Mimezinga
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- Apr 15, 2026
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Okay, lately I tried some DIY pixel art and since it was a lot of work but also very, very zen, I would like to share my experience.
So, what is this about? I was struggling with the 250x350 pixel format of the cover, since I usually draw in crayons and when you scale down a crayon drawing it becomes unreadable.
Down below you can see the old hand drawn cover compared to the Pixel art. It is the same subject but the difference is night and day.
The crayon cover was the model, but to make a pixel version I had to start over. Proportions, colors, everything had to be done from a blank slate.
The very first draft was simply some lines drawn with the mouse in MS Paint, bucket for colors just to get an idea of how the color masses would work on the cover, and then a first session of line cleaning. Being very new to this type of art I decided to use hard lines since they help visualizing the picture while you work, and gave the art a nice Monkey Island 1 vibe.
It was at this point that I realized a problem: the heads were still too small for the smaller versions of the cover - The ones in the preview and the one in the search engine. So I decided to grab the whole group and upscale it by about 20%
The expressions weren't what I wanted, so I had to redraw them. Also, the upscale tool messed with line thickness and position, so I had to clean the whole picture again. When I was satisfied with the general mood of the picture, I moved on to details and the rest of the lines.
Details were added, buttons were polished and the proper colors were partially selected. This ended the preparations and I was able to begin the real work: Pixel coloring.
It was at this time that I left the shallow friendly waters of MS Paint to move on a more powerful tool: GIMP. I was lucky enough to have already worked with GIMP in the past during my studies, but I forgot how hard it was to navigate it at first. The tool isn't really hard, but you need to get used to its specific shortcuts. Once you get a little confidence, though, it makes your life a lot easier.
I decided to use a limited number of colors to keep the old-school vibe instead of true color. To create a proper palette I asked Claude opus 4.7 to scour the net for an old-school 256-color Windows palette, but it wasn't what I really needed so in the end I went with this one. This is not the only palette I'll use for the picture, but it is the one for the girl on the right side and all the uniforms.
To see if the project was even possible, I decided to start with a simple dark object: the beret of the girl on the left side. It took time but not forever, and the end result was pleasant, so I figured I could pull it off and proceeded with the rest.
This is the progression with the proper colors. A thing that needs to be said here is that to keep the number of colors used as low as I could, I went for a technique called dithering. It consists of alternating pixels of similar colors in a regular grid to create mixed hues on a surface. It also creates a nice feeling of opacity, while a smooth color gradient gives more of a sharp, reflective vibe. A 25/75 dithering can be seen especially on the cheeks of the girl on the left: I tried to give some liveliness to her face. At first sight it works, but the technique becomes more evident the longer you look at the picture.
The use of dithering is pretty evident on both uniforms, especially where the color fields are wider.
The other notable thing in this group is the hat of the girl on the right. The glossy band was not working and I struggled to figure out how to fix it. Like every evil witch of the west would send her flying monkeys out, I sent Claude hunting for as many samples as possible. In the end I opted for a single bright line and a simple gradient down to darker tones. It is not as good as I wanted it, but it works.
At this point the picture was more or less done. Only the details needed to be fixed. Patches, buttons, rank pips.
At that point the only thing left was the background. I made a few attempts, but bright colors would kill the mood of the cover and I wanted a bright to dark gradient, so I opted for a desaturated palette. The lines couldn't be applied as a whole since to honor pixel art tradition I didn't use layers, so I just had to do some math to decide where to place the different colored lines around the two girls. It wasn't very hard. The final dithering was a matter of patience. The grid was easy enough to apply, but it took a lifetime.
Well, this was my experience with pixel art. I hope it was interesting, or maybe someone would find it useful or inspiring. I'm open to criticism and if I wrote something wrong, please do tell me. In any case it was fun and relaxing, like some weird mandala, or making a mosaic. I would love to see some more pixel art around, too.
Here is the link to the story. If you like tanks please give it a try.
Pz.III; or, A Girl Panzer's Curious Tale
So, what is this about? I was struggling with the 250x350 pixel format of the cover, since I usually draw in crayons and when you scale down a crayon drawing it becomes unreadable.
Down below you can see the old hand drawn cover compared to the Pixel art. It is the same subject but the difference is night and day.
The crayon cover was the model, but to make a pixel version I had to start over. Proportions, colors, everything had to be done from a blank slate.
The very first draft was simply some lines drawn with the mouse in MS Paint, bucket for colors just to get an idea of how the color masses would work on the cover, and then a first session of line cleaning. Being very new to this type of art I decided to use hard lines since they help visualizing the picture while you work, and gave the art a nice Monkey Island 1 vibe.
It was at this point that I realized a problem: the heads were still too small for the smaller versions of the cover - The ones in the preview and the one in the search engine. So I decided to grab the whole group and upscale it by about 20%
The expressions weren't what I wanted, so I had to redraw them. Also, the upscale tool messed with line thickness and position, so I had to clean the whole picture again. When I was satisfied with the general mood of the picture, I moved on to details and the rest of the lines.
Details were added, buttons were polished and the proper colors were partially selected. This ended the preparations and I was able to begin the real work: Pixel coloring.
It was at this time that I left the shallow friendly waters of MS Paint to move on a more powerful tool: GIMP. I was lucky enough to have already worked with GIMP in the past during my studies, but I forgot how hard it was to navigate it at first. The tool isn't really hard, but you need to get used to its specific shortcuts. Once you get a little confidence, though, it makes your life a lot easier.
I decided to use a limited number of colors to keep the old-school vibe instead of true color. To create a proper palette I asked Claude opus 4.7 to scour the net for an old-school 256-color Windows palette, but it wasn't what I really needed so in the end I went with this one. This is not the only palette I'll use for the picture, but it is the one for the girl on the right side and all the uniforms.
To see if the project was even possible, I decided to start with a simple dark object: the beret of the girl on the left side. It took time but not forever, and the end result was pleasant, so I figured I could pull it off and proceeded with the rest.
This is the progression with the proper colors. A thing that needs to be said here is that to keep the number of colors used as low as I could, I went for a technique called dithering. It consists of alternating pixels of similar colors in a regular grid to create mixed hues on a surface. It also creates a nice feeling of opacity, while a smooth color gradient gives more of a sharp, reflective vibe. A 25/75 dithering can be seen especially on the cheeks of the girl on the left: I tried to give some liveliness to her face. At first sight it works, but the technique becomes more evident the longer you look at the picture.
The use of dithering is pretty evident on both uniforms, especially where the color fields are wider.
The other notable thing in this group is the hat of the girl on the right. The glossy band was not working and I struggled to figure out how to fix it. Like every evil witch of the west would send her flying monkeys out, I sent Claude hunting for as many samples as possible. In the end I opted for a single bright line and a simple gradient down to darker tones. It is not as good as I wanted it, but it works.
At this point the picture was more or less done. Only the details needed to be fixed. Patches, buttons, rank pips.
At that point the only thing left was the background. I made a few attempts, but bright colors would kill the mood of the cover and I wanted a bright to dark gradient, so I opted for a desaturated palette. The lines couldn't be applied as a whole since to honor pixel art tradition I didn't use layers, so I just had to do some math to decide where to place the different colored lines around the two girls. It wasn't very hard. The final dithering was a matter of patience. The grid was easy enough to apply, but it took a lifetime.
Well, this was my experience with pixel art. I hope it was interesting, or maybe someone would find it useful or inspiring. I'm open to criticism and if I wrote something wrong, please do tell me. In any case it was fun and relaxing, like some weird mandala, or making a mosaic. I would love to see some more pixel art around, too.
Here is the link to the story. If you like tanks please give it a try.
Pz.III; or, A Girl Panzer's Curious Tale
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