The Logbook Project: Pixel Art Lessons

What is this?: This is a directory page for the Pixel Art Lessons I've written!

What is pixel art?: Pixel art is a specific form of digital art focused around editing at the individual pixel level. We don't use automated tools, relying almost exclusively on the pencil tool and fill tool. We have small palettes, defined as a low number of individual hexadecimal values (rather than a low number of color categories as it often is in other art). We are often on a small scale, and are an extremely detail-oriented art form. If you look at any video game from the SNES or earlier (not counting Star Fox), you're seeing pixel art. However, pixel art goes far beyond the creation of game assets and is a full art form of its own, despite a very low public perception of the art form.

Why are you qualified to write tutorials?: I've done pixel art for over a half-dozen years, since before I was a teenager. I'm decently skilled in my own right, but I'm also a very dedicated writer and have formed a bit of a reputation for extremely in-depth and explanatory critique posts. I'm willing to write a lot in order to break concepts down to their most fundamental and understandable roots, making my tutorials accessible even for complete newcomers. I've been recognized twice now by Pixel Joint, first with a general badge for C+C Excellence and recently a Gold Star badge for "C+C Superstar", and have been recognized by others as a very thorough critique-r. Most importantly, I'm confident in my ability to teach and to keep working with any individual until they understand what they need to do to improve.

What format do these tutorials come in?: I've seen a lot of tutorials. The ones I hate the most are just basic step-by-step how-I-made-this pieces with no explanation. I also dislike when tutorials instruct you to do something without explaining why that helps your piece. In my work, I try to be as explanatory as possible, explaining the technique itself, how to apply it, what it does to the piece when applied, and why you would use the technique in general.
The biggest difference with my Lessons is that they're adapted (annotated, you might say) critiques of mine. By showing you the amateur side of things and what not to do, I don't tell you exactly how to do your own pieces. I don't want to dictate how to do it using my own stuff because I think that if you just keep seeing my style, you'll interpret some of my stylistic elements as "good pixelling" and cripple your own creative development. Basically: a painter who looks at a lot of Picasso pieces starts making his paintings look like Picasso's instead of promoting his own unique stylings. I don't want to be the Picasso of that metaphor - I want to give you the tools to develop your own art, not the tools to develop more of my art.
On occasion I will simply go into a more traditional tutorial style, but maintain the same strong explanation.

How often do you update?: Sporadically, and unpredictably.

Will you do a Pixel Art Lesson on _________: Probably eventually! But if you have a particular piece you'd like to see worked on, show it to me and I'll see what I can do about that! And if anyone, anyone, comes to me specifically asking for help on a piece of their own they're working on, I won't hesitate to give 'em the feedback they need. I've been in that no-feedback-zone thing before, and it totally sucks, so I won't leave you flapping in the wind if you come for help. Comments here are great, messages to me on PixelJoint (my handle is "Ego") are great too, but I can be accommodating.