Spooky corpse tapestry :: Pixel Art Detail

This began as an attempt to pixel an engraving of a worm-eaten corpse that I found in an old book years ago (here's a scan of the original), just for some practice with turning lineart into pixels. My pixel art started out as black and white, like the original, but then I recently got involved in a horror platform game project and decided to use the piece as a huge tapestry in one of the castle backgrounds, so I added the rich colors and big shadows and highlights.

It's 6 colors (including the transparent channel for the tattered edges) and 96x166 pixels. I added a little bit of shading here and there what was originally a totally flat drawing; if this were one of my own drawings and not intended to be a flat tapestry in the game, I'd have added a lot more shading to the body. I also experimented a lot with dithering in this piece and may have gone overboard. Still, not too bad for 5 or 6 colors.

The linework was done just by eyeballing it and pixelling it freestyle, but I have to admit I cheated a little on the text! I reduced the original image in Photoshop and then used it as a guide for the tiny illegible pixel text I drew by hand. The text on the original image is Latin, and I had some folks translate it for me. The outer edge is information about a person's name and occupation; this image was on a grave or some other item documenting the deceased. The text in the word balloon says something to the effect of, "I await the resurrection of the dead." Spooky! I'm getting a tattoo of this thing soon. Err, the original drawing, not the pixel art.