This is a remake of the very first piece I submitted to PixelJoint back in 2006! Crazy that it's been that long. I also remade it back in 2009, and I still think that one mostly holds up, perspective notwithstanding!

I haven't pixelled at all in like 6 months, and haven't done a major piece of my own for almost a year. This was a back-on-the-wagon project, with the special goal of working on clusters and maing the negative spaces just as smooth and form-defining as the positive shape, in most areas at least. In that sense, I think I succeeded. HERE IS A BLOG POST WHERE I DID A FULL DECONSTRUCTION OF MY CLUSTERWORK, IF YOU'RE INTERESTED.

As for the logistics of the piece, this is still in compliance with the now very old Pixelation palette challenge to use these six colors to show a Maya-related scene. It uses all six of the colors (black, dark purple, light purple, dark green, light green, yellow) with no transparency. I used no references. It is larger than I usually (or ever) work with at 300x400 pixels. It took about three evenings off and on. Some progress shots can be seen in the above blog post link.

This isn't a perfect piece. For its largest flaw, I'm not makig the most of my space, with wide expanses where detail could be infused. Something to interrupt the sky, some fine details in the grass. The figure is boring but helps me provide the primary lightsource, and he's not particularly well-defined - he was obviously not the priority here. The temple is a little low on the horizon, and could stand to be higher. Some curves, particularly the moon, need some improved rounding. I purposefully used no dithering, but decided antialiasing was alright despite my focus on clusters. I wish I had some control over the colors, but alas this is what I was given.

However, despite these flaws I feel very happy about it given my time off, and am satisfied with my ability to work with clusters and negative/implied forms, especially since this is my first major foray into working with them. I might come back and fill in some more details into empty spaces, but for now, this is done.