I want to start making more pixel items. Besides pixel food, I want to pixel more items to add to my handmade pixel collection.

I have done this a few years ago:

It is a Japanese limbless wooden doll called a *Kokeshi*.

Notice in my Kokeshi I used dithering. But I do not always use dithering in my pixels. Also I would like to add is this pixel doll site called eLouai. Dithering is hardly used in the pixels unless necessary.

Does dithering always have to be used while pixelling?

Since I have a thread for my pixel food, I thought I would also make a thread as a journey of making other pixel items too. I hope that is okay.

I thought so, like for certain effects of pixels.

There is dithering in her hair and her pink bow. However, no dithering in her kimono.

yours is fine composition wise. Very nice rather, Here is a good tutorial on how to pick your colours.


Her is another display of how less colour doesn't affect your art.



Edited by Limes - 19 July 2014 at 10:06pm

OH! Haha! I forgot I used dithering on her face!! But one thing about Pixel Joint is whenever you zoom in on a pixel art, the details are blurred. So I hope you used MS Paint, GIMP, or another software to zoom in on her and my other pixels.

And thank you so much for your kind words. I would definitely be making more pixel art~ both pixel food and hopefully other pixel items.

The Pixelart Thread has the images back up now
http://www.pixeljoint.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11299

There is an image blur extension in the resource section for Chrome.

This is my Clawdine Kitten Goth Doll I got at Hot Topic store years ago that I pixelled. I was told that her hair needed more work.

So I made a before and after picture. I hope the hair looks better on the after section!

Edited by Jei_M - 11 August 2014 at 10:49pm

I will have to remember that for here.

Nothing but regular pencil used. I made sure.

We don't always know when there's an update.
Will check later on today.

Did you fix the tool use on the hair?
Did you optimize your pallette?

Yup, you cleaned up the hair but the image spec is still correct.
You do have that many colors.
For example, you have 14 different blacks several of which are only used in one single pixel.
You also have several shades of grey.
You really should be careful with this kind of thing.

Ideally, Jei_M, you want to control your colors by using as few shades as necessary to get the job done. jalonso says your image has 14 different shades of black, and that means a lack of color control - your image should only have one shade of black unless you have a plan for those 13 other shades.

Think of pixel art (and the color control thereof) as an exercise in minimalism. To quote professional wrestler Austin Aries: ‘The idea is to get the most out of the least; that’s what you do when you’re smart.’

The point of color control is learning how to use the same color for multiple purposes. Let’s say two or more colors look similar enough to where using one color won't make much of a visual difference - in that case, you figure out a good middle ground between those multiple colors and use that middle ground as your color.

I dropped your latest version of the picture into the PJ Specs tool and saw two similar shades of black: #000000 and #191919. The second of those two shades didn't pop out at me until I had zoomed in multiple times (I really only see #191919 in use on the bow atop the sprite’s head).

That detail didn't pop out at me because of the similarity between those two colors. In this instance, you have two choices, and they both involve changing the #191919 color: you can either change it to #000000 or change it to a slightly brigher shade of grey so it stands out better against the pure black.

Look at this sprite from PJ user Vic:



The sprite uses fifteen colors (plus transparency), but it re-uses colors in smart ways. Vic used #514030, for example, as the color for the character's beard/dark hair, outlines and dark shade for the shaded parts of the character's jacket, and the shade color for the character's shoes. One color serves three purposes.

And despite only using fifteen colors, the image packs in as much detail as possible into its small space - the character's face, hands, cap, jacket, pants, shoes, and Pokéballs all have distinct details and don't bleed into one another. Every change in ‘shade’ (light to dark, I mean) serves to further detail the image and create distinct shapes that enhance the image.

I’ll even toss in an example with even fewer colors, courtesy of PJ user Carnivac:



Seven colors plus transparency, but each color gets put to good use - zoom in on the image and examine each color, then view it at 1x size again to see how just seven colors created a perfectly readable (and surprisingly detailed) sprite. When working with minimal colors and smaller canvas sizes, the real trick to creating great pixel art lies in the details - specifically, which ones to bring out and which ones to omit.

Working with a larger sprite means you have greater leeway in choosing which details to bring out or omit - but that doesn't excuse poor color control in any way. Look at every color you use and ask yourself if another color you've already use can't take that first color's place. If the placement of every pixel in a piece matters, the usage of colors in a piece matters that much more.

Jei_M, you mention "minimal details" in that post, and I hope you didn't take the wrong message from my post. I'll back up to the Pokémon trainer sprite for a moment so I can show you something.



Now take a look at three quick edits I did for the purposes of this post:



Each edit in the above image swaps out one or two uses of #514030 with #000000. Each change in color also changes the look of the image and makes the details I mentioned in my previous post look different. You may perceive those details differently because of this.

And now I’ll go full hog by actually removing all usage of #514030 from the image and replacing it with either #00000 (outlines, hair, shoes) or #95482e (jacket shading).



The edit loses some of its details as a result of the deletion of a single color. Yes, the edit still looks good, but it doesn’t look as ‘complete’ or ‘three-dimensional’ as the original image. A single color changed the entire complexion of the image and made it better - which means that color becomes necessary for the image.

When I talk about minimalism and such in regards to pixel art, I don’t mean ‘use as few colors as possible’, but rather ‘use as few colors as necessary to accomplish your goal’. You can use eight, sixteen, thirty-two, or two hundred thirty-two colors to accomplish your goal. The philosophy of color control and pixel art minimalism doesn't limit how many colors you ‘should’ use or demands as few colors as possible – it asks only that you consider whether you need every color in your image and get rid of any unnecessary colors. It certainly doesn't ask you to get rid of details, either.

Your image may require details to look right, but you’ll want to make sure you absolutely need a new color to create a specific detail or whether a color already in use can do the job. That’s the philosophy of color control and pixel art minimalism (or ‘essentialism’, if you prefer) in a nutshell.