Not sure if a "cluster of plants" counts but I'm pretty sure this won't work out or get entered anyway XD so it won't matter I suppose :P

*DISCLAIMER - I'm very, very bad at pixelling, therefore you don't need to tell me I'm an idiot, I'm well aware XD

Trying out this new method I read about http://danfessler.com/blog/hd-index-painting-in-photoshop.

Stuffed up and did all the working area on one layer and forgot that each colour ramp area has to be separate, and then realised I'm not smart enough to use connecting colour ramps and therefore am highly unlikely to ever be successful with only 16 colours but three areas. Unless there's something very obvious I'm missing here about the process, which is also likely XD

Here is the 13 colour greyscale


And an attempt at using the flexible colouring trick from the link



Yes, it's awful, I know. Not sure if some dither would help... although I always get told here not to do it XD

edit:
tried some dithering and cleaned up the water area


edit2: omg dur hur... there's no splash at the bottom of the waterfall no wonder it looked silly XD



edit3:

removed rock highlight colour and added silly animation for lolz (don't worry I still have the non animated version, I know it's not well done but I'm hardly an animator haha)



Edited by clefairykid - 12 May 2015 at 9:11pm

I don't know why PJ links don't work for me but if you just copy and paste the actual URL written there into the bar, it still takes you there XD

Well, if this doesn't count, the definition maybe needed to be stricter or clearer, as in "actual archipelago's of islands only", the food buffet example felt to me fairly similar to this, a plant/food/island grouping seemed to me to fit in with that train of thought, although it's not the greatest idea itself, it seemed ok enough.

edit: Beginning of a so far fairly poor attempt at actual archipelago, need to redo so that the blues are reused properly because the system is good for pixelling but hopeless for applying colour, also not happy with the centre island colours, might try the beach part in the lightest blue, and also highlight the crests of the nearest waves in lightest blue and see if that crisps it up a bit. Also needs more blue variation in the sea shading since you can still see the three bands of colour from a distance... at least the composition feels relatively ok though.


Edited by clefairykid - 13 May 2015 at 4:50am

Literal translation from the Greek is 'Chief Sea' and it originally referred to the area now known as the Aegean sea. THAT SAID; I have zero ideas.

@moondrome, That's real nice.
*I know you will, but be real clean you have some dirty bits.
*The road seems a bit too thick/wide or somehow reading as slightly out of scale to the buildings.
Maybe the white edges seem/read high and judging by building doors the people would have to jump over a high ledge :/
*Your shadows are a bit inconsistent.
* The boat would not fit under that bridge.
...so yeah, I guess, scale seems to be the biggest issue :)

Edited by jalonso - 14 May 2015 at 8:26am

Haven't done anything with the second idea yet, but added lilly pads as suggested, tried to use a slight ripple/reflection on the water around them so they don't look too poorly placed...



edit: took forever to settle the colour issues in the archipelago only just starting to make changes with it now x - x

Edited by clefairykid - 14 May 2015 at 10:10pm

Looking better already!

Now there's one more thing that's buggy me a bit, and that's the ramp at the end of the road. The ledge on the right side facing down is too thick when compared to that other part of the road facing the same way. I would suggest making that one line instead of two.

Edited by Jackster - 16 May 2015 at 5:16am

@Zamaj, that is beautiful!

@zamaj, You said in your gallery comments that you haven't been having much success in defining the water. Does this help you out at all?