Limited Palette
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: Pixel Art
Forum Name: WIP (Work In Progress)
Forum Discription: Get crits and comments on your pixel WIPs and other art too!
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=594
Printed Date: 12 September 2025 at 10:21am
Topic: Limited Palette
Posted By: pixelblink
Subject: Limited Palette
Date Posted: 23 July 2005 at 3:07am
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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
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Replies:
Posted By: ryan-gfx
Date 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  |
Posted By: iSTVAN
Date Posted: 23 July 2005 at 4:08am
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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.
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Posted By: pixelblink
Date Posted: 23 July 2005 at 11:51am
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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) ------------- |
Posted By: ryan-gfx
Date 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  |
Posted By: pixelblink
Date Posted: 23 July 2005 at 1:57pm
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Update well scene with 33 colours in total:
------------- |
Posted By: Amythist
Date 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 ^_^' |
Posted By: TheDarkHawk
Date Posted: 23 July 2005 at 5:36pm
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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. |
Posted By: Ensellitis
Date Posted: 23 July 2005 at 6:32pm
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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.
------------- There's a pubic hair on my keyboard. What the f**k?? I "mow the lawn" so it's not mine. Gross. |
Posted By: iSTVAN
Date 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! |
Posted By: zi-double
Date Posted: 24 July 2005 at 4:52am
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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 :) |
Posted By: Niss
Date Posted: 24 July 2005 at 5:56am
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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... |
Posted By: pixelblink
Date Posted: 24 July 2005 at 12:06pm
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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. ------------- |
Posted By: iSTVAN
Date Posted: 24 July 2005 at 11:13pm
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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? |
Posted By: Saboteur
Date Posted: 25 July 2005 at 1:33am
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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." |
Posted By: zachriel
Date Posted: 25 July 2005 at 4:59am
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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. http://despair.com - despair.com |
Posted By: Aleiav
Date Posted: 25 July 2005 at 1:47pm
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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? ------------- |