RMN PIXEL ART CONTEST

RMN-Approved Contest: Designing A Scene (Or Character!)



So I was feeling marginally productive today and had been considering doing this for a good-sized period of time. To state the obvious, this is largely different than the older, mapping-based contests I've held here in the past, and steps things up a tad in terms of the workload (and creativity involved!). Be prepared to put in some effort if you'd consider participating!

For those of you unaware of what Pixel Art IS, allow me to provide this rather verbose definition from Wikipedia!

Pixel art is distinguished from other forms of digital art by an insistence upon manual, pixel-level editing of an image (without the application of image filters, automatic anti-aliasing or special rendering modes), often at close magnification. In this form, it is commonly said that "each pixel was placed carefully" to achieve a desired result.

Purists within the pixel art scene hold that "true" pixel art should only be created from tools that place individual pixels (such as the 'pencil' tool), and that pixel artists should avoid all other tools including line, Bezier curve, circle and rectangle. Others counter that tools such as line and bucket-fill are acceptable as their functions could be just as easily, if not as quickly, replicated on an individual pixel basis.
For a more elaborate set of guidelines; you may opt to check out the page itself, Found Here!


Copyright Andrew Bado

What exactly do we need to do?

Despite their differences in subject matter, this contest works quite similarly to the Map Design events. Participants are given are certain period of time to complete and polish their entires; and each is critiqued respectfully by the judges.

To provide a far more accurate description than I myself could muster; feel free to consult the following description in terms of how the work is actually put together!

The process of Pixel Art: (From Wiki)

• Drawings usually start with what is called the line art, which is the basic line that defines the character, building or anything else the artist is intending to draw. Linearts are usually traced over scanned drawings and are often shared among other pixel artists. Other techniques, some resembling painting, also exist.
  
• The limited palette often implemented into Pixel Art usually promotes the use of dithering in order to achieve different shades and colors, but due to the nature of this form of art this is done completely by hand. Hand-made anti-aliasing is also used.

Needless to say, those of you familiar with traditional spiriting (for your own projects or otherwise) are at a slight advantage here. But for everyone else; fear not... the judging shall be handled in such a way that all things are equally considered and nearly everyone is provided a fair chance. Creativity matters nearly as much as general skill-- so don't be discouraged!



HOW do we do it?

To again point out what is uncomfortably obvious, appropriate software is clearly required for the creation of Pixel Art... for this contest and in general. I've provided a brief list of suitable examples, but certainly do not feel limited to what is here. We are more concerned with the end result than the process itself, in terms of assessment.

Some programs commonly used for the generating pixel art:

Microsoft Paint is included in Microsoft Windows. It lacks many advanced features, but basic graphic editing is very mature and suitable for pixel by pixel editing.
If not; there are several alternatives!

Graphics Gale
Has both freeware and ¥1995 (roughly $20) shareware versions, and has features designed for animation and cursor creation.

GIMP
Shares the bulk of it's features with Adobe Photoshop and likewise functions similarly.

Pixen
A free, open-source, and available for Mac OS X. It offers many tools tailored to sprite creation and animation.

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Copyright ThereIsNoCure

What do we need to create?

To be comfortably concise: anything you'd like! There are, of course, restrictions according to the rules themselves (found below); but pretty much anything goes. You may choose, if you find the option more comfortable, to create a top-down RPGMaker-esque set of tiles and arrange them as many of you traditionally would in a grid-based setting. (See Example Below)


Complements of Clest!

However, given the relative freedom of Pixel Art as opposed to the (comparatively) narrow Map Design, I encourage everyone to experiment and step bravely outside of their comfort zones. You can achieve far more than simply traditional RPG Map settings if you really fool around with it.

Literal examples are probably far more helpful than my ranting could ever be; so perhaps some of these pieces can inspire you!









Keep in mind that nearly *all* of the above were produced by established professionals; and aren't necessarily the level of quality we're looking for. Effort and inventiveness are among our primary concerns.

B-but... I'm still lost!

Try a few of these comprehensive tutorials!
Derek Yu's Tutorial
Mark's Pixel Art
Pixel Head Tutorial
Perfect Pixel Patterns
Drububu
GJ Designs
Zoggle's Guide to the Isometric Perspective
Another Isometric Tutorial
Sprite Domain
DeviantART Article

Image-Based (Visual) Tutorials


The Rules (READ THIS)

• Though it may already be obvious to those of you with experience, Pixel Art differs from map design in that it is an ENTIRELY ORIGINAL craft. Anything and everything you turn in must be generated by your own hands. Plagiarized entries will be disqualified.
  
• As we knowingly have no effective was to forbid significant edits of ripped material, we're not going to naively presume to ban it outright. If our judges (and any other members) cannot identify the source material, then you're home free. However, do not presume that this is cause to toss in anything and everything you find; this is an assessment of your own artistic talents, not those of Squaresoft's development team!
• We do permit the use of existing palettes and color collections for your work. For example, if you want to endeavor toward a piece inspired by (and visually coherent with) Super Mario World, this is perfectly acceptable.
• 100x100 is the minimum dimension. 800x800 is the absolute maximum.
• Saturday, November 15th, through Sunday, November 16th is the deadline for entires. To be eligible for judging, pending extreme circumstances, pieces MUST be submitted within this time frame. (If you wish for your own to remain private/unexposed, PM it to myself or one of the other judges.)

Judging and Assessment
As noted, all submissions will be critiqued on a variety of factors. These elements are composed of the following:
1.) Originality/Inventiveness
2.) Detail and Embellishment
3.) Use of Color
4.) Style and Form
5.) Compliance with Rules
A total of twenty points will be indicative of each major category; adding to the (nearly infeasible) total of 100.

Judges:

• BlindMind
• Karsuman
• Sovan Jedi

A prize of Twenty Five USD will be awarded either via Paypal or postal system to the winner. We're open to a third potential judge. If anyone may also be interested in that position, feel free to contact me and/or post here.


Copyright Fool

Participation

• Clest
• King of Games
• Euphorian
• Natook
• Harmonic
• Nessiah
• Ocean
• Craze
• VideoWizard
• Ody
• D-bones
• iamnot

I hope everyone will consider it, regardless of skill. :]
Post if you're remotely interested, or have any questions as to the contest itself!