@ZacRay The "angels" design intentionally don't look like traditional heavenly, haloed, feathery-winged angels. What would the fun be in that? :p

But yes, the hands should probably be on the other side.

Is this a doll? You should post a link to the base if it is.

@Jalonso, Hah. I wasn't sure if you were making some sort of joke I wasn't in on, or if it was an innocent typo.

Did you just say Ikkle intentionally?

Well, this is awesome :p

PJ's zoom option shouldn't do that anymore. It should just scale up directly by pixel (so 2x is just 4 pixels for every 1 original one). What's your browser/OS?

I really would recommend submitting stuff at 1x. Sometimes it gets easy to get so accustomed to working on something close up that you fail to see the big picture from a distance. A lot of the time it will actually look better in a smaller format.

I actually rather like philip's edit to the tree. I think the big thing to take away from it is the emphasis on increased detail twoards the outer edge as it becomes darker. It helps give a more three dimensional look. As it is, the texture of the current tree makes it look somewhat flat.

It's easy to pick on high color count, because it's easy to identify when something uses far too many colors. This piece doesn't seem to be a high color picture, but the specs show otherwise. I think it's useful to see the palette laid out like this. You have a lot of near-duplicate colors, and I think this is largely a side effect of not considering your overall palette. Individual pieces of this have been designed separately, without looking at what the other parts have already used for colors. It's good to notice these things, because keeping a strong, consistent palette across the whole picture tends to create a more visually interesting and pleasing piece.

We've also got to talk about dithering. As a rule, I'd say don't do it except in the following cases:

• You need to add a specific texture to a part of your artwork
• You are trying to conserve colors, and you need a smooth gradient between a harsher color boundary
• You are very experienced at dithering, and know intuitively when to apply it

Dithering is tough. When applied properly, it can look great, but it's very easy to make a gritty, grainy and ugly looking picture by applying it poorly. Your sky is an example of dithering that is applied with the right idea in mind (creating a gradient between a couple colors), but is done poorly. The dithering shouldn't run into each other. It should fade out to a flat color, then start fading back in to the next part of the gradient. I made a quick and dirty edit to demonstrate what I mean.

I hope some of this is helpful, and you take it to heart. There are a lot of things you should learn and practice, but there are lots of resources out there. Derek Yu did a good tutorial, and I made one a few years back for a college course.

@AngelOTG No need to be defensive. I think the suggestion is that artwork with large, thick lines and smooth shading is generally more conducive to vectors than pixel art.

I don't think anyone here would really say that this isn't a good, if unique example of pixel art: It's generally very clean and has some good detailing around the face. It just happens to be on a more macro level than most pixel art, and lacks the very fine details most of us have come to expect.

If you think you're bad at AA, I'd actually really recommend just giving it a try. You might find it easier with a mouse, rather than the wacom. Most very small level details tend to be for me. You are clearly a good artist. But that's no reason not to try out some new techniques, eh?

Mum-Ra the Everliving!

All joking aside, this has a very nice style to it. Sort of a comic-bookey aesthetic.

I think the point of the argument is this: Pixel art relies heavily on understanding color theory and color conservation. In almost all cases, knowing when to reuse colors rather than adding new ones makes for a more interesting, high quality picture. Just keep it in mind for future pieces.

When you find yoruself reaching for another color, think "Is there something in my palette that could do the same job here?". There's really no reason for 170 different grayscale colors when it could be accomplished in under 20 with no loss of quality. More importantly, conserving colors helps you think outside the box.

Well, this is fantastic! The texture really stands out as being superb,  and I especially like the rocks.

I think the reason people like to point of lots of colors is that often times, the fewer colors you restrict yourself to the more interesting and aesthetically pleasing a piece will end up being. It's just generally a good practice.

The animation is solid. It doesn't have too many frames, but they're very even and it gets across the motion nicely. Her breasts look kinda... pointy though? I'm not sure if it's just the design of her shirt, but the single pixels pointing down in that area are a bit confusing.

@philippejugnet

You wouldn't be the first :P . But yeah, absolutely. It's neat to see how other people make use of a color scheme.

Gotta say, I really love the style of this. Reminds me of something you'd see in like, the most awesome SNES/Genesis era game ever. Bold is the word that comes to mind, what with the very dark blacks and bright reds.

I agree with Metaru that the spikes could be animated more smoothly, though I'm not sure if that could be accomplished without adding more frames.

This doesn't seem like a very exciting game :p

Lovely style though. I particularly like the transition from grass onto the stones.

Looks cool. Gonna try it out.

I'm really liking Tanuki's entry here.... I might have to test it out on a new piece I started a little while ago.

@Gecimen

Kaiseto technically never left :p I just got wrapped up doing this. I couldn't do much else artwise given school and work. I barely even worked on this one honestly. I might post stuff a little more frequently in the coming months. Unless I start another big thing.

@Jalonso

Thanks for the advice. There's actually more to the cover that goes down in that empty space. We had to come up with a way to squeeze the band name in there, and felt that this would be a decent way of getting it on there while solidifying the "splash screen" feel.

I didn't include it in the art-site submissions because I felt it didn't really add anything to the picture artistically. I'm actually rather proud of the lettering on the title, considering I'm no sort of font guy. I see what you mean about making the MASTER part bigger. Alas, it's already finalized.

Seven years of 7even, huh? =D

I think I remember the lion and tiger from an earlier submission. Very nice quality across the board.

The name made me think of Piccadilly Circus. Not sure what to take away from that. I learned what a paradiddle is, anyway.

Oh my. If these are the leftovers I can only imagine what the main course could have been.

Jinn, you just made my DAY. Lost Vikings is a fond childhood memory of mine, and this is an awesome mockup. The tone and style are wonderfully captured, and the coloring is perfect, improving on the originals in pixel quality.

Crazy colors? I love the palette. I always find my own to be so lacking in imagination. It's cool when people use colors I don't expect in just the right way (blue-gray on the tree, for example"