Draw, draw, draw. Gotta keep at it. Sometimes it works, sometimes eh. But it's worth it if you're having fun, yeah? #digitalart #figuredrawing

Man, playing DK Bananza got me all nostalgic for DK64. I love how DK's motivation is always "I want all the bananas," but K. Rool's is "I want all the banana's, as well as a big-ass statue of myself". Conclusion: big-ass statues = evil. (Naturally formed islands in the shape of your head = OK)

hmm, yes, Professor Quine. I too have a taste for desert landscapes. #pixelart

I look at this. Take my glasses off. Look again. Put them back on. Look a third time. I can't decide what looks better lol. #art #pixelart

Trying to get better at environments and backgrounds. Forests always remind me of home... #digitalart #pixelart

9/9 Last step is to use the dither tool. Don't go crazy, its important to keep sharp edges. But you can make wonderful gradients. I also add some color in those dark shadows, cuz I like a little spice. Et voila! A painting!

8/9 Now we start the final painting. We define the final shapes using mostly colors we already have. Don't be too afraid to add new colors if they'll look cool!

7/9 I see I'm biased towards lighter and brighter colors, so now is when i do color correction. Just make increase/decrease hue/saturation/value layers and fix your mistakes. I don't use a lasso tool or filters, I'm very loose with preserving shapes still. You'll notice how blotchy the edges are.

6/9 Copy that image, make it a value layer, and then paint colors underneath. All you're adding is hue+(un)saturation, value has already been decided.

5/9 Next, refine into shapes. The point is to find interesting shape and edge language. Don't worry too much about details, this is still the underpainting. You're allowed to mess up.

4/9 On a layer underneath, make a monochrome value statement. Everything here is a different value of full-saturation red. No need for accuracy at this point, just worry about balance and composition.

3/9 First, the sketch. Never worry about this, none of this will show up in the final painting.

2/9 The reference. I picked a lady with a sword cuz ladies with swords are badass.

These high-res pixel art paintings are way more fun than I expected. Simple tools are best! I'm no pro, but I'll post my step-by-step in this thread. #art #digitalart

It's pretty cool what you can do in 480x480 pixels, using only a round brush and basic dithering.

So I've been doing portraits in pencil on and off for the past 1.5 years. All referenced from stock images. Got a few sketchbooks of these, but these are four of my favorites.

Carian Knight in a night and flame stance. Flames not included.