Amaxing - this is so so awesome 

omg the brains spells something

I AM GOING TO STEAL THAT IDEA
 

Atari ST is not really restricted, imo. The only restriction you got is the 9bit colours (total of 512), the resolution (320x200 is pretty OK) and the amount of colours you can use (16 at most in this graphics mode.)

For me the real fun with restrictions is when you got some kinda character/block restrictions like on the C64, ZX Spectrum, or the NES for example. Especially the C64 is really interesting because it has a pretty good palette, and not too harsh restrictions. I wrote a thread on Pixelation about restrictions of a bunch of systems, if you wanna have a look at that. Thread is here.

But yeah, imo it is good fun to play around with restrictions. They make you think and you get an interplay between them and your own decisions. I can only recommend it.

 

Wow, thanks for the detailed reply, ptoing! I think I get the technical side of your choice after watching the video. Definitely makes me curious to try working with Atari ST restrictions sometime, seeing as how they far predate the kinds of techniques I was looking at when I first became consciously aware of pixel art as a medium. (I.e., I'm an ignoramus as far as pixel art's roots are concerned.) 

Thanks!

Pheno: I am kinda sorta seeing it, but not really. Maybe you really had to pee when you were looking at it?

excellent work. totally thought the "BOBS" in the brain spelled "PISS" though

I could have sworn this was an OCEANSCENTED piece. Good work!

Thanks everyone :)

Amorph: Yes, there is a reason for the lack of aa, and it is partly technical, partly stylistic.

On the Atari ST you get a maximum of 16 colours, and the graphics are stored via bitplanes (each bitplane is essentially a 1 bit black and white image, that sets a bit for each pixel on or off. The added pixels of all bitplanes then determine which colour from the palette is shown). If you watch the demo you will see that there are is a transparent looking scrolling font as well as moving stars over the image.

Those stars and the font are only 1 bit, but they are the 4th bitplane; meaning that whatever they are on gets bumped up by a value of 8 in the palette index.

I wanted the picture to be cartoony and not use a very unified ramp for all the elements. Essentially there are the background, the fleshy bits and the colour of the guy. In an older iteration I started to antialias, but since the main body colour did not really have any good colour to aa against, as well as the whole thing changing colours in the demo, antialias would limit the choice of colours and potentially look clashy. This is why I went with a no AA and thicker outline look.

Hope this explains it well enough. If you got more questions, let me know.

This is awesome.

I also think the two-pixel outlining works well on this piece. Is there a particular reason for the lack of AA? It sticks out a bit on the rounded edges of the yellow background, but the effect is pretty pleasing on the whole.

Nice!

Im not big on double pixel outline, but I think this is the only piece using it in a way I like

Great

Fun design and funky colors too! I'm really enjoying your recent works! :D