xemblay Zarplok by showtime
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Mrmo Tarius Commander Joined: 12 February 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 367	Posted: 16 May 2011 at 2:55am
	update :D edit same tiles, different concept: Edited by Mrmo Tarius - 17 May 2011 at 1:01pm
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Cilein Seaman Joined: 26 June 2021 Location: Ireland Online Status: Offline Posts: 32	Posted: 16 May 2011 at 4:32am
	That was fast, really good use of those colors!
	-Building an engine-
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Chibiwing Commander Joined: 02 June 2024 Online Status: Offline Posts: 122	Posted: 16 May 2011 at 8:57am
	You are so evil Tarius. T_T You make me want to do this challenge despite how busy I am.
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Mrmo Tarius Commander Joined: 12 February 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 367	Posted: 16 May 2011 at 9:46am
	Why yes, of course :)
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dpixel Commander Joined: 03 February 2015 Online Status: Offline Posts: 564	Posted: 16 May 2011 at 10:13am
	I really have no idea what I'm doing O_o I am the noob in chief after all. Edited by dpixel - 16 May 2011 at 10:14am
	hehe (ಠ_ಠ ) o_- :p
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ellie-is Commander Joined: 12 September 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 706	Posted: 16 May 2011 at 5:27pm
	I suck at pixel art. Everyone else, great job so far.
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Chibiwing Commander Joined: 02 June 2024 Online Status: Offline Posts: 122	Posted: 16 May 2011 at 9:44pm
	Where can I find that palette or make sure I'm using the right colors in Gale? I want to at least attempt the challenge. Can it have other traits too? Like ears and horns and stuff? Edited by Chibiwing - 16 May 2011 at 11:29pm
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Mrmo Tarius Commander Joined: 12 February 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 367	Posted: 17 May 2011 at 12:12am
	Image editors should automatically adapt the palette for the current index-color image, so you should only need to open the attached .gif with the speccy colors, resize it and clear the canvas :) That's what I did, but in Grafx2 :)
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Chibiwing Commander Joined: 02 June 2024 Online Status: Offline Posts: 122	Posted: 17 May 2011 at 9:11pm
	I tried to reply to this earlier but my comp misbehaved. Everything you said was pretty much gibberish since I am totally new to pixel work. I just open a new document and specify the dimensions and then 4 bits. 4 bits gives me 16 colors really similar to these. Also, I don't work with .gifs at all.
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wuhu Midshipman Joined: 15 March 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 42	Posted: 17 May 2011 at 10:18pm
	If you are using graphics gale, I believe you just open the png on the first post of this thread ( Using GraphicsGale ) and your palette is automatically indexed to the same colors. Then proceed to resize the canvas and clear the canvas or do your work on a new layer.
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Chibiwing Commander Joined: 02 June 2024 Online Status: Offline Posts: 122	Posted: 19 May 2011 at 12:04am
	Thank you! Photobucket is giving me problems right now so I can't put up the wip I whipped up real fast.
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Mrmo Tarius Commander Joined: 12 February 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 367	Posted: 19 May 2011 at 6:09am
	Well, I made another concept. If I understand correctly, multiple entries are allowed?
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Reo Rear Admiral Joined: 07 April 2021 Online Status: Offline Posts: 679	Posted: 19 May 2011 at 6:42am
	*Originally posted by Mrmo Tarius* Well, I made another concept. If I understand correctly, multiple entries are allowed? indeed they are. Don't forget the big nose though. Looks great btw!
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Mrmo Tarius Commander Joined: 12 February 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 367	Posted: 19 May 2011 at 6:48am
	It has a big nose, but I guess it is not very well defined :P (hint: top of its head) :D
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rolo Seaman Joined: 01 May 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Posted: 19 May 2011 at 11:24am
	i actually enjoy using this pallet xD dnno why :P
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showtime Commander Joined: 14 May 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 105	Posted: 21 May 2011 at 1:00pm
	Hey everybody, I'm new to this community and to pixel art in general (other than messing around in MS Paint...) I decided to give this challenge a go, and here is the result: At first I was put off by the palette, but I ended up having fun with these colours. I have some questions, please let me know if these are unwelcome in this thread. Also, sorry if these sound stupid to anyone, everyone's gotta start somewhere: I notice that Mrmo Tarius is playing around with tiles. The result is amazing and this is something I would love to experiment with, but is there some kind of software that makes this kind of stuff easier? I tried searching around for advice, but all I really got out of it is the possibility of using RPG Maker for something like this. However, it feels bulky/unnecessary to download something like that for something so simple. I did my best to stick to the bonus challenge rules, but I was pretty much checking this manually (I had an 8x8 grid displayed over my piece.) I imagine this, too, can be automated in some manner? Lastly, I imagine there might be some way to make dithering easier than doing it by hand and copy/pasting, although I'm guessing tiles might be involved with this, so this probably isn't a separate issue. Not that copy/pasting things is that hard anyway. : P Cheers
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Mrmo Tarius Commander Joined: 12 February 2022 Online Status: Offline Posts: 367	Posted: 22 May 2011 at 2:50pm
	1. I was using Grafx2, it has a nifty grid/grab combo to improvise working with tiles (it also has something called 'tiling' but I haven't actually learned how that works yet) :D 2. I've googled for 'image to zx spectrum' converters, found one that worked rather good, converted the image I was working on and compared the resulting image to the source :) 3. Again, Grafx2 has a useful 'sieve' option that makes dihtering much easier. It COULD be considered 'cheating' by the pixelart purists, but then again, so could the whole tile-related work. Also, I like the dihtered gradients you made, makes the colors seem vivid and interesting, and not totally crappy, which the ZX palette certainly is :) Bottom line: get Grafx2 :)
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showtime Commander Joined: 14 May 2020 Online Status: Offline Posts: 105	Posted: 23 May 2011 at 2:25pm
	Thanks, I'll try out Grafx2. I downloaded it, but it definitely looks like it will take me a while to figure it out.
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