Hello everyone. Let's get to the point: You may be thinking that this "Damasca" project I'm posting about is one of the numerous half-baked attempts at creating a game that you see all the time.
Well, let me assure you that isn't the case. Damasca has been in existence since 1999, and since 2001 Damasca: The Conflicted Kingdoms has been working toward a single goal... To create the best online Action RPG we can possibly create, and do it for free. To that end, we're always working on further building Damascan lore and a sturdy game engine to put it all together.

Damasca is, therefore, purely a community-based project. Everyone who joins our team or even visits our website has a chance to make their voices heard, and we make absolutely certain that all of the most original and innovative ideas are refined and implemented into the game.

We've been at it for much longer than most of the kids who drop in on communities like this one looking for help. Much of that time can be attributed to the fact that the game is intended to be both excellently-done and free. As you might guess, these two terms take a lot of time and effort to work with.

One of the things we have always struggled with is pixel art. Since the core of the game is designed around classic 2d experiences like Secret of Mana, it requires a very unique and specific graphical style which can't be emulated by just anyone. Examples of what we have so far can be found here.
Artists have come and gone, and as a result, we have mostly ended up with a scattered body of work in varying degrees of skill.

Anyone who is interested in Damasca can check our website for extensive information. For pixel artists specifically, we have the following recommendations:

* Remember, this is a community project. You would be working on it in your own time, no salary is involved.
* The style we are currently aiming for is something simple, yet vibrant and wonderful to look at, like a modern GBA game. The Mana/Seiken Densetsu series can provide the most influence to that end.
* Character graphics specifically would be oriented more towards a fusion of comic book and anime styles. This is not a rigid guideline, however... Draw what you think looks good.
* Expect criticism. Ideally, you would be creating graphics that would be used and re-used throughout the game, and as such they have to avoid becoming stale or hard to work with.
* Above all, have fun with it. We're a unique community that's been around for a while... We're in no hurry to make anyone feel unwelcome.