#colour coding my beloved

[tag-if]

WAIT has anyone asked for a fake out/ make out scenario yet? For the RO's I mean:D

they haven't, but i'm going to be a bit cheeky here and take advantage of your phrasing to drop (what i hope will be) a fun little Caras and T.B backstory tidbit

not exactly what you meant, i know, but i hope it's enjoyed nontheless (it is RO and it is fake out/make out)

"Tally!"

Caras hissed, nails digging into the back of the second royal's hand as they were dragged along, footsteps heavy on the cobbles as they tore through the streets. Of course the physician had been pulled into the shenanigans of the runaway royal, even if they were only out for the evening. Caras had caught them sneaking out, dressed in lower class clothes, a hood pulled low over their features, and had reluctantly gone along with it (for all they complained, Caras truly did trust Tally, and they knew how to have fun).

"Come on, keep up!"

Came the response, their voices drowned out by the inn across the street, and the sounds of more footsteps approaching them. The guards. They had been caught sneaking back towards the palace and, assuming they were street urchins, the guards had given chase.

"Down here, against the wall!"

"What do you mean 'down h-'?!"

Caras' indignant questioning was cut off as Tally's warm lips enveloped their's. They were gentle, almost oddly so given their brash personality, turning so their back was shielding Caras from view, and only lingered long enough to hear the guards give a mocking scoff and move along. As soon as Tally moved away, Caras brought their hand up and slapped the back of their head, causing Tally to yelp out in surprise.

"You ass, a heads up would have been nice!"

"Whatever, you know you enjoyed it, you love me."

"Shut up! Come on, let's go before they loop back."

There was a laugh in Caras' voice, and when the two returned to the palace, they even jokingly threatened to kiss them goodnight if they didn't go to bed right away. The two joke about it, sometimes, when Tally's parents aren't around, to the confusion of everyone else.

[maxxifer]

I had the dumbest idea while working on some other TW art involving my choice in background noise while I draw...

It's Always Sunny In Beacon Hills

Alternate Title - Teen Wolf but with Brain Damage

(original iasip screencap below the cut...)

[mdverse]

pookie-posting again <3

[urghblergh]

Matching outfits part II. ✨

For the funsies I tried to imagine what jewelry that mimicks Cardassian scale/ridge patterns for Julian might look like. 🌞

If you feel inspired by this and create art of some kind, please tag me or something! 🫶 I'd love to see your ideas!

Ref

ALSO IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN ALEXANDER SIDDIG WITH LONGER HAIR HERE HE IS:

You're welcome. 🫰

[catgirlkatsuki]

what if…

[deimossie]

✦ BLUE: CREATION

[king-of-moths-shoes]

WIAT THE MATH DOODLES OF TODAYS I got new pens hehehe

Raph got stuck with the less juicy highlighter sadness

[maliciousalice]

she is just so quaint to study

[dribs-and-drabbles]

This was going to be a post only about shoes as a gift for @respectthepetty...but then Pet made this post about graphic designers understanding the assignment and my thoughts started spiralling. I'll come back to the title cards and colour-coding later...but first, SHOES!

If you've been following me for a while, you'll know I pretty much lose it when I see a Thai character wearing the Mustard yellow-soled shoes (I really need to buy myself a pair). It started with Pat, Pran, and Pa in Bad Buddy...

...but the shoes have also been worn by Win and Lin (in Cupid's Last Wish), Tinn and Gun (Our Skyy 2 x My School President), Jeng (Step By Step), and most recently, Zo in Hidden Agenda.

But this isn't the point of the post. No.

My gift to Pet is my recent discovery that Joke in Hidden Agenda has shoes with BLUE soles.

I have yet to find them online but I haven't given up yet. I mean, look at them (I need a pair of these as well):

I had noticed the little pop of red on the heel during the airing of the show and thought it was a nice little nod to the red and yellow theme, but the discovery of the blue and Pet's insightful post I mentioned earlier has got me questioning.

Because I know the red and yellow theme was emphasised with the roselle and chrysanthemum juices, and the stories of the red roses and yellow sunflowers...and I know Pet has already written an outstanding analysis of the use of these two colours plus the blue and how they connect to the triangular theory of love...BUT I can't help looking at this

and wonder if this graphic designer also really understood the assignment.

Like, really understood

Really

Definitely

Understood

Because despite the red, I wonder if we do have singular colour-coded characters, with Joke being a loyal blue boy and Zo a yellow yal.

On Zo's practice date, he's painting in yellow with the yellow water in front of him but Joke has blue water in front of him despite painting green (in their play-fighting Joke threatens to throw the blue water over Zo). Joke also wipes the green on his face - a combination of these two colours.

After the date-that's-not-a-date, Zo decides to leave for a few days and takes both these colours with him (and, he soon accepts, Joke as well).

And when they meet Uncle Yod the hotel owner he's wearing their merged colours.

To Joke, Zo's face looks like the sun. He feels comfortable and warm around him. Zo thinks Joke should learn to generate that warmth for himself. Warm and cold.

Zo struggles with Joke's sincerity (just like they struggle to get the blue bus moving), even whilst wearing the blue shirt (with the yellow detail below the collar).

And even though Zo wears red once (and pink a few times), he wears blue several times. (I don't think I remember seeing Joke in red at all). And we get a colour exchange, with both of them in front of green backgrounds.

And finally, despite going home to his very red family, Joke has blue over his heart and Zo is finally embracing his yellow.

I'd very much like to posit that these are their true colours, that they've been carrying in their soles souls the whole time but maybe hiding them because they weren't fully sure of themselves or each other. Because when looked at like this, the graphic designers really did follow the assignment.

[jaydexbg]

i may have a type

[everybodyshusband]

Hmm...what's one food you've never tried before but want to?

well i can't just pick one...

birria tacos have always looked soooo appetising to me but i fear my cooking skills aren't quite proficient enough and i have no idea where i could buy any near me without travelling for a few hours

thennn when i watched the movie encanto i fell in love with how tasty the arepas con queso looked and i fell down a recipe rabbit hole immediately and i STILL haven't made them (it's been three years 😅)

and finally tteokbokki just looks so delicious, especially some of the cheesy versions i've seen ?? and it's apparently sweet and spicy and ohhhh boyyy i love sweet and spicy stuff so i'm so desperate to try that as well :)))

[the-irrelevant-trumpeter]

okay so i’ve been watching a lot of smosh content recently and i’m enjoying a lot of their stuff (it’s the starkid to smosh pipeline istg. thank you angela giarratana). and i’m hesitant to call myself a fan yet (mainly because i would love it if they stopped employing a zionist yk) but i will say. baf legacy has been consuming all of my waking thoughts ever since i watched it and i can’t hold it in any longer. i’m so obsessed. need this series pumped through my blood 24/7.

[mousemannation]

every time i see photos of janniks ao24 purple jacket i am reminded of the injustice that i dont own it

[sisaloofafump]

Not beating the allegations <- immediately becomes attached to purple-themed comic characters

[carmiesrpblog]

ME WHEN I EXPRESS CHARACTER'S SITUATIONS THOUGHTS FEELINGS AND PERSONALITIES THROUGH COLOUR CODING

[tofupixel]

⭐ So you want to learn pixel art? ⭐

🔹 Part 1 of ??? - The Basics!

Edit: Now available in Google Doc format if you don't have a Tumblr account 🥰

Hello, my name is Tofu and I'm a professional pixel artist. I have been supporting myself with freelance pixel art since 2020, when I was let go from my job during the pandemic.

My progress, from 2017 to 2024. IMO the only thing that really matters is time and effort, not some kind of natural talent for art.

This guide will not be comprehensive, as nobody should be expected to read allat. Instead I will lean heavily on my own experience, and share what worked for me, so take everything with a grain of salt. This is a guide, not a tutorial. Cheers!

🔹 Do I need money?

NO!!! Pixel art is one of the most accessible mediums out there.

I still use a mouse because I prefer it to a tablet! You won't be at any disadvantage here if you can't afford the best hardware or software.

Because our canvases are typically very small, you don't need a good PC to run a good brush engine or anything like that.

✨Did you know? One of the most skilled and beloved pixel artists uses MS PAINT! Wow!!

🔹 What software should I use?

Here are some of the most popular programs I see my friends and peers using. Stars show how much I recommend the software for beginners! ⭐

💰 Paid options:

⭐⭐⭐ Aseprite (for PC) - $19.99

This is what I and many other pixel artists use. You may find when applying to jobs that they require some knowledge of Aseprite. Since it has become so popular, companies like that you can swap raw files between artists.

Aseprite is amazingly customizable, with custom skins, scripts and extensions on Itch.io, both free and paid.

If you have ever used any art software before, it has most of the same features and should feel fairly familiar to use. It features a robust animation suite and a tilemap feature, which have saved me thousands of hours of labour in my work. The software is also being updated all the time, and the developers listen to the users. I really recommend Aseprite!

⭐ Photoshop (for PC) - Monthly $$

A decent option for those who already are used to the PS interface. Requires some setup to get it ready for pixel-perfect art, but there are plenty of tutorials for doing so.

Animation is also much more tedious on PS which you may want to consider before investing time!

⭐⭐ ProMotion NG (for PC) - $19.00

An advanced and powerful software which has many features Aseprite does not, including Colour Cycling and animated tiles.

⭐⭐⭐ Pixquare (for iOS) - $7.99 - $19.99 (30% off with code 'tofu'!!)

Probably the best app available for iPad users, in active development, with new features added all the time.

Look! My buddy Jon recommends it highly, and uses it often.

One cool thing about Pixquare is that it takes Aseprite raw files! Many of my friends use it to work on the same project, both in their office and on the go.

⭐ Procreate (for iOS) - $12.99

If you have access to Procreate already, it's a decent option to get used to doing pixel art. It does however require some setup. Artist Pixebo is famously using Procreate, and they have tutorials of their own if you want to learn.

⭐⭐ ReSprite iOS and Android. (free trial, but:) $19.99 premium or $$ monthly

ReSprite is VERY similar in terms of UI to Aseprite, so I can recommend it. They just launched their Android release!

🆓 Free options:

⭐⭐⭐ Libresprite (for PC)

Libresprite is an alternative to Aseprite. It is very, very similar, to the point where documentation for Aseprite will be helpful to Libresprite users.

⭐⭐ Pixilart (for PC and mobile)

A free in-browser app, and also a mobile app! It is tied to the website Pixilart, where artists upload and share their work. A good option for those also looking to get involved in a community.

⭐⭐ Dotpict (for mobile)

Dotpict is similar to Pixilart, with a mobile app tied to a website, but it's a Japanese service. Did you know that in Japanese, pixel art is called 'Dot Art'? Dotpict can be a great way to connect with a different community of pixel artists! They also have prompts and challenges often.

🔹 So I got my software, now what?

◽Nice! Now it's time for the basics of pixel art.

❗ WAIT ❗ Before this section, I want to add a little disclaimer. All of these rules/guidelines can be broken at will, and some 'no-nos' can look amazing when done intentionally.

The pixel-art fundamentals can be exceedingly helpful to new artists, who may feel lost or overwhelmed by choice. But if you feel they restrict you too harshly, don't force yourself! At the end of the day it's your art, and you shouldn't try to contort yourself into what people think a pixel artist 'should be'. What matters is your own artistic expression. 💕👍

◽Phew! With that out of the way...

🔸"The Rules"

There are few hard 'rules' of pixel art, mostly about scaling and exporting. Some of these things will frequently trip up newbies if they aren't aware, and are easy to overlook.

🔹Scaling method

There are a couple ways of scaling your art. The default in most art programs, and the entire internet, is Bi-linear scaling, which usually works out fine for most purposes. But as pixel artists, we need a different method.

Both are scaled up x10. See the difference?

On the left is scaled using Bilinear, and on the right is using Nearest-Neighbor. We love seeing those pixels stay crisp and clean, so we use nearest-neighbor. 

(Most pixel-art programs have nearest-neighbor enabled by default! So this may not apply to you, but it's important to know.)

🔹Mixels

Mixels are when there are different (mixed) pixel sizes in the same image.

Here I have scaled up my art- the left is 200%, and the right is 150%. Yuck!

As we can see, the "pixel" sizes end up different. We generally try to scale our work by multiples of 100 - 200%, 300% etc. rather than 150%. At larger scales however, the minute differences in pixel sizes are hardly noticeable!

Mixels are also sometimes seen when an artist scales up their work, then continues drawing on it with a 1 pixel brush.

Many would say that this is not great looking! This type of pixels can be indicative of a beginner artist. But there are plenty of creative pixel artists out there who mixels intentionally, making something modern and cool.

🔹Saving Your Files

We usually save our still images as .PNGs as they don’t create any JPEG artifacts or loss of quality. It's a little hard to see here, but there are some artifacts, and it looks a little blurry. It also makes the art very hard to work with if we are importing a JPEG.

For animations .GIF is good, but be careful of the 256 colour limit. Try to avoid using too many blending mode layers or gradients when working with animations. If you aren’t careful, your animation could flash afterwards, as the .GIF tries to reduce colours wherever it can. It doesn’t look great!

Here's an old piece from 2021 where I experienced .GIF lossiness, because I used gradients and transparency, resulting in way too many colours.

🔹Pixel Art Fundamentals - Techniques and Jargon

❗❗Confused about Jaggies? Anti-Aliasing? Banding? Dithering? THIS THREAD is for you❗❗ << it's a link, click it!!

As far as I'm concerned, this is THE tutorial of all time for understanding pixel art. These are techniques created and named by the community of people who actually put the list together, some of the best pixel artists alive currently. Please read it!!

🔸How To Learn

Okay, so you have your software, and you're all ready to start. But maybe you need some more guidance? Try these tutorials and resources! It can be helpful to work along with a tutorial until you build your confidence up.

⭐⭐ Pixel Logic (A Digital Book) - $10 A very comprehensive visual guide book by a very skilled and established artist in the industry. I own a copy myself.

⭐⭐⭐ StudioMiniBoss - free A collection of visual tutorials, by the artist that worked on Celeste! When starting out, if I got stuck, I would go and scour his tutorials and see how he did it.

⭐ Lospec Tutorials - free A very large collection of various tutorials from all over the internet. There is a lot to sift through here if you have the time.

⭐⭐⭐ Cyangmou's Tutorials - free (tipping optional) Cyangmou is one of the most respected and accomplished modern pixel artists, and he has amassed a HUGE collection of free and incredibly well-educated visual tutorials. He also hosts an educational stream every week on Twitch called 'pixelart for beginners'.

⭐⭐⭐ Youtube Tutorials - free There are hundreds, if not thousands of tutorials on YouTube, but it can be tricky to find the good ones. My personal recommendations are MortMort, Brandon, and AdamCYounis- these guys really know what they're talking about!

🔸 How to choose a canvas size

When looking at pixel art turorials, we may see people suggest things like 16x16, 32x32 and 64x64. These are standard sizes for pixel art games with tiles. However, if you're just making a drawing, you don't necessarily need to use a standard canvas size like that.

What I like to think about when choosing a canvas size for my illustrations is 'what features do I think it is important to represent?' And make my canvas as small as possible, while still leaving room for my most important elements.

Imagine I have characters in a scene like this:

I made my canvas as small as possible (232 x 314), but just big enough to represent the features and have them be recognizable (it's Good Omens fanart 😤)!! If I had made it any bigger, I would be working on it for ever, due to how much more foliage I would have to render.

If you want to do an illustration and you're not sure, just start at somewhere around 100x100 - 200x200 and go from there.

It's perfectly okay to crop your canvas, or scale it up, or crunch your art down at any point if you think you need a different size. I do it all the time! It only takes a bit of cleanup to get you back to where you were.

🔸Where To Post

Outside of just regular socials, Twitter, Tumblr, Deviantart, Instagram etc, there are a few places that lean more towards pixel art that you might not have heard of.

⭐ Lospec Lospec is a low-res focused art website. Some pieces get given a 'monthly masterpiece' award. Not incredibly active, but I believe there are more features being added often.

⭐⭐ Pixilart Pixilart is a very popular pixel art community, with an app tied to it. The community tends to lean on the young side, so this is a low-pressure place to post with an relaxed vibe.

⭐⭐ Pixeljoint Pixeljoint is one of the big, old-school pixel art websites. You can only upload your art unscaled (1x) because there is a built-in zoom viewer. It has a bit of a reputation for being elitist (back in the 00s it was), but in my experience it's not like that any more. This is a fine place for a pixel artist to post if they are really interested in learning, and the history. The Hall of Fame has some of the most famous / impressive pixel art pieces that paved the way for the work we are doing today.

⭐⭐⭐ Cafe Dot Cafe Dot is my art server so I'm a little biased here. 🍵 It was created during the recent social media turbulence. We wanted a place to post art with no algorithms, and no NFT or AI chuds. We have a heavy no-self-promotion rule, and are more interested in community than skill or exclusivity. The other thing is that we have some kind of verification system- you must apply to be a Creator before you can post in the Art feed, or use voice. This helps combat the people who just want to self-promo and dip, or cause trouble, as well as weed out AI/NFT people. Until then, you are still welcome to post in any of the threads or channels. There is a lot to do in Cafe Dot. I host events weekly, so check the threads!

⭐⭐/r/pixelart The pixel art subreddit is pretty active! I've also heard some of my friends found work through posting here, so it's worth a try if you're looking. However, it is still Reddit- so if you're sensitive to rude people, or criticism you didn't ask for, you may want to avoid this one. Lol

🔸 Where To Find Work

You need money? I got you! As someone who mostly gets scouted on social media, I can share a few tips with you:

Put your email / portfolio in your bio Recruiters don't have all that much time to find artists, make it as easy as possible for someone to find your important information!

Clean up your profile If your profile feed is all full of memes, most people will just tab out rather than sift through. Doesn't apply as much to Tumblr if you have an art tag people can look at.

Post regularly, and repost Activity beats everything in the social media game. It's like rolling the dice, and the more you post the more chances you have. You have to have no shame, it's all business baby

Outside of just posting regularly and hoping people reach out to you, it can be hard to know where to look. Here are a few places you can sign up to and post around on.

/r/INAT INAT (I Need A Team) is a subreddit for finding a team to work with. You can post your portfolio here, or browse for people who need artists.

/r/GameDevClassifieds Same as above, but specifically for game-related projects.

Remote Game Jobs / Work With Indies Like Indeed but for game jobs. Browse them often, or get email notifications.

VGen VGen is a website specifically for commissions. You need a code from another verified artist before you can upgrade your account and sell, so ask around on social media or ask your friends. Once your account is upgraded, you can make a 'menu' of services people can purchase, and they send you an offer which you are able to accept, decline, or counter.

The evil websites of doom: Fiverr and Upwork I don't recommend them!! They take a big cut of your profit, and the sites are teeming with NFT and AI people hoping to make a quick buck. The site is also extremely oversaturated and competitive, resulting in a race to the bottom (the cheapest, the fastest, doing the most for the least). Imagine the kind of clients who go to these websites, looking for the cheapest option. But if you're really desperate...

🔸 Community

I do really recommend getting involved in a community. Finding like-minded friends can help you stay motivated to keep drawing. One day, those friends you met when you were just starting out may become your peers in the industry. Making friends is a game changer!

Discord servers Nowadays, the forums of old are mostly abandoned, and people split off into many different servers. Cafe Dot, Pixel Art Discord (PAD), and if you can stomach scrolling past all the AI slop, you can browse Discord servers here.

Twitch Streams Twitch has kind of a bad reputation for being home to some of the more edgy gamers online, but the pixel art community is extremely welcoming and inclusive. Some of the people I met on Twitch are my friends to this day, and we've even worked together on different projects! Browse pixel art streams here, or follow some I recommend: NickWoz, JDZombi, CupOhJoe, GrayLure, LumpyTouch, FrankiePixelShow, MortMort, Sodor, NateyCakes, NyuraKim, ShinySeabass, I could go on for ever really... There are a lot of good eggs on Pixel Art Twitch.

🔸 Other Helpful Websites

Palettes Lospec has a huge collection of user-made palettes, for any artist who has trouble choosing their colours, or just wants to try something fun. Rejected Palettes is full of palettes that didn't quite make it onto Lospec, ran by people who believe there are no bad colours.

The Spriters Resource TSR is an incredible website where users can upload spritesheets and tilesets from games. You can browse for your favourite childhood game, and see how they made it! This website has helped me so much in understanding how game assets come together in a scene.

VGMaps Similar to the above, except there are entire maps laid out how they would be played. This is incredible if you have to do level design, or for mocking up a scene for fun.

Game UI Database Not pixel-art specific, but UI is a very challenging part of graphics, so this site can be a game-changer for finding good references!

Retronator A digital newspaper for pixel-art lovers! New game releases, tutorials, and artworks!

Itch.io A website where people can upload, games, assets, tools... An amazing hub for game devs and game fans alike. A few of my favourite tools: Tiled, PICO-8, Pixel Composer, Juice FX, Magic Pencil for Aseprite

🔸 The End?

This is just part 1 for now, so please drop me a follow to see any more guides I release in the future. I plan on doing some writeups on how I choose colours, how to practise, and more!

I'm not an expert by any means, but everything I did to get to where I am is outlined in this guide. Pixel art is my passion, my job and my hobby! I want pixel art to be recognized everywhere as an art-form, a medium of its own outside of game-art or computer graphics!

This guide took me a long time, and took a lot of research and experience. Consider following me or supporting me if you are feeling generous.

And good luck to all the fledgling pixel artists, I hope you'll continue and have fun. I hope my guide helped you, and don't hesitate to send me an ask if you have any questions! 💕

My other tutorials (so far): How to draw Simple Grass for a game Hue Shifting