Sal's Realm Newspaper

Graphics

In the Graphic Section of this issue, you will find a wide assortment of articles. We have articles discussing the aspects of the Pixel and Digital boards. With the integration of the Mixed Media forums we have hosted a new competition Mixed Media of the Month. Along with these items we have the traditional SotW Results and the other monthly competitions. As well as these we have a new Artist’s Spostlight. Have fun, stay safe, and look both ways when you cross the street.

~Cookthechef and the Graphics Team

Note: All of the graphics displayed on this page are copyrighted by their owners. You may NOT do anything to these graphics, including, but not limited to, using, editing them, or claiming them as your own, without the consent of the owner.

Tutorial of the Month

Congratulations Beret!
Blue Button Tutorial

Click here to view it

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Signature of the Month

Congratulations Fatalysm!

Runner up: Cookthechef

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Pixel of the Month

Congratulations El Jay!

Runner up: Andyana

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Mixed Media of the Month

Congratulations Anon Joe!

Click the image to view a full size version.

Runner up: OxyBoy0

Click the image to view a full size version.

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Large Piece of the Month

Congratulations Celtic!

Click the image to view a full size version.

Runner Up: Cookthechef

Click the image to view a full size version.

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Pixel Art: Forgotten Art of Sal's? - By: Doomcreator0

After spending many months, maybe even years, of watching pixel art grow and flourish in Sal's, something seemed different about the once rather large pixel art community that once flourished. It's been reduced dramatically to such a small group of artists who truly dedicate their time to making wonderful works of art in this form. The numbers slowly decreased, but it hasn't hit me until quite recently of how many people were actually gone. However, there is no joy in Sal's Realm, for all the pixelers have gone out.

Why? Why would a community of artists that once prospered, dwindle to such a small population? As far as I see, there can only be around ten or so, maybe even less, active pixel artists who truly put effort and quality into their work. These artists put many hours into their work to make something truly beautiful. This something, in my eyes, is truly more beautiful than a GFX piece that looks nice and had little effort put in. Was it the time that it took? Was it real life issues? I hope that this small number of artists can bounce back into the fairly large group of people it once was.

Some people still don't understand the basic concepts of pixel art. This is why many of them post their first piece and their last. Pixel art is meant to be a form of art that you truly put effort into. It's not something I have seen elsewhere, where someone might just play around with a few filters and brushes. No. This is completely different. A pixel artist work at a level, most people don't think of regularly. They place each individual pixel, which is smaller than the size of this period. The artists sketch out their work, fill it in with basic colorings, and then go in for the details. Pixel by pixel, a work of art forms and, in the end, should be commendable and applauded no matter how good or bad it is. The artist took the time and effort to make the work, and should be applauded just for their efforts. The average piece of pixel art is often better than the outside critic gives credit for.

With this, I recommend all of you to take the time to try this out. It can be a small piece, a large piece, or whatever you feel comfortable with. There's no need to worry about it being your first time. There are people there who will gladly help. There's even a stickied topic for tips for newcomers and veterans alike: Pixel Tippery. Therefore, I welcome you to step into the realm of Pixel Art and give this often looked down form of art another chance. Hopefully, you can pick up some new tips, improve your skills, and most importantly, have fun.

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Growth and Development of Creative Arts - By: Fatalsym

Well for this article we thought we would discuss the rate of popularity and skill development in graphics with our members.

What surprised us most? It would have to be the amount of newcomers who have decided to form a slice of the ever-growing graphics forums.
As always members gradually post in the graphics area of the forums, however you never see them stay.
At first we thought maybe it was just a coincidence that there were so many great artists sprouting from out of nowhere.
But after months of analysis it was easy to see many of these artists gathered help from CC (Constructive Critics).

Constructive critics generally are the more experience artists who know quite a lot on the subject.
So it was no wonder a lot of these new artists bloomed so quickly!
Although, some credit has to go to the actions made by others. Like when the graphics forums were re-arranged.
This created more stability in the area and created more of an appeal for more first time visitors as well as the regular artistic members.

A good example of new artists at this moment in time would be members like

n0t_i2eal
Skilla lifes
Youhei
Jamster
Fatalysm
Unwanted Noob

All these members were from the first & second pages from the (pixel) & (digital art) Rate my work sections. We chose these out at random because there were so many,
which goes to prove the point we are making.

To add to development, the new “Mixed Media” section in the digital gallery is doing very well. We have forum members showing off their skills in all areas. A good decision by far.
But past “Mixed Media” we have pixel & digital gallery requests and shops. We have seen a noted increase of participants in both areas, which makes us all happy!

So a thank you to all forum members posting, or soon to be posting inside the graphics forums! We hope the article was informative and helpful.

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Artists Spotlight Introduction - By: Fatalsym

This is a new kind of article. It doesn't matter what skill level you are, you could be selected. The Article will feature a different artist each issue so no one gets left out!

The artist spotlight is basically an article with one massive review of one piece of art. A random artist is selected after a certain member searches through all the graphics forums. This review gives opinion on what the reviewer likes and dislikes about a piece of artwork going in depth & also gives a rating out of 25 points.

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Artists Spotlight - By: Fatalsym

For this months review i decided to choose: "Moment" by Crayon

This piece created by Crayon this is a fine piece of abstract artwork. Looking at this piece of art the first thing that I see is the color and vibrancy. The colors set me in a cheerful and lively mood to best describe it. Then looking past the main colors, I see shades and tones used to create a sense of 3rd dimensional abstract. The next big thing that hits me is the shapes, they are round and smooth which is easy on the eyes and makes me want to look at the piece! Definitely a plus for him!

The few other things I notice which really top the piece off as a whole would be the drips which symbolize that the colors are running, and also the good typography. Going into detail there are only a few mistakes about this piece. These would be some areas that need to be a little smoother and the background
being to plain for my liking.

Now for rating.

Productivity: 4/5 - Virtually perfect in this area!
Creativity: 3/5 - Pretty flawless, more potential to come though!
Color: 5/5 - This piece uses good color and technique thats why you score big here. Keep it up!
Theme: 3/5 - Pretty good theme to chose. Abstract is always a winner, a little overused possibly.
The piece: 4/5 - the shapes and 3d effects are very elegant, the overall effects you use make the piece so much better, good job!
Overall: 19/25 - This is an excellent score, Keep up the good work, but remember there is always room for improvement

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this months review.

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