2020-10-02 - Trick or Treat Event Submissions

[MessengerDragon]

How do we attach the image to the personal message? There's no option for inserting an existing attachment to a message!

Edited October 4 by MessengerDragon

[Mewtie]

14 minutes ago, MessengerDragon said:

How do we attach the image to the personal message? There's no option for inserting an existing attachment to a message!

Images can't be attached to personal messages directly, but if it's an existing attachment, you should be able to copy the image and paste it into the message.

Edited October 4 by Mewtie

[sh20000sh]

And preventing it to become public, try attach it at your private notepad in profile page.

[spatio]

Yes, so to clarify how to upload and PM an image if you do not use a separate hosting site (sta.sh, imgur, etc.) in case anyone is new at this and still confused:

1.) Go to "Account Settings" and click "Edit Profile"

2.) Scroll down to the "Notepad" section under the "Private" header

3.) Upload your treat sprite using the "choose files" link and click "Save."  This will add your treat to your uploaded images.

4.) Go to "My Attachments"

5.) Click on the image (NOT the file name, this will just redownload it to your device).  When it opens a pop-up, click the image again.  This will open your image in a new tab.

6.) Use the address of the newly opened tab as your URL for inserting into a PM.

 

Good luck and have fun!

[VixenDra]

Quote

Art will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis which only applies when the art is deemed to meet all of the above guidelines (that is, if you need to make changes and resubmit, that bumps you to the back of the line).

 

sent mine on Friday(I was ready) and it's still not read. would be much more helpful if those were checked on regularly just in case... I really wanted to make it in 2020

[TJ09]

3 hours ago, VixenDra said:

 

sent mine on Friday(I was ready) and it's still not read. would be much more helpful if those were checked on regularly just in case... I really wanted to make it in 2020

Submissions are automatically shared into a discord channel for discussion, so not being marked as read doesn't mean it hasn't been seen.

[VixenDra]

2 hours ago, TJ09 said:

Submissions are automatically shared into a discord channel for discussion, so not being marked as read doesn't mean it hasn't been seen.

Good to know then, thanks for clarification!

[Lissarose]

14 hours ago, TJ09 said:

Submissions are automatically shared into a discord channel for discussion, so not being marked as read doesn't mean it hasn't been seen.

I had to edit my submission because the link to my art messed up... Will my edit get shared in discord too? Or will only the initial broken first link get sent?

[Eggy0]

16 hours ago, TJ09 said:

Submissions are automatically shared into a discord channel for discussion, so not being marked as read doesn't mean it hasn't been seen.

In that regard, does the entire message get sent or only the image that was linked?

[OMGitsKairi]

Ooo yes! I came up with an idea months ago. Gonna get started on it tonight! ☺️

[chariset]

On 10/6/2020 at 11:25 AM, VixenDra said:

sent mine on Friday(I was ready) and it's still not read

 

I got a reply a few hours ago.

 

Fingers crossed that we both make it in

[Kaini]

On 10/7/2020 at 5:01 AM, Lissarose said:

I had to edit my submission because the link to my art messed up... Will my edit get shared in discord too? Or will only the initial broken first link get sent?

 

Someone does physically go through the inbox, everything will get seen. No worries.

 

Quote

In that regard, does the entire message get sent or only the image that was linked?

 

Again a single rep does go through the inbox. Everything is seen and you will get a response, though a response is not a guarantee your treat will get in, all is subject to a final TJ vetting

[Cyberr]

Sent my own entry, I hope it will make it UvU

[wobster109]

Sent in my submission! I’m also not sure what the “blank space” requirement means, so I made my background transparent to be safe. Here’s an online tool for that: https://onlinepngtools.com/create-transparent-png

[Mewtie]

Yes, the background should be transparent (unless the background is a relevant part of the submission) and the canvas should only be as large as necessary.

[Ripan]

So say I myself realize something needs to be fixed (i.e. a pixel off, white border, or something) before I've gotten the feedback, do I still wait for the feedback or just resubmit the fix immediately?

I mean, I figure it would cut down on time and work to immediately resubmit a fix, but then again maybe it could get spammy.

Edited October 9 by Ripan

[VixenDra]

On 10/9/2020 at 4:45 AM, chariset said:

 

I got a reply a few hours ago.

 

Fingers crossed that we both make it in

 

same^^ just a confirmation so a good sign I guess? (last year I got no response and made it, hope it's just a nice tiny change in the procedure)

[Dragonearuss]

How do you guarantee that your submission isn't considered anti-alias even using pixel brushes with it disabled?

[Pilauli]

5 hours ago, Dragonearuss said:

How do you guarantee that your submission isn't considered anti-alias even using pixel brushes with it disabled?

I would say that you probably just need to make sure your lines don't look blurry.  If you're already using hard-edged brushes that don't blur when you use them, you're probably fine.

 

There are actually two issues involved with anti-aliasing: one is the persistent blurring, which can mess up pixel art.  The other is the fact that it's convenient to have everything be one or another precise shade (for example, if you want to make the mid-tone green a bit more yellow, you can select all of the mid-tone green in the image and change it at once, rather than going over and adding a bit of yellow fuzz to all the medium greens), and that some people take pride in limiting their color counts, and then blurring and smudging end up creating a bunch of duplicate shades that injure your pride or mess up your workflow.

 

To avoid the smudging effect, you do something like this:

- Pick a limited palette (more on that in a minute).

- Make dots of all of your palette colors along the side of your picture, or use a built-in palette-building feature, or pick some other way of making a list of exact colors.

- Draw your image using sharp-edged, non-anti-aliasing tools, only using the colors in your palette.

- Double-check to make sure it doesn't look blurry when you zoom in.

- If applicable, remove your palette from the edge of your image before you submit the art to TJ.

(This won't magically make your art great, but things like blurriness happen automatically with certain tool settings (intended for large-scale drawing) but not others.  And if it doesn't happen automatically, then it's far less likely to appear in your picture.)

 

Palette-choosing: you need "lots" (6-10-ish?) of shades to color large things, but less (3-6-ish) to color smaller things.  In general, high contrast makes it easier to see things, so try to remember to make your shadows dark and your highlights pale.  Since demonstrations of things that work are really useful to help visualize things, here are two of my favorite treats that people made last year:

The skull has, I think, 8 shades of tan/brown, and it uses all of them to make the skull look smooth and shiny but with discolored patches.  At the other end of the complicatedness spectrum, the crescent in the vial is only 3 colors: the normal submerged-in-purple-liquid color, a darker shade along the bottom edge, and the brighter sticking-out-of-the-purple-liquid color.  This is partly because the skull is much larger, so the transition between light and dark needs to happen more gradually.  (It's also partly because of stylistic differences and the fact that skulls are probably rounder than crescents.)  But in general, you need more shades for larger objects.

 

If you want to keep your color count low and avoid lots of similar-looking shades, then the anti-smudging procedures will naturally tend to restrict it, but there's also probably some way to tell your art program to limit the picture to exactly the number of shades you were trying to use and no more.  In GIMP, you can use the "indexed" image mode, or "posterize" the image; they both pretty much mean "cut it down to X number of colors".  If you use some other art program, I can't tell you what options you have, but doing a Google search for your art program's name and "reduce color count" may find useful tutorials.

 

And now, having spent way too long typing up this very long explanation (it didn't feel so long when I said, "I'd better address smudging, color count, and probably color choice while I'm at it", really, it didn't), I'll post this and go on my way.

 

Edited October 12 by Pilauli
Added one more line break that I missed the need for earlier.

[Dragonearuss]

4 hours ago, Pilauli said:

I would say that you probably just need to make sure your lines don't look blurry.  If you're already using hard-edged brushes that don't blur when you use them, you're probably fine.

 

There are actually two issues involved with anti-aliasing: one is the persistent blurring, which can mess up pixel art.  The other is the fact that it's convenient to have everything be one or another precise shade (for example, if you want to make the mid-tone green a bit more yellow, you can select all of the mid-tone green in the image and change it at once, rather than going over and adding a bit of yellow fuzz to all the medium greens), and that some people take pride in limiting their color counts, and then blurring and smudging end up creating a bunch of duplicate shades that injure your pride or mess up your workflow.

 

To avoid the smudging effect, you do something like this:

- Pick a limited palette (more on that in a minute).

- Make dots of all of your palette colors along the side of your picture, or use a built-in palette-building feature, or pick some other way of making a list of exact colors.

- Draw your image using sharp-edged, non-anti-aliasing tools, only using the colors in your palette.

- Double-check to make sure it doesn't look blurry when you zoom in.

- If applicable, remove your palette from the edge of your image before you submit the art to TJ.

(This won't magically make your art great, but things like blurriness happen automatically with certain tool settings (intended for large-scale drawing) but not others.  And if it doesn't happen automatically, then it's far less likely to appear in your picture.)

 

Palette-choosing: you need "lots" (6-10-ish?) of shades to color large things, but less (3-6-ish) to color smaller things.  In general, high contrast makes it easier to see things, so try to remember to make your shadows dark and your highlights pale.  Since demonstrations of things that work are really useful to help visualize things, here are two of my favorite treats that people made last year:

The skull has, I think, 8 shades of tan/brown, and it uses all of them to make the skull look smooth and shiny but with discolored patches.  At the other end of the complicatedness spectrum, the crescent in the vial is only 3 colors: the normal submerged-in-purple-liquid color, a darker shade along the bottom edge, and the brighter sticking-out-of-the-purple-liquid color.  This is partly because the skull is much larger, so the transition between light and dark needs to happen more gradually.  (It's also partly because of stylistic differences and the fact that skulls are probably rounder than crescents.)  But in general, you need more shades for larger objects.

 

If you want to keep your color count low and avoid lots of similar-looking shades, then the anti-smudging procedures will naturally tend to restrict it, but there's also probably some way to tell your art program to limit the picture to exactly the number of shades you were trying to use and no more.  In GIMP, you can use the "indexed" image mode, or "posterize" the image; they both pretty much mean "cut it down to X number of colors".  If you use some other art program, I can't tell you what options you have, but doing a Google search for your art program's name and "reduce color count" may find useful tutorials.

 

And now, having spent way too long typing up this very long explanation (it didn't feel so long when I said, "I'd better address smudging, color count, and probably color choice while I'm at it", really, it didn't), I'll post this and go on my way.

 

Thank you, I had this question in mind because my submission was considered anti-alias even without using a tool like so. I didn't know if it was how I was creating it as a gif that turned that into it or the way it was drawn, and due to the indefinite reply time I thought I could possibly figure it out here. My submission, when I look at it on my end, is definitely not blurry. Did not think the way I don't limit my palette would have affected it and thus did not consider before creating a submission. I drew it intentionally to have a similar range, so I am uncertain how I can salvage what I have to help fit these parameters. I'll either check it out now or just make something new with it in mind next year.  I do love these examples, and thanks for the explanation!

[Mewtie]

Anti-aliasing can be done manually and deliberately, though it should not be used for Trick or Treat submissions due to being a stark stylistic difference. For example, I used black with 4 different levels of opacity for this line to create a smooth appearance. It was made entirely with the pencil tool.

But it also might be that a high color count or semi-transparent pixels that don't seem deliberate gave the impression that a tool with anti-aliasing was used by accident. Some art programs let you see how many colors an image has, and alternatively, there are sites like this.

http://yanrishatum.ru/pj/

Edited October 12 by Mewtie

[Glaciarie]

I made mine a while ago when I had the some ideas but october came and I almost FORGOT TO CHECK FOR THIS THREAD and send my submission lol

[Eggy0]

On the topic of the spriting process itself, I'd like to bring up a couple of (free) programs that are absolutely made for pixel art

GraphicsGale is a nice example. I don't use it personally, but it is dedicated to pixel art and so has the much needed features to make it (e.g. a pencil tool without AA, and a color palette window where you can control the colors that you are using). Another option, one which I use myself, is Pro Motion NG - it has a free and paid version, but the free version is enough and will let you make your pixel art as you please, aside from locking away some useful but non-essential features like the ability to have multiple layers. It too has a color palette window, and tools such as counting the colors a piece uses and restricting the colors that may be used (which are great if you are trying to work with a limited palette). I believe both of these programs support making animations as well.

[Pixxelation]

17 hours ago, Eggy0 said:

On the topic of the spriting process itself, I'd like to bring up a couple of (free) programs that are absolutely made for pixel art

GraphicsGale is a nice example. I don't use it personally, but it is dedicated to pixel art and so has the much needed features to make it (e.g. a pencil tool without AA, and a color palette window where you can control the colors that you are using). Another option, one which I use myself, is Pro Motion NG - it has a free and paid version, but the free version is enough and will let you make your pixel art as you please, aside from locking away some useful but non-essential features like the ability to have multiple layers. It too has a color palette window, and tools such as counting the colors a piece uses and restricting the colors that may be used (which are great if you are trying to work with a limited palette). I believe both of these programs support making animations as well.

Personally, I just use GIMP. As long as you use the right tools and make sure to turn off AA on any select tools, it's super great for pixel art.

[wobster109]

Fancy! I’ll have to give those a try. I’m in MS Paint because I’m stuck in the 90s 😆