CHALLENGE: A Day at the Races

Depict some form of racing. It can be any kind of race: a horse race, a kart race, an egg and spoon race, etc...

Canvas Size - Max 200 (width) x 125 (height).
Colours - Max 24.
Transparency - No.
Animation - Optional. 

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CHALLENGE RULES

• Participants have until this upcoming Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) to submit their entry (strict). Don't forget to check the 'Submit to weekly challenge' checkbox.
• Only new pixels allowed.
• Open to all members.
• Posting WIPs in this thread or in new threads in the WIP section is highly encouraged, but ONLY SUBMIT YOUR FINAL ART.

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CHALLENGE JUDGING

• Every Sunday at midnight (12AM Pacific) the previous week's entries are judged.
• Every week a new voting poll will be posted for previous week's entries.
• Winner announced the following week.

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CHALLENGE PRIZES/GOODIES

• Top three finishers will receive an award displayed in your PJ gallery profile for all to see and envy.
• Top finisher gets to call the following week's challenge...sweet.
• 'Participation' ribbons will be given for all who enter.
• No matter what happens you get challenged :)

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CHALLENGE VOTING

Vote now for your favorite pixelart in this week's challenge!

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CHALLENGE AWARDS

The A Day at the Races pixel art challenge is complete and we have three new champions. This week's challenge awards go to the following pieces:



Thanks so much to all who took the time to vote and participate in the challenge!

@Mrmo; But I'm sure I like it =)
Also, my WIP. Very rough just to show an idea and maybe get some critique.
Does it counts if both racers riding the same turtle?


Edited by Finlal - 03 November 2014 at 4:48am

Changed environment from desert to some meadow. It's more pleasant to my eye. And turtle must eat something, i guess.
Also cleaned background behind men so they contrast it more.
Any advices?
UPD.
Made it more like a road in mountains.
Is it readable?

Edited by Finlal - 03 November 2014 at 10:37am

@Temesis, you're right, thanks.

Edited by Finlal - 03 November 2014 at 11:22am

Finished poles on the left. Also gave a turtle some work. Men are still stickmen and I don't know what to do about that.
And maybe I should change colors or move turtle somewhere?

Edited by Finlal - 03 November 2014 at 4:14pm

@Finlal
i actually really like he composition of the piece. i like the fact that the turtle isn't placed right in the middle so i think to move it any further to the right would be a mistake.

Edited by the pixel chicken - 03 November 2014 at 11:40pm

My progress so far. Still having doubts about colors.

@Drazile, Darth Vader started with pod racing.
Pod is the path to the dark side.

Edited by Finlal - 04 November 2014 at 4:19pm

Vroom vroom :)





Edited by Mrmo Tarius - 05 November 2014 at 4:35am

I assume those are just design elements.

Its looking lovely.
Would softening the clouds help to better achieve a soft misty BG?
If not intended to be soft and misty would lowering all clouds or raising all the clouds so the sky is half open make for a more expansive scene?
Would a broken/messed up pole help the scene as the theme is not 'invent a new race' so it seems like these people do this often?

That's what I meant to suggest too.
If you lower the clouds (fog/mist) and soften the contrast then the BG mountains should read as foggy.
You have to balance the 2 sky shades so the roads in the farthest back mountains help to further fog/mistify.
Well, maybe weather a pole or two a bit. They look freshly painted.
btw, not entirely sure but I think the back leg on the turtle should be much forward. Almost meeting the front leg.

The clouds will have to be very low to be foggy.
Right mountain with bridge everything below the top 2 tiers +- and below is all light color and everything above that the darker shad with soft misty streaky blend (dithering is probably good for this FX).

Edited by jalonso - 05 November 2014 at 2:45pm

@Finlal, hmmm. I think you may be headed in the wrong direction.
The layout was good before.
This new BG mountain does not seem to match the environment.
I could make you a rough small section edit in the am of the BG only if it would help. I don't know you well enough yet, so like a vampire I need an ok to enter :p


Edited by jalonso - 05 November 2014 at 6:40pm

@Finlal. I was just going to show a foggy rough edit to maybe help you see things differently but another issue came up when inside your pixel that may not be solved for this pixel but something you need to work on, k.

The first edit shows what I had mentioned before using the colors already in your pixel. Where I aim to show you how lowering the clouds makes for a foggy/misty scene and how adding a shade at the bases of mountains further enhance the ground fog. Best seen in the right hand side.

The edit below that with the 16 color palette shows this even better because the colors have been adjusted.

This led me to your palette and the skill known as 'palette unification'.
Your pixel is using 30 colors so many of which are wasted.
The palettes on the black BG shows a quick way I just cleaned up you mess. This was quick and rough and I have many shade errors so this is just a guide, k.
I think you can make this pixel with 12 colors and see no change at all.
Whenever you are pixelling anything just work on the assumption that any color you place might and usually WILL be tweaked. In the turtle you added colors you needed for that area instead of looking for colors already existing in the pixel or tweaking a shade that is already there so it works where it was and in the new area you were going to add a color.
Unless one works with an existing palette coloring is always a process of making a shade then every so often adjusting each one here and there so colors are kept to a minimum and  the working palette is unified constantly and then even at the very end once more when you check levels and contrast.
A 'working' grey, for example, might start out as pure 50/50 then find its way to a warm grey then to a cool grey and even change to an actual shade that 'reads' grey but may be an ochre, purple, green or anything at all.
Palettes are organic and you should be very flexible about them as colors in pixelart are not always as sensible as they can be in other mediums. Its not uncommon for the 'yellow' your mind sees to be a 'purple' in a pixel.
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This is just feedback for you to think about and help you find your way because its just my opinion and nothing more.
To me all common pixel skills are wonderful and required to understand and improve upon if one wishes to be a pixelartist but nothing separates the skilled from the unskilled as color selection.
Palette unification is the most beautiful thing there is in any pixel.
Even when one does not understand this process and just works with a given perfectly unified palette they usually find creative joy, freedom and creative stress-free satisfaction. This is why DBs 16 is such a hit :)



...sooooooo, yeah!

@Finlal, Don't stress yourself for this challenge just finish it up and do the best you can for the week.
My comments and edit and the whole palette thing is for future work and something to focus on polishing.
You won't achieve this by Sunday so just see what you can do and enjoy yourself.

The 12 color palette you made looks nice and clean.
Maybe the red is a bit saturated is all.
In this scene and with its lighting that red would be cooler (blue/purple) but maybe (greenish can work too).

No. That would be thanks to you being open to new things, ideas and processes.
Best o'luck :)

Really interesting conversation about colors
I'm not at that level yet, I just pick colors I think work together and somtimes change them later
hmm but here's what I got so far


I want to color the biker, still need to work on the right side of the image, the skies and the road.
do you think it has potential? o:
any suggestions?
I thought about adding little crowd on the right side and make them cheer up and jump when bikers reaches them

ehm... well so I saw this challenge and my mind just gave me this... may add a background because it looks plain tho...

edit: By the way it seems I'm kinda crazy sometimes...

Edited by Ceres Mikael - 06 November 2014 at 6:50pm

Well.. . I tried CGA palette :D Also... this is my first challenge here :D
(this is probably final)




Edited by Druid_cz - 08 November 2014 at 6:24am

You'll have to make it be a race somehow, k.
"Depict some form of racing" is the main rule of the week.

If you finish that coolie I would be amazed!

Ok, now he's racing :) I tweaked the face and helmet for hours, but can't really seem to find a way to make it look more interesting without making it worse :/

Good idea, but unfortunately I won't have any more time to work on it before the deadline. Will submit this as final:

Maybe not for you
Would be nice if it entered the contest, but even if not, I'll consider even just admittance to the gallery a success for my very first pixel :)