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A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

dinofarmgames.com

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Re: A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

#21

Post by dragontamer »

agumonkey wrote: post #3

Beatiful article, slightly off into animation territorry but still. Taking distance from current technology and future is good. The Chun-Li dissected animation reminded me of Disney classes on how to convey emotions rather than simulate movements. And for Jazz lovers, search about Mitsuo Iso : www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvx7p6-lABw

I've been trying to explain to people why Fire Emblem sprites were better than modern 3D Fire Emblem animations.

Old GBA Game: http://lparchive.org/Fire-Emblem-Blazing-Sword/Update%2063/1...

Fire Emblem Awakening: https://youtu.be/ls0Nn_-hv-8?t=3m35s

I showed this to multiple people, and a lot of them seem to think the 3D animation was better. :-(

Re: A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

#22

Post by dragontamer »

fgsfdsfgsfds wrote: post #8

Sounds like they should have been developing for PC instead of mobile. The average mobile user plays exploitative "freemium" garbage to kill time in lines. How can you expect them to appreciate the art behind it? Meanwhile, "retro"-style games are doing gangbusters on Steam, selling to people that actually appreciate those styles of art, music, and game design.

While you have a point (and I've given you a +1 vote because of it), the fact remains that the "average person" I know thinks that Street Fighter 4 animations were better than Street Fighter 3.

The Chun Li discussion happens a lot in my circle of friends, and I'm always in the minority. Very few people appreciate classic pixel art.

Re: A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

#23

Post by darkmighty »

dragontamer wrote: post #16
MollyR wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I often wondered if indie games tend to like pixel art because its cheaper and faster to produce.

Except when you look at the development methodology of the best-of-the-best pixel art games (BlazBlue, King of Fighters), the teams did 3D Animations for all of the characters and then re-traced them into 2D Pixel Art. Everyone who actually _does_ high-quality pixel art understands. Good Pixel-Art is much MUCH harder to do than good 3D. It lothes me to say it, but the blogpost is correct. Very few people understand t…

But for me some pixel artists miss (for me) a large part of the artistic value of pixel art: restricting complexity of the scene -- not just portraying things in blocks. The blocks aren't important at all, in fact they're pretty ugly if you're not a great pixel artist (hence the natural wish to find better upscaling algorithms). It's often overlooked the CRTs those art were made for were quite blurry and round, alleviating the blocky look.

That's the right reason to defend using modern screens to their full capability with a certain simplified-art style.

Re: A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

#24

Post by dragontamer »

I should note that Arc System Works has also renounced Pixel Art as per Guilty Gear Xrd. :-( (Arc System Works are the masters behind BlazBlue's Pixel Art)

Granted, their 3D Artwork is quite good now, so maybe they can succeed in the transition. But fewer and fewer major developers (and even small, niche developers) are producing pixel art.

"WayForward Games" has an interesting vector art style however which gets the classic feel down. Its technique is more akin to a high-quality Newground game however, as opposed to the nostalgic Pixel Art feel. And artists know that vector art is easier to do. Still, WayForward (Ducktales Remastered, Shaente Half Genie Hero) might be one of the last great 2D Artists still around today.

Re: A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

#25

Post by Mithaldu »

It's a little weird that he spends so much time criticizing others and doesn't even once acknowledge that his art style (proportions, anatomy) look definitely weird. (Downright ugly and off-putting to me.) Part of the reason his art gets put down by others might be that they also feel it's ugly, but don't quite know how to express it and pin it on the pixels.

Further, as someone who works on games, the decision as to what kind of art style is used, most often is not a decision to aim for something specific, but a question of money. Art doesn't happen on its own, you either have to make it yourself, or find someone else to make it (who makes something that looks good) AND then pay them, often also for many many revisions and additions. For a small team simple sprites that remain appealing and consistent even when scaled up can be the choice simply because anything else is prohibitively expensive.

Re: A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

#26

Post by kibwen »

EdSharkey wrote: post #20

I think pixel art by itself is rad and has an audience that appreciates it. For games though, even beyond the problem of the audience not getting the point, in the age of retina displays there are many technical roadblocks with getting the pixels to stay blocky and render the way you want. If one was so inclined to stick with blocky pixel art, one could always render the bitmaps' pixels as filled vector rectangles an…

The new Rayman games are absolutely a joy to behold. The majority of the visuals in the game are 2D, though the engine also supports 3D models, and I'm not certain if the 2D assets are sprites or vector illustrations. There's a pretty neat demonstration of the engine here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoLpPw864eA

Re: A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

#28

Post by emsy »

pshc wrote: post #14
emsy wrote: post #9

Pixel art games nowadays all look more or less the same. Actual games from the 90s didn't look alike at all. Also most games use pixel art as an excuse for lazy animations with a little amount of frames. I really wonder why everyone likes it so much and I often think maybe something is wrong with my taste :/

Many pixel games today take it further by adding shaders, lighting, semi-transparency, HDR, particle effects, etc. so a lot of them share this hybrid old-new look. It's charming if a) done tastefully and b) the animation/art is solid e.g. Towerfall Ascension .

There are a few games that really nail the pixel art, but they are the exception among the flood of poorly done graphics. Those titles usually look different than most other pixel art games and don't fall into the lookalike pattern I mentioned before. I tend to generalize negatively in regards of pixel art because of the vast majority of the bad titles.

Re: A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

#29

Post by agumonkey »

dragontamer wrote: post #21
agumonkey wrote: post #3

Beatiful article, slightly off into animation territorry but still. Taking distance from current technology and future is good. The Chun-Li dissected animation reminded me of Disney classes on how to convey emotions rather than simulate movements. And for Jazz lovers, search about Mitsuo Iso : www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvx7p6-lABw

I've been trying to explain to people why Fire Emblem sprites were better than modern 3D Fire Emblem animations. Old GBA Game: http://lparchive.org/Fire-Emblem-Blazing-Sword/Update%2063/1... Fire Emblem Awakening: https://youtu.be/ls0Nn_-hv-8?t=3m35s I showed this to multiple people, and a lot of them seem to think the 3D animation was better. :-(

To be honest, I found neither impressive, both are pretty standard level animations in their domains.

Re: A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art

#30

Post by kibwen »

dragontamer wrote: post #21
agumonkey wrote: post #3

Beatiful article, slightly off into animation territorry but still. Taking distance from current technology and future is good. The Chun-Li dissected animation reminded me of Disney classes on how to convey emotions rather than simulate movements. And for Jazz lovers, search about Mitsuo Iso : www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvx7p6-lABw

I've been trying to explain to people why Fire Emblem sprites were better than modern 3D Fire Emblem animations. Old GBA Game: http://lparchive.org/Fire-Emblem-Blazing-Sword/Update%2063/1... Fire Emblem Awakening: https://youtu.be/ls0Nn_-hv-8?t=3m35s I showed this to multiple people, and a lot of them seem to think the 3D animation was better. :-(

Some of the Fire Emblem sprites were breathtakingly fluid, and you can't deny that they often look better than the jaggy polygons of the modern DS titles (similar to how the OP contrasts Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and Diablo).

My favorites were always the sprites for the "hero" unit:

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/3/38/F...

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