Is anyone interested in contributing to a pixel art book?

[sheamkennedy]

Lately I've been having the idea that I want to create a pixel art book of my own, and self publish it as well as make it available to download as an ebook. I have determined that this would require me to make a lot of artwork, and could be very time consuming. But then I thought: How about I create a compilation pixel art book which shows off the work of many artists? And what better place to ask for artist submissions than here!

So this is my plan:
-If I get enough users willing to submit a mini-portfolio of artwork to make up the book, then I will proceed with publishing it.
-I figure if about 10 people are willing to take part in this, and everyone submits 3-4 pieces of artwork, then I'll have the right amount of material to make up the compilation.

What's in it for you?
-You can brag about being in a book!
-If you take part, you will get your own section in the book devoted to showing off your artwork.
-You will also get a write-up which will include things like: your name, an about section, your contact information, etc... This will allow other people to get to know you, and contact you if you so choose, or link people to your website or ongoing project.
-I will make this compilation 'free' as an ebook so people can get a lot of exposure, and everyone can access it once completed.
-I will make this book for sale as a print, and redirect any, and all profit towards the community (I'll have to ask Bob the best way of doing so, since I can't seem to find a donation button on the site).

If you want to take part then do the following:
-Leave a comment below saying that you are interested. Once I see that a fair amount of people are interested I will then supply everyone with the maximum image sizes to work with for their art, I will also gather information on how everyone wants their mini-portfolio description to appear in the book, etc...

DON'T START MAKING ART YET. I NEED TO KNOW IF ENOUGH PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED BEFORE GOING THROUGH WITH THIS.

[Willy Elektrix]

Lately I've been having the idea that I want to create a pixel art book of my own, and self publish it as well as make it available to download as an ebook. I have determined that this would require me to make a lot of artwork, and could be very time consuming. But then I thought: How about I create a compilation pixel art book which shows off the work of many artists? And what better place to ask for artist submissions than here!

I'm a horrible artist, so I won't participate. However, I suggest that the book have a theme of some sort to tie all of the submissions together.

[BMR]

Eh, sure, why not, seems like it might be fun. Count me in.

[sheamkennedy]

I'm a horrible artist, so I won't participate. However, I suggest that the book have a theme of some sort to tie all of the submissions together.

Really? I like your art. It's minimalistic but very effective. Also don't feel like you'd have to create some sort of huge masterpiece. I could easily take a 20x20 pixel drawing and scale it up to fit a page in the book. I say this because I feel like your style may be suited better to a smaller image size.

Also the theme idea is good. I'll have to wait to see how many people join in, then we can brainstorm on something as well as a name for the book. That, or everyone can make their own theme, thus making the book consist of a lot of variety. We'll see what the people decide.

[Bob the Hamster]

This is a pretty cool idea. I would be happy to contribute stuff. I love pixel art, and having a full-color paper book of examples of it made by you all sounds really awesome.

Is the primary purpose of this book to be an artbook? or is the primary purpose to be a tutorial book?

Do you want this book to contain only art that was just made for the book? or would this be a book of collected art from game projects?

-I will make this book for sale as a print, and redirect any, and all profit towards the community (I'll have to ask Bob the best way of doing so, since I can't seem to find a donation button on the site).

The donation page is buried here: http://rpg.hamsterrepublic.com/ohrrpgce/Donating I am honestly not really in need of any donations at the moment, and I don't know how updated other people's sections are.

Maybe I should start a donation fund to buy an Amazon FireTV or a Gamestick so I can port the OHR to those :)

I'm a horrible artist, so I won't participate. However, I suggest that the book have a theme of some sort to tie all of the submissions together.

I have to disagree. I have been re-playing Ramble Planet over the past few days, and marvelling at how expressive the artwork is. The simplicity is really deceptive. Your 2-bit tiles just drip with personality.

[sheamkennedy]

@Bob: The primary purpose of the book is to be an art book (a tutorial book might be cool to do in the future, but would take more effort to carefully plan out). What I want from this book is to show off everyones unique style. For example, this would allow someone who's viewing the book to stumble across something they like and think, "Hey I really like this person," then see that the person is Bob the Hamster, then learn a little bit about who Bob the Hamster is, then check out Bob the Hamster's site for related art or projects.

Regarding the art contained in the book, I think it may be best for each person to decide what they want to contribute. It all depends on what you want to get out of the experience.
For example:
-If you want to hype up your upcoming game "Awesome Adventure," then it may be best to show off graphics for "Awesome Adventure" as well as mention it in your "about" section.
-If you want to show off how good you are at creating enemy graphics, then do that.
-If you want to challenge yourself to create a set of original art, then go for it.

I just suggest that everyone have a theme amongst their own artwork

Regarding donation, I would be more than happy to donate any proceeds towards getting more porting options. I think this would be valuable to everyone.

@Willy again: Don't be so hard on yourself. I'd gladly accept any of the art you've done for Ramble Planet to be shown in the art book. In fact I think that style would really stand out from the rest causing viewers to gravitate towards reading your bio. Also what's to lose? If people aren't intrigued by your style then they may not follow a link to your game. But if someone likes what they see (which I think is likely) then that someone will check out your game, maybe tell their friends, maybe join the community, maybe be inspired to make their own game, maybe decide to purchase a printed copy of the book (which in turn could lead to more porting options in the future), etc... And I think these benefits greatly outweigh the negative. Not only this, but if you didn't want to make new art for the book, then simply contribute some of your already made stuff. I can specifically think of 3 games of yours which I'd really like to show off in the art book: Ramble Planet, Castle on the Night Land (my favourite art by you), and Dreg Sector (specifically the battle sprites) .

[Meowskivich]

I'd love to contribute to something like this, but I don't know if I will.

[sheamkennedy]

I'd love to contribute to something like this, but I don't know if I will.

Well keep it in mind.

Also I was just thinking that if someone wants to contribute but doesn't want their art work to be traced back to them, then they can contribute under an alias. This may get rid of some apprehension people are feeling towards having their name publish alongside their art. I'd even be open to people contributing under their own name as well as under an alias. This could give anyone the opportunity to experiment with another style, without having to represent it as their own.

[Spoonweaver]

well, I'm not really that great. but I suppose I could submit some stuff for this.
Wouldn't mind having a copy of a pixel art book that I was in.

[sheamkennedy]

Alright, so I was just looking at this easy self publishing site called "Lulu," and I've figured out the best size book which will result in the lowest cost, and lowest amount of pages.

What I've found is:
-The page dimensions in the book will be 21.59 x 21.59 cm. Meaning that I'll accept any pixel artwork which is smaller than this size. I will be able to resize anyones artwork to fit the page sizes, so don't worry if your art is 20 x 20 pixels. I just can't accept anything greater than 21.59 x 21.59 cm, but I doubt anyone would make pixel art of that magnitude anyways.

-The pages will be in full colour, so feel free to use as much or as little colour as you want, and at any bit depth.

-The minimum amount of pages in the book is 32 pages double sided. This means that I'd like about 14 people to contribute to the book so that everyone gets 3-4 pages of art as well as a page for their bio. Of course if anyone is wanting to contribute more than 4 pieces of artwork in their segment then that's fine too (in fact it could help the project proceed faster). Also keep in mind that there will be some pages in the book designated for the title, appendix, and stuff like that.

-The book will be a paperback with a flat back binding.

-Under these conditions the book will cost around $11.41 CAD plus whatever I decide the markup price should be (I'll probably make the markup price $1.00 CAD which will be the amount that will get donated to the OHRRPGCE). If the amount of pages used exceeds 32 pages then the price could slightly vary, but I bet we'll just meet the minimum.

-By publishing on Lulu, the book will be available as an ebook (for free download) as well as a printed paperback which will be made available on the Lulu site, Barnes & Noble site, and on Amazon site (for print & ship on demand).

Does this sound good with everyone.

[sheamkennedy]

well, I'm not really that great. but I suppose I could submit some stuff for this.
Wouldn't mind having a copy of a pixel art book that I was in.

Great to hear!

Also if anyone has any friends that would like to contribute, let them know. Although this project is primarily for the benefit of the OHRRPGCE community, I would have no problem with others joining in. Having others join in would speed up this project, and would also allow those people to redirect readers to their own non-OHRRPGCE projects or sites, which is completely fine.

[RMSephy]

I wouldn't mind giving this a try.

[sheamkennedy]

I wouldn't mind giving this a try.

Awesome! One step closer to starting this project.

Does anyone know how active Castle Paradox is? I'm wondering if this is worth posting there too?

[Bob the Hamster]

Yeah, it is worth posting on castleparadox too. There are a few lurkers who prefer it.

I have used Lulu before. They are good.

[Feenicks]

I'd be up for this.