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mattpk
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Quote mattpk Replybullet Topic: Will pixel art last?
    Posted: 11 February 2008 at 4:27pm
I plan to be a pixel artist when i get a job, but i am worried. In a decade will there be any jobs out there? All the games will be 3d modeled, and i do not want to be a 3d modeler. Home projects don't pay professional pay, (around 2750-3250 dollars a month) and online game sites are kinda well unsafe. I don't know much a bout it though. Any "reassuring" things to say or "you are right you are doomed " things will be appreciated.
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Monkey 'o Doom
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Quote Monkey 'o Doom Replybullet Posted: 11 February 2008 at 5:00pm
Yes.

RPG is numberwang.
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greenraven
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Quote greenraven Replybullet Posted: 11 February 2008 at 5:10pm
For the most part traditional pixel art is already dead. You can still do this thing as a hobby, but I wouldn't hold your breath to be making professional money.
"pwnage comes with patience, practice and planning." ~ Jalonso   
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Metaru
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Quote Metaru Replybullet Posted: 11 February 2008 at 5:24pm
I believe that the real question here is:
Do i make it for money or for Fun/Pleasure?

unless you're planning to actually live from pixel art... i doubt you'll get much money. The point of pixel art, as i see, is that its now more focused on the 'art' part of pixel art, wich is basically made just for personal pleasure.

as fool said on his deviantART journal:
My main interest is pixelart. Perhaps, I'm no artist and don't have any intention to be one - i've spent my ambitions on other things in life, but that's something what makes my day these days.

don't worry about this kid. grow up first and then we'll discuss about work.


Edited by Metaru - 11 February 2008 at 6:18pm
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Ensellitis
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Quote Ensellitis Replybullet Posted: 11 February 2008 at 9:29pm
this reminds me of when they said traditional painters would no longer have jobs when photoshop first came out... 

my point?  greenraven's and anyone else who say pixel art is dieing opinions are invalid, because you dont have a time machine to go into the future...
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Dra_chan
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Quote Dra_chan Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 1:14am
It's a bit early for you to be thinking about becoming professional, you need to learn how to pixel first. And you shouldn't worry about that, if you like pixel art just do it, it will be fun, and who knows if in the way you can get a job. But if you want to be an artist for a living, you should learn other kinds of digital art too.

Is pixel art dieing? I don't know, but there are cellphone games....
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Larwick
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Quote Larwick Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 1:24am
I'd predict that in ten years, when cell phones have been running high definition games (or better) that pixelart jobs will have become extremely limited. I doubt you could have it as a primary job, if atall. I don't believe the art medium will have died though, i think people will still be doing it, maybe even more people than now.

But these guys are right, i doubt you'll still be striving to be a professional pixelartist in ten years. You'll have (hopefully) gained artistic skill that would lead you to other, more easily accessible professional media.


Edited by Larwick - 12 February 2008 at 1:25am
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Skull
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Quote Skull Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 3:16am
Ye.need.be.leech.unto.something.good.

Like Gaia or whatever.. lots of people on that; you get onto a worthwhile project and you'l be safe.
Plus, there's always people looking for that badass retro look that comes from using pixels.
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Terley
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Quote Terley Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 10:44am
Well I think there are still areas yet to be discovered in gaming, it's all about pushing the boundaries of what hasn't been done and now in an era where most anything is possible there should still be room for a full pixelart game if there are people to make it. Even if fully realistic gaming is available a good game should be judged down to it's quality alone with the fun factor and whether it will keep you playing.
 
I don't think there should be anything stopping someone from adding a bit of nostalgia to this generation, its all about the playablitity afterall. And to be honest nothing about making games semi-realistic these days appeal to me if the game play is just confusing and all in all boring..
 
If someone bothered to fund a good new game made entirely of pixel art for one of these next gen consoles, Id say the majority of people would buy it. Its not just the graphics that have improved over years, the AI, level complexity potential has vastly improved too. Hasn't it?
 
I doubt there would be a perminant job out there for you in 10 years time doing this, but I definately think there should still be.


Edited by Terley - 12 February 2008 at 10:45am
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Metaru
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Quote Metaru Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 10:51am
but you really need to be paid to make pixel art? at this point, pixel art has surely created its own path in spite of its functional origins related to games and aplications.
 
most of the work in PJ is indeed, non-commercial. why it would be diferent in the future?
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Lawrence
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Quote Lawrence Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 11:52am
I think the relative low-cost and low-time spent making 2D games is one of their biggest advantages (at least for developers). In 10 years when most games will probably be distributed digitally I would expected there to be pixel art in games as well as other diverse things (a bit like what happened with music).
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mattpk
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Quote mattpk Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 1:24pm
Now my options are to be a programmer, and use my pixel art skills developed to help me make some games, and pixel as a hobby and a part-time extra allowence job.
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Larwick
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Quote Larwick Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 2:01pm
Neato. 
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BlackDragon
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Quote BlackDragon Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 2:27pm
"Now my options are to be a programmer, and use my pixel art skills developed to help me make some games, and pixel as a hobby and a part-time extra allowence job. "
 
Thats exactly what I plan to do.
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Pixel_Outlaw
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Quote Pixel_Outlaw Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 3:36pm
An art cannot die completely without all practitioners forgetting how something was done and leaving no trace. It will continue to become more and more impractical as the push for high resolution images continues, but won't die.

Edited by Pixel_Outlaw - 12 February 2008 at 6:07pm
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Metaru
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Quote Metaru Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 6:58pm
at this point i would say, that mattpk is still too young to worry about these things. being a 10 years old kid is the best moment in your life to think what would happen to pixel art as a commercial activity in the next 10 years is a bit 'rushy'. specially when you don't have a real specialization or experience in either programming or pixel art.
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Quote Pixel_Outlaw Replybullet Posted: 12 February 2008 at 8:30pm
An individual's age has little to do with an body of work that he is not a key contributer to. You could bring hair or eye color into the equation with the same results. His experience or lack thereof has nothing to do with wondering about the future of an art form. I think you are thinking that he is too young to worry but tying his age to the future practice of this art form is not a solid connection. Pixel art the way it is practiced here is not going anywhere. Images can contain millions of possible colors and for industrial purpose it is easier to lazily whip something up on a high end program that creates generic and lackluster shapes. Take a look at how many people here have been employed and what they are asking for their works time wise and money wise and you will see that beyond some special applications it is not a profitable venture for the employer. Nobody wants to make large sprites in pixel art for low pay and that is what the current resolution trend calls for. Yes you can still find some in hand held video games but even those are slowly going 3D with smudgy photo shopped icons and buttons. Traditional pixel art was born out of a need for low color sprites at small sizes. New graphic innovations have pretty much made pixel art a thing of the past for many application developers. I said many but not all. Pixel art will always have a precision aspect to it on very small or large levels. The problem is finding employable people that can work quickly and make huge quality sprites for cheap. There are still studios using pixel art but it is less than ideal to most companies. Take a look at who is doing 2D even. We as consumers lack the initial limits that pixel art was born from, so few developers see any reason to keep with tradition. Like I said it is not going to die until everyone regards it as useless. Take a look at your computer screen most of the 2D work you see is done with way too many colors by our standards. However these colors cost the developer nothing to use and our graphics cards can handle them without any strain or tricks so people are free to lazily use too many colors at crazy resolutions. The future of traditional pixel work lies in the interest of individual artists not developers as it once did. It isn't an industry beyond some odd jobs here and there sadly.
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Metaru
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Quote Metaru Replybullet Posted: 13 February 2008 at 5:40pm
Originally posted by Metaru

at this point, pixel art has surely created its own path in spite of its functional origins related to games and aplications.


exactly what i said two post above = agreed with you about pixel art's current status.

also, when speaking of pixel art in this context, would be a great idea to always set it to the strict PixelJoint context. why? Pixel Art driven sites do not share the same policies regarding what is allowed under their standards. we have demoscene, amiga, commodore, spriters forums/comunities wich all have their own definition. for example, in pixel joint we have this issues of not allowing partial transparencies at all, or color counts beyond 100, etc.

now, for the statement about mattpk being too young to worry about pixel art's future, i believe i was misunderstood. what i wanted to say is, in fact, that if he really wants to focus himself in this path of the pixel artist, or either of the programmer path, one 'must' have learned and dominated the most basics concepts, put them on the paper, experiment, and then, when you have already some control and knowledge(and experience) worry about other side topics(not to call them 'advanced') like employement posibilities, the valid usage of the definition of the pixel art, color theory applied to bla bla bla, etc. etc. etc. in resume, learn all the basics first, and then worry about these things later.

finally, in any circumstance was my idea to look down the boy's doubts, wich are indeed a valid point, because of his age, wich we all know will never a factor that could determine someone's ability. neither its age, nationatily, gender, etc.

~Meta
Post written under the influence of Led Zeppelin - Rock 'n Roll.
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