Showcasing my graphics

[Grongy]

Did a little bit of artwork. This one is just a joke really, some kind of Game Boy demo with a checkerboard effect running on an emulator. The whole concept is just an afterthought actually, I just wanted to make a font that uses the whole cell

This one is a kinda vaporwavey, I dunno. Wanted to add Japanese text as well (something like "Used PC's and Super Famicoms for a cheap price!"), but decided to not do that, maybe for the better. Not sure that the pond is visible enough, and yeah, all these consoles and boxes are actually in the water.

And finally tried to draw a Sega Master System. Kinda satisfied with the results, looks like an obscure 80's ad. Did it in two color variations.

[TMD2003]

Kinda shameful to admit it, but I'm using standard MS Paint as a drawing tool. Also the old version of Paint Shop Pro (from like '99) comes in handy, I'm using with 8x8 grid on. No, I don't have real Spectrum right now and I've never tried to draw using it, but I suppose it wouldn't be the most comfortable thing for me, dunno why. I guess it's easier to do things with more or less modern equipment, drawing with Kempston on old graphics editor for Spectrum may be a torture for a guy who gou used to comfort.

Give ZX-Paintbrush a shot. It's specifically designed to make Spectrum screens - you choose the INK and PAPER colours and it'll snap them all to the 8×8 grid - BRIGHT and FLASH can also be applied to each square, and there's the option to leave any of the attributes alone while you edit the others.

[WhatHoSnorkers]

Those graphics are fabulous! I really like the SEGA Master System one.

ZX Paintbrush is really great. I've used to to digitise pictures more than drawing, which I tend to do with BASIC. Border work is lovely but also tricky. The best I managed (in BASIC) was doing a golden crown with emeralds that extended into the border.

[Ralf]

Also the old version of Paint Shop Pro (from like '99) comes in handy

Funny thing, I also use an old Paint Shop Pro - this one:

https://winworldpc.com/product/paint-shop-pro/5x


I've tried once switching to newer version but it didn't work well for me. A lot of useless stuff for me was added while things that
I use a lot got lost among it. It went from pixelart + photo editing tool to mostly photo editing tool.

Am I an old geezer to work with 23 years old software?
Probably. So what?

[Grongy]

Give ZX-Paintbrush a shot. It's specifically designed to make Spectrum screens - you choose the INK and PAPER colours and it'll snap them all to the 8×8 grid - BRIGHT and FLASH can also be applied to each square, and there's the option to leave any of the attributes alone while you edit the others.

Tried to use it - no, still not comfortable enough for me. ZX-Paintbrush cares too much about INK and PAPER parameters, more than me really, so it constantly changed color in color cells. Also the default palette is kinda weird, with too dark blue colors, but it's easy to fix it and save as a pal-file. So yeah, not my thing for drawing. But it's great for converting and fixing little clashing mistakes though.

Am I an old geezer to work with 23 years old software?
Probably. So what?

I've noticed that it's really difficult to use image editors if you not got used to them, and even simplest action (like rotation or resizing) becomes a long torture with searching for a necessary button. I really got used to Paint Shop Pro, and using Photoshop or GIMP is nearly impossible to me without any training. So there's nothing wrong with that. My Paint Shop Pro is a little newer btw.




Also - time for a SpecSCII mode! Didn't use letters though, that's a bummer, but still was using pseudographics.

[WhatHoSnorkers]

I use GIMP for my thumbnails and... yeah. There's a learning curve. I wouldn't use it for DRAWING anything. I drew a circle in Paintbrush instead and then modified it.

It's very POWERFUL but not easy to use.

Then again drawing a CIRCLE on the ZX Spectrum is easy. Drawing a filled-in circle... not so much!

[evilpaul]

Since we're going in a bit of a "what do you use to make Speccy graphics?" direction, I'll throw in my hat too..

I used to use an old copy of PaintShop Pro for the longest time, before eventually switching to Paint.net. If I wanted to do anything "proper" (ie: non-paletted) then I used an old version of Photoshop.

Then last year, after switching to Mac and no longer having access to PSP or Paint.Net, I stumbled in the wilderness for a while (Gimp? Ugh.. No. Krita? Ugh.. learning curve!) I finally gave Aseprite a go and haven't looked back. Works very well for what I need.

[worcestersource]

These screens are amazing!

Steve

[Grongy]

Hi, here are some screens I did last month, some are reworked old works, the fourth one is just a Streets of Rage intro screen from Sega Master System, tried to did it with the Spectrum's limitations. Hope you will like it.

[5MinuteRetro]

Hi, here are some screens I did last month, some are reworked old works...

This one is sublime. I can see how it was done, but it's just beautiful. Very un-Spectrum, in a Spectrum kinda way. Your talent is immense.

[5MinuteRetro]

Hi, here are some screens I did last month, some are reworked old works...

This one is sublime. I can see how it was done, but it's just beautiful. Very un-Spectrum, in a Spectrum kinda way. Your talent is immense.

Actually, I take it back. I have no idea how this was done. In fact, it seems impossible?

[Grongy]

This one is sublime. I can see how it was done, but it's just beautiful. Very un-Spectrum, in a Spectrum kinda way. Your talent is immense.

Actually, I take it back. I have no idea how this was done. In fact, it seems impossible?

Huh) Well, I cheated here, it's not a standard Spectrum format really, just a piece of pixel art, with Spectrum colors without any color clashing. I suppose it's possible to make it a gigascreen though. I sent the converted version back in 2020 to Demodulation festival and it looked... well... not very good.

I will try to replicate the same style on the standard screen, it will be very difficult, but still possible.

[Joefish]

Hi, here are some screens I did last month, some are reworked old works...

We need a game that looks like this! A bit of Knot in 3D's cheating to do those side walls, and an Ad Astra technique with solid colours for the back of the cars with skewed bitmaps for the front... Corners might not be so easy to render...

[Grongy]

Here's a little depressive stuff, I suppose, just finished it.

[Lee Bee]

I love your work, Grongy! You have a great artistic skill, and you can do lots of different styles. I hope you can team up with a developer and make some games. Maybe someone here? If you don't make any games, it would be a waste of good talent. If you need music, I can provide it! (I do lots of styles too)

[Grongy]

Made a video with 40 best pictures + additional making-of steps for most of them.
https://youtu.be/PTmCm5SO4WI

[Grongy]

Another ZX-artist showed this beautiful artwork called "Chez Maxime" made by Craig Howard:



Its art style reminded me a lot of those French comics about Tintin, so I tried to draw another French comic characters on a standard Spectrum screen:



Here's Asterix and Obelix, it took me about three or four hours to copy an image and to adapt it into limitations. I tried to keep black thin lines as much as possible, some areas like Asterix' mustache were really difficult to do. And yeah, it feels kinda unfinished, for example, blue stripes from Obelix' clothing basically disappeared due to attribute clashing. Still, in case if someone's interested.

[helpcomputer0]

Nice work! The Master System ones might be my favourites

[Grongy]

About a year ago I did a mock-up of Pac-Man for ZX Spectrum, here's an animated version of it. Notice the unique animation for each 8x8 ghost (reused them for my pouёt avatar ):

If someone wants to make another Pac-Man clone, feel free to use it for graphics (but don't forget to mention me! )


Also here's some recent screens made for speccy.pl party:

[Grongy]

[Lee Bee]

They are ace!

[Grongy]

Unfortunately, it seems that I can't edit my own posts after some time, so I can't fix a broken image link (wanted to reupload it). In case if someone missed it, here's my previous work:

Aaaand here's the new one, named "to infiltrate the base". Basically finally tried to do a picture with at least some resemblance to perspective. Also helpcomputer0 made so many good landscape art recently,especially with nature alone, I decided to mix it up a bit with some urbanistic stuff. Although this one is much easier technically, tried to replicate Japanese Famicom/Master System style with strong anime vibes.

[Grongy]

Decided to recolor the last one:

[PeterJ]

Hi @Grongy,

Just PM @R-Tape or I if any post needs changing.

Peter

[helpcomputer0]

Unfortunately, it seems that I can't edit my own posts after some time, so I can't fix a broken image link (wanted to reupload it). In case if someone missed it, here's my previous work:

Aaaand here's the new one, named "to infiltrate the base". Basically finally tried to do a picture with at least some resemblance to perspective. Also helpcomputer0 made so many good landscape art recently,especially with nature alone, I decided to mix it up a bit with some urbanistic stuff. Although this one is much easier technically, tried to replicate Japanese Famicom/Master System style with strong anime vibes.

Your urban landscapes are always striking, I can recognise they're yours immediately with the strong outlines which works really well with urban/modern buildings. I like the SMS vibes in these too!