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Pixel Art Dithering Tutorial
PROGRAMS USED:
GraphicsGale: This is the recommended program for this tutorial as it contains tools which are ideal for pixel art and dithering.
Alternatively MS Paint, The Gimp, or Photoshop can be used.
TUTORIAL:
What is Dithering?
Dithering is a term used in pixel art to describe the technique of blending colours together. It essentially helps to add a smoother transition between two colours. For example, if we had two contrasting colours next to each other, such as orange and blue, you could easily notice the dividing line between them:
However, if you were to apply Dithering in between these two colours then you would certainly notice a better transition between the contrasting colours.
As you can see there is quite a difference from the first image, although you can still see some of the individual pixels. If you squint your eyes you can see that the colours merge together. This is the trick that dithering plays – it is really just a way of cheating the amount of colours you use on a piece of work, and was used a lot in the arcade games of the 1980s when computer resources were limited and when every pixel was valuable.
Why Dither?
With the powerful computer systems we have available today, the main purpose of dithering now is style. It helps to give your work that retro look. Also, if you are really conservative about saving file space, then dithering is for you. You can easily produce drawings that are only a few kb in size!! (which is ultra tiny in modern terms).
As I said, the main purpose of dithering today is to add style. It helps to show that you have thought carefully about the positioning of every pixel. Dithering can also give you additional colours to your palette and will generally give you colours somewhere in between the two colours you are merging. In the example below, I have merged red and blue together. The colours that have been produced in between are now different shades of purple.
Here’s another example of what you get when you mix blue and yellow:
Yep, you guessed it. Green is produced. So what determines the colour you get? Well, it all depends on the positioning of your two colours on the colour wheel.
Now, watch what happens if you mixed two quite similar colours:
100% Zoom
Two blues close together in saturation
Two greens close together in lightness
As you can see, dithering becomes most effective when the colours are close together in terms of their hue or saturation or lightness.
How to Dither?
You can have a go at dithering in most graphics editing programs – e.g. Paint, Graphics Gale, The Gimp, Photoshop etc. However, some programs make it easier for you. For example, if your program can zoom in quite far this helps a lot. The program I use is Graphics Gale, which is specially designed for producing pixel art and it also has a built in dithering function! It’s also free to download.
Ok, begin with drawing your two colours next to each other. I am using two very different colours so you can see what is going on:
Now, zoom right in onto the intersection between the 2 colours. Begin to colour one pixel red and then the one next to it green. Continue to do this chess board style effect along the intersection between the colours.
500% Zoom
500% Zoom
500% Zoom
500% Zoom
Two oranges close together in hue
It is at this point that I would highly recommend using the program Graphics Gale, as its dithering function makes the process a whole lot simpler:
All you need to do is to select your two colours to dither, then set the drawing mode to dithering (as seen above).
The next step is to add a new layer of dithering around the previous area. However, unlike the checkerboard dithering, you must now space the pixels out more by leaving a 1 pixel border around each new pixel you draw.
100% Zoom
TIP: Try to make each new dithering region the same width as other dithering regions around it. This will help to make the dithering look more natural.
Now add another layer of dithering. Give the new pixels you draw a two pixel border around them as seen below.
100% Zoom
You can add as many dithering layers as you like. Often the more layers you add the more natural your pixel art will look:
100% Zoom
There are many other styles of dithering you can achieve simply by changing the patterns produced by the pixels.
Here is another example of what can be achieved with dithering(shown at 100% and 500% zoom):
Hopefully this tutorial has given you some ideas of what can be achieved with dithering and how you can use it in your own artwork.
<BACK
Pixel Art Dithering Tutorial
PROGRAMS USED:
GraphicsGale: This is the recommended program for this tutorial as it contains tools which are ideal for pixel art and dithering.
Alternatively MS Paint, The Gimp, or Photoshop can be used.
TUTORIAL:
What is Dithering?
Dithering is a term used in pixel art to describe the technique of blending colours together. It essentially helps to add a smoother transition between two colours. For example, if we had two contrasting colours next to each other, such as orange and blue, you could easily notice the dividing line between them:
However, if you were to apply Dithering in between these two colours then you would certainly notice a better transition between the contrasting colours.
As you can see there is quite a difference from the first image, although you can still see some of the individual pixels. If you squint your eyes you can see that the colours merge together. This is the trick that dithering plays – it is really just a way of cheating the amount of colours you use on a piece of work, and was used a lot in the arcade games of the 1980s when computer resources were limited and when every pixel was valuable.
Why Dither?
With the powerful computer systems we have available today, the main purpose of dithering now is style. It helps to give your work that retro look. Also, if you are really conservative about saving file space, then dithering is for you. You can easily produce drawings that are only a few kb in size!! (which is ultra tiny in modern terms).
As I said, the main purpose of dithering today is to add style. It helps to show that you have thought carefully about the positioning of every pixel. Dithering can also give you additional colours to your palette and will generally give you colours somewhere in between the two colours you are merging. In the example below, I have merged red and blue together. The colours that have been produced in between are now different shades of purple.
Here’s another example of what you get when you mix blue and yellow:
Yep, you guessed it. Green is produced. So what determines the colour you get? Well, it all depends on the positioning of your two colours on the colour wheel.
Now, watch what happens if you mixed two quite similar colours:
100% Zoom
Two blues close together in saturation
Two greens close together in lightness
As you can see, dithering becomes most effective when the colours are close together in terms of their hue or saturation or lightness.
How to Dither?
You can have a go at dithering in most graphics editing programs – e.g. Paint, Graphics Gale, The Gimp, Photoshop etc. However, some programs make it easier for you. For example, if your program can zoom in quite far this helps a lot. The program I use is Graphics Gale, which is specially designed for producing pixel art and it also has a built in dithering function! It’s also free to download.
Ok, begin with drawing your two colours next to each other. I am using two very different colours so you can see what is going on:
Now, zoom right in onto the intersection between the 2 colours. Begin to colour one pixel red and then the one next to it green. Continue to do this chess board style effect along the intersection between the colours.
500% Zoom
500% Zoom
500% Zoom
500% Zoom
Two oranges close together in hue
It is at this point that I would highly recommend using the program Graphics Gale, as its dithering function makes the process a whole lot simpler:
All you need to do is to select your two colours to dither, then set the drawing mode to dithering (as seen above).
The next step is to add a new layer of dithering around the previous area. However, unlike the checkerboard dithering, you must now space the pixels out more by leaving a 1 pixel border around each new pixel you draw.
100% Zoom
TIP: Try to make each new dithering region the same width as other dithering regions around it. This will help to make the dithering look more natural.
Now add another layer of dithering. Give the new pixels you draw a two pixel border around them as seen below.
100% Zoom
You can add as many dithering layers as you like. Often the more layers you add the more natural your pixel art will look:
100% Zoom
There are many other styles of dithering you can achieve simply by changing the patterns produced by the pixels.
Here is another example of what can be achieved with dithering(shown at 100% and 500% zoom):
Hopefully this tutorial has given you some ideas of what can be achieved with dithering and how you can use it in your own artwork.
<BACK