All weekly challenges until October 22nd are part of Pixelween 2023, a contest with prizes. This is the first week.
You will be drawing a scene on the theme; Sounds from the Basement. You could be adding winding stairs, ghosts, shackles, sewer monsters, trap doors, vampires hiding in the dark, coffins, a lone candle light shining, or an unholy torch. What will you keep in your basement?
For an extra challenge add something on the way of disappearing upwards out of frame, that could spill into your next scene (theme still to be announced).
In the upcoming challenges you will be continuing the scenes vertically, but with a new theme and an increasing palette each week. Don't forget to visit PJ Discord to vote for what colours to add next week.
Technical requirements for this week:
Canvas Size - exactly 140 (horizontal) x 80 (vertical) pixels.
Colors - Max 8, use this palette:
Transparency - No.
Animation - No.
We're excited to hear who will be joining, let us know in the comments with an "I'm in"!
The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.
The time has come once again. Pixelween awakens from it's unholy slumber. Beware it's tricks and get ready for the treats!
This year, you will be crafting 4 scenes that connect vertically over the course of four consecutive weekly challenges. Each challenge will be a new type of spooky scene that connects with the previous one. All of the scenes added together as a vertical panorama shall be your Pixelween entry. Think of these submissions as a collab with yourself, since you do not know the next week's theme in advance.
Rules:
To be eligible for the Pixelween prizes, you must submit to at least 2 of the 4 weeklies. As long as at least two of your submissions are on time, you are allowed (but not required) to submit more up until October 25th, the final deadline. Technically having a complete set is not required to win, but the fates favor a finished vertical panorama.
The winning entries will be chosen from all eligible entries by a jury of select PixelJoint members, perhaps with the help of some dark outsiders who for now remain in the shadows...
The weeklies also function as normal weekly challenges, with the usual prizes. Your success in the weeklies does not influence your chances in Pixelween judging.
There will be a fifth bonus challenge that can be added onto your entry but isn't part of the judging.
The palette begins with 8 colours but will gradually increase and participants can vote for which colours to add the next week on PJ Discord. For every scene the canvas size will be 140 x 80.
Prizes:
More rewards (software keys) will be announced soon! From these, the highest placing winners get to choose first, and if a winner does not need a software license it will be moved on to the 10th place, and so on.
The winning entries shall be announced on the 31st of October.
All who participate shall earn the rare Pixelween trophy.
How to enter:
To participate, your works need to be submitted to the Pixel Joint challenges, details are in the challenge posts:
The first challenge is: Sounds from the Basement (September 25th - October 1st)
The second challenge will run from October 2nd - 8th
The third challenge will run from October 9th - 15th
The fourth challenge will run from October 16th - 22nd
Bonus round will run from October 23rd - 29th
If you've missed out on one of the challenges you can still submit your entry to Pixel Joint, as long as at least 2 of the scenes are posted as part of a weekly challenge within the deadline. While it probably won't be necessary, poking one of the moderators when you post your entry after its challenge deadline is a good idea.
Will you terrify the judges? Will you show them something hauntingly beautiful?
Should you feel frightened on your own, the community is here for you in the challenge forum threads and in the Pixelween channel on the PJ Discord. You're welcome to share your WIPs, so that we may conquer our fears together!
You can find the results of the 2020 Pixelween here.
You can find the results of the 2021 Pixelween here.
You can find the results of the 2022 Pixelween here.
For those who are new on Pixel Joint:
To submit to these challenges you enter it in the gallery and tick the "submit to weekly challenge" box before Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific), challenge timer is on the front page.
More details about the submission and voting process can be found in one of the the challenge threads.
The following pixel artists produced Pixel Joint's top rated pixel art for August 2023.
Many thanks go out to this month's top pixel artists, and all the members who took time to rate!
In preparation for the upcoming Pixelween, we shall do a small warm-up challenge for this week. Create an small idle animation of a scary looking creature or character, using a small canvas and chosen palette.
Canvas size: Max 12x12.
Colours: Max 11 (palette + transparency).
Transparency: Required.
Animation: Required.
Pixeljoint is holding another palette competition which is open to everyone and is quite simple.
Submit your 18 color unique + original palette HERE! (More info in forum post.)
The winning palette will be used in PJs next Isometric collab: mISOlogy - where the theme is MYTHOLOGY. Other award winning palettes may also be used in other events and challenges.
Add a rare trophy to your profile.
Competition closes on September 29th, 2023.
The latest of Pixeljoint's traditional ISO collabs, CarnISOl just got complete! 33 different participants, made 98 tiles in 2 years. Make sure to check out the amazing result. Many thanks to all the participants who made this real! Special thanks to Irenaart who provided the palette, Krugelix and vrine who made 13 tiles each!
Please stay tuned for the color competition for the next collab - mISOlogy! This time the theme will be - as the name suggests - mythology!
This is a kind of an RPG party challenge.
Create two character sprites - one of Sherlock Holmes and one of Dr. Watson. Chose two elements and use each of them as a theme for each character. Yes, they can be elemental monsters, but they can also have only elemental themed outfits, or be magicians of different element magic. What kind of characters you draw, and how you interprete their elemental nature is entirely open to your interpretation. The only thing not debatable is that both characters have to be indefiable, and the usage of chosen elements recognisable. If you convincingly pass those criteria by drawing a frog and a stone - even better.
You have to use the Murder Mystery 16 palette by Toby_Yasha.
Canvas size: Exactly 221x221.
Colours: Max 17 (palette + transparency).
Transparency: Required.
Animation: No.
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 | Ganesh Chaturthi (India) August - September |
 | Labor Day (USA) First Monday in September |
 | Mexican Independence Day September 16th |
 | Rosh Hashanah September or October |
| | Yom Kippur Tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tishri (September or October) |
| More holidays | |
