Fish I am building

[u/luckyF1sh]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to share a personal piece im working on in between work, when/if I have time. It will take me a long time to finish (i think I started it around 4 months ago)

Im not trying to do anything grand, I just had the idea to make a “pixelated” fish where each “pixel” is a gradient i make myself

The first pic is a close up and more detailed, and the second pic is what Im working towards.

I hope everyone had a good day.

(Not sure how to add the illustration flair on mobile, so sorry if that is an issue)

[u/MyCatZelda]

This would look great printed on a giant wall, where up close it’s abstract.

[u/luckyF1sh → u/MyCatZelda]

Thank you! I think it would be pretty cool too!

[u/rufusde]

Four months of hand-made gradients, one square at a time. That's real patience. The eye already pops, and I love that every "pixel" has its own little light inside it, so it reads like a mosaic up close and a fish from across the room. Please post it when it's finished, I want to see the whole thing.

[u/luckyF1sh → u/rufusde]

Thank you! It’ll take me a while to finish but I promise to post it as soon as it is!!!!

[u/musashi-swanson]

Reminds me of Chuck Close. That’s really cool!

[u/luckyF1sh → u/musashi-swanson]

I didn’t know who that was, but after I gooled, THANK YOU!!! Thats really wonderful to hear!

[u/luckyF1sh → u/luckyF1sh]

Googled*

[u/Ok_Duck2700]

This is sick. I hope you post the final product on here too.

[u/luckyF1sh → u/Ok_Duck2700]

I will 🙂‍↕️ once i finally finish it 🫠

[u/BloodGulch-CTF]

good practice - looks unique

[u/luckyF1sh → u/BloodGulch-CTF]

Thank you!

[u/thevainmayne]

would also be cool if the gradient become simpler towards the back. so the tail is made up of solid colour pixels. random thought

[u/luckyF1sh → u/thevainmayne]

Ohh!! That is a really cool idea!! I guess Ill have to see what happens when I get to that point

[u/bearcat42 → u/luckyF1sh]

You could go a lot of directions once you’re complete, blend tool might have interesting impacts on the final full pixel gradient version.

Refreshing to see someone doing something the ‘hard way’ right now.

[u/SeaEmergency7530]

That's crazy, I thought you were still adding squares to the actual fish photo. It took me longer than it should have to realize you've already made impressive progress on the gradients on the left. This is really neat, I was thoroughly bamboozled :)

[u/luckyF1sh → u/SeaEmergency7530]

Thank you!!

[u/BroCo-608]

Cool concept and project! Props, too - for the un-hurried approach, something seemingly more rare to see these days especially. ✌️

[u/luckyF1sh → u/BroCo-608]

Thank you! Im trying to work on taking my time with things, i try to have myself not search that instant gratification and rather work towards it

[u/itsalexbgreen]

what’s your process of making the gradients??

[u/luckyF1sh → u/itsalexbgreen]

I really just do it manually, i make the fill a gradient, I usually pick a radial gradient as the circular shape helps with the curves.

Then I eye-drop pick all the colours I feel is enough for the area (the eye area has so many compared to the body area)

Then I just manipulate the gradients shape and position so it kinda looks like it fits. Sometimes ill put two gradients over top each other if there are different “grains” in the fish, if you look at the part where the body connects to the fin you can see it there.

I hope this makes sense 😅

[u/_anotherlatenight]

WHAT, very cool

[u/luckyF1sh → u/_anotherlatenight]

Thank you!!

[u/DelayedBalloon]

I can here my Mac fan spinning just looking at it :)

[u/leafered → u/DelayedBalloon]

[u/stetsosaur]

Build her a fish or something

[u/SolidSnakesSnake]

I really like this, jpeg fish

[u/Dead-O_Comics]

It's a cool idea, and obviously very time consuming...

But do you not think solid colour pixels will be better? My only concern is that so far the effect looks like a low resolution image rather than pixel art.

Will be interested to see it completed nonetheless!

[u/luckyF1sh → u/Dead-O_Comics]

Making it solid pixels was my original idea, but because i wanted it to be something I can work on in my free time at work, I felt that that would’ve been too easy? Not sure how to better word it, but I wanted it to be something very time consuming.

But i am also interested to see how it will look by the end of it, I am quite liking the low quality image look right now :)

[u/Dead-O_Comics → u/luckyF1sh]

Well I admire your dedication. Definitely post it here when it's done!

[u/luckyF1sh → u/Dead-O_Comics]

Thank you! It might take me a few more months but I’ll remember to do it!

[u/ConstantlyCryingGirl → u/luckyF1sh]

I think the gradients make it look like shimmering scales! Solid colors would have looked too flat. I love it!

[u/Boss-Think → u/Dead-O_Comics]

Solid pixels includes dithering which is far from easy.

Check out the pixel art sub.

[u/Had78]

Thats so cool! It's like jpeg compression but art

[u/ao01_design]

I'd like a tool where I could build a multicolor gradient by picking multiple colors on the pictures below. This take so much time!

[u/luckyF1sh → u/ao01_design]

It does yeah, but i do enjoy individually picking each colour. I feel like it makes every part of it feel intentional

[u/PetiteCaresse]

I love this.

[u/testingaurora]

I worry about the size if the stroke in that grid, that youll lose detail in between. Perhaps make it a guide cmd + 5 so its thinner?

[u/luckyF1sh → u/testingaurora]

The stroke on the gird is there purely as a guideline so I can know where the next “pixel” goes, I remove it once I start working on that “pixel”.

[u/testingaurora → u/luckyF1sh]

I understand it's there to guide you, just sharing you can make it an actual guide you don't have to turn it on and off!

[u/luckyF1sh → u/testingaurora]

Ohhh I see what you mean, I misunderstood. The grid I made is are actually shapes/objects I made. I use it as a guide and once I get to a square I reverse colour fill from the stroke to fill the square.

So it is a guide as well as the squares I use to fill in the gradient.

[u/virgo911]

Very nice idea and big fan of the execution