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09/04 — 2020
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53.54
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Pixel Art In GIMP
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<p>I've always been an admirer of pixel art, because of it’s
simplicity and it's resemblance to bitmap font design.
Recently, I decided to take the dive and make some art of my
own.</p>
<p>I used GIMP because I am fairly familiar with it. Aseprite
seems to be the editor of choice for animated pixel art
though.</p>
<h3 id="Setting%20up%20the%20canvas">Setting up the canvas</h3>
<p>Picking a canvas size is daunting. Too small, and you won’t
be able to fit in enough detail to make a legible piece. Too
big and you've got too many pixels to work with!</p>
<p>I would suggest starting out with anywhere between 100x100
and 200x200. <a href="https://u.peppe.rs/u9.png">Here’s</a> a sample
configuration. </p>
<p>Sometimes I use a 10x10 grid, <code>View > Show Grid</code> and <code>Edit >
Preferences > Default Grid > Spacing</code>, but that can get
jarring at times, so I throw down a couple of guides, drag
right or down from the left or top gutters for vertical and
horizontal guides respectively.</p>
<h3 id="Choosing%20a%20Brush">Choosing a Brush</h3>
<p>The most important part of our setup is the brush. Use the
Pencil Tool (<code>n</code> on the keyboard) for hard edge drawings.
Here's a small comparison if you don't know the difference
between a hard edge and a soft edge:</p>
<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/kz.png" alt="hard edge vs soft edge" /></p>
<p>I turn the size down all the way to 1 (<code>[</code> on the keyboard).
Set <code>Dynamics</code> off. <a href="https://u.peppe.rs/Fs.png">Here’s</a> a
sample brush configuration.</p>
<h3 id="Laying%20down%20the%20pixels!">Laying down the pixels!</h3>
<p>With the boring stuff out of the way, we can start with our
piece. I usually follow a three step process:</p>
<ul>
<li>draw a rough outline</li>
<li>fill in the shadows</li>
<li>add highlights</li>
</ul>
<p>But this process are better explained with an example: an
onigiri. Let us start off with a 100x100 canvas.</p>
<h4 id="Drawing%20the%20outline">Drawing the outline</h4>
<p>For the most part, our figure will be symmetric. If you are
on GIMP 2.10+, you can take advantage of the Symmetry
Painting feature. Go ahead and enable vertical symmetry,
<code>Window > Dockable Dialogs > Symmetry Painting</code> and
<code>Symmetry Painting > Symmetry > Mirror > Vertical</code>. Your
outline might look something like this:</p>
<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/mn.png" alt="rice_outline" /></p>
<p>Go ahead and fill it in with the fill tool (<code>Shift + b</code> on
the keyboard), add in some seaweed as well, preferably on a
different layer. You can toggle symmetry on and off to save
yourself some time.</p>
<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/xu.png" alt="with_seaweed" /></p>
<h4 id="Shadows">Shadows</h4>
<p>For now, let us focus on the shadows on the object itself,
we'll come back to the shadows cast by the object on the
surface later.</p>
<p>Shadows on any surface always follow the shape of the
surface. A spherical onigiri would have a circular shadow:</p>
<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/FU.png" alt="riceball_shadow" /></p>
<p>A couple of noticeable changes:</p>
<p><strong>Layers</strong>: The layer containing the seaweed has been hidden.<br/>
<strong>Color</strong>: The color of the shadow is just a slightly
lighter version of the original object (reduce the Value on
the HSV scale).<br/>
<strong>Area</strong>: The shadow does not go all the way (notice the bottom
edges). </p>
<p>The shadow does not go all the way because we will be
filling in that area with another, darker shadow! An image
might explain better:</p>
<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/Br.png" alt="shadow_all" /></p>
<p>To emulate soft lights, reduce the value by 2 to 3 points
every iteration. Notice how area <code>1</code> is much larger than
area <code>4</code>. This is because an onigiri resembles an oblate
spheroid, a sphere that is slightly fatter around the
middle, and areas <code>1</code> and <code>2</code> catch more light than areas
<code>3</code> and <code>4</code>.</p>
<p>Do the same with the seaweed. The seaweed, being a smaller,
flatter object, doesn't cast much of a shadow, so stop with
1 or 2 iterations of the gradient:</p>
<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/T3.png" alt="shadow_weed" /></p>
<p>We're getting there!</p>
<h4 id="Highlights">Highlights</h4>
<p>This step handles the details on the strongly illuminated
portions of the object. Seaweed is a bit glossy, lighten the
edges to make it seem shiny. The rice is not as shiny, but
it does form an uneven surface. Add in some shadows to
promote the idea of rice grains. Here is the finished
result:</p>
<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/VE.png" alt="highlights" /></p>
<h3 id="Finishing%20Touches">Finishing Touches</h3>
<p>Some color correction and <code>a e s t h e t i c</code> Japanese text
later, our piece is complete!</p>
<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/cn.png" alt="small_onigiri" /></p>
<p>Hold on, why is it so tiny? Well, that's because our canvas
was 100x100, head over to <code>Image > Scale Image</code>, set
<code>Quality > Interpolation</code> to <code>None</code> and scale it up to
700x700, et voilà!</p>
<p><img src="https://u.peppe.rs/CH.png" alt="big_onigiri" /></p>
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Hi. <a href=https://peppe.rs/index.xml class=feed-button>Subscribe</a>
<p>I'm Akshay, I go by nerd or nerdypepper on the internet.</p>
<p>
I am a compsci undergrad, Rust programmer and an enthusiastic Vimmer.
I write open-source stuff to pass time. I also design fonts: scientifica, curie.
</p>
<p>Send me a mail at [email protected] or a message at [email protected].</p>
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