Welcome to the real 5th April Fools Gallery challenge.
After a year's break, we've changed things around a little; this year, we're asking you to create a piece of pixel art in the style of one of PJ's featured pixel artists. So pick one of the following artists:
then create a piece based on what you've learned about their techniques, background, inspirations, etc... from reading their interview and browsing their gallery.
No list of restrictions this week; pick what restrictions are appropriate for your chosen artist. Just make sure your entry is entirely your own work and that you name the pixel artist you are attempting to emulate in your description.
The challenge thread will have all the challenge updates. The thread is also a great place to post your WIPs.
You're getting really good! :D
I had no time during week but I'll probably finish mine before deadline. This challenge is too fun to miss!
You can offer to feature anyone you wish. Be aware that you should let some Mods know in the event that a feature on that person is already in progress...about 5 or 6 by different people are in progress and they move slow often.
Well written, concise and informative, with links and images and not short but not too long.
PJ likes features that showcase and celebrate a certain artist and their work but its very important that at least half of any feature deals with thoery, opinion, technique and everything pixelart more than 'personality'. These features are learning tools and tips and tricks and stuff like that.
Revealing who is being feautred publicly insures it will never run. No PJ Mods/staff!!!*
*Why there is no 'cure' but there is a jalonso feature? Mine is crap, old and I wasn't a Mod back then...
Sure I always wanted to do one, :)
Is there any specific pixel artist I have to pick? Like I have a huge list of pixel artists I really like should I pick those who are the best or those who are most active?
For example the guy I want to write the most about is MIASCUFG but he has been inactive for some time :(
So should I try to contact him or should I like try contact more available artists?
Everyone is invited to contribute to PJ in every possible way. Artist features by anyone are totally cool so long as they are well written informative and make for an interesting read.
Any Mod will gladly help correct, guide and prepare a member feature :)
most people don't join for the ribbon, they join for the community aspect. "personal" challenges are already reflected in everyone's galleries. the idea is something that a dozen or two people follow, which usually doesn't happen ad-hoc.
I just personally have a terrible time working on and finishing things when I don't have a deadline. ^_^
you're all free to work on your own schedule on your own, personal self imposed challenges. if you're crying for the sake of having more time on a challenge purely for the sake of getting a Ribbon.png, then you certainly have a terrible way to set your priorities and goals.
It's not happening, at least not for this challenge.
I definitely support the idea of a monthly challenge! If they upgraded this to the first one that would be great too... :)
What about letting normal users write features? I would be happy to interview a few artist and talk with them about their insperation, technique and color palette. I just need to know if the staff would be alright with it.
I remember a few years ago I was pushing for another pixelween, which I think lasted a month. I think that went out with pixelblink. But something like that once in a while would be cool. I'll bet there would be some fantastic work posted. The Hall of Fame would be rewriten!
Someone suggested at one point years ago that there be a monthly challenge run alongside the weeklies - generally ones with a more heady angle that take planning and development, but that would still be more lenient than the weekly deadline. I always thought that was a great idea.
@ Adarias - I would love to see some 2-week challenges. Just like the mods are busy, the members are too. And personally, with the weekly challenges, I always feel rushed and can never do my best work. And pixel art shouldn't be rushed. I always hear "it's about quality, not quantity".
And to mimic some of the styles of the great artists listed here would take even more time. I would hate to rush through this challenge. I'd like to look at it as a learning experience to study their work in more detail, etc.
No. You make a brand new piece based on the style of one of the artists, looking at everything from colours, rendering style, subject matter, preview...
Okay, I just have a confusion, do we just have to pick a pixel piece of one of the above mentioned artists and make that piece?
@Jinn - I lughed pretty hard at that.
Honestly I'd think I'll have a chance of doing this in less than a week (especially with all the other projects I've got running.
Weekly challenge >:I
I swear, give y'all an inch and you take a mile...
isn't the point that it wraps up on April Fool's day?
i've never seen a 2-week challenge except for the recent server issue.
I agree with Badassbill about having more time for a challenge like this.
hehe I bought one also ^ ^!! I just use it to sketch something big, not tiny things..
...I haven't read a single interview before today.
In other news, I gots myself a tablet yesterday! Now I can work quicker if nothing else. ^_^
@adarias; there are a lot more artists that could be featured and would inspire the members, especially the newcomers. For example I discovered PJ 2 years ago and if it wasn't for that articles I wouldn't be knowing of any of you guys except for Jinn, who has been interviewed recently.
I certainly don't expect our precious staff to do anything more than what they already do. They are a small team and they've got loads of admin business to do for the site. Hence I'm advocating member-made interviews. Of course nothing like "hey I interviewed my uncle. put it on the site".
Yes, many of us PJ members have personal relations with many great pixel artists and we could do interviews but making them for one's personal blog and pixeljoint.com are two very different things. First off, many wouldn't be willing to spend that much time for an interview that few people will read. And then they wouldn't want their work published on a personal blog. The biggest problem is, will the artist a member chose interview with, be a commonly accepted master of the art?
So what I'm telling is that the staff could commission willing members to make interviews with particular artists the staff determines. Not that it's mandatory but believe me newcomers learn a lot from those interviews.
Why limit the choices this year? I don't see that as being more interesting, especially since, if I remember correctly, these are already the artists most often imitated in previous challenges.
I think out of the artists listed, Jinn has the most distinct style. Unfortunately, that style also seems to be the most difficult for yours truely. :P
AirStyle/Gecimen/Super17 - the admin staff here is very small, and entirely made up of volunteers. features also take a long time to accomplish, because the artists are here on their free time, and the message-tag takes several days or weeks to get enough material for a complete feature, which then needs to be edited and formatted and checked for all sorts of other things. Jinn was a prominent member for over 3 years before being featured, as was I and most of the other artists. A few, like Syosa and Fool and Buloght, were featured sooner because they burst onto the stage, but they're the exception.
I think it's also fair that the choices reflect the mod's desires for content. Though hugely community-driven, the staff does have a general mission and goals for the site, which they have every right to maintain. Some folks have disagreed with these goals, but for everyone who leaves in a huff, hundreds more sign up.
So, would I love to see more features? Absolutely. Mrmo Tarius, for his near-constant activity over the past year, would be at the top of my list. I'd also love to see Vierbit, Frankiesmileshow, pixelblink, kaiseto, dex, reo, scruffs, and many others featured. But I'm hardly going to be the one who pressures the mods for greater service than they already provide.
If you want though, I'm sure you could interview whomever you wanted, host it on a blogspot or something, and submit it as news. If you ask nicely and they like what they see, they might even post it as a feature. So there's nothing stopping you from trying!
It's a shame there's only a single week for this challenge.
Me gusta mucho cómo maneja la profundidad Buloght sin duda mi pixelart será basado en su estilo.
Oh man, this is gonna be a hard one. :D
Echoing Nevercreature's palette question.
But some artists have an heterogeneous style. I think it will be difficult justify their influences into our pics.
EDIT: One more thing... Are we allowed to copy their palettes? 
I love this challenge, I'm glad that it's back again! I unfortunately won't have time to enter though...
And I agree to AirStyle and Gecimen, we could need more features. So many great artists on this site who would deserv it.
I need to study all of them!
PS: Jalonso and nvison links are 404 not found in the challenge thread.
Great challenge. But I think we need a lot more features already. Well I could do some interviews I'm sure...
Alright, links are fixed and they now link to each person's interview.
@wuhu - it's more about understanding your chosen artist's modus operandi than inheriting their skill level.
If i could imitate any of their styles i would be a real pixel artist now 
So how come Mrmo Tarius hasn't been featured yet? He seems to be a great artist.
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That's the feeling...
Ok, 1 minute left but I submitted my entry xD
Just in time!