[MusicallyInspired]

I've long admired Mark Ferrari's work on games like Zak McKracken, Loom, Monkey Island, and the new Kickstarted Thimbleweed Park co-designed by Ron Gilbert (creator of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, and the SCUMM engine). He's also the guy who designed these amazing colour-cycled works of art. He's the most brilliant 8-bit artist I know of and used the conventional art tools of the past (Deluxe Paint II) in ways no one ever considered to create massive animations with just palette colour cycling. He held a discussion at the GDC conference last month about how he constructed his 8-bit works, how he's creating "8-bitish" art for Thimbleweed Park, and the genius methods he uses. It's a fascinating watch for people who love or are interested in 8-bit art or retro game art in general. I wish I could embed the video but it doesn't look like I can.

http://www.gdcvault....Bitish-Graphics

[Gambini]

Just five minutes on it had to come and say it´s awesome to hear that guy talking. He´s going through my childhood, with those games!

[Gambini]

BTW i looked at his browser´s address and entered it on mine and got his work, it´s very inspiring.

http://www.effectgam...os/canvascycle/

and this is the site of the game he and his team got founded by Kickstarter:

https://thimbleweedpark.com/

[MusicallyInspired]

Gambini, on 17 April 2016 - 02:42 PM, said:

BTW i looked at his browser´s address and entered it on mine and got his work, it´s very inspiring.

http://www.effectgam...os/canvascycle/

I linked to this already in the OP. It is incredible work!

[MrBlackCat]

I don't have anything to say about 8 Bit art... what I would like to comment on is what he says about not mastering a given product before it is obsolete. I find this unacceptably inefficient. After a decade of using MS Paint, I used to do edits of VGA and greater images, as well as 3D Isometric drawings that were often challenged as to source. "You didn't draw that number one, and second, you didn't do anything like that with MS Paint." I heard statements like this many times over the years, especially during the 90's. Why? Because these individuals with their fancy Quark and other top end editors of the time didn't understand Mastery. I don't think most people can master a program as complex as most graphics and cad programs in five years... but so seldom is anyone "allowed" to use a given piece of software for as much as five years.

I started with a Commodore Vic-20 computer... 5K of ram, and only 3.5K was available after boot of Commodore Basic language. This teaches you efficiency beyond what most can image. Many of my programs used right up to the limit of available memory... like within a few characters. I totally identify with Mark F in his opening statements on mastery and utilization.

MrBlackCat

[Gambini]

MusicallyInspired, on 17 April 2016 - 03:30 PM, said:

I linked to this already in the OP. It is incredible work!

Shame on me, i realized i didnt read your post and jumped right to the link when saw "8bits".

Agree with you Mrblackcat but i´m actually more amazed of the way he described how much inspirational those limtations were. Later in the video, though, i find some of his methods considerably time demanding, like his manual dithering... he goes pixel by pixel

[Hank]

MrBlackCat, on 17 April 2016 - 03:40 PM, said:

I don't have anything to say about 8 Bit art... what I would like to comment on is what he says about not mastering a given product before it is obsolete.

He is using Photoshop now, and makes the new games 'look' like 8bit art; using 8-bitish art principles.

Either way, he is a phenomenal artist, learned a new technic from the video.

[MusicallyInspired]

Gambini, on 17 April 2016 - 05:28 PM, said:

Agree with you Mrblackcat but i´m actually more amazed of the way he described how much inspirational those limtations were. Later in the video, though, i find some of his methods considerably time demanding, like his manual dithering... he goes pixel by pixel

Most pixel artists do. In fact, there's a whole community of pixel artists that work in 8-bit that consider using anything more advanced than a straight line tool to be not authentic to pixel artistry and using a palette any larger than about a dozen colours to be blasphemy. Not even a bezier tool. I know because after being inspired by Mark's artwork over and over I decided to look into it and find a community where I could learn. What I found was a bunch of snobs who do amazing breathtaking work (by hand!!!), but are ridiculously anal about how you're even supposed to go about it. So screw that. Mark proves it can be done without that nonsense and I'll find my own way. He's much more inspiring.

[Malgon]

Man, the canvas cycle art is amazing! It's crazy how with a limited colour palette they are able to convey so much mood and fire your imagination. Less really is more sometimes.

[MrFlibble]

MusicallyInspired, on 17 April 2016 - 07:28 PM, said:

I know because after being inspired by Mark's artwork over and over I decided to look into it and find a community where I could learn. What I found was a bunch of snobs who do amazing breathtaking work (by hand!!!), but are ridiculously anal about how you're even supposed to go about it. So screw that. Mark proves it can be done without that nonsense and I'll find my own way. He's much more inspiring.

Hopefully not to detract from the topic, a while ago I was reading on pixel art and this website caught my attention:
2D Will Never Die | A sprite and pixel art gallery with tutorials

It's run by a skilled artist who seems eager to share ideas and knowledge of the subject, including tutorials and "case studies" where someone else's work is analysed and improved (with the original authors' permission/request, of course). Personally I learned some interesting stuff from there, although I did not get around to trying to put it into practice.

[MusicallyInspired]

Nice, I'll check it out.

The name of the website/community I found was Pixel Joint. Like I said, amazing works, but way to strict guidelines for my taste.

[Hendricks266]

Check out Cage's Corner.

[MrFlibble]

I know PixelJoint from the page of this artist who has some very cool high-res remakes of Warcraft Orc/neutral unit portraits.