For my 3rd assignment this week, I brought it back to this week’s theme of Heathers and the ’80s. The assignment was to create a pixel image of a person or object. To keep with the theme, I decided to try and create Heather Chandler in pixel form.
To create the pixel drawing, I used the reference photo above from an image search. I didn’t own any sort of pixel art software (and I didn’t want to do the headache that is Paint) so I did a quick google search and found a site called Pixilart; it’s free to use and it makes creating pixel art super easy. All I had to do was set the dimensions (the assignment said 16 x 16) and get working. Pixilart has a wide range of tools, including layers! I recommend it for people who want to dabble in some pixel art.
To start I did a basic shape of the head using skin color, and then did a base yellow for the hair till it looked how I wanted. Once the ‘bones’ of the portrait were in place I added the bow and blazer to finish the frame. Adding shadows and highlights helps bring it to life, as it does in other forms of art. So I simply found darker shades of the base colors and added some shadows, and did the same with highlights by selecting colors that were brighter. Doing it in pixel form was a bit tricky since you can’t be as specific as you’d like, but for a first attempt, I think I did pretty well.
Once I had it how I wanted it, Pixilart had an easy download feature where I could make the image the size I wanted and I saved it as a png. I thought this project was easy to learn the basics of, and it makes me excited to create some more pixel art. I might try and tackle all of the characters from Heathers, who knows!
If I remember the movie correctly, the bow is significant, is it not? That makes this an interesting exercise in minimalism. Nice color selection too.
Yes! The scrunchie is a symbol of authority in Weterburg High School, I’ve read some interesting articles about the color symbolism in Heathers. Thank you!
This is so cute! I’ve always wanted to try pixel art because I love the sprite look in games. Awesome job! I might try one of these too…
Me too! You should definitely give it a try. I linked the assignment if you need the prompt. Give it a go! ☺
That looks really cool. You did a really good job with the pixel art. I can’t wait to try that assignment, and that sounds like a lot of fun to try.
Thank you so much! I really enjoyed it and it wasn’t difficult to get the hang of. I’m excited to see what you make with it 🙂