Sprite Jam January 3-10: Good Fortune/Bad Fortune -WINNERS ANNOUNCED

[Baron]

At the beginning of the new year it is custom to wish good fortune to your friends and neighbours, so the theme of this Sprite Jam is good fortune/bad fortune.  If it's good fortune, I want to see ostentatious displays of wealth -pig in poop styles.  If it's bad fortune, I want to see grinding poverty -utter and complete destitution. 

Restrictions:           130 x 130 pixel maximum
                                30 colour maximum
                                Leave your middle class sensibilities at the door: I'm looking for no sense of shame![/b]


      EDIT:  So for example Movie Stars, Lottery Winners & Heiresses would have good fortune.
                 Paupers, Beggars & Redundant Factory Workers would have bad fortune.                         

[TheJBurger]

8 Colors + Transparency:

3x

[Baron]

Nice entry TheJBurger! 
      But to the rest of you spriters out there -you've only got two days left!  I know most of you are probably still recovering from your New Year's hangovers, but the mods in this forum are quick with their hatchets when they sense a competition is losing interest, so we NEED you to jam with us.  Throw some bling on Richie Rich or kick some dirt in Oliver Twist's face -just get 'er done! 
      Thus concludes BaRoN's motivational speech.  If a movie is to be made about these events I would like the part of me to be played by Al Paccino.  If he is unavailable I will accept Craig Nelson.  That is all.

[Mad]

...hiya, just a quick one:

The luckiest kid on the world!

With a little help, of course...

[Krysis]

Mario keeps stepping on those little guys... its so unfair. Besides, they look like #$@&%.

[Tomas]

Here's my entry. My initial plan was to create a pixel art piece. I realized my scanner was broken so I photographed the sketch I did with my mobile. When I was tinkering with the brightness/contrast I got some interesting results, so I decided to go with that version instead. So this is actually my quick 5-minute-sketch photographed with my camera phone.

EDIT: It has and has always had 30 colors. Thank you.

[Steel Drummer]

I THINK that's more than 30 colours.

[Mr Flibble]

...hiya, just a quick one:

The luckiest kid on the world!

With a little help, of course...

http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/lucky.png

...a pig?

Your idea of "Luck" scares me 

[Tomas]

I THINK that's more than 30 colours.

It's exactly 30 colors.

[Mad]

...a pig?

Your idea of "Luck" scares me 

Ahh, I just checked up on lucky charms and so forth and noticed (how else could it be), that there are quite some diferences depending on origin/cultural background:

In Germany all sorts of strange things and animals like ladybirds, yes, and piglets are considered to be lucky charms.

We Germans are a funny bunch, ey...

[Akatosh]

He's right with that. And I'm pretty sure Tomas' Sketch contains way more than 30 colors...

[Privateer Puddin']

It's 30 colours.

[Steel Drummer]

It's 30 colours.

More like 300. There aren't a lot of solid colours in the sprite and almost every other pixel is a different colour.

[Ubel]

It's 30, ok! How many more people do you need to tell you that? Open it up in a graphics editor that shows you the amount of colors!

[Baron]

Very fortunately the period of this competition has elapsed, so we can end the debate on the number of colours in Tomas' creation.  This little incident has, however, opened or reopened two issues pertaining to the rules of Sprite Jam which I think should be officially reiterated by a Moderator or the Sprite Jam community:

    1) If you suspect someone of bending the rules, please do some research before making -or insinuating- an accusation.  Expressing suspicions in terms of "I think...." or "It looks like...." doesn't prove anything, and can only spread ill will.  I think we can all agree on this policy.

    2) This is a less contentious but stickier issue: what of sketches in Sprite Jams?  I've never heard of a rule against it, but at the same time a "sprite" is something you can animate in a game and it would be very difficult to do that with a sketch.  On the other hand, most sprites are based on prior sketches and are either transposed by eye or by scanning and then cleaned up.  It's almost like the "When does an embryo become a person" debate!  I'd like to get the community's thoughts on this: when does a drawing become a sprite?

  As the administrator of this sprite jam I feel obliged to make an executive decision to keep the competition moving, but I think the results of this debate should apply to future comps.

  WINNERS ANNOUNCED
I'm very impressed with the response to my last minute call to arms!  We had some good sprites produced for the theme and they deserve a little critical attention before the awards are handed out.  In order of submission:

  TheJBurger  The downtrodden body language and the scuffed/torn/patched clothing make this character.  I see good shading and proportion, and the detail is amazing -it's very realistic looking.  Except....why do his eyebrows join his hairline?
Mad I want to hate your character for being so lucky -that's good!  The pig does seem a bit odd, but then the German in my family is a long way back.
Krisis A creative spin on the unexamined life of the mushroom people of Mario Land -aren't they called Gumbies or something like that?  You should write a revisionist history of the Mario canon -like those books that tell the story from the Big Bad Wolf's or the Wicked Witch of the West's perspective.  In terms of sprite art, however, it's pretty minimalist.  Is his expression truly downtrodden, or is it just a little bit evil?  It's hard to tell at that scale.
Tomas  Whatever issues the form of your drawing may have raised, the composition is superb!  This man is truly destitute.  I would really have liked to see a coloured/shaded version of this sprite.  At the same time, I think the effect you were able to create in so short a time very much reflects the mood of the sprite you were trying to portray.  Thank you for posting this.

   And now the drumroll.......
The golden hobo sack goes to TheJBurger -congratulations!
The silver hobo sack is awarded to Mad -a very close second!
The bronze hobo sack I present to Tomas, a very very close third!

  It was very hard to judge this competition, so I happily hand the reins of power over to TheJBurger!

[TheJBurger]

Wow, awesome.Ã,  Congratulations to the other winners.
This will be my first time hosting a competition, so I hope it turns out okay. I'll try to get it up ASAP.

Except....why do his eyebrows join his hairline?

Those "joining" brown pixels are supposed to be his hair overhanging his forehead... but I guess it turned out wrong.Ã, Ã,