31–40 of 70 posts
You don't have to go at it alone, share your idea(s) and get a pixel artist to join. Think about how much time you invested in to learning programming. If you're not prepared to do the same for art it's better to get someone else to do it. Especially if you don't enjoy it.
In my experience, finding communities is kinda hard
Let me introduce you to the last resort of the struggling artist - extreme stylization. Really good pixel art is a very difficult discipline but terrible pixel art can be just as appealing if you push a style you can call your own.
Be bold.
You are always going to think that you could have done it better. That's the curse of the artist; don't let it discourage you. Keep drawing and then draw some more.
My kid draws all the time and she gets better at it. She also asks me to draw for her and (surprise) I'm getting better at it. Draw a person. Draw a house. Draw a cartoon character. Draw an orange that just received bad news. Draw a lettuce riding a motorcycle. Don't wait to be in front of your computer so you can do pixel art; draw on a piece of paper, draw on your tablet, draw in the sand. Draw on a liquid crystal drawing board (great for throwaway drawings: no mess, quick erase, no drafts left behind).
And be kind to yourself. You are going to think that your drawings suck. I promise they are better than you think (one is always their own worst critic), but also be realistic on where you need to improve technically. Do ask for advice from other people, and take it gracefully.
(You want to do pixel art. Start with the art, and when you are good enough at it, add the pixel.)
Similar in concept but for different reasons; does anybody know of a way to convert images into a '8bit pixel map'? My wife likes to take images and crochet them into tapestry/blankets/cozies. It seems to me that if we could get a grid overlay onto an image she could then make whatever she wanted. (One color per 'pixel')
Seems like if you print the image, then print a grid on a transparency sheet, you could mark up the sheet with colors until it looks good.
Maybe tracing paper (can you print a grid on tracing paper? Do you want to hand mark a grid on tracing paper?)
I don't use art tools, but you should be able to do something in software too, layer the grid on top, leave it transparent to the image until you pick a color for each square.
Take your time.
As a designer, artist and art technologist that has been making computer graphics since the 80s, reading a post like this is somewhat triggering , but I do also understand why today in the age of AI, it would seem that making great art should come easily to you, once you have learned the basics of the tools.
But it is called art, BECAUSE it is difficult, it does require one to build systematically through experience. Practicing and playing with the medium constantly, doing a plethora of varied exercises and trying do very different types of projects will increase your skillset and teach you the necessary grammar of visual problem solving.
You will also always benefit and become even more proficient by looking at and reading about tons and tons of design, graphics, and art books, websites, shows, works, etc… This is especially true of learning about and studying art that is unrelated to computer graphics —like fine arts, painting/printmaking/sculpture/conceptual art, as well as experimental film/video/animation and architecture/industrial design/historical graphic design, all of which will help you build up your visual vocabulary and problem solving skills. you dont have to do everything at once just add a steady diet of new visual material to your media consumption. Specifically not the CG/Gaming stuff you already look at. broaden your horizons.
A great artist is the combination of technical skills, a deep knowledge base of visual references, a good understanding and continuous study of art history and a solid grasp of art & craft theory and concepts—-craft here being CGI. This is will give you the solid foundation to build a successful and sustainable artistic career/hobby/vocation.
The limits of creativity is always a lack of foundational knowledge (visual/conceptual references) and curiosity (playing and exploring even when you hit a wall until you find solutions for your artistic problems).
Visual arts are very very vast, but systematically learning to see, examine and understand how others before you have, played, struggled with, confronted and resolved its conundrums are the only way to get better at it. (Find a copy of and read Rilke’s letters).
not to be mean, but if it was that easy and just a month was enough to go from 0 to 100, wouldn’t everyone be amazing artists? As a designer, artist and art technologist that has been making computer graphics since the 80s, reading a post like this is somewhat triggering , but I do also understand why today in the age of AI, it would seem that making great art should come easily to you, once you have learned the basi…
There is no shortcut to art, but that’s part of why it is so valuable to society and so rewarding to create. But don’t let that discourage you. If you want to make your own art, keep working at it. You will always get better with time and practice. It takes a long time and even the best artists frequently feel like their work isn’t good enough. But dedication and practice will pay off in time.
That fact that something is hard to do is not what makes it valuable. It's hard to dig really big holes in the ground all day at random, but it's not valuable.
Some good old resources for inspiration: https://www.derekyu.com/makegames/index.html https://pixeljoint.com/ https://www.slynyrd.com/pixelblog-catalogue