CHALLENGE: No Pumpkins Allowed

Carve a jack-o'-lantern avatar out of any fruit or vegetable - except a pumpkin.

Canvas Size - Exactly 64 x 64.
Colour Count - Max 16.
Transparency - No.
Animation - Optional.

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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.

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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.

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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 :)

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CHALLENGE VOTING

Vote now for your favorite pixelart in this week's challenge!

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CHALLENGE AWARDS

The No Pumpkins Allowed pixel art challenge is complete and we have three new champions. This week's challenge awards go to the following pieces:



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

oi, senhor pihllipejugnet.
j? sei que tu ja ganho essa parada

Some criticism or advice?

Might be finished IDK. C&C

Now I have to figure out how to make a jack-o'-lantern out of...

a BROCCOLI!


or not:



Edited by Adam - 23 October 2012 at 2:53am

I was going to enter then realized if I submit something I wouldn't be able to add it to my avvy sheet and expect anyone to listen when I bitch about redundant art in the gallery...but still made a quicky using the only veggie that can be my bug shape


*done before seeing adam's WIP

Here's the Entry I'm working on :

I'm going for a day of the dead style jack-o-lantern pepper!

Can't wait to see clefairykid's & adam's complete, looking good guys!

Edited by gogglecrab - 23 October 2012 at 11:08am

here's what I have so far.  I am coming close to the color count but I am pretty happy about it so far.  What is the opinion on dithering? Is it better to go random on something like this or would random work well?

I hope you guys can tell what I am going for >.>

I'm not sure if it's just my software/eyes but that isn't anywhere near the colour limit o -0 I went to save for web and devices and it hit the window limit of showing 256 colours XD The challenge requires no more than 16...

Ensure you don't use tools that create automatic AA (anti-aliasing) such as soft edged brushes or smudge/blur tools. Also, it appears to be a little one hued, although I used the colour picker and it showed you were moving a little bit along the colour spectrum, but I would say not nearly enough, move towards the blue end for shadows and the yellow end for highlights, and don't be afraid to keep changing up the hues in the midtones too, because that is where I see it staying the same at the moment.

As for the dithering, I don't really like it when people use just the first stage (checkerboard), either go for something textured like kiwinuptuo's style (dA artist you can google) or try to use additional stages of the traditional dither (which you can find here: http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299 ) or combine the two, depending on what looks best for each subject. I find that the first stage only in this case, makes the shading of the light straight harsh lines that don't really reflect the depth of the oval shape. The light should probably curve more I imagine. And the mouth is a little too light all over, and one hued, I think it may need more than two colours to give a sense of depth with reflected light from the flame.

It might be that your saving it in a format the compresses the image, so anything like a .jpg will make it go blurry etc, Make sure that the programs you use don't convert the image into a format the compresses the image, and also that it doesn't automatically resize things, as that can also cause extra colours and blurriness, even if it's only adjusting by one pixel, it will do that :P

I'm actually really shocked that a tutorial recommended little or no hue variation, it's pretty much been the turning point in my understanding of colour theory and has made a big difference to all my art, not just pixel art.

I'm still learning and I'm not the best at picking palettes, but I just made this by mucking around with hue shifting:



The greens might be of use, but I don't think the pinky colours are really what you want to for the flesh of the fruit, but hey, feel free to use any of that if it helps XP (that goes for anyone reading this, it's just some random colour examples lol)

I might join this week, with my favorite vegetable:



Edited by Hapiel - 23 October 2012 at 10:09pm

@quicklfick, as I mentioned, kiwinuptuo does a great job of explaining here http://kiwinuptuo.deviantart.com/art/Pixel-Art-Tutorial-Colors-184802567 but there is a lot of technical talk there, which can be a bit confronting/confusing to start with, I recommend focusing on that rainbow spectrum image with the suns and moons on it, that's where I eventually had my light bulb moment of where to move on the spectrum. As you can see on my little random example palettes, the first for green moves hues a lot, but still looks essentially "green" especially when combined into an actual image. I think the reason a lot of people put off the idea of learning hue shifting is because they mistakenly think it will mean that they need to change the colour of a character's design from an orange shirt to a red one, but it's not, you change the shadows and highlights the most but it creates an illusion as such of that colour with a more vibrant sense of depth. I really want one day to make a tutorial of my own that can help others have the light bulb moment much quicker, as I admit it took me a long time to understand it, and even now I can't make connecting colour ramps XD

@Hapiel - looks awesome already, such vibrant colours C:

@Adam, looks like good progress, maybe the flourishes from the face distract from their intended shape? I like them but it can make the mouth areas a little more confusing at first glance. Have to say the lighting is great though, very dramatic.

Another potential background:
it's better detail wise but it really doensn't help the subject stand out... blaahhh

Edited by clefairykid - 24 October 2012 at 6:02am

Hey guys. It's been a while since I've done anything, but here's my entry I worked on for about half an hour. How does it look so far?



I'm thinking about making a fire-like BG for it later.

P.S. It's a dragonfruit, just in case you don't see it (I really hope you do )

Edited by AirStyle - 25 October 2012 at 12:01am

@Bokeblender: It's a dragonfruit (I said it, actually)

I was trying to get a bluish shadow mixed with the natural pink color of the fruit.

Sure you can. But in most cases, it's not the best way to get the colors, because at a photo, many colors at a small area gives you the impression of the a single color you like by seeing the area in distance. Pick the color and adjust it, until you get the impression you want and you see at the photo. Or try a multi eyedropper tool which can pick the colors in that area together.