At times, I am saturated with ideas. But it is rare for me to completely actualize an idea. Much of the work that is started is never finished. Interest is lost and willpower runs dry. Maybe I am not a pixel artist, but an idea artist.

Pixel Engineer is now Pixel Chemist. I am no longer studying computer engineering. I have undertaken a chemistry specialist and a mathematics minor.

This is the new logo. It is simple, but after devoting much time to revising it, I decided to leave it as it is. On another note, someone has claimed “pixelchemist.tumblr.com” - a now dead tumblr. Hence the choice of “thepixelchemist”.

I re-evaluated several of my past works, and have deleted some 32x32 creations that I was not satisfied with. I hope to incorporate the ideas I used to make them into more successful works.

I decided to forego anti-aliasing to preserve that raw look of this swamp. I also took the opportunity to experiment with a colour combination that I concocted. I consider it to be a success.

A free resource under the Creative Commons license, at last. These are labels pertaining to the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road, otherwise abbreviated as ADR from the French title. The full text can be found here, and in particular, Part 5 of Annex A, which is the section describing the labels. The titles of the image files in the label packs have been adapted from this text.

There are two dimensions of labels that I’ve included: 9x9 and 13x13. These are meant to be implicit labels - perfect for pixel laboratory environments. They are too small to have numbering details included. Perhaps creating larger ADR labels will be a future project for Pixel Engineer.

Happy International Year of Chemistry!

The basic premise behind this is my enjoyment of black tea and the use of two contrasting colours aided by a less-saturated primary colour. I also experimented more with anti-aliasing, but it was more challenging in this composition because it is more detailed.

A little tea kitchen. Features a vase with a curious flower, designer teapots, tea mugs, tins of premium black teas, and a kettle full of boiling water. The steam rises to an ornate grill. Which tea and teapot shall I pick?

I experimented with anti-aliasing for the first time. None of my pieces thus far exhibit this technique, and it feels like sharpness is somewhat characteristic of my works. I may revisit many of them to experiment further, however.

This is a field of bamboo sprigs, growing near some mountains in the afternoon.

It has been a long time since another post, as matters in real life become more pressing. Furthermore, the work in this particular post took up much time. I present Majora’s Mask, from the eponymous Legend of Zelda game.

There were two sources of inspiration for this project. First, I had a strong desire to create a pixel-art tribute to an excellent video game that was very pertinent to my childhood. Second, while several pixel-art reproductions of Majora’s Mask already exist, I felt that few of them pay enough respect to the artists of the mask. While they certainly preserve the integrity of the mask and make it quite recognizable, they lack many details of the mask that give it its true character.

One of the more prominent challenges in reproducing Majora’s Mask was the problem of interpreting it. An artist could choose to interpret the model in the game itself or concept art of the mask. Alternatively, a personal interpretation could be used to draw the mask.

Because I was attempting to reproduce the mask as faithfully as possible, a personal interpretation was not one of my options. I ultimately selected the concept art as my basis. While one can argue that the gaming model is the “final look” of the mask, one must not forget the limitations of the Nintendo 64 at the time. Only for contemporary video games is it easy to accurately reproduce concept art.

A second challenge was deciding on the dimensions of the image. I confined my selection to typical Pixel Engineer dimensions: powers of two. However, an issue arose when odd-number dimensions appeared to work better. They allowed for more accurate spacing of some elements and made the vertices of the heart-shaped mask sharper. While such a mask could easily be placed on a canvas with even-number dimensions, the mask would not be perfectly centered. Hence, I decided that I would select accuracy and alignment over protocol. The final size is 129x129.

This was an excellent opportunity for me to practice dithering and simulating three-dimensional imagery through the use of light. This is why this post marks the dawn of a new day for PixelEngineer.

This work isn’t perfect, and so I will return to tweak it in the future, when I have improved my pixel art skills.

While this work is under a Creative Commons License, please respect Nintendo Co., Ltd.’s ownership of Majora’s Mask and the Legend of Zelda franchise.

A monochromatic palette may be used to age a piece or to create a lifeless atmosphere. Grey can be difficult to use when colours are involved. It is easier to make a piece entirely out of grey.

This is an abandoned electricity tower, sealed off by barbed wire and guarded by a warning sign. Clouds drift calmly in the background. An albatross soars by.

It’s interesting to revisit works and and develop them further. Sometimes, no further development is made, and instead, the work is simply viewed from another angle.

This is a continuation of the earlier castle at night time.

There are many things I could write about, but I have not developed any of them to a satisfactory extent.

This 32x32 work depicts needlegrass amongst jagged mountains. It’s nice to have a break from 128x128 pieces.