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Top Pixel Art - February 2021 (#4)Thank you Drea! I'm really happy to hear that, as I definitely feel like spriting is my weakest point in pixel art; retro palettes and small sizes somehow help me, but I'd love to tackle bigger subjects in the future!
So many things to love here, but the Entei sprite is what really won me over!
I love how readable the sprites are. Theres hidden gems everywhere
I'm glad you elaborated on bumping the colour limit of sprites. Between that, the subtle brightening of the black outline colour and the foliage arranged across the environment in dynamic composition, I was clued into why this art initially felt 'uncanny valley' to me - there's a strong amount of faithfulness in palette and use of tiled elements, but also a concession so there wouldn't be an eye-searing contrast of black against white and saturated colours, or a dominance of assets like trees all lined up space apart robotically. I really ought to treat this as it actually is - a reimagining of the original - but I simply can't get myself into that headspace if the difference in art from original to new isn't much starker. It's a weird bias to have for a pixelartist who grew up with Gold/Silver/Crystal.
This work must have taken hours to put together. Looking at all the different roof tiles, the building walls, the little statues and posts and gravestones, the pond, the stream, the tower tilesets alone, the dithering on the footpath leading out of the checkpoint on the far right, and trying to imagine suggesting little intricate details like boarded-up windows into a microspace. If there's nothing productive I can bring to the table, can I at least ask how long it took to make this or pester you for any anecdotes related to the production process?
ugh, this is sickeningly good. gen 2 is my absolute favourite and these map redraws are hitting my nostalgia hard. it's like being able to look at these locations through gold (lol) tinted glasses and see them how I imagined as a kid.
Beautiful piece for the collab! Favourite part is top left with the legendary dogs :)
Thank you StevenM, your comment absolutely made my day. I think you pointed out some of my dearest factors in pixel art and environment, such as the "dialectic" between tiled structure and variation. I think there's definitely something I need from both the structure and the freedom from it, and environment is definitely the field to better convey that research.
The microspace you're mentioning, as well, is something I deeply care for: from windows to dithering in shadows, the challenge resides in finding a balance between detail, readability and resource handling. I find that even there the use of tiles and repetition/variation helps conveying a "bigger picture" with its "density" of pixels, without losing a general focus. Of course the side effect of all I'm saying is that my pieces kind of require some calm and don't really convey a first impression and it's more like "Okay, I need some time to see the different parts". I'm really glad, anyways, that lots of people like you find that time for me (and for themselves) and get a bit lost in detail! Regarding anecdotes, for this specific piece I tried to fully understand what my memory of the original game was, rather than seeing and adapting the Nintendo DS remakes, which had an iconic take on the autumn trees for example. So I ended up thinking a lot about my personal Ecruteak, rather than the way it was intended, then I had to find another balance between my imagination and a traditional setting. Making the grove for the Burned Tower was kind of a response to my need of a more mysteryous place that could still fit in the general urban space, and Japan is full of examples like that! The very same process was applied to the Gym, which needed a differently characterized space, so the little secluded graveyard with the wisteria trees at the perimeter. So yeah, I try to work a lot on this kind of balance between memory and fantasy, tradition, scale and detail and so on!