mia, no, not everyone is concerened with the shape of their clusters, or at least not consciously involved in the choices they have to make on that level... they just put down blobs of color and then they throw common pixel art techniques on top like dither and aa and it looks pixel arty enough so it must be finished.
Very true words :) Someone can have awesome aa, dither and colour conservation but no ideas or no actual real artistic skills. Those techniques can just be the cherry on the cream to a well structured piece, esp aa.
helm: Oh, I think I see what you mean. In a sense, I suppose everybody pays attention to that to some extent. What more is there to think about when you're busy plotting around single pixels anyway. And I do feel that my priority, more felt than outspoken though, very often is trying to figure out how I want to have hard or soft edges be present as such, or how the transition from one shade to another should either be pleasing in form while being clearly discernible as sampled continuity, or how I can get such a transition to disappear some altogether.
ilKke: losing patience/motivation is true in some way, though it doesn't usually feel like losing it. Most of my stuff feels finished to me, when I leave it be. But yeah, usually, when I do something for myself and just to make the time spent on it worthwhile, I don't usually feel the urge to delve into it crazy, but just get the idea right or just go as far as there's fuel left in the tank. I think you won't find anything in my gallery that tells you the big story, that would warrant a steady coming back to a piece until its cause is done justice.
Technique in itself, I do find boring, but it can give so much extra value to something that's already got character. Then again, technique isn't a scale with a beginning and an end. It's a toolkit and those tools serve its specific purposes. I don't think it's aa+dithering+color conservation=good piece. Most of the soul lies in very idiosyncratic, trans-formalizable variables.
Oh and yeah, I am working on something more upscale of my own! :) But that's not in any shape to discuss yet, so until then, I hope you'll enjoy the occasional moment of recognition in some of the Nitrome games that will come out from August onwards :)
gas: The preview kinda does indeed. Walter Matthau is a late US actor.
I have no idea who Walter is but was pretty sure looking at the preview that's some Stalin caricature.
yes, the shapes are pleasing and often optimal and when they're not optimal, they're still a valid approach, they're not senseless.
I believe what Helm means is that each blob of color (connected same-colour pixels) has a satisfying shape, something that is for example a common goal in graphic printing. (correct me if I'm wrong, Helm)
What I really like about your work is that it is so often rough around the edges pixel-tech wise (probably because you lose patience/motivation rather than 'cause you can't see the room for improvement), but the underlying artistic qualities are of such might (for lack of a better word) that you can get away with anything and it ends up looking like a style rather than half-assing things. I like to think that you are at heart a painter, who ceases to see the challenge the moment all light, forms and materials on a piece have been conquered and so you skip the boring bits and move on.
I hope to God you are busy working your ass off with something awesome, because that's the only possible excuse you can have for not making more pixels :D
adcrusher, leroy: that's correct, it's been around for a while. ptoing suggested I upload it and so i did, because i really am his lapdog as a matter of common knowledge. i'd usually upload right away, but this way i get scolded as a bonus ;)
and absolutely, i totally see the hints of jawsh too, in the jacket.
hatch, petrichor: agreed
quazignrllsnes: haha, that actually had me chuckle in my current, weird state of mind, when i saw it. it's such a ridiculously silly little quirk that i'm actually already starting to really like it :D
helm: you need to explain that to me too some time :)
I've been looking at the clusters on this for some time now. Before I ever uttered the word 'clusters', actually. One of the few pieces that are inspiring in that way for me, to see someone get it before it is even explained.
THE YELLOW LINE AT 45 DEGREES, ITS GOT A JAGGY HIGH UP D:
I agree with what Hatch said, although less about the space above his head and more with the off-to-the-side-thing. He is clearly peering off to our left but the abrupt way that space ends, and the way it's equal to the space he *isn't* peering into, is disconcerting.
I am not entirely certain why it is, but whenever a character in a piece is looking off to one side or another it seems to help a lot to give them some space to look into, even if there's nothing in that space. I have no idea what makes that so, but it definitely makes for a pleasing composition.
That said, the pixeling on this is iiiincredible. The texture of his jacket and the character of his skin are both especially great.
Why do I feel like this has already been posted.. Maybe I'm remembering a WIP-thread from Pixelation. I love the style, reminds me of the olden days and Jawsh for some reason.
I think a more pleasing composition would have him off to one side, with perhaps a bit less space above. Awesome regardless.
I think you posted this in a thread at pixelation a while ago right? I remember because I found the jacket to be very well pixeled. Great job
Well, yeah, I suppose I am the only person I get to look inside the head of while doing this kind of thing. There's not much more I can say about this. That's hell of a nice compliment anyway :)