A text tutorial speacking of proportions:
Pixelart Guide / Howto
By Brian Poulsen brian@fuz.dk
Introduction:
Though I don’t think it needs all that much of an introdution I thought I would make one anyways.
Pixelart is a still growing trend or style. Pixelart mostly reminds me of the time when Commodore
64 was THE thing to have.
It was chunky and had very few colors. I don’t know if pixelart getting more and more popular has
something to do with the overall fashion trends. But around here retro style clothes is gonna be
the big thing this sommer. Even our national soccer team is now dressed in some Retro styled Hummel
shirts. Ohh well … back to the pixelart deal.
Hey I want to start doing pixelart… What do I need ?
One of the nice things about pixelart is that you can actully use any application that has the pencil
tool. However a program which has layers and a few tools, can be a big advantage.
A good idea is to pre define some brushes ( if possible ), with the most used shapes, such as lines,
corners and whatnot.
So if I was to make a pixelized version of [insert object here] how much should I scale it down ?
My answer would be that it pretty much all depends on how big(small) you want it. If you’ve seen my
pixelized apartment, I started out by making the couch. And from there on I tried to make the
livingroom area the size it would be if the couch was that size. So I started to draw some lines, but
quickly realized it wouldn’t be as easy as I had first thought. So I decided to measure my couch and
compare that size to the size I had made it in pixels. It turned out I had made the couch about
1 pixel = 4 cm ( about 1.5 inches ).
From there on I measured the length of each wall and the height to the sealing. As I took the project
quite seriously and wanted a good result I decided to measure everything.
I often see a pixelization as a challenge. How small can I infact make the object, where it’s still
recognizable. 32 x 32 ( the standard icon size for windows and mac OS 9. Take my cigarette boxes…
They are all made in 32 x 32. All the objects in my Network diagram is 32 x 32.
Any advice before I start?
When I make pixelart I draw in a 3D kind of style ( AKA Copland Style ). This way everything looks
more like an object and not just a picture.
And drawing everything as if you looked at it head on, is not all that of a challenge. So yes it
could be a good way to start. But I’d still say, draw it in 3D.
Start out with simple objects which are not too complicated. Find an old shoebox or something like
that. It’s squared and doesn’t really demand all that much. If you start doing something too
complicated you might get frustrated and loose interest. Maybe your patience isn’t cut out for it.
The apartment projects was actually one of the very first things I made, so I kind of broke my own
advice. When you first get a hang of it, everything will take less time, believe me on that. the
livingroom took about the same time as I used for the rest of the apartment.
As another advice, study other peoples work. you’ll quickly catch all the small details. Like which
angles are good to use. I use the angle 2 pixels horizontal one up, 2 pixels horizontal etc. etc.
using the clean 45 degree angle will cause you some problems… believe me.
I experimented a lot at the beginning and came to the conclusion that a 27.5 degree angle is by far
the best.
I want to give my objects shadow to add life. Any “rules” I should use ?
Keep the shadows consistent. By that I mean, if you throw a shadow to the right, don’t start making
shadows to the left. It will look strange.
Study real life objects with shadows on it. An example: An object that throws its shadow to the right
will always be lighter on the left side ( front side or whatever you’d call it ).
You didn’t mention [insert subject here]. got any tips about it ?
If you feel there’s something I didn’t mention feel free to email me brian@fuz.dk and I’ll do my
best to answer your question. I’ll add it to this guide.
Related links.
Pixel zentrum < http://www.pixelzentrum.de>
Site focused on pixel art. the site has some very nice pixel brushes
Icon Factory < http://www.iconfactory.com>
The home for icons. Look at the icons for OS 9.2 >. They are all pixel style.
The icons for OS 10 ( OS X ) is more vector and picture like.
There’s a wonderful icon tutorial. Icon creation and pixel art is basically the same.
E Boy < http://www.eboy.com >
A Wonderful collection of pixel art.
Also you might want to check out my link section. It has other links there as well.
PS… I might make this graphical eventually ( with pictures etc. ). People have bugged me about this
guide for a while now so I thought I would
just go ahead and post it and then add graphics later.
