Final Video Story

For my Video Story, I decided to show a bit of my process when it comes to making pixel art. To begin with, usually I like to browse on tumblr and sort the results to “Photo” just to make the process faster. I usually search for things like “sky” or “sunset” but this time I decided to search for “mountains” and I kept scrolling. As I found photos I liked, I would open them in a new tab to look back at when I was finished. When I found the best photo, I began to create it. First, I added a background. I would outline the shapes of the mountains and then fill them in, with the darker colors at the front and the shades getting lighter as it moved back. The final product is beautiful mountains, a simple silhouette/abstract type situation.

I placed some text in the video to explain my process, and I also added some free music. In my final revisions, I changed the text from having a “shadow” effect — to adding a stroke to the text instead. I applied a 2.0 thickness. I made this revision because in peer critiques, I had suggestions of changing the text so it is easier to read. In my revisions I also added transitions surrounding the text and the video clips themselves, and to the music at the end of the video. I did this so it would smoothly and quietly finish the video rather than having a loud ending.

I picked this as my video story because many people ask me how I work through layers, and I felt as if this could clear some confusion surrounding the process. I hope that this video makes it easier for even one person to make pixel art. In peer review, some students said that this inspired them to start making art as it made it seem easy, even for those that don’t have artistic skills. This meant a lot to me, because that was my goal with this video. This process can be applied to all sorts of things, from cities and trees, so I tried to make it as basic as possible to show the audience how to use it as a general application.

Sar’s Pixels logo (final)

logooooo

This is the third logo I have made to represent “Sar’s Pixels” and definitely is a good merge between the first two. I tried to provide a bit of uniqueness to this logo, with the handwritten “Sar’s” and the pixelized “PIXELS” it adds a bit of depth to the image. Splitting up “PIXELS” was also an attempt at putting myself out there and going past my comfort zone.

One of the most important parts of this image is that the background of it all is blue. This is crucial to me, because my hair is blue. Although some of you online may not know what I look like–many people recognize me because of my hair. People call me “the blue haired girl” all the time, so having a piece of that was a great idea. The color blue is a big part of my identity, and has been for over two years now. I felt that making the connection between my personal identity and my art identity was absolutely crucial to this piece.

For my final logo, I decided to kinda stick with my original draft. The only real noticeable change that I made was that I lightened the color of blue, and this was because some of my peer revision suggestions were to make the writing stand out a bit more, and I felt like lightening the background would do the trick. I played around with the colors of the font as well, but ended up sticking with the original black. The other two changes I made were also minor. One was that I increased the clarity of the logo, just to make it sharper and more crisp to the eyes. The final change that I made is not directly viewable. I made the background of the logo transparent, versus the original white. I did this so it would be easier to apply the logo to other things.

First Pieces of Art – Collage

final graphic collage

In 2018, one of my biggest goals was to create more art digitally. I decided to create Pixel Art, due to the fact that I have always had such a warm place in my heart for pixelated games on devices such as the GameBoy and the Nintendo 64. Games such as Mario Kart, Super Mario 64, and Banjo Kazooie showed a true understanding of how to use large bits of color to create a beautiful image. This is one of the leading forces as to why I chose to make Pixel Art over anything else.

One of the pieces that inspired me the most to create art the way I do is because of an image I saw many years ago. It has never left my head, and continues to influence the color choices I make. This piece of art is by Sofia Zelaya, an artist from Chile. Her piece can be seen at:
http://sofia-zelaya.tumblr.com/post/127595013651/i-cant-remember-what-i-was-so-angry-about

To show the beginning of my journey, here are my first 4 photos I ever created. I would create whatever came to my mind. Normally I aim for an image that makes me feel calm when I am making it or viewing it, so I tend to lean towards things like sunsets and landscapes. Mountains, trees, the desert, all calming environments from my perspective.

One noticeable bit from two of these original pieces I created is that they have small quotes on them. One reads: “Your laughter can move mountains” to match the landscape. The second one reads “You are whatever a moon has always meant” which is an excerpt from a poem by E.E. Cummings. You can read the full poem, here:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/49493/i-carry-your-heart-with-mei-carry-it-in

The way that these images are placed are based on importance. The desert displays the first image that I made, so it is the most significant one to me. The other two are smaller as they are not only similar in context, but also they fall on the lesser part of my list of importance. The revisions on this collage I made from the draft were very slight, as I did not want to tamper the original art. I completely deleted one of the images, as a helpful tip I received was that it could be repetitive to have my logo in there. I increased the vibrancy and contrast on the remaining photos, and adjusted the placement of the two on the right.

I hope that showing you my first pieces will inspire you to keep improving, practicing, and hoping. I have always looked to the improvement of others to keep me going, and here is my first expression of growth.

A New Beginning

Sar’s pixels is digital art created using smaller pixel spaces, such as 64×64 or 128×128. I picked this topic because it is something I continuously enjoy to do, and is very entertaining to make. Many people ask me to create specific things, for example, one time someone asked me to create them an image of a cactus in a desert. These images could feel someone feel calm, based on placement and color choice.

Using lighter colors such as pastels tend to make the viewer feel more at peace. These images are a representation of emotional and creative freedom, and how to interact with your feelings without being harmful towards them. It is very easy to find resources online on how to create these images or to find inspiration to.

One of the websites that I enjoy to use is https://www.pixilart.com/draw as it gives you the complete freedom to make digital art. It makes it easy to make gradients and to create animations. Animation is a big part of pixel art, as it gives it a new level of life to the image. Another good resource is http://lesterbanks.com/2014/02/creating-pixel-art-animation-photoshop/ which is a video that shows you how to easily make animation through Photoshop.

One of my current interests is to be more exploratory with animating pixel art pieces, and to develop new techniques. I often view other artists work to inspire myself, and one site I frequently reference to is https://www.deviantart.com/digitalart/pixelart/whats-hot/ which is constantly updating with new pictures. This site is endlessly inspiring especially for someone like me who is newly interested in this topic.

Throughout the next few months I am hoping to make a bigger animation, such as a train moving through a city or a large shooting star passing through the sky. I hopefully can inspire other artists online through doing animations such as this. These next few months will be a great improvement in my art, and I am excited to document my progress.