As (mostly) a 3D animator - I find creating pixel art and creating animations of pixel art two different levels of complexity, especially if the interest is in pushing the art form beyond the “retro” look. IMO 2-3 frame animation cycles are not very appealing but are very often required to deliver the feeling desired in the art or to get the controls to feel right.
Drawing images of pixel art (non moving background images) or single image characters is a fun exercise in getting as much detail as you want with a limited color pallet and less detail. Its frustratingly fun!
Once you have a image or character in a finished created form, the animation process to get it moving correctly/believably really relies on the 12 principles of animation - with an emphasis on principles 1,2, 8,9,10 but grounded in pixel art limitations and game development limitations. Iteration isn’t optional for polish - it is mandatory for visual appeal and functionality.
The number one game development limitation is frames, can be seen in the Earth Worm Jim games where traditional artists were given liberty to show as much detail in the animations as they could, which resulted in beautiful visuals AND very unresponsive, laggy controls because there were too many animation frames to render to have tight controls. You can also see this in older fighting games and beat em ups.
The limitations in pixel art fights the 12 principles in staging, solid drawing (form) and to some appeal. BUT the great advantage of pixel art is the ability to fix/edit/iterate on creations very quickly compared to other game assets.
I find pixel art a dichotomy - appealing, frustrating, time consuming and also extremely rewarding and fun.
I love old retro games, but by gawsh darn I can’t stand to make them. I would rather make a full blown Battle Field game than even try to make one sprite sheet for one character lol.
Do you mean like the quality of the work will always be the same because pixel art is what it is and ain’t what it isn’t (Suceptable to more and more modern quality standards for 3d graphics (E.G. - Low Poly > High Poly).
If that’s what you mean then that is very much so true lol.
What I mean is pixel art is something that came about because of the technical limitations at the time. However those limitations no longer apply… yet we still view pixel art as a valid art form. Compared to 3D graphics pixel art ages much much better, it’s not nostalgia that attracts people to such graphics, it’s because they still look damn good.
Not really. For whatever reason, pixel art gets judged apart from other 2D art styles, or rather the people who like pixel art judge it apart from other styles. Compared to the more high res hand painted look, pixel art is frequently an inscrutable collage that at best allude to a form. There’s a reason the internet has retroactively dubbed a game “bird versus camel.”
3D graphics have always been comparable to the 3D renders of movies, and have always been lackluster. 2D on the other hand is at a point where it’s arguably on par, probably better even, with cartoon animations, yet we want to intentionally encumber ourselves with poorer visual fidelity?
Because there appears to be demand for this style. Everything is fashion and if you tell someone often enough that they need a beard to be cool or that pixelated graphics are the in thing then eventually they’ll believe it (or at least the majority). Lots n lots of high res blocks being generated by expert designers who could be breaking new ground but have been told by business types to appeal to the market. That and some consider it to be easy, low hanging fruit not realizing that good is good whether its a crayon drawing or an oil painting.
Well there is the thing of any old mug can throw some pixels together, but it’s quite a skill to make them look good. But I guess that’s just the “art” side of it. It’s just a style, it may be your cup of tea, it may not. Apparently a lot of people like it, and I’m sure there’s an equally great number who consider it to be heresy.
I’ve chosen to go with it because it’s a style I personally enjoy. I’d have a much easier time with conventional 3D modelling, but I prefer the look of 32 bit style sprites. But then again there is the possibility I’ve gone completely mad.
I don’t think your pixel art is bad.
But some shading and a stronger color palette would definitely help to improve your art.
You can also get some inspirations and a bunch of helpful tutorials at pixeljoint
You’ve not gone mad at all, pixel art done well is cool, like pointillism it can be amazing when its done well. The thing is that many many people are stuck with the ‘make it like minecraft’ brief because someone sniffs a buck in it and believes that blocky graphs mean low quality which in business means fast and/or cheap. They’re also convinced that people will buy it because of its association with minecraft (pixel art and minecraft are the same thing right? Cue the billions).
The style then becomes fashion and we have to go through a couple of years of having to make everything and then pixelate to satisfy a style guide. Sorry, bitter personal experience much? lol Your experience may vary but in the toy industry it’s starting to get a bit dull!
It does annoy me when people associate pixel art’s popularity with minecraft. It’s pretty well known that the art style itself isn’t a strong point, I mean there’s a large community dedicated to replacing it. When I hear pixel art I think more like this:
Which admittedly is a hell of a standard to live up to. But it’s always interesting to break it down and look at the techniques used to make it.
Because too much people are lazy to work on it or does not have the skills to do better than over simplistic.
It was machines limitations before, but to day anyone should be able to detail pixel art to some degree even without beegin skilled.
I don’t buy such 2D games using too much simplistic style today.
The dirty little secret here is there’s no actual market demand for it. The only people who clamor for pixel art are a vocal minority who await the true retro revival like it’s the second coming of christ. The vast majority are either indifferent or adamantly repulsed by pixel art, either because they just hate the art style or because it’s a hallmark of throwaway graphics.
The real source of demand is from developers themselves, but the market itself doesn’t give a shit about whatever arbitrary limitations you restrict yourself to. It doesn’t care what your poly cap is, or what your color limit for sprites are, because what really matters is the game. The whole point of visuals it to inform the player, and if it doesn’t do that, you have terrible graphics.
Ha ha. Where people come up with some of this stuff is beyond me. There is interest in pixel art. That should be common sense. Places like PixelJoint have been around a while and alone they have about 70,000 members. People interested in the aesthetic and skill of pixel art. There are other such communities out there as well. Check out pixel art games and you will find comments “I love these kind of graphics!!”. Shovel Knight sold about 750,000 copies. There are people who like pixel art. The same as there are people who like photo realistic 3D and others who like cartoony 3D and so on.
A huge segment of people don’t simply cease to exist because someone here cannot understand why anyone would like pixel art.
I’m sure you would… after going past several comments that didn’t care for it in the slightest. Pixel art, as an actual art style, is just an extension of pointillism and mosaics with newer technology. It’s not that unrealistic then to find that people take to it as an artistic pursuit. For the purposes in games however, where art serves a utilitarian value above just aesthetic, pixel art has little reason to remain a valid option. When art needs to quickly, clearly, and intuitively convey information to the player, why would pixel art be high on your list of ways to achieve this?
Because it’s easy to iterate and do - for initial graphic design and prototyping, and for those who aren’t interested in proper lighting and shading techniques. Less pixels = less graphics to perfect for those who do not desire or do not have the ability to draw/model/color.
And also because it is hard. Some people enjoy the challenge of attempting to properly create nice looking art with minimal pixels, proper lighting, shading, form and animation.
That is a good answer. Basically because it is effective. Graphics in games mainly are just for communication. Whether some ammo is represented by a 16x16 pixel art flashing icon or a blinking HD textured 3D model ultimately what is the important thing being communicated? “Oh look ammo!”
I think this is why pixel art will remain popular because it introduces an extra edge of contrast when it’s created correctly although those waterfalls look out of place in pixilation compared to the rest of the scene.
