As a new student in game design and graphics, I’ve yet to try my hand at pixel art, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to try for at least a couple of months now, or perhaps even a year. If I were to try it now, I wouldn’t know where to start and my pixel art would probably turn into static noise, like when you can’t find the TV channel you want to watch — in other words, not very pretty.
When I saw Daniel Riise‘s pixel art of the Lost Woods, I was amazed. I knew that pixel art can look fantastic but I hadn’t seen anything like it, and never had I seen pixel art of Link and the Skull Kid together in a lush, green forest. Daniel, who also goes by NostalgiaTree on Twitter or NostalgicTree on Instagram and DeviantArt, managed to show me that pixel art doesn’t have to look flat, that it’s still possible to play with lighting and shade and a forgotten and overgrown place such as the Lost Woods can still look alive.
The Skull Kid’s eyes are glowing brightly under the brim of his hat but the scene doesn’t look spooky at all thanks to the rays of sunlight passing through the tree branches and hitting the ground perfectly where Link and Skull Kid meet. It’s a gentle meeting between a boy and a mysterious forest creature and neither of them seem to be nervous around the other. If they were, Skull Kid wouldn’t sit casually on a dead tree playing his flute and Link wouldn’t have his sword sheathed. Instead, they seem to enjoy each other’s company and Skull Kid lets Link stand in front of him, watch him and listen to the melody he’s playing on his flute. If Link stays there long enough, perhaps he will bring out his ocarina and join the Skull Kid, and together they might come up with their own melody.
Apart from Daniel’s excellent work on the motif itself, I also really like the addition of hearts and three buttons to the top corners showing which items Link is currently carrying. They’re not too bright and don’t draw attention away from what’s important, but together with the thick black borders, they take the picture to another level. They make me wonder what Ocarina of Time might have looked like if it was released as a pixel game instead of a game based on 3D shapes. No matter how much I try to imagine it, I doubt that it would look as pretty as Daniel’s artwork. There’s just so much detail, color, and life that I know my brothers’ old Game Boy wouldn’t be able to handle. For that reason, I’m very glad I stumbled across Daniel’s artwork. If I can’t have it in real life, I can at least admire Daniel’s picture and daydream.
