Long ago in places far away, I made tree paintings with acrylic on paper or canvas. But now I'm learning how to do it digitally with a mouse.

My first attempts have been helpful as studies but not what I was aiming for.

I'm getting closer to a style that works for what I'm envisioning—

This concept art doesn't really show the stages below. From the last frame of the animation, imagine more growth and leaves.

Steps I'm Feeling Out:

1. Create multiple layers. One of the great features of digital art for the artist is that we can work on multiple layers with no waiting for pieces to dry. Each layer represents a depth.
2. Name each for the dominant thing expected to be at the layer's depth. Example: "trunk" and "fore-branches".
3. Block out the shapes on the appropriate layer. This can be whole tree or only the trunk and dominant branches.
4. Differ the main color(s) for each layer. If nothing else, this helps with checking if you're on the target layer, at least while there aren't too many details. But it can also help with creating a sense of depth on the final image.
5. Add shadows and highlights. This helps defines the shapes (and can be done on separate layers if confidence is an issue).
6. Set on to the fine details. Add and shift colors as needed,

I plan on revising this post when I'm further along. Maybe it will help someone.

I'm watching these two.

Ep1c K1ss Art

• candies for lip-shaped box
• due February 10
• image up to 1337 x 1337 pixels
• any rating; E—M preferred

The Toybox

• toy art (one or two)
• due March 25
• max image size is 1000 x 1000 pixels
• E rating

Have you played the "Wanted" game yet? I'm loving how it (my first collab here) came out!

sebulant's graphics are fun. The gallery makes my heads look extra cool.

#^_^#

To be honest, today overall is not going smoothly on my side. I feel like I'm being pulled in five different directions.

Personal projects I was thinking of publishing today aren't ready. I'd have to take shortcuts I don't really want to take to complete them. But also, I should stop doing everything the extremely hard way. Example: it's okay to use dither brushes, FFS! Or to use an existing palette! I'm not sure why my mind is being mean about tools this week.

Another collab I submitted to is Petri Pals. As of this writing, my contribution isn't in the group. That's supposed to get corrected. I'm not sure that'll happen today. I'm bummed about being left out, but I understand how it happens. I'll be relieved to see my virus show up on the page later.

How's it going for you?

This can be where all five of my heads are together, year? The first three link to pages with larger sizes.

OC: Fraxinus

OCs: Desert Aloe and Licorice Rose

Blockhead: Conscience

Madness: Wank

I've already made tiny changes of the versions submitted to the game collaboration. The differences shouldn't be noticeable when the game is released.

By the way, I'm tagging this for fan art, but I haven't played the games or watched any movies with the last two characters. I tried, but Newgrounds games rarely work on my side. The videos were only of the "classic" cartoon baubles shooting each other with simple motions; not exactly helpful.

The Newgrounds characters were mostly chosen for their names, if I'm honest.

Go meet Licorice Rose!

There's not much backstory to the characters yet. This style of drawing is more time-consuming than it might look, and moving individual pixels takes too much attention for daydreaming.

Related: I've started to make a very simple movie with LR and Aloe. By the time I found a decent program that combines separate audio and gif files, I'd lost interest in editing the whole thing. For now. Honestly, it wasn't interest as much as the energy I'd lost.

I need a break. The current disaster of AI-clogged systems and online-only help guides is tiring to deal with. Plus I'm worn out from constant research to do anything new. Research is fun when it's not, you know, for government applications and healthcare policies and how to perform emergency home repairs without help, but breaks are important.

Please message me if you know of beginner-level Kdenlive tutorials or anything like that good enough to shine through mind fog.

If you'd enjoy commissioning me or throwing money my way as random act of kindness, I've got a Ko-fi page and a tipping button on Neocities. I would like to buy some inexpensive reference images and maybe a copy of Aseprite. The official program runs offline like Libresprite and has dithering tools like Piskel does! There might be no gift money coming in this year that I can use, and I have a depressing list of healthcare and government ID expenses to somehow save for. Still, it would be nice not to save time and electricity with better materials.

January appears to be a month for celebrating pixel art here on Newgrounds.

I've missed previous years, but I'd like to participate this year. There are three things in the schedule...

• Jan 12: Deadline for Wanted! Pixel Art {Game} Collab | organized by sebulant

• Jan 15: Deadline for Petri Pals Collab | organized by mantis & malfromed

• Jan 23: Pixel Day

These are lovely! Tho I have questions.

For collaborations, we submit our pieces to the people doing the combining and promotion. Then we wait for the release date to talk about what we made and post reviews. Is that how they work?

Pixel Day might have four contests: top picks in still art, games, movies, and music. Do we know what sizes and lengths are popular? Can we enter in a category multiple times?

This is an update from my previous post:

The collaborative artist sticker sheet (offsite) that includes my art is available and should be until the 15th of December. These sticker sheets were created to raise funds for Trans Rescue, a Netherlands-based organization for saving people who need to seek asylum from transphobic countries around the world.

You can view and buy other contributing artist's handmade items at the organizer's shop. There are digital and physical art ranging from $2.50 to $100+ for the limited time. The selection is nice to look at even if you can't purchase anything.

https://ko-fi.com/inherentlee/shop

If you're in the US wondering if you can get help with safety—yeah, me too. Trans Rescue's "Post Election Assistance" covers limited options. Like with the Human Rights Campaign's page going around social networks, the listed resources might be outdated or closed to new requests. Our federal elections aren't yet over (with the Electoral College voting this month and Congress doing its disorderly thing refilling seats), but with the political situation backsliding so quickly, everyone who cares is being overwhelmed. Obviously, with millions of Americans with any sense left preparing for the threatened attacks that's huge amounts of activity. You might want to dig around in your region for supportive people and resources. Some places are offering localized advice and emergency services.

Link 1: My Art Thread

It's like an art blog, isn't it? I'm liking that idea now I've started one.

Link 2: My Ko-fi Page

I'm experimenting with the options there, because I need money. Advice about how to set up my page or shop or promo could be useful if you've got any.

Link 3: #rescueTransRescue

Others need money, too. Trans Rescue is helping people flee oppressive countries.

I've donated art to be included in a collaborative sticker set, which is supposed to be available soon. Sales of the stickers and other beautiful items that were handmade for this fundraiser will contribute to Trans Rescue.

Saving trans, intersex, and other targeted people from the United States of America is now one of the charity's priorities because of threats from the criminal government that is currently expected to be taking over in January 2025. We need all the support we can get.

If you have funds to spare before December 15th, you can help while getting unique art for yourself.

If you don't: yeah, I understand. I hope you have a few minutes to appreciate the images of our art that are posted online.

Lock: (view Comments if you're really curious)

Let's see how this goes.

Maybe too much about Newgrounds makes me wary if not downright distressed, but this is one of the few places on the web were artists aren't competing with bots and AI-generated garbage for real people's views and reactions.

I'm blocking the background image so I don't have to see the extreme cartoon violence and gore that pops up there sometimes. Same for user level icons. When my level changes, I can choose an icon that's not overly aggressive to be public-facing. My browsers all block ads; hopefully, everyone else's do, too, or the ads here are relatively free of threats.

My user block list is going into two pages. I'll keep blocking homophobic jerks, obvious racists, and neo-Nazis as I come across them.

Why? Why do this?

:shrug: I want to is all.

There are moments of delight here. I want to find out if there can be more.

I have a new computer operating system—that works! I've gained developer privileges to my smartphone to remove corporate spyware that was draining the battery. Both devices seem to be working better now that before, requiring less electricity, which is good as we're expecting another active thunderstorm period in my area. I should be able to work on my animation through this week even if I need to avoid power outlets for a few hours each day.

(Safety Note: Don't use plugged-in electronics during thunderstorms. Lightning can travel through electricity wires, and however rare, has killed people that way. Same goes for interacting with water, even indoors, when that can be avoided without causing health problems.)

Speaking of rain...

"Tutorial - Easy Pixel Rain" by SqdPxl on DeviantArt (2018)

https://www.deviantart.com/sqdpxl/art/TUTORIAL-EASY-PIXEL-RAIN-724082950

I'm trying to figure out why something that's supposed to be quick and easy makes me so miserable. Because I've discovered that I despise animating rain in pixel art. It takes much longer than expected. I'm doing something wrong, maybe? My canvas size is much too large for the instructions available? Unfortunately, rain is an important element of the story scene I'm attempting to animate for Halloween Spooktacular 2023.

Also unfortunate is that the program I was using to draft the animation is not working on my new OS as a download. I can use Piskel as an web app, except that for me, the online version is glitchier. I suspect it was not designed with unstable internet in mind.

More misfortune: My favorite raster editor for working with larger canvases than what Piskel can handle well also no longer works for me. I've yet to find an alternative that does what I want.

Deep breaths.

=====

Image: Two indigo, rounded-top mushrooms on a transparent background.

Canvas: 64 by 64 pixels.

Program: Piskel.

Note: Another version was published on mastodon.art yesterday.