This will fundamentally change the way you look at pixels like pixel 3 borderlands 3 image.
I’m not kidding! I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of pixel/pixel art layouts and what seems like magic to me actually has a simple explanation. It will allow you to create pixel art images that are higher quality than professional artists can do, while still being able to produce them quickly in your free time.
However, before we get into the how-to of it all, let’s first talk about what exactly is pixel art? Pixel art refers to a type of abstract digital artwork created using an 8 or 16-bit image editor such as Photoshop or Paint Tool SAI.
1. Size Matters
The first and probably most important piece of the pixel art equation is size. A lot of people are under the impression that pixel art has to be done with a low number of pixels; that it’s used to save space on your computer. This is completely false.
The thing about pixel art is: it doesn’t matter how many actual pixels are used, what matters most is how well the pixels were used .
So why does this matter?
Because in order to create high quality artwork, you don’t need a large number of pixels, only good quality ones (this will be explained later. Keep reading).
2. Colors
The second most important factor in producing high quality pixel artwork is the color palette. As I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter how many pixels you use, but that you are using them with good quality. This is where colors come into play.
Backgrounds : The background of a picture is usually the easiest thing to come up with colors for. It can be as simple as a gradient of one or two colors, or even just plain white.
Shadows : Depending on how your character is lit, you’ll probably need some shadow colors for him/her (or it). You can do this by using a simple gradient from black to dark grey to light grey and then back again to black. You can also just use a single color, but it won’t look as good.
3. Things to Avoid
The thing to avoid when creating your pixel art artwork is pitfalls like anti-aliasing (it adds pixels, so you should avoid it). What I mean by this is that you should try to avoid using the computer’s anti-aliasing on your pictures, or any sort of fuzzy/smooth or blurred look. It’ll give a weird look to your pictures which will make them look cheap.
( In the past I’ve said this, but it bears repeating: Put some effort into making your pixel art game look good . Don’t be lazy! )
4. Putting It All Together
So, now you’ve got the knowledge of what makes pixel art. You’ve learned that it doesn’t matter how many pixels are in your artwork and that the only important thing is how well they are used. You know to avoid pitfalls like anti-aliasing and blurry edges and to use a good color palette. So… How do you create all of this? Well, if you’ve read what I’ve said so far, then it should be obvious!
You just need to make sure that each pixel is used intelligently. To do this, you will create shapes which fill in an area of the image nicely with only a few pixels. Try to avoid redundancy. If you aren’t familiar with terms like “pixels”, then here’s a quick list of some other terms which can help you:
Pixels : Light pixels are the pixels used to form the picture, while dark pixels are the areas which aren’t being filled in; this is why you want to avoid anti-aliasing.
Bits : The 8 or 16 individual colors in each pixel. There can be more than 1, but only one is currently being used. This means that there are no redundancies (that is, the same color is not used for multiple parts of your pixel artwork).
5. Putting It All Together
Now that you know all of this, you can use it to create pixel art which is higher quality than professional artists. How do you do this? Well, it’s actually quite simple. I’ll give an example:
Let’s say you want to draw a character with red hair and a blue shirt. When creating your picture you should draw the outline with any color other than red; this will set a masking layer which will make the parts of the image that are red solid and black transparent.
As you can see in this example, the outline of the character is now filled in with only black pixels. The parts which are red are just a solid color and not a black pixel. This is because only one color is being used, so no redundancies.
Summary:
What makes pixel art so important is that it allows you to produce high quality images quickly while still having the ability to give them a professional look. In other words, you can now produce high quality artwork in your free time and compete with professional artists!
