Possibly dumb question(s)
Printed From: Pixel Joint
Category: The Lounge
Forum Name: Resources and Support
Forum Discription: Help your fellow pixel artists out with links to good tutorials, other forums, software, fonts, etc. Bugs and support issues should go here as well.
URL: https://pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13943
Printed Date: 13 September 2025 at 12:25pm
Topic: Possibly dumb question(s)
Posted By: CNHphoto
Subject: Possibly dumb question(s)
Date Posted: 02 March 2012 at 11:32am
So I won't really call myself a pixel artist at the moment, but I will say that I have a great amount of interest in it.
I've noticed that pixel art as a term seems to broadly incorporate many different canvas sizes. It seem like 64x64 is pretty common. I want to learn and practice, but I'd rather work on a much smaller canvas, at least for now. I'd rather be creating pieces like this http://playstarbound.com/forums-2/ - Starbound link where the canvas is much smaller.
What is the name for these smaller canvas pieces? Where can I find more help for technique involving this scale? A lot of tutorials seem to cater to larger, more isometric pieces of art (which I love), but I find them to be less helpful.
Also, I don't even know what I want to start creating, is there a lesson or practice plan that can be particularly helpful?
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Replies:
Posted By: cure
Date Posted: 02 March 2012 at 12:22pm
64x64 is just the maximum size for avatars here at PJ. There are no separate categories or names for pixel art depending on size, just as there aren't separate names for large and small paintings. At this scale, careful management of the pixel cluster is going to be most important, outlines may needlessly take up useful space, and high contrast will help readability. The same principles apply to pixel art regardless of size. Read about these techniques in the http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299 - Pixel Art Tutorial , and you may also want to look over the Ramblethread! mentioned in the description of the tutorial.
As far as knowing what you want to create, that's entirely on you. There are no limitations on subject matter, it's purely a personal choice.
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Posted By: CNHphoto
Date Posted: 02 March 2012 at 12:48pm
Thanks, cure. I've read your tutorial a few times actually. It's quite comprehensive, I'm just floundering about on starting and practicing.
I know in photography (something I know a lot more about) there's a lot of good practice subjects like flowers, babies, dogs, a bowl fruit whereas people or mountains at sunset are considerably more advanced in order to do the subject justice. Are there good subjects to practice for beginners?
EDIT: I'm forcing myself though some work that won't measure up to the amazing stuff that I've seen here, but I'd like to share it with the hope of some feedback (hopefully encouragement :P).
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Posted By: cure
Date Posted: 02 March 2012 at 2:00pm
It's literally whatever you want to make. Personally I think flowers are a horrible subject for photography because they're so over-photographed that they've become cliche. Pixel art is just a medium, there's nothing inherent in it that limits the type of subjects you can depict. People are fine, still lifes are fine, plants and tree and rocks and boats and snakes and landscapes are all fine.
It just depends on what you WANT to pixel. When I first started pixelling, I was inspired by the trainer sprites in Pokemon, so I tried making small sprites of people. I like working with human anatomy, so I often do portraits as well. Some people (Josiah comes to mind) like to do landscapes. There is no right or wrong at this point, it is only a matter of what you find inspiring or interesting. Other people can't tell you what you like, so you should try to find out what you want to make, what you are drawn to.
Try looking around the gallery here, or at the works of other artists from art history, or objects in your environment that you find interesting.
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